The Dogon say Venus and Jupiter emerged from the blood which fell on the placenta of our sun. Venus, they say, was red when she was created, her color fading progressively. Mars too is a coagulation of nebula blood or matter.
The god of the universe, the Dogon's chief god, is Amma (Cf Egyptian Ammon in Egyptian section). Amma dwells in original darkness! His son is Nommo, instructor of the new world. (Note Nommo: key syllable to Om - the Demiurge, loose, theoretical connection). Amma sent the amphibious Nommo to earth. Nommo can also mean an individual. The Nommo's collectively are the "masters of the water," the "instructors", the "monitors." The Dogons say the Nommos seat is in the water. They are said to have landed northeast of West Sudan (the Dogon's home). This would be in the direction of Egypt or the Middle East or further beyond.
The Dogon describe the sound of the landing of the Nommo on earth in their ark. They say it sounded like the echoing of the four large stone blocks being struck with stones by the children, according to special rhythms, in a very small cave near Lake Debo. This is presumably a sound like a thunderous vibration.
The ark landed on Ogo's dryland. Ogo is called "the fox." The Dogon describe a fire propelled landing ark and a mother ark hovering above.
The Nommo is the monitor of the universe the father of mankind, guardian of man's spiritual principles, dispenser of rain and master of the water generally (cf Tangaroa in Polynesian section). Not all Nommos came to earth. The one called Nommo-die, or Great Nommo, remained in heaven with Amma and he is his vicar. He manifests himself in the rainbow which is called the path of the Nommo. He is the guardian of the spiritual principles of the living creatures on earth.
There are 3 other distinct Nommos, each personified as individuals.
1. Nommo-Titiyayne, messenger or deputy of the Nommo-die; he executes the latter's great works. The Nommos who came to earth in an ark are presumably of this class.
2. Another class of Nommos are represented by O-Nommo, Nommo of the pond. He will be sacrificed for the purification and regeneration of the universe. He will rise in a human form and descend on earth in an ark with the ancestors of men; then he will take on his original form, will rule from the waters and will give birth to many descendents. (cf Christ's death and resurrection in Christian section).
3. The fourth Nommo is the disrupter Ogo, or Nommo-anagonno. As he was about to be finished being created he rebelled against his creator and introduced disorder into the universe. Eventually, he will become the Pale Fox which is the image of his fall.
Nommo comes from the Dogon word "nomo," to make one drink. It is said: The Nommo divided his body among men to feed them; that is why it is also said that as the universe had drank of his body the Nommo also made men drink. He also gave all his life principles to human beings. He was crucified on a "kileng" tree which also died, and was resurrected.
The second and third Nommos are really the same in successive stages because the one who came down from the sky became "Nommo of the pond" and men will not utter his name out of respect, but instead call him Di-tigi, "master of the water."
In the future, his twin will descend with the Black Smith twin of the victim (this is an incorporation of the DT) who will also be transformed in the pond. They will have many descendents and will always be present in the fresh made water of brooks, rivers, ponds and wells and also in the female sea water (cf, Sumerian section).
The Dogon say the Nommos breathed through their clavicles.
The Dogon associate a 60 year period with the creation of the world by Amma. A rite or celebration called Sigui is practiced every 60 years. The symbol of this rite is called the Kanaga sign: similar to Pisces the fishes. Sigui renovates the world. Circumcision is a part of this rite. To the Dogon, the act of circumcision (meaning "to cut around") symbolizes the orbit of Sirius B around Sirius A - this is speculation on Temple's part: the rites could have to do with the appearance of the generative organs of the Nommo, i.e., they would then presumably lack foreskins. The Dogon associate the number 60 with the cosmic placenta, the outer border of our solar system or major outer border which would be the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter. These two planets come together in orbit every 60 years. The Dogons associate the mutilation domination of circumcision with a victory over the femininity of Yasigni. Thus genital mutilation is symbolically associated with heavenly movements in the Sirius system. (A footnote in Josephus quotes from Ammonius suggesting that certain tribes in the ancient world were "by nature" circumcised from the beginning. There is no reason to assume, e.g., that the ancient Phoenician tribe of Cadmus had foreskins. Africans such as the Dogon do. One may wonder whether the Nommo or Hindu Prachetasas (fish men) had foreskins. This seems to be an area little studied by anthropology or ethnology.
The Dogon call Sirius B "digitaria" and believe a ray of this star or beam scans the earth periodically once a year. (cf Sumerian section on the ray of Enki and the CM section on the Elder Pharos).
