Monday, September 29, 2008

EDORAS




Edoras was the capital of Rohan.

 

The city of Edoras was built on a hill in a valley of the White Mountains by Rohan's second King, Brego son of Eorl the Young. Before this, Rohan's capital was at Aldburg in the Folde.

 

Wulf son of Freca the Dunlending, invaded Rohan in 2758 and took Edoras usurping the throne in Meduseld. But the Long Winter, which had lasted five long months, ended and Fréaláf son of Hild came out of Dunharrow and with a small band of men, surprising Wulf, he attacked Edoras and slew Wulf, regaining Edoras.

 

Edoras was Rohan's only real city, and held the Golden Hall of Meduseld. It was here that Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf the White met with Théoden King.

 

Edoras was built at the end of the valley of Harrowdale, which lay under the great mountain Starkhorn.

 

The river Snowbourn flowed past Edoras on its way west towards the Entwash.

 

In Peter Jackson's film version, Edoras was built on Mount Sunday, in the upper reaches of the Rangitata Valley, near Erewhon.

LINK


Sunday, September 28, 2008

GEOGRAPHY OF PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN


Isla de Muerta

Isla de Muerta is an island featured in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It is a mysterious isle where the Black Pearl’s pirate crew hide their looted treasure.

The Curse of the Black Pearl

According to Jack Sparrow, Isla de Muerta is, literally translated from Spanish is “an isle of the dead which cannot be found, except by those who already know where it is.” To locate it, Captain Sparrow uses his unique compass — rather than pointing north, it points to what its holder wants most. What Sparrow wants is the Black Pearl that is anchored at the island.

Shrouded in a mysterious and everlasting fog, the isle is surrounded by a graveyard of sunken ships; its waters swarm with hammerhead sharks and fish shoals.

From the air, the island resembles the face of a human skull. It appears to be largely unexplored, save for a maze of caves where Captain Barbossa’s crew hoard their looted treasure. Here is where the dreaded Chest of Cortez containing the cursed Aztec gold is kept.

Apart from the caves, there seems to be little that is interesting on the island, at least it is not shown, except the piles of horded treasure which the crew of the Black Pearl acquired during their many years of searching for the last cursed coin and the one remaining blood sacrifice.

Dead Man’s Chest

In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, it’s learned that the island was reclaimed by the sea, taking with it both the cursed Aztec treasure and the uncursed mountains of swag that Barbossa’s crew had hoarded while they were cursed. It was this swag that Jack Sparrow had agreed to pay his new crew with, but had to change his plans when it sank with the island. Barbossa himself was only retrieved due to the intervention of Tia Dalma, who did so and also restored him to life before the events of Dead Man’s Chest.

Tortuga

Tortuga is a pirate island off the northern coast of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), out of the jurisdiction of the Royal Navy and the East India Trading Company. While it remains a free port where traders can escape the high East India tariffs, it is a dangerous one where illegal transactions are common. Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, in hot pursuit of Captain Hector Barbossa, moor their stolen ship, the H.M.S. Interceptor there to recruit a crew. Their conscripts included Joshamee Gibbs, Anamaria, Cotton, and Marty.

Tortuga also appears in Dead Man’s Chest. Will goes there to hunt for Jack Sparrow, although he ultimately finds him on Pelegosto Island (see below). A denizen tells Will that he saw a ship with black sails (the Black Pearl) beached on Pelegosto while he was sailing a trade route. Jack returns to Tortuga to try and enlist ninety-nine unsuspecting sailors to pay off his blood debt to Davy Jones. Although he falls far short of his goal, the new crew proves useful during the final confrontation with the Kraken, although they apparently do not survive. Jack is reunited with Elizabeth Swann while in Tortuga and also recruits the down-and-out James Norrington, who resigned his commission after losing his ship in a hurricane while pursuing the Black Pearl, although Norrington first tries to shoot Sparrow.

At the conclusion of At World’s End, Jack and Gibbs are stranded in Tortuga when Barbossa and the crew steal the Black Pearl.

Pelegosto

Pelegosto is a fictional island. The relevant scenes were actually filmed on the lush, tropical island of Dominica.

In Dead Man’s Chest, Bootstrap Bill Turner, acting as an agent for Davy Jones, delivers the Black Spot to Captain Jack Sparrow, a mark that indicates his blood debt to Jones is due. To hide from the Kraken, and to seek the advice of Tia Dalma, Jack commands the Black Pearl to land on Pelegosto, the nearest island. Pelegosto is a typical Caribbean island with sandy beaches and lush, mountainous jungles. But it is not the paradise it appears to be, as it is inhabited by a vicious cannibal tribe that captures the Pearl’s crew and eats some crewmen. They also believe Jack Sparrow to be a God in human form and plan to eat him to “release him from his fleshy prison”. Will Turner arrives and helps them escape the island. The obeah woman Tia Dalma makes her home in a swampy bayou in the Pantano River on the other side of the island. A population of mysterious natives live in shacks along the river’s banks, in relative safety. The cannibals avoid this part of the island, most likely out of fear of Tia Dalma. The fact that Tia Dalma is in fact the goddess Calypso in human form that is seeking release may have been the basis for the Pelegosto’s beliefs, though where the taste for human flesh came from is decidedly less clear.

According to the film’s writers in the Dead Man’s Chest DVD commentary, Pelegosto is the same island Jack told Royal Navy Marines, Mullroy and Murtogg about in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He tells them “ and then they made me their chief . . .” before being interrupted by Elizabeth Swann falling into the water. It is open to conjecture whether or not the cannibals that call the island home recognised Jack when he was again made their chief in Dead Man’s Chest.

Isla Cruces

Isla Cruces is a fictional island. The relevant scenes were actually filmed in Dominica.

In Dead Man’s Chest, Isla Cruces (Crosses Island) is a tropical island where Davy Jones buried the Dead Man’s Chest containing his beating heart. The island appears to have been abandoned. The previous occupants are unknown, but the partially-remaining stone buildings indicate some European-type colony, probably Spanish, was once established there.

It is not revealed in the film why Davy Jones buried the Dead Man’s Chest on Isla Cruces. However, the film’s writers, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, imply in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest DVD audio commentary, that Jones chose it because it is a plague island that remains deserted.

Singapore

The mysterious Singapore city is filled with bridge-covered waterways and crude wooden buildings. It appears in At World’s End when Hector Barbossa and Elizabeth Swann visit Sao Feng to steal navigational charts and to request a crew and a ship to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker. The city is last shown as Barbossa, Will, Elizabeth, and the crew set sail in Feng’s ship, the Hai Peng. In the first film (The curse of the Black Pearl) Jack Sparrow mentions Singapore to the two clueless guards as he cuts Elizabeth’s corset after she fell of a cliff and into the sea: “Clearly, you’ve never been to Singapore.” It is also mentioned in Dead Man’s Chest, while Will is asking for the whereabouts of Jack. One man says, “Last I heard, he was in Singapore.”

It is often assumed that the presence of Singapore is anachronistic, based on the notion that the island was named by Sir Stamford Raffles in the 1800s.

Davy Jones’ Locker

Davy Jones’ Locker is a fictional place mentioned in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest by Will Turner’s father, Bootstrap Bill. It is a purgatory where those within are faced with their personal demons - Davy Jones’ favored punishment for those who attempt to cheat him. Even the supernatural, such as Calypso, could be forsaken to an eternity within, and cannot escape. The only condemned person known to have escaped the Locker is Captain Jack Sparrow.

For most, the only way to reach the Locker is to die at sea. The Kraken, a giant sea monster which drags sailors and their ships to the ocean depths, obviously inflicts this fate. It appears that when a person is beaten or eaten, like Jack, they pass through a “membrane” that (depending on whether or not Davy wants them to go there or if they have the Black Spot) it leads them to the Locker, leaving their physical bodies behind. However, the only means by which one may enter the Locker and return afterwards is described by Tia Dalma; by sailing to (or more precisely, off) World’s End. This is impossible without Sao Feng’s navigational charts.

For Jack, the Locker appears as a seemingly endless desert, connected to an equally endless sea (filmed in the Utah Bonneville Salt Flats). Jack is doomed to captain the Black Pearl crewed by many different Jack Sparrows through the desert but it doesn’t move until crabs which look like stones (supposedly sent by the already approaching Calypso considering the same type of crabs coming out of her mouth when she was released) appear and carry the stranded Black Pearl to the shore. The endless sea, known as the Sea of Lost Souls, is the only escape route, which is filled with those who died at sea. They were unable to reach the afterlife, forsaken by Davy Jones, whose duty it was to ferry them to the “other side.” Governor Swann is found here after having been murdered by Beckett.

