Ancient Navigators

[Talya]

This thread will be about navigation in the ancient world, but it is dedicated to the great Thor Heyredahl, who passed away a few years ago, and did more to prove it's possibilities than anyone in recent history.

[Talya]

THOR HEYERDAHL EXPEDITIONS

and

ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC PEOPLES


THOR HEYERDAHL

Early Life

Thor Heyerdahl is a world-renowned explorer and archaeologist. He was born in 1914, in Larvik, Norway. From his earliest days, he was an enthusiatic nature lover, and he was inspired by his mother (who was head of the local museum) to take an interest in zoology and nature. While still in primary school, he ran a one-room zoological museum from his home. Mr. Heyerdahl later enrolled at the University of Oslo, where he specialized in zoology and geography until leaving on his first expedition to Polynesia in 1937-1938.

The First Expeditions to Polynesia (1937-38) and Northwest America (1940-41)

Arriving in Polynesia, the young student Heyerdahl and his bride Liv were adopted by the supreme Polynesian Chief of Tahiti, Teriieroo in 1937. After training in the Polynesian way of life and customs, the Heyerdahls settled for one year on the isolated island of Fatuhiva in the Marquesas Group. While doing research on the transoceanic origins of the island's animal life, the naturalist lived an otherwise traditional Polynesian life. During this time, he began to contemplate the existing theories of how the South Pacific inhabitants reached the islands. Stuggling with the eternal easterly winds and currents whenever he and his Polynesian friends ventured into the sea to fish, he lost faith in textbook claims that these islands had been discovered and settled by as yet unidentified stone-age voyagers from Southeast Asia who had sailed and paddled against the currents for ten thousand miles. Instead Heyerdahl became convinced that human settlers had come with the ocean currents from the west just as the flora and fauna had done.

Abandoning his study of zoology, Heyerdahl began an intensive study of testing his theory on the origins of the Polynesian race and culture. He suggested that migration to Polynesia had followed the natural North Pacific conveyor, therefore turning his search for origins to the coasts of British Columbia and Peru. While working at the Museum of British Columbia, Heyerdahl first published his theory (International Science, New York, 1941) that Polynesia had been reached by two successive waves of immigrants. His theory suggested that the first wave had reached Polynesia via Peru and Easter Island on balsa rafts. Centuries later, a second ethnic group reached Hawaii in large double-canoes from British Columbia. The results of Heyerdahl's research were later published in his 800-page volume, American Indians in the Pacific (Stockholm, London, Chicago, 1952).

Interupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, Heyerdahl returned to Norway to volunteer for the Free Norwegian Forces, eventually serving in a Nowegian parachute unit in Finnmark.

The Kon-Tiki Expedition (1947)

After the war, Heyerdahl continued his research, only to meet a wall of resistance to his theories amongst comtemporary scholars. To add weight to his arguments, Heyerdahl decided to build a replica of the aboriginal balsa raft (named the "Kon-Tiki") to test his theories. In 1947, Heyerdahl and five companions left Callio, Peru and crossed 8000 km (4300 miles) in 101 days to reach Polynesia (Raroia atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago). Despite skepticisim, the seaworthiness of the aboriginal raft was thus proven and showed that the ancient Peruvians could have reached Polynesia in this manner.

The Galapagos Expedition (1952)

Following the success of the Kon-Tiki Expedition, Heyerdahl organized and led the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to the Galapagos Islands. The group investigated the pre-Columbian habitation sites, locating an Inca flute and shards from more than 130 pieces of ceramics which were later identified as pre-Incan. The Galapagos Islands are located about 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador and thus South American archaeology was extended for the first time in to the open Pacific Ocean. Parallel to this expedition, Heyerdahl worked with experts in rediscovering the lost art of the guara, a kind of aboriginal center-board used by the indians of Peru and Ecuador for navigation. From this tool, not used on the Kon-Tiki voyage, it become clear that ancient South American voyagers had the means to navigate as well as travel great distances in the Pacific.

The Easter Island Expedition (1955-56)

Following his successful work, Heyerdahl was encouraged to direct a major archaeological expedition to the Pacific's most isolated island: Easter Island. An expedition of 23 persons reached the island and began the first sub-surface archaeological excavation every attempted. They soon discovered that Easter Island had once been wooded until deforested by its original inhabitants, who also planted water-reeds and other South American plants.

Carbon dating showed that the Island had been occupied from about 380 A.D., about one thousand years earlier than scientists previously believed. Excavations indicated that some ancient stone carvings on the Island were similar to ancient traditions in Peru. Some Easter Islanders claimed that according to their legends, they orginally arrived from the far away lands to the East. The results of Heyerdahl's work were widely discussed and presented at the Tenth Pacific Science Congress in Honolulu (1961) where they were supported by the unanimous statement: "Southeast Asia and the islands adjacent constitute one major source area of the peoples and cultures of the Pacific Islands and South America". Thus, Heyerdahl's eastern migration theory had gained considerable influence.

