FROM GODDESS TO KING
A History of Ancient Europe from the
OERA LINDA BOOK
By Anthony Radford
CHAPTER 15
DESCRIPTIONS FROM HAPPIER TIMES
This section recorded in the troubled times of the sixth century BC comes from the early inscriptions of the Frisians. It has been entitled "Oldest Doctrine" and is the second part of it. Again, we are reminded how wicked Finda’s people were, but particular exception is taken to their priests who made false idols and procured offerings and sacrifices for their own benefit in the name of God. It sounds familiar. Tactics that are popularly associated with the infamous Spanish Inquisition (true or false) are described in detail and all this is long before the era of the Church structure which had plenty of precedents for its use of power.
Following this vehemently exhorted piece is a surprisingly modern treatise combining religious philosophy, humanistic psychology and education in values. It is from the Oldest Doctrine and the original author is unknown. It is modern because there are many present day efforts to arouse our circumspection along these lines while the popularly extolled consciousness continues to sink. Maybe we will succeed on a global basis to bring all our peoples into a higher level of cooperation and trust. The Free people succeeded for nearly two thousand years in limiting the erosion of their society but eventually they could do little more than watch that fabric disintegrate into obscurity.
Remember that the passage was translated in the 1860’s and modern words were chosen to describe the original concepts. Even the original was a translation of earlier works done in 1256 AD and 803 AD which copies in turn used words that could only have come from the Christian era.
Among Finda’s people there are false teachers, who, by their over-inventiveness, have become so wicked that they make themselves and their adherents believe that they are the best part of Wr-Alda, that their spirit is the best part of Wr-Alda’s spirit, and that Wr-Alda can only think by the help of their brains.
`That every creature is a part of Wr-Alda’s eternal being,’ that, they have stolen from us; but their false reasoning and ungovernable pride have brought them on the road to ruin. If their spirit was Wr-Alda’s spirit, then Wr-Alda would be very stupid, instead of being sensible and wise; for their spirit labors to create beautiful statues, which they afterwards worship.
Finda’s people are a wicked people, for although they presumptuously pretend among themselves that they are gods, they proclaim the unconsecrated false gods, and declare everywhere that these idols created the world and all that therein is - greedy idols, full of envy and anger, who desire to be served and honored by the people, and who extract bloody sacrifices and rich offerings; but these presumptuous and false men, who call themselves God’s servants and priests, receive and collect everything in the name of the idols that have no real existence, for their own benefit.
They do all this with an easy conscience, as they think themselves gods not answerable to any one. If there are some who discover their tricks and expose them, they hand them over to the executioners to be burnt for their calumnies, with solemn ceremonies in honor of the false gods; but really in order to save themselves. In order that our children may be protected against their idolatrous doctrine, the duty of the maidens is to make them learn by heart the following:
"Wr-Alda existed before all things and will endure after all things. Wr-Alda is also eternal and everlasting, therefore nothing exists without him. From Wr-Alda’s life sprang time and all living things, and his life takes away time and every other thing."
These things must be made clear and manifest in every way, so that they can be made clear and comprehensible to all. When we have learned thus much, then we say further: "In what regards our existence, we are a part of Wr-Alda’s everlasting being, like the existence of all created beings"; but as regards our form, our qualities, our spirit, and all our thoughts, these do not belong to the being. All these are passing things which appear through Wr-Alda’s life, and which appear through his wisdom, and not otherwise; but whereas his life is continually progressing, nothing can remain stationary, therefore all created things change their locality, their form, and their thoughts.
So neither the earth nor any other created object can say, "I am"; but rather, "I was." So no man can say, "I think"; but rather, "I thought." The boy is greater and different from the child; he has different desires, inclinations and thoughts. The man and father feels and thinks differently from the boy, the old man just the same. Everybody knows that. Besides, everybody knows and must acknowledge that he is now changing, that he changes every minute even while he says, "I am", and that his thoughts change even while he says, "I think."
Instead, then, of imitating Finda’s wicked people, and saying, "I am the best part of Wr-Alda", and through us alone he can think, we proclaim everywhere it is necessary.
"We, Frya’s children, exist through Wr-Alda’s life - in the beginning mean and base, but always advancing towards perfection without ever attaining the excellence of Wr-Alda himself. Our spirit is not Wr-Alda’s spirit, it is merely a shadow of it. When Wr-Alda created us, he lent us his wisdom, brains, organs, memory, and many other good qualities."
