Zeus the God of Thunder

The Rise of the God of Thunder1

(Dreamtime‌) It was in the time when the bad people ravished our land that our Great Mother gathered all the gods and heroes and proclaimed the vision of the times to follow, so that the children of light would find a way through the mists of the vile kismet that hung upon the skies, pouring off the darkest clouds of misfortune that beheld them. It was the dawn of the new age of Warfare, a disease that vanquished the Order of the ancient lore. The Great Mother nurtured each and everyone with the Nectar of Wisdom2 that they drank from her bosom, up where the Rocks sang hymns to the Sun. The children were thus protected from oblivion and the Light that flashed deep into their souls was to redeem their lost glory. The Great Mother than gave names to all of the gods and heroes that beguiled the invading hoards with their might and power, and endowed them with magic and valor to protect the children of light against the Snake and its Shadow.

The children watched in awe as the Great Mother reached the Skies and touched the Sun, and all of a sudden she began transforming into a Tree as big as the world itself. The children called it

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An extract from a book titled: THE HOUSE OF MACEDON – LIVING BIBLE OF THE LIGHT by Petro Invictus Sorig Lhopehl Dhutse means "wisdom nectar". This is a traditional Tibetan medical formulation to help improve intelligence and memory of children. It also helps to promote fluent speech production. Acorus gramineus helps to energize the body and sharpens intelligence.

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the Tree of Life. It was endowed with all the fruits of this world and it had the mark of the Lightning3 on the very top.

Then the gods and the heroes started climbing the Tree to reach the top. It was a time of leisure for all, and they all celebrated the victor who claimed the Thunder for himself. Thus he became the mightiest of all gods, the protector of the children of light. And he received the supremacy of the Great Mother.

The mightiest of all was known as the God Dze4, whom the desert princes called Zeus5.

He was the god of light, the all-seer, the all-knower, the supreme of the majestic Twelve6 who resided on top of the Sacred Mountain. He became known as the defender of men, who by

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Gromoviti znaci or thunder marks such as these are ancient symbols of Perun, which are often engraved upon roof beams of village houses, particularly in Eastern Slavic populations, to protect them from lightning bolts. It is conjectured their circular shape symbolizes ball lightning. (Wikipedia) 4

In the Demotic text of the Rosetta stone, God Dzе is depicted as the supreme god of the Macedonians, who was a in the Greek text of the Rosetta stone). The god of the summers and of the light (the sun) - inscribed as word dze is still used in Macedonian in children’s talk, denoting something visible.

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Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Ζεύς Zeús, genitive: ∆ιός Diós) in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand or seated in majesty. Zeus was the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married to Hera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort was Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades, including one pederastic relationship with Ganymede. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus. His Roman counterpart was Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart Tinia. (Wikipedia)

ascending to the top of the Tree and acquiring the Lightning became the God of Thunder7, respected by all, feared by many.

When the bad people encroached, they were so scared of his image that they built a shrine in his honor offering sacrifice to his altar so that he would let them live. The children of the Great Mother hoped that Dze would bring them to their senses, but it turned out that they were mistaken. The hoards had made a secret Testament with the Snake, which was hiding deep under the roots of the Holy Tree8, and was awaiting for the right moment to strike.

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The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon (Greek: ∆ωδεκάθεον < δωδεκα, dodeka, "twelve" + θεον, theon, "of the gods"), in Greek mythology, were the principal gods of the Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. The classical scheme of the Twelve Olympians (the Canonical Twelve of art and poetry) comprises the following gods: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia. The respective Roman scheme comprises the following gods: Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Ceres, Mars, Mercury, Vulcan, Venus, Minerva, Apollo, Diana and Vesta.

There was, however, a great deal of fluidity when it came to who was counted among their number in antiquity; other important gods are sometimes included by certain sources in the group of Twelve replacing some of the above Canonical 12. The first ancient reference of religious ceremonies for the 12 Olympians is found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Around 400 BC Herodorus included in his Dodekatheon the following deities: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, Alpheus, Cronus, Rhea and the Charites. Wilamowitz agrees with Herodorus' version of the 12.

