A New Shard Story From My Multi-Award-Winning Book “Ancient Ways.” A Story Of “Enoch, Hermes, & Osiris. . .


“Enoch”
Part One

Leading his brave followers out of Babylon, He headed for Egypt. There, as Thoth to the Egyptian, and Hermes to the Greek, He carried on His mission, (having) His greatest effect on mankind from Egypt, where the effect of His Illumination was gargantuan and mysterious.

Beneath the seeming idolatry of its external polytheism, Egypt preserved the ancient foundations of esoteric theology and its priestly organization. In Assyria, royalty controlled and crushed the priesthood… whereas in Egypt, the priesthood disciplined royalty, and never abdicated even in the worst times, standing up to kings, driving out despots, and constantly governing the nation… for a period of over 5,000 years, Egypt was the stronghold of pure and exalted teaching.

Like other Prophets, He bade people to do what is just and fair, teaching them certain prayers and instructing them to fast on certain days, and to give a portion of their wealth to the poor.  He shared a vast amount of divine knowledge.”

In Egypt, Thoth is considered to be Ra’s Will, translated into speech. He is associated with the arts of magic (dealing with Angels and Demons), a system of writing, as well as the development of science. He became associated with the judgment of the dead.

Enoch, like other Messengers, is often shown in the company of a lamb or ram. He is a Healer with Stone Age roots and His head in space. According to Muhammad and Baha’u’llah, another name for the Shepherd of men was Idris.

The first person who devoted himself to philosophy was Idris. Some also called him Hermes. In every tongue, he hath a special name. He is who hath set forth in every branch of philosophy thorough and convincing statements. After him, Balínús derived his knowledge and sciences from the Hermetic Tablets, and most of the philosophers who followed him made their philosophical and scientific discoveries from his words and statements.

Hermes and Osiris
Part Two

‘I am Osiris, Sovereign Intelligence, and I can unveil everything. What do you wish?’
To look at the source of beings, O divine Osiris, to know God!’‘
You will be satisfied.’


Immediately, Hermes was flooded with a blissful light. Upon its diaphanous waves, the captivating forms of all beings passed. But suddenly, the terrifying shadows of sinuous shapes descended upon him. Hermes was plunged into a humid chaos filled with smoke and dismal moaning.

Then a voice arose from the abyss. It was the cry of light. Suddenly, a faint fire burst forth from the humid depths and reached the ethereal heights. Hermes arose with it and found himself once again in space. In the abyss, the chaos became ordered; the choirs of the stars stretched out over his head, and the voice of the light filled infinity. 

‘Did you understand what you saw?’
Osiris asked Hermes in his dream, suspended between earth and heaven.
‘No, replied Hermes.’

‘Well then, you will know. You have just seen what is for all time. The light you first saw is divine intelligence, which contains everything, including the archetypes of all beings. The gloom into which you were plunged is the material world where men of earth live. But the fire which you saw flame forth from the depths is the Divine Word, God is the Father, the Word is the Son, their union is Life.’

‘What wondrous sense has opened within me?
Asked Hermes, I no longer see with the eyes of the body, but those of the spirit.
How is this?’

‘Child of dust,’ said Osiris, ‘it is because the Word is within you! What in you hears, sees, acts — is the Word itself, the sacred fire, the Creative Word.’

‘Since that is so,’ said Hermes, ‘let me see the life of the worlds, the way of the souls, whence man comes and whither he returns.’

‘Let it be as you desire.’

Hermes again became heavier than a stone and fell through space like an aerolite. Finally, he saw himself at the top of a mountain; it was night; the earth was dark and bare; his limbs seemed heavy as iron.

‘Lift up your eyes and behold!’ said Osiris’ voice.

