Mythologies of the World
Many mythologies have a definite basis in truth. In many ancient mythologies there is a recurring theme of a past destruction of the earth; we have found this theme in every major civilization of the world. The events may be described in slightly different order or in slightly different terms, but the main idea remains the same.
We were not the first to notice these similarities; at least two earlier scholars also noticed the same similarity. They were Ignatius Donnelly and Immanuel Velikovsky. Both attempted to explain what terrible worldwide event inspired these civilizations to tell about them in their mythologies for thousands of years. Both men felt that the cataclysm which occurred was caused by a comet or a planet coming very close to or hitting the earth. Both theories have major flaws in them. One flaw is that the magnetic field of the earth could not have reversed itself even if hit by a comet or planet to prove the point, take a bar magnet and pound it as long A you want-its north and south poles will not reverse themselves. The magnet will get weaker, but that’s all. Another error in their logic is that ice ages and polar reversals occurred many times on the planet and the time intervals between these events are equal.
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Velikovsky’s theory was that the planet,( Venus had passed dangerously close to the earth at some time in the past. If a planet is the actual cause of these polar reversals and ice ages, then either Venus or another planet has been passing this earth in that manner for the past billion years. If we consider the sophisticated telescopes in use today, astronomers would certainly have noticed any planet having an orbit that would come in proximity to the earth.
Donnelly’s theory was that the earth had collided with a comet thousands of years ago; and this comet was responsible for the destruction of Atlantis. But he cannot explain the hundreds of polar reversals and ice ages that occurred in the past. His idea of a comet hitting the earth could explain some of the other phenomena mentioned in the mythologies, but it cannot explain scientifically how the polar reversals occurred, especially repeatedly. Neither theory can explain why many mythologies specifically mention that the sun sent fire down to the earth. Both men felt that this mythological description was not to be taken literally, even though they themselves took the rest of these mythologies literally. Being bound to old scientific theories of what the sun is and how it functions, neither man could accept that the sun had novaed in the past. They thought that if the sun had somehow exploded, it would have caused too much heat, thus totally destroying the earth.
Because the sun is not a solid mass, the only part that reaches the earth is the gaseous outer shell of the sun.
In this section, we will present pertinent mythologies from all over the world and of every major civilization. The descriptions of some civilizations are quite explicit, which is usually due to that civilization’s having mastered writing and other forms of communication-and thus a more accurate chronicle of the event was handed down over the thousands of years. More primitive civilizations remembered the cataclysm, but they associated it with animal or human characteristics. This may have been because the event occurred about 12,000 years ago, and the descendants of the survivors probably had a difficult time understanding the literal description of what had happened; so they distorted the description of the event to fit their limited frames of reference for ease of understanding.
We would expect that the story of the event would be slightly
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different in each part of the world because on one side of the earth, the sun literally cooked the earth while the people on the other side of the earth would only have noticed that the sun “went out” for a long period of time. During this time there great floods, torrential downpours. In the northern latitudes we would expect to hear stories of extremely long, cold winters. Some of the points of similarity for which we are looking in these mythologies are: Stories of strong winds; earthquakes; land masses rising and falling; the sun changing color; lightning; the sun standing still; fire coming from the sky and melting the surface of the earth; dust and debris falling upon the earth; a great flood; the oceans and rivers drying up; the sun going out; and, finally, a period of a long cold spell accompanied by torrential rains, snow and hail.
The first mythologies we cover are from Central America. We theorize that the eastern part of the American continent was exposed to the nova; therefore we would expect to hear many mythologies describing widespread conflagration.
The oldest legends from this area come from the Mayan civilization. The Mayan culture was obsessed with the accurate measurement of time. Time was divided into various eras called “ahau katums.” These eras were associated with the sun. We believe this obsession is a carry-over from the time when their ancestors realized that every so many thousands of years the sun causes a great destruction on the earth. One of their teachings states:
“Under the might of Ah Uuc Kin (Lord 7-Sun) ... It is the seat of the 12-Ahau katun, Yaxan Chuen, Great-monkey-craftsman (the sun). It is the countenance he will display during his reign in the heavens. There will be great sages, great socerers. That which is in the heavens will come forth on 12-Ahau.” (7-p3l)
From this quotation we see that they are alluding to some future time when the sun will have an effect on the earth. The Mayans performed human sacrifices to appease their gods; this was done in order to prevent the sun from destroying them. This shows up in
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the legend of the “Lord of the Sun’s face.” During times of pestilence, the people would perform sacrifices at the temple of “the eve of the day, the bird of fire.” The sacrifices were made at high noon. It was believed that “the moment the sun reached the zenith, a bird of brilliant plumage, but which, in fact, was nothing else than a fiery flame shot from the sun, descended and consumed the offering in the sight of all.” (6-pl58)
Some event in the Mayan past definitely left an indelible impression on them-if they didn’t sacrifice some material object to the sun god, the sun would descend upon them and bring great destruction.
The Mayans also believed that the earth had been destroyed three previous times.
“Two cycles had terminated by devastating plagues. They were called ‘the sudden deaths,’ for it was said so swift and mortal was the pest, that the buzzards and other foul birds dwelt in the houses of the cities, and ate the bodies of their former owners. The third closed either by a hurricane, which blew from all four of the cardinal points at once, or else, as others said, by an inundation, which swept across the world, swallowing all things in its mountainous surges.
The deluge was called hun yecil, which, according to Cogolludo, means the inundation of the trees, for all the forests were swept away.” (10-p249)
It is obvious by this legend that the Mayans knew these destructions were sudden. We begin to find evidence that the jet streams were lowered to sea level. This legend also mentions the deluge which swept clear the land. Some historians say this deluge was nothing more than a normal flood caused by a cloud burst or hurricane, but this is not very logical because the people on the Yucatan Peninsula have seen many hurricanes and normal river floods so they would certainly know the difference. In this legend they seem to be describing something far more destructive than an ordinary rain-caused flood. The last thing we will cover from the Mayan legends is a prediction held by the Mayan priests, which states:
“At the close of the ages, it hath been decreed,
Shall perish and vanish each weak god of men,
And the world shall be purged with a ravening fire.
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Happy the man in that terrible day,
Who bewails with contrition the sins of his life,
And meets without flinching the fiery ordeal.” (10-p256)
The Quiches Indians of neighboring Guatemala have many legends similar to those of the Mayans. The best known of their legends is a story telling of the past four destructions of the earth. It goes as follows:
“Again the gods took counsel together; they determined to make man. So they made a man of clay; and when they had made him, they saw that it was not good ... his sight was restricted, he could not look behind him (see his past); he had been endowed with language, but he had no intelligence, so he was consumed in the water.
Again is there counsel in heaven: Let us make an intelligent being who shall adore and invoke us. It was decided that a man should be made of wood and a woman of a kind of pith. They were made; but the result was in no wise satisfactory. They moved about perfectly well, it is true; they increased and multiplied; they peopled the world with sons and daughters . . . but still the heart and the intelligence were wanting; they held no memory of their Maker and Former; they led a useless existence; they lived as the beasts live; they forgot the Heart of Heaven. They were but an essay, an attempt at men . . .
Then was the Heart of Heaven wroth; and he sent ruin and destruction upon those ingrates; he rained upon them night and day from heaven with a thick resin; and the earth was darkened. And the men went mad with terror; they tried to mount upon the roofs,, and the houses fell; they tried to climb the trees, and the trees shook them from their branches; they tried to hide in the caves and dens of the earth, but these closed their holes against them....
Once more are the gods in counsel; in the darkness, in the night of a desolated universe do they commune together; of what shall we make man? And the Creator and Former made four perfect men; and wholly of yellow and white maize was their flesh composed ...
