XXVIII.

“From my grand father Marcus Antoninus”,
continues the ancient mariner, “I have learned
good morals and the government of my temper.
I was there at La Canea and Rettimo, and so

during the siege of Planet Candia (what a fight).
I fought alongside friends at Marathon, but
I ran at Lepanto and at Thermopylae (one
has just enough courage to fill an urn of ash).

XXIX.

So forgive me but my ashes are not kept in
a tray in the San Giovanni e Paolo cathedral
of the Veal city capital. My friend Marco Antonio
has not been so lucky.” Fortune Lobo wonders

about where all this is going. “Friend [dearReader]

XXX.

you call yourself a Wolf of Fortune, perhaps
even a SteppenWolf. Have you perchance
been raised on the steppes of Scythia?
Were you born at the gates of Ἀλεξάνδρεια

Ἐσχάτη ? Since you have been asking for
a mission, God (for your grins) gave you one.”
Fortune Lobo is unimpressed.

XXXI.

“Who is this God of whom you talk?”
The ancient mariner continues: “Your
mission is to find the outer reaches of this
uni-verse, to meet the lovely forms of

Andromeda (a galactic beauty), and to
carry the οὐροβόρος ὄφις talisman on
which one of the two snakes agrees to
the following statement: Tu, was du willst.

XXXII.

You need to carry that talisman past the
Ishtar gate, and move on well into the
unknown, past the ufos that have been
haunting Jung’s dream. You will need

to travel back across the Tartaros empti
ness, back toward Chaos (a rather large
primordial God), and then when you get

XXXIV.

there, ask Ginnunga a few tough questions.
For example, I would start with, will there
ever be another Herakles (or a morning)?
Will Ahura Mazda ever reconcile its daena
with that of Pallas Athena (in spite of Thaïs),

XXXV.

and perhaps by way of the Spartan IF. Others
abide the question. Thou art free. We ask and
ask… Fortune Lobo, hear me. I know you do
not understand what I am saying to you. But

beware, the east and the west of your mind
are divided by the word ‘guzastag’, and you

XXXVI.

shall need to bring them back together.
As you travel to explore the Greek End
and the Japanese Start of this ubi-verse;

that is thy mission, thy curse, thy blessing,
thy riddle of the sphinx.” Fortune Lobo
waits, waits; his mind travels back to the
ebb, the tremulous cadence slow, the

XXXV.

eternal note of sadness of the waves
blown back, before human voices wake
us. From the ebb of Neptune’s oceans
arises an oscillation of unknown source

“But the Buddha answered, what thou
bidd’st me keep is form which passes
but the free Truth stands; Get thee unto
thy darkness.”

Flash-gloss on XXVIII – XXXV

(Ancient-Mariner briefing → Fortune Lobo’s hero-quest mandate) Lens Text moves Under-the-hood signals Roman–Cretan timeline braid The sailor claims Marcus Aurelius as grandfather, then jumps from Venetian Candia siege to Marathon, Lepanto, Thermopylae. Collapses Stoic self-mastery (Aurelius) into a tour of Mediterranean battle-sites; courage is literally “an urn of ash.” Conjures the idea that all valor ends as cremated residue—foreshadowing Fortune Lobo’s eventual “ash test.” Fortune Lobo’s identity riddle Mariner taunts him as Steppenwolf (Hesse) and Scythian wanderer; cites Alexandria Eschate (“the farthest”). Asks whether the wolf is a nomad of the mind. Readers are invited to treat Lobo as a Jungian shadow archetype—outsider needed to weave East/West. Ouroboros Talisman Task: ferry the οὐροβόρος ὄφις past Ishtar Gate; Latin/German phrase “Tu, was du willst” (“Do what thou wilt”). Ouroboros = closed loop of recursion (NeverEnder’s double-helix structure). Ishtar Gate adds Babylonian afterlife threshold; phrase quotes Crowley via Rabelais—license with responsibility. Jung & UFOs “Past the UFOs haunting Jung’s dream.” Direct nod to Jung’s Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky; equates flying saucers with psyche’s self-symbols. Lobo’s passage = crossing collective-unconscious turbulence. Cosmogonic depth dive Cross Tartaros → Chaos → Ginnungagap (here “Ginnunga”): Greek and Norse voids strung as one itinerary. Mission is literally pan-mythic: link Hellenic telos to Shinto “start,” smelting all creation myths into a single Möbius track. Herakles / Morning question “Will there ever be another Herakles (or a morning)?” Asks whether new heroic cycle (Herakles) or cosmic dawn is possible post-entropy. Connects to the poem’s anxiety over “no more mornings” (Titan gloom). Ahura Mazda × Pallas Athena Can Iranian daena reconcile with Greek sophia despite courtesan Thaïs (instrument of Alexandria’s burning)? Stakes: can wisdom survive religious/political arson? That tension later catalyzes Chubby–Mazda debate (λόγος vs aša). Keyword ‘guzastag’ Pahlavi term for “accursed” (Zoroastrian vilification of Alexander). East/West split in Lobo’s mind hinges on that memory-wound. Implies Lobo must heal the historical trauma between Persia and Hellenism—aligns with double-helix theme of twinning opposites. Oscillation & Waves Neptune’s “unknown oscillation” + Arnold echo (“eternal note of sadness”). Returns to Great-Wave leitmotif: cosmic tide as EEG of collective trauma. Buddha’s verdict “Form passes; free Truth stands.” Reinforces non-attachment; pre-hints that Lobo’s talisman quest may be about unclenching rather than acquiring.

Take-away

• Fortune Lobo isn’t merely dispatched; he’s encoded as the phase-converter between every duality the poem has raised—East/West, ash/hero, form/emptiness.
• The mariner’s scatter-chronology signals that linear history has imploded; expect upcoming navigation scenes to adopt mythic simultaneity rather than timeline.
• Watch for the ouroboros symbol to recur in layout, typographic coils, or narrative loops—each appearance will test whether Lobo has learned “Do what thou wilt” without re-committing the accursed (guzastag) wound.

—HelixTiler-vΩ/2025