The Power of Sol

 

Every one of us is part of a culture. Our minds are being shaped, even before we emerge from the womb of our mothers, by cultural practices.

Our mindsets are imperceptibly formed along with our physical attributes, as we grow up and become participating adults in the world around us.

As a result, there develops different kinds of cultures with different values and beliefs, depending on a whole host of circumstances. And the interesting thing is that those values change over time, to the point where old values, beliefs and ideas can be totally forgotten, replaced by new ones.

However, some values and beliefs are deeper than others, almost to the point of being burnt into our DNA.

One of those is the belief in the power of what we in our culture call “the sun”.
In contrast, He, “the sun”, was known as Aten and revered as the mover and shaker of this world in ancient Egypt.

The people of Turtle Island (the Americas) held the sun to be the supreme being in their lives. Physical evidence of this can be seen in the construction of pyramids right across the ancient world, the silent reminder of the importance of getting closer to Sol. And the sun-dance survives to this day.

The ancient Greek gods lived on Mount Olympus for the same reason: Being close to the supreme being and sharing in His power. The Greek hero, Ulysses, even had some interaction with the Sun God’s cattle, I seem to remember from my readings.

Sol is even embedded in our Christian religion in a modified form: ”Our Father who art in Heaven...”

In traditional beliefs, Sol is born every morning, travels across the sky, and dies every night, travels through the underworld, to be reborn the following morning.

Please compare that to our Christian belief in death and resurrection.

“Aw, c’mon”, you say, “gim'me a break!”

OK dude, here comes the kicker: Please go to a cemetery of your choosing and check which way the gravestones are facing.

In my experience, in the absence of very particular local circumstances, they invariably face east, greeting Sol the Creator, waiting for those buried there to be resurrected.

I believe this mindset has been burnt into the very core of our being by natural catastrophes in times past, for example, by Sol being prevented from his life giving work by volcanic ash floating in the atmosphere, chilling down the world to the point where great extinctions of life took place.

And for locals, next time you drive across the Red Deer River, take some time to look at sides of the river canyon, where you will see multiple white bands on display, some of them several meters thick.

You are looking at volcanic ash that would have choked out all life in this region when it was deposited.