Returning to the living world is far more difficult, requiring knowledge of the relationship between the Locker and the living world. Such knowledge can also be found within Sao Feng’s chart, but as confusing and cryptic clues. However, Jack is able to decipher the clue needed to return to the Living World: Up is Down. The crew of the Black Pearl capsize the ship at sundown, and return to the Living World at sunrise.

Shipwreck Cove

Shipwreck Cove is a fictional island in the 2007 film, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It is unique in that the island’s land mass in the interior is composed entirely of shipwrecks. Shipwreck Cove is considered to be an impregnable fortress, well-supplied, and able to withstand nearly any siege.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Shipwreck Cove, the meeting place for the Brethren Court, is nestled in Shipwreck Island and is also the location of the town of Shipwreck.

According to the Essential Guide to Pirates of the Caribbean, every ship must pass through the Devil’s Throat upon entering, which claims several vessels each year.

Minor Locations

 

Parley Sandbar

Also not the actual name. Because Davy Jones can only step on land once every ten years, he and Lord Cutler Beckett meet with Elizabeth Swann and Captain Barbossa there (while Jones stands in a wooden tub filled with water). While there, they swap Will Turner for Jack Sparrow, and Elizabeth vows to Beckett to avenge her father’s death. It is seen only in At World’s End. This sandbar is not something done in a studio. The sandbar itself is a mile or so from Disney’s private island Castaway Cay, which is also the final resting place for the actual movie prop “The Flying Dutchman”.

Frozen Ocean

An ocean filled with icebergs and glaciers that the ship that Sao Feng gave the crew must sail through on their quest to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker. The special features on the At World’s End DVD suggested that this may have been the Caspian Sea.

Black Sam’s Spit

The island that Jack was twice marooned on and made “governor” of by Barbossa. It was used as a storage area for rum runners, but that business was eliminated, presumably by Elizabeth’s “bloody friend Norrington”, long before Jack’s second arrival.

Run Aground Archipelago

When a merchant ship was attacked here by the kraken under the order of Davy Jones, the surviving crew was taken by Jones and his crew. Unfortunately, Will Turner was among them, although he later escapes.

Turkish Prison

A rocky island with an apparently inhumane prison built atop its spires. A drawing of the key to Davy Jones’ Chest was once hidden within its walls, until Jack Sparrow successfully recovered it.

Piracy in the Caribbean


Pirates of the Caribbean, in fact and fiction

 


THE MYTHIC TRUTH - THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Fingolfin


Vial of Galadriel

The gathering of the White Council

Moon letters are discovered by Elrond

A Catholic Perpective

Welcome to MythicTruth.net !

===============================================

What inspired me to create this webpage?

I suppose it's partly due to the fact that as I have visited many different online communities devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien's work, I have discovered how passionate people are about protecting the true spirit of Tolkien's labours; especially with the current release of the cinematic versions of the Lord of the Rings and the new readers the movies are bringing into the fold.

In my travels through cyberspace, I have encountered many different views on the themes behind the Lord of the Rings [and Middle-earth in general] and Tolkien's motivation for writing this epic; and while I have read articles and books referring to certain Christian theme in the Lord of the Rings, I have never found online, a website that deals with the subject in a complete, in-depth and satisfying manner.

Not only that, I have not found online, a well expressed Catholic viewpoint on the Lord of the Rings.

Therefore, after some reading and research, I will try to discuss to a reasonable level why I believe Tolkien's faith played an important part in his life's work.

As for me, I am no Tolkien scholar, nor expert. And this is just an amateur webpage, not a book or biography. This is not an exhaustive text, but rather a discussion that will try to highlight the key components of Catholicism in Tolkien's work.

And of course I love the book. Why else would I do this?

Obviously I am Catholic; I have spent some time in monastic life in France in the heart of the Church and, of course I have read the Lord of the Rings multiple times, including the Silmarillion,Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earththe History of Middle-earth [HoME] and an assortment of Tolkien's letters.

Bear in mind that this is not trying to make the Lord of the Rings into a fifth Gospel or make it some spiritual work that one must read, but rather point out some beautiful parallels and symbolism in a popular fictional story written by a Catholic. It is also not trying to imply that theonly driving forces behind the story are Catholic or Christian. There are obviously many others.

You don't have to be Catholic or Christian to follow this discussion but you probably do need to have read the Lord of the Rings.

The references and quotes for this discussion have come from a variety of sources but most predominately from:

Tolkien: Man and Myth, - Joseph Pearce

Tolkien: A Celebration, - Joseph Pearce 

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, - edited by Humphrey Carpenter & Christopher Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien: A biography, - Humphrey Carpenter

The History of Middle-earth, - edited by Christopher Tolkien

Lord of the Rings, - J.R.R. Tolkien

To buy these great books, go to www.amazon.com and search under their names. Another book worth buying is "The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings"by philosopher Peter Kreeft: it can be purchased here

It's worth reading this website in sequential order as it's been written that way [except for the latest updates], but be warned this is a reasonably long discussion....!!

If you would like to contact me please use this address: contact@mythictruth.com

Now, if you're still here, alors commençons... 

Friday, September 26, 2008

Self-Identification with Deity and Voces Magicae in Ancient Egyptian and Greek Magic




By Laurel Holmstrom

 

Occultists and esotericists , such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn [1], have theorized that ancient Egyptian magic is a primary source for western magic practice and ideas. Since we know that the Hermetica and Neo-platonic theurgy have had a profound influence on later European magical traditions [2], an inquiry into possible relationships between Egyptian and Greek magical ideas would be useful in exploring the veracity of the occultists’ claim. This paper focuses on one set of ancient texts, the Greek Magical Papyri, which offer considerable potential for investigating this relationship.

 

The PGM (Papryi Graecae Magicae) [3] is the name given to a cache of papryi of magical spells collected by Jean d’Anastaisi in early 1800’s Egypt. Hans Deiter Betz, in his introduction to the newest English translation, speculates that these papyri may have been found in a tomb or temple library and the largest papyri may have been the collection of one man in Thebes.[4 ]However, the exact provenance for the PGM is unknown. Betz states that through literary sources it is known that quite a number of magical books of spells were collected in ancient times, most of which were destroyed.[5] Thus, the PGM are a very important source for first-hand information about magical practices in the ancient Mediterranean.

 

The PGM spells run the gamut of magical practices from initiatory rites for immortality to love spells and healing rites. Most of the papyri are in Greek and Demotic with glosses in Old Coptic and are dated between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD. The spells call upon Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, Gnostic and Christian deities.  Two of the most intriguing aspects of these texts are the practice of self-identification with deity and the use of voces magicae in performing magical rituals. In many of the spells, the practitioner is told to use “I am” with a specific deity name to empower or work the spell. PGM I 247-62, a spell for invisibility, states ‘I am Anubis, I am Osirphre, I am OSOT SORONOUIIER, I am Osiris whom Seth destroyed. .”[6] The use of specific magical language in these texts, the voces magicae, is abundant. Most of these words are considered “untranslatable” by the scholars working with the papyri [7].  Words of power in the incantations are composed of long strings of vowels, A EE EEE IIII OOOOO, YYYYYY, OOOOOOO, alone or with special names of deities or daimons which are often palindromes and significantly lengthy as in IAEOBAPHRENEMOUNOTHILARIKRIPHIAEYEAIPIRKIRALITHONUOMENE RPHABOEAI. [8] The exact pronunciation of these voces magicae was key to the success of the spells.

 

Since Egyptian funerary texts clearly identify the deceased with deity and the power of words and language is a predominant feature of Egyptian magic, these notions found in the PGM appeared to provide a possible link between ancient Egyptian and Greek magic.

 

Throughout the funerary literature of ancient Egypt, from the Pyramid Texts to the Book of the Dead, there is abundant evidence that ancient Egyptians thought that human beings could become deities. Deities were seen as possessing heku, magic, an aspect of the original creative power that formed the cosmos. [9] Thus, magic was perceived to be an intrinsic part of reality and the divine. [10] The Coffin Texts provide a guide book for the deceased to help her or him retain what magic they already possess and to gain more. Naming is extremely important in this experience and it is the ability to name all the gods and objects encountered that proves one has acquired enough magic to sit with the gods. [11] In these texts, the deceased is clearly identified with the god Osiris. By using historaloe the deceased will successfully navigate the journey to the afterlife as did Osiris. The use of historaloe in magical practice was common, particularly in healing rites. [12] By knowing the names of all encountered in the afterlife and establishing a link with a deity that had already been successful in this realm, the deceased was well prepared for the journey.

