The Archangel Michael obfuscating the golden gates
Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-8912557
Following on regards my ramblings about the Raxxla logo and it’s possible relationship with the sun wheel of Taranis; I’ve done some additional if liberal link analysis which has lead to additional information which may / may not be relevant.
Again this is all speculative and subjective tin-foil, as without any direction nor source / key information, I’ve been reliant upon open-source information, and a lot of assumption; which ultimately is open to bias and information overload.
First off, the Raxxla hexagon and it’s 6 separating lines; for some time I believed this may represent a ‘Sun Wheel’ or ‘Solar Cross’; initially I believed this was a reference to the Sol system.
Which was only logical given the inclusion of the ‘Silent Song of the Spheres’ reference within the older Dark Wheel missions. The spheres being a reference to Musica Universalis and the proportions in the movements of Sols celestial bodies as a form of unheard music.
However I still could not substantiate this, so I began looking for alternatives. I know not where they may lead, but I’m suspicious that they don’t attest to a location but a series of locations which altogether form either a map, or do they culminate towards another reference?
Yggdrasil, three branches above, three roots below.
Now I could not find any historical Norse context towards a solar cross, but I then thought of the ‘Skin of Brookes’ and just took a creative sideways leap and began looking through the runes and a reference popped up in regards to Hagalaz or ‘Hagal’ from gnostic magic.
Hagalaz, Hagal, Hagall; Hagl; and the Wendehorn rune.
Hagal maybe derived from Futhark the ‘mother rune’ resembling a snowflake or ice. The six spokes reminiscent of the six pointed star that combines the active and passive principles of creation. In Norse myth the middle world was created through fire and ice; Muspelheim and Niflheim.
These tree branches to my knowledge are not named, but their destinations are, which can be attributed to:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-9856307
The Hagal-rune is also a six-pointed star of rebirth, ascending & descending life in the Yggdrasil world-tree; represented by three upper branches (becoming, being and passing away) and its three roots (pointing to the past, present and future) and has an association with the sign of Libra and the numerical value 7.
The Hagal symbol may also relate to the World Rune, the World-Tree, the World-Cross, around the midpoint (navel), the World Wheel, as well as the male & female circles of the twelve zodiac houses, wherein the high 13th is hidden?
This symbol as ‘Hagalaz’ is also oddly currently a system in game.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-9856307
https://gnosticstudies.org/index.php/alchemy/runology/the-hagal-rune/
Rota Fortunae
Within the DW missions pilots were tasked to acquire ‘Trinkets of hidden fortune’, of which description identifies the goddess Fortuna (Greek counterpart for Tyche) both systems exist in game.
Fortuna is linked to the phrase ‘eyes to see’ in relation to: The Metamorphoses of
Apuleius (later source inspiration for A Midsummers night dream); generally Fortuna is described historically as blind or blindfolded; her wheel ‘Rota Fortunae’ is tied to the ‘silent song’ itself relating to the zodiac, and her wheel can have six spokes, but also far more usually up to 12.
Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus is supposedly a 13th zodiac, and it has always interested me in relation to Raxxla, due to it’s relation to Delphi and the Omphalos rift. The ‘hidden’ hexagon (dotted lines) of the Raxxla logo got me thinking, could this be a reference to a hidden zodiac if the Yggdrasil was correct?
To the ancient Greeks, the constellation Ophiuchus; the 13th zodiac sign, represented the god Apollo struggling with a huge snake, that guarded the Oracle of Delphi.
It was this snakes rotting corpse which was believed to be the source of the intoxicating vapours which drifted up to the Oracle from rift underneath the Omphalos.
Within John Milton’s Paradise Lost, one of Michael Brookes favourite stories, Ophiuchus is mentioned, where Lucifer is compared to a comet that flies the length of Ophiuchus.
Ophiuchus may subjectively be associated (very loosely (arcane/ occult)) with the archangel Michael fighting the serpent / dragon (Lucifer) although there’s no direct historical affirmation.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mercurialpathways.com/amp/michael-in-art-which-constellation
Within Michael Brookes tattoo there potentially are three iterations of the archangel Michael, either slaying a snake / demon, holding a fiery sword; or blowing a trumpet, all closely associated with - a heavenly gate.
