Friday, 13 July 2012

KING ARTHUR

King Arthur
King Arthur
THE LEGEND OF King Arthur states that he was born sometime in the fifth century AD. It is said that the great magician Merlin disguised Uther Pendragon, one of Britain’s great warriors, to look like the Duke of Tintagel, the husband of Ingraine of Cornwall. Uther seduced Ingraine at Tintagel cottage, but the child they conceived was given away at birth. He was named Arthur and was raised completely unaware of his special lineage. When Uther died, the throne was empty. Merlin set a sword called Excalibur in rock and stated that only someone of a truly royal bloodline would be able to remove Excalibur from its fixed position. When the young Arthur was the only one able to do this, he was pronounced king. Eleven other British rulers rebelled against the young leader, but Arthur quashed their uprising and began a noble and glorious reign. Arthur married Guinevere and assembled a group of courageous and honest knights at a kingdom seat in Camelot, in the Vale of Avalon. To avoid any sense of preference among the knights, Guinevere’s father provided Arthur with the fabled Round Table. Together they had great victories over Saxon invaders and the Roman Empire. Arthur is even said to have become Emperor himself and set about on a search for the Holy Grail. However, during this time one of Arthur’s most trusted knights, Lancelot, had an affair with Guinevere. This marked the beginning of the end for Arthur. The two lovers fled to Lancelot’s land in Brittany, France. Arthur decided to follow and wage war on his former friend, leaving his nephew Mordred as custodian of England. Whilst he was battling across the English Channel, Mordred rebelled, so Arthur was forced to return home. A fierce battle ensued on Salisbury Plain. Arthur managed to kill Mordred, but the king himself was also mortally wounded. On the brink of death, he returned to Avalon. He is said to have thrown Excalibur into that kingdom’s lake and then he himself disappeared into a cave, pledging he would return if ever danger threatened England.

The first historical proof we have of a Arthurian-type figure is in Gildas’ sixth century De Excidio Britanniae which refers to British soldiers being led by a man called Ambrosius Aurelianus. The name ‘Arthur’ appears in Nennius’ ninth century Historia Brittonum. However it was not until the twelfth century that the phenomenon of Arthur as an historical icon really had an impact. William of Malmesbury and Geoffrey of Monmouth produced works which sowed the seeds of our modern understanding of Athurian legend. Unfortunately their works also included many fictional details, which have subsequently obscured the true reality of Arthur’s reign. There is other evidence for his place in historical fact. Many people believe that Glastonbury in Somerset is the true site of Camelot, and in the 12th century it was claimed that Arthur’s grave had been found there. Similarly, the Isles of Scilly are said to host the remains of the great king. Certainly there are plenty of candidates for places featured in Arthurian mythology and historians have discovered many possible historical figures who could be the king himself. The historians believe that the sheer number of possibilities as to Arthur’s true identity is probably the reason that our knowledge has become so blurred, and that many individual personal histories have been actually confused and amalgamated.

What we do know is that in the sixth century many Celtic realms had leaders born who were called Arthur; this could have been in homage to the original king. Although the use of the name has clouded the original Arthur’s legend, it also points to the fact that a truly great and inspirational leader was present a generation before. Perhaps that most amazing evidence has only surfaced in recent years. In July 1998, archaeologists found a slab marked in Latin with the name ‘Artagnov’ or ‘Arthnou’ on a rocky hilltop in Tintagel, Cornwall. The slab dates to the sixth century, and proves that the name was present in the legendary Arthurian lands at the correct time, and belonged to a man of some standing. Like many historical mysteries, the damage to truth caused by passing years, is slowly being fixed by science and the application of modern interest. We may never know exactly who the legend of King Arthur represents, but with more finds like this, we can only move closer to the tantalising truth.


THE LEGEND OF King Arthur states that he was born sometime in the fifth century AD. It is said that the great magician Merlin disguised Uther Pendragon, one of Britain’s great warriors, to look like the Duke of Tintagel, the husband of Ingraine of Cornwall. Uther seduced Ingraine at Tintagel cottage, but the child they conceived was given away at birth. He was named Arthur and was raised completely unaware of his special lineage. When Uther died, the throne was empty. Merlin set a sword called Excalibur in rock and stated that only someone of a truly royal bloodline would be able to remove Excalibur from its fixed position. When the young Arthur was the only one able to do this, he was pronounced king. Eleven other British rulers rebelled against the young leader, but Arthur quashed their uprising and began a noble and glorious reign. Arthur married Guinevere and assembled a group of courageous and honest knights at a kingdom seat in Camelot, in the Vale of Avalon. To avoid any sense of preference among the knights, Guinevere’s father provided Arthur with the fabled Round Table. Together they had great victories over Saxon invaders and the Roman Empire. Arthur is even said to have become Emperor himself and set about on a search for the Holy Grail. However, during this time one of Arthur’s most trusted knights, Lancelot, had an affair with Guinevere. This marked the beginning of the end for Arthur. The two lovers fled to Lancelot’s land in Brittany, France. Arthur decided to follow and wage war on his former friend, leaving his nephew Mordred as custodian of England. Whilst he was battling across the English Channel, Mordred rebelled, so Arthur was forced to return home. A fierce battle ensued on Salisbury Plain. Arthur managed to kill Mordred, but the king himself was also mortally wounded. On the brink of death, he returned to Avalon. He is said to have thrown Excalibur into that kingdom’s lake and then he himself disappeared into a cave, pledging he would return if ever danger threatened England.

The first historical proof we have of a Arthurian-type figure is in Gildas’ sixth century De Excidio Britanniae which refers to British soldiers being led by a man called Ambrosius Aurelianus. The name ‘Arthur’ appears in Nennius’ ninth century Historia Brittonum. However it was not until the twelfth century that the phenomenon of Arthur as an historical icon really had an impact. William of Malmesbury and Geoffrey of Monmouth produced works which sowed the seeds of our modern understanding of Athurian legend. Unfortunately their works also included many fictional details, which have subsequently obscured the true reality of Arthur’s reign. There is other evidence for his place in historical fact. Many people believe that Glastonbury in Somerset is the true site of Camelot, and in the 12th century it was claimed that Arthur’s grave had been found there. Similarly, the Isles of Scilly are said to host the remains of the great king. Certainly there are plenty of candidates for places featured in Arthurian mythology and historians have discovered many possible historical figures who could be the king himself. The historians believe that the sheer number of possibilities as to Arthur’s true identity is probably the reason that our knowledge has become so blurred, and that many individual personal histories have been actually confused and amalgamated.

What we do know is that in the sixth century many Celtic realms had leaders born who were called Arthur; this could have been in homage to the original king. Although the use of the name has clouded the original Arthur’s legend, it also points to the fact that a truly great and inspirational leader was present a generation before. Perhaps that most amazing evidence has only surfaced in recent years. In July 1998, archaeologists found a slab marked in Latin with the name ‘Artagnov’ or ‘Arthnou’ on a rocky hilltop in Tintagel, Cornwall. The slab dates to the sixth century, and proves that the name was present in the legendary Arthurian lands at the correct time, and belonged to a man of some standing. Like many historical mysteries, the damage to truth caused by passing years, is slowly being fixed by science and the application of modern interest. We may never know exactly who the legend of King Arthur represents, but with more finds like this, we can only move closer to the tantalising truth.

THE LEGEND OF King Arthur states that he was born sometime in the fifth century AD. It is said that the great magician Merlin disguised Uther Pendragon, one of Britain’s great warriors, to look like the Duke of Tintagel, the husband of Ingraine of Cornwall. Uther seduced Ingraine at Tintagel cottage, but the child they conceived was given away at birth. He was named Arthur and was raised completely unaware of his special lineage. When Uther died, the throne was empty. Merlin set a sword called Excalibur in rock and stated that only someone of a truly royal bloodline would be able to remove Excalibur from its fixed position. When the young Arthur was the only one able to do this, he was pronounced king. Eleven other British rulers rebelled against the young leader, but Arthur quashed their uprising and began a noble and glorious reign. Arthur married Guinevere and assembled a group of courageous and honest knights at a kingdom seat in Camelot, in the Vale of Avalon. To avoid any sense of preference among the knights, Guinevere’s father provided Arthur with the fabled Round Table. Together they had great victories over Saxon invaders and the Roman Empire. Arthur is even said to have become Emperor himself and set about on a search for the Holy Grail. However, during this time one of Arthur’s most trusted knights, Lancelot, had an affair with Guinevere. This marked the beginning of the end for Arthur. The two lovers fled to Lancelot’s land in Brittany, France. Arthur decided to follow and wage war on his former friend, leaving his nephew Mordred as custodian of England. Whilst he was battling across the English Channel, Mordred rebelled, so Arthur was forced to return home. A fierce battle ensued on Salisbury Plain. Arthur managed to kill Mordred, but the king himself was also mortally wounded. On the brink of death, he returned to Avalon. He is said to have thrown Excalibur into that kingdom’s lake and then he himself disappeared into a cave, pledging he would return if ever danger threatened England.

The first historical proof we have of a Arthurian-type figure is in Gildas’ sixth century De Excidio Britanniae which refers to British soldiers being led by a man called Ambrosius Aurelianus. The name ‘Arthur’ appears in Nennius’ ninth century Historia Brittonum. However it was not until the twelfth century that the phenomenon of Arthur as an historical icon really had an impact. William of Malmesbury and Geoffrey of Monmouth produced works which sowed the seeds of our modern understanding of Athurian legend. Unfortunately their works also included many fictional details, which have subsequently obscured the true reality of Arthur’s reign. There is other evidence for his place in historical fact. Many people believe that Glastonbury in Somerset is the true site of Camelot, and in the 12th century it was claimed that Arthur’s grave had been found there. Similarly, the Isles of Scilly are said to host the remains of the great king. Certainly there are plenty of candidates for places featured in Arthurian mythology and historians have discovered many possible historical figures who could be the king himself. The historians believe that the sheer number of possibilities as to Arthur’s true identity is probably the reason that our knowledge has become so blurred, and that many individual personal histories have been actually confused and amalgamated.