The RA Expeditions (1969-70)

Thor Heyerdahl continued his research on ancienct navigation and turned his attention to the ancient reed-boats made of papyrus. These boats were deemed insufficient to cross the Atlantic as the reeds were believed to become water-logged after less than two weeks on open water. Heyerdahl believed that contemporary science underestimated the the ancient vessels and undertook to prove this by experiment. In 1969, he bought 12 tons of papyrus and worked with experts to construct an ancient-style vessel. The result was a 15 m boat which was launched at the old Phoenician port of Safi, Morocco. In the spirit of cooperation, Heyerdahl embarked under the UN flag with a crew of seven men from seven countries. The papyrus craft, Ra, sailed 5000 km (2700 nautical miles) in 56 days until storms and deficiencies in the construction caused the team to abandon their target only one week short of Barbados.

Ten months later, Heyerdahl tried the same voyage with the smaller (12 meter) Ra II. This vessel crossed the widest part of the Atlantic 6100 km (3270 nautical miles) in 57 days, from Safi to Barbados. Once again, this voyage showed that modern science under-estimated long-forgotten aboriginal technologies. The theory that Mediterranean vessels built prior to Columbus could not have crossed the Atlantic was thrown on its head.

In subsequent years, Heyerdahl continued on many other expeditions, including the Tigris river (1977) and the Maldives Islands (1982, 83 and 84). Now in his eighties, Heyerdahl remains an active participant in archaeological expeditions, as well as an international promoter of cooperation and understanding between peoples across the globe.

Awards and Honors

Thor Heyerdahl is the recipient of numerous medals, awards and honours. He has been a regular member of various scientific congresses, notably the International Congress of Americanists, the Pacific Science Congress, and the International Congress of Anthropology and Ethnology.

http://www.greatdreams.com/thor.htm

[Talya]

The Japan Times
September 15, 1999
By ALISTER DOYLE
Traveling along ancient routes to modern theories


OSLO (Reuters) After braving the world's oceans on flimsy rafts, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl still hopes to defeat scholars who sneer at his theory that ancient South Americans sailed the Pacific.

Heyerdahl, 84, says he is ever more convinced that Stone Age peoples sailed across the world's oceans and that Polynesia was first settled by ancient South Americans rather than from Asia as most scientists contend.

"I have always been convinced of my theory [about South American settlement of Polynesia]. But now I can accumulate much, much more evidence for it," Heyerdahl said in an interview.

Heyerdahl won world fame in 1947 by sailing on the Kon Tiki balsa raft from South America to Polynesia in a 101-day voyage, defying predictions that he and his six-man crew would drown.

Heyerdahl, who says he has no plans to retire, more than 50 years after his landmark voyage, says recent evidence of his theory includes the 1992 discovery of 1,000-year-old carvings in a Peruvian temple depicting large, ocean-going vessels.

Yet rival scholars have long cited everything from the Asian roots of languages in Polynesia to a lack of pottery among early settlers to show that they came from the West. Ancient South Americans were skilled potters.

Apparently most damning, a 1998 genetic study showed that prehistoric settlers on Easter Island had Polynesian DNA. The study, based on findings by scientist Erika Hagelberg, brought headlines including: "DNA work scuttles Kon Tiki."

Heyerdahl dismisses Hagelberg's evidence, saying that the first settlers cremated their dead and that the bones she studied were from later settlers from the West.

Heyerdahl's overall theory is that the first settlers reached Polynesia from South America, followed by a second wave from Southeast Asia.

Hagelberg, now working at the University of Otago in New Zealand and partly supported by a grant from Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki Museum, says a problem with Heyerdahl's theory is a lack of evidence — apart from his epic voyage.

"My DNA evidence showed that some people [to be exact 12 individuals] living on Easter Island in late prehistoric times had 'Polynesian' genes," she said. "Thus my evidence fits with most archaeological evidence that supports the view of a settlement from the West."

"However, it is quite possible for people to have reached the island from South America in earlier times," she said, urging all scholars to keep an "open mind about the possibility" of such settlement.

Others are more dismissive.

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, an archaeologist at the University of California in Los Angeles who has studied huge stone statues on Easter Island, said flatly that "archaeological, linguistic and biological" evidence points to Asian origins for the peoples of Polynesia.

