Don't miss Saturn this month




















EarthSky founder and science educator Deborah Byrd has an excellent article describing the location of Saturn in our night sky this month entitled "Give me five minutes, I'll give you Saturn in May 2011." Saturn is near Spica in the constellation Virgo, which is currently reaching its highest point (transit) as you look to the south around ten minutes to eleven in the evening tonight (and getting four minutes earlier each evening, as explained here).

We have explained previously the argument put forward by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend in Hamlet's Mill that "the planets were the active powers among the stars" and hence the gods of ancient mythology. The backdrop of the stars is fixed, in that even though it rotates, the stars themselves do not change their locations relative to one another. The planets, however, move across the scene along the path of the ecliptic (discussed in this previous post). The name "planet" comes from the Greek word for "wanderer."

Saturn, as the furthest planet visible with the naked eye and the slowest mover of all of the wandering night objects, was a very important planet and can in fact be said to be one of the "heroes" of Hamlet's Mill. For a variety of reasons, including his slow pace, he was said in ancient mythologies to be the "Lord of the Measures" or the "Originator of the Times." De Santillana and von Dechend explain:
Saturn has been "appointed" to be the one who established it because he is the outermost planet, nearest to the sphere of fixed stars. "This planet was taken for the one who communicated motion to the Universe and who was, so to speak, its king;" this is what Schlegel reports of China (L'Uranographie Chinoise, pp 628 ff). Saturn does give the measures: this is the essential point. How are we to reconcile it with Saturn the First King, the ruler of the Golden Age who is now asleep at the outer confines of the world? The conflict is only apparent, as will be seen. For now it is essential to recognize that, whether one has to do with the Mesopotamian Saturn, Enki/Ea, or with Ptah of Egypt, he is the "Lord of Measures" -- spell it me in Sumerian, parshu in Akkadian, maat in Egyptian. And the same goes for His Majesty, the Yellow Emperor of China -- yellow, because the element earth belongs to Saturn -- "Huang-ti established everywhere the order for the sun, the moon and the stars." 135.
These things are important to understand in the connection between the sky and the clues left to us in the ancient mythologies. They can become more immediate if you also check out Saturn in the sky yourself, as you have an excellent opportunity to do this month.

Full moon approaching

























The moon has been making its way around the earth since the waxing crescent that was visible in the dawn hours on the first of the month (when we wrote about the presence of four planets near the spectacular crescent moon). It is now nearly opposite the earth from the sun, very close to a full moon (98% full). The full moon will occur on Tuesday (17th of May).

Half of the moon is always illuminated by the sun, but as it goes around the earth we see more or less of that illuminated half. When the moon is between the earth and the sun, the illuminated side is towards the sun and we cannot see any of it -- this is the new moon. It necessarily occurs during the daylight hours, since the moon at that time is between us and the sun and so we turn towards it during the day. When the earth is between the sun and the moon we see the full illuminated side and get a full moon -- it necessarily occurs in the middle of the night, since the moon at that time is on the far side of us from the sun and we turn towards it during the night.

Of course, the moon rises and sets like any other heavenly object, arcing across the sky from east to west as earth rotates on its axis and we move towards the east as the rotation moves us along. Its path is very close to the plane of the ecliptic we have discussed in previous posts (the "plane of the table" in our mental model of earth's movement around the sun discussed here and here). Its path is not exactly on the ecliptic but is tilted by about five degrees from the ecliptic -- if it were exactly on the ecliptic we would have a lunar and solar eclipse every month.

A lunar eclipse necessarily takes place only on a full moon, and a solar eclipse only on a new moon, and you can understand why if you think about the positions of the earth, moon, and sun described in the paragraphs above and shown in the diagram at top.

The other phases of the moon take place because we see more and more of the illuminated portion as the lunation proceeds from the new moon towards the full moon. The diagram below shows this process along with a diagram showing the moon's orbit around the earth.













