The Indestructibles...
Polar stars, guardians shining light on our journey.....
Jean-Baptiste Prosper Jollois, and Edouard de Villiers du Terrage, drawings provided for the etchings of the ‘Dendera Temple ceiling Zodiac,’ in “Description de l’Egypte, scientific publication detailing the findings of the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt, volume 4, plate 21, 1822. In author’s private collection.
The Indestructibles. Heavenly lights. “The ones not knowing destruction”…..always circling around the north pole…..portal to heaven, forever maintaining a connection with eternity, the Amduat, the afterlife. These circumpolar stars, Kochab, Ursa Minor. And Mizar, in the middle of Ursa Major, sit in the handle of the Big Dipper.
The Indestructibles, long ago, once looked upon in Ancient Egypt as special portals through which only the pharaoh and his family could hope to move to the beyond, to rise to the northern sky, ascending after death. Their burial places were thus aligned towards them, the indestructible stars, giving them direct access.
https://curiosmos.com/ancient-sites-and-the-stars-why-did-ancient-civilizations-align-monuments-with-the-stars/
All this, myth and astronomy woven together, and yet, even more.
The stars, lanterns in the night sky, light in darkness, guidance in shining upon our path below the dome of the heavens were woven in a great tapestry of stories, empowering each to touch us in the below, connecting and holding us beyond all the transience in the whirlwind of time. We, who age, and lose beloved family and friends along our journey, suffering the constancy of physical change, are held in the arms of the stories of the Indestructibles, of that which defies time and space, which knows not destruction. Such gives hope in a world where hopelessness reigns. For in the midst of the tsunami of change, there is something to hold onto, something to remember which connects us to our eternal nature.
Stars shining upon the pyramids. The light shining from the Beyond forming images which open doors linking the here with the hereafter….
As truth did not come naked into the world but comes in images which open to hidden meanings, the Indestructibles join together to birth constellations, figures, beings that live eternally above, looking down upon and communicating with us.
Vega and Regulus, two bright stars shining on the Cosmic Dome. Lovers. eternally connected by the thread that binds, the Indestructible bond of love….
As a young child, I wrote a myth of romance stirred in the hearts of two lovers, Vega and Regulus, citizens of Rome in a time of chaos when fortunes were quickly lost, shifting lives from wealth to poverty. Vega and Regulus, two childhood sweethearts, were born into wealth yet as adults were separated by war, placed distant from one another and their youthful dreams of marriage. Vega was sent away to become a maid in a wealthy household far from her home where her mother and stepfather lived. Yet time passed and her masters relocated back to her home village and thus she often ventured into the town market to collect produce and goods needed for the villa. Unknown to her was the fact that Regulus, now a grown young man of twenty worked the market farm stand for her cruel stepfather who had separated them when he enslaved Regulus and sent his stepdaughter away. As each labor on their chores in an open market their paths cross. Joyfully reunited, they arrange for secret meetings, nurturing their love along with the hope for a way out of the bondage which separates them. Yet fate intervenes as Vega’s stepfather unexpectantly visits the market where he observes their secret tryst. He immediately separates the two who are never seen again. Under the influence of her husband Vega’s mother laments and seeks answers. None come and her frustration and sorrow grow. She sits each night beneath the sky, her only relief comes from gazing upon the heavenly dome. On one dark night she watches as one bright star shines a beam upon her. Stunned, she hears Vega’s voice calling to her, riding the light. Immobilized, she stares at the star which is joined by another bright star. The two seem to flood the heavens with their light. She sees with her heart what her eyes cannot behold. Vega is forever held in the embrace of Regulus, shining in the heavens. Cruelty could not kill their love for it radiated the Indestructible nature of the eternal light of love. They had transited from the cruelty of the world into the heavenly dome where even unto today they shine upon all lovers, the two brightest stars in the heavens, giving hope to the eternal nature of love which dwells in the soul, the true Indestructible star that lives within each of us, shining light upon our path, holding us firm against earthly challenges.
The Indestructible light dwelling in the heart, reflected upon the heavenly dome, brings us to a place of wonderment, of mystical knowing, of wholeness, a shimmering palace of illumination and enlightenment.
Chad Lawson, ‘Wonder.’ In “Where We Are,” Universal Music Classics, 2024. personal collection.
Strange, as I now look at the faded ink on my childhood notebook. Strange, that at that young age I was writing about the eternal nature of life beyond earthly existence. I suppose my very nature always intrigued me. Who was I prior to being born into the fat baby body I viewed in a photo? What was my real name before my mother picked one for me? Did I not wonder if there was something of me that remained eternal after I disappeared from my earthly form?
