Dear Frank:
I know you think the Continuum Project is pure bunk (to use the polite word), but you ought to read the transcripts we've been getting from Colbert, Patrikin, and Mr. and Mrs. Metlock. Yes, the narratives they've given us are essentially identical, except for a few phrases and idiosyncrasies of punctuation! That's what made me think we're really onto something here, especially seeing how Patrikin is still in Russia.
What follows is a transcript of the Metlocks' voice-recordings. We've tapped into something basic -- a myth-cycle or Bible of -- well -- somewhere unknown. Another world in a parallel space-time continuum? I'd like to stand up and shout "YES!", but I'm scientist enough to wait for more results.
I have scribbled some endnotes, however, Frank, that you should find interesting. Orwell said that a person's social origins are "branded on the tongue," and 1984 showed how language could control the future. Well, as a linguist, you know that language also leaves an indelible stamp on the past. I just don't believe our test subjects could have come up with some of these details without being linguists themselves. Just read my notes and decide for yourself. Oh -- and prepare for a shock when you reach the end.
(Voice Recording of Gordon and Edna Metlock, transcribed by Harvey S. Malone, Roanoke, VA, 1/22/01):
I speak first of the Ancient Folk.
Long ago, the Ancient Folk of Ataran [1] ruled the land and the sea and the sky. Their towers of crystal and orichalc [2] rose like mountains above the plains, and their proud ships visited all lands, and even the Moon and the Stars. The Ancient Folk called lightning from the Heavens and fire from the Sun, but all their powers came to naught in the time of the First Cataclysm. [3]
The Ancient Folk watched in horror as the very earth rose against them. Countries split asunder like pavement struck with hammers. Islands sank, seas froze, and mountains bled. Even the Ancient Folk could not survive the Cataclysm, so they called upon DURUWOM-AZ [4], the Opener of the Way, to create Gates for their escape.
The Ancient Folk passed through the Gates of Duruwom-Az into Yperborea [5], the Northernmost Land of Icelos. There the mighty race of Ataran was humbled, for the Ancient Folk stood bereft of their Cities and Powers and Riches, and they began anew, as savages.
Yet they persevered.
I speak now of Duruwom-Az, the Cosmic Tree.
In the north the Ash-trees grew, so high and no higher, their food the earth and the sun and the rain.
The Ancient Folk looked upon the trees and said, These could grow taller and sturdier, were We to shower them with foodstuffs superior to mere earth and sun and rain.
Thus the Ancient Folk took the Ash-seedlings and planted them in soil more invigorating than earth, and shone upon them lights more powerful than that of the Sun, and sprayed them with elixirs more stimulating than water.
And some seedlings died from their attentions, and some grew so high and no higher, but one thrived and grew and threw forth roots and limbs as no tree had before in all the world, and this was Duruwom-Az.
The roots of Duruwom-Az dug down to the nethermost regions, and its branches passed beyond the Veil to the farthest Spheres; and the Ancient Ones learned to pass from land to land and from Sphere to Sphere along the limbs and roots of Duruwom-Az, as moisture in the soil is conveyed to the topmost leaves of a mortal tree.
And Duruwom-Az became the Opener of the Way, the Keeper of the Gates, the Tree of the Universe [6].
And when came the Cataclysm, and countries vanished, and mountains spewed fire, the Ancient Folk who did not die outright appealed to Duruwom-Az, and the wise Tree's roots coiled into Gates, and the survivors fled to Yperborea in the north of Icelos.
And unto this day does Duruwom-Az spread its roots and limbs, touching ever more lands and Spheres, and unto this day is it revered by the folk of Icelos. And unto this day is the Ash Tree the Opener of the Way, the Keeper of the Gates, the Bridge Between Worlds, to those who appeal to it.
I speak now of Raarbaash, the Great Chimera.
On Icelos, too, was the First Cataclysm felt.
