The cosmic deep blue: The significance of the celestial water world sphere across cultures

Abstract

The aquatic world plays an essential part in ecosystems. On the earth it provides the fertilizing, vital basis for life. Devastating giant flooding, however, has been destructive and fatal for certain cultures. Archaic people identified the realm of the water world as the primeval and lasting cosmic ocean, which surrounds and intersperses the world. The respective land ("the earth") and the celestial bodies emerged out of the cosmic sea, both swimming there as the first "aquatics". People identified different species of the celestial fauna and flora as having counterparts in the earthly water world, with the moon, single stars and asterisms, open star clusters, zodiacal star patterns, shooting stars, the Milky Way, and the cosmological structure. Ancient cultures, especially those whose subsistence was based mainly on fishing and navigation, often correlated their time reckonings using lunar cycles and star phases with the rhythms of the water realm (e.g. tides, seasonality etc.) and of certain aquatics. Fishing aids (nets, hooks, and spears), boots and ships as well as navigation aids were recognized in certain star patterns. Some celestial aquatics, e.g. certain fish asterisms, were important as navigation aids for seafaring cultures. Finally, their archaic cosmovisions are linked to the cosmic water world: There are widespread ideas about a giant water animal out of which the world was created or about the aquatic monster in the middle of the abyss in the cosmic ocean, causing earthquakes and tsunamis. The combat between an avian and an aquatic illustrates the antagonism and polarity of the upper world and the lower world, closely linked to the earth's water cycle. An example par excellence for a cosmic water plant is the water lily or lotus. The present work sums up some important aspects of the topic, based on selected examples and a comparative methodology.

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Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 14, No 3, pp. 293-305
Copyright © 2014 MAA
Printed in Greece. All rights reserved.
THE COSMIC DEEP BLUE: THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE CELESTIAL WATER WORLD SPHERE
ACROSS CULTURES
Michael A. Rappenglück
Adult Education Center and Observatory, Gilching, Germany
mr@infis.org
ABSTRACT
The aquatic world plays an essential part in ecosystems. On the earth it provides the
fertilizing, vital basis for life. Devastating giant flooding, however, has been destructive
and fatal for certain cultures. Archaic people identified the realm of the water world as
the primeval and lasting cosmic ocean, which surrounds and intersperses the world. The
respective land (“the earth”) and the celestial bodies emerged out of the cosmic sea, both
swimming there as the first “aquatics”. People identified different species of the celestial
fauna and flora as having counterparts in the earthly water world, with the moon, single
stars and asterisms, open star clusters, zodiacal star patterns, shooting stars, the Milky
Way, and the cosmological structure. Ancient cultures, especially those whose subsist-
ence was based mainly on fishing and navigation, often correlated their time reckonings
using lunar cycles and star phases with the rhythms of the water realm (e.g. tides, sea-
sonality etc.) and of certain aquatics. Fishing aids (nets, hooks, and spears), boots and
ships as well as navigation aids were recognized in certain star patterns. Some celestial
aquatics, e.g. certain fish asterisms, were important as navigation aids for seafaring cul-
tures. Finally, their archaic cosmovisions are linked to the cosmic water world: There are
widespread ideas about a giant water animal out of which the world was created or
about the aquatic monster in the middle of the abyss in the cosmic ocean, causing earth-
quakes and tsunamis. The combat between an avian and an aquatic illustrates the antag-
onism and polarity of the upper world and the lower world, closely linked to the earth’s
water cycle. An example par excellence for a cosmic water plant is the water lily or lotus.
The present work sums up some important aspects of the topic, based on selected exam-
ples and a comparative methodology.
KEYWORDS: cosmovision, aquatic animals, lotus, Milky Way, cosmic water monster,
uroboros, earth’s water cycle, alternate states of mind

294
MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLÜCK
1. INTRODUCTION
The aquatic world plays an essential part
in human ecosystems. Ancient cultures, es-
pecially those whose subsistence was based
mainly on fishing and navigation, often cor-
related their time reckonings using lunar cy-
cles and star phases with the rhythms of the
water realm (e.g. seasonality, tides, currents,
etc.) and the chronobiology of certain aquat-
ics (Taylor 1957; Whatahoro 1913: 170 and fn.
18; Luomala 1980: 548-549; Hoeppe 2000;
Dunlap, Loros, and Decoursey 2004; Aveni
2008: 50; Espina 2008: 315-318, fig. 3, and 327-
333, table 1).
The moon and sometimes the sun have
been regarded as “vessels” (Kunike 1925:
63-64; Leeming 2010: 281, 283). Asterisms
are shaped as vessels and navigation aids
(Staal 1988: 23, fig. 10; 58, fig. 29A; 72, fig.