There were also numerous regional variations in ancient Greece. For instance, at Kos, Ares and Hephaestus are left behind, replaced by Heracles and Dionysus. Herodotus agrees with this and counts Heracles as one of the Twelve, while Lucian adds Asklepios to Heracles as a member of the Twelve, without explaining which two had to give way for them. Pindar and Apollodorus, however, disagree with this. For them, and Herodorus as well, Heracles is not one of the Twelve Gods, but the one who established their cult. Plato connected the Twelve Olympians with the twelve months, and proposed that the final month be devoted to rites in honor of Pluto and the spirits of the dead, implying that he considered Hades, one of the basic chthonic deities, to be one of the Twelve. Hades is phased out in later groupings due to his chthonic associations. In Phaedrus Plato aligns the Twelve with the Zodiac and would exclude Hestia from their rank. Hestia is sometimes displaced by Dionysus. Hebe, Helios and Persephone are other important gods, goddesses, which are sometimes included in a group of twelve. Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was forced to spend 3 months a year in the underworld. During this time, Demeter withheld her graces and caused the barren landscape of winter, until her daughter returned to Mount Olympus. (Wikipedia) 7

Polytheistic peoples of many cultures have postulated a thunder god, the personification or source of the seemingly magical forces of thunder and lightning. Frequently, the thunder god is known as the chief or king of the gods, for example Zeus in Greek mythology, or otherwise a close relation, for example Thor in Norse mythology, son of Odin, or Perun in Slavic mythology. (Wikipedia) 8

In Slavic mythology, much like in Norse mythology, the world was represented by a sacred tree, usually an oak, whose branches and trunk represented the living world of heavens and mortals, whilst its roots represented the underworld, i.e. the realm of dead. Perun was a ruler of the living world, sky and earth, and was often symbolized by an eagle sitting on the top of the tallest branch of the tree, from which he kept watch over the entire world. Deep down in the roots of the tree was the place of his enemy, symbolized by a serpent or a dragon: this was Veles, watery god of the underworld, who continually provoked Perun by stealing his cattle, children or wife. Perun pursued Veles around the earth, attacking him with his lightning bolts from the sky. Veles fled from him by transforming himself into various animals, or hiding behind trees, houses or people; wherever a lightning bolt struck, it was believed, this was because Veles hid from Perun under or behind that particular place. In the end, Perun managed to kill Veles, or to chase him back down into his watery underworld. The supreme god thus reestablished the order in the world

When the God of Thunder saw that the Snake was near, hiding entangled among the roots of the Tree, he gave the children of light his Lightning and taught them how to make weapons from it, first of stone then of metal9. There were dark clouds on the sky the day when the first sword was made.

The Snake was devious and it placed a mirror in the waters below to reflect the work of the gods, and thus saw how Dze made the swords for the children of light. It revealed the secret to the desert princes, so they too knew how to make weapons. The war had begun.

Dze was not with his own people when the war started. He went north to warn the people of the misfortunes that awaited them. The children of light there called him Perun10.

When he returned, he saw that remnants of the warfare that had destroyed the lives of many of his children, causing the hoards to advance further in their conquest of the land that belonged to the Great Mother. He saw what the Snake had done, and he was so infuriated that he went to the Tree and prayed to the Great Mother for seven days and nights. In the morning of the seventh

which had been disrupted by his chaotic enemy. He then returned to the top of the World tree and proudly informed his opponent down in the roots: Ну, там твое место, там сабе будь! ("Well, there is your place, stay there!"). This line came from a Belarusian folk tale of great antiquity. To the Slavs, the mythological symbolism of a supreme heavenly god who battles with his underworldly enemy through storms and thunder was extremely significant, and from Perun and Veles, this idea of cosmic battle was passed onto God and the Devil following Christianization.

(Wikipedia) 9

Wikipedia: In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic:Перун) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. His other attributes were the mountain, oak, eagle, firmament (in Indo-European languages this was joined with the notion of the sky of stone), horses and carts, weapons (the hammer, axe and arrow), war, and fire. He was first associated with weapons made of stone and later with those of metal.

Perun is described as a rugged man with a copper beard. He rides in a chariot pulled by a he-goat and carries a mighty axe, or sometimes a hammer. The axe is hurled at evil people and spirits and will always return to his hand.

Of all historic records describing Slavic gods, those mentioning Perun are the most numerous. As early as 6th century, he was mentioned in De Bello Gothico, a historical source written by the Byzantine historian Procopius. A short note describing beliefs of a certain South Slavic tribe states they acknowledge that one god, creator of lightning, is the only lord of all: to him do they sacrifice an ox and all sacrificial animals. While the name of the god is not mentioned here explicitly, the fact that word Perun in a number of Slavic languages today simply means "thunder" or "lightning bolt" is proof enough this was a reference of him.