The Dogon recognize an annual "bad day" which upsets people and places them in an unsure relationship with themselves and with each other. This occurs when Digitaria revolves upon its own axis once a year, ejecting on this day from its "three spirals" (?) the beings and the things which it contains. (cf. Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft and the general disturbance Cthulhu's activity arouses in sensitive, artistic and insane minds, e.g., in Wilcox the artist in the story, CM section.)
Note on Ogo's creation:
Nommo and Ogo were created on twin placentas which were to give birth respectively to a pair of Nommo instructors. What happened, however, was that a single male being emerged from one of the placentas; in order to find his twin, this being tore off a piece of this placenta which became the earth. This intervention upset the order of creation: he was transformed into an animal, the pale fox, "Yurugg," and communicated his own impurity to the earth which rendered it dry and barren! But the remedy to this situation was the sacrifice, to the sky, of one of the Nommo instructors which had issued from the other placenta, and the descent of his twin to earth with life giving purifying rain. The destiny of Yurugg is to pursue his twin to the end of time. Please note that pale literally means lacking in color and they are talking about fleshly things, not spiritual things.
Also, there is a contradiction: Sigui is celebrated every 60 years, yet the orbital period of Sirius B is 50 years. French anthropologists have noted that Sigui appear to be brought forward so that the ceremonies are actually celebrated every 50 years. The uninitiated are thereby confused. This is one possible explanation of the contradiction.
The Dogons mention eight ancestral Nommos and the initial couple of Nommo.
NOTE on the Sod Ihoh: the word Sod means arcanum or religious mystery. In the Old Testament, Psalm 25 Verse 14, we read, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." This is a mistranslation and actually reads: "Sod Ihoh are for those who fear him." Sod Ihoh would mean the mysteries or arcanum of Ihoh. Members of Priest Colleges were called Sodales in Latin. Cicero says worshipers of the Mighty Mother studied what were called the Sodalities in the Idaean Mysteries of the Mighty Mother. Sod was the name for the greatest mysteries of Baal, Adonis, and Bacchus, who at one time or another were all sun gods with Serpents as symbols. Moses was the chief of the Sodales. In the Old Testament, the dying Jacob thus describes his sons Simeon and Levi: they "are brethren, instruments of cruelty are their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly." In the original Hebrew, the words "their secret" reads "their Sod." (Psalm 86, verse 7.)
Note similarity of this syllable Sod to Sadogowah of HP Lovecraft and August Derleth's "Lurker at the Threshold: Billington's Wood." It says in the tale: "It had ye name Ossadogawah, which signifi'd 'ye child of Sadogowah." Cf also "The Seven Geases" by CA Smith, (a gease is a spell that compels you to carry out an action or series of actions) in which Ralibar Vooz is sent by the sorcerer Ezdagor as an offering to "Lord Tsathoggua." HP Lovecraft also used the name Tsathoggua in "Whisperer in Darkness" crediting CA Smith for its invention. Note also similarity of Sod Ihoh to Sod Io or "secrets of Io" (see section on Io in Temple's book. See also Jewish section here.).
COMMISSAR'S NOTE - BIG KEY: Right here, one can easily see how this kind of doctrine, talking about impure flesh versus pure flesh, can easily lead to a doctrine of Racial Superiority and Inferiority! Why, "we were created by the PURE Nommo, our flesh is PURE. But you see those other people over there? They were created by the IMPURE Ogo and their flesh is garbage." And to think, the original indicator of "impurity" was paleness. Interesting! Not only did the occultists of our own early group have this information, but the "Sirius Mystery" by Temple was also being sold in stores catering to early Afrocentrism!
When this kind of thinking got blended into the LT groups, it lead to a whole variety of Salvation Doctrines where it got transformed into a spiritual salvation or cleansing. It can lead to the Gnostic type or Manichaean dualisms where "the spirit is pure and clean but the flesh is filthy." And since these LT groups came to think of the Darkness as evil when they became dualists, they came to think of all things dark as evil - or impure: including dark people. And that thinking was prevalent right up until modern times (cf: "On Blackness without Blacks" collection of essays by European scholars, by Gilman).
This is a real historical curiosity, and what these primitive people knew - and learned about Sirius from Lemnians is positively astounding. But whoever (or whatever) invented this other "fish man" stuff or inspired it has caused not only a lot of misery for humans, but taught humans how to hate for no real reason.
EGYPTIAN
Sothis is the ancient Egyptian name for Sirius as spelled by the ancient Greeks. Sothe and sothesetai are Greek words used in the New Testament to mean saved and salvation as in the Gospel of Mark and Luke!
