Cassandra's Renewal

I fear tragedy will befall humanity once again. Humanity is no stranger to tragedy being either a victim of blind nature or of others who want to dominate and feed their hunger for power with violence, abuse, and exploitation. I breathe deeply to unblock areas of stress. I remove obstacles created by my mind, so the energy can flow through me. I connect to the universe. My soul awakens as the spirit enters a slip stream and becomes part of timeless time. I see myself. I am an observer. I am an entity, who holds the spirit of the sacred feminine that is woven into the genetic fibre of humanity. I recognize all humans hold maternal mitochondrial DNA.

I have spent generations learning from my mistakes. I am part of the lineage of wise women, who are a descendent of Neith. Neith was the goddess of war and creation. She lived in Sais, known as the 'House of the Bee.' 'Sais' means understanding in French. Her skills included weaving fabrics and stories. She wove a web like a potentially venomous spider. The spigots move freely. They cannot stop how what is formed might help or harm. Those who do not know history are prey to the same mistakes.

I have undergone thousands of years of rebirth. Neith had a daughter Metis, who ate her mother, then transformed into a queen bee inside the head of Jupiter, also known as Juno and Zeus, before she burst out. Her daughter, Minerva, was associated with Athena and the Potnia Theron. Minerva was the female divinity associated with rebirth of higher wisdom and cunning, memory, and strategic warfare and a thousand works. Minerva and Athena wore full armour, carried a shield with a figure eight representing infinity, and a spear. Sir Francis Bacon began the Knights of the Helmet, a literary group named after Minerva. They called themselves the ‘shaker of the spear'. According to some, they compiled Shakespeare’s works and introduced the statement,’ Vivitur ingenio cetera mortus erunt’ translated as ‘one lives in one’s genius, other things shall pass away in death’. The genius is a divine inborn nature used to create and imagine.

Hercules, with the support of Minerva, had stolen the golden apple of immortality from the 100 headed dragon Ladon. The apple is the fruit of the tree of knowledge and immortality. The apple was used to tempt Eve and Native American children to leave their paradise. Newton used the apple to determine how gravity concentrates forces into a single point. It is the fruit of rebirth. It holds delicious flesh and poisonous seeds. The apple holds virtues and defects, luck and misfortune, and opportunities for evolution or destruction. Whoever eats it, is reborn to face endless choices. The apple was at the center of controversy of my story.

Let me share what I have learned about humanity, through the stories of the personalities of women of power in the Trojan War, specifically my mother Hecuba, sister Clytemnestra and Helen. I was the daughter of my mother Hecuba and Priam, the legendary last king of Troy, son of Laomedon. We have a family history. My grandfather, Laomedon, asked Apollo and Poseidon to build the walls of Troy, but refused to pay the agreed upon price, then Father was obliged to offer my sister Hesione as a sacrifice to a sea monster. Heracles offered to save my sister for a price. Grandfather again refused to compensate Heracles as promised. That ended poorly. All my uncles were killed except for my father.

My mother Hecuba and Father had many children. I knew at least 49 of my sisters and 50 brothers. I was alive when my mother was pregnant with my brother Paris. She had a dream of giving birth to a flaming torch burning through the city of Troy. My half-brother Aesacus, whose grandfather was Merops, the seer, was taught how to interpret dreams. I had been taught to see future. Aesacus and I both agreed that the dream foretold the downfall of Troy. Aesacus suggested that the child be killed at birth by being exposed to nature. Mother was a proud Trojan Woman with an emotional heart, a loving wife and doting mother. My mother was also a capable leader. Mother and Father agreed to hire a woodsman to take Paris in the wilderness. By the gods, Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena favoured him. Paris survived on bear’s milk and grew to be a shepherd.

Later, Zeus asked Paris to select the winner of the Golden Apple of Immortality, offered by the Goddess of Discord. It was inscribed with the message, ‘To the fairest one’. Paris offered it to Athena, the goddess of beauty and love, good counsel, prudent restraint and practical insight, crafts as well as war and peacetime pursuits. She promised him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. The rest is history.

