The Orphic Gold Tablets: Ancient Instructions to Escape Reincarnation?

[00:00:00]What's up, everybody, and welcome back to another video from Pink Tourmaline.

[00:00:04]Today, we are covering something that I learned about yesterday and that blew my mind yesterday, continues to blow my mind today, and I want to deep dive or and I shouldn't call it a super deep dive, but a interesting and reasonably deep dive, let's say, into what are the Orphic Gold Tablets. Not only what are they, when were they created, and what did they say?

[00:00:26]And most importantly, what does it tell us about the nature of reality? In particular, what does it tell us about the system that we're in? Meaning, are we indeed in a reincarnation trap, a soul trap? And I think this is one more indication that the ancients knew that we indeed were.

[00:00:42]It's pretty interesting because I had not heard of these. I did not even know that these ideas of memory wipes or being stuck in a cyclic existence was a part of the Greek culture or or Greek religion. So, maybe this isn't new for you, but this is very new for me.

[00:01:00]And the fact that when these were discovered or the time frame in which they were written in where they were presented, I mean, this to me is a big, big, big revelation. So, so glad to whoever it was that pointed this out in my live stream yesterday. Can't remember who it was, but shout out to you. You are a legend who brought this to my attention. So, without further ado, the Orphic Gold Tablets. So, let's start at the beginning. What are the Orphic Gold Tablets? So, the Orphic Gold Tablets, also called the Orphic lamellae, I'm not sure I'm pronouncing it right, Bacchic Gold Leaves, or simply Gold Leaves, were extremely thin pieces of gold foil inscribed in ancient Greek and placed in or near the graves of certain deceased people. They functioned as an afterlife guide. So, again, what do you do in the afterlife?

[00:01:46]A guide book for how to navigate that.

[00:01:49]A set of passwords or ritual declarations. What for exactly? We're going to get to that as well. Proof that the the had undergone a special special religious initiation and a reminder to preserve one's identity and memory after death.

[00:02:03]Now, this is very important because really, we're talking about something long ago that we're now talking about very prominently le- at least in this community, which is the memory wipe, and that's what keeps us stuck in this cyclic existence. And they're they're showing the importance of maintaining your memory and not allowing your memory to get wiped after each incarnation. I think that's very significant. Now, before we dive into more of the information, what do these look like? I pulled up some images just so you can see. So, this is an example of one of these Orphic gold tablets. Almost looks like a piece of foil with that Greek inscription that was then placed within the grave. Uh here's another one, and we have one more example, this one as well.

[00:02:43]So, these are some different examples of the Orphic gold tablets that have been recovered and preserved.

[00:02:49]Next, what did the tablets say specifically?

[00:02:53]So, it says the longest tablets tell the dead person where to go in the underworld, which source of water to avoid. That's important because that comes back to retaining your memory. What to say to supernatural guardians, aka the Archons, aka the entities. They greet you, right?

[00:03:09]Supernatural guardians.

[00:03:11]It's all connecting. And how to identify themselves to Persephone and other underworld powers. The British Museum describes its Petelia tablet as a Greek text guiding the owner to the underworld, warning the soul away from one spring and directing it toward the lake of memory. The spring, by the way, that it's warning you from is, I believe, called Lethe, or l e t h e.

[00:03:30]This is the spring or river of forgetfulness, memory wipe, okay?

[00:03:37]They have often been compared to miniature passports for the dead. That description is modern, but it captures their apparent purpose remarkably well, right? Passports for the dead cuz passports are something recent, obviously, uh well after these were created.

[00:03:51]Okay, when and where were they found? I said they were they were pretty old. So, they've been discovered across ancient Greek-speaking world, especially in southern Italy, Sicily, northern and central Greece, Crete, Macedonia, and nearby regions. The text span several centuries. Most are dated between 5th and 4th century BCE, right? So, if you go back to zero, just so you don't know what BC is, but I do, but yeah, that's 500 years before zero or 400 years, so in that range, quite long time ago.

[00:04:19]24, 2500 years ago.

[00:04:21]Though the exact date range exact range depends on which objects a scholar includes in this category. The Hipponion tablet around 400 BCE is among the earliest major examples. The Petelia tablet is generally dated around 3rd to 2nd century BCE. The tablets were therefore not produced by one workshop or one generation. They represent a religious tradition transmitted locally and adapted over a long period of time.

[00:04:47]What did they say? So, there's two things in particular. First, avoid the wrong water and drink from the water that gives you that preserves your memory, that gives you memory or what what not, right? Avoid the lake of forgetfulness. So, it says, "The best-known tablets describe two sources of water in the underworld, two paths."

[00:05:07]The deceased is warned not to approach or drink from the first spring, sometimes associated with a white or bright cypress. Doesn't that sound like a white light to you? Going towards the white light, you could describe it as a white cypress, which I believe is like a white flower.

[00:05:20]It's again connecting. What the heck?

[00:05:23]Instead, the soul must find the water flowing from the lake of memory, Mnemosyne, I don't know if that's how you pronounce it. Guardians stand beside it and question the traveler.

[00:05:33]Again, this all sounds very familiar to the narrative that we become accustomed to. The precise wording and directions vary among tablets. The recurring core is unmistakable. Avoid one water source, identify yourself correctly, request the water of memory.

[00:05:48]Look, as we're trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, what we can say has occurred, we've seen multiple times, not saying every time, but multiple times, is there's some sort of statement or wording or choice that is important in navigating or getting out, whether it's I revoke all contracts. We've heard people say that.