Big Bear, huge with Little Bear following behind….a story in the sky waiting to be told…. https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/lifestyle/astro-bob/astro-bob-leap-day-means-more-time-to-stargaze
The Indestructibles and their stories. A recurring theme that runs through sky mythology is that of the bear. Ursa Major, the Big Bear, the Big Dipper, is often views as a bear lumbering on all four paws or standing high, filling the heavens. Through the seasons, the bear shifts in position reaching high to ascend and running low to descend in the sky…. Recently I had a dream, the initial stimulus for my venturing into these thoughts on the Indestructibles. In the dream I stood gazing over a garden fence to view a vast meadow where an enormous mother bear stretched so high as to fill the heavens while in front of her stood her small bear cub. I wished to take a picture of this, so did it touch me. Yet from my position I could not focus well. A voice called to me to get closer. I feared doing so, so huge was the bear I could not know how she would react. She might believe I threatened her cub. Yet I listened to the voice and I approached close to the fence that separated us. Suddenly Mother Bear got even larger and approached so closely I screamed and woke.
Mother Bear and her cub. Immediately I knew I woke in fear not because there was any danger, but in order that the dream make the point that I would not forget. The huge Mother Bear and her cub were on the other side of the fence, the other side of the veil that separates the here on earth from the there in the beyond. Like Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, Big Bear and Little Bear in the sky, my family are all on the other side, in the eternal domain….yet coming close to the veil I see their spiritual life is a constant, even as their physical one is now done. At a time of death anniversaries, this is a message, a reminder, a breaking through the heavy drapery of forgetfulness. Remembering that which is eternal is far beyond physical measurement, beyond all endings.
The Indestructibles. Myths drawn in light upon the canvas of night open doorways inside us where hallways illuminated by heavenly lanterns bridging the land of forgetfulness with the domain of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory.
Light floods into the Hypostyle Hall at the Temple of Dendera. Upper Egypt. Dwarfed beneath the towering columns and the exquisite rendition of the sky, pondering life, connecting with the Indestructibles, the eternal presence radiating from the unseen.
We look into the darkness for the light, finding the doorways…. And in life, we are surrounded by the glittering sparks that like homing signals connect us with the unseen. Such glimmerings break through the dense cloud of our physical forms. They are most obvious when we look not with the eyes but with the heart. For it is love that unveils the beauty of truth, the presence of the Indestructible, of that which shall endure beyond time and space. What we see in the one we love, what indeed we are drawn to is the presence of Beloved, the Indestructible, the Origin and Destination of All Being. We see beyond the attributes of the flesh. We see the transparency of the light that never fails. How often did I tell my beloved spouse that I loved him because he was transparent to Beloved, to the Eternal Light that never goes out! We love that which never dies, that which lives within our loved one. It is our Indestructible, our bright star, burning brightly, connecting and guiding us through the physical with the eternal presence which awakens us to knowing that although our future may be shrouded in mystery, our star, our Indestructible, shall safely accompany and guide us to complete our incarnational journey on our way through the gallery of light returning to the Eternal Abode, our home, our sanctuary beyond forever.
The Indestructibles….lights in darkness….hope rising, comforting, holding us to the truth of our being.
Chad Lawson, ‘Like the Stars in the Sky.’ In “Where We Are,” Universal Music Classics, 2024. personal collection.
When all else is gone, The Indestructibles remain…shining from the home in the heart, brightly casting light upon the road while chasing the clouds….
Janet Piedilato is a dream analyst, author, teacher, shamanic guide to sacred pilgrimage, divination practice, ancestral mystery ritual, and culinary celebration. Information on Janet and her publications may be found on janetPiedilato.net.
https://dot.cards/janet_piedilato
SHAMANIC DREAMING VIA TAROT
Exploring shamanic extraordinary/nonordinary reality, we empower our journey by beginning our rituals with the assistance of the tarot, focusing upon the imagery upon a tarot card, seeking the hidden doorways that assist us in our ever-expanding world of shamanic journeying, increasing our focus, sharpening our sight upon the road ahead. In these journeys we move through the three worlds of the Shamanic Tree of Life. Guidance is provided at the beginning of each session to aid seekers new to shamanic journeying. All welcome.
When: Jun 24, 2025 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Shamanic Drumming Via Tarot
Registration Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shamanic-dreaming-via-tarot-tickets-1381141504419?aff=ebdsoporgprofile