 

In the Pyramid texts, the initial Utterances appear to be a script directing the different Egyptian deities to recite specific formulas on the deceased king’s behalf. Utterance 1 begins “recitation by Nut, the greatly beneficent”, utterance 2, “recitation by Geb” and so forth. [13] Evidence that these utterances were spoken during funeral rites are the notes after the recitations which give directions saying, for example, “pour water”(ut 23) and “cold water and 2 pellets of natron”( ut 32). The priests and priestesses are taking the role of the deities in preparing the deceased to join the gods in the afterlife as well as the deceased being identified with Osiris. Self-identification with deity is an “authentically Egyptian trait”. [14]

 

Language, and particularly naming, carries substantial magical power in Egyptian thought. The goddess Isis, once she learns Ra’s true name, is then able to cure him of snake bite. [15] One of the oldest cosmologies of the Egyptians from Memphis (approx. 2700 BC) describes the god Ptah creating by his mind (heart) and word (tongue) [16]. Thus, words contain a primal substance and the act of speaking mirrors original creation. Speaking creates reality. Writing was given to humans by the god Thoth and the Egyptians called their langauge “words of the gods” and hieroglyphs “writing of the sacred words.” [17]

 

The Pyramid Texts, Coffin Text and the Book of the Dead all exhibit the Egyptian belief in the power of language to affect the world. Words, spoken or written were not just symbols, but realities in themselves. [18] Hieroglyphs held particular resonance with magical power and most of the funerary texts were written in hieroglyphs. The Egyptians clearly believed that humans have energetic doubles in the world beyond the physical and it seems reasonable to suspect that the hieroglyphs were thought to have a similar existence since they were written on the inside of the pyramid tombs or coffins or on scrolls placed inside the coffins for the deceased to use. Further evidence of the reality of the images themselves comes from the practice of cutting particular hieroglyphs in half to diminish their potential effect. [19]

 

Vowel chanting is also found in Egyptian religious practice as reported by Demetrius in his Roman treatise, De Eloutione:

“in Egypt the priests, when singing hymns in praise of the gods, employ the 7 vowels which they utter in due succession and the sound of these letters is so euphonious that men listen to it in place of the flute and lyre” [20] The distinction between religion and magic in scholarly discourse breaks down in the context of Egyptian religion and it is reasonable to suspect that vowel chanting could be used for more than hymns of praise by Egyptian priests.

 

Thus, self-identification with deity and use of a specific kind of magical language found in the PGM places Egyptian magical notions within a Greek magical context. The question then becomes, can evidence be found that Greek magic, prior to the PGM, included these practices and do they appear in later Greek magical material that we know to have influenced the European tradition.

 

Betz states in the Encyclopedia of Religion that “magic was an essential part of Greco-Roman culture and religion.” [21] In classical Greece, Egypt and Thessaly were considered prime sources of magical knowledge, but by 323 BC magical material in Greece had increased considerably. Betz further states that it was “Hellenistic syncretism that produced the abundance of material available today.” [22] Greek magical practitioners distinguished different types of magic; goeteia - lower magic, mageia - general magic and theourgia - higher magic. Theourgia, appears to be the most likely place to find self-identification with deity and the use of voces magicae.  Self-identification with deity in magical acts as part of ancient Greek magical practice prior to the PGM is not evident. The Greeks speculated that humans and gods “had the same mother”, but a huge gap existed between them. From ancient times to the latest date of the PGM, Greek notions about the relationship between human existence and divine existence took a variety of forms [23,] but never followed the Egyptian pattern of the possibility of declarative divine identity. The ancient Greeks believed that communion with the gods was possible as in the Eleusian and Dionysian mysteries [24] and Empedocles declared he had the knowledge to make himself immortal. [25] But, the Greek idea of a divine spark within the human soul which can be activated, contemplated and re-united with the gods still assumes an other-ness of deity and validates the fundamental separateness of human existence from the divine.  For the Egyptians, the divine appears to be immanent in the world. The world of humans and gods were not seen as being decidedly different. Human activity continued after death and Gods, embodied as the Pharoah, lived in human society. Magical practice was merely clarifying what already exists. For the Greeks, magic was a conduit for communication and communion with deity or a process whereby the soul could be purified through direct contact with the Divine. Egyptians had only to affirm a state of being through speech to create the sought reality. “Repeated commands or assertions that a desired state of affairs was already in being, are a common feature of Egyptian spells.” [26]

 

However, there are references to the voces magicae in ancient Greek material aside from the PGM. Early, are the Ephesia grammata, ( ASKION, KATASKION, LIX, TETRAX, DAMNAMENEUS, AISIA ) mystic letters that were supposedly inscribed on the statue of Artemis at Ephesus used verbally and written to avert evil. A lead tablet inscribed with the Ephesia grammata dates to the 4th c BC and they were said to be used spoken as an apotropiac charm while walking in a circle around newlyweds.  [27 ]

 

Peter Kingsley, writing of Empedocles’ magical worldview, states “there is nothing that is not vibrantly and knowingly alive. For him [Empedocles] - everything - even the words spoken by a man of understanding has an existence, intelligence and consciousness of its own.” [28] This notion appears close to the Egyptian ideas that words are not symbols, but realities.

 

Orpheus healed human pathos with poems and the lyre, while Pythagoras could chant his disciples to sleep and heal body and soul through musical words. [29] Fox argues that the PGM are carrying forward this “shamantic” tradition of magical musical charms. For the actual author(s) of the PGM, the notion of the magical potency of language could have been very strong indeed coming out of both the Egyptian and Greek magical traditions.

 

The use of voces magicae continues into later Coptic texts. For a spell invoking a “thundering power to perform every wish” the practitioner should say: “I invoke you. .  .who is addressed with the great secret name HAMOUZETH BETH ATHANABASSETONI .” [30] Vowel incantations are also found in these Coptic texts in figures typical of the PGM: [31]

AEEIOUO

EEIOU

EIO

IO

I

Voces magicae are also referred to in the Chaldean Oracles which are contemporary with the PGM and they appear to be an intrinsic part of the theurgist’s ritual. What is intriguing, for this study, about the Chaldean Oracles, is the relationship between the voces magicae and the process of immortalization of the soul, which is the goal of theurgy. These texts provide the closest approximation to self-identification with deity in a non-Egyptian context. According to the Chaldeans, the soul, in its descent to the body gathers impure substances. Through theurgistic rites, the soul can re-ascend, encounter the Divine and be purified of these impure substances and attain immortality.  The voces magicae invoke the assistant spirits that will help the soul to ascend without fear of being dragged down into Hades. [32] However, even though immortalization is the goal, self-identification with deity is not declared and only the soul can attain such a state.

 

The idea that the Egyptian language specifically held magical power is seen in the writings of people of the time. In the Hermetica (CH xvi) there is a passage which states that Greeks will not understand the Hermetica when translated into their language as Greek does not contain the power of Egyptian. [33] The Chaldean Oracles state “do not ever alter the foreign names (of the gods)”. Lewy elaborates further, “It is impossible to translate the magical formula, because its power it not due to its external sense.” [34] Iamblichus, describing the difficulty of translating the Hermetica from Egyptian to Greek says “. . .for the very quality of the sounds and the [intonation] of the Egyptian words contain in itself the force of things said.” [35] Invocation of deities by their secret names is also characteristic of Egyptian magic prior to the PGM according to Pinch, but unfortunately she does not give examples. [36]

 

Scholars have identified other potential sources beside Egyptian for specific voces magicae. The glossary in the Betz edition of the PGM speculates on a few of the voces magicae.  Jewish and Greek origins are offered as well as Egyptian for the eight names considered. Betz finds a intricate syncretism of Greek, Egyptian and Jewish elements in the texts. [37] To tease out the various strands and definitively locate the origin of specific voces magicae is yet to be done and will be difficult. What we may be seeing in the voces magicae is a general and wide-spread ancient Mediterranean magical practice. It could be that ABRACADABRA is a cousin to the voces magicae in the PGM.