What we do know is that in the sixth century many Celtic realms had leaders born who were called Arthur; this could have been in homage to the original king. Although the use of the name has clouded the original Arthur’s legend, it also points to the fact that a truly great and inspirational leader was present a generation before. Perhaps that most amazing evidence has only surfaced in recent years. In July 1998, archaeologists found a slab marked in Latin with the name ‘Artagnov’ or ‘Arthnou’ on a rocky hilltop in Tintagel, Cornwall. The slab dates to the sixth century, and proves that the name was present in the legendary Arthurian lands at the correct time, and belonged to a man of some standing. Like many historical mysteries, the damage to truth caused by passing years, is slowly being fixed by science and the application of modern interest. We may never know exactly who the legend of King Arthur represents, but with more finds like this, we can only move closer to the tantalising truth.

TOP 10 MYSTERIES-MYSTIC PLACES OF WORLD

10. The Mystery of Stonehenge

Stonehenge
Built in three sections over 6,400 years by the Neolithic inhabitants of Salisbury Plain in Southern England, Stonehenge has captivated visitors for thousands of years. The site contains 30 sarcens (upright stones) weighing 26 tons and 30 lintels (horizontal top stones). Each stone weighs 6 tons and was carved from bluestone from a location several miles away. The Neolithic builders were able to create a monumental that has perplexed humanity for thousands of years using only stone tools, and without using draft animals. Even after all these years, nobody really knows why Stonehenge was built. The other mysteries surrounding Stonehenge are its construction and the significance of the giant blue stones used. Also mysterious: the people who built Stonehenge (we know very little about them because they left no written history).
Theories
The theories about Stonehenge’s construction range from glaciers moving the enormous bluestones to ropes and timbers, to aliens. As for its purpose it has been said to be a temple, a secular calendar, and that the bluestones themselves have healing powers. As a result of the recent discovery of a vast number of burials around the site, a new theory has emerged, one that states that Stonehenge was a place to celebrate the lives of the dead.

9. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

JFK Conspiracy
John F Kennedy Assassination
John F. Kennedy was shot once in the back and once in head while riding with his wife Jacqueline in a Presidential motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested 45 minutes after the shots were fired.  After hours of interrogation, in which none of the proper procedures were followed, he was accused of murder. He was killed by Jack Ruby in the garage of the police building on November 24 in front of hundreds of journalists. On November 29, President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination. It was headed by Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the United States, and found that Oswald was the lone shooter and that he did it from the sixth floor of the Schoolbook Depository Building with an Italian Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.
Theories
Many of the conspiracy theories that surround the assassination began the day that the Warren Commission’s results were released. The most prominent theory is that there was more than one shooter, either somewhere else in Dealey Plaza or on the grassy knoll. Other conspiracy theories include cover-ups by the Federal Reserve, the CIA, the Secret Service, Cuban exiles, CIA agent E. Howard Hunt, the Mafia, Lyndon Johnson, the American Fact-Finding Committee, the Soviet Bloc and the Israeli government.

8. The Crystal Skulls

Crystal Skulls
Gaining recent popularity with the release of the newest Indiana Jones movie, the mystery of the Crystal Skulls goes all the way back to 1881 when the first two skulls were found by Mexican mercenaries. Thirteen crystal skulls have been found throughout Central and South America. Possibly the most famous skull ever found is the Mitchel-Hedges Skull, claimed to be found by seventeen year old Anna Mitchel-Hedges while accompanying her father Frederick Albert Mitchel-Hedges on an expedition to what is now Belize. It was later revealed that Mitchel-Hedges bought the skull at an auction at Sotheby’s in London in 1943. The Mitchel-Hedges skull is unique in that it is an anatomically correct representation, complete with a removable mandible. The other famous skull is the British Museum skull, possibly bought by a mercenary in Mexico and then sold to an artifact trader named Eugene Bodan, who sold it to Tiffany’s, who in turn sold it to the British Museum. Other notable crystal skulls include the Paris Skull (which was found at the same time as the British Museum Skull), the Smithsonian Skull, the Mayan Skull, the Amethyst Skull, the Texas Skull (nicknamed Max), the ET Skull (given the nickname because of its pointed cranium and exaggerated overbite), the Rose Quartz Skull, and the Brazilian Skull. (Image: the Mitchell-Hedges Skull.)
Theories
The Crystal Skulls were thought to be carved by the Mayans or the Aztecs for a long time. However, more outlandish theories have emerged over the years. Some theories: that they were created by aliens, that they came from Atlantis or Lemuria, or even that they were left behind by a society that now lives in the hollow center of the earth. Claims that they were carved with technology well beyond the reach of the Mayans and Aztecs have added to their mystery.

7. The Tomb of Vlad Dracula

Vlad Dracule
Most famous as Bram Stoker’s vampire character, Count Dracula, the real Dracula was actually a prince of Wallachia (now part of Romania). A defender against the Turks, he has been portrayed as both a patriotic hero and a ruthless villain. Vlad Dracula was a merciless ruler who impaled and tortured between 40,000 and 100,000 of his enemies, both Turks and fellow countrymen who posed a threat to his power. After three separate reigns, he was killed in battle against the Turks near Bucharest in 1476. The Turks cut off his head and sent it to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed II. The final resting place of the rest of his body is unknown.
Theories
The most widely accepted theory about Vlad’s tomb is that he was buried at the island monastery of Snagov. However, after several archeological excavations of the island, Vlad’s body was not recovered. The other speculation is that Vlad’s body may have been originally buried at the Comana Monastery, however, the monastery was rebuilt in the seventeenth century and no body has ever been found there, either. Another option comes from superstition, because of tales of vampires running rampant in Wallachia at the time- Vlad could have been moved anywhere to protect the monks from being killed in their sleep.

6. The Amber Room

The Amber Room
Originally built in 1701 for the first King of Prussia, it was soon moved to Russia as a gift to Peter the Great, only to be moved again to the Winter Palace by Tsarina Elizabeth. The room covered more than 55 square meters and it took 10 years to construct out of six tons of Baltic amber. When Hitler’s army was encroaching on the Soviet Union, curators tried moving the room once more, but the amber had become brittle, so they hid it behind plain wallpaper. However, the Nazis knew where to look for the famous work of art and soldiers disassembled the room so it could be sent to Konigsberg. Konigsberg Castle was heavily bombed by the Royal Air Force later in the war and was further destroyed by the advancing Soviet Army. Despite some reports eventually getting out that stated that the Amber Room had survived the war, it has never been seen again.
Theories
Some people believe that the Amber Room was destroyed by the bombing and lost forever. However, several other theories have been formulated: that it is still hidden in an underground bunker at Konigsberg, that it is buried in a mine in the Ore Mountains or that it was aboard a submarine or ship in the Baltic Sea that was sunk by the Soviet Navy. In 1997, one stone mosaic that had decorated the room was discovered in Western Germany, in the hands of a family of a soldier who had helped disassemble the Amber Room. The rest of it has never been found, despite several claims to the contrary.

5.The Riddle of the Sphinx

Sphinx Mystery
When one thinks of the Sphinx, they immediately think of the Great Sphinx at Giza, but the Sphinx was a powerful symbol in Greece, Phoenicia and Syria as well. In fact Riddle of the Sphinx originates in Greek legend. According to the ancient Greeks, if a man crossed its path the Sphinx would ask, “What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three in the evening?” If they couldn’t answer, the Sphinx would devour them; however, if they answered correctly, the Sphinx would destroy itself. The only person said to survive an encounter with the Sphinx was the Greek hero Oedipus who answered “man.”
Despite the riddle being solved, the Great Sphinx still poses many questions. How old is it? Who built it? And what was the purpose of the passageways?
Theories
Archeologists have heavily contested the age of the Great Sphinx. Conventional science believes the Sphinx was carved around 2500 BC by the Pharaoh Kafre. However, in 1989, author John Anthony West and geologist Robert M. Schoch determined that it was much older and that Kafre had it remodeled into his likeness. As for the passageways, three have been found already and several non-evasive exploration techniques have uncovered anomalies in the Sphinx that could either be man-made chambers or natural faults in the rock.

4. Jack the Ripper

Jack the ripper
One of the oldest unsolved murder cases in the world, Jack the Ripper instilled fear into the heart of Victorian London and still captures our imagination today. Between August and November 1888, five prostitutes were murdered in Whitechapel, an area in the East End of London. Despite the wealth of Victorian London, the East End was a very impoverished area of the city- home to many Jewish refugees from Russia, Poland and Romania. Whitechapel also had the highest crime rate in the city. Everything about the murders seems to be shrouded in mystery, from the identity of the killer to the letters that were sent to the police. Even the number of victims is under scrutiny. It is generally accepted that there were five victims of Jack the Ripper: Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols (Aug. 31, 1888), Annie Chapman (Sept. 30, 1888), Elizabeth Stride (Sept. 30, 1888), Catherine Eddowes (also Sept. 30, 1888) and Mary Jane (Marie Jeanette) Kelly (Nov. 9, 1888). However, some sources say there were only four victims, while others say there were as many as nine. As for the matter of the letters, it is commonly believed that they were a hoax despite containing graphic details of the murders. Recently it has been thought that Tom Bulling, a journalist from the Central News Agency, wrote the letters. However, some still believe that all, or at least some, of the letters actually were written by the killer, particularly the letter that was sent to George Lusk with half a human kidney. The story of Jack the Ripper had a real effect on, not only the rest of London, but also the entire British Empire. The legend played on the fears that poverty, crime, disease and social unrest were at their doorstep, and Jack the Ripper became the personification of all these evils.
Theories
For the last 120 years the case of the Whitechapel Murderer has been unsolved and this has led to many theories including hundreds of Victorian Londoners. The most accepted suspects are Montague John Druitt, Michael Ostrog, Aaron Kosminski, George Chapman, Thomas Cutbrush and more recently Dr Francis J. Tumblety. Other theorized suspects include Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward (who would later become King Edward VII), author and mathematician Lewis Carroll, Dr. T. Neil Cream, criminal Frederick Deeming, Walter Sickert, poet Francis Thompson and even an unknown woman who was dubbed Jill the Ripper.

