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David Dyck?
A real Prophet once said, “the old get older and the young get stronger.” In the Baal Cycle, the most important of the Ugaritic texts, Aṯiratu and El may be the preeminent gods but they are by no means the strongest. They have chosen Yam, likely their oldest son to be MLK or Moloch; King of the gods. Yam’s stronghold is in the sea, the serpent is his totem and most of the other gods support him. But Baal, a very young upstart, has other ideas and wages war upon him for the throne of the gods.
He quickly becomes disillusioned though when he realizes he is no match for Yam who commands the fiercest of sea monsters. He enlists the help of Kothar-wa-Khasis whose name means “Skillful-and-Wise” and is the craftsman of the gods. He is called Ptah in his home in Egypt.
Kothar-wa-Khasis is resentful towards Yam because he feels he has risen presumptuously to his position. He fashions two Magick clubs and uses them to knock Yam unconscious after which Baal uses them to finish Yam off. Baal following instruction from the goddess Athtart or Astarte, often associated with the Sumerian goddess Ishtar by scholars, hacks him in pieces and scatters them about, proclaiming Yam is dead and he is now king of the gods.
The Ugaritic texts are by no means intact, archeologists have done what they can. Major digs have been conducted in 1958, 1973 and 1994. But the text called the Baal Cycle remains incomplete.
There is a banquet held in Baals honor and when the narrative next picks up Anat, Athtart’s fearsome sister, is slaughtering soldiers and guards, some her own and driving off the inhabitants of the city.
When the text next resumes Baal sends messengers to Anat promising the secret of lightning and filling the sky with it at her request. They search for the secret together on the hill of Zephon. The text breaks off again and when it next resumes Baal, apparently younger than the rest of the gods, complains to Anat that he has no palace of his own like the rest of the gods and he still lives at home with El and Aṯiratu.
Anat goes to El and threatens to turn his silver hair red with blood if he does not give Baal his own palace. The earthquakes she conjures cause El to be exposed from his chamber, but the text breaks off and when it next resumes her threats are unsuccessful. Baal sends a messenger to Egypt to again enlist the help of Kothar-wa-Khasis who builds beautiful furniture for Aṯiratu, in an attempt to enlist the help of his mother in getting his own palace.
When the text continues Anat and Baal approach Aṯiratu by the seashore, Aṯiratu like her slain son Yam is closely affiliated with the sea. She fears they have come to kill the rest of her sons, the other gods, but they sit down together and her anger subsides when she sees the gifts he has brought her.
Aṯiratu orders a banquet with the abundance of the sea but Baal is leery of the power of Aṯiratu, lest she should take revenge for the killing of Yam. Anat encourages him telling him to get close with her and he will have an eternal kingdom. Eventually Aṯiratu consents to support him in his bid for a palace.
She convinces the reluctant El to let Baal have a palace which Kothar-wa-Khasis builds for him. The palace has no windows because Baal fears Yam will return from the dead and come for him. But after conquering many cities and towns Baal builds up enough confidence that he blows windows out in the palace with thunderbolts proclaiming himself the greatest of all the gods. He announces Mot, the god of death will kill his enemies for him, and he sends an invitation to Mot inviting him to a banquet.
Mot sends word back that he hungers only for human flesh and blood and inviting him to feast on anything less is an insult. He threatens to break Baal into little pieces so he can eat him. Baal, afraid of Mot, promises to be his eternal slave, temporarily appeasing him. Secretly Baal tells El he is in danger of losing his kingdom to Mot.
Eventually, advised by the sun goddess Shamash, Baal fakes his own death to escape Mots wrath. He sacrifices a young boy and a heifer to Mot, dressing the young boy in his robes and leaving him on the bank of the river of the dead to be found by the other gods. He himself hides in the bowels of the earth beneath the two mountains that frame the entrance to the underworld.
Two gods find Baals body double down by the river and carry the news back to El and Anat who go into mourning for him. El goes around in sackcloth, shaves his beard and indulges in self-flagellation. Anat and the sun goddess bury the body double on Mount Zephon and Anat slaughters large numbers of oxen, sheep, goats, and asses as a memorial. Attar the brother of Athtart, associated by scholars with the morning star, attempts to seat himself in Baals throne but just as El had always suspected he is too weak and small.
The text next picks up as Anat searches the underworld for the shade of Baal. She demands Mot restore him to her, but Mot mocks her, telling her when he found the body by the riverside he simply ate it. Anat knowing full well she has buried the body continues to search but does a slow burn till she erupts on Mot killing him and turning him into mincemeat in the process, which she feeds to the birds.
She goes back and tells El she has killed Mot. El has a premonition Baal is still alive and sure enough Baal returns. In a short time, as the god of death is wont to do, Mot rises from the dead and complains to Baal about the treatment he has received at the hands of Anat. Baal ends up banishing Mot but tells him if he grows hungry he may eat the servants of Baal. This does not placate Mot and the two gods finally fight on the top of Mount Zephon.
They fight till they are both exhausted and the sun goddess appears telling Mot it is useless for him to fight with Baal because Baal is now favored by El. If he continues to fight El himself will overthrow Mots throne. This scares Mot and he declares Baal king.
By the time Jack was fourteen he’d spent most of the last four years of his adolescence one door down from what would come to be known as the Amityville Horror. He was more than acquainted with all those involved. There were stories but by then he’d been interacting with things no man, let alone child is ever supposed to see. It was all perfectly normal. Since he was old enough to remember the darkness was never far behind him. In his late twenties, after being convicted of a felony for his attempt at whistle blowing with Geraldo Rivera, he finds himself surrounded by mobsters and a notorious outlaw motorcycle gang rooted deeply in the occult. He is the right-hand man of a wildly aggressive Long Island strip club impresario. There in the strip clubs across Sunrise Highway from Babylon town hall he finds himself hopelessly in love with a girl who could be Lilith herself. The darkness had finally caught up to him…Buy his book now to begin a journey from which there is no turning back.
Those Who Would Arouse Leviathan by Jack Heart, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
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Jack Heart's Conversations From The Porch

Jack Heart's Conversations From The Porch

Jack Heart's Conversations From The Porch