With catholic myth St. Michael guarded the gates, sometimes with a fiery sword, supposedly defeating the great beast / serpent Lucifer, and blew the horn for Armageddon.
Archangel Michael was known as St. Michael also among other numerous names.
http://thecultofme.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-space-inbetween-preview.html?m=1
This same gate is shown in another of Michael Brookes commissions, namely his custom made shield of 2017; again, an image of a halo depicted ‘Michael’ (St.?) fighting a dragon, and as within Catholic faith, guarding the gate to the heavens, in both instances beset by stars.
The archangel / St. Michael also pops up in another posting of his, in relation to his various Cthulhu figures, where he has a figurine of the archangel in the same photo, along with a quip that something was out of place (source not included as identified via social media) but here’s a shot from the manufacturer of the same archangel figurine.
The Archangel Michael can also be arbitrarily attributed to the zodiacs of Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, Libra and Ophiuchus, the latter of which the Greeks thought of bestriding the ‘Golden Gates of Gods / the Ecliptic’.
All of this is obviously very speculative and very likely totally unrelated. There is a lot of historical assumption here and a fair amount of modern mysticism.
Looking for correlations with Norse myth (above) due to the presence of Donar’s Oak in game and the multiple references to Yggdrasil; ‘Heimdall’ is said to be the guardian of the ‘gate to Valhalla’, and similarly could potentially be attributed to the archangel Michael and heavens gate.
Both also blew upon horns that heralded the end of days…
Heimdall dwelt at Himinbjorg ‘heavens castle’ or ‘heavens mountain’ on the Bifrost, or maybe ‘mount Jotnar’ (in game system).
There is also a system called ‘Bridge’ along with a faction named Kronos (very weird). And a Golden gate orbiting a Jovian called Bifrost in Alioth.
John Milton’s Paradise lost and the silent spheres
Within Paradise Lost, said ‘Heavens gate’ touched upon the Jasper Sea via a ‘retractable stair’ on the outer most rim of the Milton universe model, the ‘Prime Mobile’.
This consisted of a series of rotating spherical shells holding the celestial bodies, and emanated a harmony.
Beyond these was an additional silent crystalline sphere which was solid and encompassed all of Milton’s model universe which Lucifer walked upon and not far from this point, held fixed, Lucifer’s bridge or viaduct out of hell.
Milton’s descriptions of chaos, where Lucifer travelled out of Hell via a bridge made by his offspring Sin and Death, I find fascinating, in that it’s solid and ethereal at the same time,and existed outside of reality, it’s all very H. P. Lovecraft and I can see a link to Brookes ‘Space in between’!
Within Paradise Lost this ‘first convex’ goes by the description “terra firma” the surface of the spherical shell at the apex led to the opening.
This was not at the current polar point of the earth but Milton’s original ‘pre fall’ axi mundi located at mount Sion or Assyria.
*Edit: Stella Polaris - an obvious choice but confirmed as inaccessible.
Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-9559097.
The elephant in the room could well go by the name Polaris; which has gone by various names including ‘Heavens Gate’.
It could well be an ‘obvious’ location for either Raxxla or the Dark Wheel, unfortunately if so this means the entire Raxxla journey is narrative locked too because FD recently confirmed Polaris is locked off from players.
So if any of the above is true; where else could it be…
Interesting to note that Satan set down upon Earth on a mountain range just north of Eden called Niphates, where he hid his spear, a rather obscure reference!
Also Mountains were called Omphaloses / navels, the word omphalos would mean raised mound / hill, or high place.
This apex, was further off from the area where Lucifer first set foot after travelling through his ‘viaduct’ through chaos out of Hell; before setting down upon this ‘pendant universe’ which dangled upon a golden chain.
This location is not specific in Paradise Lost but with Dante, it’s possibly within the constellation Gemini and linked to the sphere for Saturn. Although Dante and Milton’s spheres are very similar Milton’s do differ.
There is a passage we’re Lucifers gaze was said to survey the entire universe, from East point of Libra to the fleecy star Alpha Aristide (Aries) which are at the opposite extremities of this Milton equator.
This apex, was further off from the area where Lucifer first set foot after travelling through his ‘viaduct’ through chaos out of Hell; before setting down upon this ‘pendant universe’ which dangled upon a golden chain.
