Enki, Enkidu and Gilgamesh

The Gilgamesh Epos is one of the most interesting and earliest examples of prosa, describing a central situation in the development of humanity. We know the story from all religious traditions all over the world, but this is a story in itself where the other are part of larger context. It's interesting that it's written in a form as it could have been written today, with many details we not always know what to do with, but with time I have found out that they are there for a purpose.

It has again been an interesting visit, I have found new references to other literature, and a depth I hadn't understood although Rudolf Steiner described it crisp and clear in his text, sometimes it takes time to open the eyes fully and see what is written.

I have looked at the story many times, but this time I was lead to it through Enki and his son, Ningizzida. Enki is the old serpent, Lucifer, and, as we can see from this picture, his body is shown as a snake. [Serpents, Dragons and Fish Men.] Ningizzida's symbol is the same as the god Hermes have.

Gilgamesh dreams that Enkidu would fall down from heaven as a stone. Enkidu comes from the astral world, the Star World, so the symbology of a Stone in Heaven is accurate. It reminds about the Green Jewel that fell out of the crown of Lucifer, the Grail. It also remind about the many myths where the wisdom where cast down to humanity or where it was stolen from the gods and given to humanity.

Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and had all knowledge as he had developed the etheric body fully, Buddhi. He was the full result of the second deed of Christ, but he hadn't developed the astral body, Manas, the third deed of Christ. As he hadn't developed the astral he lacked goodness, he was a hard master.

"These initiates of the Sun mysteries were called the godly Manu — and when I speak about the godly Manu I do not speak about one person only. There were different kinds of godly Manus.

In the central Sun mysteries, the godly Manu was the priest. He became the priest at the moment one of the high Hierarchical beings entered into him and spoke through his voice and through his movements. They were recognized in the Greek times as the half-gods.

When one thinks of Gilgamesh, who was called, according to the papers that have been found, one-third man and two-thirds god, that means that only one third of him, of what he did, was coming out of his own ego. Two thirds of what he was able to do came through him from the Sun beings."

”The account begins: Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third human, is the greatest king on earth and the strongest super-human that ever existed;”

The Lion is the symbol of Gilgamesh, and this reminds of the Lion-man avatar of Vishnu, and Enkidu reminds of Shiva, who stops the wild Lion-man. Sophia's masculine side, Yaldabaoth, who was helped by Sabaoth, was also a wild lion connected to the development of the etheric. The Lion symbolizes the Etheric Sun, the Second Logos, Like Christ, Krishna, Vishnu, Serapis, Tefnut, Mitraic Kronos, Hercules, Theseus, Jason.

Gilgamesh reminds about Marduk, an idea to look at in the future. Gilgamesh is the avatar of Michael and Marduk is Michael. See the History of Michael.

The gods sent Enkidu, a creation of Enki, with atavistic clairvoyance so he could give Gilgamesh and mankind the wisdom of the gods. That Ningizzida is said to be the son of Enki means that he is the developed Enki, the purified astral, the Jewel of Lucifer, and Enkidu is the purified astral. Enkidu is shown as a cow-man, a son of Shiva, he brings the astral body, the tamed animal body. [Bull.]

With the Bull and Lion we only lack the Eagle and it's the Father, Adam, and we know him in the Gilgamesh Epos as Utnapishtim who Gilgamesh seeks to learn the secret of immortality.

The ether-being Gilgamesh don't know death, the etheric body is pure energy and the physical is only a thin layer. Death is the separation of the etheric and astral body. So when Gilgamesh receives the astral body he becomes human and for the first time do he experience death when Enkidu dies. The death of Enkidu may symbolize the death of Gilgamesh, after loosing his astral body. His travel to Utnapishtim, to learn the secret of immortality, could be after his death. That Utnapishtim stand in the assembly of the gods means that he have the astral body necessary to talk with the gods, and he don't loose it, it don't die from him.

"I have been looking at you,
but your appearance is not strange--you are like me!
You yourself are not different--you are like me!
My mind was resolved to fight with you,
(but instead?) my arm lies useless over you.
Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods,
and have found life!"
...

Gilgamesh is comparable to Cain, while Enkidu corresponds to Seth, the third and later son of Adam, an avatar of Abel. Cain is the masculine in the development and Abel/Seth the feminine in the development.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu travels to fight the demon Umbaba, who symbolizes the Ahrimanic. But Enkidu fears for his life so he doesn't want to fight Umbaba. It's comparable to Ram fighting the demon or Moses being saved by Zipporah when he is nearly killed by the Luciferic demon.

Gilgamesh fights Enkidu to force him to fight Umbaba, as they have to work together to win, he needs the will of the astral Enkidu to win. This corresponds to the internal fight with the Luciferic in himself, he tames the wild animal. Gilgamesh wins easily over Enkidu, as the real fight between them was done on the old Moon.