Before the First Cataclysm, each living creature bore a single form, that with which it was birthed or hatched. There were Aurochs and Goats, Horses and Deer; there were Lions and Wolves, Bears and Pards; there were Serpents and Lizards and Dragons; there were Ravens and Eagles and Storks.
The Beasts and Birds and Reptiles sprang from sires and dams like unto themselves, and the progeny thereof were also like unto themselves.
Then came the Cataclysm, and forests burned, and cities fell, and the great ice melted.
Floods washed across the land, and the hoofed and pawed and scaled creatures, and even the feathered avians, were smitten like midges and washed into the Great Sea Ocean, which is the place of Chaos.
And down into the Abyss drifted the bodies of the beasts of Icelos, like meat and lentils in a stew.
But Chaos cannot lie still, and the dead beasts were stirred about, and broken up, and their pieces mingled, as flour and salt and eggs mingle in a baker's bowls.
And the pieces fused together in the Abyss and grew large, as dough rises in the oven, and they formed Order in the womb of Chaos. And from the depths of the ocean there sprang a new Being, born of no single sire or dam, a beast pawed and hoofed and scaled and winged in one: and this was RAARBAASH [7], the Great Chimera.
Raarbaash passed over the lands, and over the seas, and over the mountains, but never did she find another like unto herself. And saddened was the Great Chimera.
She spotted beasts that had survived the Cataclysm, and in one she saw an aspect of herself, and in another, a different aspect; but there existed no single creature like unto Raarbaash.
She spied humans who had survived the Cataclysm, and she set herself down amongst them; and they fled from her, or threw themselves flat as if dead, or knelt to worship.
To these last Raarbaash spoke: Go hence, when the Moon is right, and create Beings like unto Ourself, partly of one creature, and partly of another, fused into a Whole, so that We may not be unique amongst living Beings.
And Raarbaash gave the humans the Ritual of Fusion, the Rite of the Chimera, and they went forth when the moon was right, and they performed as Raarbaash commanded them; and thus were new beings brought into the world.
I speak now of Tira-K'hessst, the Dragon of the Abyss.
Before the Cataclysms, before Ataran, before the First Folk, Dragons ruled the earth and sea and sky [8]. And of all Dragons, the mightiest and most magical was TIRA-K'HESSST [9], the Many-Headed, the Dweller in the Abyss.
The Dragons stomped across the world and slew one another and paid homage to Tira-K'hessst, and they thought in ponderous arrogance that it would always be so. But the sea turned to fire and scoured the Dragon's world, then the sky turned to fog and froze it, and the Dragons dropped like very flies.
Tira-K'hessst heard the death-cries of the lesser Dragons, and she knew they would rule no more. Thus she sank into slumber in the vasty Deep, and she slept for an Aeon.
Then came the First Cataclysm, which awakened Tira-K'hessst as the ancient catastrophe marked her entry into sleep.
She watched the dead beasts of the surface world drift down into the Abyss like soft snow into a valley, and she watched the Chaos of the Abyss give rise to Raarbaash, the Great Chimera.
But the newborn Chimera was a weak and floundering thing, and she could not survive the crushing pile of beast corpses, nor the cold waters of the Abyss.
And Tira-K'hessst, bereft of her Dragon folk, took pity on the struggling Chimera, and imbued her with the Power of the Abyss.
And Raarbaash grew strong and resistant to hurt; and her skin became as bronze, and her claws as iron.
And her wings spread as the butterfly's upon emergence from the chrysalis, and solidified like brass; and she flew up from the Abyss into the heavens.
And Tira-K'hessst remained alert, and her many eyes and ears strained, so that she could see and hear the activities of the new world above, though she stirred not from the Great Abyss.
I speak now of the Winged Ones.
The Humans, or Wiroi [10], who controlled the Ritual of Fusion, became the priests of Raarbaash, and they ordered temples and altars built in Her name.
They studied in their temples, and they ordered beasts and birds of various natures brought to their altars, and with keen blades the beasts and birds were slain.
And to watchers outside the priesthood it seemed that the altar was a place of sacrifice, and that blood must be spilled to satisfy the Gods; but in the beginning this was not so.
