SAM,

SHAM

&

SHEM

In a time far gone and a land formed and re-formed many times by the chaotic forces of Nature, the heavens must have seemed the most orderly thing in the world to our ancestors....

With the evolution of such widely diverse knowledges such as plate tectonics, volcanism, rocket and optical sciences, dating techniques and astro-physics we have come to know that the earth didn't always look like it does today. There was a time when the Himalayas did not exist. Neither did the Lebnon or Zagros ranges. In the span of the last two hundred years, we have seen a mighty volcano explode covering the world in darkness and black fiery rain. Krakatoa collapsed into itself, disappearing beneath the waves. Yet, today we can see it growing back as "Anak Krakatau" - the son of Krakatoa, on the foundations of the remains of it's parent. We are reminded of the legend of the Phoenix, who immolates herself and is reborn from the ashes of her own pyre. It is reminiscent of the stories of the old Titans or Lords of Chaos being replaced by their more human offspring, the younger gods.

We know that Africa and India were once separate continents or mantles of land that gradually pushed their way into the northern landmass that is now Europe and Asia. When these plates collided, matter from their foundations was pushed up between them giving birth to mountain ranges that are more often than not volcanic in nature. The slow pressures of the two plates pushing together built, squeezing up material from the molten core of the Earth. These great mountains erupted, spewing fire and brimstone upon the lands. Great clouds of ash circulated over the world that can be seen today in the uncovered strata of the ground. Their rumblings and roarings shook the earth to it's core and there was a quaking in the earth, opening great rifts in the land. One of these rifts, which is still highly geologically active, is the Jordan Rift valley. Another is the valley of the two rivers of Sumer and Babylon, the Tigris and Euphrates.

Land-sat photographs of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley have shown that both of these rivers have moved from their courses many times. The story of the Flood is important to all the cultures in this area, because they were flooded out many times. The Mesopotamians built their cities many times, one on top of another and always rebuilt their ziggurats or pyramids on the base of the old one. These traditions are more than a tradition. They are a recognition by our ancestors of the legend of the Phoenix; the power of certain places in the earth and that this is how Nature builds it's own pyramids -- the towering volcanic giants that were the early 'gods of creation'. Obsidian, gold and gemstones were the purest forms of the Earth's "blood", all fashioned by these fantastic and powerful forces and thus gifts to the gods who fashioned them. Cities were destroyed and built many times by these chaotic forces. The mural at Catal Hoyuk shows a twin-peaked volcano, spewing fire and clouds over the city. Refering to the earlier story of Mashkan-shapir, we see that all destruction did not come from above. It came from below as well -- a slow-creeping black substance in the earth that was pushed up by geological pressures and exploded into a fiery furnace that destroyed everything it touched.

You should be getting a clear picture by now of the origins of the concepts and ideas of Hell and Chaos. That the giant Dukes of Edom were the ones who fashioned the earth. That Tiamat and Leviathan are icons of the Creatrix and the heavings and fires of volcanism that formed the Earth.

But up in the sky, the stars, the Sun, Moon and most of the planets seemed to obey some sort of divine order and perfection that was sorely lacking on Earth. Man looked up to these heavenly bodies. He observed them and saw that they 'danced' in a great circle that turned and tilted in the night-sky. He observed the great Light of the day, travelling across the sky in a most orderly fashion. The Moon had it's own sub-order. While 'coming and going', it was still predictable in it's periodicity. Man saw that when the clouds came and the Sun was hidden from them that life perished. The Sun gave life and it could also take it away. The Sun was seen as the embodiment of the Fire of Heaven -- the source of all it's fiery messengers, such as lightning, comets and asteroids. The stars were seen as the Children of the Sun -- first created before man. Even then, Man had a sense that what lay out there was far older than himself. The Sun became the great god of the seven 'planets' and everything contained in the heavens. The remaining 'planets' became the lesser divinities. In Yezidi tradition, they are the Amesha Spentas.

As the ruler of the heavens, the Sun became the great Lawgiver. It was the Sun who ordered the dance of the planets and stars. The Sumerians called the Sun Utu or Udu. The Babylonians called it Shamash or Shemesh. The Sun was also called Babbar. It is Shamash whom Gilgamesh visits before undertaking his perilous quest to confront the "Guardian of the Mountain" Huwawa. Gilgamesh wishes to receive the blessing of the Lawgiver, and ensure his success. This is significant in that the hero sees that order and the steadfast course of the Sun is a necessity to achieve his ends. He does not go to see the Moon that comes and goes, or Inanna who wanders seemingly at her own wiles.

In Yezidi tradition the Sun is known as Sheikh Shams, who is the Lawgiver and life-giving one. The name Sham is often associated with healers and holy men, particularly amongst the Suni and Sufi sects of Islam. The great enlightened poet Kabir was said to have been initiated by a mysterious being known as Shams. In an effort to draw peoples' worship away from the seen heavenly bodies, and toward the true God that is beyond what can be seen, the Hebrews demonized the Sun and the other six planets. Yet they made the recitation of the Holy Name as the Shema and the seventy-two names of God as the Shem-ha-phorash. Shem means "name". The Holy Name. The name of the Sun.

The name Sam is simply an alternate spelling of Sham. The switching of the powerful mother-letter shin (sh) for the single-letter samekh (s) is greatly significant. It represents the descent from the Creator/Creatrix into the ego, or "I-ness" of the limited manifest human consciousness. We are told that the meaning of Samael is "the blind god" or the "poisoned god". Samael becomes the "fallen Son" or fallen Sun and therefore associated with the darkness of fear and ignorance. He is also the god of the material world, ruled by his own fiery passions. The one who does not listen to the God of the Hebrews. The one who makes his own rules and who is faithless. He betrays himself and Heaven, and therefore all others.

Read on, and meet the inspiration for the Blind God and the Fallen Son .... The real Shemyaza.

 

SAMSON THE STRONG