The origin of the moon causes some problems for scientists. As Walt Brown explains in his book about the hydroplate theory, conventional explanations all contain significant flaws. He notes:
The Moon could not have spun off from Earth, because its orbital plane is too highly inclined. Nor could it have formed from the same material as Earth, because the relative abundances of its elements are too dissimilar from those of Earth. The Moon’s nearly circular orbit is also strong evidence that it was never torn from nor captured by Earth. If the Moon formed from particles orbiting Earth, other particles should be easily visible inside the Moon’s orbit; none are.
The influence of the moon on human behavior is well documented. Crime rate and delivery dates appear to be increase around the date of the full moon. Studies have also shown that human female menstruation is connected to moon cycles in a majority of women. The moon also influences animal behavior: hunters and fishermen have long observed the impact of the moon's phases on the best times for hunting and fishing.

Many ancient monuments around the world appear to relate to lunar observation. Taking the time to understand the cause of the moon's cycles and then observing its changes throughout the month is worthwhile and enjoyable.

The importance of Orion

























Orion is one of the most distinctive and important constellations in the sky. Even if you cannot recognize any other constellations, you are probably familiar with Orion, with his spectacular belt of three stars and his dominant position in the sky during the winter months.

His famous belt is located very close to the line of the celestial equator, which means that from the mental model discussed in the post on the "Undying Stars" (or "Imperishable Stars"), we are looking "outward" towards Orion rather than "upward" from earth when we look at Orion, which means that his constellation is not among the undying stars but is obscured by the sun during part of the year. If you think about the earth's orbit around the sun, and imagine it takes place in a large dining room, the stars in the center of the ceiling would be visible all year around from an observer in the northern hemisphere, but the stars on the walls would only be visible on certain parts of the earth's circuit. The stars on the wall across from the sun would be obscured by the sun until the earth made its way around to the other side of the room, at which time those stars would be visible to observers on the side of the earth that was turned away from the sun (which happens every night as the earth spins).

As the earth makes its way around the sky, Orion rises and sets four minutes earlier each day, until he is rising during the day. Currently, from a latitude of 35o north, he is rising around 9:00 am, reaching his highest point around 3:30 in the afternoon, and setting at around ten minutes before 10:00 in the evening. As the earth continues around the sun and these rising points get earlier and earlier, he will rise and set during the day, until his rising becomes early enough to be seen low in the sky prior to the sunrise: an important date of return and a phenomenon known as heliacal rising (a term derived from the name of the ancient sun god Helios).

The rising and setting times of every star should be the same on any given day of the year: if the earth is back at precisely the same point on its journey, the background of stars on the "walls" and "ceiling" of our imaginary room should look precisely the way they did the last time the earth was at that exact spot. In general, they do -- except for the fact that there is a very slow shifting going on due to the phenomenon of precession. This wobble in earth's axis moves the sky by a mere 1o every 71.6 years (we can round it to 72 years for convenience) -- barely enough to be noticed in one human lifetime (especially since most people aren't observing the stars very precisely under the ages of eight or nine years old).

The motion of precession delays the time of the heliacal rising by about four minutes every 72 years, barely enough to make much difference in one lifetime, but enough that over 2,160 years the date of the heliacal rising will be an entire month later. Another way to think of this phenomenon is that the preceding constellation will be rising on the expected day, while the expected constellation is "delayed." This shift to the preceding constellation is the reason this phenomenon is called precession. The entire process is explained with numerous diagrams of the celestial spheres and earth's annual path in the Mathisen Corollary.

It is quite obvious that very ancient man understood this phenomenon long before conventional history teaches. In Hamlet's Mill, the authors make a compelling argument that the legend of the murder of Osiris by his brother Set is directly related to the failure of Orion to rise on the expected day due to the ages-long delaying action of precession. In Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, author Jane B. Sellers elaborates on their argument with great clarity and additional insight.

