Sunday, 9 September 2007
Contents
Creation
2 :1
phi as Consciousness
phi in the Material
The Organisation of phi
The Sacred Geometry of Auxerre
The Cult of « Notre Dame »
The Auxerre Landscape Zodiac
The Precession of the Equinoxes
The Vézelay Landscape Zodiac
phi and France
The French Zodiac
From the Hexagon to the Pentagon
The Positional Importance of Chartres
The Blue-print of Western Europe
One Face of the Earth Dodecahedron
The Etheric Size of the Earth
Atlantis Revealed
phi is the Modern Unit of Measurement
The Earth and the Moon
The Seven in the Twelve
Discovering Landscape Zodiacs
Manipulating the Divine
The Awareness of Unity
The Burgundy region of France is the area to the south-east of Paris that includes the towns of Auxerre, Nevers, Dijon, and Vezelay. Just outside of Burgundy is Troyes and the abbey of Clairvaux in the Champagne region.
The significance of Burgundy is that it was here that the Order of the knights Templar was founded by Hugh de Payns, an officer of the House of Champagne, following his return from the first crusade to the Holy Land in 1099 AD. The knights that left for the Holy Land carried with them instructions from the pope Urbain 2nd to bring back a knowledge that was known to be contained within the Temple of Solomon. Following their return, the sacred Hebrew documents that they brought back with them were studied at the abbey of Citeaux, and soon afterwards, the abbey of Clairvaux, or the ‘daughter’ of Citeaux was founded by twelve monks.
The Burgundy landscape zodiacs are a physical reproduction of all twelve signs of the zodiac on the landscape. Their shapes are formed by the natural contours of the hills, valleys, rivers, woods, track-ways and even modern day roads. Twelve monks founded the abbey at Clairvaux and there are twelve signs of the zodiac reproduced on the landscape. This is not just coincidence. The esoteric meaning of the number twelve is one of the secrets revealed in the sacred Hebrew texts that were recovered in the Holy Land. But the number twelve is in itself a product of a more primal code, the significance of which could reveal the origins of the landscape zodiacs. So we need to start at the very beginning; the biblical moment of Creation.
Creation
« In the beginning, GOD created heaven and earth... »
Before the moment of Creation there was a state of perfection, nothing else.
Then came the moment when the state of perfection divided itself into different, but equally perfect parts.
The opening words of the book of Genesis explain the moment of Creation « In the beginning, GOD created Heaven and Earth ... »They tell us symbolically that the decision to divide itself was made by an intelligence, GOD the « Creator », the perfection found within all of creation.
This is how GOD created the relative universe .
The problem with our translation of the opening words of Genesis is that it implies that God created something outside of himself. It would be more appropriate to say ‘GOD transformed Himself into Heaven and Earth’ thus becoming the substance of these two relative elements while remaining the absolute divine element which contained them.
GOD the One became Heaven and Earth, otherwise expressed as the divine proportion 1:2, or 2:1.
2:1
The creation of the relative elements was illustrated by the Greek philosopher Plato by two triangles; the isosceles triangle of base equal to the height and the half equilateral triangle. One of Plato’s triangles becomes the square (fig 1), the other is in the proportion of 2:1 and becomes the seal of Solomon (fig 2). A third triangle illustrates the 2:1 in the length of its base and height (fig 3) and becomes the rectangle in the proportions of the altars in Egyptian and Greek temples, also in the Temple of Solomon. The importance is therefore the 2:1 proportion.
From the « New English Bible » second book of the chronicles 4
« (Solomon) then made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits broad, and ten cubits high. »
phi as Consciousness
Plato’s triangles not only incorporate the 2:1, or the symbolic Heaven and Earth from the One, but also the unmeasurable or absolute element in which they are contained, (see fig 3) whereby b + 1 / 2 = the mathematically unmeasurable value of 1,618 …etc
which is known mathematically as the limit of the Fibonnacci series, or the « Golden Mean », so called because of its unique mathematical properties :
1,618 / 0,618 = 1 + 1,618 = 1,618 x 1,618 = 2,618
1,618 has been assigned the Greek letter « phi »
phi is therefore a geometric expression of the absolute or divine element and is the basic building block of anything which is considered sacred. But phi only becomes sacred when it follows a particular pattern, which is revealed by investigating the form and proportion of sacred architecture and the sacred numerology contained within the bible. The pattern was one of the great revelations of the sacred Hebrew texts that were recovered in the Holy Land. However, creation is not purely mathematic. The creative tool of the divine is our consciousness. It is the degree of harmony between our consciousness and the divine pattern that becomes our Heaven and Earth. In order to create a divinely balanced society on earth, we need to first of all be aware of the divine pattern. Geometrically it begins with a circle developed from a fourth triangle (fig 4), also in the proportions of 2:1. The diameter of the circle is 2 / phi.