Among Heyerdahl's strongest arguments is the enigma about how plants like sweet potatoes — indigenous to South America — found their way thousands of kilometers across to Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

Rival scholars have no clear answer but suggest that ancient Polynesians might have visited South America and returned with potatoes in unrecorded voyages. The plants could not have been borne by ocean currents since they would rot.

Heyerdahl feels twinges of regret that his theories have failed to gain wider respectability. "Many scientists have always viewed me like a daredevil who's gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel," he grumbled.

"I was bitter many times. When you are accused of humbug then you are bitter but not now," he said. "I am getting more curious all the time."

Heyerdahl, who now lives in Tenerife, followed up the Kon Tiki expedition with the Ra expeditions in reed boats across the Atlantic in 1969 and 1970 to show that ancient Egyptians might have crossed the oceans.

In 1977, he traveled on the Tigris reed boat to research ancient trade routes in the Middle East and the Indian Ocean.

"I feel I have shown it is totally erroneous to look at the world's oceans as a means of isolating people of the past from each other," he said.

"We have come to the theory that to cross a big ocean you have to have an enormous ship, the bigger the safer, and you must have a ship with a watertight hull. It's quite the opposite, it mustn't hold water, the water must run off," he said.

He is convinced that neither Columbus in 1492 nor the Vikings were the first Europeans to sail to North America.

"I think Phoenicians are among the competitors. They had the sea-going ability and they were sailing with women and plants for settlement as early as 1200 B.C.," he said.

Along the way, Heyerdahl has written more than a dozen books and won a best documentary Oscar for his film about the Kon Tiki. As probably the best-known Norwegian, he even fronted the opening ceremony for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994.

His greatest fondness remains for the Kon Tiki.

"The Kon Tiki introduced me to the ocean and opened my world. I grew up with fear and dreaded deep water but to suddenly see how friendly the big waves are when you are on a small raft or a reed boat," he said.

He said that he frequently receives invitations to travel on reed boats built by imitators but that he has yet to be tempted. "But I have no plans to retire," he said.

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http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news149.htm
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[Talya]

Deities Associated With Water
(WaterWitch original comments are in italics)

Ahurani
Ahurani is a water goddess from ancient Persian mythology. She watches over rainfall as well as standing water. She was invoked for health, healing, prosperity, and growth. She is either the wife or the daughter of the great god of creation and goodness, Ahura Mazda. Her name means "She who belongs to Ahura".
Source: Justin Denton, Encyclopedia Mythica

Ame-No-Mi-Kumari/Ame-No-Mi-Kumari-no-Kami
A Japanese Shinto water goddess.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Ancamna
A water goddess from Continental Romano-Celtic mythology. Mother goddess of the Treveri and consort to Lenus Mars or Mars Smertius.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica & Rowan Fairgrove, The Virtual Pomegranate

Arnemetia/St. Anne
A British-Celtic water goddess. The Corieltauvi, a Celtic people of Britain, worshipped 'she who dwells at the sacred grove' (Arnemetia) at Buxton in Derbyshire. There, amid the trees on the valley floor arose two springs the Celts deemed sacred; their goddess presided over them, and those who drank of her waters were cured of wasting disease and sickness. Even today, "every landscape of old trees has its own genius loci", whose presence can be sensed in ancient woods. For many centuries a healing spring known today as St Anne's Well at Buxton, Derbyshire, attracted multitudes of people anxious to partake of its water in the hope of obtaining cures for a variety of ailments. Prior to the Reformation it had been a pilgrim shrine, perhaps the best known in Derbyshire. In fact the healing spring was sacred long before the coming of christianity, for when the Romans arrived in what was eventually to become Derbyshire in search of lead and silver, they found a sacred spring and named their settlement at Buxton Aquae Arnemetiae ; Arnemetia being a Celtic deity. Her name consists of two parts, or elements, ar(e), meaning, 'in front of', and nemeton, 'a grove', thus the name the Romans gave their settlement can be said to mean the 'water of she who dwelt, or dwells, against the sacred grove'. The name, it will be noted, may well have druidic undertones or associations. When the missionary monks of the Celtic Church brought their faith into the remote wilds of Derbyshire they would have come across the great healing spring at Aquae Arnemetiae. Now the Celtic Church was not adverse to utilising pagan holy places and beliefs to promote christianity. Indeed, they openly continued the time honoured practice of the 'Fathers of the Church' of taking over pagan beliefs and practices. Now while it cannot be proved from documentary sources it is likely that either they confused Arnemetia with a Christian saint, or (most likely in my opinion) they sought to show that the goddess was really St Anne under another name.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica & Craig Chapman, Sacred Groves Of Britain & R.W. Morrell, St Anne's Well

[Talya]