 

Further questions to be asked regarding the voces magicae are: what were the potential avenues of magical communication between Egypt and Greece in the 4th century BCE where the earliest evidence of specific magical words is found in the Ephesia grammata? Is there evidence of specific voces magicae, other than vowel chanting, in Egyptian magical practice prior to the PGM? If the specific form comes from Greek notions, why are the voces magicae in the PGM glossed into Old Coptic in many spells where the main body of the text is in Greek?

 

In conclusion, the claim that the roots of European magic can be traced to Egyptian magic appears highly suspect in regard to the notions discussed. Egyptian ideas and practices of self-identification with deity do not seem to be compatible with Greek notions of the relationship between the human and divine worlds. Through the voces magicae there is evidence of a generalized magical tradition in the ancient Mediterranean from which the European tradition may draw, but not specifically from Egypt.

 

Endnotes

1. Flying Roll no. XVI “The History of the Rosicrucian Order” states “Know then, O

Aspirant, that the Order of the Rose and Cross hath existed from time immemorial and that its mystic rites were practised and its hidden knowledge communicated in the initiations of the various races of Antiquity. Egypt, Eleusis, Samothrace, Persia, Chaldea and India alike cherished these mysteries, and thus handed down to posterity the Secret Wisdom of the Ancient Ages. . .” Flying Rolls were semi-official internal documents of the Order of an instructional and theoretical nature. see King, Frances.  Ritual Magic of the Golden Dawn. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1987 & 1997, p.  105. See also Ramacharaka. The Kybalion: a study of the Hermetic philosophy of ancient Egypt and Greece. Chicago:”The Yogi Publication Society.

2. see "Occultism" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Elidae, ed.

3. I am using Betz, Hans Deiter. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation including the Demotic spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Papyri Graecae Magicae refers to the original title of the Preisendanz edition.

4. see Betz, Introduction to the PGM, p. xlii.

5. Ibid, p xli.

6. PGM I, 140, 195.

7. Betz, p. xliii.

8. Betz, p. 332

9. Pinch, p. 6.

10. In hieroglyphics, the word for magician uses the symbol for a god as the determinative. Personal communication with Dr. W. Poe, 11/24/97.

11. Brier, p. 125

12. Pinch, p. 23 and Kotansky, Roy. "Incantations and Prayers for Salvation on Inscribed Greek Amulets." in Faraone & Obbink, eds. Magika Hiera.

13. Faulkner, p.1, 4 and 6.

14. Fowden, p. 26.

15. Pinch p. 7.

16. Eliade, p. 89.

17. Personal communication with Dr. W. Poe, 11/24/97.

18. Barb, p. 155

19. Ibid

20. Fowden, p. 118.

21. see "MAGIC: Magic in Greco-Roman Antiquity" in The Encyclopedia of Religion.

22. Ibid.

23. see Corrigan, K. "Body and Soul in Ancient Religious Experience" in Armstrong, A.H. ed. Classical Mediterranean  Spirituality.

24. Willoughby

25. Kingsley, p. 233-38.

26. Pinch, P. 72. For another perspective on this problem, I asked subscribers to ARCANA, a listserv devoted to the scholarly study of the occult if they know of any examples of self-identification with deity in Western magical practice outside of theurgy. Aleister Crowley’s works and the writings of the Golden Dawn were mentioned several times. One writer specifically wrote: “In all their initiatiory rituals, the officers [of the Golden Dawn] took on the forms and powers of various Egyptian gods and directed that force at the initiate” (Benjamin Rowe, Oct 6, 1997 email correspondence, see also http://w3.one.net/~browe) He also suggested that John Dee’s Enochian magic included self-identification with deity implicitly in it’s “Angelic Calls”.  The significance of Dee’s use of this particular magical practice is beyond the scope of this paper. However, it is fascinating that the Golden Dawn associated Egyptian magical practice with divine self-identification. Exactly how this association was made is also not our topic, but it apparently did not come through the Greek magical tradition.

27. Kotansky, p. 111.

28. Kingsley, p. 230

29. see Fox, Patricia. "In Praise of Nonsense" in Armstrong, A.H. Classical Mediterranean Spirituality.

30. Meyer & Smith, p. 239.

31. Ibid, p. 234 and PGM I, 15-20.

32. Lewy, p. 227-257.

33. see Fowden, chapter 1.

34. Lewy, p. 240.

35. Fowden, p. 30.

36. Pinch, p. 23.

37. Betz, p. xliii

 

Works Cited

Armstrong, A.H., ed. Classical Mediterranean Spirituality: Egyptian, Greek and Roman. NY: Crossroads, 1980.

Barb. A.A. "Mystery, Myth and Magic" in Harris, J.R. The Legacy of Egypt, 2nd edition, London: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Betz, H.D. The Greek Magical Papyri in translation including the Demotic spells. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1986.

Brier, Bob. Ancient Egyptian Magic. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1980.

Eliade, Mircea. A History of Religious Ideas. vol. 1, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.

Eliade, Mircea, ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York: Macmillian, 1987.

Faraone, Christopher and Obbink, Dirk, eds. Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Faulkner, R. O., trans. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. London: University of Oxford, 1969.

Fowden, Garth. The Egyptian Hermes: a historical approach to the late pagan mind. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Kingsley, Peter. Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.

Lewy, Hans. Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy: mysticism, magic and platonism in the later Roman empire. Le Caire: Impremerie De L'institut Francais D'Archeologie Orientale, 1956.

Meyer, Marvin and Smith, Richard, eds. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic texts of ritual power. San Francisco: Harper, 1994.

Pinch, Geraldine. Magic in Ancient Egypt. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.

Willoughby, Harold R. Pagan Regeneration: a study of mystery initiations in the Graeco-Roman world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929.

Other Works Consulted

Johnston, S.I. Hekate Soteria: a study of Hekate's role in the Chaldean Oracles and related literature. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990.

Majercik, Ruth. The Chaldean Oracles: text, translation and commentary. Leiden and New York: E.J. Brill, 1989.

Parrott, Douglas, ed. Nag Hammadi Codices 5:2-6 and 6 with papyrus Beronliensis 8502, 1 and 4. Leiden: Brill, 1979.

Shaw, G. Theurgy and the Soul: the neoplatonism of Iamblichus. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995.

ROKUGAN


Rokugan is the fictional empire which is the main power in the Legend of the Five Rings setting, the basis for the Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game, Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game, and the now out of print Clan War Miniatures game, all from Alderac Entertainment Group. It is similar to feudal Japan, though it also includes aspects of other Asian cultures, as well as magic and mythical beasts. The setting was used by Wizards of the Coast as the basis for their updated Oriental Adventures Dungeons & Dragons supplement.

There is no given name for the entire world which the setting describes, so “Rokugan” is used alternately to refer to the specific nation within the setting or to refer to the entire world. Strictly speaking this is incorrect, but as the Emperor lays claim to all that is as a right of being the descendant of Amaterasu (Lady Sun) and Onnotangu (Lord Moon), the courtiers of the Emerald Empire would see this as an appropriate use. The citizens and rulers of the Burning Sands and Ivory Kingdoms might disagree, however. Some say that Ningen-Do, the name of the metaphysical realm in which the world is placed, serves as a proper name for the world.

The Empire of Rokugan

Rokugani society is based on a clan structure, with seven (and later eight) so-called “Great Clans”, as well as a number of minor clans. Great Clans are made up of several family lines, each with their own general purpose within the clan. Minor clans, on the other hand, generally only have one family. Each clan also has areas of land under their control which the emperor bestowed on them as a fief. The emperor retains ownership off all lands, however, and the clans essentially rent the lands they use by paying taxes annually.

Crab Clan

The Crab Clan is considered the least cultured or courtly of all the clans. Their duty is to guard the Carpenter Wall that separates the empire of Rokugan from the foul and tainted Shadowlands. In guarding the wall, they face constant attack from undead foes, Oni (demons), and a variety of other evil minions. It has been the Crab clan’s duty to guard the wall for as far back as memory goes. It is, for this reason, that they have become experts of defensive strategies. Their warriors are all battle hardened and experienced and most of them prefer to wield massive weapons such as the tetsubo (two-handed war-club) or the no-dachi (two-handed sword). The clan families are Hida, Hiruma, Kaiu, Kuni, Toritaka, and Yasuki. The clan colors are grey and dark blue.

Crane Clan

The Crane Clan is considered the most artistic of all the clans. They are the Emperor’s Left Hand. They are known throughout the empire for their trained courtiers and duelists. Crane samurai are arguably the finest duelists in Rokugan. They are trained heavily in Iaijutsu (fast-draw technique) where the sword is drawn and a killing blow is struck with one, very fast movement. The clan families are Asahina, Daidoji, Doji, Kakita and formerly the Yasuki, who now swear allegiance to the Crab Clan. The clan colors are white and light blue.