The « Revelation of John » :
1.v8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord GOD, who is and who was and who is to come. The sovereign Lord of all.
1.v10 It was on the Lord’s day, and I was caught up by the spirit, and behind me I heard a loud voice, like the sound of a trumpet, which said to me, «write down what you see and send it to the seven churches : to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea». I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me : and when I turned I saw seven standing lamps of gold, and among the lamps one like a son of man ...In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face shone like the sun in full strength. «Here is the secret meaning of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven lamps of gold : The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lamps are the seven churches».
2.v12 To the angel of the church at Pergamum write : «These are the words of the One who has the sharp two-edged sword : ...»
3.v14 To the angel of the church at Laodicea write: « These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the prime source of all GOD’s creation ...»
In the above passage, God describes himself as the One, the Lord of all. Out of his mouth came a sharp two edged sword; symbolic of the 2:1 proportion.
Following the initial division of the source, we are told of the numerical importance of the number seven; the seven angels of the seven churches in the province of Asia; seven standing lamps of gold; seven stars in his right hand. There were seven biblical days of creation.
phi in the Material
The seven-fold numerology suggested in the «Revelation of John,» can be applied to the circle of diameter 2/phi (fig 4).
The progression from ‘a’ to ‘b’ (fig 5) is seven concentric circles. By repeating the same progression four times, the final circle ‘e’ has a diameter of 2/phi x 74
It is at this point that we find our first «material» point of reference, because 2/phi x 74
is exactly the diameter, in metres, of the central circle of the labyrinth on the floor of Chartres cathedral (fig 6). The figures that have been used so far are developed from the proportions of the Platonic triangles and don’t have a unit of measure. But these figures correspond exactly with the Chartres labyrinth if they are considered in terms of the metre. The metre was only legally defined in 1790, but Chartres cathedral dates from the 12th century, so it would seem that the metre was the ancient unit of measure used in sacred architecture long before its official definition. The reason being that the metre was originally based on the knowledge of the divine proportions.
The diameter of the labyrinth that was actually walked is a result of seven turns of the path, repeated four times on opposite sides of the central circle; the same seven-fold progression as the previous concentric circles.
The cathedral at Chartres is composed of a plan of geometrical tables; three having the same surface area and three the same perimeter (fig 8). The labyrinth is the round table. The other two are the square and rectangular tables, therefore in accordance with the initial progression of the Platonic triangles. The length of one side of the square table is equal to the perimeter of the labyrinth divided by four (fig 7).
The rectangular table is in the proportions of phi.
The round table or labyrinth is a product of the seven-fold numerology.
The square table represents the transition from the seven-fold numerology to the twelve.
Saturday, 8 September 2007
The Organisation of phi
The revelation of John.
21.v9 « Then one of the seven angels that held the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke to me and said, « come, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb, » So in the spirit he carried me away to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from GOD. It shone with the glory of GOD ; it had the radiance of some priceless jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall, with twelve gates, at which were twelve angels ; and on the gates were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
This passage from the revelation of John describes the Holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God. It had twelve gates, with twelve angels and on the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Following the initial moment of creation, the 2:1 division and the seven-fold numerology, the divine enters into the material through a twelve-fold organisation. The unity between consciousness and the divine pattern is most obviously found in the twelve-fold numerology associated with the disciples of Jesus, the twelve knights of Arthurian Legend, twelve monks that founded the abbey at Clairvaux and the twelve signs of the zodiac. The twelve-fold symbology is obtained from the square table by adding to it four equilateral triangles (fig 9).
We can now consider how the compliance with the divine pattern as explained symbolically by Saint John and Plato has influenced the construction of Auxerre and its zodiac.
The Sacred Geometry of Auxerre
Auxerre lies in the middle of north west Burgundy and the department of the Yonne, of which it is the capital. The ancient settlement gained its greatest recognition in 346 AD when it became an important seat of bishops.
The length of one side of the square table contained within Chartres cathedral is 9,656 m (fig 9). Four equilateral triangles fit around this square to multiply the square’s length by two . A continuation of this multiplication gives :
9,656 x 26 = 0,618 Km
or 1/phiKm
1/phi Km is the distance between points of the equilateral triangles (fig 10). A twenty four division of the pattern (fig 9) forms the blue-print of Auxerre town centre. However, it is the seal of Solomon that is most obviously highlighted in the construction of the town centre.