But the gods were not wholly pleased with this thing; Heaven they thought had overshot its mark; these men were too perfect; knew, understood, and saw too much. Therefore there was counsel again in heaven: What shall we do with man now? It is not good, this that we see; these are as gods; they would make themselves equal with us; lo, they know all things, great and small. Let us now contract their sight, so that they may see only a little of the surface of the earth and be content. Thereupon the Heart of Heaven breathed a cloud over the pupil of the eyes of men, and a veil came over it as when one breathes
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on the face of a mirror; thus was the globe of the eye darkened; neither was that which was far off clear to it any more, but only that which was near.” (5-p46-48)
The legend is telling us about three previous destructions of the earth. Each time only a few men survived the destruction to carry on the species. The mention of perfect beings might be refering to what we know of as the civilization of Atlantis. The legend continues and states that survivors from this civilization took refuge in seven caves. After the destruction had passed, the survivors emerged from their caves to find that the sun was not visible:
“Now the Quiches had as yet no fire, and as Tulan was a much colder climate than the happy eastern land they had left, they soon began to feel the want of it. The god Tohil, who was the creator of fire, had some in his possession; so to him, as was most natural, the Quiches applied, and Tohil in some way supplied them with fire.
But shortly after there fell a great rain that extinguished all the fires of the land; and much hail also fell on the heads of the people; and because of the rain and the hail, their fires were utterly scattered and put out. Then Tohil created fire again by stamping with his sandal. Several times this fire failed them, but Tohil always renewed it. Many other trials also they underwent in Tulan, famines and such things, and a general dampness and cold-for the earth was moist, there being as yet no sun.” (5-p50)
This part of the legend seems to be giving us a very good description of the period we call the great ice age and how it must have appeared in Central America. The legend continues by saying that the sun eventually did appear, but it was different from the sun they had seen prior to the destruction.
“And the sun, and the moon, and the stars were now all established. Yet was not the sun then in the beginning the same as now; his heat wanted force, and he was but as a reflection in a mirror; verily, say the histories, not at all the same sun as that of to-day. Nevertheless he dried up and warmed the surface of the earth, and answered many good ends.” (5-p5l)
As we mentioned at the end of Chapter Six, after the sun novaed the sun would appear as a red giant being much cooler
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than the sun we observe today. The last part of this legend accurately describes our sun as a red giant.
The sacred book of the Toltecs, as quoted by Donnelly, also has reference to a destruction descended upon man by the sun.
“The third sun (or era) is called Quia-Tonatiuh, son of rain, because there fell a rain of fire; all which existed burned; and there fell a rain of gravel.
The sandstone, which we now see scattered about ‘boiled with great tumult, there also rose the rocks of vermilion color.’
Now, this was in the year Ce Tecpatl, One Flint, it was the day Nahui-Quiahuitl, Fourth rain. Now, in this day, in which men were lost and destroyed in a rain of fire, they were transformed into goslings; the sun itself was on fire, and everything, together with the houses, was consumed.” (1-pl66)
“There was a tremendous hurricane that carried away trees, mounds, houses, and the largest edifices, notwithstanding which many men and women escaped, principally in caves, and places where the great hurricane could not reach them. A few days having passed, they set out to see what had become of the earth, when they found it all populated with monkeys. All this time they were in darkness, without seeing the light of the sun, nor the moon, that the wind had brought them.” (1-p2l5)
The Toltecs have incorporated into this legend many of the major points we had theorized would occur during the reversal period. They accurately describe fire coming from the sky, the sun burning; the surface of the earth melting from the intense heat along with the dust and debris that would accompany a nova. It is interesting that they say that “the sun itself was on fire.” This must have been a terrifying sight to the people. Lastly, they describe a fierce wind that could be explained only if the jet stream was lowered to sea level; and, of course, the survivors say that after they emerged from their caves the sun did not shine. Previously, modern man could never have understood how the sun could go out as their legends tell us. Yet per our theory of Multidimensional Reality the sun would not be visible for a number of years after the nova because it would only be giving off ultraviolet light.
Other Indian tribes of Central America mention only the great flood that befell man at this time. For instance, the Papago and the Pimas Tribes located on the Gulf of California mention only the flood in their legends.
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“Those first days of the world were happy and peaceful days. The sun was nearer the earth than he is now; his grateful rays made all the seasons equal, and rendered garments unnecessary. Men and beasts talked together, a common language made all brethren. But an awful destruction ended this happy age. A great flood destroyed all flesh wherein was the breath of life; Montezuma and his friend, the Coyote, alone escaping. For before the flood began, the Coyote prophesied its coming, and Montezuma took the warning and hollowed out a boat for himself, keeping it ready on the topmost summit of Santa Rosa. The Coyote also prepared an ark; gnawing down a great cane by the river bank, entering it, and stopping up the end with a certain gum. So when the waters rose these two saved themselves, and met again at last on dry land after the flood had passed away.” (5-p76)
Another one of their legends talks about a prophet who lived among them in the Gila valley before the last destruction. In the legend it was said the prophet was warned three times by an eagle that a great deluge would befall his people, but the prophet did not heed the warnings from this eagle:
“The Eagle came to warn the prophet, and to say that all the valley of the Gila should be laid waste with water; but the prophet gave no heed. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, and even as the flapping of the Eagle’s wings died away into the night, there came a peal of thunder and an awful crash; and a green mound of water reared itself over the plain. It seemed to stand upright for a second, then, cut incessantly by the lightning, goaded on like a great beast, it flung itself upon the prophet’s hut. When the morning broke, there was nothing to be seen alive but one man.” (5-p78-79)
This legend seems to be accurately describing a mountain of sea water passing over the land, for sea water is the only water that has a greenish color. If it was flood waters from a river, they would appear brown from mud. We theorize that during the last destruction, the ocean waters traveled from East to West; therefore, the mountain of water that the prophet saw had come from the Gulf of Mexico and had passed over the entire surface of what we know today as Mexico. The Guaymis Indians of Costa Rica have a similar mythology of a great flood.
“Angered with the world, the mighty Noncomala poured over it a flood of water, killing every man and woman; but the kindly god Nubu had
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preserved the seed of a man, and when the waters had dried up he sowed it on the moist earth. From the best of it rose the race of men, and from that which was imperfect came the monkeys.” (10-p246)
The Nicaraguan natives also tell a similar story-that the world was destroyed by a flood in which most of mankind perished. “Afterward the teotes, or gods, restocked the earth as at the beginning.” (5-p75)
The Aztec civilization has probably been the best studied of any of the civilizations in the Americas. Their legends are rich in descriptions of the previous cycles or destructions of the earth along with various legends of the creation of the earth and the people’s struggle to survive during these periods. The Aztecs, as well as the Mayans, divided time into solar cycles. The Aztecs called these cycles a “Jaguar century.” In the legend of the four destructions of mankind, “the first solar catastrophy occurred at the beginning of the fourth Jaguar century . . . it took another 52-year cycle to eat all mankind.” (11-p28)
The second destruction of the earth occurred when “the fall of the Plumed snake, who was also the Wind, caused such a terrible hurricane that the whole earth was devastated, and men were changed into monkeys.” It is said that after six Aztec centuries “the Plumed Serpent, still jealous, caused fire and lava to rain from heaven. . . . To escape, the third race of human beings turned into birds.” After 13 Aztec centuries, the cycle was “ended with a catastrophic flood that covered the whole world, causing the fourth race of men to turn into fishes, except one pair who were warned to embark in a hollow cypress tree.” (11-p29) These two people were warned by one of the gods:
“Make no more pulque. Look up at that mountain; from there will come a great flood that will overwhelm the earth. Cut down his hollow ahuehuetl and get inside it. Take with you the fire from your hearth. Each of you must eat only one ear of corn a day.
Hastening back to the cloud-crowned mountain, she looked sternly in the four cardinal directions, then waved her banner with both hands and all her strength. Lightning flashed, thunder cracked, cataracts fell from the sky. Rain and hail pounded the earth and mighty torrents swept over everything-fields, towns and cities.
The terrorized people sought salvation in trees and on the hills. Weeping, they begged for mercy. ‘Oh gods, let us become fish’.” (11-p30)
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You will notice it is mentioned that men were turned into fish after the flood. This idea may have been derived from the observation that after the flood waters receeded, fish were strewn all over the surface of the land. The natives, not understanding where the rest of their fellow man had disappeared, rationalized to themselves that the other people had turned into fish. The legend continues and tells of a second destruction that followed the first. Allegedly the god, Quetzalcoatl, (the sun), also known as the Plumed Serpent, warns these two survivors of the next impending disaster:
“Listen to me carefully, he whispered melodiously. ‘Take your hearth fire and hide yourself in a cave in the nearby mountain.’ He was the beneficent wind from the east, from the garden of paradise, but soon, he warned he would blow from the north and from the south as a furious hurricane and sweep over the entire world.
