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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Catching the Wish (CTW2) » CTW2: Puzzles
[Puzzle Trail] Mystes www.mystes.com
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Citizen Kane
Unfettered


Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 486
Location: Aglaura, NJ

[Spec] Someone with good software overlay Sarah's "Hope" picture as a fliter over the mercury picture? Probably nothing, but... worth a shot.
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 8:31 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

CK, I'm working on that and a few others as soon as and if I get anything concrete I will be posting. But I must admit, I'm not the best for this.

Go back to page 2 and take a look at my updated post.

Sylvia

Also look at my post here

PostPosted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 8:52 pm
Last edited by Sylvia on Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:57 am; edited 2 times in total
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

In Search of Our Astral Home

I know this is long but bear with me.

Last night in chat Drizjr found the following at http://www.farvardyn.com/mithras7.php

Quote:

In the legend of the bull-slayer the Raven has the role of the messenger who comes to entrust Mithras with his mission. He takes the place, as it were, of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, and bears as his emblem the caduceus, the magic staff of Hermes-Mercury. On the Ostia a cup has been added, and although in the Santa Prisca version the Raven in the procession of the seven grades has unfortunately been lost, beside its place can still be read the words: Nama Coracibus tutela Mercurii, 'Hail to the Ravens under the protection of Mercury'. The Raven symbolises the air and at the initiation he must have undergone certain rituals relating to this element, rituals which are called corvina or coracina sacra and which qualify the initiate as a ieros koras or 'divine Raven'. We sometimes find this adjective sanctus used in connection with other grades too, but particularly with the Pater, the Father or head of the community. When attending a service, the Raven wears a raven mask (Fig. 5.).


Notice:
We are the Ravens (aka Mercury) messengers of the gods. Our emblem is the caduecus (a winged staff entwined by twin serpents) Google it for those who don't know. We symbolize the air element and for initiation we must undergo rituals related to air (reason why we're looking to the stars). Once we qualify we will be know as ieros koras (divine raven). Note the relationship to IEROS TOPOS (Divine or scared place). When we find this scared place (in the air - sky - heavens) we will qualify as ieros koras and will have found our home. This may be as far as we go or maybe next we will have to go through the next grade of rituals to become a Nymphus, the Bride symbolizing the water element.

Now we go back to our original email messages which is now on the home page of mystes.com:
Quote:

Olbios among earth-bound mortals is he who has seen these things.
But whoever is uninitiated in the rites, whoever takes no part in them, will never get
a share of those sorts of things, once they die, down below in the dank realms of mist.

DEO SOLI INVICTO MYTRAE SAECVLARI

On this day we mark the turning point, the end of the Bright, the beginning of the Dark.
We call the Ravens to their home.
We are Mystai.


Taking DEO SOLI INVICTO MYTRAE we get and I know this is not literally correct but it's the way I'm going to state it:
The invincible sun god Mithra

And when we add SAECVLARI which can be anagrammed to ('s air cave) we get:
The invincible sun god Mithra's air cave.

So let's get to work finding our home.

Here's a place that may prove to be very helpful but I'm to tired tonight to exam it.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mithras/

Sylvia

PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 3:19 am
Last edited by Sylvia on Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:00 am; edited 2 times in total
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kimer
Unfettered

Joined: 01 Mar 2003
Posts: 400
Location: South of Oz

there is some great info here on the Hercules Cluster and I've tried all of the major stars and also Rho Hercules which is the P (well greek P) star in the cluster to no avail but maybe someone else will catch something.... ergh! thinking... thinking... thinking.... Bang Head http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_%28constellation%29
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:30 am
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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial

Going back to Ophiuchus (BTW Spanish: Ofiuco) the constellation:


http://www.geocities.com/astrologyconstellations/ophiuchus.htm
Ophiuchus in the Planetary Zodiac:
As Ophiuchus is a Sun-sign it is also a member of the Planetary Zodiac and the Lunar Zodiac, i.e. as well as the Sun, the planets and the Moon can frequently be seen against the stars of Ophiuchus, from the view point of the Earth.

The planet Pluto could be found in Ophiuchus until the end of 2003, after which it passed into Serpens Cauda, the Serpent's Tail. The Centaur object, the minor planetoid Chiron, was visible against the stars of Ophiuchus until November 2001, after which it passed over the border into Sagittarius. Venus and Mercury can be found in Ophiuchus for a time each year. Shown right is an example of a star chart for Pluto in Ophiuchus in June 1999.

So we have both Mercury and Venus (Morning Stars) and the last of the recognized plantets: Pluto.
[spec]
Pluto being the Ruler of the Underworld, or ... the Dark?
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 5:15 pm
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pagrashtak
Veteran


Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 78

Sylvia wrote:
And when we add SAECVLARI which can be anagrammed to ('s air cave) we get:
The invincible sun god Mithra's air cave.