38, 101-109; fig. 51, 127; fig. 62 B; Miller
1997: 138; Rappenglück 2009; Leeming
2010: 208-209; Johnson 2011: 295-296), often
signalling the time of seafaring. Archaic
people also perceived fishing aids (nets,
hooks, spears) in star patterns (Staal 1988).
Sun and moon, single stars and aster-
isms, open star clusters, zodiacal star pat-
terns, shooting stars, and the Milky Way
were also correlated with aquatics (Wassén
1934: 638-641, 642-643; Kunike 1925: 66-68,
70-74; Deonna 1954: 57-58; Staal 1988;
Clark, 1991: 309, 329-330, 334; Birrell 1993:
169-170; Hoeppe 2000; Werness 2000: 71;
Stross 2007: 391-395; Milbrath 2013: 59, 60-
61, 6, 67, and 130, n. 82). Examples for the
cosmic symbolism of aquatic plants are the
water lily and the lotus (see below). Even
today, the International Astronoical Un-
ion's fixed scope of 88 constellations con-
sists of several real aquatics or fantastic
chimeras, coming mostly from older times,
but also from the early modern period
(Staal 1988).
It isn’t surprising that archaic people de-
veloped elaborated mythic models about
the origin, development and structure of
the cosmic water sphere.
2. THE PRIMORDIAL WATER SPHERE
Based on myths worldwide, elements of
a widespread archaic cosmovision can be
partially reconstructed: There once existed
a primordial aquatic domain, a perpetual
undifferentiated materia prima, occupying
an infinite abyss of timeless, chaotic, un-
conscious dark space, having the potential-
ity of creation and regeneration, but also of
absorption and destruction of entities
(Brown 1942: 87-88; Rudhardt 1987; Mondi
1989; Leeming 2010: 341-343).
Often the liquid is characterized as a
specific spume (Leeming 2010: 290). The
Mongols (Holmberg 1964: 328-329) know
that the primordial ocean and the foam
covering it were produced by strong
winds, which stirred up and mixed a mass
of air and water, forcing them to conglom-
erate into gigantic drops. The Iatmul in Pa-
pua New Guinea (Werness 2000: 71) tell
about a crocodile that spun around, caus-
ing the primeval water to transform into
foam. People regarded the foam of the
primordial sea as a manifestation of milky
semen, as a life-giving substance that gave
birth to mother goddesses such as the
Greek Aphrodite or the Indian Lakshmi
(Andrews 1998: 206-207; Leeming 2010: 10,
118, 324, 375, 478). The Milky Way was re-
garded as a concentrate of the initial foam
and semen in the Night Sky (Rotzler 1915:
803, fn. 5; Rappenglück 1999: 134-135).
The primordial aquatic domain was
identified with a powerful gigantic fe-
male being that was, both primarily
and universally, creative and destruc-
tive, controlling life and death. It is
considered to be a kind of amniotic flu-
id (Wessing 2006: 208). The watery
realm is compacted in a container
formed by a semipermeable membrane,
which is typified by a rock cave or a liv-
ing being’s shell, carapace, or skin. This
enclosure, later more technically imag-
ined as a “firmament” or “water dam”,
prevented the primordial waters from
uncontrollably flooding the interior
(Casalis 1976: 39-41). In this way two
realms are set, characterized by the
male and female water outside and the
water inside of the membrane (Cheva-
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THE COSMIC DEEP BLUE
295
lier and Gheerbrant 1996: 1081-1087).
The Maori creation myth, for example,
tells about the separation of water into
two spheres (Lemming 2010: 184). The
female water organism, beyond the
boundary, was imagined to be a gigan-
tic serpent, octopus, or chimera, like a
dragon, hydra or other kind of water
monster demon, coiling or clutching
around the container, using many
windings, arms, legs, or heads. People
(Eck 1981: 324; Wessing 2006: 208-211)
thought that this aquatic cosmic mon-
ster was responsible for retaining the
life-giving waters beyond the firma-
ment. The first light, the sun, was said
to appear in the greatest depth of the
aquatic domain beyond the boundary,
produced by some kind of initial fiery
breath.Casalis 1976: 41). According to
Indonesian and Southeast Asian people
people the sun was kindled at the celes-
tial pole located in the water sphere, by
whisking the fluid with a huge pole,
which was the world axis (Rap-
penglück 2007). This area was often
compared to a (celestial) maelstrom,
opening an abyssal passage to the wa-
ters beyond (Santillana and Dechend
1994: 85, 102, 187-196). Later manifesta-
tions of the fire are the astral objects,
the lightning, and the rainbow. The
primordial fire embodied in the sun, or
in the moon as the sun’s nighttime
manifestation, was thought to be en-
gulfed in a water monster‘s dark belly
like an embryo in a womb, e.g. in Indi-
an tradition (Brown 1942: 88, 91, and fn.
