Alyattes and the Origins of Money
The power and history of the first coin.
Greetings Dear Reader,
I’ve been meditating on the idea of ‘money’. What is its history? Where does it come from? What is its inherent power? And where is the best place to get these answers?
King Alyattes
My standard practice whenever I want to connect with the Great Unconscious for answers is to use ‘Active Imagination’ (the Jungian technique for connecting with the invisible).
In this case, I was thinking of money and coin as very old ideas. These have evolved alongside our consciousness for too many centuries to count. Our species has seemingly been chasing money feverishly since, like, forever, in an attempt to gain security, freedom, power and happiness. But what is ‘money’ outside these human projections and stories?
Given the incomprehensible age of ‘money’, I thought it would be a practical approach to consider it as a ‘god’ (more on what I mean by this Here). So I asked the Unconscious to summon the ‘God of Money’ in whatever shape or form it wants to be.
And Someone appeared.
Summoning the King
In the light of my inner awareness a seemingly ancient Egyptian ‘priest’ showed up. I could make out some gold accessories and a long grey beard. I asked him to share his wisdom with me, but only after I gave him in tribute all my ideas and concepts about what money is. You might be familiar with some of them: it’s hard to come by, it only shows up through effort and pain, there’s not a lot of it, there’s never enough, etc.
Next thing I saw was an image of an Egyptian pyramid. Not the way they look nowadays, worn down by time, but coated in white and displaying the golden pyramidion capstone at their top. A great (and very pretty-looking) example is to be found in the videogame Assassin’s Creed:Origins, developed by Ubisoft and set in Egypt.
I didn’t know what any of this meant until I did some research about the history of coin and the first alloy used in its creation: a mix of gold and silver called ‘electrum’.
While Egypt didn’t exactly play a part in the origin of coins, I was more than a little surprised to discover where electrum was also used. You guessed it: the pyramids. Specifically the capstone known as a pyramidion that was placed right on top. You can see it featured in the screenshot above.
Very little knowledge survives on the purpose of a pyramidion, but its place at the top of a pyramid puts it very close to the heavens, the sun, or the realm of Ra. I could speculate on what this all means but this isn’t the article for that. One thing we can surely presume: it has value.
Remember the one-dollar American bill? What’s on it? A pyramid with a clearly defined capstone?
“Annuit Coeptis Novus Ordo Seclorum” can be translated as “I favour/approve of our Undertaking. The new order of the Ages”. Another way of putting it is that God/Providence approves of ‘our’ work in creating a new order/world. To call this a powerful prayer is an understatement. There are no limitations to those who believe that all their endeavours are favoured by God.
Anyway, this isn’t a conspiracy-theory/Illuminati interpretation, but I invite you to reflect on the power of words. And on the historical power of that one-dollar bill.
And what about my inner Egyptian priest? Well, history remembers the author of the first coin as ‘King Alyattes’ of Lydia, who reigned between c.635–685BC. Lydia was a kingdom during the Iron Age located in modern-day Turkey.
Perhaps Alyattes himself, who I mistook for an Egyptian priest, visited the inner chambers of my psyche, or the collective idea/memory of him? But let’s not dwell on unanswerable questions. Let’s get back to the coin.
Electrum
Electrum is a natural-occurring alloy of gold and silver. More on its properties and crystallography Here.
I find this incredibly fascinating. King Alyattes created the first coins out of electrum, out of the same alloy the ancient architects of the pyramids used for their capstones.
Gold and Silver. How often are these indicative of ‘currency’ and ‘money’? And not just that — these two minerals have a strong bond with the history of our species. Think about their associated meanings: sun and moon, masculine and feminine, the union of opposites. Ag and Au are above each other on the periodic table, making love to one another as woman and man.
The first coin is born out of a union of contrasts.
What if the Unconscious demands the birth of a new god? The god of money and coin, born Now but simultaneously as old as time. A god we have all been worshipping for millennia. We could fittingly name him Alyattes.
And what better way to dream it up than by asking our newly-invented tech that does nothing else but dream? Below is what it came up with:
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On the Meaning of Value
What is value?
We tend to contemplate money in relation to its use. We think of it only in reflection to its power over our desires, ambitions, needs, wants and safety. Money seemingly sits between us and the world, like a hammer connects the blacksmith to his iron.
Yes, money means different things for different people but upon inspection it becomes clear that the first thing money does is indicate ‘Value’. We know the value of an object in the world through the indicative number we place on it.
And what else do we know?
We know ourselves in relation to that object’s value. Something is only ‘expensive’ or ‘cheap’ based on our power to obtain it. Is this indicative of power in general? Buying-power is not the same as other types of power, but it’s like a shade of the same colour, sitting alongside others.
Value, therefore, seems to be an ever-changing relationship to power. Consider what is truly, really valuable to you. Is the object of value (which could also be a person or group of individuals) in your power? Is it outside of it? Can you control or own it?
And what about the things you do own and control — do they have value? Or have you grown so used to your favourite fork as you eat dinner (don’t lie, I know you have a favourite fork), that its value is now invisible to you? You’ll surely remember it if the fork goes missing one day.
Conclusion
We went on a little journey.
Through the Unconscious, the pyramids, the origin of coin and some reflections on value. And you may also have just witnessed the birth of a new god for a new mythology that is, like all mythology, ancient and new every day, in every moment.
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Blessings,