3. The Ark of the Covenant

ark of the covenant
The Ark of the Covenant has fascinated people since it was first mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 25. God instructed Moses to construct a Tabernacle where the Israelites could worship God, and inside it would be a special room called the Holy of Holies where the Ark would be placed. Made from acacia wood covered in gold, it was topped with two cherubs whose wings covered what was called the Mercy Seat. It contained three precious artifacts, the two stone tablets that contained the Ten Commandments, the Rod of Aaron and a golden pot of manna. It has also been said that God himself resided between the wings of the two cherubs on the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yum Kippur. The Ark was not only the center of the Israelite faith, but it also had supernatural powers and was able to defeat their enemies.
Theories
The main question we have to ask when talking about the Ark of the Covenant is did it ever really exist. The Ark was supposedly kept in the Temple of Solomon until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and has never been seen again. Then, if it did really exist to begin with, did the Babylonians destroy it or was it moved or captured? The Second Book of the Maccabees and the Book of Revelation state that the Ark no longer exists but there have been claims that it is hidden away in: Mount Nebo in Jordan, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Languedoc in France, Herdewyke in the UK, the Hill of Tara in Ireland and the limestone caves under Mount Tsurugi in Japan.

2. King Arthur


Did one of the most famous kings ever really exist or was his legend just a way to inspire English troops? One of the first times he is mentioned is by a Welsh cleric named Nennius in his Historia Brittonum in the 9th century. However, the most comprehensive account that is known is Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, which dates back to the 12th century. Monmouth claimed that Arthur was unsurpassed in power and diplomacy, a great warrior king who ruled Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Brittany, Normandy and Gaul. Mounmouth’s supposed history is completely false, but that didn’t stop the world from falling in love with and continuing the Arthurian legend.
Theories
While Arthur is a truly mythical king, his legend could have been based on several real people from history. One on the strongest theories was that Arthur was really a Roman commander named Lucius Artorius Castus who led 5,500 Sarmatians in Britain at the end of the second century. Despite the lack of historical evidence, some still believe that King Arthur once ruled Britain and that his tomb is still out there to be found.

1. The Lost Island of Atlantis

atlantis
One of the oldest mysteries in the world, the legend of Atlantis has mystified humanity since ancient times. According to the Greek philosopher Plato, Atlantis was a large island somewhere west of the Pillars of Hercules (the Rock of Gibraltar) and the home of an incredibly advanced civilization known as the Atlanteans. Plato described Atlantis as a place of immense beauty with a palace compound in the center of three ringed canals. He said that every king that inherited the palace would add to it, trying to surpass his predecessor and by doing so they made it a palace that surpassed any other in both beauty and wealth. The Atlanteans themselves were blessed with wealth but at the same they were incredibly ambitious, constantly seeking power. Atlantis is said to have met its end when it was hit by a giant earthquake and swallowed by the sea. But is any of this the truth or is the story of Atlantis just a myth?
Theories
It seems that everyone who has ever studied Greek history has a theory as to Atlantis’ location. Also, many other cultures have stories of a great flood and even the name Atlantis isn’t exclusive to the Greeks: the Basques have Atlaintica, the Vikings have Atli, the Northern Africans have Attala, the Aztecs have Aztlan and on the Canary Islands there are legends of Atalaya. Proposed locations of Atlantis: Santorini in Greece, the Bermuda Triangle, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Tunisia, the Azores archipelago (Portugal), Greece’s Crete and even Sweden. It has also been said that some Atlanteans survived and went on to settle in England (Druids), Hellenic Greece, the New World (Mayas and Incas) and Egypt.

LORD SHIVA

 Lord Shiva

he Powerful God:

Shiva is 'shakti' or power, Shiva is the destroyer, the most powerful god of the Hindu pantheon and one of the godheads in the Hindu Trinity. Known by many names - Mahadeva, Mahayogi, Pashupati, Nataraja, Bhairava, Vishwanath, Bhava, Bhole Nath - Lord Shiva is perhaps the most complex of Hindu deities. Hindus recognize this by putting his shrine in the temple separate from those of other deities.

Shiva As Phallic Symbol:

Shiva, in temples is usually found as a phallic symbol of the 'linga', which represents the energies necessary for life on both the microcosmic and the macrocosmic levels, that is, the world in which we live and the world which constitutes the whole of the universe. In a Shaivite temple, the 'linga' is placed in the center underneath the spire, where it symbolizes the naval of the earth.

A Different Deity:

The actual image of Shiva is also distinct from other deities: his hair piled high on the top of his head, with a crescent tucked into it and the river Ganges tumbling from his hairs. Around his neck is a coiled serpent representing Kundalini or the spiritual energy within life. He holds a trident in his left hand in which is bound the 'damroo' (small leather drum). He sits on a tiger skin and on his right is a water pot. He wears the 'Rudraksha' beads and his whole body is smeared with ash.

The Destructive Force:

Shiva is believed to be at the core of the centrifugal force of the universe, because of his responsibility for death and destruction. Unlike the godhead Brahma, the Creator, or Vishnu, the Preserver, Shiva is the dissolving force in life. But Shiva dissolves in order to create, since death is the medium for rebirth into a new life. So the opposites of life and death and creation and destruction both reside in his character.

The Most Fascinating of Gods:

He is also often portrayed as the supreme ascetic with a passive and composed disposition. Sometimes he is depicted riding a bull called Nandi decked in garlands. Although a very complicated deity, Shiva is one of the most fascinating of Hindu gods.

The God Who's Always High!:

Since Shiva is regarded as a mighty destructive power, to numb his negative potentials he is fed with opium and is also termed as 'Bhole Shankar', one who is oblivious of the world. Therefore, on Maha Shivratri, the night of Shiva worship, devotees, especially the menfolk, prepare an intoxicating drink called 'Thandai' (made from cannabis, almonds, and milk) sing songs in praise of the Lord and dance to the rhythm of the drums.

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Mystic Places: Stonehenge

Introduction

Stonehenge is a megalithic monument on the Salisbury Plain in Southern England, composed mainly of thirty upright stones (sarsens, each over ten feet tall and weighing 26 tons), aligned in a circle, with thirty lintels (6 tons each) perched horizontally atop the sarsens in a continuous circle. There is also an inner circle composed of similar stones, also constructed in post-and-lintel fashion.

Stonehenge Megaliths
In the 1940s and 1950s, Richard John Copland Atkinson proposed that construction occurred in three phases, which he labelled Stonehenge I, II, IIIa, IIIb, and IIIc. This sequence has recently been revised in Archaeological Report (10) published by English Heritage [ Phase I (2950-2900 BCE) ].

Image courtesy of the GoogleEarth [ http://earth.google.com ]
Constructed without the use of draft animals and shaped by stone tools, Stonehenge was erected many miles from the quarry from which the stones came. It is an amazing feat of engineering, and many stories, both old ones and retellings, frequently name Merlin as this engineer. This is due largely to one Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), a historian of the 12th century, who wrote a book titled The History and Topography of Ireland... Explore Stonehenge English heritage.
Stonehenge satellite photo curtsey of © Space Imaging LLC
Stonehenge satellite photo curtsey of © Space Imaging LLC

 
Gerald called Stonehenge "The Giant's Dance," because he had heard stories that giants brought the stones from Africa to Ireland, and built the monument (by some accounts on Mount Kildare, and by others "at Ophela, near the castle of Nas" (O'Meara, ). Later, Gerald said, Aurelius Ambrosius, king of the Britons, had Merlin bring the stones to Britain.
However, the archaeological evidence at Stonehenge simply does not support an Arthurian date of construction. The archaeology points to a construction date between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago (more than likely, several construction dates over this time). Stonehenge is angled such that on the equinoxes and the solstices, the sun rising over the horizon appears to be perfectly placed between gaps in the megaliths. This is doubtless not an accident, and probably contributed to the stories of its mysterious origins.

Photo Courtesy of © Martin Gray

Photo Courtesy of © Martin Gray


Stonehenge: Eclipse Computer?

Plan of Stonehenge with the Aubrey holes, the Heel Stone, and the Station Stones 91, 92, 93, 94 marked (image from Rodney Castleden The Making of Stonehenge. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. p. 30)


Gerald Hawkins, a Professor of Astronomy, concluded that Stonehenge was a sophisticated astronomical observatory designed to predict eclipses (Stonehenge Decoded). The positioning of the stones provides a wealth of information, as does the choice of the site itself. If you can see the alignment, general relationship, and the use of these stones then you will know the reason for the construction. The author, and other astronomers, discovered the 56-year cycle of eclipses by decoding Stonehenge!
 The movement of stones once each year from an initial fixed position allows to predict accurately every important lunar event for hundreds of years. This computer would need resetting about once every 300 years by advancing the stones by one space. Mankind generally used the cycle of the moon as a unit of timekeeping.

The following material was adapted from ECLIPSE by Bryan Brewer
Every year on the first day of summer, the Sun rises at a point that is farther north than on any other day of the year. At the ruins of Stonehenge in England, this solstice sunrise appears on the horizon in direct alignment with the massive heel stone. This is the most outstanding feature of this ancient monument, built during the same era as the Great Pyramid of Egypt. There is little doubt that the builders of Stonehenge used it to mark this special day as the beginning of each year. By counting the number of days between these annual alignments, they could determine the length of the year. This could serve as a practical calendar to mark holidays and seasonal festivals and to ensure the timely planting and harvesting of crops.
But to predict eclipses, knowledge of two other cycles is required. One of these -- the length of the lunar month -- is easily determined. It is simply the number of days between one full Moon and the next. This cycle of 29-1/2 days is marked at Stonehenge by two rings of 29 and 30 holes, which together average 29-1/2. The other cycle, however, is of an altogether different character: it is a cycle of rotation of two invisible points in space. The evidence shows that the builders of Stonehenge probably discovered this cycle and could have used it to predict eclipses.
These two invisible points in space are called the lunar nodes (from the Latin for "knot"). They are the points where the Moon's orbit, which is tilted at a slight angle, intersects the plane of the Earth's orbit. It would have taken many decades of watching countless risings and settings of the Moon to figure out the cycle of the lunar nodes. This information -- which must have been passed on from generation to generation -- is preserved at Stonehenge. All the Moon alignments necessary for determining this cycle are marked by massive stones.
Who were these people who observed this subtle cycle even before the first metal tools were used by humankind? Some have suggested that Stonehenge was built by Druids, but we don't really know much about the builders. We do know that the actual motions of the Sun and the Moon are reflected in the structure of Stonehenge, and we can reason how it may have been used to keep track of these cycles. The number of stones or holes in the ground in the various rings around Stonehenge each represents a certain number of days or years in the cycles. By moving markers (such as stones) around a ring in time with the cycles, the positions of the Sun and Moon -- and the two invisible points -- can be tracked. (The details of this method are explained in Chapter 2 of the book ECLIPSE, by Bryan Brewer.)
An eclipse can occur only when the Sun is close to being aligned with a node. By using Stonehenge to keep track of the position of the Sun and the nodes, these "danger periods" for eclipses can be predicted. A new (or full) Moon appearing during one of these periods would call for a special vigil to see if the solar (or lunar) eclipse would be visible from Stonehenge. A total solar eclipse would be a rarity. But the law of averages confirms that either a partial solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse can be seen (weather permitting) from the same point on the Earth about once every year.
Why would eclipses have been so important to the ancient people of Stonehenge? Perhaps they considered the darkening of the Sun or the Moon a fearsome event -- a celestial omen of doom or disaster. Many cultures have interpreted eclipses this way. But the sophistication of the astronomy of Stonehenge suggests that the builders had something different in mind. Their understanding of the solar and lunar cycles must have led to a high regard for the cosmic order. Eclipses may have been seen as affirmations of the regularity of these cycles. Or perhaps the unseen lunar nodes formed an element of their religion as invisible gods capable of eclipsing the brightest objects in the heavens.
The idea that Stonehenge may have been a center for some kind of worship has occurred to many. It is not hard to imagine Stone Age people gathering at a "sacred place" at "sacred times" (such as solstices, equinoxes, and eclipses) to reaffirm their religious beliefs through ritual practices. British antiquarian Dr. William Stukeley, who in 1740 was the first to note the summer solstice alignment at Stonehenge, advanced the notion that the monument was built by Druids to worship the serpent. He claimed that Stonehenge and similar stone circles had been serpent temples, which he called "Dracontia." Could this serpent symbolism be related to eclipses? Recall that the key to eclipses is the position of the lunar nodes. The length of time for the Moon to return to a node (about 27.2 days) astronomers call the draconic month. (Draco is the Latin word for "serpent" or "dragon.) Perhaps the mythical serpents of Stonehenge and the legendary dragon that eats the Sun are symbols of the same thing: the invisible presence in time and space that eclipses the Sun and the Moon.
The material above was adapted from ECLIPSE by Bryan Brewer