35a; Irwin 1976: 741-743, 749; Varenne
1977-1978: 382, 384) and elsewhere
(Kerényi 1940; Schröder 1960; Akima
1993). Similar conceptions are about
pearl-shaped luminaries (sun, moon) in
a mussel or swallowed by a water mon-
ster, for example a whale, a frog, or a
dragon (Dixon 1916: 69; Wassén 1934:
644-649; Snodgrass 1985: 351-352; Clark
1991: 333; Chevalier and Gheerbrant
1996: 742-745).
Such approaches addressed the primeval
polarity of fire and water, the dry and the
wet, providing the potential for a subse-
quent creation of the sensible worldof
things and living beings (Schröder 1960;
Santos Granero 1992).
3. CREATING ORDER BY SLAYING
THE AQUATIC WORLD MONSTER
Myths worldwide claim that the aquatic
world monster, e.g. a reptile, fish, shell, oc-
topus, turtle, or water chimera, was killed
by a huge, usually avian, being, a manifes-
tation of the fiery (solar) power. The
“membrane”, which was imagined as a
rock cave or a living being’s shell, carapace
or skin, was sliced and halved, releasing
inwards the primordial waters and the
fiery luminous objects, especially the sun,
which appear and move in the upper
world (Brown 1942: 96-98; Leeming 2010).
The container split into a supernal and
chthonic hemisphere (Brown 1968: 203;
Baumann 1986: 283-284). This concept is an
essential part of the Indo-European drag-
on-slaying myth (Brown 1942: 95-98), but is
also well known in other traditions ,such as
the Babylonian Tiamat (Muss-Arnolt 1894;
Casalis, 1976: 40-41).
Society and Tahiti islanders speak of the
myth of Tangaloa / Taaroa (Baumann 1986:
234-235, 275; Leeming 2010: 251-253): In the
primeval water that fills the endless space
there exists a bivalve shell. The creator be-
ing, shaped as a bird-man, lived in a bi-
valve egg like a shell, which rotated in dark
space. Tangaloa touched the shell and it
cracked into two pieces, which he trans-
formed up to the sky (lower shell) and
down to the earth (upper shell). Then he
created the world’s landscape, flora and
fauna, the red sky in the morning and
evening, and the rainbow. Tangaloa em-
bodies the sun, which, since cracking the
bivalve shell, is able to move through the
air, thereby illuminating the world.
A variation on the container that was
split up to make the world is that of the egg
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MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLÜCK
swimming in the primordial sea (Leeming
2010), produced by birds (air and sky) as
well as by reptiles (earth and underworld).
In addition, a turtle‘s and tortoise‘s body
recalls the shape of a bivalve shell (Rap-
penglück 2006): The plastron signifies the
flat and square earth, while the carapace
stands for the dome-like sky. The four
limbs indicate cardinality and the main
supporters of the world. The head and the
tail often denote the meridian line. These
body parts together appear as a kind of
“snake”. The sculpture of the plastron rep-
resents a kind of reticulated division of the
cosmic “container”.
4. EARTH DIVER MYTHS
Peoples worldwide (Appel 2005: 72-73;
Leeming 2010) have developed sets of
earth-diver myths, in which an animal ac-
customed to the aquatic sphere creates the
world. It swims in a kind of primal aquatic
sphere or lives at its bottom. The animal
dives down to the floor and secures mud.
This material becomes the earth, shaped as
flat land or a stone ball (Leeming 2010: 40)
surrounded by the sea. The new land starts
to expand, generating the world. Various
animals are capable of diving (Leeming
2010): mammals (e.g. otter, boar, and
muskrat), water birds (e.g. duck, loon),
crustaceans (e.g. crab, crawfish), reptiles
(e.g. turtle), mollusks (e.g. octopus), am-
phibians (e.g. frog, toad), insects (e.g. bee-
tle), and annelids (e.g. leech).
5. THE COSMIC SETUP BY AQUATICS
Some people hand down archaic ideas
about an abstract framework for terrestrial
and celestial orientation, imagined to be in
the body parts of certain aquatics (Leeming
2010: 18,324-325, 343). The Iatmul in Papua
New Guinea say that that the world croco-
dile‘s lower jaw constituted the earth while
the upper jaw formed the sky (Appel 2005:
72, 79). According to Tahitian (Emory 1940:
74 fig. 3, 79-90, 105) concepts, an octopus
separated the world’s shells, which are the
realms of sky and earth, by grasping one
and peeling it off of the other. The head of
the octopus with its parrot-bill mouth, de-
fines the world‘s centre and is considered
to be a cosmic navel point (Saura, Capestro,
and Bova 2002: 141-142, fn. 6). The eight
arms correspond to the eight cardinal di-
rections, supporting the heavens like pil-
lars. For the Gilbert Islanders (Kiribati)
(Grimble 1922: 92-96; Leeming 2010: 205-
206), the primeval being Nareau called to
himself and awakened from eternal sleep.
