Zecharia Sitchin, Oracles and The New Age

 

A 2010 New York Times article about Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010) preceded obituaries of the author nine months later, quoting him as saying to his interviewer: ". . . describing my theories in a sentence, or even something like a newspaper article, is impossible."  Sitchin's latest book at the time described him once again as "an eminent Orientalist and biblical scholar."  The final volume of his seven book series The Earth Chronicles published in 2007 includes a prefatory statement by Sitchin that the purpose with this edition is dealing with ancient enigmas, symbols and prophecy: " . . . let us look at what is to come through the lens of what had been.  The answers will be certain to surprise." 

 

In The Wars of Gods and Men (1985) Sitchin wrote about a scenario circa 2031 B.C. involving "the new ruler on the throne of Ur" and "oracles of destruction and doom."  In the fourth year of his reign, ruler Ibbi-Sin was told that 'The Son in the west will arise . . . Ur shall be judged.'"  This was followed by the extrapolation by Sitchin about the year of 2024 B.C.: "Marduk, as the omens had predicted, returned to Babylon for the second time."  The sentiment would seem to be an amalgamation of circumstances relating to Divine interaction and anthropomorphic associations with individual human rulers as evidenced by extant historical remnants and scriptures.  Whatever may now be construed to have happened, the events that took place followed the reported 24-year exile of Marduk with Sitchin identifying one clay tablet as bearing text translated as: "His wish, Marduk continued, was to bring peace and prosperity to the land, 'chase away evil and bad luck . . . bring motherly love to Mankind.'"  

 

It is Sitchin's preceding book The Stairway to Heaven (1980) that features his commentary about 'The Oracle at Delphi' and other oracle sites. 

Delphi . . . its ruins are still one of Greece's leading tourist attractions.  There too, as at Baalbek, the sacred precinct consisted of a platform shaped upon a mountainside, also facing a valley that opens up as a funnel toward the Mediterranean Sea and the lands on its other shores.


In a subterranean chamber, hidden from view by the oracle seekers, the oracle priestess, in trance-like oblivion, answered the questions of kings and heroes by uttering enigmatic answers . . .

Sitchin in this book mentioned other scriptural evidence concerning oracle sites, such as "the temple of Ammon at the oasis of Siwa"; however, Sitchin expressed no familiarity with contemporary experiences of 'channeling' that make evident aspects of ancient transcendental communication phenomena when authentic as being intrinsic to the biology and mentality of divinely chosen individual human beings without requiring any accouterments.

 

  La prêtresse de Delphes by Henri-Paul Motte (1846–1922)

 

In comparison with Sitchin, an author who voluminously researched parapsychology subjects was Martin Ebon (1917-2006).  He reported about his Delphic Oracle research with Prophecy in Our Time (1968) and began the book with accounts of instances of human predicaments resulting with examples of prophecy, premonition, precognition, foreknowledge.  Ebon mentioned that "indeed, some premonitory dreams have caused people to change their plans and, apparently, avoid catastrophe."  

 

Five other oracles had failed to state correctly what odd task Croesus [King of Lydia] was performing  at the time.  But the Delphic Oracle said accurately, "Croesus is boiling a lamb and a tortoise together, in a copper vessel with a copper lid."  [etc.]

Myers mentions that "oracle" in Latin points especially to cases where the voice of God, or a spirit, was actually heard "whether directly or through some human intermediary."  But the corresponding Greek term merely "signifies a seat of soothsaying, a place where divinations are obtained by whatever means."

Our own very current word "enthusiasm" strikes me as one of the most vividly meaningful terms of them all.  Its center is the Greek word for God, "Theos"; its first syllable conveys "entering into" — and the total meaning concerns someone who has been entered into by the gods, who is "possessed" and therefore either inspired, controlled, uplifted, transformed, or turned into an instrument of knowledge, or passion, beyond his normal human limits.  The oracles, in this sense, were originally seen as "enthused," mouthpieces of the gods, of dead ancestors, or of a cosmic force — not unlike Jung's "collective unconscious"—that holds knowledge greater than the individual's in all directions, including the future.

Such magnificent images, and often such trivial applications!  Would not the petals of a flower do, to answer whether "she loves me . . . she loves me not . . .?"  Must man seek his hoped-for knowledge in what Freud called the "black mud" of the occult; . . . from greedy and manipulative priests forming the entourage of successive Delphic oracles?  

These passages reflect the complexity of some transcendental communication occurrences, case histories and/or published transcripts; complexities that may not be customary basis for thought among a populace familiar with traditional mainstream entertainment media offerings, some examples being Pop culture videos for Cusco's "The Oracle of Delphi", Michael Jackson's Egyptian oracle-themed "Remember The Time" or Billie Eilish's tongue-in-cheek "Therefore I Am".  

 

 

Another observation by Sitchin in The Stairway to Heaven is that "the Sumerian Gateway to Heaven was marked by the date palm."  He reported: "Egyptian depictions showed the deceased (sometimes with his wife) at the Celestial Paradise, sipping the Waters of Life out of which there grows the Tree of Life with its life-giving fruit, the date palm."  Also: "The Prophet Ezekiel, in his vision of the rebuilt temple of Jerusalem, saw it decorated with alternating 'Cherubim and date palms.'"