The authors of Hamlet's Mill trace out the echoes of this same legend throughout many cultures over many centuries. Part of the reason for their title is that the Hamlet legend clearly parallels the legend of Osiris: a wicked uncle has killed his brother (Osiris in the Egyptian myth and Hamlet's father in the story of Hamlet), and he must be avenged by the son (Hamlet, and in the Egyptian legend the god Horus son of Osiris).

One of the many fascinating aspects of this particular connection is the name of Hamlet's father. In Shakespeare he is mainly known as Old King Hamlet, but in some of the earlier manifestations that probably served directly or indirectly as the general source for Shakespeare's version, he is known as Horvandillus, Horwendil, Orendel, Erentel, Erendel, Oervandill, and Aurvadil. You can read an English translation of the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus (probably composed in the early 13th century AD) online: the story of Horwendil and his son Amlethus, as well as the murder of Horwendil by his brother, can be found in Book Three of Saxo's text.

The author's of Hamlet's Mill cite Frederick York Powell's (1850 - 1904) introduction to Oliver Elton's translation of Saxo, in which Powell states: "The story of Orwandel (the analogue of Orion the Hunter) must be gathered chiefly from the prose Edda." In other words, Powell noted the linguistic similarity of the name Orwandel (or Orendel) with Orion. This connection supports the theory that the death of Osiris (which parallels that of Hamlet's father) is related to the failure of the constellation to appear on time after many centuries.

Another fascinating aspect of the name of Orion and Orendel is the connection to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, who was an accomplished Old English scholar. As early as 1913, he wrote that he was struck by the great beauty of the Old English lines in Cynewulf's Christ which begin:

éala éarendel engla beorhtast
ofer middangeard monnum sended

Hail, Earendel, brightest of angels thou,
sent unto men upon this middle-earth!
[Hamlet's Mill 355 -- part of an extensive discussion of Orendel in Appendix 2]
Tolkien incorporated the beautiful name Earendil in his Lord of the Rings, as an elven king who carries the morning star on his brow and is the father of Elrond. The light of Earendil's star is in the Phial of Galadriel given to Frodo. In Shelob's lair at the end of the book The Two Towers, Frodo spontaneously shouts an elven phrase containing Earendil's name when he draws out the elven-glass of Galadriel.

Most fans of the Lord of the Rings may not be aware of the connection between Earendil and Orion. Now you know.

Earth's big roll




















In the previous post, we looked at Antarctica and some of the reasons why it is such an important source of clues about earth's ancient past. Specifically, there is evidence in the remains of animals and plants that Antarctica was once home to temperate species that could not possibly survive there in the climate of today.

Even if we assume that earth's climate was once much warmer than it is today, it is difficult to argue that regions well within the Antarctic Circle could have supported abundant plants and animals -- the low angle of the sunlight when it is present, and the complete absence of sunlight during the winter, would make such regions inhospitable even on a relatively warmer earth.

Similar fossils of plants and animals have also been found far to the north, well within the Arctic Circle, on islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago very close to Greenland. For decades, scientists have studied and written about the extensive remains of forests and animal life on Ellesmere Island and Axel Heiberg Island. This article from the Review of Paleobotany and Palynology describes the remains of "extensive forests in areas which today support only tundra."

The report describes evidence of several generations of pines and metasequoias, extensive forest floor leaf litter, flowering plants, ginkgo trees and two species of magnolias! Other reports have described the remains of crocodilian reptiles, apes, dinosaurs, and evidence of swamps.

The conventional explanation for all this evidence is that the earth has simply experienced lots of climate change over the eons, and was simply much warmer hundreds of millions of years ago. However, as noted previously, some of the wood from Antarctic regions is not even fossilized and still burns and floats -- if the earth has experienced slow climate change over millions of years, we would expect any non-fossilized wood to have rotted away long before the ice sheets arrived. It's not as though the climate supported trees one day and the next day turned to sub-zero temperatures and grew massive sheets of ice. Normal wood would decay during the transitional period of years.