Fig 10 and fig 11 illustrate how the ancient religious monuments and street plan conform with the pattern.
The centre of town is the place Marechal Leclerc. This was the site of the original cathedral of Auxerre which became the Chapelle Saint Alban before its destruction. Archaeological excavations date an original circular construction to the 3rd century AD.
Running directly through the town centre and forming the main axis of the seal of Solomon is the Rue de Paris which becomes Rue Germain Benard. This road is built on an original Roman road connecting Paris and Lyon. The other Roman road, connecting Auxerre to Nevers, and forming one of the 24 divisions, is now the Rue du Temple, so named because of its location of the Auxerre Templar headquarters.
Three of the six points of the seal of Solomon are marked by major religious buildings (Fig 11 following page) .
-The cathedral of St Etienne, of which the first foundations were laid by the bishop Saint Amatre at the end of the 4th century. The construction of the present cathedral was started by the bishop Guillaume de Seignelay in 1215AD.
-the church of St Eusebe dating from the 13th century, built on the site of a monastery founded around 640AD by Saint Pallade.
-the church of Saint Pierre, which replaces an original abbey founded by the bishop Aunaire at the end of the 6th century.
All three of these monuments replaced earlier religious constructions and they were all rebuilt in the style of the sacred Gothic architecture which occurred as a result of the first crusade to the Holy Land.
The cathedral of St Etienne and the churches of St Eusebe and St Pierre have been protected and developed over the centuries, but there have been more ancient religious sites contained within the pattern of Auxerre centre that have been destroyed or simply neglected and forgotten.
The « documents d’évaluation du patrimoine des villes de France » gives the following list of all the known sites and their location. Apart from only two exceptions, they are all contained within a circle of diameter 2/phi Km (Fig 12).
1-Basilica St Amatre
2-Basilica, then church, then chapel Saint Alban
3-Cathedral St Etienne
4-Oratory Saint Maurice
5-Monastery Saint Come and Saint Damien then monastery Saint Marien (first placement)
6-Church Ste Marie then collegiate church Notre-Dame-de-la-Cité
7-Basilica, then monastery Saint-Pierre-en-vallée
8-Monastery Saint Martin, then parish church Saint-Martin-les-Saint-Marien
9-Basilica Saint Christophe
10-Basilica St Pierre and St Jacques
11-Basilica then abbey Saint Julien
12-Church then parish church Saint Mamert
13-Basilica , then collegiate church Saint Eusebe
14-Basilica Sainte Marie, then monastery Notre Dame-La-d’Hors,then parish church Notre Dame-La-d’Hors.
15-Basilica Saint Gervais
16-Chapel Saint Clément
17-Chapel then church Saint Pèlerin
18-Baptistery Saint Germain
19-Baptistery Saint Jean Baptiste
20-Church Saint Loup
Religious establishments developed in the XIIth and XIIIth centuries
21-Convent Franciscan
22-Convent Dominican
23-Chapel and Templar commandery
24-Parish church then chapel Saint Etienne le petit
25-Synagogue
Of particular interest is the placement of the Templar commandery (23) and a synagogue (25) close to the centre of the pattern.
Up until 1206AD there was a synagogue very close to the exact centre of the seal of Solomon pattern. This pattern was the esoteric symbol used by the Jewish occultists.
Further evidence of the four equilateral triangles as the basis of Auxerre’s street plan is given by the emergence of the Maltese cross of the Templars, also contained within this pattern (Fig 13).
The Templars were established in Auxerre, at the latest, by the end of the XIIth century. In 1239 AD they had bought several properties and constructed the Templar commandery on the old Roman road now known as the Rue du Temple.
The Rue du Temple is one of the two Roman roads that pass through the centre of Auxerre’s seal of Solomon pattern. This street forms one of the 24 spokes spreading out from the centre and is the location of the Templar commandery.
From the Templar commandery it passes through the original cathedral of Saint Alban (2)(Fig 12) and continues through the site of the abbey Saint Germain (18) and the monastery Saint Martin-les-Saint Marien (8).
The Cult of « Notre Dame »
In order to know why the Templars specifically chose the Rue du Temple as the site for a commandery, we need to understand the importance of the cult of the virgin Mary and the astrological sign of Virgo in Templar history.
