Aphrodite riding a swan (detail)_ British Museum
This site presents a coherent and complete interpretation of Greek mythology, carried out by the application of decryption keys which were found by the author and are explained below. This mythology turns out to be an amazing pictorial description of the spiritual path as it was known in Homer’s time.
This interpretation has been published in French under the title Mythologie Grecque, Yoga de l’Occident (Greek Mythology, Yoga of the West) in three volumes. The texts on this site have therefore been translated from french and the reader could refer to the french version in case of doubt. The texts will be updated as new understandings become available.
Presented here is also a historical study on the Cycles of the mind in history, as well as a study of the interpretation of Sri Aurobindo’s poem ‘Ilion’, concerning the last day of the Trojan War.
Interpretation of Greek Mythology – Presentation
HOW TO NAVIGATE THIS WEBSITE
Once the decoding method and the structure of the mythology have been made explicit, the pages of this website have been designed to reflect the chapters of the published work, arranged as per the progression of the spiritual journey.
Searching this site can be done in two ways:
– either by searching in the table of contents located in the next tab “Greek myths interpretation”, the page where the myth or the character sought is. When the page is open, the search for the precise location is done by pressing Ctrl and F simultaneously. In the window that opens, type the keyword sought.
– or by typing the searched word in the window above “Google Custom Search”. Once a page has then been selected, the same search method by Ctrl + F can be applied.
The genealogical diagrams which constitute the structure of the mythology appear under the corresponding tab. They are essential for the proper understanding of myths.
Under the “Miscellaneous” tab, there are various documents which relate to the whole of mythology such as Planes of consciousness, The synoptic table of symbol letters of the Ionian alphabet, etc.
Note that in the chapter concerning the keys of interpretation, the drawings of the archaic letters of the Greek and Phoenician alphabets have not yet been inserted in the text.
Summary of the three volumes work on the interpretation of Greek mythology
The summary below follows the sequencing of myths as presented in the published works. However, this website can also be navigated independently of this sequence.
According to the Sanskrit origin of the word, the process of Yoga refers to a progression towards a state of ‘union’ with Supreme Reality. In its loss of meaning, our culture has often searched for such secrets in India, unaware that these had also been concealed within Greek mythology.
But it would seem unlikely that the ancient Greeks of Homer’s time, living roughly a hundred and forty generations before us and thus being our elder brothers on the scale of human evolution, would have developed such an extensive system of over a thousand characters for literary, historical or moral purposes alone. Is it not more likely that an elite group would have transcribed in coded form their highest knowledge in the domain of human experience?
When the decoding methods presented in these works are applied methodically, we are able to progressively discover a literary monument that is of great complexity but perfectly coherent. This mythological system is then revealed to be an extraordinary synthesis of different spiritual paths.
The interpretation presented here covers the totality of Greek mythology as it is presented in works including:
– The remarkable work of Timothy Grantz, Early Greek Myth (Belin 2004).
– The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology by Robin Hard (Routledge 2004).
To the extent that this system of mythology delineates the different paths of spiritual progress, the most trustworthy sources are the earliest ones – even though we often only have access to later compilations – as well as those which have been recorded by the initiated. It is generally noticeable that such individuals utilised the poetic form, more suited for the expression of truths of an order superior to that of the mind and sometimes received through direct ‘inspirations’.
Outside of the most well-known poets like Homer and Hesiod, this work of interpretation is therefore based on texts by the poets Pindar, Bacchylides and Pherecydes in the form of scholia and fragments, as well as on the texts of the philosopher Stesichorus.
The Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes served as a foundation for the decoding of the myth of Jason, although Apollonius does not appear to have numbered amongst the great initiates, having only pursued some stages of the path. This text is in fact the only one to illustrate in any detail the quest of the Argonauts, which spans from the beginnings of the path to the first great spiritual experience.
The Greek playwrights of the great tragedies have been considered with great prudence. For to stress dramatic effect they have striven to humanise the great heroes, introducing variations alien to the deeper meaning of these myths. For the sake of play, to keep the meaning secret or to give these theatrical works the value of moral edification, they presented certain stories as just the inverse of what an initiate was to understand of them.
For instance, Aeschylus celebrated the defenders of Thebes to exemplify how reprehensible it is to turn against one’s own city. However, the seeker is to understand that on the contrary it those mounting the offensive who are in the right, as this myth deals with the purification of the energy centers and the reestablishment of an inner harmony. This is illustrated by the failure of the war of the Seven against Thebes, followed by the success a generation later of the sons of these leaders, the Epigoni.
The works of mythologists are essential in countering this lack of sources. However, they must be considered with great caution and compared with those of other writers. Amongst these the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus is of great interest, for although he belonged to a later period this author seems to have been sufficiently aware of the real meaning of mythology to be able to discard unreliable versions.
For the purpose of this study the works of historians such as Pausanias and Diodorus have been used for useful complementary detail.