A transparent primordial sphere, a kind of
carapace, appeared from the darkness. In-
side were several creatures, including the
octopus, shark, turtle, eel, and flattened
human bodies. Nareau failed to open the
sphere. The octopus and the eel helped him
to open the shell from within. The eel, lik-
ened to a snake coiled under the ancestor
world tree and serving as a kind of world
axis, was thought to have lifted up the sky.
He came into existence by cutting two arms
off of another primeval animal, the ten-
armed squid, and merging them together.
As a result, the squid equipped with ten
arms (a decapod), including two specially
shaped tentacles, turned into an eight-
armed one, an octopus. The octopus kicked
the eel’s tail, pushing him to the highest
point of the sky. There he transformed his
shape into the Milky Way. Fire and water
are considered to be the Octopus’s chil-
dren. All of this enabled Nareau to breathe
life into the flattened first people. He gath-
ered them beneath the maneaba structure
(meeting house) and surveyed the limitless
waters as they merged with the infinite
sky. The shape of the primordial octopus
also defines a Maori cosmic board game
(Levinson 1984: 129-130). The Babylonian
Tiamat was also a water monster chimera
with octopus-like legs (Dirven 1997: 101 fn.
17). It was halved in order to shape the
world’s two hemispheres. Its viscera and
body parts were used to shape the sky’s
framework, including the zodiac, and the
terrestrial landscape (Muss-Arnolt 1894).
The aquatic monster’s twisted tail was
fixed at the polar world axis (Geyer 1987:
170-171).
The serpent-like Lernaean Hydra of the
Greek myth (Schoo 1939: 282-283), living in
a cave, is comparable to the octopus: Eight
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THE COSMIC DEEP BLUE
297
of the monster’s nine heads were mortal;
the central one, however, was immortal.
Like other cosmic water monsters, the crea-
ture is sliced. Even the ancient Japanese
eight-headed dragon, which shares mythic
similarities with the water monster Keto,
expresses the same idea (Akima 1993: 156,
191).
The symbolism of eight limbs around an
animal’s or chimera’s body as the center
represents a simple division of the celestial
hemisphere around the immovable center
of the sky: the celestial pole, for example.
While the octopus and the mythic hydra
are aquatic variants of the same concept,
the spider (eight limbs and eyes) illustrates
the cosmic model in the realm of insects
(Rappenglück 2007: 161-162). In any case,
the symbolism of the center and eight car-
dinal points, adding up to the magical
number nine, in a cosmic system is mythi-
cally thematised (Chevalier and Gheer-
brant 1996: 702-704).
6. THE WATER MONSTER CAUSING
TIDES, EARTHQUAKES, AND TSU-
NAMIS
According to various traditions, a giant
water animal, a fish, a reptile (turtle, snake
etc.), a cephalopod mollusk, or a mythical
creature such as a dragon resides at the
deepest point in the aquatic and chaotic
abyss of the world (Bluestone 2010; Leem-
ing 2010: 35; Schnytzer and Schnytzer
2012). In ancient India it is mostly known
as Makara (Dashew Robins and Bussa-
barger 1970; Snodgrass 1985: 27, 292-297). It
combines parts of a crocodile, dolphin, fish,
ram, turtle, whale, elephant, and a lotus.
The hitherto oldest example of the idea
of a subterranean cosmic water monster
can be found in the cave of Pergouset
(Saint-Géry, Lot, France), dated 30-15 ka
B.P., where the full relief of a big (2.70 m x
0.5 m) fish (a pike or a sturgeon?) can be
seen (Lorblanchet 2001: 140, fig. 121).
The water monster was thought to carry
the world (Leeming 2010). Its periodic
movements, a kind of soaking and stream-
ing out, caused the tides (Leeming 2010:
110-111). Its casual stagger was considered
to bring forth earthquakes and tsunamis
(Blust 2000: 520 table 1; Leeming 2010: 35,
108; Bluestone 2010; Smits 2012). The Mon-
golian belief was that if the giant frog car-
rying the earth moves a certain part of his
body an earthquake will appear at once
just above the limb (Bluestone, 2010).