 

Sitchin offered a description of what may be determined about ancient Egyptian concepts of the afterlife.

 

The celestial destination was the birthplace of Ra, to which he had returned from Earth.  There, Ra himself was constantly rejuvenated  or "reawakened" by having the Goddess of the Four Jars pour him a certain elixir periodically.  It was thus the king's hope to have the same goddess pour him too the elixir and "therewith refresh his heart to life."  It was in these waters, named "Water of Youth," that Osiris rejuvenated himself, and so it was promised to the departed King Pepi that Horus shall "count for thee a second season of youth"; that he shall "renew thy youth in the waters whose name is 'Water of Youth.'"

 

The Pharaoh seemed little bothered by the paradox that he had to die first in order to attain Immortality . . . the Egyptians believed that every person possessed a Ba, akin to what we call "soul," which rose heavenward like a bird after death; and a Ka—variably translated Double, Ancestral Spirit, Essence, Personality—through which form the Pharaoh was translated into his Afterlife.

 

The Stairway to Heaven is the second book published by Sitchin, who continued presenting new works for 30 more years.  He cited his sources of data:

From the Sumerian cosmological tales and epic poems, from texts that served as autobiographies of these gods, from lists of their functions and relationships and cities, from chronologies and histories called King Lists, and a wealth of other texts, inscriptions and drawings, we have pieced together a cohesive drama of what had happened in prehistoric times, and how it all began.

Perspectives of human entities identified as subjects of ancient records such as the Mesopotamian 'Bel-Marduk' (and human leaders and priests associated with 'Ra') may sometimes have been amalgamated with cosmological knowledge about a planet named 'Marduk.'

The sophistication in celestial knowledge—attributed by the Sumerians to the astronauts who had come from Marduk—was not limited to familiarity with the solar system.  There was the endless universe linked by stars . . . Of the greatest importance were the constellations . . . Called by the Sumerians UL.HE ("The Shiny Herd")—which the Greeks adapted as the zodiakos kyklos ("Animal Circle") and we still call the Zodiac—they were arranged in twelve groups, to form the twelve Houses of the Zodiac . . . The much later Egyptian Zodiac representations were almost identical to the Sumerian ones.

In the concluding seventh volume of Sitchin's The Earth Chronicles published in 2007, the Egyptian Zodiac was again featured with the author mentioning "Pharaohs who bore theophoric names honoring Amon/Amen" with the name 'Amon' interpreted as meaning 'The Unseen.' 

 

The mysterious aspects of past lives of message bringers, Message Giver and religious figures remind us that the actual individuals may have gone ignored or disrespected during their own lifetimes and the facts about their precise circumstances obscured.  

 

As recalled in Testament, during the summer of 1995 I returned home from my 'talking poltergeist' research expedition only to discover that 'paranormal phenomena' was continuing to occur in my presence with an ever-widening scope.  My television was coming on to give me 'messages' before quickly shutting off and on one occasion I observed a coin to materialize out of thin air and fall upon the living room carpeting while my twin brother and a friend were visiting me.  I noticed the Angelic synchronicity included myself having lived in Los Angeles all my life and my current residence was located across the street from the landmark Angelus Temple.  The 'Mark Russell Bell' pen name that I began considering for myself was confirmed by an unprecedented incident of channeling experienced by a startled friend while walking on Sunset Boulevard.  I noticed in the index of Sitchin’s The Wars of Gods and Men that after the name Jesus, a single page was listed.  I turned to that page and read:

. . . When Stephen Langdon included an English translation in his 1923 volume on the Mesopotamian New Year Mystery Texts, he titled the text The Death and Resurrection of Bel-Marduk and highlighted its parallels to the New Testament tale of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Bel-Marduk?  There was a similarity with my new Mark Russell Bell pen name.  I read further.

But, as the text relates, Marduk or Bel (“The Lord”) did not die; he was indeed incarcerated inside The Mountain as in a tomb; but he was entombed alive.

Here was a correlation with Paramount Pictures, the entertainment company I'd been affiliated with during the last seven and a half years as a movie publicity writer.  The studio's logo was The Mountain.

I then read the information prior to the mention of Jesus.

The Ashur text suggests that it had served as a script for a New Year’s mystery Play in Babylon that reenacted the god’s suffering and reprieve.

Soon thereafter, I began considering some of Sitchen's information about the individual known as 'Bel-Marduk.'  My finding at a local antique store the Egyptian-style medallion bearing the countenance in profile of an ancient figure resembling the way I appeared during my younger years seemed to confirm the physical aspect of the earlier lifetime beyond symbolic parallels. 

 

In 2019 I began publishing online autobiographical articles to provide readers with a way of learning the details about my unusual life circumstances.  There have also been discovered a plethora of 'Pop culture' correlations for me to contemplate, including bizarre links between the occurrences in my life with creative media processes and performances involving movie stars and Pop singers.  I'd worked as a talent agent based in the Hollywood Hills prior to my Hollywood studio employment.  

 

In 2021 the renewed Divine spiritual dispensation of 'Channeling' through contemporary oracles is instrumental to bringing about this New Age.  The image below provides a link to the article "Channeled Communication about The New Age - Ten Documented Cases".