Enkidu accepts Gilgamesh superiority and becomes a trustworthy companion, the etheric and the astral works together, and together they kill Umbaba, Enkidu, the astral animal will power, force Gilgamesh to do the killing, the etheric couldn't have done it on his own:

The fury suddenly died and Enkidu addressed Gilgamesh: “There is not another like you in the world . . . Enlil has given you the kingship, for your head is elevated above all other men.

Gilgamesh have the sixteen petaled lotus on his arm, he acts now out of wisdom, out of Manas, just as Moses and Krishna, they are immune to the Luciferic. Gilgamesh is now the Manas bearer, the Manu.

This looks like an Egyptian illustration of the Gilgamesh Epos, with Shamhat-Enkido/Eabani as Isis-Djamet to the left and Gilgamesh as Horus to the right, fighting the Heavenly Bull Set or Typhon, the Ahrimanic, in the middle:

Gilgamesh as Flute Player

As Gilgamesh prays to the gods of the Netherworld he names the gifts he is burying with Enkidu for his journey in the afterlife, of which one was a flute. The sun god is Shamash.

He displayed to the Sun God a flute of carnelian
for Dumuzi, the shepherd beloved of Ishtar:
May Dumuzi, the shepherd beloved of Ishtar, accept this,
may he welcome my friend and walk by his side!

Krishna is known as the flute player in the joyful time of Vrindavan, but when he left Vrindavan I believe he also left the flute behind, he was now going to be a warrior removing the old dark powers at the start of Kali Yuga, the Dark Age.

Just as Enkidu leaves Gilgamesh but stays within him, so is Radha left in Vrindavan when Krishna leaves, but she stays as part of him. It's the same story as Moses and Zipporah, she has to stay in Midian while he leads the Jews out of Egypt, but she is in him, protecting him against the Serpent. This again reminds of Bes protecting Horus against the Serpent.

Avatars, Giants and Dragons

”The picture I want to call up in your minds is that behind the whole evolutionary and historical process, through the millennia up to our own times, spiritual Beings, spiritual Individualities, stand as guides and leaders behind all human evolution and human happenings and that in the greatest, most significant events in history, this or that human being appears with his whole soul, his whole being, as an instrument of spiritual Individualities standing and working with set purpose behind him.”

These beings are the highest developed persons within the human wave, and already on the old Moon were they selected for their part in the development of Earth. We know them as the Three Logoi, the twelve Bodhisattvas, the Giants, the Seven Sages, and as Christian Saints.

”We must realise that these Beings cannot take direct hold of the physical facts of our existence because, on account of the present stage of their development, they cannot incarnate in a physical Body which draws its constituents from the physical world. If, therefore, they desire to work within our physical world, they must make use of the physical human being — of his deeds, but also of his intellect, his powers of understanding.

We find the influence and penetration of such Beings of the higher world the more clearly in evidence the farther back we go in the ages of the evolution of humanity.

But it must not be imagined that this downpouring of forces and activities from the higher worlds into the physical world through human beings has ever ceased; it continues even into our own time.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Occult History, Lecture 2.

This is the definition of Avatars or Bodhisattvas and their helpers, who are guiding the human history through the recurring crises caused by the powers of resistance. This is what is meant when Gilgamesh and Enkido is known as Giants, their etheric body was much larger than the physical body they acted through. It's often shown through wearing a fish-coat hinting that they have origin in the etheric world. In some cultures they are also called Dragons.

In Karmic Relationships, The New Age of Michael Steiner says that Alexander the Great is the hand of Michael on earth, like Krishna describe Arjunas mission. This is also the reason for the power of Gilgamesh, he is Michael on earth:

Such a man as Alexander the Great regarded himself as none other than a Missionary of Michael, an instrument of Michael. He could think in no other way than this: Michael is acting on the earth, and I am the instrument through which he acts. Such was the conception, and this gave him the strength of will in deed and action. Nor did a thinker in that time think differently than thus, that Michael was working in him and giving him the thoughts.

But Enlil said, "Enkidu shall die, Gilgamesh shall not die." The glorious Shamash answered the hero Enlil, "At my command they killed the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba, and now Enkidu dies though innocent?" but Enlil was enraged at Shamash: "You have gone down to them every day like one of themselves, therefore you speak!"'

Gilgamesh Points into the Far Future

The Gilgamesh epic is a remarkable myth, describing the esoteric path as it is until our time and written as it was written for us. Gilgamesh are developing the Etheric, the Intellectual Soul and Buddhi. This means that he is the main force behind the second epoch, the Egypto-Chaldean, the fourth epoch, the Greco-Latin epoch, and the Sixth epoch.