As for what regards the reconstruction of genealogical lineages, Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women has been considered to be the most trustworthy source.
A number of websites such as theoi.com, remacle.org, mythindex.com, etc., also offer valuable compilations.
The application of the decoding methods presented here allows for a coherent interpretation of the totality of these myths in all of their variations and details.
The first volume reveals indispensable decoding methods, and applies them to the study of the gods of Olympus and the story of Genesis.
The second volume is more specifically focused upon the first stages of the path till the first great experience of inner contact. It also includes a study of the Labours of Heracles, and the ‘great spiritual error’ illustrated by the myth of the Minotaur.
The last volume discusses the advanced stages of yoga, with the great reorientation described by the Trojan War for those who have attained the stage of the ‘liberation’ of the spirit. It is concluded with the last ‘return’, that of Ulysses’ return to Ithaca, which begins the work on the depths of the vital and the body.
However, considering the extent of knowledge necessary in all the domains involved, including the history of archaic Greece, its different dialects, their linguistic aspects, symbolism, the history of religion, the nature of spiritual experiences, etc., a very great number of other studies would still be necessary to further understand or correct certain points.
Volume 1
The first volume of this interpretation of Greek mythology mainly deals with the decoding methods used by the elders of ancient times to ensure that the true meaning of mythology would only be accessible to the initiates. From amongst these methods, attention is especially brought to symbolic alphabetical characters, as well as to genealogical lineages with constitute the structure of the entirety of the mythological system.
Two additional chapters make up this first work, one dedicated to the Olympian gods, important spiritual powers which support the present stage of human evolution, and the other to the story of genesis and the pre-mental evolution of life forms.
Coding or encryption methods
Five coding methods have been brought to light:
-The first utilises the symbolic meaning of alphabetical characters, from which proper names are built and their meaning partly derived depending on the arrangement of characters. Very often, these names of gods, heroes, mythological characters or places are made up of an association of symbolic characters and words from common language which form a symbolic riddle or rebus. In accordance with its graphic form, each character expresses a fundamental idea or archetype. Thus, as the character thêta Θ represents ‘that which is within’ and the N ‘an evolution in accordance with nature’, the goddess Athena therefore represents ‘the spiritual power which supports the growth of the inner being in man’, or ‘the inner master’.
There are grounds for believing that this coding method was already utilised by the ancient Egyptians. In referring to the characters of Egyptian hieroglyphs, the ancient Greeks used the term ‘hiera grammata’, the sacred letters, or ‘ta hiera glyphica’, hieroglyphs, an expression which signifies ‘sacred engraved characters’. And why would they be termed ‘sacred’ if it was not because they represent, through their form, a symbolic content which reveals ‘sacred things’? The Egyptians themselves refered to them as ‘the writing of divine words’.
By an extension of the meaning of these characters to that of word roots, and through a correct understanding of the method of the ‘rebus’ or riddle, it is then possible to define in a precise manner the meaning of each proper name.
The second method is linked to the meaning carried by the basic symbols of images, numbers and so forth, meanings which often varied and that ‘dictionaries of symbols’ try to explain. However we must be careful with the meanings construed in these works, for the Greeks sometimes took up ancient meanings of words which are entirely alien to us. For instance, they seem to have borrowed from the Vedas the image of the cow as a symbol of the ‘light of Truth’ rather than ‘the nursing Earth’ or ‘abundance’, which are the meanings indicated by those dictionaries. The herds of the sun, Helios, are therefore representative of ‘flashes of Truth’ perceived by the soul of the seeker as well as his ‘realisations’.
This category also includes numerical values as basic symbols.
– The third method, that of detailed genealogical lineages, deals with a structure specific to Greek mythology, at least in the extended use to which it has been put, for it was already present in germinal form within the mythologies of Egypt and the Middle East. These provide symbols with multiple ramifications, allowing through symbolic filiations and unions for the combination and free play of concepts such as spiritual progression, theory and practice, the succession of planes of consciousness, the history of spirituality, stages on the spiritual path, the conditions required to engage in them, and the numerous tests which the seeker must undergo.
Knowledge of two or three hundred characters (over the near three-thousand characters recorded) therefore allows one to situate oneself within a spiritual progression.
-The fourth method deals with the storylines of the myths themselves, which are coherent assemblages of elementary symbols and narratives which hold the teachings within themselves or describe the experiences in an allegorical fashion.
Assuming that the simple symbols have been deciphered correctly, the first challenge lies in situating the storyline within a narrative of spiritual progression. The answer is most often given within the myths themselves by the indication of a number of generations or years that have elapsed ‘before’ or ‘after’ important landmark events such as the Trojan War, the quest for the Golden Fleece or the journeys of heroes and peoples across real or imaginary provinces and territories. Other more specific indications such as distant kinship or the age of the heroes allows for increased specificity in the chronology. For instance, Theseus was over fifty years of age at the time of Helen’s abd