Boann
Boann ("she of the white cows") is the Irish goddess of the River Boyne. She is the wife of the water god Elcman. The Dagda desired her and sent Elcmar of an errand which seemed to take one day, but actually lasted nine months. In that period, the Dagda fathered Angus Og with her.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Brigantia
Celtic Goddess of the Braint and Brent rivers.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Clota
Celtic Goddess of the river Clyde.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Coventina
The Celtic (Britain) goddess of water and springs. She was known locally in the area of Carrawburgh (Roman Brocolitia) along Hadrian's Wall. Patron of the Caldew river. "Goddess of the Water-shed." Water goddess who is chthonic and prophetic. She is found in Spain and in the Carawburgh River in England. Similar to Boann of the Boyne River, Belisama of the mersey, and Sinann of the Shannon. On the Spanish Island of Majorca, dancers perform the "baile de la xisterna"or "dance of the well" and celebrate ancient fertility rites that worship water, wells, and rain. Some of the steps of the dance form a zigzag path typical of fertility dances around the world. A river-goddess whose cult was centred upon the temple at Carrawburgh, Northumberland. A relief depicts the triple goddess, each aspect holding up a jar of water in one hand and pouring out water with the other. Local springs were held in reverence as natural foci of divine energy.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica & Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic World & Steven Craig Hickman, Encyclopedia of the Goddess & Knud Mariboe, Encyclopaedia of the Celts

Danu
Celtic Goddess of the Danube, Don, Dnieper river.
Source: Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic World

Deva
Celtic Goddess of the river Dee.
Source: Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic World

Ixzaluoh
A Mayan water goddess. She invented the art of weaving.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Kupala
A Slavonic goddess of water, magic and herbs. The Goddes may point to an early origin of the holiday of John Kupala (the Baptist) in Lemkivshchyna.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica & Jon W. Madzelan, Kupala Night

Huixtocihuatl/Uixtochihuatl
An Aztec or pre-Aztec fertility goddess. She was connected particularly with salt and salt water. She was generally considered to have been the elder sister of Tlaloc.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Kebechet
The Egyptian goddess who personifies the purification through water. As the daughter of Anubis she plays an important role in the funeral cult. Her appearance is that of a snake.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Nantosuelta
"Winding River". A Gallic protective goddess and goddess of water. Among the Mediomatrici of Alsace she is often portrayed holding a model of a house, indicating a domestic function.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Iris
In Greek mythology, Iris ("rainbow") is the personified goddess of the rainbow. She is regarded as the messenger of the gods to mankind, and particularly of the goddess Hera. Iris is the daughter of Titan Thaumas and the nymph Electra. She is portrayed as a young woman with wings and her attributes are a herald's staff and a water pitcher.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

[Talya]

Juturna
The Roman goddess of wells and springs, sister of Turnus (the king of Rutuli) whom she supported in his battle against Aeneas. Jupiter turned her into a nymph and gave her a well near Lavinium in Latium. She also gave her name to a well near the Vesta-temple of the Forum Romanum, called the Lacus Juturnae. The water from this well was used for the state-offerings. Also, the Dioscuri were thought to have watered their horses here. She is the mother of Fontus (Fons) and wife of Janus.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Chal****htlicue
In Aztec mythology, Chal****htlicue is the goddess of running and fertility water. She is the consort of Tlaloc, the god of the sky. He was drven away by Quetzalcoatl and was replaced by Chal****htlicue. She was so furious that she created violent floods, and only those who were turned into fish. She is also a vegetation goddess associated with maize. She was depicted bearing a rattle on a stick and dressed in clothing decorated with water lilies.
Source: Clarksville Middle School, Encyclopedia Mythica