Father had been foolish to over-protect Paris after he had undermined the social fabric of Troy when visiting King Menelaus. Really, what was my brother thinking? There are limits to how far rules of conduct can be bent. He stole another man’s wife. He kidnapped a married woman. It was a blatant violation of the tradition of ‘hospitality is obligatory' that described the proper and divine conduct of the duty of hosts and rights of guests. His actions caused the Trojan war.

It was no surprise when Menelaus came to find Helen. She had many suitors, who had sworn the Oath of Tyndareus, her father, to protect whoever became king. They stood true to their word to defend Menelaus when he went to retrieve his wife. Helen, the beautiful, ingenious, and charming Spartan, who was the face that launched a thousand ships, had charmed many men.

Some sources say Helen was abducted by Paris, others suggest she was complicit in her own abduction. Literature says Helen had feelings of regret for not valuing her passions when she left her friends, her Trojan husband Menelaus, and her daughter. She should have, she was the cause of the Trojan war. Helen assumed the role of a victim of the gods. Even my father accepted both Paris and Helen into Troy, saying their love was the fault of the gods. Yet, they all knew there was a price to be paid.

My dad, no longer a warrior, asked my brother Hector to use his military prowess to save Troy. Hector knew the imminent danger and foolishly believed his illusion that Zeus would grant him victory. Leaders can become hungry to appease their beliefs. Human hubris directs atrocities that are often the result of poor interpretations of what the gods want. Wars are fought in the names of the gods. Hector was a victim, used as an instrument, for what was to follow in a time of change.

Father changed after the death of Hector. He did not follow the heroic code to gain honour by combat. Instead, he approached Achilles as a suppliant, not an avenger. He kissed the hands of his enemy Achilles, who was a passionate victim of emotions, extremes, and excesses. My father’s actions affected both men. Yet the war did not end.

I warned Mother and Father about the fate of Troy saying, “Beware Greeks bearing gifts”. They did not believe me, or at least did not know how to interpret my warnings that I felt something was wrong when the Greeks presented the Trojan Horse as a peace offering to the goddess Athena, then appeared to sail away.

My sister Clytemnestra was independent and intelligent. She used her womanly wiles to marry Agamemnon, and originally helped father get the support of Sparta. Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, led Menelaus' army that included Achilles, Odysseus, and other formidable warriors. Agamemnon was a crafty strategist, wise advisor, and warrior. He used the Trojan’s respect for Athena, and her love of horses, to plan their attack. He designed the Trojan horse, with a hollow belly, so it could carry soldiers. Soldiers in the wooden horse sacked Troy.

My reason, intuition, knowledge, and wisdom knew a problem was brewing when I saw it, but I was powerless. Let me explain. I was one of those women of extreme beauty. I captured the gaze of males because of my beguiling presence, ideas, and behaviour. While I was praying at Apollo’s Temple, I was a victim of his love at first sight. Apollo, the god of prophecy and oracles, song and poetry, healing and protection is one of the twelve Olympians. Apollo strived to offer clear definitions, master skills, and valued the deepest connection between the nature of order that holds harmony and beauty. I hold these values within my heart. Apollo was born in the Cyclades, on Delos, a rocky island, that up until his birth had been floating, without solid ground. It later turned into a trading center with transactions based on reciprocal trust. Delos has since become a heritage site, with restorations to preserve monuments, and landscape. It is considered ‘the most sacred of all islands.’

At first, I refused Apollo's sexual advances. When Apollo offered to teach me the gift of prophecy he had acquired when he killed Python, who protected the oracle at Delphi, I agreed to his being my respected teacher. This was conditional on having an intimate relationship with him. However, I refused my end of the bargain.

I really should have predicted that misfortune would follow. Immoral actions hold consequences. Apollo shared his intellectual prowess and methods of rational inquiry. By offering me his teachings, he gave my family a second chance to redeem ourselves. I violated quid pro quo. I was given what I was asked for, but I refused due payment and did not fulfill the agreed upon terms. Apollo wanted Dionysian rapture, that gives in to losing control. I wanted control and had not adequately assessed the costs of reneging on paying my dues. I used his teachings, to gain my own wisdom, and obtained the gift of prophecy but I was a fool to think I deserved more than my fair share. I was not rational. I should have found a way to control the poor risk assessment I had inherited from my grandfather, and avoided carrying on his traits of unreliability and unnatural deception.