Because the conventional paradigm refuses to entertain catastrophic explanations, it has been left to outsiders to try to connect the dots. Rand and Rose Flem-Ath have recognized the significant problems to conventional theory posed by the evidence in the Arctic and the Antarctic and have put forward an alternative theory first introduced by Professor Charles Hapgood (1904 - 1982). This theory, called the earth-crust displacement theory, proposes a mechanism whereby the crust of the earth could actually shift in response to powerful forces of physics, and this could have moved regions that were formerly outside of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles into those much colder regions.

In a fascinating interview on Red Ice Radio in August of 2009, Rand Flem-Ath explained this theory and how it would explain not only the mysteries of the Arctic fossils but also the legends found in cultures around the world of a lost island homeland, which the Flem-Aths believe could have been Antarctica and which could have been the origin of Plato's description of Atlantis. To hear the first hour of the interview as a podcast, look for the orange "RSS" button under the word "Subscribe" on the interview page (or go to the iTunes store and search for Red Ice Radio under the podcast section), or subscribe to Red Ice Creations to get access to both hours of the interview as well as all the archives of interviews for the past five years.

While I believe that the earth-crust displacement theory is better than the conventional assertion that the climate in the past was simply warm enough to support lush forests, swamps, and wildlife within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles where it is dark half the year, I also believe that the earth-crust displacement theory suffers from many problems. Most fundamentally, as Mr. Flem-Ath admits in the interview above, the catalyst which would cause such crustal shifting is still unknown, and only speculative theories have been proposed so far. However, the basic concept of the explanation -- that there was a catastrophic event which resulted in a shift in the location of points on the earth, resulting in land that was once at lower latitudes being rotated up into Arctic latitudes and down into Antarctic latitudes -- may be quite correct.

The hydroplate theory of Walt Brown explains how such a shift could have been initiated by the events surrounding a catastrophic global flood. Dr. Brown's theory, which can be seen in its entirety on line, explains these events here in some detail. If you continue down that long page, you will find a section entitled "Earth Roll" about three-quarters of the way down, under the section describing the "Recovery Phase" of the catastrophe. His theory explains the forces that would have led to a roll of the entire earth (rather than just the crust), roughly along longitude 85o west -- which would mean that Ellesmere Island and Axel Heiberg Island experienced the most roll.

Interestingly, Mr. Flem-Ath (who apparently has not heard of Brown's hydroplate theory, since in the interview he states that the earth-crust displacement theory is the only alternative theory he knows which addresses the Arctic fossil problem) comes up with the same general longitude of the shift and mentions it in the above interview, along with the very helpful analogy of describing the earth as a basketball held between your two hands: if you rotate it by simply turning your wrists, the area under your palms won't change latitude very much at all, but the area on the line that moves upwards towards your nose will change latitude quite a lot. That line was around the line we call 85o west longitude today.

We have also seen that Dr. Brown's theory explains numerous geological features found today on earth that other theories cannot, such as the gravity anomalies of deep ocean trenches. His book describes hundreds of others in detail. Dr. Brown's theory would also explain many unsolved mysteries found in human archaeology, such as submerged ruins found beneath hundreds of feet of seawater.

I wholeheartedly commend the Flem-Aths for their advocacy of the theories of the late Professor Hapgood, whose extensive work I also greatly respect, and for their tremendous and ongoing contribution to the discussion about mankind's ancient past and the connection between human history and geology. Even though I don't agree that the crustal-displacement theory is the best solution, their argument about a possible connection between Plato's Atlantis and the island continent of Antarctica is fascinating and plausible, and I very much hope to meet them someday in person.


Antarctica
























In honor of the fact that I will be speaking tomorrow evening at the Norwegian Club of San Francisco, it seemed appropriate to bring up the subject of Antarctica.