Pere
The Polynesian goddess of the waters of the ocean that surround the islands. One day she wanted to travel, so her mother gave her the ocean in a jar to take with her, and later her royal yacht. In the very beginning there was no ocean at all, so wherever Pere wanted to go she poured water from the jar. At first she carried the jar on her head, and later, when she had emptied the jar, the ocean carried her in her divine ship. Pere's mother is variously given as Tahinariki or Haumea, or Papa. Her husband is Wahie Roa.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Sengen/Asama
The goddess of the sacred mountain of Fujiyama and the blossom-goddess. She guards the secret well of eternal youth, dispensing its water of life to only a few people. Her shrine is located at the top of the mountain. Worshippers greet the rising sun there. Sengen is often referred to Ko-no-Hana-Saku-ya-Hime ("the princess who makes the tree-blossom bloom") and Asama ("dawn of good luck"). Sengen is depicted as a young girl scattering tsubaki, pink blossom. She is also known as Ko-no-Hana.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Tlaloc/Nuhualpilli
The Aztec god of rain, agriculture, fire, and the south. In his kingdom he receives those killed by thunderbolts, water, leprosy, and contagious diseases. He is the consort of the water goddess Chal****htlicue and sometimes regarded as the father of the moon-god Tecciztecatl. Each year a large number of children were sacrified by drowning. He is of pre-Aztec origin and known from the time of the Toltecs. His image figures prominently in their art. He presided over the third of the five Aztec world ages.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Marama
The moon goddess of the Maori of New Zealand. Her body is lost during certain times, but it always returns in its full splendor after bathing in the water of life. She was made by Io the Creator. In some myths, she is also connected to death and the underworld. She does not permit man to return to life after death, as the moon itself does.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Nun/Nu
The primeval water that encircles the entire world, and from which everything was created, personified as a god. He is considered to be a more ancient god then the sun-god Re, who arose from this water. He is called 'father of the gods', which refers to his primacy rather than literal parentage. With the goddess Naunet he forms a pair in the Ogdoad of Hermopolis. Nun played no part in religious rituals and had no temples dedicated to him. He was symbolized by the sacred lakes associated with certain temples, such as the ones at Dendera and Karnak. Nun is depicted in human form holding the solar barque above his head.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

[Talya]

Yemaja/Yemanja
The mother goddess of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. She is the patroness of birth and worshipped primarily by women. The river Ogun is associated with her because the water of this river is considered to be a remedy for infertility. She is the daughter of the sisters Odudua and Obatala, and her brother is Aganya. Orungan, her son, raped her once and when he tried again, her body burst open and fifteen gods sprang forth (among which Ogun, Olukum, Shango and Shakpana).

Among the Brazilian Umbandists, Yemaja is the goddess of the sea and patroness of shipwrecked persons. In Santeria, Yemaja (Yemaya) is the equivalent of the Catholic saint Our Lady of Regla.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Anahita/Anaitis/Ardvi Sur/Aredvi Sura
The ancient Persian water goddess, fertility goddess, and patroness of women, as well as a goddess of war. Her name means "the immaculate one". She is portrayed as a virgin, dressed in a golden cloak, and wearing a diamond tiara (sometimes also carrying a water pitcher). The dove and the peacock are her sacred animals. Anahita was very popular and is one of the forms of the 'Great Goddess' which appears in many ancient eastern religions (such as the Syrian/Phoenician goddess Anath). She is associated with rivers and lakes, as the waters of birth. Anahita is sometimes regarded as the consort of Mithra.

When Persia conquered Babylonia (in the 6th century BC), Anahita began to show some similarities with the goddess Ishtar. Since then her cult included also the practice of temple prostitution. During the reign of king Artaxerxes (436-358 BC) many temples were erected in her honor; in Soesa, Ecbatana, and in Babylon.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Benten/Benzai-ten/Benzai-tennyo
The Japanese goddess of love, eloquence, wisdom, the arts, music, knowledge, good fortune and water. She is the patroness of geishas, dancers, and musicians. Originally she was a sea goddess or water goddess, on whose image many local deities near lakes were based. Later she became a goddess of the rich and was added to the Shichi ***ujin. The island of Enoshima rose up especially to receive her footsteps.

Benten is portrayed as a beautiful woman, riding a dragon while playing on a stringed instrument. She has eight arms and in her hands she holds a sword, a jewel, a bow, an arrow, a wheel, and a key. Her remaining two hands are joined in prayer. It is often related that when a dragon devoured many children, she descended to earth to stop his evil work.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

[Talya]

Ea (pronounced: ay'-ah)
The ancient Sumero-Babylonian god of the sweet waters. He is the son of Ansar and Kisar and his consort is the mother goddess Damkina, with whom he is the father of Marduk. Ea knows everything and is regarded as the source and patron of wisdom and magic. He is one of the creators of mankind, towards whom he is usually well-disposed, and their instructor and taught them arts and crafts.

It was Ea who discovered Tiamat's designs to kill her offspring, and managed to kill her consort Apsu. Ea, who was friendly to man, also revealed Enlil's design of destroying mankind by a flood to Utnapishtim, the Babylonian version of Noah. Ea was one of the foremost gods of the ancient Mesopotamian pantheon and formed with Anu and Ellil an important and powerful triad of gods. The center of his cult was the city of Eridu, where lived 'in the deep'. He is depicted as a man with water running from his shoulders.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Susanowa/Susanoo/Susa-No-O
The Japanese Shinto god of the winds, the storms, and the ocean, also the god of snakes. He was born from the nose of Izanagi, and was given dominion over the seas. His sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu, is also his consort. Susanowa is the personification of evil, but also a brave, if lawless and impetuous, god. His outrages are not limited to the ocean; he also ravages the land with his storms and he darkens the sky, thus angering the 'eight million deities (the kami).

