Dagon-Jah removes his roll-away and opens it. He takes from it his masterpiece, a tiny, clay two-sided disk, and hands it to Daedalus. Now it is Dagon-Jah who could laugh at the astonishment on Daedalus's face but he is too gratified to laugh. Inside him well up feelings of joy.
Daedalus does not speak for nearly an hour. He studies one side of the disk and then the other. He traces the spiral on one side with his finger and then he tries the other side. He runs his finger across the raised images. He has never seen anything like this, not in Crete, not in Egypt, and not in Byblos. How could it have been done? And what of the hardness? How had it got so hard? All these thoughts run through his mind as he inspects the disk. Finally, he speaks.
"Did you create this?"
"Yes."
"How was it done?"
"I molded the clay and drew the spirals. I etched the images into the clay and made the impressions. Then, I made a hot fire inside a house of bricks and got it so hot the wood became burning coals. I made a stand to hold the disk inside the fire and I placed the disk on the stand. I baked it until I thought it might burn up, but it did not. I pulled it out of the fire, and there it is as you see it. Then, I destroyed the brick oven."
"Dagon-Jah, who are you?" asks Daedalus.
"I am a pottery apprentice with my master at Phaistos. Some of the pottery here was made by my hands. Much of the pottery painted with spirals was made by me."
The Masterpiece of Dagon-Jah, Sides 1 and 2
"Only an apprentice," says Daedalus in disbelief. "You are a master." Dagon-Jah feels the wonderful warmth of recognition. "I hope you will stay with me a few days," says Daedalus. Dagon-Jah is overwhelmed with happiness. To stay with the famous inventor Daedalus is greater even than seeing the pharaoh. He gratefully accepts.
"I want to solve this maze on your masterpiece," says Daedalus. "At the end of tomorrow if I have not solved it, will you show me how?" Dagon-Jah agrees, filled with joy that the great inventor has seen his intention of creating a maze puzzle.
"Good. You may examine my collections while I solve your maze puzzle." The kindred souls settle in to enjoy their time together, Daedalus with the maze and Dagon-Jah with the wonderful inventions.
One day passes and still Daedalus studies the disk but cannot solve the puzzle. He begins at the center of the spiral on one side and tries to go to the other side, but is cut off from the outside spirals. He cannot move from the center of one side of the disk to the center of the other side without being blocked. He cannot escape the maze. Must I put on wings and fly out, he thinks to himself? Finally, he asks Dagon-Jah to show him the solution, but before he does he calls his son Icarus in to view the solution.
Dagon-Jah takes Daedalus out to central court where there is plenty of sand. He clears a small area of shells and rocks, then smoothes it over and pours water onto it. Very carefully he stamps one side of the disk into the sand, then turns it over and stamps the other side, overlapping them at the matching line segments. Daedalus can see right away the shape of the Figure 8 shield. Now, he sees the solution to the maze.
The solution to Dagon-Jah's maze puzzle
He starts in the center of the spiral on side 1 and with his finger traces the spiral around and around until he crosses over from spiral 4 of side 1 to spiral 5 of side 2, then goes around and around until he reaches the center of side 2. Then, he traces the spiral back until he crosses over at spiral 4 of side 2 to spiral 5 of side 1 and goes around and around until he returns to the center of side 1. It was there all the time, so simple it was impossible to see.
Dagon-Jah tells Daedalus, "This is the Disk of the World. It is the Masterpiece of Jah, who created it. Here is the world of Earth," says Dagon-Jah, pointing to side 2 of the disk. "These are the five levels," he says, pointing to the five spirals. "Here are all the people and all the things of Jah. Everything Jah creates is holy; the people, the children, the priests, the guards, the trees, the plants, the grass, the crabs, the fish, the vultures, the eagles, the flowers, the thistles, the ivy leaves, the rams, the bull's horns, the bull's hooves, the pigs, the dogs, the wildcats, even the wildcat's roar is holy." Dagon-Jah points to the pictographs on the disk, identifying each one for Daedalus.
"Everything that is not alive in Jah's world is holy too; the pillars, the saws, the spindles, the water, the temples, the mazes, the pyramids, the oxen yokes, the boats, the caves, the hoes, the axes, the caskets, the pottery, the shells, the roads, even the forks in the roads, even the hats the people wear are holy." Dagon-Jah points to these images on the disk as he explains them to Daedalus.
"Here is the world of Heaven. All the shining beings in all the levels worship Jah and Re-Ah." Dagon-Jah points to side 1 of the disk and the 5 spirals. "Everything in Heaven is the same as in Earth but has gone to be with Jah and has become stars in the sky."
Daedalus cannot speak. Nothing is so stunning as this. The simplicity of it is remarkable to him. He cannot imagine how he missed it. Then, Dagon-Jah shows him how to draw the lines from identical image to identical image to see the images hidden behind the spirals. Now they come out to surprise and delight Daedalus. As Dagon-Jah draws the lines to connect the images, he tells a story about each image. He stamps the disk into the sand over and over to tell the story and to draw the lines.
The Goddess protected by the shields
"This is the story of Jah," he tells Daedalus. He shows Daedalus how to connect the shields to see the goddess Re-Ah is a star in the sky when her son Jah is born. She comes as a star to announce the birth of her son. All around her are the shields.
"Jah was born in a cave," he tells Daedalus, pointing to the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. He shows Daedalus how to connect with lines the guardians to see the cave of Re-Ah where Jah was born, so lowly a birth for so great a god.
The cave where Jah was born
He shows Daedalus how to connect the pyramids to see the pyramid of Jah. "This is Jah's home in the sky," he says.
