Observatory
We now have only one point of history left to clarify. Loki, therefore, builds a house equipped with four doors from which he can look in all directions. Based on this story, if he was already considered a bringer of civilization for the invention of the net and fire, he even became the first architect.
But the house from which one can look in all directions is none other than the “tabernaculum” of the augur. It is located right in the center of the area indicated by the poet using the curved stick. We recall that even Attius Naevius, having divided the vineyard into four parts, is positioned precisely in the center and waits to see in which sector the birds show him the largest branch or, according to the other version, the lost pig. The “tabernaculum” exclusively marks the point from which, in the course of the prediction, one can look in all directions without losing sight of the subdivision into sectors. It is a loosely woven hut, continued today in the Italian tavern as a pavilion with a pergola.
In Christian worship, the tabernacle, in operation and visible everywhere, serves as a container closed with grilles, as a custody of the hosts. The “Lares compitales” derive their name from their temple, the “compitum”. We have exhaustive descriptions of these singular constructions, called in Greek “hut, granary, nest”.
The “compitum” is located precisely at the crossroads. It is open on four sides: this means that it consists simply of four arched openings on which a roof rests, although not necessarily. They can also have the shape of a tower. The most surprising element in this construction is that from inside, the path branches off in four directions as if that were precisely the center. At this point, the connection with the “tabernaculum” of the “augurium” comes naturally, and in particular with the point from which, for the contemplating priest, the four quadrants, based on the flight of birds, are divided into good and evil of heaven. Precisely this perforated shape of the building highlighted to the point that it is designated “compitum foratus” (“pertusa”) drilled/with a hole indicates that it is an observatory.
The location on the crossroads as the center of a subdivision of the land into four bordering squares does not necessarily derive from the conception of the boundary stone; this delimits at most the boundary line of two and only rarely of four neighbors. What interests us is that with this airy building open on all sides, we are again faced with the grid subdivision, typical of the rolls and figures carried across fertile fields as a symbol of prosperity and blessing. The sign of fortune remains a sign of good, just like the pawn among the Hittites, and we gladly pass over the fact that the subdivision of the fields, at least for one of the neighbors, can sometimes also fall on an unfavorable point. After all, even the blackest chimney sweep, removed from its black environment like a crow, brings luck no less than the white steed.
In the early Middle Ages, the preachers directed their words against the ineradicable “auguria”. Three of these are reported by Burcardo of Worms: the first consists of the custom of sitting on the night of New Year’s Day on the roof of one’s house, with a sword belted at one’s side, to try to interpret the future; the second consists in sitting, for the same purpose, at a crossroads, on a bull skin.
As can be seen, in both cases, we are talking about an observation point. Throughout the Middle Ages, the crossroads, or the crossroads, was the favorite point for all the dark arts of witchcraft. This preference is linked exclusively to the possibility of looking up from that point in all directions of the sky.
It remains to be clarified why the sword had to be girded on the first night of the year. As we have seen, it is a symbol of fertility; therefore, it is not clear how it can be used in the fight against ghosts. Here too, as with the bull’s skin, we are dealing with ritual symbols that are now misunderstood or no longer understood in their original meaning. Let us not forget that according to the Germanic conception, the sword is the head of Heimdal.
At this point, the third form of oracle mentioned by Burcardo is introduced: cooking. It is the preparation of bread with a human shape, which in the Nordic countries flanked or replaced the clay dolls and still survives today in the gingerbread men.
Over time we ended up forgetting that the figures of bread originally served for the oracle as the runes extracted – from the ark to “try fate” – but this did not mean they lost their magical and lucky charm. It is, however, worth noting that all three forms of an oracle, against which the bishops railed, can ultimately be traced back to the Lares and Saturn’s “sigillaria”.
However, to return to what was said about the observation point, it is not extraneous to the Nordic myth either. This places Asgard at the center of the world, where the gods dwell.
There is a place there called Hlidskalf, and when the universal father sits on the throne, he can embrace the whole world with his gaze and grasp the action of every man.
However, not everyone can set foot in this place.
It so happened one day that Freyr climbed the Hlidskalf and looked around the world. And when he turned northward, he saw on a farm a great house, from which came a woman, and air and sea shone with his hair. But his daring to sit on the sacred seat fell upon him as an act of vengeance, and he sadly departed.
We can therefore understand the second part of the Hittite story of Hupasija starting from the Hlidskalf. He is simply the ‘man’, and this illuminates his task all at once. The god Inar takes him with him into his home but forbids him to look out the window during his absence. Hupasijas disobeys him, and despite his ban, he looks outside of him and sees his wife and children. Here, too, the house is located at the point from which the whole world can be looked: in fact, there is no mention that the wife and children had set out to look for their respective husbands and fathers. The god—Inar being a twin god it doesn’t matter whether he is god or goddess—foresaw things before they came true and forbade looking out. Even this extraordinary house must therefore have windows on all sides. Since Inar is, in any case, the god of play, it can be deduced that already in the Hittite world, the central field, Paradise, was taken as an occasion for legendary tales.
Nor could it have been otherwise in Celtic legend. The cave into which, as we have seen, the head of Bran the Blessed leads the seven faithful, who remain there for 80 years living in a paradisiacal way, has a door at each cardinal point; only one of these doors is closed; and the moment they force it the whole dream vanishes, as it happens for Hupasijas. Even in the life of Santa Barbara, there is an episode that confirms that the four-door building of this paradise is indeed the observation point. This, moreover, does not surprise us in the least, given that the Christian legend constitutes a largely unexplored treasure of very ancient conceptions. The more complex it is to understand, the more it is possible to draw lessons from it.
Barbara is locked up by her father Dioscuro – then a twin, like Inar – in a strange environment where two windows have been inserted. After destroying her father’s idols – which are pulverized, like playing pieces in Arthur’s hand – Barbara has three windows inserted in the room instead of the two before. This refers to the three windows related to the number three divinities in many places, but this hypothesis does not fully satisfy us. It is more probable that the third window constitutes, as in the story of Bran the Blessed, the opening in the direction of the missing cardinal point since it is assumed that the room is also equipped with a door.
Looking closely, this is the usual interpretation, given that this very tower, from which one could peer in all directions, made Barbara the Saint of the artillerymen: in fact, she was related to the tower of the city, from which it was possible to shoot in all directions.
Looking closely, this is the usual interpretation, given that this very tower, from which one could peer in all directions, made Barbara the Saint of the artillerymen: in fact, she was related to the tower of the city, from which it was possible to shoot in all directions.
The “head” also remained in the legend of Barbara. She appears only after her death but surprisingly lies on the street, separated from her body, and speaks of her. It is usual for the narrator to say her head speaks. But, in addition to this, another strange and surprising reason also appears in the story of the Saint. To protect Barbara from her paternal wrath, a rock of hers would have split, welcomed her inside himself, and rolled with her on her up a mountain, where two shepherds grazed the sheep. However, one of them would have revealed her presence, and as punishment for her, he would have been turned into stone and her sheep into grasshoppers.
It is not easy to understand that someone has invented such an improbable thing if not because it is conditioned in some way by tradition. Regarding the stones, there is nothing else left to add; the grasshoppers, on the other hand, constitute an all too lively transposition into the fairytale world of jumping stones, that is, pawns and the first teller of this story may be presumed to have been particularly proud of this subtlety.
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