Monarchs and Prophets… By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

May 20, 2011 Whitney Farmer 24 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A.. She has an M.B.A, and is doing spring cleaning.

I’ve always felt at home with the Irish, but haven’t known what to do with Iranians. This precursor to prejudice has been nicely reinforced as news reports continue to show that crossing paths with the regime of Ahmadinejad is tantamount to crossing swords.   To my surprise, I learned while researching the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland that both these nations – Éireann and Iran – are branches from the same family tree.

For the first time since Irish Independence and the establishment of the Irish Republic in January 1922, a British monarch has set foot, eye, ear, and breath on the shores of the Isle of Destiny. Though some tried to kill to prevent this healing, the water has been crossed by an unexpected bridge. It hasn’t been the first time, however, that a breach has been mended between two tribes with the same blood.

The prophet Jeremiah left Jerusalem as it fell under the strength of King Nebuchadnezzar in B.C. 587. Profane history or legends state that the stone or ‘pillow’ that Jacob had rested on after wrestling an angel for his blessing from God traveled with the diaspora. Jeremiah was accompanied in his exile into Egypt by his loyal scribe Baruch and the two daughters of King Zedekiah of the Southern Tribes of Judah. These daughters, Terai (or Tephi) and Scotia, carried with them the right of succession of the bloodline of David. This destiny had escaped the Babylonian leaders who had not understood that this could be granted to the female heirs of this royal line. Nebuchadnezzar had mistakenly believed that he had ended this dynasty as he ordered the sons of King Zedekiah killed before that deposed king’s eyes, then ordering him blinded so that his last remembered vision was the death and end of his seed.

As was appropriate for royal protocol, Terai and Scotia were adopted by Pharaoh as they arrived as refugees in Egypt. After this time, Jeremiah and the daughters disappeared into history. It has been assumed by some scholars that they lived out their lives in exile and obscurity, but there is no authentic record of their deaths.  The history of Ireland and Scotland tell of another end.

Irish legends state that somewhere between B.C. 582 and 563, a white haired prophet named Oolam Fodlha with a companion named Berach was said to have arrived in the region of Ulster. Two sisters traveled with them who were said to be daughters of the pharaoh of Egypt. One, Tamar Terai, married the king of their new land. He was a descendent of the Scythians – descendants of the tribe of Dan who settled in what would become modern day Iran. The Scythians had migrated far to that island kingdom and  had been rulers there for generations. Terai became Queen, crowned in a ceremony that incorporated a stone that white haired prophet’s strange group had brought from Pharaoh’s kingdom. One of the lands that she now ruled became named after her younger sister: Scotia. The island which was the seat of authority came to be known after her name: Tara. In fiction, Scarlet O’Hara’s Irish immigrant father would name his plantation after this Irish soil in “Gone with the Wind.”

The red banded Hand of Zerah, the Harp of David, the Lion of Judah, and the Star of David that are all used as symbols in Irish and British heraldry come from these stories, or legends.  If true, the marriage of Terai of the tribe of Judah to Eochaidh King of Ireland – descendent of the Scythian tribe of Dan of the lost northern tribes of Israel – reunited the two branches of Jacob. This would have been a fulfillment of prophecy.

In the midst of these words that might be accounts but could be legends and might be myths, there is a stumbling block that defies explanation and incites conflict. A stumbling block, or a stone. The Stone of Scone, to be specific.

The Stone of Scone sits under the throne of a monarch in Westminster Abbey as they are crowned. This same Stone was originally captured by King Edward I, Longshanks of ‘Braveheart’ infamy, from Scotland. The Gaelic king Fergus had brought it from the kingdom of Tara as he colonized the land that would become known as Scotia. Edward Longshanks used the coronation ceremony including the Stone as a symbol of subjugation under the English crown. Elizabeth II was crowned while enthroned over it. She – as all English monarchs beginning with Longshanks – symbolically desecrated the symbol of Irish self-rule on her first day on the job. The Stone wasn’t returned peacefully to Scotland till 1996.  As an icon, its symbolic power is astonishing.  If the words and legends and myths surrounding it are true, it had been the pillow of Jacob as he was blessed by God, carried by the hands of the prophet Jeremiah to an unknown land where the bloodlines of the tribes of Israel and Judah would be reunited in a royal marriage. On such stones are the foundations of wars built…

But now Elizabeth, old and ruler only as a symbol, has traveled in danger to a land that could hate her. She has done something as a symbol which has shown how powerful a symbol can be: She has been humble and been a peacemaker on behalf of a people that she represents.  The Bloody Sunday of January 30 1972 (the second in Irish history), sung of by U2, happened under her watch. As the British monarch, she lowered her head at the memorial of Irish resistance to imperialism. It was impressive and healing.

Liz has given me what a monarch should: an example of how I should act. She confronted threats and prejudice and did what was right without being forced. She is choosing to be a peacemaker, and is showing it’s never too late to try. In learning of the tribal tie between Éireann and Iran, I remembered a shopkeeper in Koreatown. He was from Iran, and he would always greet me with, “Hello, my dear.” One New Year’s Eve, there was a power outage near Wilshire and Western where I lived. All the streets were pitch black, except for one solitary door. The shopkeeper had lit a candle to help guide people in. I came in safely and got what I needed to make oyster stew. The shopkeeper and I started the new year out right together.

Quote of the Blog, from ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’,  lyrics by U2:”The trench is dug within our hearts…”