Jah's pyramid the sky
Jah's pyramid with door
He shows Daedalus how to connect the golden fleeces to see the pyramid of Jah with the trap door at the bottom. "Jah stays in his pyramid for twenty star years." Dagon-Jah points to the pyramid image with twenty dots in the center. "Then, Jah leaves his pyramid through the door at the bottom and goes to his mother. See her just beneath the door?" He points to the mother with the baby on her lap.
"Jah sails his sky ship to his mother in the dark sky. His ship is Argos. Jah has many sailors." Dagon-Jah shows Daedalus how to connect the fruits to reveal the image of Jah's ship, the Argos. "These are the oars the sailors use to row Jah's ship," says Dagon-Jah, pointing to the tiny oars.
Jah's ship, the Argo
"When Jah holds the two worlds in his arms, they are Jah's shield." He points to the Figure 8 shield of the two sides joined together. "But when Jah leaves his pyramid through the door to go to his mother, they are two worlds. But Jah's mother sews them together while Jah is away." He shows Daedalus how to connect with lines the four images of Jah's mother to see her hold the worlds together.
Jah's Mother sews the worlds together
The tools Jah uses to create the world
Jah's tools
Jah's toys and playthings
Jah's toys and playthings
Jah's toys and playthings
Finally, Daedalus speaks. "Jah told you this?"
"Yes."
"He told you to make this model of the world?"
"Yes. The world is the Masterpiece of Jah."
Daedalus says nothing, only studies the impressions in the sand. He surrounds them with guards so that no one will walk on them and destroy them. For Daedalus, nothing remains of the world but these ideas expressed by Dagon-Jah's masterpiece. He can only imagine what joy to have Jah's voice giving these instructions to create this miniature of the world.
"What else did Jah say?" asks Daedalus.
"Jah told me he will come to the Earth and become one of us," says Dagon-Jah.
"When will Jah come?" asks Daedalus.
"Soon, before twenty star years." Dagon-Jah points to the image of the little boy wearing the Golden Fleece. "This is Jah when he comes to be one of us. He will be born in a hut this time and not a cave. His mother will sew the hut together for him." Jah shows Daedalus how to draw the lines to see the hut where Jah will be born on Earth.
The Birth Hut of Ja-Sus
"Then, Re-Ah will be a bright star in the sky again to tell of the birth of her son so they will follow her and protect him as before. Jah will have a boat when he is born and he will have sailors as before. He will have his tools to build things, as before. He will go to Egypt and see the pyramid. There is a door to a room at the bottom, built for Jah when he comes. He will go see it."
"What will Jah's name be when he is born again?" asks Daedalus.
"He name will be Ja-sus. It means Jah is born."
"What will Ja-sus do when he comes?" asks Daedalus.
"He will come to Earth to tell about his father in the sky, who is Jah. He will be as a son to Jah like a little boy but he will also be Jah. He will tell how Jah loves us and how we must try to love him if we are to live with him. He will teach this but not everyone will listen because they create their own gods who lead them into fighting each other. But this is why Jah is far away, so he does not mind being ignored by his people. His mother loves him, and I love him, so he is happy. He comes down to us to find more people to love him. He wants to be friends with more people."
"I want to take you to the King," says Daedalus. "I will make a time for you to show him your masterpiece." These are the words Dagon-Jah yearns to hear. No longer to be an apprentice but a master! Thanks be to Jah!
Page 1 - A Ghost Tour | Light of Recognition
Page 2 - Deus Madre | Authentic Metaphor | Bury the Evidence
Dagon-Jah the Potter
Page 3 - Reality Bytes | The Cut Ups
Page 4 - The Time is Coming | Non Deus Non Madre
Gary Gravestone | Dagon-Jah's Creation
Page 5 - The Roommate | LoverGirl | The Two-Way Door
Grace Courage | Gladys Kurtz | Jimmy Dobbs
The Al Capone Syndrome
Page 6 - Outside Forces | Good and Evil - God 'N Devil
The FoundDeads | The Stalker
Page 7 - The Dinner Date | Concealed Personas | Some New Girls
Ghost Real Estate | Dagon-Jah at Knossos
Page 8 - The Bucket | Stage Call | A Trip to St. Aug
Elevated Consciousness | The Black Madonna
Page 9 - Planes of Reality
Page 10 - The Masterpiece of Dagon-Jah
Page 11 - The Praetorian Guards | MetaphorMan
The Lurid Appeal | The Indian in the old Fort
Deus Madre Redux | Something About Her
Something About Him | The Bored Players
Page 12 - The Arc in the Covenant | The Man
Page 13 - The Artists Round | The Good, the Bad, and the Curious
Sudden Death
Part 14 - Death and Remembrance | Ur Nammu, the Created God
Part 15 - Worlds Apart | You Don't Know What It's Like
Spinning the Sword | A Destiny Foretold
Invoking the Archangel
Part 16 - Some Go Forward and Some Go Back | Going Home
Back Travel | The Miracle of Birth
The Fire that does not Consume
Copyright Notice - Disk of the World - Text and images copyrighted March 21, 1993-2023, Claire Grace Watson, B.A., M.S.T., U.S. Copyright and under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, All rights reserved.
Copyright Notice - "The Shadow Breakers" Text and images copyrighted March 21, 1993-2023, Claire Grace Watson, B.A., M.S.T., U.S. Copyright and under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, All rights reserved. Additional to these copyrights is TXu 692-656, Isis and Osiris, The Phaistos Disk Deciphered, June 26, 1995, above images included, and The Shadow Breakers, including twenty-two of these images, copyright 2005. All solution images, pictograph tracings, disk tracings, photos of Phaistos and Heraklion harbor, Crete by Claire Grace Watson. No part of this web page may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.