Then Hermes saw an amazing sight. Infinite space and the starry heaven enveloped him in seven luminous spheres. In a single glance, Hermes saw the seven heavens above him like seven transparent, concentric globes, whose sidereal center he occupied. The last had the Milky Way as an enclosure. In each sphere, a planet with a Genius of different form, sign, and light revolved. While the awestruck Hermes viewed their scattered efflorescence and their majestic movements, the voice said to him:

‘Look, listen, and understand. You see the seven spheres of all life. Through them, the fall of souls takes place, and also their ascension. The seven Genii are the seven rays of Word-Light. Each of them governs a sphere of the Spirit, a sphere of the life of souls. The one nearest you is the Genius of the Moon with a disquieting smile and wearing a silver sickle. He presides at births and deaths.

He disengages souls from bodies and draws them into his ray. Over him, pale Mercury shows descending or ascending souls the way with his staff, which contains knowledge. —Higher still, bright Venus holds the mirror of Love where souls alternately forget and recognize each other. Above her, the Genius of the Sun raises the Triumphal torch of everlasting Beauty. –Yet higher, Mars brandishes the sword of Justice. –Sitting on his throne over the azure sphere, Jupiter holds the scepter of supreme power, which is Divine Intelligence. –At the boundary of the world, under the signs of the zodiac, Saturn bears the globe of Universal Wisdom.’

 ‘I see,’ exclaimed Hermes, ‘the seven regions which make up the visible and invisible world. I see the seven rays of the Word-Light, of the only God, who penetrates and governs them by these rays. Can souls die?’ asked Hermes.

‘Yes,’ answered the voice of Osiris. ‘Many perish in the fatal descent. The soul is the daughter of heaven, and its journey is a test. If in its wild love of matter, it loses the memory of its origin, the divine spark which was in it and which would have become brighter than a star, returns to the ethereal region, a lifeless atom, and the soul disintegrates in the whirlpool of crude elements.’

At these words of Osiris, Hermes trembled, for a roaring storm enveloped him in a black cloud. The seven spheres disappeared beneath thick vapors. He saw human specters uttering strange cries, carried away and torn to pieces by phantoms of monsters and animals, amidst groans and endless blasphemies.

This,’ said Osiris, ‘is the fate of irremediably base and wicked souls. Their torture ends only with their destruction, which is the loss of all consciousness.
But see, the vapors disperse; the seven spheres reappear beneath the firmament!
Look this way!


Do you see that host of souls trying to climb back into the lunar region?
Some are pushed down to earth like flocks of birds in the blast of the storm. With a great stirring of wings, others reach the higher sphere which draws them into its revolving.

Like hosts of sparks! For you too can follow them; it is sufficient to will it, in order to lift oneself. See how they gather into divine choirs, each under its chosen Genius! The most beautiful live in the Solar region, and once they arrive, they recover the vision of divine things.

But now they are not content with reflecting the latter in a dream of powerless bliss. They become infused with the lucidity of conscience lighted by grief and with the strength of will acquired in battle. They become luminous, for they possess the divine in themselves and reflect it in their acts.



Therefore, strengthen your soul, O Hermes, and quiet your clouded mind by watching these distant flights of souls,’ mount to the seven spheres and scatter the most powerful rise as far as Saturn. Some even rise to the Father, themselves becoming powers among Power. For there where everything ends, everything eternally begins, and the seven spheres intone in unison, “Wisdom! Love! Justice! Beauty! Splendor! Knowledge! Immortality!’ 

Diane Olsen is a multi-award-winning author who gained recognition with her nonfiction book Ancient Ways: The Roots of Religion. Her book won a bronze medallion at the Christian Illuminations Book Awards and established her presence on readers’ radars and the literary map.
Learn more on Amazon.



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“ADAM” A Shard Story From My Book Ancient Ways: The Roots of Religion. Happy New Year…


Most of us have an idea about the story of Adam.

For some, He is the First human. Others see Him as the first Prophet of this last age. If Adam was the first man ever created – when was that – 8 million years ago, or 13,000, or 3,000 years ago? In Genesis, Adam is considered the first man. Yet, He may have actually lived during the time of the great starvation.