The priests of the Great Chimera sought to take the limbs and vitals and brains of one creature and combine them with another, and fuse the disparate pieces with the Ritual, and have arise from the slain beasts one living being, combining the features of both.
At first their Chimerae were far from extraordinary. There might be a fox that was part dog, or a hawk that was part eagle, or a sheep that was part goat.
Aeolus, a priest who watched with pleasure the birds of the air, considered: A more daring Chimera might be created, so as to be part hairy mammal and part avian. And he thought, also, of how magnificent it must be to soar through the clouds on feathered pinions.
Aeolus hired hunters and trappers, and they captured the mightiest hawks and eagles, and the vast Flame-Bat, and even a young Crag-Roc. And the priest of Raarbaash bespoke his brothers and sisters: Let us create in Raarbaash's name a being of the Earth, yet with the wings of an avian; such a creature will demonstrate as nothing else the wonder of the Great Chimera, being native to the disparate worlds of Forest and Air.
The priests agreed, and they studied the wings of birds and bats, and how best they could be grafted to a terrestrial beast, and how they might be expanded for large creatures, and also how a power for lowering the pull of the earth might be added to the Chimera, so that even as heavy a creature as a horse or lion might fly.
At last the priests of Raarbaash said: It is now possible to add wings to a ground-dwelling creature; we have added raven's wings to a cat, and bat's wings to a rat; we have taken a gull crippled for life, and we have removed its shattered pinions and replaced them with an albatross'. Now we would bestow wings upon a larger beast. To what creature, horse or wolf or lion, would you add wings, to demonstrate the power of Raarbaash before the people?
And Aeolus answered, You shall take a mighty golden eagle, and you shall cut from it its pinions on the altar of the Great Chimera; and you shall perform the Ritual of Fusion, and the wings shall be grafted onto my own shoulders.
And the priests argued with Aeolus that this was but a whim on his part; but Aeolus said, With the wings of the Eagle, I shall soar high, where dwell the very Gods; and the people shall look up in awe, and the glory of the Temple will be secure from all rival Temples and Gods.
If I am decried as an abomination, a thing less than human, I shall have the wings removed, and no more will we combine beasts or birds with men. If I am revered, however, as an Air Spirit; as something more than human; then others of our priesthood may become winged, and the people will come unto us with many offerings, and there will be no worship save at the Temple of the Chimera.
Thus a great eagle was brought forth, and cut apart on the altar; and afterwards Aeolus placed himself thereon, and he bit upon a knife blade as the incisions were made outlining his shoulders; and the wings were set in place, and spells were spoken to strengthen them and make them grow. And then the Ritual of Fusion commenced.
Soon Aeolus rose with vast golden wings mantling his shoulders. With the eagle's knowledge absorbed into him as well, Aeolus beat them powerfully and took flight.
The people of Yperborea were sore amazed at the spectacle of a winged man; they fell down to worship Aeolus, and sang him praise, and thought they, This being who is like a man, yet who flies through the Heavens like a bird, must be a good spirit, a Messenger of the Gods. And Aeolus bespoke them of the Temple of the Chimera, and of the power of Raarbaash; and soon the folk gathered there, forsaking all other temples.
The priests of the Chimera looked upon the masses and said, Aeolus spoke wisely; others of our priesthood shall wear wings, and fly like birds, and we shall be revered as the representatives of the true Faith.
And again was the Ritual conducted, and again; and soon many priests of Raarbaash bore upon their backs wide pinions. And to this day are there stories and legends of Winged People; and always are they thought to be messengers of the Gods [11].
I speak now of the Gryphon Folk.
In the sacred places of Raarbaash the winged priests worked to create more Chimerae: beings with the features of one species combined with those of another.
They had become expert in the giving of wings to land-bound animals, and winged horses could be seen in the skies over Yperborea, and winged deer, and also winged cats and wolves.