His little pesterings, especially against his sister, proved his undoing: he looses his beard, his fingernails, and all his possessions, and is banished. He wanders the earth and has many adventures, such as the slaying of the eight-headed snake Koshi and by defeating this monster he obtained a powerful sword, called Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("grass cutting sword"). Some other feats were conquering Korea and wiping out the plague. Okuni-Nushi, his son, eventually tricked him out of the sword.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Uzume/Ama-no-Uzume
The Japanese Shinto goddess of joy and happiness, called the Daughter of Heaven and Heaven's Forthright Female. Her name means "whirling". She is also the goddess of good health, which people obtain from drinking the blessed water of her stream. When the sun goddess Amaterasu had hidden herself in a cave, thus covering the earth in darkness and infertility, it was Uzume who brought her back. With her provoking and curlew dances she managed to make the gods laugh so hard, that Amaterasu left the cave intrigued. Her emerging brought light and life back to earth. Her brother Ninigi married Uzume to the deity who guards the Floating Bridge to Heaven.

The dances of Uzume (Ama-no-uzume) are found in folk rites, such as the one to wake the dead, the Kagura (dance-mime), and another one which symbolizes the planting of seeds.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Matrona
Celtic Goddess of the Marne River.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

[Talya]

Poseidon
Poseidon is a god of many names. He is most famous as the god of the sea. The son of Cronus and Rhea, Poseidon is one of six siblings who eventually "divided the power of the world." His brothers and sisters include: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Zeus. The division of the universe involved he and his brothers, Zeus and Hades. Poseidon became ruler of the sea, Zeus ruled the sky, and Hades got the underworld. The other divinities attributed to Poseidon involve the god of earthquakes and the god of horses. The symbols associated with Poseidon include: dolphins, tridents, and three-pronged fish spears.

Poseidon was relied upon by sailors for a safe voyage on the sea. Many men drowned horses in sacrifice of his honor. He lived on the ocean floor in a palace made of coral and gems, and drove a chariot pulled by horses. However, Poseidon was a very moody divinity, and his temperament could sometimes result in violence. When he was in a good mood, Poseidon created new lands in the water and a calm sea. In contrast, when he was in a bad mood, Poseidon would strike the ground with a trident and cause unruly springs and earthquakes, ship wrecks, and drownings.

Poseidon was similar to his brother Zeus in exerting his power on women and in objectifying masculinity. He had many love affairs and fathered numerous children. Poseidon once married a Nereid, Amphitrite, and produced Triton who was half-human and half-fish. He also impregnated the Gorgon Medusa to conceive Chrysaor and Pegasus, the flying horse. The **** of Aethra by Poseidon resulted in the birth of Theseus; and he turned Caeneus into a man, at her request, after raping her. Another **** involved Amymone when she tried to escape from a satyr and Poseidon saved her. Other offspring of Poseidon include: Eumolpus, the Giant Sinis, Polyphemus, Orion, King Amycus, Proteus, Agenor and Belus from Europa, Pelias, and the King of Egypt, Busiris.

One of the most notorious love affairs of Poseidon involves his sister, Demeter. Poseidon pursued Demeter and to avoid him she turned herself into a mare. In his lust for her, Poseidon transformed himself into a stallion and captured her. Their procreation resulted in a horse, Arion. Poseidon is Greek for "Husband" (possibly of wheat), and therefore it is thought that he and Demeter (goddess of wheat) are a good match because they reign as the god and goddess of fertility.

Another infamous story of Poseidon involves the competition between he and the goddess of war, Athena, for the city of Athens. To win the people of the city over, Poseidon threw a spear at the ground and produced the Spring at the Acropolis. However, Athena won as the result of giving the people of Athens the olive tree. In his anger over the decision, Poseidon flooded the Attic Plain. Eventually, Athena and Poseidon worked together by combining their powers. Even though Poseidon was the god of horses, Athena built the first chariot. Athena also built the first ship to sail on the sea over which Poseidon ruled.

Poseidon often used his powers of earthquakes, water, and horses to inflict fear and punishment on people as revenge. Though he could be difficult and assert his powers over the gods and mortals, Poseidon could be cooperative and it was he who helped the Greeks during the Trojan War. Poseidon is an essential character in the study of Greek mythology.
Source: Paige Sellers, Encyclopedia Mythica

[Talya]

Sabrina
Celtic Goddess of the Seine river.
Source: Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic World

Sequanna
Celtic Goddess of the river Severn.
Source: Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic World

Siannan
Celtic Goddess of the river Shannon.
Source: Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic Worlda


Souconna
Celtic Goddess of the the river Saone.
Source: Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic World

Sulis
British Goddess associated with the baths in Bath, England.