Wait, what happened to the L?

PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 5:57 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

My Mistake

My mistake. Pagrashtak, shows you what happens at two o'clock in the morning when I should be in bed.

But for lack of time to day let's just say Mithra's lair cave or h### could be anything. I'm just speculating. Throwing things out there. I was tired then and still am. I'm going to give this puzzle a rest for a couple of days then maybe I can look at it with a clearer mind. In the mean time, use what you can, throw out what doesn't make sense and find a solution.

PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 6:20 pm
Last edited by Sylvia on Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:02 am; edited 2 times in total
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Nahs1221
Boot

Joined: 19 Jun 2006
Posts: 11

Just a little tidbit on a type of Lily relating to Mercury:

Quote:

Its specific name, Majalis, or Maialis, signifies 'that which belongs to May,' and the old astrological books place the plant under the dominion of Mercury, since Maia, the daughter of Atlas, was the mother of Mercury or Hermes.


Nahs.

PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 6:22 pm
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pagrashtak
Veteran


Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 78

It looks like SAECVLARI isn't an anagram, at least not any more than the rest of the phrase. From this site about Roman inscriptions:
Quote:
1599 altar; 1822 near Zodiac Sculpture in Mithraeum; Black Gate
DEO • SOLI INVICTO MYTRAE SAECVLARI LITORIVS PACATIANVS B F COS PRO SE ET SVIS V S L M

1600 altar; 1822 in W end of Mithraeum; Black Gate; dated AD252
primary: DEO secondary: DEO SOLI • INVICTO MITRAE SAECVLARI PVBL PROCVLINVS > PRO SE ET PROCVLO FIL SVO VSLM • DD NN GALLO ET VOLVSINO COS


PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:28 pm
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drizjr
Unfictologist


Joined: 28 Nov 2003
Posts: 1700

If Sarah's blog picture is a hint as to what to do to the mercury page; would someone with photoshop, please, consider this.
The picture below, was on the web as American hope lily.
If you can do whatever color magic it takes to make that look like the colors on Sarah's lily, then reverse that process for the image from mystes mercury page , I'd really appreciate it.

If it turns out that the white rectangle in the middle of the m13p.jpg becomes a text box in a day or so.....oh, evil puzzle makers Twisted Evil
hope lily.jpg
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hope lily.jpg


PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:43 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

Cave or No Cave

Just to add a note:

If in this game. we are to go through the different stages (rituals) of initiation into the higher grades then in the next grade you will encounter the cave. But I'm saying no more because maybe we are only meant to be Ravens and need to concentrate on reflections, especially our own or in the game reflections of the soul. OR what mask do you wear? Understand??

PostPosted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:35 am
Last edited by Sylvia on Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:03 am; edited 2 times in total
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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial

drizjr wrote:

If it turns out that the white rectangle in the middle of the m13p.jpg becomes a text box in a day or so.....oh, evil puzzle makers Twisted Evil

When are Puzzle makers ever NOT evil? Laughing
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A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead


PostPosted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:07 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

Messing around with the m13p image

I took the m13p image copied it, reversed it, overlapped them and matched them up with the single dot about 2/3 of the way down on the original and here is what I come up with. What does it mean, if anything? I don't know.

original:


the altered one:


PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:13 pm
Last edited by Sylvia on Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:04 am; edited 3 times in total
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

I think I may have a partial solution to the mystes current puzzle trail.
But, first I'm going to talk about how we got to the current trail.

How we found mystes.com:

First, through Dale's automatic writing puzzle, which we managed to piece together as a poem
and then finally solved by Ilikepucks, we got "mystes of avalon" the first piece to the overall puzzle.

Then as Max Steele points out:
Quote:
There is a quite popular book by Marion Zimmer Bradley titled: "Mists of Avalon".

This book just happens to be one of the books read last year by the Pine Barrens Poets.

And as Dashcat pointed out:
Quote:
Mystes is also a word used for "Initiates" and as gb pointed out we were all Initiates in the first game. Avalon refers back to Glastonbury where Richard White was the last Abbott of Glastonbury and was also Dale's Professor White.


Next, Sarah gives us a puzzle in a dream she had Variety is the spice of dead librarians with
subtle hints about characters in different books also found on the Pine Barrens Poets' page.

This was solved by Drizjr with help from others and yielded mystes.

Ironically, Driz had already found mystes.com by trial and error using the "mystes of avalon" clue
but when she solved Sarah's dream it confirmed her find.

So now we go to mystes.com and on the first page was an image of an inverted pentagram
between two pillars "M" and appeared to have a slight reflection of itself just below it. To read about it and follow the trail go here.

To be brief here is what happened:
Six, Chippy and Spuds used the clues from mystes.com leading to mystes.com/plato which lead to mystes.com/trismegistus.