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In the classification scheme of Georges Dumézil, Perun was the god of the second function (physical and military power), a god of war, and as such, he was armed with several fantastic weapons. Perun's lightning bolts were believed to be stones and stone arrows. According to folk beliefs, fulgurites and belemnites and sometimes even remains of prehistoric stone tools found in the ground are remains of these weapons. Various Slavic countries also call these deposits "Perun's stones", "thunderbolt stones", "thunderbolt wedges" and "Perun's arrow"; other unrelated names for these include "devil's finger", "God's finger", and "Mother of God finger", and in Lithuania, "Berkun's finger". These thunderbolt stones were sometimes said to be transferred back to the sky by the wind after being under earth for a period of seven years. The weapons of Perun protected against bad luck, evil magic, disease, and naturally enough - lightning itself. (Wikipedia)

day he saw three golden apples11 hanging on the branches bellow his feet, and he took them for his people. He told them that these apples were their ultimate weapon against the followers of the Snake, and that they must not use it until the right time would come. They would know it from the signs on the sky.

First, said Dze, there will be a Cross on the sky, and when you see the Sun on the Cross, you will hear the cry of the Firebird12 rising from the ashes. Then you will see me descending from the 11

Wikipedia: Perun also had another type of weapon in his arsenal, as destructive as his firestone arrows, but even more unusual: mythical golden apples. While this may not seem to be much of a weapon, in many Slavic folk accounts, the golden apple appears as a talisman of ultimate destruction. An example from a Serbian folk song with strong mythical elements relates: ... Te izvadi tri jabuke zlatne I baci ih nebu u visine... ...Tri munje od neba pukoše Jedna gađa dva djevera mlada, Druga gađa pašu na dorinu, Treća gađa svata šest stotina, Ne uteče oka za svjedoka, Ni da kaže, kako pogiboše. "...Then he took out three apples of gold And threw them high into the sky... ...Three lightning bolts burst from the sky, One strikes at two young brothers-in-law, Another strikes at pasha on a horse, The third strikes six hundred wedding guests, Not an eye for a witness fled Not even to say, how they ended dead."

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The phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird in ancient Phoenician mythology, and in myths derived from it. A phoenix is a mythical male bird with a tail of beautiful gold and red plumage (or purple and blue, by some sources).

It has a 500 year life-cycle, and near the end the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises. The new phoenix is destined to live, usually, as long as the old one. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of the old phoenix in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (sun city in Greek). The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible — a symbol of fire and divinity.

Although descriptions (and life-span) vary, the phoenix (Bennu bird) became popular in early Christian art, literature and Christian symbolism, as a symbol of Christ representing His resurrection, immortality, and life-after-death. One of the Early Church Fathers, Clement, related the following regarding the Phoenix in chapter 25 of The First Epistle of Clement: Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests

heavens on a flaming chariot13, to proclaim the end of times. You should know my image though you will have forgotten my true name, since the next era will be that of the Fish, which will cover all the land with its name. Then you will know how to cast the three golden apples, which will pierce the earth and reach the roots of the Tree where the Snake lies entangled. The first apple will protect all the children of light from the Shadow, the second will hit the Snake right in its head and bring it to the Abyss, while the third will entrap all the bad people and take them to the edge of the Cosmos, where they will stay confined for many ages until the new Sun is born.

That will be the day of forgiveness for all, and many of them will return to the Light, after ages of wandering in the Shadow. May this be written in the stars never to be forgottenâ&#x20AC;Ś

then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed.

(Wikipedia) 13

With the arrival of Christianity, various churches had a difficult time trying to overcome the worship of the old supreme deities of the Slavs. In the East, the Eastern Orthodox Church gradually managed to pass much of Perun's characteristics on to a new Christian saint, Elijah the Thunderer, based upon the Old Testament prophet Elijah, whom the Scriptures state rode a flaming chariot through heaven; this seemed a good enough approximation of the old thunder god with his fiery bolts. In the west, the Roman Catholic Church offered St. Michael the Archangel, who, as a commander of heavenly armies and vanquisher of the Devil, was also a fitting replacement for Perun.

(Wikipedia)