regular evolutionary
principles
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Over the centuries, mythological
ideas have developed according to certain irreversible
processes and tendencies you might call regular
evolutionary principles of mythology. An example
is the tendency for zoomorphic gods to become anthropomorphic;
the reverse rarely happens. |
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visual prototypes
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The ultimate origin and significance
of the central themes of myth were embedded in the
underlying visual images, not in the meanings,
functions, and interpretations these myths acquired
subsequently. Pictures are primary, abstract
notions secondary. |
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myth, ritual, and icon
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Myths, rituals, and traditional
icons generally developed as parallel expressions
of the same prototypes. |
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culture and civilisation
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Human culture and civilisation
themselves were largely and deliberately modelled
on mythical prototypes, at least from the perspective
of preliterate and ‘ancient’ societies.
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symbolism
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Mythology is not to be taken literally,
but expresses itself through an interface of symbolism.
The symbolism was unintentional, as the myth-makers
simply had no recourse to a more refined technical
or astronomical jargon. The nature of these symbols
is visual, not allegorical. |
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| universality |
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The same motifs in myths,
petroglyphs, rituals, and other traditions are repeated
around the world, often agreeing in fine and
unexpected details. Many such 'archetypal'
motifs can be traced back to the earliest recorded
sources, suggesting that none have come into existence
since the beginning of the historic period. |
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single prototype
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Many of the most prominent myths,
widely reflected in rituals and traditional icons
and centring on the themes of ‘creation’,
‘world destruction’ and cosmology, trace
back to a single prototype, even if the astronomical
reality behind this prototype may in reality have
been stretched out over several centuries. The narrated
events form a coherent sequence, not a disparate
assemblage of nature symbols. |
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| catastrophe |
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The single visual prototype of the
myths was inspired by a series of catastrophic
events that took place in the inner solar system
prior to the onset of civilisation and perhaps peaking
about 3100 BCE. |
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| plasma |
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This series of events can largely
be explained by reference to plasma phenomena
operating when extreme solar weather or a fragmenting
cometary intruder caused a disturbance in the geomagnetic
field manifesting in the form of unprecedented
auroras. |