”By way of introduction, I want to draw your attention to how one of the most important happenings of the Egypto-Chaldean epoch is presented to us in a significant myth, and how this event is reflected, but at a lower stage, in the Greco-Latin epoch.” ~Rudolf Steiner: Occult History, Lecture 1.

The myth describes the development until the initiation, which first became possible later.

”Gilgamish, then, was a personality who, owing to his particular condition of soul, participated in the most progressive spiritual elements and spiritual factors of the age — in everything that threw light far into the future and at that time could be attained only if such a personality went through a kind of initiation.

Through the imparting of something that can be received only through a certain initiation, Gilgamish was to be enabled to provide a kind of leaven for the Babylonian culture. He had to experience an initiation up to a certain degree.”

”Now Gilgamish was a personality who had many incarnations behind him and may therefore be called an “old” soul within the evolution of humanity … The souls who came down early have therefore more incarnations behind them in earth-evolution than those who came down later; hence we can call these latter, in contrast to the former, “younger” souls — souls who have taken less into themselves…

In the case of Gilgamish, the Being who was to reveal himself through him, and who could do so only by leading him presently to a kind of initiation, kept a guiding hand upon him from the outset and set him at the place where he came to recognise his own position in the history of the world…

The whole nature of an old soul will enable it early in life to grasp not only the essential element, the essential factor, in the existing culture, but also that which strikes into it as a new impulse, opening up a wide vista into the future.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Occult History, Lecture 2.

Gilgamesh as Yaldabaoth and Vishnu didnt know their role in cosmos, but through Enkidu, Sabaoth and Shiva, respectively, they find out who they are.

What is meant by "far into the future" or "a new impulse, opening up a wide vista into the future"? Steiner calls Alexander the Great, who are Gilgamesh incarnated in the physical, for the being who have done most for the development of the human I, so he points at least into the sixth epoch as he was the leading being of the second period, but I believe he points into the New Jupiter æon.

Steiner describes Alexander and Gilgamesh with "the man who has achieved more than all others for the culture of personality." It means that Gilgamesh is absolutely central in the development on Earth. Socrates, who dies a few years before Alexander is born, seems in many ways to fulfill the same role as Alexander. Cratylus, who was a friend of Socrates, incarnates again as Aristotle. Socrates educates the personality through his revolutionary teaching on thinking, something that hadn't been possible earlier in history. Even conventional science have understood that it didn't exist before. Socrates was also a warrior who fought the Sophists who advocated pure egotism where all means was allowed to further ones own interest. They educated the children of the rich, the politicians, and that was why he had to die, and because he had another job to handle.

Steiner have described how two beings are pointing back and forth in time, but I haven't seen it discussed. Steiner in the Gospel of Mark: Lecture 4.

Buddha's ellipse goes back to the middle of the old Moon period and Socrates ellipse goes forward to the middle of the new Jupiter period:

"Thus there is one stream of human development that goes as far as the Buddha and ends with him; and there is another stream that begins with Socrates and goes on into the distant future. Socrates and the Buddha stand next to one another like the nuclei of two comets, if I may be allowed such an image. In the case of the Buddha, the light-filled comet's tail encircles the nucleus and points far back into the indeterminate perspectives of the past; in the case of Socrates the comet's tail of light encircles the nucleus in the same way but points far, afar into the indeterminate distances of the future. Two diverging comets going in succession in opposite directions whose nuclei shine at the same time . . . Half a millennium passes, and something like a uniting of these two streams comes into being through Christ Jesus."

Shamhat as an emanation of Sophia and Shamash of Michael

Enkidu is an ego-less being until he learns the ways of Gilgamesh, but with highly developed spiritual faculties as also Abel has, but Gilgamesh and Cain hadn't.Enkidu may be the most Luciferic being on Earth where Gilgamesh may be the most Ahrimanic, together they create the equilibrium. Gilgamesh as an etheric being is from the old Sun, where Enkidu as an astral being is from the old Moon, and therefore he is an æon younger than Gilgamesh.

”Eabani is a kind of human being who, in comparison with Gilgamish, seems to be of an inferior nature, for we are told that he was clothed in the skins of animals, was covered with hair, was like a wild man. Nevertheless in his wild nature there was divine Inspiration, ancient clairvoyance, clairvoyant knowledge, clairvoyant perception.
…
Eabani is depicted as being clothed in skins of animals. This is an indication of his wild nature; but because of this very wildness he is still endowed with ancient clairvoyance on the one hand, and on the other hand he is a young soul who has lived through far, far fewer incarnations than other souls who have reached a high level of development.

Thus Gilgamish represents a being who was ready for initiation but was not able to attain it, for the journey to the West is the journey to an initiation that was not carried through to the end.”