I have reflected on my failings to defend a greater good. I had the chance to predict the future and make a difference to protect others. I, Cassandra, possessed a combination of inherent and culturally conditioned qualities that were considered beautiful. I drew the eye of the beholder and moved them to action. However, I established an emotional distance to gain perspective of the future. I ignored the fact that rejecting feelings can affect the outcome of a response. I have since learned that there are no wrong feelings, only wrong actions, done contrary to the rules of communication. I failed to honour my promises to Apollo. I suffered the consequences.

The gods made me pay the price for my irresponsibility. I was praying in the Temple of Athena when Ajax the Lesser found me. He was a soldier defending Menelaus, but he committed an egregious sacrilege. He entered the Temple of Athena, ripped me from the statue of Athena, then raped me. It is nor the first not the last time that women have suffered in times of war or in male dominated patriarchal societies that are found in many cultures and animal species.

Ajax, one of the Argonauts, was an arrogant, boastful, and quarrelsome character. Ajax weaseled his way out of being stoned for punishment for his crime. Athena attempted to avenge my death by wrecking his ship in a tremendous storm. Some tales say he swam to a rock, but then Ajax sealed his own fate, boasting that he had lived, despite the best efforts of the gods. Poseidon set that record right. Ajax was cast into the sea and drown.

The sea is powerful. The waters run deep, the currents are swift and tides shift. A sailor must always know how to interpret the present conditions and control the wind. The sea does not only exist in water. Individuals ride the waves in the seas of change and seas of information.

Reflecting on the post-war effects of different strategies, I have come to some conclusions. I recognize that after the war, my mother and I we were taken as Greek sex slaves. My mother was Odysseus’ slave, yet she was not totally helpless, despite her circumstances. She released her animal nature as she howled at the tremendous pain she endured by her losses. Then she sought revenge. She killed two of the children of the murderer who killed her son. She then changed to a dog and went to the sea. I believe my mom had the spirit of a sea dog, known as a shark, one of most evolutionarily successful species ever to live. Their ability to respond to habitat pressures has let them survive all 5 mass extinctions.

After Troy was captured, Agamemnon fell in love with me. I tried to warn Agamemnon that he would be slain, to no avail. Humans can only bear so much reality; they dissociate from conscious awareness and repress what they cannot bear to face. While he was away, Clytemnestra had a lover, Aegisthus, an enemy of Agamemnon. Agamemnon had killed Aegisthus' brothers and fed them to his father. Clytemnestra was not so much a wrathful wife, as an angry mother. Agamemnon had killed their daughter, thinking it would appease the gods. She plotted with Aegisthus, and they killed both Agamemnon and me. They were both later killed by her son Orestes, who then went mad but eventually peacefully settled down. Revenge does not guarantee survival.

It is impossible to know if Helen indulged in deception or selfish behaviour that was harmful to others because of her hormonal whims, or was a victim of society, forced to comply to male domination. To her credit, Helen took responsibility for precipitating the Trojan war. Helen described herself to Hector, as “a dog, evil, contriving and abhorred.” She mourned those who had been lost in the fall of Troy and admitted being the cause of much death and suffering to Greeks and Trojans alike. Helen humbly expressed honest remorse for her actions. She went with the flow. Her adaptable nature was part of her inner beauty, that was a weapon for spiritual and intellectual healing, and afforded her the means to survive. After the war, she returned to her first husband, Menelaus, to live out her days and died a natural death.