Dragon Clan

The Dragon Clan controls the mountains to the north of the empire. They are aloof and removed from the affairs of the other clans, preferring to reside in their mountain strongholds. Most of the land the Dragon Clan holds becomes completely cut off from the rest of the empire during the winter due to heavy snowfall. Their samurai use niten (two-strike style) in which combatants use both katana and wakizashi to execute very fast strikes in rapid succession. To many observers, the niten looks more like a dance than actual combat, however, niten is a deadly art requiring a great deal of skill and coordination. The clan families are Hoshi, Kitsuki, Mirumoto, Tamori, Togashi, and formerly the Agasha, who now swear allegiance to the Phoenix. The clan colors are emerald green and gold.

Lion Clan

The Lion Clan is known as a very aggressive and honor-driven clan. They are the Emperor’s Right Hand, personally defending his causes above all else. Some of the finest generals of all Rokugan have come from the Lion clan. The clan families are Akodo, Ikoma, Kitsu, and Matsu. The clan colors are brown and yellow.

Mantis Clan

The Mantis Clan started as a group of minor clans that banded together under the banner of one powerful man, Yoritomo. They are the only new Great Clan, as previously the requirement for such recognition was being founded at the founding of Rokugan. They are known for their seafaring ability and their fine silks. The clan families are Kitsune, Moshi, Tsuruchi, and Yoritomo. The clan colors are silver and green.

Phoenix Clan

The Phoenix Clan is known as the most skilled with magic in the empire. They have schools of magic associated with each element, including the empire’s only school dealing with Void magic. The clan families are Agasha, Asako, Isawa, and Shiba. The clan colors are red and orange.

Scorpion Clan

The Scorpion Clan is known as the Underhand of the Emperor. They are known for their courtiers’ abilities. Their ninja are experts in assassination and espionage. Scorpion knowledge is not shared with outsiders, but is a true thing of power. Scorpion architects have constructed many key structures throughout Rokugan, and, as a result, many of those structures have secret passages and rooms unknown to all but the Scorpion clan. It is a Scorpion tradition to always be masked, or face painted. The clan families are Bayushi, Shosuro, Soshi, and Yogo. The clan colors are dark red and black.

Unicorn Clan

The Unicorn Clan is known for their cavalry and horsemanship. They are considered barbarians by the other clans because the clan as a whole spent nearly 800 of the last thousand years outside of the empire. They hunt game and eat red meat and have adopted a number of other customs that are considered taboo by the rest of the Clans. However, the horses they brought back from far off lands are faster, stronger, and larger than any found in Rokugan. The clan families are Moto, Horiuchi, Ide, Iuchi, Shinjo, and Utaku, formerly known as Otaku. The clan colors are purple and white.

Minor Clans

There are many minor clans in Rokugan—clans that have been formed since the birth of the empire by those other than the seven Kami. New clans are not founded lightly. The founders of these clans generally performed some extraordinarily valiant deed or favor for the Empire. Among the Minor clans are: Hare Clan, Ox Clan, Sparrow Clan, Spider Clan, Monkey Clan, Tortoise Clan, Bat Clan, Oriole Clan, Dragonfly Clan. The Dragonfly Clan was wiped out in a war between the Lion and the Dragon, but has recently been reconstructed with the help of Toturi Sezuru. The Fox Clan has recently been absorbed into the Mantis.

Other Regions

Burning Sands

The Burning Sands lie to the north and west of Rokugan. These lands consist mostly of vast stretches of desert where nomads roam the land and bitter wars are fought over the smallest reservoirs of water. It is thematically based on a fantastic version of Arabia.

Ivory Kingdoms

The Ivory Kingdoms lie far to the west and south of Rokugan, past the Shadowlands. Little is known of these islands and their inhabitants to the general populace of Rokugan, although secretly (and illegally) the Mantis Clan has been carrying on trade with this nation for some time. It is thematically based on a fantasy version of India.

Shadowlands

The Shadowlands border Rokugan to the south and south-west. While not a nation per se this is a vile land where the very air can be poisonous, and foul, unholy creatures are summoned forth by dark powers to wage a never-ending battle against all life in Rokugan.

Denizens

In the world of Rokugan, there are many different and extraordinary creatures roaming the lands, and humans are not the only beings to have developed a civilization.

Humans

The great majority of the population of Rokugan are humans. Humans almost exclusively make up the population of the clans, great and minor, as well as the other groups within Rokugan. The number of non-human members of Rokugan’s clans throughout history can probably be counted on one’s fingers.

Kenku

The kenku are an ancient race resembling very large humanoid crows. Kenku are legendary swordsmen and are, at least in legend, responsible for training some of the most famous Rokugani swordsmen in history. Seeing a kenku is rare, and getting one to take on a student is nearly impossible. These creatures have removed themselves from Rokugan almost entirely. Their appearance is of a large crow standing upright, and whose wings can be flexed and used as arms.

Lost

The Lost are those humans who have given themselves over to Fu Leng’s evil will. They are often “blessed” with his dark gifts, which lead eventually to madness. Some of the Lost have formed mock societies, and there have even been rumors of children born in the Shadowlands, many of whom have the benefits of the dark gifts, with little in the way of curses due to their unfailing devotion to Fu Leng.

Naga

The naga are an ancient race of creatures who appear half-human, half-serpent. Long before the rise of Rokugan, the Naga had a vast and vibrant civilization. At some point in pre-history, however, the entire race of Naga entered a deep sleep, where they remained for nearly 100,000 years. They awakened briefly during the Second Day of Thunder, but after a few short years of involvement in Rokugani affairs, they once again returned to their slumber.

Nezumi

The “ratlings” are a race of large, intelligent rats. They currently live in squalor, barely better than animals, although they claim to have once had an extensive, advanced society. Unfortunately, this supposed civilization was entirely within what has become the Shadowlands, and was presumably destroyed when the dark Kami Fu Leng fell to the earth. Nothing found by any explorers has verified the claim of a previous Nezumi society, and many stories of the Naga history provide evidence the society never existed.

Zokujin

The “copper goblins” are small creatures with wiry hair and heads vaguely resembling those of frogs. They have extraordinary natural tunneling abilities—being that they eat rock for nourishment, this is little surprise. Because of this, they are often used—involuntarily more often than not—by the clans of Rokugan in their various mines. Zokujin live to be centuries old, and an experienced zokujin shaman will have more powerful abilities in the area of Earth magic than is possible for human shugenja.

Ogre

Though now little more than low-witted brutes, the ogres once had a thriving Empire, and rumors of great advancements beyond that of even the current humans. However, with the fall of Fu Leng from the Heavens, the ogres were subjugated to his will, and have since reverted into the monsters they now are.

LINK


Thursday, September 25, 2008

NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 2: STORM OF ZEHIR INTERVIEW



These pics are of Yuan-ti not of the game!

Strategy Informer: Storm of Zehir is rumored to be much like Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate in terms of its non-linear progression.  Exactly how much space will players have to navigate without being tied to any story objectives?

Kevin Saunders:  That’s true – Lead Designer Tony Evans has taken Storm of Zehir in a more non-linear direction than previous Neverwinter Nights games. In that regard, SoZ is more similar to a game like Fallout - there’s a plot and objectives, but you’re free to explore the game world however you wish.

Strategy Informer: We’ve read that you may have run into some time crunches towards the end of the development cycle with the first expansion pack Mask of the Betrayer, including losing a mission called “Patron of the Arts.”  Will we see some sort of revival for that quest or any of the other content that may have been cut from Mask of the Betrayer?

Kevin Saunders: Nope – all of the Storm of Zehir content is brand new! To clarify, no developed content was really cut from Mask of the Betrayer – there are always more ideas than you have time to implement and you have to pick and choose what you actually put into the game. Anything that we considered for MotB but didn’t implement wouldn’t be as beneficial for Storm of Zehir than new content we came up with specifically for this game. 


Strategy Informer: How will the new D&D 4th edition rules work into Storm of Zehir? Wizards of the Coast maintains that the 4th edition is easier to pick up, play, and learn. Will Storm of Zehir welcome newcomers as much as entertain loyalists?