And the Temple of the Chimera was guarded by winged lions and leopards and tigers; and these flying beasts struck fear into the enemies of the Temple [12]. However, when a winged beast mated, whether with a normal creature or with another Chimera, the result was an ordinary lion, or leopard, or tiger.
Aeolus thought upon this, and said he, Raarbaash bade us bring new creatures into the world, partially of one species and partially of another, like unto herself. But our Chimerae do not breed true; we must call upon powers besides Raarbaash to make our Chimerae viable.
The other priests thought this to be the darkest blasphemy, but Aeolus bade them: Pray unto the Goddess Herself, and ask Her for guidance. Thus it was that the Winged Priests withdrew and prayed and listened for the voice of the Thrice Great One.
And a deep laugh, like the bleat of a goat, and the growl of a lion, and the rumble of a dragon, filled the Temple of the Chimera.
Foolish children, said Raarbaash, do not set yourselves apart from worshipers of other deities; this is the road that leads to isolation and distrust, and the followers of one God will find fault with the followers of another; and there will rise jealousy and hate and murder and war, as the people of Ataran learned all too late.
You are Our representatives, Winged Priests, but you are not the whole of the world, and neither are We. As you may be of a Clan, yet also yourself, speaking to and trafficking with folk of other families, so may you be priests of Raarbaash, yet call upon other Gods in time of need, and be respectful to their worshipers.
The winged folk were shamed; and no more did they plot against the other faiths of Yperborea. They prepared a rite to make Chimerae races unto themselves, calling upon Jaertha, the Earth, and Manya, the Moon, [13] and other deities, to inspire fertility in the Chimerae.
In the generations that followed Aeolus, the Winged Priests raised their flying beasts, and one day in the five hundredth year since the First Cataclysm, a winged lioness gave birth to winged cubs. Soon the flying tigers and horses and deer gave birth to winged offspring, and the air grew thick with wonders.
Ishazar, a priest of Raarbaash, purchased a winged lion, and thought he, I will take this Chimera and add further alterations, and make a creature even more wondrous.
He took the head of a monstrous eagle, and its form he imposed on the lion, and it had the head of a bird of prey. And on the head of the eagle he imposed the ears of the desert ass, to symbolize the Chimera's swiftness and strength, and to give it also keen hearing to match its keen sight. And the eagle-lion's cubs bore a form like their sire's; and in the next generation Ishazar gave to these Chimerae the taloned legs of an eagle in place of forelegs. And these eagle-lions' cubs bore a form like unto their parents'.
The next generation of Ishazar's creations grew desirous of shiny objects, like very jackdaws; and they raided the silver and gold and jewels of Silenus, lord of drink and revelry. And Silenus bespoke Ishazar, As your eagle-lions bear ears like unto mine, I will forgive them their perfidy; but as they do grip all they take a fancy to, let them be called Gryphons [14].
So it was that the first of the Gryphons, the feathered and furred Chimerae, arose, in the form they are known unto this day. And though they are creatures of law and tradition, they honor Silenus, who named their kind, and never forget the value of drink and revelry.
I speak now of Karuta, Lord of Gryphons.
From the lofty plane of Heaven, Raarbaash, the Great Chimera, looked down upon her winged priests and their creations.
Handsome are these Chimerae that have been created in Our name, thought Raarbaash, these Gryphons and Minotaurs, these Satyrs and Pegasi, these Lycocephali and Bat-Drakes.
Raarbaash noted that many of the Chimerae were able to speak and reason like the Wiroi, and they cast their gazes to Heaven, and worshiped the Gods, and thought the Powers to be beings like unto themselves.
And Raarbaash thought: Now We, the Great Chimera, shall create children of Our own with Our own Rite; and these lesser gods may seek out the Chimerae like unto themselves, and the mortal Chimerae will pay homage to them, and it will be like praising Us for Our accomplishments.
Thus Raarbaash reached down from Heaven and caught up in her paws a hundred mighty lions. And she spread her wings like thickening clouds and netted within their folds a thousand soaring eagles. And together did Raarbaash mix the spirits and bodies of the King of Beasts and the Lord of Birds, and to them she added the sharp ears of the Desert Ass, which could catch a whisper half a world away; and from the Many rose One: KARUTA, Lord of the Gryphons [15].