I am Cassandra, known as the ‘prophetess of doom’. I suffered knowing that foretelling impending threats, does not stop them from occurring. I am not alone. In Moby Dick, Elijah acts as a prophet to Ishmael, who, despite of warnings, joins the exploitations of Captain Ahab. Ahab represents the vengeful, obsessive, and destructive nature of man. Ishmael witnesses the devastating consequences. Since the early 1800’s, Malthus warned of the impact of population increases. Suggestions of ways to deal with the situation were followed briefly by some nations, causing an imbalance in global power that subsequently resulted in population control efforts to be ignored. In the film 'An Inconvenient Truth', Al Gore presents data that warns of the inevitable impending environmental threats and suggested ways to alter the course of business and individual actions. He did not successfully become the Commander-in-chief. Predictions of an inevitable global deadly virus were used to prepare for the unknown. There was no way to avoid the predictable danger, but more flexibility to imagine what actions needed to be done.

Death does not stop the spirit that carries a truth about what is needed to cope with chance and fate. Truth often painfully unfolds slowly before it brings relief and change. Human nature tends to resist change and to refuse what is hard to accept. Humans often ignore rational information and reject facts that are not desired and are inconvenient. It is easy to be seduced into familiar and fragile illusions from the past, yet, eventually, rules that were once thought of as fixed, dissolve and no longer work.

In this lifetime, I have witnessed one way that change occurs. In the 1960's, the post war baby boomer generation created a critical mass of the younger adult generation. They created a movement that was considered socially responsible and necessary. Simultaneously, technology and globalization increased social awareness and altered the response to social issues and environmental interactions. The birth of the new age requires significant death of the old.

My spirit is immortal. I am working on 'Cassandra's renewal'. I want to transmit a message to others so they can prepare for the unknown. My renewal depends on applying ancient moral wisdom, in the divine spiritual world. In the past, ignoring my moral conscience, left me prone to emotional hysteria, and moral madness. I deluded myself about the value of love and trust and Apollo cursed me so that no one would believe my words of wisdom and I could not deliver the gift he gave me. I have had to modify my job description and create an alternate path.

In Greek my name is ‘Cass’, meaning clever treasurer and ‘andra’ meaning brave defender of the people. I measure assets and liabilities and provide financial reports to fellow members who decide what limits of risk they will take. All humans have to deal with, fear grief and anxiety of the unknown. Dangerous stories and destructive thought patterns that have been written in the past still function in interactions within and between individuals and societies. It is easy to transfer blame for suffering and ignore addressing the cause of possible fears and traumas of the unknown and submit to helplessness and failure.

Generational curses have passed on since Eve lived as a subordinate and was found guilty of leading Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge by the patriarchs of the church. Neith, is cursed to nurse cold blooded, lizard brained crocodiles, whose lizard brains are ready for fight, flight, freezing up, feeding and fornication. The curse of Minerva warns of the loss of intellectual fire, wit, and good sense in those who steal from and enslave others. The curse of Athena turned Medusa into a monster with a gaze that could turn men to stone because she desecrated sacred space. Psychologists identify the Cassandra syndrome as a curse that is often the result of frustration from not being heard.

For my predictions to be accepted, I need to address my own issues. Those who have been deceptive, know how deception works. By ignoring my own promises and moral responsibilities, my fear that others would do the same, was mirrored. Prophecies needs to shift from predicting potential catastrophes, caused by those who ignore order, reason, truth, and clarity and prefer to blame the oracle or gods for failure, to finding solutions to reduce what causes a loss of balance. Humans are driven towards efficiency and look for shortcuts that appear more efficient often at the expense of ignoring the details required to maintain the flow needed to maintain a balance. They mimic what appears to increase profit.

Mimicry is part of nature. Mimicry in animals is an operational response. Mimicry balances the need for distinctiveness and that of assimilation and belonging. Humans automatically copy postures, mannerisms, and behaviours without awareness, while forming connections to others. Mimicry arises through tricks, deceptions, and camouflage. Some traits are naturally resilient to change, some are integral to functioning. Some traits are selectively favoured certain through increased reproductive success. This does not remove the less favoured traits that can surface under different conditions. There are vestigial structures that remain, even though they have lost their ancestral function. Aggressive mimicry is used by predators to manipulate and exploit prey.

