THE COSMIC DEEP BLUE: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELESTIAL WATER WORLD SPHERE ACROSS CULTURES

Abstract

The aquatic world plays an essential part in ecosystems. On the earth it provides the fertilizing, vital basis for life. Devastating giant flooding, however, has been destructive and fatal for certain cultures. Archaic people identified the realm of the water world as the primeval and lasting cosmic ocean, which surrounds and intersperses the world. The respective land (“the earth”) and the celestial bodies emerged out of the cosmic sea, both swimming there as the first “aquatics”. People identified different species of the celestial fauna and flora as having counterparts in the earthly water world, with the moon, single stars and asterisms, open star clusters, zodiacal star patterns, shooting stars, the Milky Way, and the cosmological structure. Ancient cultures, especially those whose subsistence was based mainly on fishing and navigation, often correlated their time reckonings using lunar cycles and star phases with the rhythms of the water realm (e.g. tides, seasonality etc.) and of certain aquatics. Fishing aids (nets, hooks, and spears), boots and ships as well as navigation aids were recognized in certain star patterns. Some celestial aquatics, e.g. certain fish asterisms, were important as navigation aids for seafaring cultures. Finally, their archaic cosmovisions are linked to the cosmic water world: There are widespread ideas about a giant water animal out of which the world was created or about the aquatic monster in the middle of the abyss in the cosmic ocean, causing earthquakes and tsunamis. The combat between an avian and an aquatic illustrates the antagonism and polarity of the upper world and the lower world, closely linked to the earth’s water cycle. An example par excellence for a cosmic water plant is the water lily or lotus. The present work sums up some important aspects of the topic, based on selected examples and a comparative methodology.