By this means we are able to contemplate his creatures and his laws; by this means we can learn and can speak of them always, and only for our own benefit. If Wr-Alda had given us no organs, we should have known nothing, and been more irrational than a piece of seaweed driven up and down by the ebb and flood.
Apollonia continues her contribution with a description of her citadel at Liudgaard. A ninety foot hard-brick tower was supported by two three hundred foot houses and many other buildings portrayed in detail. Most of these citadels had previously been made of wood with the exception of Texland but none have survived. The tower contained the sacred lamp and the watch of the maidens tending the lamp is described. It must have been a meditation ritual.
The defenses included armories, barracks and moats together with the moorings of the fleet. These ships had brought many foreign herbs and woods back, which were tended in a garden, the discovery of their values being part of the maidens’ research duties. Apollonia has given the first account of a working community of that age. She describes her own citadel, the buildings and land usage and their particular dependence on the sea is depicted with enthusiasm. She encourages young girls to value an experienced seaman as opposed to an unfortunate "cow-herd". Much of the writings were indoctrinal that warn about the iniquitous Finda people but here we do get an insight into the everyday life of the community.
A final interesting section describes the initiation journey of a burgtmaid, in this case Apollonia herself. A new burgtmaid traditionally traveled throughout her country and other regions of Frya for one year. This was a formal initiation into the practical world of being an adviser to a district. Apollonia describes her own journey up one side of the Rhine to Switzerland and back down the right bank through Saxony to Fryasburgt on the North Sea. There were wolves, bears and "horrible lions" in Europe at that time as well as neighboring tribes all willing to attack and rob the unwary traveler.
The various peoples encountered on the journey are described including the Lake Dwellers of the Swiss. Modern Europe did not know these people until after the Oera Linda Book surfaced. The principal industries and resources are depicted and, as always, with emphases on products that the ships could take on their foreign expeditions.
Two segregated camps for foreign rowers, "black and brown men" are described as if the Frisians feared a contamination of their children. These men were, however, afforded the benefit of Frya’s teachings while waiting for the ships to leave again. In Apollonia’s writings you can feel her pride as she describes the great fleet with its colored banners and shields.
In this description of everyday life, we learn that marriage was typically for love and with the girl’s consent. This is similar to today’s western attitude but for the millennia in between these ages, even Western Europe had arranged marriages, a measure of the intervening patriarchal values.
Now I will Write About Myself, First About My Citadel, and then, About What I Have Been Able To See:
My city lies near the north end of the Liudgaard. The tower has six sides, and is ninety feet high, flat-roofed, with a small house upon it out of which they look at the stars. On either side of the tower is a house three hundred feet long, and twenty-one feet broad, and twenty-one feet high, besides the roof, which is round. All this is built of hard-baked bricks, and outside there is nothing else.
The citadel is surrounded by a dike, with a moat thirty-six feet broad and twenty-one feet deep. If one looks down from the tower, he sees the form of the Jule. In the ground among the houses on the south side all kinds of native and foreign herbs grow, of which the maidens must study the qualities. Among the houses on the north side there are only fields. The three houses on the north are full of corn and other necessaries; the two houses on the south are for the maidens to live in and keep school. The most southern house is the dwelling of the Burgtmaid.
In the tower hangs the lamp. The walls of the tower are decorated with precious stones. On the south wall the Tex is inscribed. On the right side of this are the formulae, and on the other side the laws; the other things are found upon the three other sides.
Against the dike, near the house of the Burgtmaid, stand the oven and the mill, worked by four oxen. Outside the citadel wall is the place where the Burgers and the soldiers live. The fortification outside is an hour long - not a seaman’s hour, but an hour of the sun, of which twenty-four go to a day. Inside it is a plain five feet below the top. On it are three hundred crossbows covered with wood and leather.
Besides the houses of the inhabitants, there are along the inside of the dike thirty-six refuge-houses for the people who live in the neighborhood. The field serves for a camp and for a meadow. On the south side of the outer fortification is the Liudgaard, enclosed by the great wood of lime-trees. Its shape is three - cornered, with the widest part outside, so that the sun may shine in it, for there are a great number of foreign trees and flowers brought by the seafarers.
All the other citadels are the same shape as ours, only not so large; but the largest of all is that of Texland. The tower of the Fryasburgt is so high that it rends the sky, and all the rest is in proportion to the tower.
In our citadel this is the arrangement: Seven young maidens attend to the lamp; each watch is three hours. In the rest of their time they do housework, learn, and sleep. When they have watched for seven years, they are free; then they may go among the people, to look after their morals and to give advice. When they have been three years maidens, they may sometimes accompany the older ones.