Adam and Eve are said to have covered themselves with fig leaves in Eden, but their family is said to be fully clothed farmers living among other agricultural people. He and Eve were noted as parents (or more likely ancestors) of farmers of sporadic, domestic herds and crops, somewhere around 13,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Quran says Adam and Eve were created in heaven, and then sent to earth.

The Great Prophets or Manifestations, all concur They were created before coming to earth – as were we. But, in the Torah and the Bible, Adam is made from mud, and Eve, from one of His ribs. Each Great Prophet, or Manifestation of God’s will, was the bearer of the Holy Spirit for a new Age of human development – at times this great Holy Spirit is surprised that we haven’t reached a higher stage of maturity since the last visit.

In mortal bodies, Adam and Eve became God’s representatives and lived in a place referred to as Eden. A place where all their needs were met, until Eve gave Adam the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the Qur’an, it is claimed that Adam gave Eve that forbidden fruit. Either way, they became enmeshed in the conflict between Good and Evil on earth.

With the encouragement of a snaky tempter, perhaps they made the material choice between good and evil and were evicted from Eden. Did God punish them and make them leave Eden? In the Quran, it was they who turned away from their Creator; turning towards something more worldly for a time. They later grieved the loss of connection with God. When they realized their mistake, and knew His disappointment and displeasure. They felt a great remorse, and realized that they were unable to find food.



When they were driven out from paradise, they made themselves a booth, and spent seven days mourning and lamenting in great grief. But after seven days, they began to be hungry and started to look for victual to eat, and they found it not. Then Eve said to Adam: ‘My lord, I am hungry. Go, look for (something) for us to eat. Perchance the Lord God will look back and pity us and recall us to the place in which we were before.’ And Adam arose and walked seven days over all that land, and found no victual such as they used to have in paradise.”

~Genesis, King James Bible


This brings up an environmental question.

It seems that after leaving Eden, Adam and Eve suffered from a horrible famine, similar to that experienced elsewhere in the postglacial world. As the glaciers melted, the land and even the rivers dried up. The animals and fish disappeared and there was tremendous suffering. Perhaps Adam and Eve were unable to cling to the Revelation that was the very purpose for their existence. There were reasons – sanity was deteriorating.

People everywhere were starving to death, fighting over scraps, and resorting to cannibalism. This is recorded in other recollections, as in the Persian memory of those times. Mashya and Mashyana, while guarding the new Revelation of Gayomart, in Zoroastrian texts; (in Persian, Keyomars), had to eat their precious child. Quite possibly, Adam and Eve starved to death along with many of those living in the post-glacial drying regions.

So, did the serpent represent human frailty or a need for a material attachment to the earth for existence? In those desperate times, the Ancient Faith was again corrupted. People made sacrifices to the rain god or a fertility goddess. Maybe Adam’s followers chose idol worship; praying to elements as gods, or calling on personifications, icons, or statues, for specific personal favors like finding food, water, or freedom from having to eat, or be eaten by those around them.

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Leaving Eden means so little as a sentence, but understanding the real-life environmental drama gives significance to those words. Our ancestors could no longer satisfy their needs from the forests and the waters. Many died from outright hunger, thirst, or cannibalism. Adam and Eve were likely unable to hold onto the holy Revelation. Some humans endured, but perhaps Adam and Eve did not.

This is our human history – and may God forgive us – maybe our future too. Again, we’re faced with global warming, starvation, and death as rivers shrink and storms rage. However, in God’s mercy, starvation became the engine that impelled humanity to tame plants in their desperate hopes for survival. Over time, Adam and Eve’s descendants became ancestors to early farmers like Cain and Able who learned to raise and defend patches of herbs, vegetables, grains, and fruit. They even confined a few treasured animals in small breeding flocks; all the while trying to defend their tiny farms from fierce raiders and starving neighbors.