Ancient Chinese and later Japanese
myths are about an “earthquake aquatic”,
considered to be a giant fish (often a cat-
fish), a squid, a turtle, a serpent, a dragon,
or a hybrid creature consisting of the
aforementioned animals (Smits 2012: 43-
47). Its serpentine body was thought to en-
circle the islands of Japan. In Japanese tra-
dition the devastating action of the earth-
quake fish was kept back by a god setting a
foundation stone upon the water demon.
The Chinese equivalent, the Ao water
monster, was similarly dammed up by the
Big Dipper asterism standing atop the crea-
ture (Smits 2012: 48-49).
In fact, some of the aquatics are biologi-
cally sensitive to oncoming earthquakes
(Schnytzer and Schnytzer 2012). The idea of
a serpent-like water monster causing
earthquakes and tsunamis was probably
inspired by a real animal, the giant oarfish
(pelagic lampriform fish), the king of her-
rings (Roberts 2012). This animal is distrib-
uted in the pelagic zones of deep oceans
worldwide (72° N to 52° S, 180° E to 180°
W). This species (Regalecus glesne), which
can be up to 17 m long, normally lives in
great depth (at least 1000 m). In the event
of an approaching earthquake, the fish sur-
faces and even swims into the rivers. Be-
cause of its undulating type of movement
(amiiform mode of swimming) the giant
oarfish often is identified as a monster wa-
ter snake (Ellis 2006: 43). The giant oarfish
has a weird body, which can be interpreted
as that of a horned feathered water serpent:
The animal has a reddish dorsal fin, reach-
ing from its eyes to the tail, a striking crest
made of bright red lengthy hard rays (10-
12) reminiscent of “horns”, and a peculiar
ventral fin. When upset, the oarfish raises
up his “red crown”. The giant oarfish’s red
crest recalls some ancient traditions having
to do with a red jewel or crown between
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MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLÜCK
the horns of the monstrous cosmic water
snake. North American natives e.g.,
thought that the Great Water Snake had a
red flower, a jewel or an eye between its
horns (Lankford 2007: 249, 253-254). The
Skidi-Pawnee link it to the red shining An-
tares (α Sco) and the animal with stars in
Scorpio. Similar traditions exist in Europe,
the Middle East, and China (Hopkins 1932;
Lehman-Nitsche 1933: 213-223). This view
is notably evident when looking at Scorpio
rising up from a horizontal lying Milky
Way.
7. THE UROBORIC MILKY WAY MON-
STER
Various ancient people (Roob 1996: 401-
435; Bächtold-Stäubli and Hoffmann-
Krayer 2006: 6352; Wessing 2006: 225;
Leeming 2010: 100) tell about a water mon-
ster shaped like a serpent, worm, or fish,
which encircles the world and bites itself in
its own tail (uroboros motif). Many peoples
believe that someday in future the water
monster will destroy the earth by casting it
into the ocean (Bächtold-Stäubli and Hoff-
mann-Krayer 2006: 6352; Leeming 2010:
110-111).
A correlation of the uroboros with the
Milky Way and the rainbow (Blust 2000:
520 table1, 532-533) is most probable. De-
pictions of the uroboros in an alchemistical-
astrological context show a bisection of his
body, often bi-colored, e.g. in red and
green (Theodoros Pelecanos, Synosius, Co-
dex Parisinus graecus 2327, Fol. 196, 1478).
The dichotomous uroboros is an excellent
depiction of the Milky Way located partial-
ly above and below the horizon at a specif-
ic location and date, e.g. about -2500 at φ =
50° (Starry Night Pro 6.43). It signifies the
boundaries and mixture of the sky-water,
associated with male power, rain, celestial
blood (sperm), saltwater, dryness, heat
(fire), sun, light, and the earth-water linked
to the female power, the terrestrial and un-
derground aquatic reservoir, earthly blood
(menstrual blood), freshwater, wetness,
cold, and moon (Chevalier and Gheerbrant
1996: 1086-1087).
Based on the Milky Way being located
on the horizon, stories about a hero “an-
gling” the giant reptile or fish from the
ocean’s bottom by are understandable.
German and Scandinavian traditions, go-
ing back to Indo-European roots, tell of
Thor, who, accompanied by the giant
Hymir, pulls out the world snake
Miðgarðsormr (Jörmungandr) using a fish
hook with an ox scull as bait (Simek 2006:
279-280, 428-430). The Maori (New Zea-
land) creation poem tells how the Maui,
using an ancestral jawbone or mother of
pearl as a hook, angles up Maui’s fish, the
North Island of New Zealand (Westerveld
1910: 4-30). The Fishhook and Maui are
identified with stars of Scorpio, the (red)
bait being Antares (Westervelt: 1910: 26,
136).