The writer must teach the girls to read, to write, and to reckon. The elders, or "Greva" must teach them justice and duty, morals, botany, and medicine, history, traditions and singing, besides all that may be necessary for them to give advice. The Burgtmaid must teach them how to set work when they go among the people.
Before a Burgtmaid can take office, she must travel through the country a whole year. Three gray-haired Burgers and three old maidens must go with her.
This was the way that I did. My journey was along the Rhine - on this side up, and on the other side down. The higher I went, the poorer the people seemed to be. Everywhere about the Rhine the people dug holes, and the sand that was got out was poured with water over fleeces to get the gold, but the girls did not wear golden crowns of it.
Formerly they were more numerous, but since we lost Scandinavia they have gone up to the mountains. There they dig ore and make iron. Above the Rhine among the mountains I have seen Marsaten. The Marsaten are people who live on the lakes. Their houses are built upon piles, for protection from the wild beasts and wicked people. There are wolves, bears and horrible lions. Then come the Swiss, the nearest to the frontiers of the distant Italians, the followers of Kalta and the savage Twiskar, (Germans) all greedy for robbery and booty.
The Marsaten gain their livelihood by fishing and hunting. The skins are sewn together by the women and prepared with birch bark. The small skins are as soft as a woman’s skin. The Burgtmaid at Fryasburgt, told us that they were good, simple people; but if I had not heard her speak of them first, I should have thought that they were not Frya’s people, they looked so impudent. Their wool and herbs are bought by the Rhine people, and taken to foreign countries by the ship captains.
Along the other side of the Rhine it was just the same as at Lydasburgt. There was a great river or lake, and upon this lake also there were people living upon piles. But they were not Frya’s people; they were black and brown men who had been employed as rowers to bring home the men who had been making foreign voyages, and they had to stay there till the fleet went back.
At last we came to Alderga. At the head of the south harbor lies the Waraburgt, built of stone, in which all kinds of clothes, weapons, shells and horns are kept, which were brought by the sea-people from distant lands. A quarter of an hour’s distance from there is Alderga, a great river surrounded by houses, sheds, and gardens, all richly decorated. In the river lay a great fleet ready, with banners of all sorts of colors. On Frya’s day the shields were hung on board likewise. Some shone like the sun. The shields of the sea-king and the admiral were bordered with gold.
From the river a canal was dug going past the citadel Forana, with a narrow outlet to the sea. This was the egress of the fleet; the Fly was the ingress. On both sides of the river are fine houses built, painted in bright colors. The gardens are all surrounded by green hedges. I saw there women wearing felt tunics, as if it were writing felt. Just as at Stavern, the girls wore golden crowns on their heads, and rings on their ankles.
To the south of Forana lies Alkmarum. Alkmarum is a lake or river in which there is an island. On this island the black and brown people must remain, the same as at Lydasburgt. The Burgtmaid of Forana told me that the Burgers go every day to teach them what real freedom is, and how it behooves men to live in order to obtain the blessing of Wr-Alda’s spirit. If there was any one who was willing to listen and could comprehend, he was kept there till he was fully taught. That was done in order to instruct the distant people, and to make friends everywhere.
"I had been before in Saxony at the Mannagardaforde castle. There I saw more poverty than I could discover wealth here." she answered.
So whenever in Saxony a young man courts a young girl, the girls ask: "Can you keep your house free from the banished German landers? Have you ever killed any of them? How many cattle have you already caught, and how many bear and wolf-skins have you brought to market?"
And from this it comes that the Saxons have left the cultivation of the soil to the women, that not one in a hundred can read or write; from this it comes, too, that no one has a motto on his shield, but only a misshapen form of some animal that he has killed; and lastly, from this comes also that they are very warlike, but sometimes as stupid as the beasts that they catch, and as poor as the German landers with whom they go to war.
The earth and sea were made for Frya’s people. All our rivers run into the sea. The Lyda’s people and the Finda’s people will exterminate each other, and we must people the empty countries. In movement and sailing is our prosperity. If you wish the highlanders to share our riches and wisdom, I will give you a piece of advice. Let the girls, when they are asked to marry, before they say yes, ask their lovers: "What parts of the world have you traveled in? What can you tell your children about distant lands and distant people?"
If they do this, then the young warriors will come to us; they will become wiser and richer, and we shall have no occasion to deal with those nasty people.
The youngest of the maidens who were with me came from Saxony. When we came back she asked leave to go home. Afterwards she became Burgtmaid there, and that is the reason why in these days so many of our sailors are Saxons.
And so ends Apollonia’s contribution to the Book.