The concept of sacred white bulls, and not eating sacred cows, is an ancient remnant of those times. With the guidance of several succeeding Great Prophets, this process eventually led to the grouping of farmers into communities, or early cities defended by warriors, and ruled by law. Civilization had started its path. Eventually, there was enough food to initiate barter, then trade; forming routes for the transfer of goods and ideologies. Does this layering of the exploits of an early Prophet’s life sound familiar?

In the stories of the first remembered Great Prophets, the shreds of memory cover thousands of years, yet only one name serves as the “First”, though many Prophets whose names were forgotten over time, came in between their age and the age of the next remembered Prophet. Besides Adam, other first-remembered Prophets you’ll want to check out are: Nu Wa, Gayomart, Rama, and Fu-Xi. Adam’s Revelation was followed in sequence by Seth, on the flickering cusp of domestication.

Seth’s descendants built two pillars inscribed with many scientific discoveries and inventions – notably in astronomy in order to protect the knowledge so it could be remembered after the destructions of flood and fire, which Adam had predicted. One was composed of brick, and the other of stone, so that if the pillar of brick should be destroyed, the pillar of stone would remain. Enoch, known by many names like Hermes, Thoth, and Idris worldwide, gifted us His massive Revelation before the flood. His philosophies, sciences, and libraries still influence our societies today.

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Our first remembered Prophet’s painted for us a tremendously long prehistory. They brought richness and noble beauty to the development of human religion, society, and culture. They took on the forces of evil rulers, idolatry, and ignorance to renew the Ancient Faith. They had one goal – for humans to worship the Supreme Creator: to purify their hearts and to turn away from self and materialistic distractions; to refrain from forming cults and making offerings to various elements, talismans, idols, or icons in order to get something in return.

The Ones we can name guided us through three global stages. First, the hunter-gatherers who lived in lush lands in times of relative plenty. Next, a cold, drying climate caused starvation and cannibalism. Finally, they drew a path for the success of domestication, agriculture, and trade; then guided us through the glimmerings of civilization, helping us achieve a civil, just, and compassionate organization of society. Each, renewed the ancient Faith of God, which was tarnished time and again, by human perceptions and changes to the holy Word.

And that renewal continues today.

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I am pleased to have shared an excerpt from my first published book, “Ancient Ways: The Roots of Religion“…
My hope is that this brief preview will inspire you to purchase and read the entire book. It explores the connections between the beginning of the Earth and our present times, highlighting various topics that demonstrate our unity as one humanity.


It is available from Amazon in
Paperback and Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0996756558/



ABOUT THE BOOK: 

To enjoy this book you may have to suspend current beliefs, since some of the concepts may seem quite foreign at first. What if monotheism always existed, and revelations were given to all human forms. There are hints to that effect. We should not assume primitive peoples weren’t smart enough to grasp the concept of a single Creator!

Too often we tweak religion to reflect our personal thoughts rather than dealing directly with the Word of God.  Monotheism, today is represented by at least nine living faiths, yet praying to God alone is not enough, for many. Instead, we pray to Prophets, angels, saints, ancestors, deities, and even the universe.

This creates a chain of “Paths” and “Ways” that become stained, over time, by human desires for control and material benefits. And as darkness and materialism overtake one Faith, another is born, through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, which is clothed in a different form, with a new name, and very familiar teachings.

Like the Tree of Life, monotheism can be visualized as a chain linking prehistory and history, entwined with human additions, wisps, and twists that produce an undulating, ultimate Yin and Yang. This constant interaction of complementary, as well as conflicting, forces and energies, exhibits both organic unity and dynamism-even war. Those who suspect there is a unified core of basic beliefs will enjoy Ancient Ways.

Hopefully, you will find precious gems to take with you.

Happy New Year & Winter Reading!



LOVE…It Is Around Us & Within Us.

diane

LOVE

All the Prophets and Manifestations taught us to develop virtues here in the spirit kindergarten of earthly life. We will need these virtues in the next world, like we needed to develop limbs and eyes in the world of the womb – even though it might not have been fully clear why, at the time.