8. AMBIVALENT COSMIC WATER
POWER
The idea of a water organism permeating
the world’s realms was an essential part of
archaic cosmovisions (Leeming 2010; Boe-
lens 2013: 8-9), especially where hydraulic
societies are concerned (Zhao 1989; Boelens
2013). Stone-bearing fossils, e.g. marble,
were thought to be a “petrified” part of the
water sphere (Barry 2007: 631-632).
The aquatic world creature had vivid
water veins (Boelens 2013: 8-9), identified
with terrestrial and celestial rivers, which
were thought to be interdependent. The air
itself was considered to be a spatial fluid
(Eck 1981: 324). The Milky Way was re-
garded as the heavenly prototype, origin
and counterpart of terrestrial rivers, e.g. the
Nile, Ganges, Vilcanota, Pirà-Paranà, and
others (Bertola 2003: 96-102). People sup-
posed that the Milky Way collects imper-
ishable celestial light, rain, foam, mist,
sperm, blood, and milky essence and pours
it out onto the earth (Eck 1981: 325, 327).
Ancient Indians (Eck 1981: 325, 327, 330;
Varenne 1977-1978: 382) believed that the
firmament acts like a huge filter, through
which the eternal elixir, the soma, was
pressed and comes down to earth as dew,
rain, snow, hail. In this view it is present in
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water resources, plant sap, blood, sperm,
and milk, ready to vivify nature.
The rainbow was interpreted as a mani-
festation of the Milky Way at daytime
(Blust 2000: 525-527). The celestial rainbow
water monster, visualized as a flying reptil-
ian chimera (Taçon 1996), is known
worldwide (Loewenstein 1961; Blust 2000:
524-525). The Bifröst or Bilröst Bridge of
Germanic myths, spanning between the
world of humans (Midgard) and the world
of gods (Asgard), is either the rainbow or
the Milky Way, but probably both (Simek
2006: 51-52). For the Komo (Africa) the
rainbow is seen as a double-headed horned
serpent consisting of solar fire and lunar
water (De Mahieu 1975: 238). The horns are
each end of the rainbow. The “horned” wa-
ter monster serpent is a common figure in
the many traditions (Blust 2000: 520 table
1). Amerindians in the Amazonian basin
associate the rainbow with a giant double-
headed serpent in the sky that is a daytime
variant of the Milky Way (Roe 1982: 121,
171, 173, 182, 301-303). In South American
traditions not only a serpent, but also a gi-
ant catfish, a caiman, or a turtle are mani-
festations of the rainbow (Roe 1982: 333, fn.
15). While the rainbow indicates the wet
season, the Milky Way appears best during
the year’s dry time (Roe 1982: 173). This
concept also exists in Mesoamerica (Roe
1982: 252, 301-303). The Rainbow-Serpent
of the Australian Aborigines also shows the
relatedness of the Milky Way and the rain-
bow, both compared to a serpent, a croco-
dile, or a whale (Taçon 1996; Cressey 1998:
76-77). Indonesian peoples (Hookaas 1956;
Wessing 2006: 212-213) understood the
many-coloured rainbow as a celestial
bridge between the world’s realms. It was
identified with a water serpent, rising up
from the depth of the underworld to the
uppermost of the sky, thereby transporting
water from the sea to the heavens and rain-
ing it back to earth. It was also considered
to be a boat of souls and closely linked to
the tree of life, the sacrificial post, and the
cremation tower.
9. COSMIC COMBAT OF AN AVIAN
AND AN AQUATIC ANIMAL
The worldly water cycle driven by the
sun (Brown 1968: 203-205; Irwin 1976: 738-
743; Blust 2000: 529-530; Boelens 2013: 8-10)
seems to be addressed in the myths of the
combat between a solar hero, an avian that
is often a raptor, and an aquatic hero, a sea
monster that is usually a reptile or a chi-
meric being like a dragon, though it is
sometimes also a giant fish (Andrews 1998:
207). The depiction of the raptor catching
the reptile with his claws or of the snake
wreathing the predator bird is widespread.
The motif is essential to many archaic cos-
movisions worldwide and can be traced
back at least several millennia (Knipe 1967;
Irwin 1976: 741, 745; Baumann 1986: 310-
314; Waterson 1989; Hookaas 1956: 298;
Wessing 2006: 211-212, 25-226; Lankford
2007: 244-246). Moreover, sometimes there
is some kind of cyclical time conception
involved. An ancient Chinese myth, older
than 4th c. BC, illustrates the idea: From
time to time the giant K’un fish, residing in
the northern hemisphere, transforms itself
into the monster P’eng bird, localized at the
Pool of Heaven in the southern hemi-
sphere. The change causes giant floods. Af-
ter six months the upheaval comes to rest
(Birrell 1993: 191-192). In ancient Egypt, e.g.
