The Ladder to Heaven
by John Watson

"Ladder to Heaven" A work inspired by the ascetic work of St. John of Sinai, known as St. John Climacus. This is a portable icon dating from either the 12th or 13th century.

It seems to be clearly indicated that at one point in human History, the Gods, angels etc. traveled freely between Earth and Heaven and clearly that interaction between the Divine and the Humans was common place...

Then something drastic, cataclysmic happened and the link physically broke, or was broken by the Gods for whatever reason, and mankind was literally left on his own to fend for himself. We will detail this theme more in out summary. This page will present excerpts and links on themes and legends dealing specifically with references to the ladder. 

The Icons of St. Catherine's Monastery
In Egypt's Sinai
John Watson

SOURCE

"The Ladder of Divine Ascent" A Russian Ladder to Heaven Saint John Climacus (ca. 525–600) Lestnitsa Manuscript Russia, 16th century NYPL, Spencer Collection

Excerpts

Introduction

"Most of us are familiar with the story of Jacob’s ladder, wherein the son of Isaac dreamt he saw a ladder extending to heaven. The passage in question has long formed a crux for students of the Old Testament: “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”"

"The passage describing Jacob’s ladder appears as if out of thin air, with little regard for context or a commonsense understanding of the natural world. It is as if the story’s original background had been lost to the redactors of the Old Testament. Whatever the circumstances behind the decision to include the story in its present minimalist form, it is evident that the tradition of Jacob’s ladder was deemed too important to be omitted entirely."

"That the Biblical account of Jacob’s ladder contains ideas of great antiquity and popularity has long been noted.2 Indeed, the ladder-to-heaven motif can be found on all inhabited continents (F52 in Thompson’s Index). The present study will offer a crosscultural analysis of the ladder-to-heaven and discuss its relationship to other well-known mythological motifs. At the conclusion of our survey, an attempt will be made to reconstruct the extraordinary events that inspired the ladder-to-heaven complex, thereby allowing us to better understand its original historical context."

When the sky was near.

"A seemingly universal belief holds that in primeval times heaven was located fairly close to earth—so close, in fact, that traffic between the two was commonplace. It was in such times, according to the testimony of sacred traditions around the world, that a luminous ladder spanned the sky thereby allowing for ready access to the celestial kingdom. By one calamity or another, the ladder-to-heaven eventually collapsed and the sky was uplifted to its present height, often amidst cataclysmic circumstances..."

Below are short snippits to illustrate the point, the detailed accounts are in the PDF File Here...

“In almost all the series of native traditions there, you will find accounts of a time when there was direct intercourse between the gods or spirits that live in the sky, and men. That intercourse is always said to have been cut off by some human error;...

Similar beliefs are conspicuous in South Africa. Witness the following traditions collected by Breutz:... 

The ladder-to-heaven motif is also attested in Aboriginal Australia...

Chinese lore recalls a time when a ladder spanned heaven, thereby allowing regular trafficking between the two worlds. Yuan Ke summarized the various traditions as follows:

“In those days there was a ladder between heaven and earth. The gods and fairies and witches all came and went easily between the two places.”

That the “gods and fairies and witches” employed the ladder-to-heaven in their ascents and descents recalls the Biblical report that “the angels of God” made a practice of ascending and descending Jacob’s ladder.

The ladder-to-heaven motif is particularly prominent in the New World. Thus, the pioneering anthropologist Franz Boas observed that “the scaling of heaven is a saga which occurs very often in America.”...

Traditions of primeval ascents to heaven along ladders or chains of arrows are common in South America as well...

The various references to the "World Tree" describe it also as a "ladder" by which Heaven can be reached and further describe it as being in the center of the World. Cross reference to the description of Mount Meru or Sumeru and you will see a consistent pattern emerge.

The most important thing that we have discovered so far is that something so big and catastrophic happened that left a lasting impression on virtually all the races on the planet. In an attempt to pick up the pieces, and tell the story, the remnants of survivors told the story from their perspective and with time differences appear, yet the core belief remains... 