Sirius was known to the Egyptians as Spd or Spdt ("t" is a feminine ending). This is transliterated in our Roman alphabet as Sept. The constellation Orion, a hunter armed with a sword shield and dagger, which rises just one hour before Sirius, was known as S3h which is transliterated as Sah.
Isis was called Ast. Asti refers to the sequentiality of Egyptian thrones (see succession of Hastur Kings in Chambers, CM section.) Note similarity of the syllable Ast to the root syllables of Astarte in all of succeeding notes including its containment in the word astral, astrology, astronomy, etc. Note also pronunciation of Hastur in the CM is similar and containing the word "star." Also Astaroth sounds like the same thing, plus has both "ast" and the word "star" in it. By the 18th Dynasty, Astarte had become a goddess of healing in Egypt, referred to as Astar of Syria. Ramses III calls Astarte his shield. See also Hebrew section on Canaanite Asherah, Astarte and Anath worship.
Isis's consort is As-Ar or Osiris as spelled by the Greeks. Isis was identified with the very bright star Sirius, her consort with the invisible companion known to the Egyptians as the "eye star." The ancient Egyptians knew just as little about the original meaning of the name As-Ar and the hieroglyphs for it as we do, suggesting that even to them the sources were exceedingly ancient and dimly recollected, or perhaps highly secret and known only to the initiates and/or priests. The confusion is extreme, especially when Temple tells us the invisible companion of Sirius was called the "eye star" rather than the visible one, as common sense would expect.
The entire Egyptian calendar was based on the rising of the star Sirius! Traditional interpreters have explained this weakly by saying that the Egyptians worshiped Sirius because it happened to rise when the Nile flooded and irrigated Egyptian fields. This explanation is weak, circumstantial, narrow and based on a great deal of ignorance about what Egyptians actually said in their own Sirius worship.
The oldest known hieroglyph for Osiris has a throne over an eye. The earliest dynastic (historical) Egyptians (ca 3200 BC) had already forgotten or lost the reason for the use of this combination. The Bozo tribe of Mali, related to the Dogon, also call the invisible companion of Sirius the eye star. Aristotle's friend Eudoxus said that the Egyptians believed their god Osiris had his legs grown together (like a Merman).
To this day, Sirius is called the Dog Star and is in the constellation Canis Major, the Great Hound. Near it in the sky is Canis Minor, the Little Hound. These constellations come down to us from ancient Greece. In Plato's dialogues, the speakers swear oaths and curse "By the Dog." This is thousands of years later than the Egyptian periods dealt with here. A complete review of the constellations in the sky as they relate to this Sirius lore will be given in the Greek Section, since we have a rather complete version of it through them. In fact, the entire story is told by a stellar portraiture of a "battle in the sky" (between Sirius and Aldebaren) that links it all together clearly and simply. Recall that the Lemnians taught the Dogon. The Greeks received their astronomy from ancient Mesopotamian sources: our constellations come from the Greeks who got them from Sumeria by way of Babylon. Sumeria predates dynastic Egypt. All of this points to the idea that even as recently as in ancient Greece, the complete story was known to some and had formed the foundation for their culture.
Anubis is the Egyptian Dog headed god (cf Sumerian An). The Egyptian is actually Anpu and Agga is a synonym.
After referring to the fact that Anubis was born of Nephthys, the dark sister goddess of Isis, Plutarch states: "By Anubis they [Egyptians] understand the horizontal circle which divides the invisible part of the world, which they call Nephthys, from the visible, to which they give the name Isis; and as this circle equally touches upon the confines of both light and darkness, it may be looked upon as common to them both -- and this circumstance arose that resemblance, which they imagine between Anubis and the Dog, it being observed of this animal, that he is equally watchful as well by day as night." Plutarch indicates that Anubis protects the gods as dogs protect men. He identifies Isis with the Greek goddess of wisdom and mind: Athena.
Temple interprets this passage as describing an orbit of Sirius B around Sirius A; while this is not incorrect, it is superficial. Plutarch really seems to be describing a barrier-world between worlds of light and dark and the guardians (dogs, furies, hounds) who lurk there. The light and dark worlds are the visible and invisible worlds, respectively. (This would be a DT interpretation, similar to the Chod.) There is clearly a system here of superficial versus profound interpretation or meaning depending on the level of learning or initiation involved, as in the 4 layered Dogon stages of initiation.
Nephthys was the creator, the spirit of god, which hovered over the primeval waters (See CM section on Nephren Ka and further in this section on Black Rite of Osiris and Lord in Perfect Black.) Plutarch wrote in Greek, and was a priest himself, a Delphic initiate. He lived in the Roman Empire. (See note at end of this section on Plutarch's "Isis and Osiris.")