Modern scientific investigations show that Earth has been hit many times by objects such as comets and meteorites. Laboratory work on comet impact effects demonstrates that comets could cause tidal waves to exceed three miles tall and near 400 miles per hour. In the last 10,000 years, there have been two impacts of such proportion: a seven-fold impact into all the world's oceans around 7640 B.C., and a single impact into the Mediterranean Sea about 3150 B.C., the time of Noah's Flood.
Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas (Uriel's Machine) prove that ancient Europeans not only survived the 7640 B.C. flood, but developed a highly advanced civilization dedicated to predicting and preparing for future meteoric impacts. Building an international network of sophisticated astronomical observatories, these ancient astronomers created accurate solar, lunar, and planetary calendars, measured the diameter of the Earth, and precisely predicted comet collisions years in advance. This was the true purpose of megalithic structures such as Stonehenge. In 3150 B.C., the ancients' predictions proved true, and their device- Uriel's Machine-allowed the reconstruction of civilization in a shattered world.
Uriel's Machine also presents evidence that:
* There was a single global language on Earth
* A single female was a common ancestor to all living humans
* Angels bred with human women to create The Watchers, giant half-human beings
* The oral tradition of Freemasonry records real events
A fascinating study of humankind's past, present, and future, Urie/'s Machine proves the world was indeed flooded, but survived wholly due to these ancient Europeans, their heavenly knowledge, and one remarkable machine.

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

BLACK HOLES MYSTERY

The Nature of Black Holes and Quasars

by Doug Yurchey
Is Stephen Hawking right? Is Professor Leonard Susskind of Stanford correct? Does matter disappear in a Black Hole? If we accept the principle that information-matter-energy wipes out of existence in the center of a Black Hole and, eventually, the Black Hole itself will disappear altogether...well, wait a minute: What happened to all the stuff that was swallowed by the vortex? How can material dematerialize and be gone from our real universe? Does not this break the basic Law of Physics that Matter/Energy cannot be destroyed, and only change in form?
For Black Holes to do what they do, all the laws of Physics must be off! Things just vaporizing should not, normally, happen. Where is the balance in nature? If there is a Yin, there must also be a Newtonian Yang; action, reaction. If you go up, you must come down. How can we believe in anything if our basic principles of nature are not within firm foundation?
The entire concept of a Black Hole, zapping matter and even light-energy out of existence, must disturb the very core of the physical scientist. How can this be? Yet, there is all the evidence for the existence of 3D, space-suckers that pull in matter from every direction to a single point. Einstein's prediction of Black Holes was realized. We know for certain of vast multitudes of Black Holes that warp space/time. Many of these powerful vacuums are truly extracting material from suns close to the vortex.
Black Holes should not exist, yet they do. How can our world ever be trusted or ever be the same again? Before astro-physicists and theoretical scientists freak-out, they should consider that the answers to many of these questions have been with us all along.


WHAT HAPPENS IN A BLACK HOLE, STAYS IN A BLACK HOLE!

We should not extrapolate that if it occurs in a Black Hole, then it could happen here on the streets or anywhere. The Laws of Physics are not the same everywhere. The physical laws of riding on a light beam are very different than the laws governing the stationary world. Because one can zap out of existence there, does not mean one can disintegrate here.
There is a phenomenon in space, on the outer edges of the known/observable universe, that functions as a REVERSE BLACK HOLE or the opposite of a Black Hole. The following is a letter to one of the participants in the great, on-going, cosmological debate: Professor Leonard Susskind.
From: Doug Yurchey
Date: 10/22/06 21:51:00
To: susskind@stanford.edu
Subject: just saw you on TV
Hello Professor Susskind,

Just saw the documentary on TV concerning Black Holes, with yourself and Stephen Hawking...and I wanted to run a few ideas by you. Do objects disappear from our universe via Black Holes? Yes, and this does not break the Law that matter or energy cannot be destroyed. The matter or information pouring into Black Holes truly leaves our world, but does not get destroyed. They are not the same thing. The matter is not destroyed in a singularity at the end of a FUNNEL called a Black Hole. The info-matter goes somewhere! Black Holes are funnels, but they do not terminate; not in a final, crushing sense. It terminates as an 'aperture.' What is at the end of just about every funnel I know? A HOLE!
The info-matter-energy through a Black Hole leaves our universe...and comes out another universe.
I believe there is EVIDENCE to answer the big question as to: What eventually happens to the matter through a Black Hole? I think there is something in physics that is the beautiful and perfect answer - maybe, I should say: something in the universe. It would appear the very opposite of a Black Hole! It would certainly not be BLACK, but busting out with ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF ENERGY! As Black Holes suck in from all angles, this thing would shoot out energy-matter in all directions. These energy-orbs would be total anomalies with vast amounts of energy that other stellar bodies do not have. Is there something, on the outer edges of our universe, that EMITS INCREDIBLE AMOUNTS OF ENERGY? They would be relatively small, yet be AMAZING, FOUNTAINS OF ENERGY that rival the amount of many galaxies.
Of course, you know what I am talking about Prof. Susskind...QUASARS...they are White Holes and are the other-ends of Black Holes! If you think this is a revelation of a Black Hole, look at it from the Quasar's point of view. It's not an object, it's a HOLE! Is that not a more logical explanation, when you consider the gobs of stuff JUST APPEARING, and radiating out in all directions from NOTHINGNESS? They are producing matter-energy as Black Holes are hoovering them away. Quasars are holes or drains as universal stuff from the sink pours down to a micro-universe, and so on and so on...
Why has no one in Astronomy, Physics, etc ever placed QUASARS on the other-end of BLACK HOLES? Go in a Black Hole, come out a Quasar. Yin, Yang. Up, Down. No energy lost, it just switched levels. Is it just too inconceivable that universes are within universes? Planets and suns ARE orbitting, molecular bodies, to someone - it's all relative.
I believe the closest person to the truth in a Unified Field Theory of Everything was DR. SEUSS! He wrote 'Horton Hears a Who?' A master work of life on many levels - all at different SIZES. Life in a dust speck, and within that life is a dust speck with life... Black Holes could be the means to bridge these worlds - I personally believe we survive a Black Hole crossing in the same way we are not aware we're all moving at light-speed NOW.
I also believe the universe curves in these WARPED WAYS, we have to ski the curves of space if we traverse the universe and that higher life forms out there DO use these warps in one, big transit system. Maybe what we assume is a natural phenomenon, just appears that way...and was actually artificially created and might still be in use.
Just some ideas for you to chew on. Hope you make contact. If you could pass on this email to your friend/rival Stephen, I WOULD BE THRILLED!...to hear any comments, thanks.
Doug Yurchey
(818) 407-8877