Verbeia
Celtic Goddess of the the Wharfe river.
Source: Lisa A. Paitz Spindler, Celtic World

Waiora
The Polynesian goddess of health. Her name means "water of life". Bathing in her well, a sick person will soon be completely recovered, and be healthy for the rest of his life. It is also a mythical lake that contains the water of life. It rejuvinates whoever drinks it or bathes in it. Unfortunately, the location of Waiora (Vai-Ola in central Polynesia) is unknown.
Source: Encyclopedia Mythica
WITCHERY

http://www.waterwitch.org/deities.html

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Ancient Navigators Could Have Measured Longitude!

by Rick Sanders

(Full text of article from Fall 2001 21st Century)
 


From America B.C.,© Barry Fell (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976), p. 118
Drawing by Maui of his tanawa or calculator, found in the Caves of the Navigators, Sosorra, Irian Jaya (West New Guinea).
 
Around the year 232 B.C., Captain Rata and Navigator Maui set out with a flotilla of ships from Egypt in an attempt to circumnavigate the Earth.1 On the night of August 6-7, 2001, between the hours of 11 PM and 3 AM, this writer, and fellow amateur astronomer Bert Cooper, proved in principle that Captain Rata and Navigator Maui could have known and charted their location, by longitude, most of the time during that voyage.

The Maui expedition was under the guidance of Eratosthenes, the great scientist who was also the chief librarian of the library at Alexandria. Could this voyage have demonstrated Eratosthenes' theorem that the world was round, and measured approximately 24,500 miles in circumference? One of the navigational instruments which Maui had with him was a strange looking "calculator" that he called a tanawa; such an instrument was known, in 1492, as a torquetum.

Intrigued by a photograph of the cave drawing of that tanawa in Irian Jaya, western New Guinea, I speculated that Maui must have been looking at the ecliptic to measure "lunar distance," in order to find his longitude. Maui's tanawa was of such importance, that he drew it on the cave wall with the inscription, deciphered in the 1970s by epigrapher Barry Fell: "The Earth is tilted. Therefore, the signs of half of the ecliptic watch over the south, the other (half) rise in the ascendant. This is the calculator of Maui."

Eratosthenes had just measured the circumference of the Earth, and the circumference of a sphere is the same in all directions. We know that Maui was thinking about this, because his cave drawings also include a proof of Eratosthenes' experiment to measure the Earth's circumference.

To test the hypotheses, we built a wooden torquetum and used a simplified version of it to measure the change in angular distance between the Moon and the star Altair, in the constellation Aquila (the Eagle). This success proves official dogma wrong, and proves that, in principle, Navigator Maui, during his voyage could have used tables brought from Alexandria, drawn up by Eratosthenes or his collaborators, compared those lunar distances with the distances that he measured, and come up with a good estimate of his longitude.

It is important to note that we are not claiming here that we know everything about the torquetum. We simplified our device for the proof-of-principle experiment, but we will carry out and report on more experiments, using the full instrument.
 

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The torquetum's value, as an analogue calculator, must have been immense, because, once a planet or the Moon are not on the meridian, all "straight lines" become curves—so that calculations are difficult, even with a modern calculator. However, the 23.5-degree plane on the torquetum allows one to directly read the longitude and latitude of a planet or the Moon, relative to the ecliptic, without calculation. These data would be invaluable for predicting eclipses and occultations of various stars or planets by the Moon.



The author, using an equatorial sundial to establish a north-south line.

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The Inspiration for the Experiment

This was intriguing! What was this "tanawa" for? Why the 23.5-degree plane, characteristic of the torquetum? It could only mean that Maui was looking at the ecliptic, the Moon, and the planets, the "wandering stars."

Of the two torquetums surviving in the world, one belonged to Nicholas of Cusa, and the other to Regiomontanus, both of whom were involved in calendar reform, including setting the date of Easter, which, along with some other religious festivals, is dated by the interaction of the lunar and solar calendars.

But what could Maui have been doing? Trying to determine longitude? The very thought was heretical. To take things out of the realm of speculation, the only solution was to build a torquetum, and see if longitude could be determined by using sightings of the Moon, with simple backyard equipment; if this succeeded, then Navigator Maui could have also succeeded.
 
 
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Figure 1
PROBABLE ROUTE OF THE EGYPTIAN VOYAGE IN 232 B.C.