Whirlwinds and cyclones swept over the world, picking up sand, stones, rocks, waters and finally trees, houses and human beings. The snowy capes of the mountain peaks were whisked away, converting the whole world with an immense white sheet (snow).
The chosen man and woman, in their cave beside their red hearth fire continued their conversation, unperturbed by the roar of the wind, not feeling the glacial cold that gripped the world.” (11-p35)
The next destruction of the world was caused by Tletonatiu (Yellow Face, God of Fire). Again the legend says the God of Fire warned two people to leave their village to escape the next coming disaster.
“In a village beside a tranquil fire, a married couple talked of their many hopes. Suddenly the fire crackled, and from the end of a cane stalk, burning with a pure blue flame, came a heavy voice that seemed to say, ‘O privileged mortals, talk no longer. Do you not hear a deafening, subterranean sound underneath your feet? That boiling fire will break through the crust of the earth. Get up at once, take the fire from your hearth to a cave in the woods.’
Obeying the god’s mandate, they hurried into the woods with their hearthfire and some household utensils. Hardly had they found a refuge, than the earth shook and the mountains rocked in gigantic convulsions. From the crater of the nearby volcano leapt a menacing figure-the God of Fire. On his back floated his cape of lightning bolts. From a box
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producing deafening explosions, he dumped out red hot stones. Fire and lava whirled down.
The volcano vomited heavenwards a stream of vapor, shot through with lightning, lighting the whole earth with a livid yellow glare. Cinders and burning sand rained down. Plants were reduced to cinders, trees were snuffed to ash, stones melted. Flaming lava swept down over the woods, the plains, fields and houses. Men and women were suffocated, their flesh and bones melted away.” (11-p35-36)
After the age of the fourth sun passed, “the world remained in utter darkness, with no dawn, no day, no twilight.”
“Bitter frost spread over Toltec land. Hail fell knee-deep; crops were battered down. Even during the major festival of the gods the hail kept on relentlessly. Soon thereafter Tula was stricken by terrible heat and drought. The plants withered-all the trees, the nopals, the magueys, everything. Dust swirled, rocks came down in landslides. Every growing thing throughout the land was destroyed.
Terrific cloudbursts followed; streets were flooded, houses washed away, people drowned. The tempest swept through the countryside, wrenching out trees and buildings. Loathsome toads invaded the valley and the homes, devouring everything. Locusts descended in clouds.” (11-p88)
As you can see from this legend, many of the major points we stated in our theory are mentioned. The Aztecs unfortunately mixed up the sequence of events, somehow thinking that the flood and fire were events separated by many hundreds of years, instead of realizing that these destructions occurred one after the other; that they were only parts of an overall massive cataclysm that occurred on the earth.
In the next part of this myth, the Aztecs attempt to explain the reappearance of the new sun:
“Now, there had been no sun in existence for many years; so the gods, being assembled in a place called Teotihuacan, six leagues from Mexico, and gathered at the time round a great fire, told their devotees that he of them who should first cast himself into that fire should have the honor of being transformed into a sun. So one of them, called Nanahuatzin . . . flung himself into the fire. Then the gods began to peer through the gloom in all directions for the expected light, and to make bets as to what part of heaven he should first appear in. And some said
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Here, and some said There; but when the sun rose they were all proved wrong, for not one of them had fixed upon the east. And in that same hour, though they knew it not, the decree went forth that they should all die by sacrifice.
The sun had risen indeed, and with a glory of the cruel fire about him that not even the eyes of the gods could endure; but he moved not. There he lay on the horizon; and when the deities sent Tlotli, their messenger, to him, with orders that he should go on upon his way, his ominous answer was, that he would never leave that place till he had destroyed and put an end to them all. Then a great fear fell upon some, while others were moved only to anger; and among the latter was one Citli, who immediately strung his bow and advanced against the glittering enemy. By quickly lowering his head the Sun avoided the first arrow shot at him; but the second and third had attained his body in quick succession, when, filled with fury, he seized the last and launched it back upon his assailant. And the brave Citli laid shaft to string nevermore, for the arrow of the sun pierced his forehead.
Then all was dismay in the assembly of the gods, and despair filled their hearts for they saw that they could not prevail against the shining one; and they agreed to die, and to cut themselves open through the breast. Xolotl was appointed minister, and he killed his companions one by one, and last of all he slew himself also.” (5-p60)
“Immediately on the death of the gods the sun began his motion in the heavens; and a man called Tecuzistecatl, or Tezcociztecatl, who, when Nanahuatzin leaped into the fire, had retired into a cave, now emerged from his concealment as the moon.” (5-p62)
Another version of the creation of the sun says that “a voluntary victim springs into the sacrificial fire that the gods have built. They know that he will rise as the sun, but they do not know in what part of the horizon that will be. Some look one way, some another but Quetzalcoatl watches steadily the East, and is the first to see and welcome the Orb of light. He is fair in complexion, with abundant hair and a full beard, bordering on the red. (6-p65)
Again we see reference to the appearance of a red sun. In another version of the story, the new sun appears a painted scarlet. There are other versions of the four ages or suns as told by the Aztecs. One of the most widely respected versions goes as follows:
“This First Age, or ‘sun,” was called the Sun of the Water, and it was ended by a tremendous flood, in which every living thing perished, or
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was transformed, except, following some accounts, one man and one woman of the giant race, of whose escape more hereafter. The Second Age, called the Sun of the Earth, was closed with earthquakes, yawnings of the earth, and the overthrow of the highest mountains. Giants, or Quinames, a powerful and haughty race, still appear to be the only inhabitants of the world. The Third Age was the Sun of the Air. It was ended by tempests and hurricanes, so destructive that few indeed of the inhabitants of the earth were left; and those that were saved lost, according to the Tlascaltec account, their reason and speech, becoming monkeys.
The present is the Fourth Age. To it appear to belong the falling of the goddess-born flint from heaven, the birth of the sixteen hundred heroes from that flint, the birth of mankind from the bone brought from hades, the transformation of Nanahuatzin into the sun, the transformation of Tezcatecatl into the moon, and the death of the sixteen hundred heroes or gods. It is called the Sun of Fire, and is to be ended by a universal conflagration.” (5-p64)
“At the time of the cataclysm, the country . . . was inhabited by giants. Some of these perished utterly; others were changed into fishes; while seven brothers of them found safety by closing themselves into certain caves in a mountain called Tlaloc. When the waters were assuaged, one of ‘the giants, Zelhua, surnamed the Architect, went to Cholula and began to build an artificial mountain (a pyramid), as a monument and a memorial of the Tlaloc that had sheltered him and his when the angry waters swept through all the land. The bricks were made in Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra de Cocotl, and passed to Choluta from hand to hand along a file of men-whence these came is not said-stretching between the two places. Then were the jealousy and the anger of the gods aroused, as the huge pyramid rose slowly up, threatening to reach the clouds and the great heaven itself; and the gods launched their fire upon the builders and slew many, so that the work was stopped. But the half-finished structure, afterward dedicated by the Cholultecs to Quetzalcoatl, still remains to show how well Xelhua, the giant, deserved his surname of the Architect.” (5-p68)
As you can see from this last legend, it tells of the great flood, the earthquakes, the great winds, the debris and fire from the sun, and also that pyramids were being built just before cataclysm struck. But notice that they say one of these large pyramids was not finished in time. Evidence of this was mentioned at the end of Chapter Ten. Many of these unfinished pyramids can be found throughout the southern and central parts of the United States. This seems to indicate that people and governments did not be-
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lieve what was going to happen to them until a very few years before the actual cataclysm occurred. There must have been a great deal of uncertainty as to when the reversal would occur.
Some of the legends of the Mayans try to explain these periodic destructions of the earth as a conflict between two brothers; one being the god, Quetzalcoatal (the sun), and the other Texcatlipoca, creator of heaven and earth. The legend goes as follows:
“Now began the struggle between the two brothers, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl (the sun), which was destined to destroy time after time the world, with all its inhabitants, and to plunge even the heavenly luminaries into a common ruin.