Before seeing the Science Channel documentary challenging the work of Hawking, this writer was not a fan of Stephen Hawking. To imagine a 'singularity,' where, at the end of a Black Hole, all things are CRUSHED...I thought was an absurd, fantastic idea that could not possibly be true. The 'singularity' professor became world famous, even appearing on Star Trek TNG because of a faulty theory.
Now, I appreciate Hawking much more for 'sticking to his guns' no matter what his colleagues believed. Matter-information WAS disappearing out of existence! The math, the evidence, truly reveals the 'funneling' nature of Black Holes. The problem is discovering the ultimate outcome of what is caught within the grasp of the vortex.
Hawking's (and mine) personal hero is Galileo, another stubborn fellow who went where the physical evidence took him; damn the critics!
Fairly recently, Hawking gave a talk where he refuted his earlier work of an 'Information Paradox.' Basically, his new explanation was that other universes exist that do not have Black Holes! Somehow, this idea balances the universes (like ours) that have Black Holes.
This writer does not mean to question Professor Hawking, but that does not seem to balance the Universe. What we should be searching for is a YANG to a Black Hole's YIN. An anomaly in nature that inexplicably gushes with an extraordinary quantity of energy-matter-information in all directions is what balances the Black Hole Equation. Where are the incredible fountains of energy that radiate something from nothing as Black Holes reduce something to nothing?
The beautiful solution, on the other side of the Equation, is the mysterious Quasar. Quasars are just as bizarre and as space/time bending as Black Holes. Black Holes equal negative Quasars and the reverse is true. The 'event horizon' of a Black Hole must correspond to the 'aperture' of a Quasar, its opposite counterpart.
Quasi-Stellar Objects stand at the extreme, distant reaches of the known universe. When we observe these incredibly powerful phenomenon, we are actually viewing the other side of Black Holes. Relativity; depending on what side of the 'aperture' you are, that determines your view. Possibly, and logically: It is the Quasar that resides at the far end of a Black Hole Funnel. (Tunnel).
From our universe, an object enters the flow of a Black Hole as a particle caught in a vortex like water down a drain. Unbelievably...the object is SHRUNK, without harm, to a universe on our atomic level. [Remember: the atomic level is relative. One's micro-universe is another one's Macro-Universe].
But, from that other microscopic world, looking back at the aperture (Black Hole center) we would observe a Quasar, a White Hole.
How can this writer jump to the conclusion that entities or material things thrust through the awesome Black Hole would survive the journey? When we photograph some Quasars, there are huge jets of matter-debris-energy stretched and extending out the distance of many light-years. It is reasonable that these 'jets' are material planets and whole solar systems shooting out the Quasar at incredible speeds. Examine the jet in the above photographic negative. Something has been expelled.
But, all is relative. Those upon the jet, whatever it is, are not being squashed or threaded. It is only our VIEW that shows the stretching. For example, you have seen high-speed photographs of a fast-moving baseball or tennis ball. The camera has captured a relative moment of the orb's motion and the object appears STRETCHED. The sphere is no longer spherical, but a LINE. The truth is the ball is fine and undamaged. By the same token, ourselves and our planet are really traveling at unfathomable velocities, yet we observe a relatively stationary world. Gravity Waves (another Einstein prediction that came true) also warp all of the physical universe constantly. Yet, we remain intact and unharmed with only the illusion of an unwavering world.
Nearly everything that applies to traversing a Black Hole can also be said for traveling at light-speed. Passengers in light-beam saucers certainly survive the hyper jumps through space. To the crew moving at warp-speed, they are not moving at all; it is the universe that beams in the opposite direction!
It is possible to 'run-off' or leave our universe by traveling the speed of light and beyond. The speed of light is a physical-limit to our world. Everything within our particular, small realm called the OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE...travels from 0 to the speed of light-limit. Go faster, (which IS possible) and you move to the NEXT universe going that direction also at the speed of light. [Read: Doug Yurchey's 'Light-Speed Universes' article]. A stationary world would suddenly APPEAR around you, to you the light-speeder.
One can go faster than light, but not within one universe. The speed of light is the ultimate Speed Limit to (probably) each of the universes. There are certainly ways to fold time/space and not experience Time-Dilation by going around it.
Conclusion: Here is another way that matter/information/life/things can DISAPPEAR from our world. They can run-off our universe by moving very, very, very fast! This also means that matter/information/life/things can APPEAR or enter our world by simply traveling beyond their world's light-speed...disappearing from that world...and materializing here.
Either falling through a hole or running off the page, we can entirely leave this place and not be destroyed.
Returning to Black Holes/Quasars, notice how Quasars are always perfectly round without detail. Quasars are not nebulae, clusters or galaxies. Scientists and astronomers regard these Quasi-Stellar-Objects as objects. Because they appear 'stellar' does not mean they are, in truth, real starlike concentrations that are commonly known. Quasars' red-shifts go off the charts. They do not function similar to any stellar objects. One could say, Quasars are too distant to reveal any kind of details. Or, they are not objects at all...but, NEGATIVE SPACES.
If a hole is drilled through a wooden board and light was beamed through the hole, it might seem as if a round 'object' radiated with light-energy. The same idea of mistaking a hole for an object could be what keeps scientists from understanding the true nature of Quasars and their counterparts, Black Holes.
Have I solved the mystery of Black Holes and Quasars? Quantum Mechanics tends to argue against the idea that we are aboard an Earth-electron orbiting our sun, an atomic nucleus. Yet, the Field of Everything is Unified; stars and planets are different combinations of molecules! Time is relative on each of the levels. What is that larger world like which we are only the size of sub-atomic particles? And, the answer must be: Probably, the same type of universe as our smaller world.
Quantum Mechanics does not have all the answers and might be in error. Could the principle of Quantum Mechanics learn a few things from Dr. Seuss?

THE SACRED VOICE

The Sacred Voice

By Susan Elizabeth Hale
Within each of us is a sacred architecture and music that many ignore: your singing voice. This voice contains our deepest feelings, our spiritual longings, our hopes, fears and personal truths. Singing is the most personalized form of musical expression. It involves the diaphragm, chest, heart, lungs, throat, tongue, face—the exposed frontal part of our bodies where our deepest emotions are stored. When we sing we become a resonator, an instrument vibrating with the beauty of tone. We feel song vibrate through our entire system, linking body, mind, emotion, soul and spirit. We are the only species that can change from spoken language into song.

I have sung in some of the world’s most magnificent acoustic spaces, from the prehistoric cave of Lascaux, Chartres Cathedral and the Great Pyramid of Giza. This journey has taken me deep inside the mysteries of the voice, to the understanding of the voice as a holy instrument. Our voices, available to us at every moment, are the only instruments that can change shape. Through the malleability of the physical architecture through which the voice sounds, resonant chambers are created that resemble caves, cathedral naves, and arches. Perhaps our own inherent physical structures provided the inspiration for sacred architecture. For instance the interior of the Red Pyramid of Dashur in Egypt is the shape of the nasal cavity. In Luxor, in the Holy of Holies at the Temple of Man also corresponds to the nasal cavity. Its Egyptian name “shtyt” is also the same word which means both “sacred” and “hidden” and is “...connected to the sympathetic and vagus nerves.”1 When resonated through the repeated stimulation of the nasal cavity through chanting, particularly the letters M, N and mantras such as Om, altered states of consciousness are possible. Behind the nose and between the eyes, the magnetite mineral magnetite is deposited close to the pineal and pituitary glands of the spongy bone in the center of the head.

“M’ is a primordial sound from which other sounds are generated. In creation myths throughout the world song or sound brings life. For the Keres people, a pueblo culture living along the Rio Grande in New Mexico the world began when Spider Woman shaped the world through humming and singing. “This was how the directions came to be, how the seasons came to be.” This myth points to an important biological fact. Humming is one of our first sounds. It is the sound of nourishment, of bonding with the mother. This sound is universal to humans and animals alike. In the beginning Spider Woman hummed life into being. Through her song she shaped the world. Mountains, rivers, elm trees and oaks came into form. Human development shares the same metaphor as this Laguna Pueblo myth. Humming is a universal sound, one of the first sounds we make while breast feeding.

“M” is a sound associated with the Mother realm. Consider the many different words for mother around the world: Mama, Amma, Madre, Mutter, Mater, Ma. “Mmm,” is a sound of bonding that transcends species. Cows and sheep bellow or bleat a deep low “Mmm” after giving birth to signal that it is time to nurse. “M’ is the automatic sound of satisfaction, of a body saying that a chocolate covered strawberry is delicious. “M” is a connecting sound. A good therapist knows this instinctively and has a variety of ways to say “Um Hmmm” to let their clients know that they are understood.

“M” is the only letter in the English alphabet that is internal. “M’ is a nourishing sound made with the lips closed which keeps tones circulating inside the mouth and into the body cavity, feeding the brain and quieting the nervous system. Place your hand on the top of your head while you hum and you will feel it immediately begin to vibrate. Humming helps clean the brain by bringing the skull into vibration which helps waste particles move through the blood/brain barrier.

Humming while changing the position of the tongue inside the mouth generates harmonics which many sound healers believe to be necessary for healing. As we have seen from the example in Egypt at the Temple of Man “M” also vibrates the nasal cavity. Author Hans Hickman observed that incantations are often associated with double hieroglyphs for H and N which would produce a nasal sound when chanted.

We are built in the proportions of the golden mean, a ratio found within every natural form. We create relationships through our voices to others and to the space itself. Through the intoning of vowels harmonics are created that add more magic and mystery when we hear them reverberate through our bodies and join with a sacred space, be it a chamber grave or a cathedral. The golden mean ratio was used in many of the compositions of German mystic and composer Hildegard of Bingen. Composer and mathematician, Pozzi Escot charted the notes of one of Hildegard’s pieces in a three-dimensional form and found that it resembled a Gothic cathedral, illustrating that the “...shape of the building in which the chant was sung was the same shape as the chant itself.”2 Initially Gregorian chant was monophonic and then began to move above the melody line in parallel fifths. The perfect fifth, with its characteristic open sound, is the first harmonic in the overtone series. This earliest form of western musical harmony occurred, believes the late composer and author Kay Gardner, when“...the singers, chanting in highly resonant stone cathedrals and monasteries, were hearing the fifth naturally occurring as a harmonic above a single melody line... soon they began singing what they heard.”3
Voice is a portable instrument that can create vowels, the emotional and sacred content of speech which is also the earliest speech both in babies and in early humans. Singing vowels in sacred sites creates magical experiences. Vowels are the only parts of the alphabet that are created by breath, the spiritual animating principle of life. In the sacred languages of Hebrew and Egyptian vowels were not written but intoned, making them come alive through harmonics. For example in mystical Jewish writings, Abraham, the Patriarch of the Jews, was said to have “...bound the letters of the Torah to his tongue...he drew them in water, kindled them with fire, agitated them with breath.”4 A Jewish meditative text, The Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation, says there are about “...sextillion possible permutations of all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This is very close to the number of stars in the observable universe”5 Hebrew letters equate to numbers, sounds and notes of the scale. The Sefer Yetzirah instructs the reader to engrave them with the voice, carve them on the breath and set the letters the mouth in five places for the five dimensions, the five vowels, and the five phonetic families. The first word of the Torah is Bereshit, which means “In the beginning.” It ushers in all of Creation. Bereshit contains five types of sounds: labial, labial-dental, palatal, silibant, and guttural.

Each of the Hebrew alphabets twenty-two letters has a distinctive sound. “Mmm” for example,is the sound for the labial letter Mem. As we have shown this mothering sound hums and relaxes. Different states of consciousness are associated with each sound, from the ten Sefirot of the Kabalistic Tree of Life. Mem is like water; it calms the mind and puts one in touch with the watery world of Wisdom called Hokhmah. Every possible vowel combination is intoned in the process. For example: sha ma, sha me, sha mi, sha mo, sho ma.

While our earliest sound as an infant may be the sound M associated with the mother, vowels are also our earliest sounds conveying both pleasure, surprise and pain. Vowels form sacred geometry as can be shown through the science of cymatics, a process of seeing the shapes of sound. Vowels are the primordial seeds of speech, gateways through which both emotion and spiritual experience are conveyed. Instinctively we express ourselves through vowels. For example we express awe, reverence and compassion through an AH, the sound seed that resonates the heart. Allelujah, Amen, Allah all come from this wonder of the AH. This sound of awe is mirrored architecturally in the ogive, a shape that made gothic architecture possible.