Sethos I and Papyrus Carlsberg I (117-122),
fish and birds are two manifestations of a
star’s being, thought to be analogous to the
soul’s life-cycle: A star originates in the
lake as a fish, comes up to the surface and
ascends the sky, having transformed itself
into a bird (Altenmüller 2005: 76). A similar
idea might be behind Scandinavian Bronze
Age depictions, which are interpreted as
the solar day cycle (Kaul 1999): At dawn a
fish transports the sun from the ship of the
night to the ship of the day. Later, the fish
is eaten by a bird.
The theft of the vivifying fluid, e.g. the
soma (haoma) in Indo-Iranian tradition,
from the heavens by an eagle (the sun-bird)
is a very archaic topic (Knipe 1967: 337-338,
351-358): The avian and the aquatic animal,
raptor and reptile, represent the fire (light-
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300
MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLÜCK
ning) of the sky and the water of the un-
derworld. The raptor sits at the crown of
the world tree; the serpent coils at the tree
root. The world tree grows out of the cos-
mic waters. Often the world tree, the com-
bat between the avian and the aquatic
world animal, and the rape of a celestial
magical plant sap, being the elixir of life,
are related. People of the Amazonian basin
are aware of the same topic (black jaguar,
caiman, water snake), related to a world
tree, a world mountain, a tripartite cosmos
(sky, earth, and underworld), a male-
female polarity, and blood as well as water
as an elixir of life (Roe: 138-139, 215-217).
The avian and the aquatic world animals
signify the antagonism and polarity of the
upper world with the highest point in the
sky (celestial pole or zenith) and the lower
world with the deepest point in the subter-
ranean water realm, along the (polar or
zenithal) world axis. There is a chthonic
hemisphere, containing primordial, chaotic
water, that is associated with dark and
night, destruction, disorder, unconscious-
ness, and death, but also possessing crea-
tive potency. Often this realm is ruled by a
primeval female aquatic world being, con-
trolling the moon, essential waters and vi-
tal juices, such as plant saps, (menstrual)
blood, and sperm. The other hemisphere is
supernal, filled with primordial fire. It is
related to light and day, creation, order,
consciousness, life, and omniscience. Fre-
quently this realm is dominated by a pri-
meval male avian world being, ruling the
sun and shaping the world.
10. THE COSMIC WATER LILY / LOTUS
Images and myths about the water lily
and lotus can be found in Egypt, Mesopo-
tamia, the Mediterranean, India, China,
and Mesoamerica (Morenz and Schubert
1954; Sen 1999; McDonald and Brian Stross
2012).
The plant’s ovary and radial arrange-
ment of stamens are reminiscent of the sun.
At dawn the lotus ascends from the water
depth and opens its blossom above the wa-
ter surface. At dusk it closes its flower and
descends beneath the water (McDonald
and Stross 2012: 95). Ancient Egyptians
(Morenz and Schubert 1954: 52-50) thus
thought the lotus mimicked sunrise and
sunset. According to the doctrine of Her-
mopolis, the blue water lily arose out of the
primeval mud. The so-called eight gods
(Ogdoad) were responsible for creation of
the water lily. The creator of the world,
Atum-Ra (the sun), shaped as a divine
child Horus or as the beetle Khepri, gener-
ated from the plant‘s blossom. Similar ide-
as exist in ancient India (Morenz and Schu-
bert 1954: 116-141). The embryonic being
arising from the waters in a lotus blossom
is a widespread concept of ancient people
(Kerényi 1940:263).
The blue water lily helped transform a
dead entity into a new being in the other
world (Morenz and Schubert 1954: 60-64).
The lotus was also associated with the ser-
pents Uto and especially Harsomtus. The
latter is the primordial snake rising up
from the primeval waters (Nun).
In ancient India the pink lotus symbolis-
es the sun, while the blue lotus represents
the moon (Morenz and Schubert 1954: 90,
94-96, 104-105). The white lotus blossom
opens at moonlight, too, thus symbolysing
the moon god. The creator sun god ascend-
ed from the primeval aquatic realm using a
lotus stem (Leeming 2010: 67, 115). He took
seat on the blossom, from which he sent
animals out to dive down and bring up the
mud from the deepest place in the cosmic
sea to the water surface, thus making the
earth. The lotus blossom, the sun, the
throne of the world ruler, and the serpent
of the waters are closely linked together
(Dumont 1933: 327, 329-332). The plant’s
relation to a serpent is understandable be-
cause of the phenotype and the recoiling
behaviour of the extracted lotus (McDon-
ald and Stross 2012: 83-89).