Deciphered rock and cave inscriptions from the Pacific islands, western New Guinea, and Santiago, Chile, tell of an Egyptian flotilla that set sail around 232 B.C., during the reign of Ptolemy III, on a mission to circumnavigate the globe. The six ships sailed under the direction of Captain Rata and Navigator Maui, a friend of the astronomer Eratosthenes (ca. 275-194 B.C.), who headed the famous library at Alexandria. Maui's inscriptions, as deciphered in the 1970s by epigrapher Barry Fell, indicated that this was a proof-of-principle voyage, to demonstrate Eratosthenes' theorem that the world was round, and approximately 24,500 miles in circumference.
 
 
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  Finding Longitude
You cannot tell longitude from the stars alone, because their daily motion is purely apparent, caused by the rotation of the Earth. At 8 PM (solar apparent time), any star, seen from anywhere, whether Ferrara, Paris, or Cairo, will have the same azimuth as it does in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Sioux Falls, S.D., Seattle, or anywhere else. The Moon shares in this apparent motion to the west, but it also has its own independent, real motion.

Look at what Amerigo Vespucci, himself at the frontiers of post-Dark-Ages navigational astronomy, said of this in 1502, in Letter IV:

". . . I maintain that I learned [my longitude] . . . by the eclipses and conjunctions of the Moon with the planets; and I have lost many nights of sleep in reconciling my calculations with the precepts of those sages who have devised the manuals and written of the movements, conjunctions, aspects, and eclipses of the two luminaries and of the wandering stars, such as the wise King Don Alfonso in his Tables, Johannes Regiomontanus in his Almanac, and Blanchinus, and the Rabbi Zacuto in his almanac, which is perpetual; and these were composed in different meridians: King Don Alfonso's book in the meridian of Toledo, and Johannes Regiomontanus's in that of Ferrara, and the other two in that of Salamanca."2 The best "clock" to use for reference, is the stars. In the roughly 27.3 solar days of a lunar orbit, the Moon moves a full 360 degrees around the sky, returning to its old position among the stars. This is 13 degrees per day, or just over 0.5 degree per hour. So, while the rotation of the Earth causes the stars and the Moon to appear to move from east to west across the night sky, the Moon, because of its own orbit around the Earth, fights back against this apparent motion, and seems to move eastward (or retrograde) by about 0.5 degree per hour. In other words, the Moon "moves" west only 11.5 degrees per hour.
 
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_{A brass model of Maui's tanawa, constructed by Dr. Sentiel Rommel. The base (A) in the plane of the observer's horizon, is oriented so that the axis of symmetry is parallel to the meridian. (B) is the equatorial plane. (C) is the ecliptic plane (viewed from one side in Maui's drawing, hence appearing as a line).}

Drawing by Matt Makowski in The Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, Vol. 32, No. 29, Feb. 1975
 
 
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  Thus, if a known star is in a given position on the celestial sphere (measured by azimuth and right ascension), a table could be drawn up at a given location for each night, showing how distant the Moon appears to be from that star.

For example: If a ship sailed west out of a port, and its new longitude were now 15 degrees west (one hour) of that port, and those on the ship could see the Moon and the reference star, the Moon would appear to be 0.5 degree east of where the table would show it to be for the port of departure. There is nothing here that navigator Maui in 232 B.C. could not have known. The only question would be whether his instruments could measure an angular difference on the order of 0.5 degree.

Our Observations
Our observational experiment showed that a simplified torquetum could do it. In the time that Altair had moved 41.8 degrees west along the equatorial plane, the Moon had moved only 40.25 degrees, a difference of 1.55 degrees. Because the Moon should retrograde about 0.5 degree/hour, the calculated regression would equal 1.39 degrees. This error of less than 1/6th (or 0.166) of a degree is well within our instrument limitations, which can be read only to 0.25 of a degree.


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Notes
1. For the story of the Rata-Maui Expedition, see "The Decipherment and Discovery of a Voyage to America in 232 B.C.," by Marjorie Mazel Hecht, 21st Century, Winter 1998-1999, p. 62; "Indian Inscriptions from the Cordilleras in Chile" found by Karl Stolp in 1885, 21st Century, Winter 1998-1999, p. 66; "On Eratosthenes, Maui's Voyage of Discovery, and Reviving the Principle of Discovery Today," by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., 21st Century, Spring 1999, p. 24; "Eratosthenes' Instruments Guided Maui's 3rd Century B.C. Voyage," by Marjorie Mazel Hecht, 21st Century, Spring 1999, p. 74; and "Maui's Tanawa: A Torquetum of 232 B.C.," by Sentiel Rommel, Ph.D., 21st Century, Spring 1999, p. 75.
2. Cited in Letters From A New World, 1992. Ed. Luciano Formisano (New York: Marsilio Publishers), pp. 38-39.
 
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