The entire human language is born into us. Every possible musical combination exists in the mouth, jaw, palate and tongue. What we hear becomes what we speak as the same neural pathways are used over and over. “The very word language derives from the Latin lingua meaning ‘tongue.’ ” 6 Because we practice and select the sounds of our Mother tongue, eventually we lose our ability to make vocal sounds from other languages easily. Infinite variations of sound and pitch exist within us through the soundboards of our vocal structure.

Cymatics has also shown that sound is spherical and that each vowel and tone has its own inherent sacred geometry. When we sing we shape the air. Though we can’t see this with the naked eye, the sonic energy we create through our voices infuses the air with our animated breath and is sent out into the world. Sound matters. For Mayan people “the belief was that the seasons didn’t bring the birds, but rather the birds’ language of magical sounds brought about seasonal changes in temperature and moisture.”7 This coincides with Rudolf Steiner’s teaching that bird song in spring was necessary to bring plants into bloom. John Michell has proposed that in ancient Britain a tradition of perpetual choirs existed with the purpose of enchanting the land. 24 hours a day sonic energy generated from this choir of twelve monks brought nourishment to the land. We are the ultimate instrument. As we explore the sacred spaces within us and open to our own internal sound pathways, I believe we can harmonize with spirit and the world around us. We live in a time when we are out of tune with nature and with our biological needs. Our nervous system, and indeed the nervous system of the planet, is over stimulated by artificial sounds that create stress. Electricity, cell phones, computers, wireless technology, traffic, fluorescent lights, sirens, all emit frequencies that are damaging to our physical, emotional and spiritual health. Many species of animals, birds, frogs, that help to tune our world are endangered. Surely it is time again to reclaim our natural heritage as singers. Like Spider Woman we can begin the day by humming and singing, renewing our world and opening up to new possibilities of expanded consciousness and deeper connection with the world around and within us.

1 John Anthony West, The Serpent in the Sky: Wisdom of Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson, New York, 2000, p. 89.
2 Kay Gardner, Sounding the Inner Landscape: Music as Medicine, Caduceus Publications, Stonington, ME, 1990, p. 109.
3 Ibid, p. 222.
4 Aryeh Kaplan, The Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation, Weiser, York Beach, ME., 1997, p. 90.
5 Ibid, p. 193.
6 James D’Angelo, article “Voice Power, Atlantis Rising, Issue Number 55, Jan.-Feb., 2006.
7 Martin Prectel, Secrets of the Talking Jaguar: A Mayan Shaman’s Journey into the Heart of the Indigenous Soul, New York, Tarcher, 1998.


Harmonic Hum

Close your eyes.
Close your lips and hum into the whole body by dropping the jaw and feeling the resonance move downwards.

Hum on ‘M’ sound. Listen and feel where and how you feel the vibration.

Add ‘O’ internally and play with the two sounds.

Keeping the lips closed experiment with moving the tongue inside the mouth while also changing the shape of the mouth and hear harmonics begin to emerge. Explore. Where do you feel these sounds vibrating? Notice how they resonate.

Move the tongue up and down the palate and notice how this automatically changes the sound and the harmonics.

Continue to explore the harmonic hum for at eight minutes.

At the end of the practice gather the saliva in your mouth and swish it and then swallow in three portions with the intention that the saliva has collected the sonic blossoms and healing properties of the sounds and drink it as if you were taking in a nourishing healing liquid. Imagine sending it throughout your body, focusing on those areas in need of healing.

Susan Elizabeth Hale M. A., is an internationally renowned music therapist, sound healer and author. Her latest book is Sacred Space, Sacred Sound: The Acoustic Mysteries of Holy Places. She is a seminar leader, teacher and guide, helping people to explore their sacred paths and find and free the natural voice.
For information on Susan’s CD
Circle the Earth with Song
and upcoming events including
free tele-seminars go to:

www.songkeeper.net 

Advance Praise for
Sacred Space, Sacred Sound
The Acoustic Mysteries of Holy Places
Susan Elizabeth Hale
Foreword by Don Campbell

July 2007 ▪ ISBN 0-8356-0856-5 ▪ 6x9 ▪ 286 pp
Together we stood in awe in the Gallery of Bulls in the prehistoric cave of Lascaux. No more words. No more questions. Only five trembling humans, strangers from different countries, forever linked to this place…Sounds rose from within. The cave was telling me how to sing…I heard an echo, my voice reflected back by the bison, no longer just my voice, but the bison’s voice, the voice of the cave itself.

There is a fundamental human need to create sacred spaces where sound reverberates to commune with the ancestors and give praise to the Divine. Ancient people recognized the importance of sound and sought out resonant caves to perform rituals. Modern-day temples and cathedrals were built to enhance sound and music. We build sacred places to house music, to hear ourselves and Spirit more clearly, and to create relationship between the seen and the unseen worlds within and around us.

“The voice itself is a cathedral,” says Susan Elizabeth Hale, author of Sacred Space, Sacred Sound. “We are sound chambers resonating with the One Song.” The first of its kind to approach sacred architecture from a perspective of sound and consciousness, this book explores the acoustics of sacred space as an avenue for understanding. It is about music powerful enough to transform us into a greater reality. Based on Susan’s life-long experience as a singer, 27 years as a music therapist, and 10 years of journeys across the globe researching sacred sites, this work discusses the desecration and disharmony of our current world while demonstrating how people are building new sacred sites with resonant qualities.

At last, a true adventurer in music healing addresses how sacred spaces hold the power of sound to give us a sense of the ineffable.
----Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect.
The ancient wisdom of all great civilizations was very much aware of the profound relationship between mind, sound and environment, and the according impact upon emotional and physical health. Spiritual elders would regularly take their people to sacred spaces for meditation, chanting, and prayer. We call this activity “pilgrimage.” Whether Tibet or India, Greece or the Americas, the idea of the beneficial effects of sacred activity in sacred spaces was ubiquitous.
Somehow this wisdom got lost in the 20th century, with its seemingly endless wars, and the utilitarian vision of the earth as being merely an object of human plunder.
Susan Hale’s book is an auspicious omen, a peacock in a lotus garden, signifying that perhaps in the 21st century humanity will come to its senses and once more appreciate the transformative power of sacred sites, the healing energies of power places, and how body, speech and mind become one in the sacred trinity of sacred space, healing sound and uncontrived spirit.
Glenn H. Mullin, author of over 20 books and co-producer of five audio recordings of  Tibetan sacred music, including Blavatsky's Tibet: Sacred Power Places and their Spiritual Mysteries


Susan Hale takes us on a spiritual autobiographical sound journey and re-enchants the world around us. She profoundly heightens our awareness of the natural processes and the creation of living forms through sound while easily supplying a wealth of knowledge of the sound phenomena and the history of the sacred sites. She personally introduces us to significant figures in the field of sound research and music who offer their insights and wisdom.
This is a deeply heartfelt sonic travelogue that presents us with familiar landscapes and great architectural spaces and transforms them into magical, enthralling temples of harmony. Like an intuitive acoustic archaeologist, Hale writes so totally from deep personal experience that we are brought into the living presence of the sacred spaces from around the world. Sacred Space, Sacred Sound lends fresh meaning to the word "sacred" and is a glorious hymn to both the ecstasy and serenity to be found in great architectural spaces and Nature itself.
James D'Angelo, PhD, author, The Healing Power of the Human Voice; editor, Caduceus Magazine
In Sacred Space, Sacred Sound Susan Hale describes her awakening and enlivening experiences of listening to and singing with songs perceptible in places and spaces made holy by hundreds of years of prayer and sacred rite and intention. In this perceptive, beautifully and poetically written account, she also encourages us to listen to and dialogue with the unique vibrations of all of creation immediately surrounding us, thus creating a holy and respect-filled relationship.
Katharine Le Mée, author of Chant: The Origins, Form, Practice, and Healing Power of Gregorian Chant and The Benedictine Gift to Music


Susan Elizabeth Hale's exploration of sound in the context of the world's sacred places leads inexorably to the conclusion that what we commonly think of as consciousness must be more expansive. It is, in fact, the ground state of the universe and through resonance and harmony we can experience a genuine unity. My own experience of meditation and sound in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid at Giza confirms Hale's revelatory message in this remarkable book.
Richard Geldard, author of The Traveler's Key to Ancient Greece and the forthcoming Parmenides and the Way of Truth


Susan Elizabeth Hale explores the primal role of sonics in ancient cultures, in our communion with the spirits of Nature, and indeed in every dimension of our life on Earth. Through the lens of personal experience, she reveals the sacred science hidden behind the song, music and speech of the various religions of the world. Sacred Space is an impressive study of the transcendental power of sound.
Victoria LePage, author of Shambhala: The Fascinating Truth behind the Myth of Shangri-La

DATING YOUR PAST




Investigation of the Correctness of the Historical Dating

by Wieslaw Z. Krawcewicz, Gleb V. Nosovskij and Petr P. Zabreiko
Copyright © 2002 New Tradition Sociological society, All Rights Reserved
Reprinted with Permission
In modern times mathematics has become an inseparable part of human culture, in which it plays a fundamental role. Throughout the centuries mathematics has been a crucial tool in the hands of mankind. It has allowed us to understand the fundamental principles of the universe, for example Newton's law of gravity, Einstein's equivalence of mass and energy, Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism, the laws of quantum mechanics for elementary particles, and even the Big Bang theory. The advances in interplanetary exploration and rapid development of computer technology wouldn't have been possible without mathematics.
Scientists, in their struggle to improve our understanding, have untangled the principal problems of biology and unveiled the secrets of life. However, the times when it was sufficient for a biologist to know only elementary arithmetic and graphs of functions are long gone. Today, they need much more advanced mathematics like linear and multilinear algebras, mathematical analysis, the theory of differential and functional equations, statistics and discrete mathematics. Branches of biology like genetics or ecology are considered as parts of mathematics. Mathematics also opens new possibilities for medicine. Mathematical models are used to understand our bodies and to find optimal treatment for diseases.
More and more mathematics is used in the social sciences like economics, psychology, sociology, demography, social epidemiology and criminology. Not surprisingly, mathematics is also trying to make its contribution in history, where it addresses a very serious problem of reliability of the accounts of historical events. How can we be sure that the historical events that we learn about in school or from books really took place? Maybe some of them are simply fairy tales that, because of some mysterious circumstances, are considered now to be historical facts.