Kevin Saunders: In terms of game rules, Storm of Zehir is strictly a 3.5 Edition D&D game. We would love to create a 4th Edition D&D game, but that’s simply a bigger undertaking than an expansion can tackle. That said, you will find 4th Edition story tie-ins in SoZ. Besides just changing the rules, Wizards of the Coast also altered the Forgotten Realms setting with 4th Edition. Storm of Zehir takes place before the Spellplague and has some foreshadowing of the events that lead to 4th Edition.

Strategy Informer: Will you be able to import your character from previous Neverwinter Nights 2 campaigns into Storm of Zehir?  If so, will it be a clean slate with the party?

Kevin Saunders: Storm of Zehir is intended to be played with a new party of low level characters. Neverwinter Nights 2 is a flexible game and from a technical perspective, you could bring your high level characters in SoZ. 

Strategy Informer: What sort of graphical overhaul or tweaking can we expect from the new expansion pack?

Kevin Saunders: The Overland Map has a different graphical style than you've seen in NWN2 and MotB. Developed by artists Scott Everts and Justin Cherry, it's more stylized and less "realistic." The adventure areas themselves use new lighting techniques we've developed over the course of creating the previous games. NWN2 artists Jay Bakke and Roger Chang have created some great looking locations, as you'll soon see when we start releasing screenshots.

Strategy Informer: Can we expect the level cap to raise? If so, what will be affected?

Kevin Saunders: Storm of Zehir has the same level cap as Mask of the Betrayer – 30. With its open-ended exploration gameplay, you can certainly reach epic levels in SoZ, but it’s also possible to “win” the game earlier than that. We felt that players would prefer our concentrating on improving other aspects of the NWN2 experience rather than extending the level cap beyond 30. Level 30 is already extreme for D&D (in fact, 4th Edition currently ends at 30).

Strategy Informer: Can you give us any sort of clue as to the story of Storm of Zehir?

Kevin Saunders: Well, Zehir is mentioned briefly in the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook. =)

Strategy Informer: Has a release date been finalized yet?

Kevin Saunders: I believe that what has been announced is Q4 2008 – so by the end of the year. We can't comment on an exact date.

Strategy Informer: How long do you plan to keep supporting Neverwinter Nights 2 with additional expansion packs?

Kevin Saunders: There are many people at each Atari and Obsidian who love D&D and love Neverwinter Nights 2. Continuing to support NWN2 is definitely of interest to us. But regardless of what one might personally want to create, we also have to consider financial realities - like everyone else, game developers have families to feed. Mask of the Betrayer exceeded sales projections; if Storm of Zehir is also well received, that would create a strong argument for a third expansion.

Strategy Informer: Is there anything else you'd like to say before we close this interview?

Kevin Saunders: Thank you for your time and interest in D&D, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Obsidian. You’re the reason we make these games. =) 

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OBSIDIAN PORTAL



Obsidian Portal allows you to create campaign websites for Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games. Rather than trying to automate the playing of the game, Obsidian Portal provides tools to help facilitate the storytelling. Every campaign gets a shared blog/wiki to showcase their story, as well as integrated tools to help track NPCs, locations, treasure, and all the other minutae that makes up an RPG.


TODD GAMBLE'S MAP FOLIO II




I keep picturing a swampy Yuan-ti kingdom toward the south, were human and orc peasants are little better then slaves, with lots of snake-inspired architecture (Set worshippers?) like what is seen in Todd Gamble's Map Folio II. The man is a must-have for any maps that would be done in an official product.

Almost all the maps deal with sections and buildings of an Aztec-like fortress city. While this would be great for a Maztica campaign, or a single CoC adventure.

 

THE MASK AS METAPHOR – CHAC

Stela 11, Kaminaljuyú depicting a masked ritual figure whose face is visible within the mask