Karuta spread his wings of burnished bronze and copper, and he stretched his legs, tawny like the savannas of Duat, and he flexed his talons, rusty and solid as the sandstone cliffs of Kisthene. Karuta twitched his sword-sharp ears and stared with eyes like vast opals, and he clacked his beak, long and pointed like the prow of an Eurythraean warship. And Raarbaash saw that this was good.
Karuta soared down to the world below and landed upon the Diamond Mountain, the Naval of the World.
And Karuta spoke: Here shall my Folk, the Gryphons, dwell in a vast Eyrie like unto a human city. And on other high mountaintops shall my Folk found more Eyries, as their numbers and Clans grow and prosper.
And from valleys and hilltops, and small caves and single nests, the Gryphons sallied forth and flew to Diamond Mountain, and here they found a vast warren of tunnels and grottoes, and into these they carried their hoards of gold and jewels, and the scrolls and hangings that recorded their history, and the materials to make many nests. And Diamond Mountain became the first of the mighty Eyries of Icelos, and the Gryphons bred and prospered and sent new Clans out to found other Eyries.
I speak now of Lamashtu, the Demon-Queen.
Not all the children of Raarbaash looked kindly upon Chimerae or Wiroi. In the depths dwelt LAMASHTU [16], who possessed the anger of a lioness, and the crudeness of a mule, and the wiles of a jackal. Evil spirits quailed before Lamashtu, and these she drew to her cause. Righteous men abhorred her, and these she slew with the talons of the vulture and the fangs of the dragon.
Lamashtu peered up from the darkness of the Earth, and in the firmament she spied the pleasing forms of Gryphon Folk.
Thought the Demon-Queen: There fly in the light Chimerae worthy to be my Folk. Their make is that of the Lion, and the Bird of Prey, as is mine; and upon their heads they bear the ears of the Ass, which is my Sign. They mount to the very Heavens, where dwell the gods of light Who disdain me; they are unsurpassed in the hunt and fearsome in war. They will be my warriors and minions, and I will lead them into the Heavens and depose the benevolent gods.
And Lamashtu crept through the fissures of the earth to the Great Eyrie of Diamond Mountain, and from red flame and sulfurous smoke she bespoke the Gryphon Folk: Behold, I am Lamashtu, the Queen of Demons, the Slayer of Gods and Men, the Empress of Night.
And the Gryphon Folk were sore amazed; and Lamashtu revealed her plan to take them as her army and lead them against Raarbaash, the Great Chimera, and Tira-K'hessst, the Dragon of the Abyss, and other gods besides.
The Gryphons as one refused Lamashtu, though she tempted them with glory and riches beyond measure. The Demon-Queen waxed wroth, and said she: If the Folk of my make will not obey me, then they will not be of my make; I shall rend them bird from beast. And the Demon-Queen swept through the Eyries like a black storm, plucking wings and legs and heads from the Gryphon Folk as a man might pluck petals from a spring flower.
The Gryphons rallied; they fought with the strength of the lion and the heart of the eagle and the speed of the desert ass. They cast magicks and called upon Karuta and Raarbaash and Tira-K'hessst; and anon Lamashtu retreated to the deepest pits of the earth.
Now, fledglings, your Elder grows tired; I can scarcely lift my wings from the floor. I will speak of the Dark Times of the Folk another night. Get you to your nests and leave me to mine [17].
Notes by Harvey S. Malone
1. I believe "Ataran" might have eventually evolved into "Atalan", as in the "Atalantes", the people of Atlas in Greek myth. You know how those liquid phonemes /l/ and /r/ change. That, in turn, might have become Plato's name Atlantis!