"So tragic and lamentable were the spectacular events remembered as the “departure of the gods” that ancient peoples everywhere sought to recreate or re-experience the Eden-like conditions that prevailed during the Golden Age."

 

"LADDER TO HEAVEN" © by Hal Empie "It may have been a source of comfort to the primitive people to see this sort of mountain!  An easy way to the 'happy hunting ground'!"

"Sumerian texts allude to a sacred “bond”—Duranki—stretching between heaven (An) and earth (Ki). The fact that the Sumerian word dur signifies “umbilical cord” as well as “bond” is only to be expected in light of the traditions from Indonesia and Mesoamerica. In a Sumerian account of the Creation, the god Enlil resolves to separate heaven from earth by establishing the axis mundi at Duranki. Significantly, the cosmic site associated with this seminal event was known as “Where Flesh Came Forth”:

“Samas, you have opened the bolts of the doors of heaven. You have ascended the staircase of pure lapis lazuli" 

"The idea that the ancient sun-god was formerly associated with a ladder-like structure is surprisingly widespread. Of the structure depicted in figure one, the anthropologist Robert Zingg quotes a native Huichol informant to the effect that it had reference to an ancient myth and “represented the ladder on which the Sun-father came out of the sea when he was born.”"

The current Sun, needless to say, does not regularly appear in conjunction with a luminous staircase. Hence the glaring anomaly presented by such widespread traditions, attested in the New World and Old World alike.

In order to understand the traditions of a ladder associated with the ancient sun-god it is instructive to consider the evidence from rock art. Witness the image represented in figure two, from prehistoric California: Here a ladder-like form distends downwards from a so-called sun image. Inasmuch as this image has no obvious reference in the current skies, scholars might be inclined to overlook its possible relevance to the mythological motif under discussion here. Yet once consider the possibility, however remote, that this image commemorates a former configuration in the sky—one centered on the ancient sun-god—and it is obvious that it immediately clarifies the universal belief in a ladder-to-heaven. For if such a configuration was once prominent in the sky, can there be any doubt but that traditions of a ladder leading to the sun would be sure to follow?
.

"If the axis mundi was indeed a plasma-based phenomenon, it stands to reason that it might be compared to a living structure or “flesh,” since plasmas often produce selfgenerated and evolving forms (Irving Langmuir chose the word plasma to describe such electro-magnetic phenomena because they closely imitated organic forms and processes).The cosmic umbilicus uniting heaven and earth, in this sense, was very much a “living rope,” as reported by the Maya and other aboriginal peoples.

The World Tree, compared to the “flesh of the gods” by the scribes of ancient Mesopotamia, finds a striking analogue in the recent discovery of the unique (and characteristic) behavior of plasma-generated structures (Peratt’s figure 28). As the “steps” or “arms” of the ladder curl upwards the result is a tree-like image. Thus it is that countless mythical images, long since considered fantastic in nature and insusceptible to scientific analysis, find immediate clarification courtesy of Peratt’s elegant hypothesis. It is no exaggeration to say that a revolution is at hand in our ability to understand, model,and reconstruct the recent history of the solar system."

The existence of an actual physical bridge or gateway between Heaven and Earth is someting we at Pegasus do not deny, but we have found strong evedence that this connection is a Star Gate, connected by a wormhole... which we have found numerous references to especially in regards to the circle with the dark hole in the center. We believe what ancients are describing is a series of steps entering the portal. The above high lighted statement of a "living rope" and the "lightning rope" mentioned in his text can just as easily describe a wormhole.

Ev Cochrane, 
PO Box 1092, Ames IA, 50014. USA, 
Fax at +1 (515) 292-2603, 
email; ev@aeonJournal.com 
Web: http://www.maverickscience.com 

Jacob's Ladder by William Blake

The reference clearly indicates the recurring theme in old religious texts of the coming and going of angels between heaven and earth as if it was a normal activity. And Jacob does then declare the place to be the gate of heaven. Though this is a dream, it never the less illustrates the mind set of the day.