At this point Grumpyboy got from mystes.com/trismegistus to mystes.com/hiramabif which contained a picture of a temple and the word initiatesone hidden underneath.

At this point everyone was stumped and as suggested by Max Steele some of us sent email to initiatesoneSPLATmystes.com .
On June 20 we finally got a response. On June 21 mystes.com was updated with the message from the emails. And a new trail begins.
Quote:

Olbios among earth-bound mortals is he who has seen these things.
But whoever is uninitiated in the rites, whoever takes no part in them, will never get
a share of those sorts of things, once they die, down below in the dank realms of mist.
DEO SOLI INVICTO MYTRAE SAECVLARI
On this day we mark the turning point, the end of the Bright, the beginning of the Dark.
We call the Ravens to their home.
We are Mystai.


Using this Enaxor found the next page mystes.com/corax . Corax being the scientific (Latin) name for Ravens.

Quote:

Olbios among earth-bound mortals is he who has seen these things.
But whoever is uninitiated in the rites, whoever takes no part in them, will never get
a share of those sorts of things, once they die, down below in the dank realms of mist.
DEO SOLI INVICTO MYTRAE SAECVLARI
On this day we mark the turning point, the end of the Bright, the beginning of the Dark.
We call the Ravens to their home.
Welcome, Ravens.
You have found one way to proceed, a path by which worth can be proven and knowledge imparted. Listen now as we call the names of those who have gone before to mark the way:
the Indian, the Foal, the Net, the Hunter, the Shield, the Triangle, the Octant, the Compass, the Serpent Bearer, the Arrow
Those who have both desire and knowledge shall proceed.


Notice where it says, Welcome, Ravens. I guess that means we found our home.

Notice the constellations are given by their English names. By using their traditional names the first letters give
IEROS TOPOS meaning divine place as IEROS KORAS means divine Raven.

At this point Goldranger started entering the traditional names on the mystes.com site and got mystes.com/ophiuchus
which gave us another puzzle. Though it had a mistake on the second line where an 8 should have been an 18, the puzzle was solved to say:

Quote:
A death by hand of a saint, from the heavens he fell.


This in turn lead to mystes.com/mercury with an image that has a rectangular area in the center and once again we are stumped.

At first I thought this might be the constellation Hercules due to the words some of us were able to make out on the image which
seemed to be constellations themselves and since we had already used Ophiuchus, I just assumed that it must be Hercules as this
constellation lies just above Ophiuchus. And the fact that the image is saved as m13p so I thought it just has to be that group of stars.
But and to keep a long story short I believe the image is of Ophiuchus and surrounding constellations and the retangle in the center
is the star Sabik. Look at this image of Ophiuchus found by Drizjr

Now notice that Ophiuchus is the serpent bearer and the emblem for the ravens is the caduecus (a winged staff entwined by twin serpents/dragons)
and it is also a symbol for Mercury the messenger of the gods. And I think I read somewhere, that the two dragons, one represents fire the other water.
The dragons could be in relations to the ones on synthasia.com and all the dreams about fire. (We need water to put out the fire.) And it just so
happens that this is the emblem that the medical profession uses which reminded me of the black doctor of the pines mentioned in one of Dale's journal entries.

Now notice on the mystes.com/corax page it says:

Quote:

You have found one way to proceed, a path by which worth can be proven and knowledge imparted. Listen now as we call the names of those who have gone before to mark the way:


It just so happens that Sabik means preceding one or shows the way.

Well anyway, since we are at another stump in the middle of the road I sent and email to sabikSPLATmystes.com
Quote:

I have received the message, now show me the way

And just to be safe I sent the same message to initiatestwoSPLATmystes.com.

And since the last time the only way around the stump was to simply wait on another clue from the Puppet Masters, I think that's what we have to do now.
And in Dale's latest journal entry he mentions "all of this will soon be gone" again. Didn't this happen just before the mystes.com page changed last time.
Well I believe it's getting ready to change again but probably not until after the AGP finale.
Let's hope that all our research trying to find the solution to that mind boggling image will pay off and we will know the answer when and if the site does change.

There is a lot more to be said about this but I'm too tired and my little brain has way outdone itself just getting this far.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:12 pm
Last edited by Sylvia on Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:06 am; edited 2 times in total
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Rogi Ocnorb
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 4266
Location: Where the cheese is free.

Very good summary and spec, Sylvia.
Just to throw this reminder out there:
While we could very well be looking for a certain nebula, cloud or complex, we shouldn't put too much stock in the naming of the picture.
On http://www.mystes.com/hiramabif.html the image was named m19.jpg

That said, I see some similarities between this image and the dark center of the Pipe Nebula but that's in the southern part of Ophiuchus (the opposite of Hercules, but not far from Sabik).
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:04 am
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