2. Plato's name for the unknown alloy used in Atlantis.
3. More and more researchers are looking into the possibility that there were major ecological disasters around 9,500 B.C. -- again, this was Plato's date for the sinking of "Atlantis". See Hapgood's Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings or Allan and Delair's When the Earth Nearly Died. What bothers me is, if that was the First Cataclysm, what was the Second?
4. I believe the elements of this name became "druwom" (tree) and "azgo" (ash) in Proto-Indo-European. Obviously there must be some connection with Yggdrasill, the cosmic ash tree of Norse mythology. See note 6.
5. "Yperborea" is usually thought of as being somewhere in northern Eurasia, but here the implication is of a parallel world, this "Icelos". By the way, Frank, in ancient Greek the name of the Northernmost Land begins with an upsilon, which evolved into our letter "Y". "Yperborea" may be the correct spelling.
6. The Ash Tree Yggdrasill supposedly joined together the Nine Worlds of Nordic Myth; certain Native American tribes claim to have reached the earth by climbing a great tree or reed from an "interior" world; there is even an overtone of "Jack in the Beanstalk" in the idea of climbing an enormous plant and reaching another world. Are these tales vague memories of Duruwom-Az and its powers? The most common name by which the Cosmic Tree is known -- the Nordic Yggdrasill -- literally means "The Steed of Odin." Steed in the sense of a horse. An odd name for a tree, until you remember that a horse was the fastest conveyance they had a thousand years ago. Thus the (space-warping?) Yggdrasill was "Odin's fastest means of travel."
7. This name seems to be a product of onomatopoeia: the roar of a lion, the bleat of a goat, and the hiss of a dragon.
8. Evidently a reference to dinosaurs, pterodactyls, and the like. The catastrophe that destroyed them was presumably the asteroid that struck the earth sixty-five million years ago -- or its equivalent on "Icelos."
9. The first elements of "Tira-K'hessst" may have evolved into the Indo-European tirak, through drak into the Latin draco. Meaning, of course, "dragon". "Hessst" appears to be onomatopoeia again, the hiss of a dragon. Also the name is reminiscent of Tiamat, the multi-headed Babylonian dragon that personified Chaos, Creation, and the Ocean.
10. "Wiroi" was the Indo-Europeans' name for themselves, as far back as 7,000 B.C. It means "strong men." The wir became vir as in virile, and were as in werewolf (man-wolf). See Mallory's In Search of the Indo-Europeans.
11. Need I say it? "Angel" comes from the Greek angelos, "a messenger," via the Sanskrit angiras.
12. Winged beasts are common in carvings and paintings found all over the world. Pegasus is simply the most famous.
13. "Manya" is close to Mana/Mania, the Roman/Etruscan goddess of the moon and magic. "Jaertha" -- just a guess, but I'd say the Greek "Gaea" combined with "aertha" (related to Middle English erthe and Gothic airtha). Perhaps the two components split up over the centuries into two different names for Earth.
14. Gryphon comes from Greek gryps, to hook or seize.
15. Karuta equals Garuda? The bird-man of the Hindu faith was, according to my sources, once a powerful god, but he "shriveled" over the centuries to make way for more human deities.
16. Lamashtu was the name of a Mesopotamian demon. More than a demon, actually: according to Jeremy Black and Anthony Green in Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, "the writing of the name of Lamastu in cuneiform suggests that in Babylonia and Assyria she was regarded as a kind of goddess." She had the head of a lion, donkey's ears, a hairy body, and bird-talons -- a mixture of beasts not unlike a gryphon.
17. Yes, this is the surprise, Frank. Our channelers seemed to have tapped into the origin myths of, not foreign people, but gryphons. Gryphons! Like the one in Alice in Wonderland! Needless to say, there aren't any gryphons on this planet. Even legends about them are scarce: there's Herodotus' tale of the Gryphons battling the one-eyed Arimaspians, but beyond that. . .
Well, the Continuum Project will soon fill in the blanks about the Gryphons. Why am I so sure? You read the Elder's words yourself -- we'll hear about the Dark Times of the Folk another night.
Yours in the name of the Thrice-Great One,
Harvey S. Malone