History of the Global Chronology

The fundamental question that should be asked is what is the origin of our historical knowledge. We all learned our history at school and generally accepted it as a true description of the actual events. However, even in our lifetime some of the recent historical events that we witnessed are not always described in the way we remember them. How can we be sure that the description of the events that took place centuries ago is accurate? Moreover, why should we believe that these historical events really happened at the time and place that is allocated to them? In order to answer these questions we must look at the history of history.
The early historians (for example Thucydides, Herodotus, Ssu-ma Ch'ien and others) were describing history of small territories over short periods of time. Ancient and medieval manuscripts that are available today usually present accounts of events in separate countries over a time scale of no more than one or two centuries. The fundamental problem encountered by historians in 16th and 17th centuries working on reconstruction of the global history of mankind was putting together in chronological order all of the manuscripts, chronicles and other historical documents to obtain a unified and consistent account of all historical events. This was an extremely difficult problem for that time. The main obstacle was that most of the manuscripts were not dated, or used an unknown or archaic system of dating, and contained only a description of a sequence of successive events. It should be stressed out that the most of historical documents that we have today, related to ancient and medieval times, are not original but only copies made some time ago, often under suspicious circumstances.
The idea of reconstructing global history emerged during the late Renaissance. The official historical chronology, presently commonly acknowledged, was originated by the Italian theologian and scientist I. Scaliger (1540-1609). He determined the exact dates of the most important historical events like the Peloponnesian War, Trojan War, founding of Rome, etc., but did not prove none of his dates. His followers continued this work and it is commonly accepted that the official chronology was given its final shape by D. Petavius (1583-1652). It is strange that other historians, in spite of the scientific advantages, very rarely modified the dates of the basic historical events assigned by Scaliger and Petavius.
In summary, according to Scaliger, Petavius and their followers, the events of the ancient world took place from about 3,500 years B.C. till the fifth century A.D. As their results were never independently confirmed, there is an outstanding question of the credibility of this chronology. By the way, not all of the statements made by Scaliger turned out to be true, as for example, his geometrical proof of the quadrature of the circle , which he defended ferociously all his life.

Critics of the Traditional Chronology

Even among scholars, not all contemporaries of Scaliger and Petavius, supported their chronology. For example, in the sixteenth century D. Arcilla, a professor of Salamanca University in Spain, claimed that all ancient history was a fabrication made in the middle ages. The director of the French Royal Library, Jean Hardouin (1646-1729) declared that practically all the antiquities and ancient texts were created (or falsified) after 12th century. The most famous scientist of that epoch, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), was also against the chronology of Scaliger and Petavius. Newton published a large monograph entitled "The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended," in which he re-dated key ancient events by shifting them several hundreds years forward. There were many more scientists, philologists, historians, and jurists who objected to the chronology of Scaliger and Petavius. We should also mention recent and contemporary critics of the conventional chronology in Germany, including W. Kammeier, H. Illig, U. Topper, H-U. Niemitz, G. Heinsohn, and C. Blцss (see [13,14,15]).

Nicolai A. Morozov and His Version of Chronology

The first scholar who suggested new powerful methods to correct chronological mistakes, was prominent Russian scientist N.A. Morozov (1854-1946). He published a fundamental monograph composed of seven large volumes, entitled "Christ. History of Human Culture from the Standpoint of the Natural Sciences" (see [1]). Morozov analyzed in it the conventional chronology using the latest discoveries in mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, philology and geology. He suggested a new version of the global chronology and a historical reconstruction. According to N.A. Morozov all the ancient events occurred after 3rd century AD.

Anatoly T. Fomenko and His Version of Chronology

In 1970s at the Moscow State University, a group of young mathematicians undertook the task of the verification and further development of Morozov's research in global chronology. One of them, Professor A.T. Fomenko introduced several new methods of independent dating and after several years of investigation he proposed a new version of global chronology, which was even more radical that the version of N.A. Morozov. He claimed that the recorded history of mankind started not earlier than the year 900 AD, while the majority of historical events, which make our history, refer to the time after the year 1300 AD (see [2,3]).

The New Chronology

In collaboration with G.V. Nosovskij, A.T. Fomenko continued his work on the development of new independent scientific methods for dating of ancient events. In 1993-1996, completely new results were established by them on the chronology of Russia and China. Their work resulted in stating the New Chronology, which is a new concept of the global chronology and history. It is based on the chronological version of A.T. Fomenko, to which new proofs and improvements were introduced. It led to the further shifting of the "starting point" of the known history to the 11th century AD (see [6,7,8]).
We should mention an important pillar of this theory, which is the astronomical dating of the Ptolemy's Star Catalogue in "Almagest" obtained by A.T. Fomenko, V.V. Kalashnikov and G.V. Nosovskij (see [4]). In the conventional chronology the epoch of Ptolemy, who was the last great astronomer of the antiquity, is considered to be the second century AD. However, the analysis of vast amount of the astronomical information contained in his star catalogue proved that the only possible time of creation of this catalogue was from 7th to 13th century AD, which is at least 500 years later. Consequently, it is impossible that this astronomical data was collected in the second century. This result strongly contradicts the conventional chronology of Scaliger and Petavius, while it perfectly fits the New Chronology.

Methods of the New Chronology

It is an interesting question, how the above claims could be made and justified. In fact, this work started with constructing a large chronological table covering all periods of human history. Next, it was attempted to discover in it some unusual phenomena, contradictions and disagreements, simply something that could never happen. Apparently, this idea was not easy to carry out. Numerous heavy books devoted to the chronology are arranged in a frustrating manner (see [10,11]). There are no modern monographs presenting a detailed description of the global chronology, useless to even mention proofs of its correctness in principle.
A.T. Fomenko and his collaborators compiled a global chronology table using all available sources such as old chronicles, chronological tables, including the Blair's canonical chronological tables and the most recent monographs. In spite of the fact that the available data from different sources didn't always match, they were able to put together the global chronology enclosing almost the whole history of the mankind. This massive work could be done only with the use of computers.
From the point of view of mathematics, the chronology represent an object called a function. More precisely, we can write it as a function denoted by H(t, x1,x2), which depends on the three variables: t - the time of a historical event and (x1,x2) - the geographical coordinates (longitude and latitude) of the place where this event occurred, or we can simply say that its domain is the Cartesian product of numeric half line and the sphere. The values of the function H(t, x1,x2) represent the fragments of historical recordings describing this particular event.
The above Figure 1 illustrates the "chronology" function H. On the left hand side of Figure 1 the concentric spheres represent the domain of H. More precisely, the red arrow stands for the time axis where the points correspond to specific dates. For example, the inside coloured sphere illustrates events of the year 1320 at specific locations. The larger spheres on this figure correspond to the years 1415 and 1985. In this way, with every date in history we can associate a sphere on which the corresponding events are indicated. To every place on the Earth we can associate a ray originating at its centre to mark the dates of the events that occurred at this place. The books symbolize available descriptions of the historical events. The green arrows indicate the exact fragments of the available descriptions corresponding to certain concrete events. Briefly, the chronology is a database parameterized by points of the Cartesian product R+ x S2, i.e. the product of the half-axis R+ and the sphere S2. Naturally, this function is not convenient for mathematical analysis. Clearly the set of values of the function H does not have any natural mathematical structure. However, the information contained in the function H allows us, on the one side, to construct a variety of scalar (numeric) functions which can be easily analyzed with mathematical methods, and on the other side, to provide essential information on the nature of the historical events. An example of a simple scalar function, which can be easily extracted from the historical database, is the functions of the time-span of the reign of subsequent rulers belonging to a certain specific dynasty. Such a `dynasty' function can be illustrated by its graph, see Figure 2.
On the horizontal axis are placed the subsequent numbers of the consecutive rulers (or names of kings, emperors, etc.) and on the vertical axis is marked the length of the reign of the corresponding ruler. We will call such a sequence of rulers a numerical dynasty or simply a dynasty. The dynasty in the above example consists of 12 rulers.
There is another way to analyze chronicles by extracting numerical information from them. For example we can associate with a text X a sequence of integers, which are the numbers of words H(X(T)) in the chapter describing the year T (or simply the volume of a year fragment). We call H(X(T)) the volume function for X. There are also possibilities for other numerical functions like the number of references to the year T in subsequent years, the number of all names of historical persons listed in the text, or the frequencies showing how often these names were mentioned in the whole text. In his monograph [2], A.T. Fomenko used these functions to analyze similarities and differences between documents referring either to the same epoch or two different epochs. It is clear that for two different documents X and Y the functions H(X(T)) and H(Y(T)) can be completely different even if they refer to the same epoch. However, if the functions H(X(T)) and H(Y(T)) have local maxima practically at the same positions it means that these two chronicles describe the same historical epoch. A.T. Fomenko called it the principle of maximal correlation. This principle was empirically checked using the reliable historical data of 16th - 19th centuries, and its correctness was confirmed. Therefore, the locations of the maxima constitute the numerical data that can be associated with the text X in order to characterize the epoch it is referring to.
The methods of Fomenko are based on theoretical and numerical analysis of these and other similar functions describing historical data. In particular, he introduces a routine for distinguishing functions referring to different dynasties and defines a certain measure of distinctiveness between them (or a probability measure for distinctiveness). In simple words, he found a way to measure a `distance' between the above numerical functions (like for example dynasty functions) in a similar way to measuring distance between two different locations. Mathematicians say that in such a situation they are dealing with a metric space. The geometry of such metric spaces is definitely different from the geometry we learn in school, but the usual properties related to the measurement of distances are still valid in these spaces. If a distance between towns A and B is less than one kilometre we are justified to think that in fact A and B represent the same town. Similarly, if in the space of functions a distance between two dynasty functions is sufficiently small we may think that indeed they represent the same dynasty. These methods were extensively tested on the data referring to well documented. It was proved that if two dynasty functions (for 15 rulers) or volume functions were not related, the measure of distinctiveness between numerical functions associated with these dynasties was between 1 and 10-4. However, in the case of related events from the same epoch, the measure of distinctiveness was never higher than 10-8.
The work of Fomenko and his collaborators proves that the statistical analysis can be successfully applied to analyze the numerical data contained in historical documents. A.T. Fomenko and G.V. Nosovskij also developed several other statistical criteria for distinguishing or recognizing identical sequences of historical events. We should mention for example the method of detecting of chronological shifts based on the names distribution in chronicles and the method of relation matrices used to recognize duplicates and decompose chronicles into its source fragments (see [6]).