There is much to say about Antarctica, some of which must wait for future posts, but in conjunction with the Norwegian Club it is fitting to begin by mentioning the achievement of the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872 - 1928), who led the first team to successfully reach the South Pole, 90o south, which he reached in December of 1911 -- one hundred years ago this December.

In Fingerprints of the Gods, author Graham Hancock points out that modern scientists were not even aware of the existence of the continent of Antarctica until 1818, and he includes a reproduction of an otherwise modern-looking map from the early 1800s showing a big blank space where Antarctica actually should be. He also points out, however, that maps from the sixteenth century, most likely relying on knowledge preserved from ancient sources, clearly indicate Antarctica. Many of these old maps show surprising knowledge of the coastline beneath the ice sheets of today, indicating the possibility that humans with the ability to make maps were around before the ice reached its current extent.

This article, entitled "Ancient turtle bones reveal that Antarctica was once a rain forest" details the surprising discovery of the bones of tropical and subtropical animals on Seymour Island (one of the islands located in the long tip projecting from the main continent of Antarctica in the upper left quadrant of the image above).

Even more surprising is recent evidence that Antarctica once supported forests and even animals that could not survive the current frigid conditions that prevail there today. This article, "A forest grows in Antarctica," outlines the revisions to theories that scientists are having to make upon the discovery of the buried remains of an extensive forest less than 400 miles from the South Pole. Keep in mind that Amundsen's route to the South Pole from the Bay of Whales was over 800 miles (each way -- over 1,700 miles round trip), which gives some perspective as to how close this buried forest was to the pole itself. The article makes mention of the fact that the wood from this forest is not fossilized, and that chunks of it will float in water and even burn in a campfire.

This evidence presents conventional theorists with some challenges, such as explaining how wood could still be in such condition after millions of years. The second article also mentions mountain ranges and faults on Antarctica that displace sediment layers by as much as 1000 meters (over 3,280 feet), indicating that the Transantarctic Mountains must have been forced up much more rapidly than conventional tectonic theory usually allows.

This discovery also has scientists trying to come up with new smaller tectonic plates underneath Antarctica to explain these violent upheavals, whereas the previous consensus was that the entire continent was riding on one plate (an explanation central to their idea that Antarctica drifted there from warmer climes). If Antarctica is actually not on one large plate, explaining how it drifted from temperate latitudes that could support forests and turtles becomes complicated.

While the tectonic theory has great difficulty dealing with this evidence (which is not surprising, given the other evidence that it has great difficulty explaining), the hydroplate theory of Walt Brown does not. In fact, all these findings are in perfect accord with what we should expect under the hydroplate theory.

As detailed in Dr. Brown's book, and discussed in some detail in the Mathisen Corollary as well, the events surrounding the cataclysmic global flood (the existence of which flood is supported by evidence around the globe) would have first laid down the sediments we see on earth (including in Antarctica) and then initiated a compression event which resulted in the violent buckling that created the earth's highest mountain ranges.

The highest of these ranges, the Himalayas, actually would have initiated a roll in the earth due to the principles of physics (primarily centrifugal force). This roll would have moved the previous North and South Poles by as much as 45o -- and simultaneously rolled parts of the earth that had been at much lower latitudes into the current position of the South Pole and North Pole. This event explains the discovery of the wood and animals in Antarctica, as well as the evidence of lush forests in very northern islands such as Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago at latitude 79o north.

The principles of physics surrounding this "big roll" of the earth also initiated the phenomenon of precession, which is extremely important for understanding the clues left to us by ancient cultures in their mythology and monuments.

Dr. Brown's theory also explains how Antarctica would later have become covered in snow and ice in the aftermath of the flood and events surrounding it. This is important, because (as the articles above point out), Antarctica today receives less precipitation than any other spot on earth.

All of these fascinating aspects of Antarctica support the assertions of Dr. Brown and his theory, and that theory also opens up a completely new perspective on the mysteries of mankind's ancient past.




