Ancient Shrines Used for Predicting the Future Discovered

Apollo and the Raven

Three shrines, dating back about 3,300 years, have been discovered within a hilltop fortress at Gegharot, in Armenia.  Local rulers at the time likely used the shrines for divination, a practice aimed at predicting the future, the archaeologists involved in the discovery say. Each of the three shrines consists of a single room holding a clay basin filled with ash and ceramic vessels. A wide variety of artifacts were discovered including clay idols with horns, stamp seals, censers used to burn substances and a vast amount of animal bones with markings on them. During divination practices, the rulers and diviners may have burnt some form of substances and drank wine, allowing them to experience "altered" states of mind, the archaeologists say.

"The logic of divination presumes that variable pathways articulate the past, present and future, opening the possibility that the link between a current situation and an eventual outcome might be altered," write Adam Smith and Jeffrey Leon, in an article published recently in the American Journal of Archaeology. Feb. 19; http://bit.ly/1B5fYOB

Long after eclipses are over and gone, they continue to affect events in our lives. This is especially true in places where eclipses or major configurations accompanying them aspect the angles. Shown here is the chart for the last solar eclipse of April 29, 2014 at Gegharot  in Armenia. Notice that the eclipse [9ta]  is conjunct the star Azha, eta Eridanus [9ta]. Eridanus was an ancient celestial river. As a symbol, a river relates to the creative power of nature and time and everything transitory: the flux of the world and the irreversible passage of time.  Unlike earthly rivers, Eridanus is depicted flowing upstream symbolizing a return to the past. The discovery  of  ancient artifacts is, therefore, quite appropriate under stars of Eridanus.

With a Grand Cross straddling the horizon axis, the eclipse is very significant for the place. It also makes a quincunx aspect to the Mars leg of the Cross which is conjunct the stars of Corvus the Raven.

Corvus, the Raven, is allied with Apollo.  It is Apollo whose chariot provides daily passage across the sky for the sun and it is under Apollo’s influence that life was illuminated by truth and excellence. Perhaps it is this association with illumination that made prophecy one of Apollo’s most important attributes. Corvus was a servant to, and messenger for, Apollo.  It was through the raven that Apollo made known his prophecies.  The raven was Apollo’s “talisman.” [1]

A second connection to divination comes from the Centaur Okyrhoe [13cp] exactly conjunct Pluto [13cp] in the Grand Cross. In Greek, Okyrhoe means "swift running" or "fast flowing." Her father was Chiron, wisest of all Centaurs, while her mother was the water nymph Chariklo. Okyrhoe had the gift of prophecy. But she was also entrusted not to reveal some things the gods wanted kept hidden, and when she broke the rules, she suffered for it. [2]

If we now progress the eclipse chart to Feb.19, the date of the news we find that the Grand Cross now straddles the meridian axis. The eclipse is, therefore, triggered and the images discussed above find concrete expression in an event.

[1] http://www.teacherjoe.com/mythology.htm

[2] http://www.zanestein.com/okyrhoe.htm