More Images of Longshan jade, for locating the pole star & big dipper, 3000 BCE (posted by Annie Pecheva) • “ Here are two jade objects and one turqoise, from 3000 BCE Longshan culture: - 玉璇玑 yu xuan ji and 玉衡 yu heng, used 5000 years ago (Neolithic period in China). -璇玑 is the name of the first four stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper, while 玉衡 is the 3 other stars. Together the two make the seven stars of the Big Dipper.( The 3 images and one map of the northern heavens are posted here on FB): 玉 璇玑 - with eye in the middle, also called 天心 the heart of heaven, its the Pole star, around which all stars, everything in the northern heavens, rotate. -The second piece, made of turquoise, is the 龙山文化绿松石璇玑 -The 3rd image is 玉衡, representing not only the 玉衡 star (Alioth), but all the three stars from the handle of the Big Dipper. Chinese scholars suggest that these first 2 burial objects, especially the 玉璇玑, were used to locate the Pole star. When the ancients gazed at the night sky with 玉璇玑, its 3 outside sharp edges were used to find the exact location of 3 bright stars of the tail of Big Dipper, the last or 7th one is 天罡). Note from Michael Saso: “It was used then, and still is used by all Daoists today of Grade 5 rank and above, to initiate prayer and summon spirits, release the soul of the deceased, from the direction in which it points. The center of the circular opening was pointed at “ heavens heart,” to shows the location of the Pole Star Polaris. Grateful to Annie Pecheva for posting this!
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 02:48:40 +0000
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