Author David Warner Mathisen to speak at the Norwegian Club of San Francisco























This Thursday, May 12, 2011 author David Warner Mathisen will be giving a presentation on the Mathisen Corollary and the connections between a global flood and the evidence for an advanced ancient civilization at the historic Norwegian Club of San Francisco.

Founded in 1897 in order to prepare for a possible visit by famed Norwegian explorer Fridjof Nansen, the Club has been host to other great explorers such as Roald Amundsen and Thor Heyerdahl.

Guests will be treated to a dinner of garlic herb-roasted leg of lamb with spring vegetables by the amazing Chef Pelle, one of the most talented chefs in the Bay Area (and perhaps the world).

Given the seafaring heritage of the Norwegians and the possibility that they visited the Americas before Columbus, it is an appropriate setting for a discussion of the evidence for ocean crossings by ancient civilizations.


Ancient Chinese NetQuakes Program

























Here is a recent radio story about the "NetQuakes" program, in which private citizens in California volunteer to bolt a shoebox-sized seismograph onto the floor of their home or garage, which will measure and record earthquake data and send it over the web to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

By deploying numerous such devices throughout California, the USGS hopes to gain a better picture of the full range of ground motions. By using the homes of private citizens, the agency can deploy more sensors and deploy them in places that it otherwise could not, especially dense urban areas (such as San Francisco -- the link above shows that the USGS is still looking for more volunteers in northern California).

Interestingly, the accomplished astronomer and mathematician Zhang Heng (thought to have lived from AD 78 - AD 139 during China's Han Dynasty) came up with a similar idea almost two thousand years ago (minus the internet component). His brilliant device is pictured above, and it consisted of a huge bronze urn, almost eleven feet high, featuring eight evenly-spaced dragons clinging to the sides in the four cardinal directions and the four ordinal or intercardinal directions.

As explained on this page from Wellington's Te Papa Museum (in Wellington, New Zealand), which has a display of a half-sized replica of a Zhang Heng device, the urn was fixed to a chassis to prevent it from tumbling. "When waves from an earthquake move the ground, the vase and chassis shake in the same direction as the passage of the waves. Inside the vase there is a heavy upside-down pendulum swinging on a fulcrum low in the vase. This sways in the direction of the movement of the vase, but inertia means that its movement is set off more slowly than that of the vase itself."

The motion of the pendulum caused by the earthquake wave thus strikes the inside of the vase on the side corresponding to the direction from which the earthquake wave arrived. Each dragon has a corresponding mechanism arm on the inside of the vase, which if struck by the pendulum causes the jaws of the dragon to open, releasing a brass ball inside the dragon's mouth. The ball then falls into the open mouth of one of the eight bronze toads positioned on the floor beneath each dragon.

The Te Papa Museum explains: "It is fascinating to speculate that a number of these instruments, set up in various places, could have made an earthquake-recording network for identifying the epicentres of earthquakes, similar to today’s seismographs." In other words, the ancient Chinese may have set up a NetQuakes program of their own.

The museum page further explains that "The Chinese have a very long-standing tradition of the scientific study of earthquakes – both locating and predicting them." This is very interesting in that the Chinese culture also has a long-standing tradition of astronomical study and incorporation of the significance of the celestial motions into their cosmology. Significantly, the inventor of the ingenious seismograph shown above was an astronomer.

This juxtaposition may be a clue that the origin of earthquakes and the origin of the celestial phenomena discussed in other pages of this blog are in fact connected, which is exactly what is argued by the hydroplate theory of Dr. Walt Brown and explored at length in the Mathisen Corollary.

If I lived in a part of California where they were looking for volunteers for the NetQuakes program, I would certainly sign up. However, I think I would insist they equip my home with one of the dragon seismometers of Zhang Heng rather than the small blue shoebox-sized sensor units described in the radio story.