Stela 31, Tikal, front and sides



Chac/Tlaloc, painted ceramic urn, Balankanche Cave, Yucatan

By Peter T Markman

A consideration of the Maya use of the mask as a metaphor for the rain god is somewhat more difficult. That there are masks of the rain god is clear: any visitor to the archaeological sites of the Yucatán finds masks of Chac forming the doorways, lining the stairways, marking the corners, and embellishing the facades of ancient pyramids and temples. But lowland Yucatán is only one part of Maya territory, and most of the masks we see are from relatively late in the development of Maya civilization. It is somewhat more difficult to isolate a mask of the rain god in the Classic period, especially in the highlands, and yet the antecedents of the Chac masks of the late Classic and Postclassic Yucatán seem to be found in Preclassic developments in those distant highlands and on the Pacific slope. And a difficulty of another sort arises from the fact that the rain god of the codices, presumably of Postclassic Yucatec origin, is a man, or four men, with exaggerated and distorted facial features but not a mask. These difficulties are compounded by the paucity of knowledge of Maya religion available to modern scholars. Nevertheless, we feel that a case can be made for the existence among the Maya of a metaphorical mask of the rain god, a mask that, like those of Oaxaca and central Mexico, carries with it connotations of fertility and divinely ordained rulership, and that, like those other metaphorical masks, was derived from an Olmec original.
The case for an Olmec source of Chac was made early. Covarrubias's chart traces Chac's descent from the Olmec were-jaguar, and J. E. S. Thompson, who saw serpent rather than jaguar associations, believed that the Maya rain cult, "with world color and directional features and with quadripartite deities deriving from or fused with snakes, had developed in all its essentials in the Formative period, probably as an Olmec creation." Not until recently, however, did scholars begin to understand the precise means of transmission of the were-jaguar mask to the Maya. While still not as clear as it might be, it now seems that
Classic Maya civilization's Olmec ancestry is traceable through the Izapan culture, which spread through the Intermediate Zone and much of the Maya Highlands in the late Preclassic period. Olmec art preshadows Izapan art in subject matter, in style, and even in specific iconographic elements. . . . In a very real sense, Maya symbol systems began with Izapan culture, which in turn has an obvious Olmec ancestry.
While Olmec influence can also be seen in the lowlands of the Petén and Belize (Olmec-related objects from as early as 1000 B.C. appear at Seibal, Xoc, and Cuello), Izapan art, characteristic of sites on the Pacific slope and in the highlands, seems to be the link between the Olmec were-jaguar and Chac.
Among other human and composite beings depicted in the relief carvings of Izapa "is what may be called the 'Long-lipped God.' This being has an immensely extended upper lip and flaring nostril and is surely a development of the old Olmec were-jaguar, the god of rain and lightning." This god "becomes transformed into the Maya rain god Chac." And Izapan art displays other symbols associated with later rain gods as well—fangs protruding from the corners of the mouth à la Tlaloc and Chac and bifurcated tongues like those of Cocijo—though not in the context of the long-lipped mask. In profile, that mask shows obvious similarities to the Olmec were-jaguar mask because in both cases symbolic attention is focused on the exaggerated upper lip. While the exaggeration of the Izapan upper lip is greater than that found on most Olmec were-jaguar masks, a number of stone masks have an upper, "jaguar" lip elongated so as to protrude well beyond the plane of the face.
There are other signs of continuity between Olmec and Izapan art directly related to the mask of the rain god. Significantly, the long-lipped god of Izapan art is found primarily on stelae presumably associated with rulership. The Olmecs began the long Mesoamerican tradition of carving and setting up stone stelae, a tradition that was to reach its apex among the Classic Maya. From its Olmec inception, that tradition was dedicated to the portrayal of rulers, and the Olmecs often indicated the ruler's status on the stelae in the same way they symbolized it on the throne/altars: a number of the earliest stelae depict a figure or figures associated with rulership within the open mouth of a jaguar. The Olmec Stelae A and D from Tres Zapotes depict this motif most clearly; both frame scenes involving what seem to be rulers and warriors within the jaw of a jaguar.
La Venta Stela 2, discussed below, lacks the jaguar mouth "frame" but also relates the jaguar mask to rulership. This stela depicts a standing figure holding a ceremonial bar and wearing an elaborate headdress displaying prominently a common Olmec abstract motif that Joralemon calls the "four dots and bar symbol" representing a mask. The headdress is depicted with a curving lower edge that seems to disappear behind the figure, creating a clear visual reference to the cave/niches of the altars and uniting this stela with those monuments that legitimize the ruler by associating him with the were-jaguar mouth. For the O1mecs, then, the stelae, like the altars, provided a means of defining, through the symbolic use of the mask, the spiritual nature of temporal power. And that use of the stela passed to Izapa and ultimately became one of the primary features of the cult of the divine ruler among the Maya.
The Izapan-style Stela 11 from the highlands site of Kaminaljuyú brings together the mask of the long-lipped god and the stela tradition by depicting a man, presumably a ruler, wearing what Coe describes as "a series of grotesque masks of Izapan long-lipped gods" to indicate his exalted status. There are four masks in this "series." One of them covers his face, and another is in his headdress. Above his head "floats" a third, downward-peering mask prefiguring the Classic Maya convention of representing the ancestor of the current ruler, and a fourth mask with a long bifurcated tongue marked with what may well be water symbols hangs from his belt. Somewhat different from each other, these four masks share the emphasis on the exaggerated upper lip derived from the Olmec tradition, and there are other, equally clear references to that mask tradition. The ruler's x-ray style depiction within the mask is similar to that of the ruler atop the throne/altar in the Olmec painting at Oxtotitlán and represents a symbolically important convention in the depiction of masked figures which we will discuss in the context of masked ritual below. In another similarity to that painting, this figure stands atop a stylized jaguar mouth, the symbolic equivalent of the mouth on the Olmec throne/altars and stelae from which rulers symbolically emerge from the world of the spirit to provide a sacred order for the world of man.
This stela is but one indication of the exaltation of the ruler at Kaminaljuyú; another can be seen in the elaborate burials uncovered there. These burials were located within pyramidal temple platforms, anticipating the later Maya practice, and in one of them,
the corpse was wrapped in finery and covered from head to toe with cinnabar pigment, then laid on a wooden litter and lowered into the tomb. Both sacrificed adults and children accompanied the illustrious dead, together with offerings of astonishing richness and profusion. . . . Among the finery recovered were the remains of a mask or headdress of jade plaques perhaps once fixed to a background of wood.
Also in that tomb was a soapstone urn similar to the Tlaloc urns displaying a face with an Olmec-like were-jaguar mouth. In life, as depicted on the stela, and in death, the mask symbolized the divine status of the ruler in Preclassic Kaminaljuyú as it did earlier for the Olmecs and would soon do for the Maya. That aspect of the symbolism of the were-jaguar mask would be the dominant one in Maya art, although its association with rain and fertility was always just beneath the surface.
We do not know the name of the deity symbolized by that mask of the long-lipped god of Izapa, but we do know that the Classic-period god in whose mask Maya rulers often displayed themselves was one of the quadripartite Chacs, Chac Xib Chac by name. In a fascinating symbolic shift, the elongated lip of the Izapan god at times becomes an elongated nose or both lip and nose are elongated. Throughout the Classic period, that long-lipped or long-nosed mask and the accoutrements of Chac Xib Chac are worn by living Maya rulers and accompany them in death. On Tikal's Stela 31, for example, which depicts the accession rites in A.D. 445 of the ruler Maya scholars have named Stormy Sky, a downward-peering "floating image" like that above the figure on Kaminaljuyú Stela 11 appears over Stormy Sky's head. It is a manifestation of his dead father, the previous king, called Curl Snout because his upper lip is elongated like the Izapan lips but turned upward in this case. Above and below his disembodied head, however, are long-nosed masks, "one of the earliest known examples of the Maya rain deity much later known as Chac." And Stormy Sky himself wears a buccal mask with a long upturned lip like that worn by Curl Snout and also displays masks with exaggerated noses in his headdress and on his belt. Both the headdress and belt masks, like those of Curl Snout above, display a backward-curving spiral at the corner of the mouth very similar to the fangs protruding from the corners of the mouths of the later Chacs. Similar images of Chac Xib Chac were worn on pectorals and suspended from symbolic ceremonial belts worn by kings throughout the Classic period.
This symbolic identification of the ruler with Chac through the use of the mask continues later in the Classic period. A late Classic figurine illustrated by Linda Schele and Mary Ellen Miller wears a costume of Chac Xib Chac which is "standard for Maya rulers" and "identical to costumes worn by rulers on Dos Pilas Stelae 1 and 17." And one of the better-known rulers of the late Classic, Yaxchilán's Bird Jaguar, is depicted on Stela 11 from that site in an X-ray image discussed in the following section. Portrayed in ritual "directly preparatory" to his accession, he manifests himself as Chac Xib Chac in a mask with an elongated nose, the suggestion of an elongated upper lip, and a spiral device at the corner of the mouth.
These images of living rulers have their counterparts in the tombs of dead rulers. The early Classic period Kendal Tomb in northern Belize, for example, has yielded jade artifacts—a pectoral, an ear flare, and an ax-that "reveal that the ruler... went to his grave dressed in the costume of the god Chac Xib Chac." And the association of Chac with burials can also be seen in the stuccoed wooden figures of the god found in a Classic period tomb at Tikal which display enormously elongated upper lips and noses that have merged in a single projecting form. This association of the mask of Chac with death reveals the Maya belief in regeneration. The king died to the world of nature only to "become a god," to merge with the life-force of which he was the representative and for which he was the conduit in his stay on earth. This belief is captured in the image on a carved limestone panel from Palenque which depicts Kan Xul, dead king of that city, dancing "out of Xibalbá wearing the costume of Chac Xib Chac." The text on this
apotheosis tablet  . . .  begins by recalling the ritual, on February 8, A.D. 657, in which Kan Xul was named as the kexol, the "replacement," of a dead ancestor of the same name who had died on February 10, A.D. 565, ninety-two years earlier. It ends with the rebirth of Kan Xul on November 24, A.D. 722 after his sacrificial death at Tonina
Death has been defeated, and the cycle of life through which the life-force manifests itself continues its eternal movement. The mask of Chac and the dance of Kan Xul are marvelously symbolic of this victory and of the continuity demonstrated in the person of the ruler who is "replacing" his predecessor as a new manifestation of the eternal god whose mask they wear and are.
This belief is also expressed through the mask and figure of Chac on the painted ceramics characteristically associated with late Classic burials in the southern lowlands and north along the Caribbean coast into the Yucatán. These ceramics are closely allied stylistically and iconographicaly to the somewhat later codices that are presumably also of Yucatán origin. A remarkable example of that ceramic tradition is an "extraordinary plate [that] presents a conceptual cosmological model of the Maya universe that is without previous precedent in the ceramic medium” in the form of "the resurrection of a personage (if not Venus) . . . linked to a visual observation of the first appearance of Venus as the Evening Star (a Water Lily Jaguar) on the night of October 24, A.D. 775." In the center of the plate appears Chac Xib Chac rising from Xibalbá through the waters that separate that realm of the spirit from the world of nature.