There is a much overlooked aspect of a very important woman who teaches Enkidu to become human, Shamhat, she creates an ego within him, gives him the apple of Paradise, gives him wisdom, and I believe she is the I AM entering him. She is the helper of the sun god Shamash, Hebrew Shemesh the solar angel Michael. Following Steiner is Michael the giver of the I AM.

Enkidu is the astral body she gives him of her etheric body, now he becomes human: "She divided her clothing [etheric body] in two and with the one-half she clothed him and with the other herself, and holding his hand she led him like a child to the sheepfolds, into the shepherds’ tents."

Shamhat meets Enkidu at the watering-hole [Moses meets Zipporah at the well] where all the wild animals gather; she offers herself to him and he submits, instantly losing his strength and wildness, but he gains understanding and knowledge.

Shamhat is the High Priestess of Ishtar/Inanna and she is the avatar of the goddess containing Ishtar’s I AM. We also know the goddess as Isis Sophia. Her I AM enters into the astral or Manas of Enkidu, and in reality, into humankind as this is world fate. No mere human could transform an Avatar.

Osiris is the seed of Manas spread out into the cosmos we had to develop. Zipporah, the wife of Moses, saved his life when she gave him Manas, made him the Manas bearer, the Manu. This story is central in all religions and esoteric traditions.

Enkidu’s task is to give Earth the Heavenly Wisdom, Sophia, to help man form the future. He is the archetypal Seer or Priest, as the son of Adam, Seth, the last born. Enkidu is a young soul as his body description shows. There is a very interesting detail. We are back in the early times where the physical bodies is very primitive. It states that the higher being Enkidu built his own body!

”As it were through supersensible events, presented to us in the pictures of the myth I outlined to you yesterday, a friend was placed at the side of Gilgamish, a friend whose barbarity and uncivilised nature are indicated by the statement that his outer form was half animal.

It is said that this friend had skins of animals on his body, which means that he was still covered with hair like the men of primeval times, that his soul was so young that it built for itself a body which showed the human being still in a savage state.

Thus the more advanced Gilgamish had in Eabani a man at his side who, because of his young soul and the bodily Organisation conditioned by it, still possessed ancient clairvoyance. This friend was given to Gilgamish in order that he might find his own bearings in life.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Occult History, Lecture 2.

Here we see Enkidu placed as a helper for Gilgamesh, where the Luciferic Enkidu should bring equilibrium to the Ahrimanic Gilgamesh, helping him to purify humanity. The fully developed personality of Gilgamesh need the wisdom of Lucifer:

”His name, moreover, implies a special relation with Enki, Lord of Earth and Wisdom, and may be translated “Enki's knees” or “Enki’s creation.” ”

Enkidu represents the transformed wisdom of Enki, the purified Luciferic wisdom, also known as Abel and Seth, the feminine line.

These two are born again and again up through history, as the bringer of Wisdom and of Personality, as leaders of the two cultural streams, where Enkidu leads the Aristotelian stream of the mind and Gilgamesh the Platonic stream of the heart.

”In Gilgamish and Eabani, whose respective gifts differed so greatly, we see the same kind of co-operation transformed into the spiritual. In the historical facts of ancient times we find this at every turn.

And it is important to understand it, for only then do we realise why it is that myths and sagas so often tell of friends who have to achieve something together — friends who are generally as unlike in their nature of soul as were Gilgamish and Eabani.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Occult History, Lecture 2.

Steiner says that Gilgamesh is the most important being in the development of the human Personality or "I" and it should give an indication about the powers Steiner is talking about. Personality points to the transformation of the Etheric body, of Intellectual Soul and of Buddhi, and this points to the Son, to the Second Logos.

Gilgamesh points back to the old Sun where Enkidu points back to the old Moon, and this indicates that Gilgamesh is an æon older than Enkidu, that Gilgamesh is the teacher of Enkidu and that it also was the case on the old Moon, although it was more like a fight on the old Moon. Steiner have also told about this:

”And on the very same day when a man, merely in order that his name might go down to posterity, throws the burning brand into the sanctuary of Ephesus, there is born the man who has achieved more than all others for the culture of personality — and on the very soil where the culture of were personality was meant to be overcome.

Herostratus flings the burning torch on the day when Alexander the Great is born — the man who is all personality! !

Alexander the Great stands there as the shadow-image of Gilgamish. A profound truth lies behind this. In the Greco-Latin epoch, Alexander the Great stands there as the shadow image of Gilgamish, as a projection of the spiritual on to the physical plane. And Eabani, projected on to the physical plane, is Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great.” ~Rudolf Steiner: Occult History, Lecture 1.

Gilgamesh and Enkido are avatars, first with Alexander the Great and Aristotle are the body so developed that they can incarnate.

Enki, Enkidu and Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh as Flute Player

Avatars, Giants and Dragons

Gilgamesh Points into the Far Future

Shamhat as an emanation of Sophia and Shamash of Michael

Literature