[00:06:15]Whether it's what what was it that what's his name and I'm blanking on his name right now? Uh Collier. Collier said, "I wish to go home."

[00:06:24]Okay, whatever whatever the particular wording is and maybe the point is is that the specific wording doesn't matter, but it's the intent behind the words that matter, which I could easily see, but there is something that we have to state from our core and we have to mean it is what seems to be the common thread.

[00:06:42]So, the precise wording and directions vary. The recurring core is unmistakable. Avoid one water source, identify yourself correctly, and request the water of memory.

[00:06:52]Don't go into that memory wipe.

[00:06:55]So, the second thing they said, you might you're supposed to say, "I am a child of Earth and starry heaven."

[00:07:01]And there's other versions, I guess they my race is heavenly. But, the point is is what they're saying is kind of like the thing that you say in meditations at the Monroe Institute, Robert Monroe, "I am more than my physical body." Again, what am I trying to do here? I'm trying to look for the overlaps. I'm trying to look for the connections, the correlations. And I think therein lies the truth and therein lies the really, really good stuff. So, this is similar to that. This reminds me of that. "I am a child of Earth and starry heaven." The soul acknowledges an earthly or disembodied origin while simultaneously claiming a celestial identity. Starry heaven is effectively saying, "I'm not merely an ordinary dead human. I possess divine ancestry and I I who I truly am.

[00:07:42]Knowing thy true self.

[00:07:44]Self-realization some might call that.

[00:07:47]The statement may have served as a ritual password learned during the initiation and repeated after death. It also expresses one of the central ideas normally associated with Orphic and related Bacchic traditions. The human being contains something divine, divine spark, Gnosticism.

[00:08:01]What the heck?

[00:08:03]That has become entangled in mortal existence. I need to learn more about Bacchic traditions.

[00:08:09]Because that sounds exactly like the same idea that is presented in Gnosticism.

[00:08:14]And really in this entire area that we're studying right now.

[00:08:18]Pretty wild.

[00:08:20]The importance of memory. Why was memory so important? In normal Greek mythology, the dead frequently lose their former identity and become shadowy inhabitants of Hades. These tablets envision a different possibility. The initiate must retain memory, awareness, and sacred knowledge.

[00:08:34]And the contrast appears to be forgetfulness means loss of identity, ordinary fate of the dead, and possibly return to the mortal cycle, cyclic existence.

[00:08:43]Reincarnation. That's described That's how it's what it's called in the Tibetan Book of the Dead over and over, cyclic existence.

[00:08:49]Memory, preservation of consciousness, recognition of divine ancestry, and access to a privileged destination.

[00:08:55]Well, that might not even be the right way to say it, privileged destination. It's the destination that we should have the authority and freedom to go to. Just waking up and realizing that we have that choice and we have that freedom.

[00:09:10]Are these indeed instructions for escaping cyclic existence, for escaping the reincarnation trap?

[00:09:17]So, some inscriptions contain language that sound remarkably like liberation from reincarnation. So, some inscriptions talk about escaping a painful cycle, being released by dying Dionysus, becoming divine rather than mortal.

[00:09:31]Right? Becoming mortal sounds like, "Hey, we're going back into reincarnation, retaining memory, avoiding forgetfulness, avoiding the memory wipe, right? Entering a sacred road taken by initiates, being reborn on the day of death. That makes an interpretation involving escape from repeated embodiment entirely plausible.

[00:09:48]A recent scholarly treatment explicitly discusses identity oblivion and possible escape from reincarnation in the tablets.

[00:09:58]So, there we have it, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:10:02]Can I say that this is definitively talking about exactly the topics that we've been covering on this channel, that this is truly perfectly beautifully merging with everything in Gnosticism and the reincarnation or soul trap. I can't say for sure, but there's a lot of overlaps that are pretty undeniable.

[00:10:23]And the fact that this comes from 24, 2500 years ago, 2300 years ago, whatever it may be, that's pretty astounding as well. Like I said, I never knew this stuff was a part of Greek mythology, this idea of avoiding the memory wipe. I used to read a lot of Greek mythology when I was a kid. It was I'm by no means an expert, maybe this is commonly well known and well regarded by Greek mythology scholars, but this was news to me.

[00:10:49]And it's just really astounding when I found this out for a a a number of reasons. Namely, it's specifically warning us from the memory wipe. It's giving specific instructions of what to say so that you don't get roped back into the reincarnation loop or the cyclic existence.

[00:11:12]I mean, and those two pieces right there, I feel are it's it's just pretty powerful.

[00:11:19]It's pretty powerful to me. As opposed to some other hackneyed narrative that we see that I think most of us are now realizing just doesn't really add up.

[00:11:27]Hey, you go to a eternal hell or this eternal blissful heaven or something like that. This is this great the carrot and the stick that is keeping us in line. No, it's not saying that. It's It's not about being deserving of this particular fate or that particular fate. It's about wait a minute, we're stuck in something and how do we get out? This is how we get out.

[00:11:49]Basically, retain what you have. Don't give it away. Don't let yourself be memory wiped.

[00:11:56]And the keys to freedom are right there.

[00:11:57]Wild stuff to me. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Does this blow you away like it did for me in terms of the time frame in which these were discovered?

[00:12:06]The instructions that are given, the overlaps with Gnosticism, the overlaps with the soul trap and the reincarnation trap and all these other things we've been studying. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. And let me know if you want me to dive deeper on this topic.

[00:12:16]Thank you guys so much for joining.

[00:12:18]We'll see you in the next video.

[00:12:20]Take it easy.