Tag: writing

2025 Day 15: Day of Mercury

2025-0115W-0001 Austin, TX

Day 15 of 2025 is a Wednesday, from Woden’s Day in Old English (Wōdnesdæg). The Romance languages are closer to the Latin Dies Mercurii (Mercredi, Mercoledì, Miércoles). The Romans adopted much of Greek mythology and their god Mercury was inspired by the Greek god Hermes. In Greek tradition around the year 975 BCE, Wednesday was called Heméra Hermú (Ημέρα Ερμή), meaning Day of Hermes. The Greeks adopted the seven-day week and linked their own gods to the planetary system inherited from the Babylonians. In the year 1975 BCE, the deity associated with the planet Mercury by the Babylonians was called Nabu. Nabu was the god of writing, wisdom, and scribes. Below are ChatGPT-generated images of these different deities.

Proto-Nabu (4975 BCE): Draped in simple woven garments, Proto-Nabu reflects early Mesopotamian reverence for stars, crops, and tools of understanding, bridging the natural and mystical worlds.
Nabu (1975 BCE): Nabu, the Babylonian god of wisdom and writing, holds his stylus and clay tablet, standing before a grand ziggurat that symbolizes the seat of divine knowledge.
Hermes (975 BCE): Hermes from Greek mythology during the Archaic period. He is shown as youthful and energetic, wearing a simple chiton, with early representations of his winged sandals and a caduceus, surrounded by symbols of trade and travel in a pastoral setting.
Mercury (25 CE): Mercury, the swift messenger of the gods, strides with winged sandals and caduceus in hand, a symbol of speed and eloquence in classical mythology.
Wodin (975 CE): Odin, the Germanic god of wisdom, war, and poetry, seated on his high throne, Hlidskjalf, with his ravens Huginn and Muninn, surrounded by the mystical Scandinavian landscape and the towering World Tree, Yggdrasil.

Seven thousand years ago, the Sumerians inhabited the southern Mesopotamia region. The year was 4975 BCE. Around this time, the Eridu Temple was celebrating its 500 year anniversary as the birthplace of organized religion in Mesopotamia. The temple was primarily dedicated to the deity Enki, the god of water, wisdom, and creation. The temple was carefully oriented along the cardinal directions, with the main entrance facing east towards the rising Sun.

The people who lived here during this time before the Sumerians are known as the Ubaid peoples. The Ubaid Period (c. 6500-4000 BCE) represents the formative stage of Mesopotamian civilization. These people developed irrigation agriculture, built temple structures, and practiced religious rituals. The created utilitarian, handcrafted pottery with geometric patterns printed in dark brown or black on light greenish or buff clay. Their pottery style was traded over a large area. They left no written records. Their villages were composed of rectangular, multi-room houses built from mudbrick. The houses had flat roofs and central courtyards. They used clay tokens shaped to represent various commodities. They made distinctive anthropomorphic figurines, usually female, with exaggerated features like elongated heads or prominent hips.

It is unclear whether or not the Ubaid people used a base-60 counting system. Their lack of writing makes it difficult to determine whether they or the Sumerians developed a base-60 system. With their clay tokens it seems quite obvious that they counted. As an agricultural community, knowing when to plant and harvest would be important. So, counting the number of moon cycles in a solar cycle would be known. There are 12 full moon cycles in one year. 12 is an important number in ancient and current cultures. Finger counting with three segments per finger and four fingers leads naturally to 12. Using 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 fingers of the other hand leads naturally to 5 times 12 equals 60. It seems very likely to me that the Ubaid people had at least a base 12 system, if not a base 12*5 system. This would lead naturally to dividing the day into 12 “hours”.

2025 Day 1: Five Year Anniversary of Waking up in a New Universe – RIP Buddy Ollie

2025-0101W-2020 Austin, TX

On the first day of 2020 I decided to try blogging daily beginning with https://surfingtheuniverse.com/2020/01/01/2020-day-1-seeing-is-believing-good-morning-new-universe/. I purposely chose that day to start. I felt a strong urge to do so. I also believed my chances of daily blogging were higher. Starting on a date well known for people trying to change their life and adopt new habits seemed strategic. I still believe in trusting instincts. It’s also important to take advantage of the new year to form new habits. Today, I noticed a very strong urge to restart blogging again, not necessarily daily, but consistently. Let’s see how things play out this time.

Today I definitely woke up in a new universe as well. My friend’s dog passed away last night. I sometimes called him Buddy Ollie. He was in my bathroom this morning until just an hour ago. I didn’t grow up with a pet and so never went through the death of a pet. I’m not including the eight aquariums that my Dad bought and filled with a mixture of fish. Counting the dead fish was a regular morning occurrence for the few weeks afterwards. Today felt strange. I tried to live my life as I normally would. In the background, my mind kept remembering there is a dead dog in my bathroom. His death seemed near the last few days and much closer yesterday. My friend and I were with him as he took his last few spaced out breaths. A couple hours later, the fireworks exploded in the night sky. They burst over the back fence as everyone celebrated the coming of the new year. The loud noises frightened my friend’s two puppies and their bodies trembled as we held them to calm them down.

Being with Buddy Ollie as he passed on reminded me of being with my Uncle when he was near death. I was with my Uncle a few minutes before he died. It was difficult to watch him struggle – he had requested a natural death at home. I left to walk around his house and when I returned, he had taken his last breath. For me, both deaths felt similar. My friend felt an energy move behind her shortly after her dog’s death. It seemed to move to one of her new puppies. While I still ponder the existence of a spirit world, I don’t imagine it being exclusive to humanity.