I always thought ‘pendant’ was rather an interesting description, it’s something valuable, a piece of jewellery that hangs from a chain… does sound very similar to the ‘the jewel that burns’…
David Gilmour “Rattle that lock”.
All very imaginative but ultimately there is no direct real life cosmic correlation for this ‘entry point’ in Paradise Lost, as the cosmos existed within this spherical shell, with the ‘universe’ as ‘Urania’ the 9th sphere.
This sphere was interesting because although described as a ‘shell’ as Lucifer flew down through them, stars / bodies were described as being distributed within beds or layers, as well as potentially other Eden’s so is likely dimensionally transcendental, being bigger on the inside than the outside. The interior exists in a different, relative dimension.
Before travelling down through the outermost spheres - which were silent, Lucifer, set foot on the stairway to heavens gate, and gazed down through the apex entry point, so it’s location is close to the entrance to our universe if not just some way off, but still no direct definitive location, only that it was the apex and was vast, it’s edges like the break of a wave with all revolving ‘spheres’ open below it so Lucifer could gaze down and see all of creation before him.
These silent ‘outer rims’ I’m assuming is some reference to where Raxxla could be. Whatever this is or where, it’s still an unknown, but I suspect it’s the initial, contextual / abstract basis derived by Brookes.
It ought to also be noted that the capital of Hell - Pandemonium which existed outside of these spheres like the Empyrean, was located at the direct opposite below / in chaos.
Pandemonium is also an in game system, and if one draws a spherical shell around Sol based upon the date in the Codex of the most recently settled systems at that time, Pandemonium sits just outside this sphere of influence at its base!
Within Paradise Lost, Milton provides an astronomical position for Lucifers return journey to Hell: “betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering his zenith while the sun in Aries rose”.
Both these constellations are on the sphere in proximity to Libra whose position is directly opposite to Aries, so this might provide some indication of an ‘origin’ point.
Mother of galaxies is Virgo
During the elizabethan era there were multiple iterations where Queen / Princess Elizabeth I was represented as Astraea (Astrea, Astria) / Urania, all of which have been represented as the constellation Virgo, holding the scales of Justice, or Libra.
Urania pops up a lot in Paradise Lost, as well as Philip Sidney’s Arcadia and Astrophel.
http://teammilton.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-muse-urania-and-holy-spirit.html?m=1
John Milton invokes the Holy Spirit within Paradise Lost - The Muse Urania (Ourania) is the Holy Spirit.
Ouranus is often referred to as Uranus, so Ourania is also referred to as Urania, but the name means the same in either case, for it is most commonly translated as “Heavenly”. It is logical, therefore, that Ourania is the Muse of Astronomy.
Astraea is also described by Milton as Virgo, indicating Libra where creation was weighed: “Betwixt Astraea and the Scorpions sign”.
And of course there is The Countess of Pembroke Arcadia.
Post in thread 'The Quest To Find Raxxla'
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/post-8293878
Astraea- Virgo
Virgo was also seen as the spring goddess Persephone (Kore, Kira). And the constellation holds the largest number of galaxies than any other.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraea
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40025842
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....go-earth-goddess-mothers-day-skywatching.html
Fortuna as Virgo
Historians Eratosthenes and Hyginus associated the constellation Virgo with Tyche (Fortuna), ‘eyes to see’?
Assumptions and questions
Is St. Michael (Ophiuchus?) a reference pointing towards Raxxla! Is he guarding the location or the bridge / gate?
Is the Delphi and Donars Oak system the new axi mundi, and how do these relate to the Yggdrasil tree in game? or even Pandemonium? Are these simply a key stone pointing towards all these other elements or something else?
Is the tree of Yggdrasil, which is drawn out across the bubble, pointing to Raxxla or indicating some path or its centre?
Is Virgo connected somehow, do all these locations correlate somehow? Is she indicated by “Cora comes home”?
Or is all this just subjective mis-interpreted hogwash (most likely) or worse still, just a bunch of uncoordinated influences, which may inform a narrative yet to be played out.
These influences may not actually relate to any true in game locations, or even worse still wholly arbitrary ramblings of a Cmdr, lost on the outer rim.
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