image: Wikimedia commons (link).
My friend Davey Halpo of Ireland recently posted a note on social media which sardonically declares:
We're almost there, everyone. The date when the world celebrates Christianity subjugating Ireland's native animism and spirituality.
And indeed, the story of St. Patrick, whose legendary date of death is observed each year on 17 March, fits into a pattern which has been repeated throughout the world, in which the empire-building agents of literalist Christianity seek to stamp out the sacred traditions given to the various cultures in all the far-flung nations of the world and to convert the men and women of that land to faith in the dictums of literalism -- using psychological appeals to the threat of hellfire and eternal damnation and, if necessary, force of arms and threat of imminent physical torture and death.
The story of St. Patrick's conversion of Ireland, said to have taken place in the fourth or fifth centuries, would later be enacted in the lands of Scotland in the fifth through seventh centuries, and the lands of the Norse in what is today Scandinavia in the tenth through twelfth centuries, and in the Americas beginning in the late fifteenth century (and continuing for the subsequent five centuries), and in the parts of Africa where it had not already gained a stronghold beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, and in the islands of the Pacific beginning in the eighteenth century, and so on around the globe, with varying levels of success and varying levels of violence and psychological coercion.
It is thus most ironic (grimly ironic) to consider the evidence -- largely forgotten today -- which demonstrates beyond doubt that the stories included in the texts we call the Bible can be shown with overwhelming supporting evidence to be based on the very same system of celestial metaphor which forms the foundation for the ancient myths and sacred traditions of virtually every other culture on our planet, on every inhabited continent and island of the earth.
In fact, the fabled life of St. Patrick himself can be shown to be built upon the same celestial patterns which are repeated in other myth-traditions from around the world, from his alleged kidnaping as a youth by pirates (which contains strong parallels the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis) to his famous driving out of the serpents from the island of Ireland, which is such a well-known part of his legend that it is almost invariably featured in depictions of the saint.
This incident of driving out the serpents, which has in later centuries been described as a metaphor for Patrick's "driving out paganism" from the shores of the island (in other words, for literalist Christianity's expulsion of the sacred traditions originally given to the people of the land, and its replacement of those traditions with literalist dogmas), can be confidently shown to parallel ancient myths around the world which feature a battle against serpents or serpent-like adversaries, from Apollo's battle against Python and the battle of Zeus against Typhon in the myths of ancient Greece, to Thor's battles against the Midgard Serpent or Marduk's struggles against the goddess Tiamat (and there are many others).
These battles with serpent-adversaries can in almost every case be shown to be based upon figures we can see outlined in the infinite realm of the heavens -- often figures associated with constellations surrounding the serpent-like figure of Scorpio. Sometimes the figure battling Scorpio is associated with the constellation Sagittarius (as is the case with Apollo in his battle with Python), and sometimes the figure battling Scorpio is associated with the constellation Hercules (as is the case with Zeus in his battle with Typhon, or Heracles battling the nine-headed Hydra).
But sometimes the figure battling Scorpio is associated with the constellation Ophiuchus, an imposing oblong constellation positioned directly above the multi-headed, sinuous form of Scorpio. And this, I am convinced after much analysis, is the case with the familiar story of Patrick and the serpents.
Above is an image which juxtaposes an artistic depiction of St. Patrick with the outline of Ophiuchus and Scorpio in the night sky (the colors of the sky have been inverted, for greater clarity of the outlines). Notice how Ophiuchus stands directly above the serpent-form of Scorpio -- and how distinctive features of the constellation Ophiuchus correspond directly to the iconography common in depictions of St. Patrick.
Patrick, for example, is almost always depicted holding a crook-shaped staff in one hand, and often a three-leafed shamrock in the other hand. The figure of Ophiuchus in the night sky consists of a tall central body, which is rectangular in shape and topped with a triangular shape which in some myths is envisioned as a helmet but which in this case becomes the distinctive religious headgear of the saint. On either side of the central body are the two "serpent-halves" of Ophiuchus, a "tail" on the left (as we face the diagram above) and a "head" on the right (which is the west side, in the sky itself).
Note how well these features correspond to the distinctive iconography associated with St. Patrick. The left or "tail-end" of the serpent-half of Ophiuchus is often envisioned in myth as a spear or other long staff -- and in the case of St. Patrick, this becomes the crook-shaped staff associated with the saint.
The western "head" of the serpent can appear in myth as a variety of objects, including as a pomegranate, or a mirror, or even a wine-glass or goblet. This head-end of the Ophiuchus serpent consists of a roughly triangular outline of stars, with three stars at the top of it -- almost in a straight line but actually with the central star uppermost. In the star-chart above, I have numbered these stars "1." "2." and "3."