What is Wrong With the Traditional Chronology

It is difficult to imagine that two different dynasties could have identical or almost identical dynasty functions. The probability of such a coincidence is extremely small already for dynasties composed of 10 rulers. Nevertheless, the number of such coincidences, for even longer dynasties of 15 rulers, turns out to be unexpectedly large. N.A. Morozov, who noticed the coincidence between the ancient Rome and the ancient Jewish state, discovered the first examples of surprisingly identical pairs of dynasty graphs. A formal method to study such similarities was introduced by A.T. Fomenko (see the reference list in [2]).
There is another surprise, besides coincidence of the dynasty functions, the other numerical functions confirm with very high probability that these dynasties are indeed the same. It brings us to a suspicion that in fact we are dealing with repetitions in the conventional version of the history. Fomenko discovered dozens of strong coincidences, sometimes between three and more dynasties. But, there are no more such coincidences in the history of the better-documented epochs, for example starting from the 16th century.
As an example, we would like to discuss two dynasties, one the dynasty of the Holy Roman-German Empire (10th - 13th AD) and another one of the Jewish kings according the Bible (9th - 5th BC). On Figure 3, we represent the vertical time line with two graphs of reign durations on its opposite sides for comparison. On this chart, we start the dates for the dynasty of Jewish kings in the year zero, which is not a date according to some era but simply indicates the starting "zero" point for this dynasty. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the beginning of this dynasty is around 922 B.C. Figure 3 was taken from A.T. Fomenko monograph [2].
There are many more examples of similar dynasty pairs in the conventional chronology. For instance, the parallel between the first period of the Roman episcopate in 141-314 A.D. and the second period of the Roman episcopate in 314-532 A.D. is shown in Figure 4.
On Figure 5, we present another pair of graphs, this time without annotations. All these graphs were also taken from the monograph [2].
These parallels suggest that the traditional history of ancient times consist of multiple recounts of the same events scattered in many locations at various times. The first scientist who realized it was N.A. Morozov (see [1]). Further progress was made by A.T. Fomenko who succeeded to decipher the principle structure of these duplicates in Roman and Biblical history (see [2]). On Figure 6, we show a graphical representation of his result related to the Roman and European history. The chronological blocks annotated by the same letters (what we also emphasised by adding colours) represent duplicates in the conventional chronology.

What Does Analysis of Astronomical Data Confirm?

One of the most important and convincing methods used for dating of historical events is the astronomical dating. For instance, the accurate astronomical computations indicate that the Peloponnesian war took place not in the 6th century BC, as it is assumed by the conventional chronology, but in the 11th century AD, or even later (see [2], Vol.1, pp. 20-22). A very important example was already mentioned; it is the dating of star catalogue in the Almagest (see [4]).
During the recent years a significant progress was done in the old problem of decoding and dating of ancient Egyptian zodiacs. It was discovered that the principal structure of a typical Egyptian zodiac was much more elaborated and complex than it was assumed before. In fact, the amount of the astronomical information contained in such a zodiac is completely sufficient not only to accurately calculate its date, but also to determine its correct decoding (see [11,12]).
Egyptian zodiac is nothing else than a symbolic representation of astronomical objects inside the zodiacal belt. One of the most famous examples is the Round zodiac from the Denderah temple in Egypt. On Figure 7 we show a drawing of this zodiac. We used colours to indicate figures with different types of astronomical meaning.
Let us briefly explain the structure of an Egyptian zodiac (we refer to [11,12] for more details). It was discovered in [11,12] that an Egyptian zodiac presents an astronomical description of the whole calendar year during which the main date occurred. This date is encoded in the zodiac by its main horoscope. On Figure 7, the main horoscope on the Round zodiac is marked in yellow. Four solstices and equinox days, belonging to the same year, were described by partial horoscopes. In our example these horoscopes are marked in light-blue (see Figure 7). There also could be other astronomical scenes present (see the symbols marked in green on Figure 7). The whole structure of an Egyptian zodiac is illustrated on Figure 8.
The results of astronomical dating of Egyptian zodiacs sharply contradict the conventional chronology (see [11,12]). For example the final astronomical solution for the main date on the Round Denderah zodiac was the morning of March 20, 1185 AD. Let us mention that in the same Denderah temple there was another large zodiac, usually called the Long Denderah zodiac. The date shown on this zodiac turned out to be April 22-26, 1168 AD. These two dates suggest that the Denderah temple was commemorating some events that occurred in 12th century AD. Of course, it completely contradicts the conventional chronology, but perfectly agrees with the New Chronology. The situation with other Egyptian zodiacs is even "worse," because it was proved that their dates in case of temple zodiacs range from the 12th to 15th century, and for some zodiacs in tombs and on coffins, they are even later.

What Critics of the New Chronology Say?

We will discuss some of typical arguments against the New Chronology. One of the most popular arguments in support of the conventional chronology is that the carbon-14 dating method supports it. But in fact it is not true. The carbon-14 method, which was discovered by Willard Libby, is based on the measurement of the radiocarbon level in organic samples. It assumes essentially uniform level of the isotope carbon-14 in every living material, but it is now clear that carbon-14 was never homogeneously distributed. In fact, in order to improve its "accuracy," the carbon-14 method was calibrated using samples of "known" age. It was done by constructing the so-called calibration curves, which are dependent on the conventional chronology. That means the carbon-14 dating method is secondary and is not able either confirm or discard any chronological theory. In addition, the errors induced by this method exceed all reasonable time intervals. We would like to point out that if the global chronology was changed, the carbon-14 dating method would also work nicely with the new dating system. It is not possible to present here a complete discussion of this complicated problem (we refer the reader to [2], Vol.1, pp. 133-136, [3], Vol.1, pp. 184-214, and [13]).
There are other arguments, of different type, claiming that there is nothing abnormal in coincidence of dynasty functions for different dynasties. For instance, we know that the probability of having winning lottery is very small but still there are communities that have one or more lottery winners. So, even very unlike events could happen. Critics of the New Chronology often mention that biographies of certain rulers, like Napoleon and Hitler (both dictators) are quite similar, so by applying the method of Morozov and Fomenko we should consider them to be the same person and ultimately make a senseless statement that the first 20 years of the 19th century are simply the years thirties and forties of the 20th century. There are many more similar arguments, but all of them miss the point that extremely rare events only happen in large samples. For example, although the chances of having a winning lottery ticket are extremely small, nevertheless the probability that somebody wins is one. But, this is not the case with the unrelated dynasty functions, for which the coincidence in the whole sample is even less probable than the coincidence of two random fingerprints.
There is also a claim that the "strange" coincidences between dynasty functions could be removed by making appropriate corrections of the historical data. However, even with modified dates the probability arguments still hold.
Regarding the archaeological dating, we should point out that it is closely dependent on the conventional chronology. The usual dating procedure in archaeology is based on the comparison of the excavated objects with objects already dated. In this procedure, finding some objects of identifiable style or origin can lead to a conclusion of the age of the whole site. The whole process is highly subjective and cannot be considered as a proof of the conventional chronology.

 

References

N.A. Morozov, Christ. The History of Human Culture from the Standpoint of the Natural Sciences). (In Russian), Moscow and Leningrad. 1926-1932, vols. 1-7. Second edition, Kraft \& Lean, Moscow, 1997-1998, vols. 1-7 (8 books).
A.T. Fomenko, Empirico-Statistical Analysis of Narrative Material and Its Applications to Historical Dating. Volume 1: The Development of the Statistical Tools. Volume 2: The Analysis of Ancient and Medieval Records. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1994.
A.T. Fomenko, New Methods of Statistical Analysis of Historical Texts. Applications to Chronology, Vol. 1-3. (In Russian). In the series: Russian Studies in Mathematics and Sciences. Scholarly Monographs in the Russian Language. Vol. 6-7. The Edwin Mellen Press. USA. Lewiston. Queenston. Lampeter. 1999.
A.T. Fomenko , Kalashnikov V.V, Nosovskii G.V. Geometrical and Statistical Methods of Analysis of Star Configurations. Dating Ptolemy's Almagest. CRC Press. 1993, USA.
A.T. Fomenko, G.V. Nosovskij, The New Chronology and Concept of Ancient Russian, English and Roman History." (In Russian). - Moscow, Moscow University Press, 1995, 1996.
A.T. Fomenko, G.V. Nosovskij, Empire. (Russia, Turkey, China, Europe, Egypt. New Mathematical Chronology of Antiquity). (In Russian). - Moscow, "Factorial", 1996. New editions in 1997, 1998, 1999.
A.T. Fomenko, G.V. Nosovskij. "Mathematical Chronology of the Biblical Events." (In Russian). - Moscow, Nauka, 1997.
A.T. Fomenko, G.V. Nosovskij. "Reconstruction of General History. New Chronology." (In Russian) - Moscow, Publishing Company "Delovoi' Express", 1999, 2000.
E. Bickerman, Chronology of the Ancient World. Thames & Hudson, London, 1968.
J. Blair, Blair's Chronological and Historical Tables from the Creation to the Present Time etc. G.Bell & Sons, London, 1882.
A.T. Fomenko, G.V. Nosovskij, New Chronology of Egypt. Astronomical Dating of the Egyptian Antiquities. (In Russian), Moscow, Veche 2001.
A.T. Fomenko, T.N. Fomenko, W.Z. Krawcewicz, G.V. Nosovskij, Mysteries of the Egyptian Zodiacs and Other Riddles of Ancient History. To appear.
Christian Blцss, Hans-Ulrich Niemitz, C14-Crash. (Das Ende der Illusion mit Radiokarbonmethode und Dendrochronologie datieren zu k\"onnen). Mantis Verlag, Gr\"afelfing, 1997.
Wilhelm Kammeier, Die Fдlschung der deutschen Geschichte, Adolf Klein Verlag, Leipzig, 1935.
Wilhelm Kammeier, Die Wahrheit ьber die Geschichte des Spдtmittelalters, Verlag fьr ganzheitliche Foeschung, Wobbenbьhl, 1979.
Isaac Newton, The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, London 1728.