The half sun created by Quetzalcoatl lighted the world but poorly, and the four gods came together to consult about adding another half to it. Not waiting for their decision, Tezcatlipoca transformed himself into a sun, whereupon the other gods filled the world with great giants, who could tear up trees with their hands. When an epoch of thirteen times fifty-two years had passed, Quetzalcoatl seized a great stick, and with a blow of it knocked Tezcatlipoca from the sky into the waters,
and himself became sun.
For an epoch the earth flourished under Quetzalcoatl as sun, but Tezeatlipoca was merely biding his time, and the epoch ended, he appeared as a tiger and gave Quetzalcoatl such a blow with his paw that it hurled him from the skies (the sun disappears). The overthrown god revenged himself by sweeping the earth with so violent a tornado that it destroyed all the inhabitants but a few, and these were changed into monkeys. His victorious brother then placed in the heavens, as sun, Tlaloc, the god of darkness, water and rains, but after half an epoch, Quetzalcoatl poured a flood of fire upon the earth, drove Tlaloc from the sky, and placed in his stead, as sun, the goddess Chalchiutlicue, the Emerald Skirted, wife of Tlaloc. In her time the rains poured so upon the earth that all human beings were drowned or changed into fishes, and at last the heavens themselves fell, and sun and stars were alike quenched.” (6-p74)
This legend also mentions the major sequences of destruction that befell man; but what makes this myth different is the mention of Tezcatlipoca whom they envision as being the creator of the universe. Here we have the first inkling that the survivors of this cataclysm knew that there was an all-knowing, unseen God or Creator that causes these destructions at very specific intervals of time. These people also knew that the same type of destruction
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would befall the world at some time in the future. They did not know when it would happen: “it would be when Tezcatlipoca should steal the sun from heaven for himself; in other words, when eternal night should close in upon the Universe.” (6-p78)
All of the above legends only give us an impersonal impression of what transpired on this planet some time in the dark past. They do not give us any personal impressions of the suffering that the survivors went through. The following is a prayer to Tezcatlipoca, the Flying Serpent God. This prayer begins to give us some idea of the hardship that befell the survivors of this cataclysm.
“O Lord, that hast held it good to forsake us in these days, according to the counsel thou hast as well in heaven as in hades-alas for us, in that thine anger and indignation has descended in these days upon us; alas, in that the many and grievous afflictions of thy wrath have overgone and swallowed us up, coming down even as stones, spears, and arrows upon the wretches that inhabit the earth-this is the sore pestilence with which we are afflicted and almost destroyed. Alas, 0 valiant and all-powerful Lord, the common people are almost made an end of and destroyed; a great destruction and ruin the pestilence already makes in this nation; and, what is most pitiful of all, the little children that are innocent and understand nothing, only to play with pebbles and to heap up little mounds of earth, they too die, broken and dashed to pieces as against stones and a wall-a thing very pitiful and grievous to be seen, for there remain of them not even those in the cradles, nor those that could not walk nor speak. Ah, Lord, how all things become confounded; of young and old and of men and women there remains neither branch nor root; thy nation and thy people and thy wealth are leveled down and destroyed. 0 our Lord, protector of all, most valiant and most kind, what is this? Thine anger and thine indignation, does it glory or delight in hurling the stone and arrow and spear? The fire of the pestilence, made exceeding hot, is upon thy nation, as a fire in a hut, burning and smoking, leaving nothing upright or sound ... Peradventure hast thou altogether forsaken thy nation and thy people? Hast thou verily determined that it utterly perish, and that there be no more memory of it in the world, that the peopled place become a wooded hill and a wilderness of stones? Peradventure wilt thou permit that the temples, and the places of prayer, and the altars, built for thy service, be razed and destroyed and no memory of them be left? Is it indeed possible that thy wrath and punishment, and vexed indignation are altogether implacable and will go on to the end to our destruction? Is it already fixed in thy divine counsel that there is to be no mercy nor pity for us, until the arrows of thy fury are spent to our utter
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perdition and destruction? Is it possible that this lash and chastisement is not given for our correction and amendment, but only for our total destruction and obliteration; that the sun shall nevermore shine upon us, but that we must remain in perpetual darkness and silence; that nevermore thou wilt look upon us with eyes of mercy, neither little nor much? Wilt thou after this fashion destroy the wretched sick that cannot find rest nor turn from side to side, whose mouth and teeth are filled with earth and scurf? It is a sore thing to tell how we are all in darkness, having none understanding nor sense to watch for or aid one another. We are all as drunken and without understanding, without hope of any aid; already the little children perish of hunger, for there is none to give them food, nor drink, nor consolation, nor caress-none to give the breast to them that suck; for their fathers and mothers have died and left them orphans, suffering for the sins of their fathers. 0 our Lord, all-powerful, full of mercy, our refuge, though indeed thine anger and indignation, thine arrows and stones, have sorely hurt this poor people......... None shall avoid from following death, for it is thy messenger what hour soever it may be sent, hungering and thirsting always to devour all that are in the world, and so powerful that none shall escape: Then indeed shall every man be punished according to his deeds. 0 most pitiful Lord, at least take pity and have mercy upon the children that are in the cradles, upon those that cannot walk. . . . 0 most strong Lord, protector of all, lord of the earth, governor of the world, and universal master, let the sport and satisfaction thou hast already taken in this past punishment suffice; make an end of this smoke and fog of thy resentment; quench also the burning and destroying fire of thine anger; let serenity come and clearness; let the small birds of thy people begin to sing and to approach the sun; give them quiet weather so that they may cause their voices to reach thy highness and thou mayest know them. 0 our Lord, most strong, most compassionate, and most noble, this little have I said before thee, and I have nothing more to say, only to prostrate and throw myself at thy feet, seeking pardon for the faults of this my prayer; certainly I would not remain in thy displeasure, and I have no other thing to say.” (5-p20l)
The last point we wish to make in this section on the mythologies of Central America is to see if there is any evidence that befor the last cataclysm the earth rotated from East to West. This would mean that the sun would rise in the West and set in the East. It was mentioned in some of the previous legends that the sun had stopped somewhere over the eastern horizon. This would imply that the earth’s rotation had indeed stopped just before the flood and fire descended on the earth. There is one legend from
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the Teotl Lixco Indians of Mexico which says that the sun moved toward the East, “traveling toward the East and the disappearance in the East.” (3-pll9) After the sun had stopped, they say the earth was visited by upheavals and earthquakes.
We start with the legends of the Eskimos who live in the northernmost regions of the North American continent. The legends of the Eskimos are not as concerned with the creation of the earth as are those of many of the other North American Indian tribes but there is a legend about what will happen on the earth when the cycle begins again.
“In the course of time the waters will overwhelm the land, purify it of the blood of the dead, melt the icebergs, and wash away the steep rocks. A wind will then drive off the waters, and the new land will be peopled by reindeers and young seals. Then will He above blow once on the bones of the men and twice on those of the women, whereupon they will at once start into life, and lead thereafter a joyous existence.” (10-p303)
What is interesting about this mythology is what it implies. Not only does it tell us that the Eskimos also know that a tremendous heat melted the polar ice caps and a flood swept over the earth, but it implies that some of their ancestors did survive the last ice age, even though we might think that they were all buried under thousands of feet of snow and ice. Somehow a few of their forefathers survived the last great cataclysm.
The Tacullics Indians of British Columbia have a very interesting creation legend of the earth. In it, they assume that the earth was originally covered with water. This belief is universally held by all Indians of the American continents. The legend goes as follows:
“The flat earth . . . was at first wholly covered with water. On the water a Musk-rat swam to and fro, seeking food. Finding none there, he dived to the bottom and brought up a mouthful of mud, but only to spit it out again when he came to the surface. All this he did again and again till quite an island was formed and by degrees the whole earth. In some unexplained way this earth became afterward peopled in every
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part, and so remained, until a fierce fire of several days’ duration swept over it, destroying all life, with two exceptions; one man and one woman hid themselves in a deep cave in the heart of a mountain, and for these two has the world been since repeopled.” (5-p98)
The legends of the Dog-Rib Indians from the Northwest describe that the sun stopped moving. One legend involves a boy called Chapewee who climbed a tree until he reached heaven where he set a squirrel trap.
