Specific About Myths .

1. The $ew mythologists who discuss the cosmic mount at all
tell us that it is a metaphor $or the world a is1 thea is o$
the turning heavens is Like a mountain reaching $rom earth
to the celestial pole Hor pole star B by imagining a great
pillaras the support and a le o$ the universe Hsay these
mythologists , the ancients possessed a simple e planation
$or the observed motionso$ the heavenly bodies!
To evaluate this interpretation o$ the mythical mountain one
must ask how well it accounts $or all aspects o$ thetradition!
In the myths the 'ount appears as a column o$ light, o$ten
constituting the &niversal 'onarch’s lowerlimbs or single
"leg!# &nited to the pillar,
also e press the 'ount as a cosmic serpent,
whose body $orms the serpentine trunk o$ the
great$ather!

2. In many traditions the pillar appears as the vertical
stream o$ li$e—the ether, wind, breath, or
waterseither coursing down the world a is or rising
along the a is to be dispersed in $our streams
animating thecelestial kingdom! Saturn, the central sun,
enthroned within the polar enclosure, ruled $rom the
mountaintop!=erhaps we can best Cudge the metaphorical
e planation o$ the cosmic hill by placing ourselves in the
positiono$ an ancient observer and assuming that he
looked out upon the same heavens which we see today!
.urobserver, noticing that the stars o$ the circumpolar
region slowly swing around a central point, reali*es that
aline $rom that polar pivot through the earth serves as an
invisible a le around which the sun, the moon, and allthe
stars revolve!Starting $rom this perception, what
conCectures must our observer add in order to evolve
the mythical viewoutlined in the previous pagesE irst, he
must decide, in contradiction o$ his observations, that the
a is is not an
invisible column but a veritable pillar o$ $ire and light!
e must conclude also that a stationary sun rests Hor
once rested atop theshining pillar—again in contrast to
actual observation! e must identi$y this central sun not
with the bla*ing solar orb but rather withthe planet Saturn—
though this remote and unimpressive planet today never
approaches the polar region! urther, it must occur to
ourobserver
resides Hor once resided within a great

3. band, divided by $our primary streams! +nd$inally, in a
series o$ baseless speculations, he must conclude that in
primeval times as the
(an one realistically propose that such a progression o$
thought could $ollow $rom a mere metaphor $or
thew o r l d a i s E T o a r r i v e a t t h e c o m p l e t e
m y t h i c a l i m a g e o $ t h e c o s m i c m o u n t a i n
.
H , o u r h y p o t h e t i c a l observer must not only
heap one conCecture upon another, but repudiate direct
observation at each stage
.$ what value —religious, psychological, or otherwise—is a
$iction which $latly contradicts the phenomena it is
intended to e plainE (ynics may say that primitives are
capable o$ conCuring any $orce imaginable to e plain
something they do notunderstand! 0ut the hypothetical case
be$ore us does not reAuire the primitive simply to invent
e planations $orthings observedB it reAuires him to
deny i""ediate e perience
and yet to compose a grandiose vision su$$iciently
persuasive toacAuire hypnotic power over the ancient world!
.$ course the mass o$ available evidence argues against any
such inventiveness on the part o$ early man!

4. Fet these di$$iculties vanish once we $ree ourselves
$rom the doctrine o$ cosmic uni$ormity and
considerwhether our primitive observer may have actually
witnessed the strange $orces which ancient records
describein such detail!
The polar mountain is only one ingredient in an
integrated cosmology which seems to have prevailed
over the entire ancient world! 'ay not the mythical 'ount,
the central sun, the polar enclosure andcrossroads
$ocusing on the celestial image speak $or powers which were
"really there#E
…………………………………………………………………..
Saturn0s enclosure united two se"icircles of light and
shadow# distinguished by a revolving crescent
,n thebright and dark divisions of the enclosure the
ancients perceived the cos"ic twins# the
"
two faces
#
of the 5niversal Monarch
In the human domain, one o$ every eighty-si births
involves twins! 0ut among the gods, the abnormal is
therule!
The great $ather is either born o$ or raised by
twins, while also giving birth to twins! +nd the

5. great godhimsel$ commonly appears in dual
$orm!=revailing astronomical e planations o$ the
celestial twins identi$y them as a circle o$ day and
night, or as theevening and morning star, or as the
sun and moon!
The constellation %emini became the *odiacal
representativeo$ the celestial twins, though it is
almost universally agreed that the mythical pair
e isted long be$ore thenaming o$ such star groups
………………………………………………………………
The identity o$ the two powers is
also e plicit in indu
iconography! The soma plant, to
which many hymns o$the
are devoted, is "the stabili*er
and supporter o$ heaven!#
657G
The introductory verse o$ the
.asaku"araccrita
includes as a $igure o$ the world
a is "the stalk o$ the lotus where
0rahma resides!#
6575

6. .$ the cosmic lotus in 0uddhism,
'!'us writes1
"The prolongation o$ the stem,
which is the a is o$ the sensible
world, bears at the summit o$ the
universe the spirituallotus-throne
! ! !#
6578
Thus does the cosmic 'ount 'eru
become the
"lotus-mountain,#
6577
and in the same way theIranian
haoma plant appears as the
"imperishable pillar o$ li$e!#
Similarly, the , who
"looks down upon the mountain,#
65G7
was said to have his home on
thenorthern 'ount 'asiusB while his
counterparts—the =ersian Saena
or Simurgh and the indu %aruda
dwelt uponthe polar mountains o$
era 0ere*aiti and 'eru!

7. 65G4
+ccordingly, the +ssyro-0abylonians
consistently located thewinged circle
o$ the
"sun# atop the cosmic pillar!
65G:
The natives o$ /orthwest Siberia $i
upon their symbols o$ theworld pillar a
wooden $igure o$ a bird sometimes with
two heads! The winged $igures which so
o$ten adorn thesummit o$ +merican
Indian totem poles provide an obvious
parallel!
*0>. M$(o2ota)ian ",lind$ ($al(
indi"at$ t#$ "lo($ $lation o' t#$
%(!n& bi d( ;in-( to t#$ t;o 2$a ( o'
t#$"o()i" )o!ntain.
9ike all $igures o$ the crescent, the
e panded wings, alternately embracing
the central sun $rom the le$t and$rom
the right Hor $rom above and below ,
appear in the role o$ the twins! The
goddess /ut may be presented
inthe primary $orm B
but two secondary divinities $lank the
goddess to the right and le$t,
e tending their wings

10. */>. In(" i2tion at M$#t$ #an$+ t#$ C$nt alP i(on o' Con(tantino2l$