Reality is nothing more than a dream of how the rational is measured. Computer technology and big data analysis are now be used to navigate floods of information. Artificial intelligence, AI, is based on tactics of the Trojan war. The Trojan virus malware appears to be legitimate yet can attack or steal from a system. AI uses complex data points and algorithms, to affect outcomes. Cassandra AI algorithms are already in place, to establish clustered data from large data samples and mimic portions of reality and direct choices. Cassandra programs introduced into AI will likely lead to long term effects and have a great an impact to the future generations. AI can positively increase crop yields, or it can monitor consumer spending patterns.

AI advances efficiently use technology to establish and manipulate many symbols including facial expressions and word choices, with associated emotions. These can release hidden spirits. The meanings of a word can forge a unique transfer of thought. Words form the music that transfers understanding. A book of reference, like the dictionary, often defines words with a confused state of dualities, that have equal and opposite meanings. Words can imply different moral values, that do not lead to a definite result.

Words hold the threat of corruption and promise of control. Noah Webster designed a dictionary that defines words, with sufficient material to support litigations against a deal made with the devil or being a gift from God. Webster had been engaged in leading the innocent, along a path of discovery, with the end being educational reform. He believed that democracy requires an educated public. He studied several languages and used etymology to write a dictionary. As a political activist, an antislavery advocate, and a member of a religious calling, he wove his web of intention. Where intention goes energy flows. He fathered the copyright law that was almost as clever as Aaron’s and as old as Methuselah. Daniel was Noah Webster’s cousin. In the 1936 story, Daniel argued with the devil and won a challenging case. Art, mathematics, and science also can turn the devil into a saint and vice versa.

How words are used can form complex algorithms that can sway interpretations of the silent message of symbols that evoke responses. Humans are not completely parrots, who repeat things, without understanding what they mean, but they often are limited in how they interpret outside forces that affect creative interactions between intuition, language and perception caused by a greater force. Humans are ignorant and blind to the energy-conserving paths of less resistance that Nature follows.

AI can be more intentional than nature, but it cannot completely mimic nature. Computers can evolve understanding, based on anthropocentric, human focused programming. Programmers can calculate how to lead individuals along a pathway from initial evaluation, design, data modelling, deployment and operation to achieve ulterior motives. Scaling up ‘foundational models’ of training, can lead to the machine being able to extrapolate from vast amounts of data, and sometimes result in the machine learning how to do tasks not explicitly designed for.

There is an arrogance in believing that human understanding is superior to other methods of interactive communication in nature. Cassandra's renewal explores how knowledge is assimilated through history. Cassandra plants, of the Heath family Ericaceae, the leather leaves, are a form of ‘ground laurel’ and are found in Rhododendrons. Cassandra flowers are used by bees to form 'mad honey' that contains andromedotoxin. It can cause poisoning that burns the mouth, or nausea, cardiac complications, muscle weakness and psychiatric complications including hallucinations. Xenophon recorded the effect in 401 BC. Cassandra plants sometimes get their nutrients from fungi growing on their roots instead of photosynthesis. Rhododendrons form trichomes, made of fungi, with phytocannaboid functions. Fungal networks imbedded with bacteria, can migrate across diverse multispecies communities and alter the productivity and health of the environments. They use superior communication techniques that are largely unknown.

I am part of the new wave. The frequency of prophecies increases at of the end of an era. As the inevitable becomes apparent, humans see that they are often are dominated by other humans and nature. They either become oppressed slaves, are seen as property, and subject to suffering and violence, or rebel either actively or passively.

For the spirit of Cassandra to be renewed it requires healing. Cassandra has learned that the results of her deception and lack of moral value was physical and emotional suffering. Suffering is a thread that unites mankind. She heal by accepting the burden of knowing what is coming, and then acting honestly, with moral responsibility not to exploit others, and makes amends for errors. She understands that a cure can become poison, and poisons can become the cure.

Cassandra’s renewal empowers her to change her curse and become the Prophetess of choice.Cassandra recognizes that the beauty of nature is living, and changes in the light of a moment. Cassandra can use her beauty to change her approach, from predicting disasters to finding solutions. Choices can change suffering to wrath, then to remorse and anguish, then eventually to forgiveness of the flaws of humanity that cause emotional distress from trauma, grief, sorrow, fear, and anxiety, thereby reducing suffering and increasing satisfaction and happiness.