“He set a snare made of his sister’s hair and caught the sun. The sky was instantly darkened. Chapewee’s family said to him, ‘You must have done something wrong when you were aloft, for we no longer enjoy the light of day.’ ‘I have,’ replied he, ‘but it was unintentionally.’ Chapewee sent a number of animals to cut the snare, but the intense heat reduced them all to ashes. At last the ground-mole working in the earth cut the snare but lost its sight, and its nose and teeth have ever since been brown as if burnt.” (1-pl83)
Alegend from the Wyandot Indians is similar to the previous legend. In their story the boy’s name is Chakabech.
“He set his snares for game, but when he got up at night to look at them he found everything on fire. His sister told him he had caught the sun unawares, and when the boy, Chakabech, went to see, so it was. But he dared not go near enough to let him (the sun) out. But by chance he found a little mouse, and blew upon her until she grew so big (the mastodon) that she could set the sun free, and he went on his way. But while he was held in the snare, day failed down here on earth.” (1-pl82)
Alegend from the Takahlis Indians from the Pacific Northwest is a bit more direct in its description of the last destruction of the earth. They say a general conflagration swept over the earth consuming every living thing except for a few people who took refuge in a cave. (10-p236) The cave idea was also mentioned by the Mattole Indians from northern California. They say their ancestors took refuge at Mount Taylor during the terrible flood. Their mythology says:
“A certain Big Man (God) began by making the naked earth, silent and bleak, with nothing of plant or animal thereon, save one Indian, who
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roamed about in a woefully hungry and desolate state. Suddenly there rose a terrible whirlwind, the air grew dark and thick with dust and drifting sand, and the Indian fell upon his face in sore dread.” (5-p86)
You will notice they mention in the legend the destructive winds from the jet stream along with the dust that fell on the earth.
The Ute Indians of California and Utah have a very detailed legend of the last destruction. They specifically mention the sun as being the cause of the fire.
“The Ute philosopher declares the sun to be a living personage, and explains his passage across the heavens along an appointed way by giving an account of a fierce personal conflict between Ta-vi, the sungod, and Tawats, one of the supreme gods of his mythology.
In that long ago, the time to which all mythology refers, the sun roamed the earth at will. When he came too near with his fierce heat the people were scorched, and when he hid away in his cave for a long time, too idle to come forth, the night was long and the earth cold. Once upon a time Ta-wats, the hare-god, was sitting with his family by the camp-fire in the solemn woods, anxiously waiting for the return of Ta-vi, the wayward sun-god. Wearied with long watching, the hare-god fell asleep, and the sun-god came so near that he scorched the naked shoulder of Ta-wats. Foreseeing the vengeance which would be thus provoked, he fled back to his cave beneath the earth. Ta-wats awoke in great anger, and speedily determined to go and fight the sun-god. After a long journey of many adventures the hare-god came to the brink of the earth, and there watched long and patiently, till at last the sun-god coming out he shot an arrow at his face, but the fierce heat consumed the arrow and it had finished its intended course; then another arrow was sped, but that also was consumed; and another, and still another, till only one remained in his quiver, but this was the magical arrow that had never failed its mark. Ta-wats, holding it in his hand, lifted the barb to his eye and baptized it in a divine tear; then the arrow was sped and struck the sun-god full in the face, and the sun was shivered into a thousand fragments, which fell to the earth, causing a general conflagration. Then Ta-wats, the hare-god, fled before the destruction he had wrought, and as he fled the burning earth consumed his feet, consumed his legs, consumed his body, consumed his hands and his arms-all were consumed but the head alone, which bowled across valleys and over mountains, fleeing destruction from the burning earth, until at last, swollen with heat, the eyes of the god burst and the tears gushed forth in a flood which spread over the earth and extinguished the fire. The sun-god was now conquered, and he appeared before a
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council of the gods to await sentence. In that long council were established the days and the nights, the seasons and the years, with the length thereof, and the sun was condemned to travel across the firmament by the same trail day after day till the end of time.” (1-pl77)
A legend from the Gallinomero Indians of central California sounds more like one of the creation legends, but it is really a legend telling of the survivors after the last cataclysm.
“In the beginning, they say there was no light, but a thick darkness covered all the earth. Man stumbled blindly against man and against the animals, the birds clashed together in the air, and confusion reigned everywhere. The Hawk happening by chance to fly into the face of the Coyote, there followed mutual apologies and afterward a long discussion on the emergency of the situation. Determined to make some effort toward abating the public evil, the two set about a remedy. The Coyote gathered a great heap of tules, rolled them into a ball, and gave it to the Hawk, together with some pieces of flint. Gathering all together as well as he could, the Hawk flew straight up into the sky, where he struck fire with the flints, lit his ball of reeds, and left it there, whirling along all in a rierce red glow as it continued to the present; for it is the sun.” (5-p85)
Notice, they say the sun at first did not shine; but when it did appear, it was red in color, not the white-yellow color we see today.
The Indians of the Lake Tahoe area have a very descriptive legend of the last great deluge.
“There was a time, they say, when their tribe possessed the whole earth, and were strong, numberous, and rich; but a day came in which a people rose up stronger than they, and defeated and enslaved them. Afterward the Great Spirit sent an immense wave across the continent from the sea, and this wave ingulfed both the oppressors and the oppressed, all but a very small remnant. Then the taskmasters made the remaining people raise up a great temple (pyramid) so that they, of the ruling caste, should have a refuge in case of another flood, and on the top of this temple the masters worshipped a column of perpetual fire. [A lasar?]
Half a moon had not elapsed, however, before the earth was again troubled, this time with strong convulsions and thunderings, upon which the masters took refuge in their great tower, closing the people out. The poor slaves fled to the Humboldt River, and getting into canoes paddled for life from the awful sight behind them. For the land
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was tossing like a troubled sea, and casting up fire, smoke, and ashes. The flames went up to the very heaven and melted many stars, so that they rained down in molten metal upon the earth, forming the ore that the white men seek. The Sierra was mounded up from the bosom of the earth; while the place where the great fort stood sank, leaving only the dome on the top exposed above the waters of Lake Tahoe. The inmates of the temple-tower clung to this dome to save themselves from drowning; but the Great Spirit walked upon the waters in his wrath, and took the oppressors one by one like pebbles, and threw them far into the recesses of a great cavern, on the east side of the lake, called to this day the Spirit Lodge, where the waters shut them in. There must they remain till a last great volcanic burning, which is to overturn the whole earth, shall again set them free. In the depths of their cavem-prison they may still be heard, wailing and moaning, when the snows melt and the waters swell in the lake.” (5-p89)
The Tahoe Indians had a very accurate idea as to where the mountain of water came from. For them to have known that this immense wave crossed the continent from the Atlantic Ocean, they must have been told by the masters to whom they refer. These masters, we suspect, were from Atlantis. We feel the great temple the Indians mention was probably a pyramid. The “column of perpetual fire” might well have been a laser beam; but, of course, this is only speculation, since no archaeological evidence has been found in the area. The legend also mentions the tremendous earthquakes and volcanic activity that would have occurred at this particular time. They also mention the dust and other debris falling from the sky; and lastly, they also have the concept that the cataclysm will happen again, implying that these disasters are cyclical.
We now change scene and examine the legends of the Algonquin Indians. They were located in Eastern Canada and the New England States. They had numerous legends regarding the creation of the earth, the flood, and the moon. The Algonquins say that in the beginning the earth was covered with water: “On this infinite ocean floated a raft, upon which were many species of animals, the captain and chief of whom was Michabo, the Giant Rabbit.” (6-p39)
Another legend says that there is “a rivalry between Michabo, creator of the earth, and the Spirit of the Waters, who was unfriendly to the project.” (10-pl59)
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They felt that ever so often the conflict between Michabo and the Spirit of the Waters flared up and man was destroyed as a consequence of these two great gods battling in the sky. Many times the “dark one” was associated with the moon. The moon was considered feminine gender. She was considered “Chief over the Night, Darkness, Rest, Death, and the Waters;” as well as with cold. (10-pl55)
“She is the evil minded woman who thus brings diseases upon men, who at the outset introduced pain and death in the world-our common mother, yet the cruel cause of our present woes . . . the ancient Algonquins believed brought death and disease to the race; ‘it is she who kills men, otherwise they would never die; she eats their flesh and gnaws their vitals, till they fall away and miserably perish.’