 

No matter what Faith you profess, or if you commune with God in an aspen meadow, you know the comfort and warmth of the love of God, Allah or any other name. As you feel filled with that love, you know you must share it with other beings; whether they be plants, animals, people; or even the earth, rocks, and sky. It makes you feel all “The hills are alive, with the sound of music.”

 

Where there is love, nothing is too much trouble, and there is always time.” Abdu’l-Baha

“The central basis for men to love one another is rooted in the nature of God Himself. God is love.” 1 John 4:7-21, Farid Mahally

“Islam, according to the Quran, teaches love and compassion for every human being, no matter their religion.”

“He who defends with love will be secure; Heaven will save him, and protect him with love.” Lao Tzu

“Love Me that I may love thee. If thou lovest me not, My love can in no wise reach thee.” Baha’u’llah.

Author, Diane Olsen

diane

“The Friend (AKA Comforter) of God” Part One…

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“Christ told us there would be other manifestations of the Holy Spirit, which would come to earth. He would go away – back to God, whom He loves. But we should not be sad because He would send others. He mentions the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth and a strait Gate or Door. They would speak His words, but not with His lips, and come with new names. This time I would like to explore the Comforter. I will tell you hints about His life and you can tell me who you think it is. Next time, we can talk about the Spirit of Truth and then, The Gate.”

16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

16:8 And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

15:26 But when the Comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 15:27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (King James Bible, John)

7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.


(King James Bible, Matthew)

2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (King James Bible, Revelation)


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The Comforter or Friend of God is sometimes referred to as the Apostle of God.

Obviously, He is a Bearer of the Holy Spirit, but who was He? Has He come to earth? It is said that the night He was born, his mother saw light streaming from Him, all the way up to the stars; the idols of the Ka’ba toppled over, in all the magicians and Zoroastrian temples, the fires went out on all the fire altars.

He was a poor young man who practiced several trades to make ends meet. He became known for the Purity of His life. They called Him the Trusted One. He married the love of His life, and theirs was one of the true love stories in history. They had a lovely and spiritually gifted daughter.

He often climbed Mt/ Hira, a cone-shaped mountain, where He first saw the Angel Gabriel veiled in a light, on a throne of fire!

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As was typical, He was born into a cruel world where idolaters buried infant girls alive in the sand and dehumanized women in general.

At God’s bidding, He went out and faced these vicious mobs. Even His family counseled to leave things alone and not stir up trouble – not anger the gods “or else”.

Those who believed He spoke God’s Word were harassed, banished, harmed and Killed. Many said this man was a liar, not a Prophet. They said He could not have written a holy Book because he was poor and had never been educated or taught to write. Clearly, they thought He must be lying. They did not measure the truth of His words, with their meditative hearts and souls. If they had, they would have thrown themselves at His feet! Instead, they called Him enemy, they tried to discourage and threaten this gentle Being.

They rejected and persecuted that Wronged One. Where was the love of humanity? He met insults and danger with a lofty and patient trust.

He was humble. Milked the family goats. His family was poor. They never ate their fill of barley bread two days in a row. But He was strict with criminals, yet he forgave personal enemies. The most horrifying example for me is that when they were attacked, a man shoved a spear into His beloved daughter, who was heavily pregnant with His only grandchild, as she was mounted on a camel. If ever there was a day when this heavenly Prophet would say “Kill the infidel” it might have been that day. But no. The killer fell to his knees and begged forgiveness. And he was forgiven!

He was never the enemy of true believers of any Faith. He insisted His followers be respectful of and protectors for people of other Faiths. He introduced personal cleanliness and universities and told His people the world was not flat, long before science postulated the same.

So, who is this gentle, humble immaculate man? What other gifts did He bring the world?

Next Time the Spirit of Truth

Diane Olsen, Author/Writer