The iridescent ornament of the Mesopotamian Great Goddess, Inanna-Ishtar, the rainbow also serves as a bridge to heaven. Though Ishtar allows the souls of the chosen to ascend to The Great Above via the multi-hued band, she once blocked the way of the sky god when he harmed her children with the Deluge.

In Thai (Buddhist) mythology, the rainbow is a staircase linking the earth to the heavens down which the nagas can descend. Here the colors do not stand for distinct elements, but represent aspects or qualities of the unity that is their source. Hence the rainbow links Samsara -- the world of illusion and suffering, to Nirvana -- formless Emptiness

If it is usually viewed as a link between heaven and earth, the rainbow is also a path between earthly realms. For example, Irish folklore gives us the notion of a leprechaun's pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Merkaba, also spelled Merkabah, is the divine light vehicle allegedly used by ascended masters to connect with and reach those in tune with the higher realms. "Mer" means Light. "Ka" means Spirit. "Ba" means Body. Mer-Ka-Ba means the spirit/body surrounded by counter-rotating fields of light, (wheels within wheels), spirals of energy as in DNA, which transports spirit/body from one dimension to another.

In modern esoteric teachings, it is taught that the MerKaBa is an interdimensional vehicle consisting of two equally sized, interlocked tetrahedra of light with a common center, where one tetrahedron points up and the other down. This point symmetric form is called a stella octangula or stellated octahedron which can also be obtained by extending the faces of a regular octahedron until they intersect again.

In his books, researcher and physicist Drunvalo Melchizedek describes this figure as a "Star Tetrahedron", since it can be viewed as a three dimensional Star of David. By imagining two superimposed "Star Tetrahedrons" as counterrotating, along with specific "prana" breathing techniques, certain eye movements and mudras, it is taught that one can activate a non-visible 'saucer' shaped energy field around the human body that is anchored at the base of the spine

Pronunciation: ní

Syntactic Function: noun

Meaning:giant salamander



Pronunciation: ní

Syntactic Function: noun

Meaning:little fish