Who is this woman? In the legend of the Muyscas it is Chia, the moon, who was also goddess of water and flooded the earth out of spite.” (10-pl56)
As we know today, the moon does not have those powers over men, but it does affect the tides. The Algonquins were not the only Indian tribe that felt this way about the moon. It is also mentioned in many other Indian legends. We believe they associated the moon with the flood and other destructions. Before the reversal, the moon no longer covers the sun during a solar eclipse. The moon is meant as a warning device, sort of an alert system. After the reversal, it is possible that the only celestial object the natives could see was a red moon. It was red because its surface had been superheated by the sun’s nova and probably glowed red for a long time. This might have been why the moon was associated with certain aspects of the cataclysm. Another Algonquin legend tells of the hunter, Messou:
“One day as Messou was hunting, the wolves which he used as dogs entered a great lake and were detained there.
Messou, looking for them everywhere, a bird said to him, ‘I see them in the middle of this lake.’
He entered the lake to rescue them, but the lake, overflowing its banks, covered the land and destroyed the world.” (10-p244)
The last myth we wish to mention, from the Algonquins, is their prophecy of when the next cataclysm will occur. They say:
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“When in anger Michabo will send a mortal pestilence to destroy the nations, or, stamping his foot on the ground, flames will burst forth to consume (with fire) the habitable land, only a pair, or only, at most, those who have maintained inviolate the institutions he ordained, will he protect and preserve to inhabit the new world he will then fabricate.” (10-p255)
In this prophecy, they realized that the earth will also be destroyed by massive earthquakes and a tremendous fire. These are two points that did not surface in the legends mentioned previously. In this prophecy, they also seem to be saying the same thing said in the Bible: that those who will survive are the ones who follow the Creator’s instructions or laws. This seems to be a universal idea. The prophecies of the Winnebago Indians say that “their nation shall be annihilated at the close of the thirteenth generation. Ten have already passed, (as of 1890) and that now living has appointed ceremonies to propitiate the powers of heaven, and mitigate its stern decree.” (10-p255)
Other Indian tribes also look at the celestial conflicts as battles between brothers and also battles between an unseen Creator and the sun; such is the case with the Dakota Indians. Before the reversal, the Indians saw a small, bright yellow sun; many years after the nova, they saw a larger red sun. Therefore, they associate the second sun as being a separate entity from the first sun. Thus was born the idea of conflict between two heavenly brothers.
“It began on the mountains. The West was forced to give ground. Manibozho (God) drove him across rivers and over mountains and lakes, and at last he came to the brink of this world. ‘Hold,’ cried he, imy son, you know my power and that it is impossible to kill me.’
Yet it is clear that he was something more than a personification of the east or the east wind, for it is repeatedly said that it was he who assigned their duties to all the winds, to that of the east as well as the others. This is a blending of his two characters. Here, too, his life is a battle. No longer with his father, indeed, but with his brother Chakekenapok, the flint-stone, whom he broke in pieces and scattered over the land, and changed his entrails into fruitful vines.
The conflict was long and terrible. The face of nature was desolated as by a tornado, and the gigantic boulders and loose rocks found on the prairies are the missiles hurled by the mighty combatants.” (10-pl99)
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The idea of an all-knowing being or God has been expressed by most of the Indian tribes. They give such a personage various names, but it still means the same thing. When they are referring to this God, they do not mean the sun or the moon or other celestial objects. For instance, in the Wintun Tribe of the Northwest, they call him Olelbis, which means he-who-sits-above. Their legend goes:
“The cataclysm is caused by the theft of Flint from the Swift, who, for revenge, induces Shooting Star, Fire Drill (the sun) and the latter’s wife, Buckeye Bush, to set the world afire. Olelbis looked down into the burning world. He could see nothing but waves of flame; rocks were burning, the ground was burning, everything was burning. Great rolls and piles of smoke were rising; fire flew up toward the sky in flames, in great sparks and brands. Those sparks are sky eyes, and all the stars that we now see in the sky came from that time when the first world was burned. The sparks stuck fast in the sky, and have remained there ever since. Quartz rocks and fire in the rocks are from that time; there was no fire in the rocks before the world fire.... During the fire they could see nothing of the world below but flames and smoke.” (9-p223)
This legend makes specific reference to the sun as the source of the burning holocaust that occurred on the earth. It also gives a very good description of what the earth must have looked like when the heatblast from the sun hit the earth.
The Pawnee Indians of Nebraska are even more descriptive about what happened to the sun when the cataclysm occurred. In their legend they say that when the sun goes out, the world will come to an end. The legend:
“Many years ago, before we lived upon this earth, Tirawa placed wonderful human beings upon the earth. We knew of them as the wonderful beings or the large people. These people lived where the Swimming Mound (pyramid) is in Kansas. The bones of these large people were found upon the sides of the hill of the Swimming Mound. The old people told us that at this place the rain poured down from the heavens, and the water came from the northwest upon the earth so that it became deep and killed these wonderful beings. When these people were killed by the flood. . . . the water had come in from the big water (ocean) so that it overflowed the land.
There were four things which Tirawa (God) said he would do to kill
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the people, but he had promised that he would never send the flood upon the land any more. Tirawa said there were other ways of destroying the people on the earth. There were several ways of sending storms (winds) so that they would kill the people. There was one thing that Tirawa was not sure of doing, and that was sending fire from the sky to bum up the people. The gods in the heavens who were placed by Tirawa would have to sit in council and select a day when all things would end, and decide in what way all things should cease to be. We are told by the old people that the Morning-Star ruled over all the minor gods in the heavens; that the Morning-Star and the Evening-Star gave life to people on this earth. The Sun and the Moon also helped to give life to the people. The old people told us that the Morning-Star said that when the time came for the world to end the Moon would turn red; that if the Moon should turn black it would be a sign that some great chief was to die; that when the Moon should turn red the people would then know that the world was coming to an end. The Sun was also to shine bright and all at once that brightness would die out and the end would come.... The old people knew also that when the world was to come to an end there were to be many signs. Among the stars would be many signs. Meteors would fly through the sky. The Moon would change its color once in a while. The Sun would also show different colors, but the sign which was to be nearest to the people was that the rivers and the creeks were to rise.” (15-pl34)
The Pawnee legend mentions six of the points we mention in our theory: the flood, the high winds, the fire from the heavens, the moon changing color, the waters sloshing around, and finally the sun changing colors. We can forgive them for mixing up the order in which some of these occur; but after all, this legend had to have originated about 12,000 years ago, so we could expect some changes from the original legend. What is also interesting is that the Pawnee, like the other Indian tribes, knew that God is the one who brought this cataclysm down upon man.
The Ojibway Indians of the Great Lakes also mention in their legend that the sun caused great havoc on the earth. The legend is centered around a boy whose bird-skin coat is burned by the sun.
“He swore that he would have vengence. He persuaded his sister to make him a noose of her own hair. He fixed it just where the sun would strike the land as it rose above the earth’s disk; and, sure enough, he caught the sun, and held it fast, so that it did not rise.
The animals who ruled the earth were immediately put into great
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commotion (earthquakes). They had no light. They called a council to debate upon the matter, and to appoint some one to go and cut the cord, for this was a very hazardous enterprise, as the rays of the sun would burn up whoever came so near. At last the dormouse undertook it for at this time the dormouse was the largest animal in the world (the mastodon?); when it stood up it looked like a mountain. When it got to the place where the sun was snared, its back began to smoke and burn with the intensity of the heat, and the top of its carcass was reduced to enormous heaps of ashes. It succeeded, however, in cutting the cord with its teeth and freeing the sun, but it was reduced to very small size, and has remained so ever since.” (1-pl8l)
The Ojibway also have a legend about the flood which covered the earth:
“In early days there was a mighty serpent, king of all serpents, whose home was in the Great Lakes. Increasing the waters by his magic powers, he began to flood the land, and threatened its total submergence. Then Michabo rose from his couch at the sun-rising, attacked the huge reptile and slew it by a cast of his dart.” (6-p50)
The darts are probably the lightning which came at the time of the polar reversal. Serpents have been mentioned frequently in many of these Indian legends. One such legend is from the Mixtecs tribe. They say:
“In the year and in the day of clouds, before ever were either years or days, the world lay in darkness; all things were orderless, and a water covered the slime and the ooze that the earth then was. By the efforts of two winds, called, from astrological associations, that of Nine Serpents and that of Nine Caverns, personified one as a bird and one as a winged serpent, the waters subsided and the land dried.” (10-p230)
It is possible that as the gas shells expanded from the sun, they might have appeared like a snake, having a smooth-curved shape. It is doubtful that they had actually seen a comet in the sky, as Ignatius Donnelly and Immanuel Velikovsky theorize. The hot gas shell of the sun would have evaporated any comet that was in the vicinity, since comets are predominantly made up of ice crystals. This legend also mentions nine caverns, which is probably the location where their ancestors fled for refuge.