The god Vishnu was thought to be sleep-
ing in the world serpent (Ananta) Shesha at
the bottom of the cosmic sea (Morenz and
Schubert 1954: 127-129, 137-139). From his
navel a lotus plant arises above the waters,
revealing the four-faced Brahma as a sym-
bol of creation and cardinality. There seems
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THE COSMIC DEEP BLUE
301
to be a connection with the water monster
Makara, which has a lotus as one body part
(Dashew Robins and Bussabarger 1970). In
ancient Indian tradition a giant lotus (Mo-
renz and Schubert 1954: 110), symbolizing
the vulva of the world, floats in a milk lake,
which embodies the primeval waters of
immortality in a cosmic womb. From it ris-
es the world Mount Meru, identified with
the lotus, both soaking the elixir of life
from the abyss of the cosmic sea of milk
(Mabbett 1983: 66, 71-72, 76; McDonald
2004: S167-S168). The stem illustrates a
kind of an aquatic world tree of life at the
navel of the earth. According to traditions
in India and other cultures, the lotus stem
used for whisking can be replaced by a
single foot, a simple stick, a pillar or a
spear (Irwin 1976: 740, 743; Schröder 1960:
224-227, 253-254), all representing a kind of
axis that embodies the sun’s fire power act-
ing upon water (Grossato 1987: 255, 265, fn.
57). From its point of origin the lotus pulls
up the elixir of life in just the way that a
plant soaks water. Churning the milky
ocean (Rappenglück 2006: 225) fills a vessel
of soma on the back of the cosmic turtle.
The eight, or sometimes four, petals in-
dicate cardinality, the world regions, and a
wind rose (Morenz and Schubert 1954:
104). Nepal tradition holds that eight giant
snakes set up the petals of the cosmic lotus.
This calls to mind cosmic animals: the oc-
topus, the spider, the eight-headed dragon,
the hydra etc. The cosmic lotus of ancient
Balinese has eight petals, each of them re-
lated to a divine couple. In the abode exists
a primeval pair of a god and goddess. The
Tibetans performed a special ritual dance
illustrating the shape of an eight-petaled
lotus supporting the world mountain
(Schrempf 1999). An astronomical-
cosmological meaning of the lotus blossom
in Buddhist context is evident in the tomb
paintings of Xuanhua, China, dated 907-
1125 AD (Sen 1999).
In Mesoamerica, especially Maya tradi-
tion, serpents often are associated with an
interdependent complex of motifs, pointing
to a supernal as well as a chthonic manifes-
tation of the reptile: rain, whirlwind, earth,
mountain, aquatic underworld, aquatics,
cave and passage through a cavern, fire,
lightning, the sun, the Milky Way, the
heavens’ vault, the ecliptic, and life cycles
in nature and human society (Cohodas
1982; Bassie-Sweet 1996: 81-89; McDonald
and Stross 2012: 75-77). The reptilian water
monster, with the combined body parts of
a serpent, a crocodile, and a fish, is closely
related to the water lily, water lily monster,
and water lily serpent (McDonald and
Stross 2012). The Maya also associated the
lotus bud with the sun (McDonald and
Stross 2012: 80-81, 88, 91, 95). The feathered
solar serpent continuously moves to and
fro between the aquatic chthonic and the
celestial supernal spheres (McDonald and
Stross 2012: 95). This recalls the ancient
Chinese concept of the dragon descending
from the sky into the waters at the autum-
nal equinox and ascending again at the
vernal equinox (Zhao 1989: 234).
The blue water lily was used as a narcot-
ic, hallucinogen and entheogen remedy,
e.g. in ancient Egypt, Asia, and Mesoamer-
ica (Emboden 1989; McDonald 2004;
McDonald and Brian Stross 2012: 100-101).
The hallucinogen and entheogen soma of
Indian myths can be ethnobotanically con-
nected to the lotus (McDonald 2004). In this
context the lotus plant’s relation to the an-
cient Middle East “tree of life” is meaning-
ful (McDonald 2002). Finally the Mesoa-
merican lotus-serpent is also linked to vi-
sions and ecstasy (McDonald and Brian
Stross 2012: 97-98, 100-101).
11. CONCLUSION
Ancient cultures correlated practical sky-
watching and time reckoning, water re-
sources management, navigational needs
and cosmovisions with the aquatic world’s
phenomena, e.g. water cycles, tides, and
the body shapes and rhythms of water an-
imals or plants. They especially thematised
the earth’s water cycle, linked to cosmo-
gonical and cosmological models. The
Milky Way and Scorpio are important in
archaic cosmovisions. A certain class of
myths about earthquakes, flooding, and
tsunamis seems to be linked to the giant
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302
MICHAEL A. RAPPENGLÜCK
oar fish’s behavior and cosmographical
ideas. Finally, altered states of mind are
somehow related to the lotus and ex-
pressed in a cosmographic symbolism.
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