"We cannot, of course, disprove God...Thor...and Fairies..."
This statement from an Edge article is a gauntlet just waiting to be picked up!
As is the astronomers' claim that, to our ancestors, "The precise resemblance of a group of stars to a Bear, a Lion or a Hunter was unimportant... ...resemblance to their supposed subjects was often tenuous..." Both are incorrect and, of course, both are linked. Disprove the latter and the former follows suit.
Let's ignore Thor and the Fairies, for they are already accepted (by the majority) as part of a fantasy world. Instead, let's concentrate on Himself, the master of division. God is everywhere, apparently, so it shouldn't be hard to spot Him, but where to start?
He lives 'up in Heaven' so there's a hint that the 'heavens' are where to look, though the biggest clue to God's identity concerns a snail. The French nailed it with es-car-got; translatable as both you're for god and snail this tells us all we need to know. Plus they ate it. Truly a masterclass in word, deed and star picture juxtapositions, for the stars that form the snail also form the countenance divine, with the snail's shell being popped (Pop! goes the weasel explains this verb) into the open mouth of the Cosmic Dwarf.
This humble mollusc is oft seen as a footnote in religious paintings.
The Resistance puts up quite a fight - everyone against the snail!
Just as the Unicorn was an allegory for Jesus, so the Snail was used to represent God. Ambiguity was the Resistance's best defence. Take a sideways look at this old rhyme:
Multiplication is a vexation, Division is just as bad. The Rule of Three does puzzle me and Practice make me mad!
Sex, Divorce, the Trinity, Church going.
If the Frogs' approach to God was culinary how did the Roast Beefs react to the ever-present threat of the snail? Crafty word play is the English way:
Readers of old comic magazines might recall the interjection 'snails! along with a picture of some character biting on their nails. 'Snails! is short for God's nails! and these have been driven through the cosmic dome by the careless carpenter, presenting as sharp points to us here on Earth, thus:
Our ancestors relished squeezing the smallest detail out of the stars and just about everyone in the northern hemisphere would have known exactly where to find these four stars. How many of us today could claim to be so competent? They form not only the point of a nail but also the tail of the very snail that little boys are made of.
Star Strike guides your eyes - via the Nursery Rhyme 'What are little boys made of?' - through lessons in theology, gastronomy and biology, revealing not just a cocky little boy but also the first little girl a.k.a Eve. Sweet.
Snail marginalia, the not-so-hidden message in ancient manuscripts (click to enlarge).
"I am the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end," says the Lord God, according to the Book of Revelation. Well, He got that wrong and corrections are aplenty. Aesop, with his fabled tortoise and hare race puts the matter straight: the last will be first, and the first last (also Matthew 20:16). In other words the Omega should come before the Alpha. Why? Because it issued from the mouth of the Cosmic Dwarf first. Star Strike shows how to see Aesop's fabled race with the big, bold Omega Hare. The fainter, smaller Alpha lies between the Omega and the Cosmic Dwarf's open mouth.
The End
aaaommmmmm(ega)
Email: starstrike@warrior5.ie