The Iroquois Indians located around Lake Erie associate the
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celestial conflict as a fight between two brothers. loskeha (the white one, the sun) and his brother, Tawiscara (the dark one), “They are twins, born of a virgin mother, who died in giving them life.”
“The brothers quarreled, and finally came to blows; the former using the horns of a stag, the latter the wild rose. He of the weaker weapon was very naturally discomfited and sorely wounded. Fleeing for life, the blood gushed from him at every step, and as it fell turned into flintstones. The victor returned to his grandmother, and established his lodge in the far east, on the borders of the great ocean, whence the sun comes. In time he became the father of mankind, and special guardian of the Iroquois.
The earth was at first arid and sterile, but he destroyed the gigantic frog which had swallowed all the waters, and guided the torrents into smooth streams and lakes.” (10-p203)
The gigantic frog mentioned in the legend was made by Tawiscara. They say the frog had left the earth dry as before. (6-p55) This is probably in reference to the ice age that occurred after the nova. It is easy to see the analogy between a cold, wet, snowy period after the reversal and the cold, wet appearance of a frog. This analogy is mentioned in other Indian legends.
Moving further South, we come to the Witchita Indians of Oklahoma. In their legend a prophet was told that a disaster was soon going to be visiting the earth and that he had to build some sort of cave and collect pairs of animals which he thought should survive. He was to save all the good ones and leave out the bad ones. The voice said it would attend to the bad ones:
“On a certain day the fowls of the air appeared in the north, like a cloud, and they flew toward the south. The prophet crawled into the cane (cave). The people wondered what was the reason for this. Finally the animals came, and the people began to find out what was about to happen. They began to cry and to run for the mountains and for other places, but it did them no good. After the birds and the animals had passed there came a flood, and the water was all over, and it got deeper and deeper. The bad people were drowned and everything else that was not in the cane.” (14-p292)
The idea of Indians living in caves with animals during the cataclysm is found in several other mythologies, such as those from
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the Southwest. The Navajos say that:
“At one time all the nations, Navajos, Pueblos, Coyoteros, and white people, lived together, underground in the heart of a mountain near the river San Juan. Their only food was meat, which they had in abundance, for all kinds of game were closed up with them in their cave; but their light was dim and only endured for a few hours each day.” (5-p8l)
The legend continues and says that eventually the waters subsided and land began to appear. One of the Indians then went out of the cave and walked in the mud but found he sunk in the mud up to his mid-leg.
“Then the men and the animals began to come up from their cave, and their coming up required several days. First came the Navajos, and no sooner had they reached the surface than they commenced gaming at patole, their favorite game. Then came the Pueblos and other Indians who crop their hair and build houses. Lastly came the white people, who started off at once for the rising sun and were lost sight of for many winters.
While these nations lived underground they all spoke one tongue; but the light of day and the level of earth came many languages. The earth was at this time very small, and the light was quite as scanty as it had been down below; for there was as yet no heaven, nor sun, nor moon, nor stars.” (5-p82)
Again we find reference to white men also taking refuge in caves with the Indians; but these white men after coming up from the cave, immediately left for the East, probably wondering what was left of their home, Atlantis.
A similar story is told by the Zuni Indians, also of the Southwest. They say that the god, Awonawilona, sent the great waters over the surface of the earth:
“The world-holding sea, so that scums rose upon its surface, waxing wide and apart, until they became the all-containing earth and the allcovering sky. From the lying together of these twain upon the great world waters, all beings of earth, men and creatures came to exist, and firstly in the fourfold womb of the world. In the nethermost of the cave-wombs of the world, the seed of men and creatures took form and life. The earth lay like a vast island, wet and shifting, amid the great waters, and the men groped about down in the murky underworld. Then
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arose the master magician, Janauluha, and bearing a staff plumed and covered with feathers, he guided them upward to the world of light.” (10-p230)
The magician they refer to is probably a survivor of Atlantis, who was far more advanced than they were and who may have helped them survive this difficult time.
As we head toward the Southeastern United States, we come to the Creek and Chewkee tribes. The Creeks have a creation legend similar to the one described in the Bible. They also say the earth was entirely covered by water. Later two pigeons flew to and fro until they finally found dry land. (10-p228) After a long period of time, the earth became populated with many; but something happened and “the earth became angry and ate up a portion of her progeny; how the people started out on a journey toward the sunrise; how they crossed a River of Slime, then a River of Blood, and came to the King of Mountains, whence a great fire blazed upward with a singing sound.” (9-p62)
This legend seems to allude to the red clay that, when mixed with the water, appeared to be like blood flowing in the streams. The Chewkee tribe, also on the Gulf of Mexico, say that the sun was too close and too hot to the earth, and it burned up many things. (3-pl87)
The last legend we will cover from the North American continent is from the Choctaw tribe in Louisiana. They also have a similar mythology which describes the last cataclysm. What is interesting about their mythology is that they help date for us when the mounds found in Louisiana were built; and, most likely, they are helping to date the mounds found all over the central and southcentral part of the United States. The legend says:
“Men tried to build a mound (pyramid) reaching to the heavens, how the mound was thrown down and a confusion of tongues ensued, how a great flood came, and how the Choctaw and the animals they had taken with them into a boat were saved from the universal deluge.” (9-p63)
You will notice they do not consider that their ancestors had built the mound but rather that another race of men did. In Chapter Ten we mentioned that several large pyramid-mounds were found only partially finished. These are probably the ones to
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which the Choctaw are referring. We have covered many myths from tribes located all over the North American continent. All agree with the hypotheses we presented in our theory regarding what sequence of events occur during the reversal. Each tribe gave a slightly different account of the event, depending on how much knowledge they had evolved to at the time of the cataclysm. Our impression is that the American Indians have not evolved much farther toward understanding what existence is than had their forefathers some 12,000 years ago. We are not sure we can say anything better for the white European race either! These Indian myths also further prove our hypothesis that the pyramids and mounds were built some 12,000 years ago to save their occupants from the destruction that was about to ensue.
The mounds or pyramids were never finished; because at first these people did not believe what was going to happen. When things became very bad and the signs were obvious that the sun was going to nova, with all the rest of the disasters which would accompany it, they hurriedly began building mound-pyramids and caves in order to escape the destruction.
We will begin with the Tupis tribe of Brazil. They believe their tribe was named after the sole survivor, Tupa, of the last great flood that covered the earth. (10-p2l8) They believe the flood was caused by a stranger “who bitterly hated their ancestors, compassed their destruction by a violent inundation. Only a very few succeeded in escaping-some by climbing trees, others in caves. When the waters subsided the remnant came together, and by gradual increase populated the world.” (10-p245)
Another version is:
“Monan (the Maker, the Begetter), without beginning or end, author of all that is, seeing the ingratitude of men, and their contempt for him who had made them thus joyous, withdrew from them, and sent upon them tata, the divine fire, which burned all that was on the surface of the earth. He swept about the fire in such a way that in places he raised mountains, and in others dug valleys. Of all men one alone, Irin Mage (the one who sees), was saved, whom Monan carried into the heaven. He, seeing all things destroyed, spoke thus to Monan: ‘Wilt thou also
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destroy the heavens and their gamiture? Alas! Henceforth where will be our home? Why should I live, since there is none other of my kind?’ Then Monan was so filled with pity that he poured a deluging rain on the earth, which quenched the fire, and, flowing from all sides, formed the ocean, which we call parana, the great waters.” (10-p245)
This legend mentions three of our points: the flood, the divine fire, and the rising of mountains and continents. This supports our idea that many great earth movements occur over a short period of time and do not necessarily take millions of years to come about.