Now consider how nicely these three stars correspond to the traditional shape of the Irish shamrock with its three lobed leaves -- two on the outside, with a central leaf pointing upwards!
The confirming detail, of course, is found in the outline of Scorpio, below the feet of Ophiuchus -- which is exactly where we almost invariably see the serpents depicted in the iconography of the saint. The serpents are being driven out from beneath St. Patrick's feet:
image: Wikimedia commons (link).
Note that this iconography is very similar to the traditional depiction of St. Michael the Archangel in his battle with the dragon, described in the Revelation of John, chapter 12.
In the case of Michael, of course, the staff is usually envisioned as a long spear, extending all the way down to pierce the form of the dragon beneath his feet -- and, if you look at the outline of Ophiuchus in the heavens, you can imagine a line running straight down through the line of stars in the eastern serpent-half (on the left of the central body in the star-chart below) and piercing the form of Scorpio right around the point of the bright red star Antares, the largest star of Scorpio and located at the very "heart" of the great serpent:
image: Wikimedia commons (link).
Note that in the case of the iconography of Michael, we often see an additional clue to the celestial identity of the Archangel, and that is found in the set of scales or balances held in his other hand (the hand not holding the spear). If you look closely in the image by Bartolomeo Vivarini (1440 - 1499) at left, above, you can see the set of scales held by the Archangel in his left hand.
These scales, of course, correspond to the zodiac constellation of Libra, in the heavens, which is located in just the correct position relative to the constellation Ophiuchus to match the scales held by St. Michael in the artwork down through the centuries. This fact is extremely strong and compelling evidence pointing to the conclusion that this story is celestial in its origin, and that Michael standing over the fallen dragon corresponds to Ophiuchus towering over the sinuous form of the constellation Scorpio.
Another parallel of the story of St. Patrick banishing the serpents can be found in the sacred traditions of ancient India, for example in the well-known story of the Lord Krishna banishing the powerful multi-headed serpent known as Kaliya, also called the Kaliya Naga. This episode is recorded in the Puranas, and continues to be re-enacted each year all the way up to the present day, in the festival of Nag Nathaiya in the holy city of Varanasi in India.
In the story, the young Lord Krishna dances upon the heads of the great Kaliya Naga with such force and such power (Krishna in fact assumes the entire weight of the universe) that the Naga will certainly perish unless Krishna shows mercy. The wives of the Naga beg Krishna to allow Kaliya to be banished instead of killing him. Below is a typical depiction of the scene:
image: Wikimedia commons (link).
Once again, the serpent-adversary in this ancient myth corresponds beyond any doubt to the multi-headed outline of the constellation Scorpio in the heavens. The figure of the Lord Krishna, dancing on his heads, would of course correspond to the constellation Ophiuchus, which appears to be standing on the heads of Scorpio in the heavens.
Notice that in this scene, Krishna is almost invariably depicted as playing his famous flute. Now look back to the image of St. Patrick at the top of this essay, in which I argue that the crook-shaped staff of the saint corresponds to the left (or eastern) half of the serpent-shape flanking either side of the outline of Ophiuchus. Notice how the "tail-end" of the serpent (which I have labeled in the star-chart with the words "Crook-staff") can easily be envisioned as the flute of Krishna, held directly out to the left side of his head.
Numerous other examples from ancient myths and traditions around the world could be added to the few given above -- but these few examples should prove the point beyond any reasonable doubt. The story of St. Patrick and the chasing out of the serpents is celestial in its origin, corresponding to a pattern of metaphor which underlies other myths found in other cultures as well as one which forms the foundation for the stories in the Bible from Genesis all the way to Revelation.
Whatever the historicity of any figure named St. Patrick, the details we are given about episodes in his life appear to be mythical in nature, based upon the same pattern found in more ancient myths from around the globe.
However, the historicity of the subjugation and eradication by the forces of literalism of the sacred traditions given to the various cultures of the nations of the world is beyond any doubt, and we can be quite certain that it actually took place. The terrible irony, however, is that this subjugation of the ancient ways was done in the name of adopting a religion which was based upon other stories patterned on the very same system of celestial metaphor which forms the basis for all the world's myths -- but a religion which insisted that its stories were literally "true" and historical, while all the others were "pagan" and false.
Sadly, this pattern continues to be enacted to this very day. This fact is worth carefully contemplating this year on March 17.