Nephthys in Egyptian is Nebt-het. (Cf Nebo and Nub and Neb in Sumerian section and in CM section). Neb in Egyptian means Lord.
Egyptians said Anubis was the son of Isis, but is really the son of Nephthys, Isis's dark sister. Temple interprets this as a teaching geared to placing a visible stand-in (Isis) for an invisible thing (Nephthys), i.e., Sirius A as a substitute for the invisible Sirius B. The idea that divine characters are really stars, planets, etc., and even their dynamic qualities (Anubis as an orbit) was a common view of ancient pagans, as can be seen in the writings of Proclus. Temple seems unaware that these "quaint" stories of divine characters have also a level of meaning beyond mere astronomy or physics and go deeper into metaphysics where Anubis is not just an orbit, but rather a hound-fury like guardian of the barrier between the realm of light and dark between two kinds of space!
Egyptians sometimes portrayed Isis (Sirius A) as traveling in a boat with two companions (Sirius B and C). One of them is Anubis (cf Annunaki in Sumerian section).
Wallis Budge seems to have interpreted this as Temple did. E. g., Budge interpreted Anubis to mean a dynamic quality, i.e., time and a circle (see Plutarch's statement) which would equal circular motion, i.e., Anubis equals an orbit.
Anubis worship was a secret mystery religion restricted to initiates in Egypt. It continued to exist right through the Roman world as the "Cult of Isis." Egyptian magical treatises refer to the "Black Rite" of "Black Osiris," The highest degree of secret initiation possible in ancient Egyptian religion. Budge believes the cult of Anubis in Egypt was older than that of Osiris.
The Greek name for the Egyptian author of these treatises was Hermes Trismegistus. Hence these works are referred to as HERMETIC, or Trismegistic. (The Hermetic tradition is the one I explain in the article we sell on "Set," contrasting it against the fish tradition or Spdt.)
The Hermetic treatise called "The Virgin of the World" calls Osiris the "Lord in the Perfect Black." Initiation into this rite was considered initiation into the unseen world, the mysterious black; the most secret and highest rite of all. This rite was supposedly taught by a personage referred to as Hermes who, after teaching it and other arts of civilization to mankind, with charge unto his kinsmen of the Gods to keep sure watch, he mounted to the stars. According to this treatise, mankind is a troublesome lot requiring constant scrutiny and, at rare intervals of crisis, intervention. After Hermes returned to the stars, there were people in Egypt designated as Tat (Greek word Thoth) who were these initiates.
Hermes was later known as Mercury to the Romans, a swift traveling messenger of the Gods (Hermod was Odin's son and messenger in Scandinavian mythology). (CF. H. P. Lovecraft and others who refer to Nyarlathotep as the soul and messenger of the Old Ones where it is said Nyarlathotep came to ancient Khem [Egypt] in the form of a black man, but not a Negro. In CM section). Temple gets into difficulty and begins stretching comparisons by attempting to make the Cult of Anubis equal the Cult of Isis; Hermes equal Dagon; and Hermians equal Dogon Monitors, etc., as if there is only ONE tradition involved here - the Sirius lore of the Oannes. There were two distinct traditions and two persons or races or brotherhoods; that of the Dogon and that of the Hermetic. Had Temple understood the Chandravansa history, he'd have known that these two traditions were, and often are, at war with each other! In fact, the Dogon might be earlier than the Hermetic which would mean that Budge's information on the precedence of the Cult of Anubis refers only to Egypt or else it is incomplete. It is possible that the highest initiates had complete initiation into both teachings. According to the esoteric tradition (not referenced by scholars) the Black Rite of Osiris does involve knowing both traditions as I point out in the article "Set." (cf in CM section, HPL's Haunter of the Dark, in which Dr. Dexter states he is afraid of the avatar of Nyarlathotep, who in antique and shadowy Khem took the form of man. He screams at the end of the story "the three lobed burning eye." This compares with the description of Hermes as Trismegistic (thrice megistic, i.e., holy great or Magi-like) and seems to refer once again to the eye star. It also refers to Trilochana in Tantra. Damascius, the Neo-platonist, says that the Egyptian philosophers, who are resident among us, explain their occult truth as this, "The one principle of the universe is celebrated as Unknown Darkness, and this three times pronounced as such."
Anubis is described often as "time" and "time the devourer." This would be like Sri Kala Chakra in Tantra: Lord Time Devourer. He is accused of devouring Apis the bull. Apis, the animal into which the dead Osiris was sewn and transported (known under the Ptolemies as Serapis) was known as Asar-Hapi. A cult of Jupiter-Serapis existed even as late as the Roman Empire.