The Mbocobi Indians of Paraguay are very specific in pointing out what caused the destruction. (16-p3l9)
“The destruction of the world was due to the sun. This orb once fell from the sky, but a Mbocobi hastened to pick it up before it did any injury, and fastened it in its place with pegs. A second time it fell and burnt up the earth. Two of the tribe, a man and his wife, climbed a tree and escaped destruction, but a flash of flame reached them and they fell to the ground, where they were changed into monkeys.” (10-p246)
The Mbocobi Indians also say the survivors of this conflagration took refuge in a deep cave. (10-p236)
The Botocudos Indians of Brazil say that the destruction was caused by the moon falling on the earth from time to time. (10p235) Another of their legends talks about Tata, the divine fire, which descended on all men; and then a flood came and put out the fire. The Botocudos Indians mixed up one of the early signs of the conflagration, the moon, with the actual cause, the sun. This is similar to some of the legends from North America. Evidently some of the primitive Indians could not correlate the sun with the conflagration and, rather, associated it with the closest celestial body they could observe-the moon. After the nova, the moon appeared red; so, of course, they thought the moon was the cause of the cataclysm. We hope they’re more accurate the next time.
The Yurucare Indians of Bolivia also say the sun caused a general conflagration which swept over the earth consuming every living thing, except a few who took refuge in a deep cave. (10p236) Their legend continues by saying that “when all men had been destroyed by fire, the god Tiri opened a tree (a cave) and
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from it allowed various tribes to emerge, until he deemed the earth sufficiently peopled, when he closed it.” (10-p118)
There are other legends that also mention caves as the refuge of various races. One such legend comes from the Peruvian Indians. They say that there are four mythological civilizers of Peru: They “emerged from the cave Pacarin tampu, the Lodgings of the Dawn. To these Viracocha gave the earth, to one the north, to another the south, to a third the east, to a fourth the west.” (10-p212)
The Peruvians recall two past destructions on the earth. One they say was by famine. The other, flood-of which only a few men escaped. (10-p248) The Peruvians were deathly afraid every time a solar eclipse occurred. They thought at some time “the shadow will veil the sun forever, and land, moon, and stars will be wrapt in a devouring conflagration to know no regeneration; or a drought will wither every herb of the field, suck up the waters, and leave the race to perish to the last creature;”
The Peruvians have preserved part of the truth in this legend. They know something important does happen in the course of time during one of these solar eclipses; but, unfortunately, the legend has been so distorted that they do not realize that it is when the sun appears larger than the moon that the sun is going to nova and bake a part of the world.
Other misassociations involving the moon are told of by the Muyscas Indians of Columbia. At one time they associated the moon with flooding the earth out of spite. (10-pl56)
The Incas of Peru also tell of a time when the waters covered the earth and man fled into caves in order to escape the ensuing deluge. The effect of the last cataclysm on the Incas was so pronounced that they measured time from the last cataclysm, since in their mythology they believe it will happen again-so their calendar is an attempt to calculate the next cataclysm. In the legends of Central and South America, they mention many times the existence of caves where man sought refuge. We were curious to see if we could find any archaeological evidence of caves large enough to accommodate great numbers of men. One such tunnel system was mentioned by Erick Von Daniken in his book, The Gold of the Gods. The tunnel system was explored by an expedition in 1971. The expedition’s findings were reported in the German periodical, Bild der Wissenschaft. They said:
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“Vast tunnels, which would leave even modem underground constructors green with envy, began behind the ‘six doors.’ These tunnels lead straight towards the coast, at times with a slope of 14 percent. The floor is covered with stone slabs that have been pitted and grooved to make them slip-proof. It is an adventure even today to penetrate these 55- to 65-mile-long transport tunnels in the direction of the coast and finally reach a spot 80 feet below sea level.” (4-p5l)
The tunnel entrance was discovered near the village of Otuzco. The tunnel entrance was found 200 feet below the surface of the earth. A passageway led to the six water-tight doors. This cave system may be the one mentioned by so many legends.
Polynesia covers a large portion of the area of the South Pacific Ocean. It is bordered on the south by New Zealand; on the west by the Samoa Islands; on the north by the Hawaiian Islands; and on the east by Easter Island. The Polynesian Islands are part of a larger area called “Oceania.” It includes Indonesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Australia. The Oceania area was inhabited by a rather primitive group of island peoples, who possessed no written language. All their mythologies were handed down by word of mouth. Naturally, a great many changes in the legends have occurred over the thousands of years.
Per our theory, this part of the world was on the back side of the earth when the sun novaed; therefore, we should hear very few, if any, legends of fire coming from the sky representing the sun when it novaed. We would expect to hear many legends of the earth being flooded and a period of long darkness. We would also expect to hear some legends of land masses rising and falling. This is because we believe that many parts of this Oceania area were above water and formed a large continent.
The first legends we will cover are from the Hawaiian Island group, and they are of the exploits of the Polynesian God, Maui. In the legend, he snares the sun because it is traveling too fast. He uses a rope which his grandmother makes for him. He then snares the sun. It stops in the sky, low on the horizon, then Maui beats the sun until the sun agrees it will travel much slower across the sky. (2-p45 and 13-p230)
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The next legend is from the Menehune people who migrated from New Zealand to the Hawaiian Islands many thousands of years ago. They say that one of their gods, Kahana, brought back the sun after the sun had vanished and the earth was dark for a period of time. They say also that there was at one time a much larger continent that connected all the island groups together. The name of this continent was Ka-one-lauena-a-Kane. It is said that this continent was broken up and inundated by the ocean. These people set aside four “Ku” days as memorial of the old continent. (13-p328)
There is another legend that tells of the disappearance of the sun and the oceans lowering in depth. This is the story of Kaulu. Kaulu is an evil god, and as the story goes: He wanted everything from the people. He even took away the rays of the sun. Kaulu later, while trying to find his brother, drains the sea, then spits it out. (13-p437) The reason the oceans would appear to these people to have been dried up or swallowed is because when the sun novaed on the other side of the world, a tremendous amount of water was evaporated and therefore lowered all the ocean levels for many years. When they refer to the water as being spit out, this is an attempt to explain the ocean’s flooding the earth and the torrential rains that must have fallen for many years after the reversal.
Now we come to the legends of Kana who restored the sun. In this legend, the evil chief, Kahiki, is the one who takes away the sun from the people. The legend goes as follows:
“Niheu treats roughly the messenger of Kahoalei (-Ii’i), ruling chief of Kahiki and the chief in anger takes away the sun, moon, and stars from Hawaii. Uli sends Kana with Niheu to bring them back. As Kana stretches to the sky to reach the light, Niheu dies of cold and is left behind, but Kana bends over to Kahiki and drops into the spring of two old relatives, who give him fire to guide him ahead and wind to bear him behind until he reaches the border of Kahoalei’s land. He finds Uli’s brother Manu-a guarding the pit (cave) down which the food is kept by the people below and handed up to those above. He puts down a plump black hand which his relatives recognize and fill, first with food, then with water, then with the birds called Kaiwea (fishhawk) which signal the day, then birds and the cock that crows for dawn, finally stars, moon, and sun, all of which he places in the sky. The chief himself next emerges and returns with Kana to tour the land, restoring Niheu to life on the
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way. When Ka-hoa-lei reaches Hawaii he finds that Kana and Niheu have both died and he rules there many years.” (13-p476)
This legend mentions several important points to our theory. Number One-that the sun and other heavenly bodies did not appear to the people. Two-that there was a period of cold after the time when the sun disappeared. Three-that people had taken refuge in caves at this period of time.
In the Hawaiian legend called, “Sea of Kahinalii,” “Pele, the firegoddess, (the sun) once lived far to the south-west, but when her husband deserted her, she set out to try to find him. To aid her in the search, her parents gave her the sea to go with her and bear her canoes, and as she journeyed she poured forth the sea from her head, the waters rising until only the tops of the highest mountains were visible, but later retiring to their present level.” (2-p39)
Here again we see a connection between the sun causing the oceans to rain havoc on the lands. Their description of the waters rising is probably in reference to when the larger continent also sank during this reversal time.
The final point we wish to make about the Hawaiian Islands is that the Hawaiians feel that the present civilization came a