His face is the god's distinctive mask with its exaggerated nose, elongated upper lip, curving fangs, and distinctive eye and ear treatment reminiscent of Cocijo and Tlaloc. This is the Chac of the later codices and the mask that decorates the contemporaneous architecture of the northern lowlands. Growing from the top of his head is the World Tree, the branches of which "are transformed into the bloody body of the Vision Serpent." Above and below the god, painted on the angled walls of the plate, can be seen the enveloping world of the spirit; "in the lower border, the skeletal Maw of the Underworld encloses bloody water; in the upper half of the border, the Celestial Monster arches around the rim of the plate forming the dome of heaven."
This single image encompasses the entire Maya cosmos and synthesizes all of the imagery that was integral to the lives and functions of kings. It explains the rationale behind accession, the role of bloodletting, the nature of the vision produced, the necessity of sacrifice, the inevitability of death and the possibility of renewal. . . . To the Maya, this plate held a symbolic depiction of the fundamental causal forces of the universe, exactly as the equation e = mc2symbolically represents our understanding of the physical forces that structure our universe.
The symbolism of this plate offers eloquent testimony to the central role played by the mask of the god in delineating metaphorically the relationship between man and the world of the spirit for the Maya. Its central image refers simultaneously to Venus emerging from "death" as the Evening Star, Chac in his association with the cyclical rebirth of vegetation, and the unknown ruling "personage" who had, like Kan Xul, vanquished death to merge with the life-force.
Not only does this image of Chac tell us a great deal about Maya thought but in an almost unbelievable way it also suggests the extent to which that thought shared its fundamental assumptions with the spiritual thought of the other great Classic period civilizations. Although the image on this plate is completely different visually from the scene depicted on the upper half of the Tlalocan mural at Teotihuacán, the iconographic parallels are striking. In both cases, an image of the rain god is central and water flows beneath him. And in both cases, this water separates him from the world of the spirit. In both images, a stylized tree from which liquid flows seems to emerge from his head, and in both cases, liquid flows from his hands. These similarities in detail reveal the essential similarity: in both, the figure of the rain god with his characteristic mask is central to a composition that symbolically depicts the gods, impersonated in ritual by priests or kings (or priest-kings), as the conduits through which the life-sustaining forces of the world of the spirit enter the world of man. Similarly, the reciprocal sacrifice required of man is noted in both. While the Maya plate, unlike the mural, refers centrally to Venus and astronomical cycles, in typically Maya fashion, and the Teotihuacán mural's central reference to the union of fire and water has no counterpart on the plate, the imagery of both of these important pictorial statements connects the mask of the god of rain to the eternal elemental processes manifested in the cycle of life driven by the life-force.
Significantly, the image of Chac on the Maya plate is Chac Xib Chac, "the name that is used for God B in the Dresden Codex and documented in colonial sources. In Postclassic cosmology, there were four Chacs assigned to the four directions. The chief among them was Chac Xib Chac, the Red Chac of the east." That eastern aspect of the quadripartite Chac is naturally associated with regeneration since the eastern horizon is the location of the sun's daily rebirth, and red, as we have seen, is associated with the sacrificial blood that man must shed to ensure the continuation of the cycle of generation and regeneration. But in addition to that, the Chac of the plate is the "chief" Chac, the essential Chac, the god who, like the Tlaloc and Tezcatlipoca of central Mexico, unfolds into aspects, each of which are still the god. Tezcatlipoca, as we have seen, was both the unitary god and one of the aspects. The same situation seems to exist here. It is particularly interesting that "the other three Chacs have not yet been identified with specific Classic period images"; perhaps they, like the other three aspects of Tezcatlipoca, have other identities. Whatever the case, it is significant that the unfolding of Chac parallels that of the gods of central Mexico just as the mask of Chac parallels that of his central Mexican "brother."
Those parallels are firmly rooted in Maya history as well as in their common Olmec origin. The mask of Tlaloc and other indicators of a central Mexican presence appeared in the Classic period when "from a base at Kaminaljuyú, Teotihuacanos developed economic ties with a few centers in the southern lowlands." One of these centers was Tikal, and Stela 31 from that site which, as we have seen, presents "one of the earliest known examples" of Chac worn in the headdresses of the ruler, Stormy Sky, and his father, Curl Snout, shows that ruler "flanked by two men dressed in the manner of Highland Mexicans" carrying shields decorated with Tlaloc-like masks. As Clemency Coggins demonstrates, the Tlaloc mask was symbolic of Mexican influence in the spiritually significant areas of calendrical thought and ritual, but "Tlaloc imagery was soon Mayanized to conflate with the Maya long-nosed rain and storm personification later known as Chac." And Tikal was not the only example of this use of Tlaloc; there are similar allusions to Tlaloc in depictions of Bird Jaguar at Yaxchilán, another ruler also connected with Chac. The striking similarities between the Chac of the late Classic plate and the Tlaloc of the Teotihuacán mural are clearly not coincidental.
The late Classic period also saw the development of the architecture of the regional societies of the northern lowlands, an architecture that used the mask to an unprecedented degree. Large public buildings in the Rio Bec, Chenes, and Puuc regions were similarly embellished with mosaic masks of Chac, masks that "most closely resemble the long-nosed 'Chacs' of the Maya Postclassic manuscripts or codices." Made up, mosaic style, of separately carved elements, these masks decorated the facades of the buildings, marked their corners, and delineated the liminal importance of the temple doorways and the pyramid stairways. The large mosaic mask that surmounts a doorway in the east facade of the palace at the Puuc site of Labná provides an excellent example of the type. Clearly identifiable as Chac by its elongated, upturned nose (on which is inscribed a Maya date equivalent to A.D. 862), it contains features characteristic of that god as well as reminiscent of the other Classic period rain gods. Immediately below that characteristic nose is a mustache-like element representing the two curving or spiral fangs that typically protrude from the corners of Chac's mouth, but in this case, the similarity to Tlaloc's "handlebar mustache" upper lip is striking. The mouth, with its teeth flanked by outturned fangs, is also similar to the Tlaloc mouth, although the lower teeth are characteristic of Chac. The roughly rectangular eyes are also typical of the Chac mask, though they are similar to Cocijo's eyes, but the ear flares are again somewhat reminiscent of Tlaloc. Such a mask as this, then, illustrates clearly the iconographic interconnectedness of the masks of the rain god in the Classic period, due in great part to their common Olmec ancestry.
The symbolic use of such masks will be discussed in our consideration of architectural masks, but it is important to note here Rosemary Sharp's contention that the quadriplicity of the Chacs was used as "a cosmological model" by the peoples of the Yucatán on which to base their political system and that "the conflation of sacred and secular systems was manifested in an artistic form which combined particularly potent natural symbols with a quadripartite plan for the limitation of power." Whether or not she is correct in her contention that rulers were "rotated" on the basis of this cosmological model, the multiplicity of Chac masks on public buildings surely supports her contention that "like Oaxacan Cocijos," and, we might add, the Olmec were-jaguar, "Chacs imply a great deal more than rain." They connote the inherent orderliness of life and are intimately related to rulership.
These late Classic period mosaic Chac masks as well as the Chac depicted on the painted ceramic funerary plate and others on ceramic vessels are no doubt similar to those that must have been depicted in codices at the time. Unfortunately, none of those codices has survived; we have only four Postclassic works, all of them Yucatec, that contain Chacs whose masklike faces are clearly derived from the earlier models. In the Codex Dresden, the most complete of the four, representations of Chac vastly outnumber those of other gods. They are depicted with masklike faces characterized by long noses and fangs curving backward from the corners of their mouths. These Chacs appear most frequently in sections devoted to "problems of farmers—the weather and the crops." This clearly indicates that despite its intimate connections with rulers, the mask of Chac retained its primary association with rain and fertility without losing its ability to delineate symbolically the essential nature of reality.
One group of Chacs enthroned on their directional trees are followed by a fifth Chac seated in a sort of cave or underground chamber with the glyphic label yolcab, "in the heart of the earth" (Codex Dresden, 29a-30a). Directional trees are of this world, so the center is a spot below the center of the world.
These five Chacs, like the five Tlalocs on page 27 of the Codex Borgia, reproduce the sacred shape of space and time and in doing so reveal their use by the Maya sages as a means of understanding and expressing metaphorically the most profound of mysteries. In this, they are essentially similar to the masks of Tlaloc and Cocijo.
But while Chac seems to have continued his existence undisturbed in the Postclassic codices, developments in the Yucatán forced his mask to coexist with that of Tlaloc on the facades of temples and elsewhere. Although its extent, dating, and precise nature are uncertain, there was an intrusion into the northern lowlands, particularly evident in the architecture of Chichén Itzá, of the artistic forms and presumably the belief system and political organization of the dominant power in central Mexico, Toltec Tula. And with their architectural style, the Toltecs brought their gods. Best known of the "new" gods in the Yucatán was Kukulcán, the Yucatec variant of Quetzalcóatl, but masks of Tlaloc also appear. At Uxmal, for example, "on the north range of the Monjas quadrangle ... a pile of Chac masks is surmounted by a Tlaloc," and in the Balankanche Cave near Chichén Itzá, a large shrine surrounded by Tlaloc effigy vessels testifies to the presence of the Mexican rain god.
But Chac survived this challenge by Tlaloc as he survived the smaller but comparable intrusion of the alien god-mask during the Classic period in the southern lowlands. His survival can be seen clearly in the plethora of long-nosed fanged faces on the ceramic urns, figurines, and incensarios produced late in the Postclassic at Mayapán. Although such ceramics are often associated with Tlaloc, these depict Chac. One of the similar effigy urns found in the Balankanche Cave demonstrates the means of that survival. The face on the urn has many of the features of Tlaloc; we see clearly the goggle eyes, the circular ear flares, and the handlebar-mustache upper lip from which protrude Tlaloc's typical fangs. But the nose on the urn is the nose of Chac, and extending from the sides of that nose is the same spiral design that appeared under the nose of the Labná mosaic mask, a stylized version of the fangs of Chac. Significantly, the urn is painted half blue—the color of Tlaloc's urns—and half red—the color of Chac Xib Chac. After centuries of separate development from its Olmec beginning, the features of the rain god are reunited in this urn, which was fittingly found "deep in the cave" from which could emerge the life-sustaining water from the realm of the spirit. Thus, the essential unity of the masks of the rain god of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica can be seen in this simple but striking urn that metaphorically holds both the rain god's waters and a key to our understanding of his mask.