In early Christian times, the site of the present cathedral at Chartres was one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in France, but even before then it was of great religious importance to the Celts. The destination of the pilgrims was « Notre-Dame-De-Dessous-Terre » or the statue of the black Virgin in the cave underneath the cathedral. This ancient statue of a woman sitting down with a child on her knees was presented with the inscription in Latin « Virgini Pariturae » meaning « the virgin will have child ».
This prophetic statue dates from before the Christians, possibly even before the Celts.
The cave which contains the statue is the site of the druid wells and dolmen, and above these is where the Templars chose to construct their masterpiece of Gothic architecture, the cathedral Notre Dame.
If we examine the position of the major cathedrals from the XIIth and XIIIth centuries dedicated to Notre Dame in the ancient provinces of Champagne, Picardie, Ile de France and Neustrie, we find that they trace out on the ground the celestial constellation of Virgo.
In 1310 AD, at the time of the persecution of the Templars in France, the following defence, in form of a prayer, was offered to the pontifical prosecutors :
(to GOD) « Your order, that of the temple, has been founded by the general council in the honour of the saint and glorious Virgin Mary, your mother ».
(To the Virgin Mary) « Saint Mary, Mother of GOD...defend your religion (or order)... »
The Auxerre Landscape Zodiac
The Rue du Temple is our introduction to the landscape zodiac that surrounds the centre of Auxerre (Fig 14). By following it out from the centre we find that it forms part of the outline of the figure of a woman on the ground; the astrological sign of Virgo.
The rest of her shape is formed by the relief of the landscape, paths and other roads. The present roads are relatively modern in construction, but often their paths follow the original routes chosen by our ancestors. Of the oldest tracks and pathways there was always the necessity for the route which naturally followed the shape of the hills rather than go over them. Of course, many routes have been added and changed course , but in general, the original routes remain and along with the natural features of rivers etc. they allow us to see the forms of the landscape zodiac. To fully appreciate the figures we need to investigate large scale maps, as issued, for example, by the French IGN to the scale of 1:25 000.
The following figures represent the houses of the Auxerre zodiac (Fig 14) :
Aries The ram or lamb
Taurus The bull
Gemini The twins. Two separate figures, one dark (formed by woodland), one light (formed by open space between woodland). They are resting inside the Cancerian ship.
Cancer Argo navis, the ship
Leo The lion
Virgo The angel
Libra Aquila, the eagle
Scorpio The scorpion
Sagittarius The donkey
Capricorn The horse, Pegasus
Aquarius The phoenix
Pisces The fish. One large, one small.
Some of these signs are not the traditional signs used to represent the houses. For example, there is a ship in the house of Cancer. Or rather it is a reflection of the celestial constellation Argo navis, which is a very bright constellation as opposed to the more traditional constellation of Cancer which is rather dim. The choice of constellation used to represent each house could also depend on its mythological interpretation.
The length of the seal of Solomon pattern which contains Auxerre town centre is :
1/phi Km (0,618 Km)
By multiplying 1/phi x 26 we obtain 39,554 Km.
This distance is the distance between the octagonal 11th century church at Laroche-St-Cydroine and the church from the same period at Prégilbert.
The larger seal of Solomon pattern between these two churches neatly encloses the Auxerre landscape zodiac (Fig 15).
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Often it is a wood or forest that forms the shape of the sign, which would seem unlikely considering the rate at which the woodland is presently being cut down.
However, it is not the shape of the woodlands or the course of the rivers that were altered to form the outline of the figures of the zodiac. It is the earth itself that has been moulded into their shapes. The superficial features of the earth’s surface have since grown naturally around them.
The Rue du Temple lies in the sign of Virgo. It passes through the centre of the zodiac at the cathedral of St Alban, then emerges to pass through the location of the church St Etienne, the oratory St-Maurice, the baptistery Saint-Germain, the basilica Saint-Christophe, and the mid point of the sign of Pisces. We need now to investigate the significance of the opposing zodiacal houses of Virgo and Pisces.
The Precession of the Equinoxes
Important to understanding the significance of the zodiacal houses in the Auxerre zodiac is the phenomenon of earth’s planetary motion known as the precession of the equinoxes.
We know that the sun appears to move during the day from East to West and we also know that this apparent motion is really due to earth’s rotation on its axis.
The earth’s axis however, wobbles rather like that of a spinning top, in such a way that the celestial north pole (that is, the point on the sky directly overhead at the North pole) describes a circle in the sky every 26 000 years (Fig16a).
As the earth moves on its path around the sun, the sun is projected against the background constellations and follows a path known as the « ecliptic ». The belt of sky, about 18 degrees wide, centred on the ecliptic, contains the zodiacal constellations.
Because earth is tilted on its axis, this ecliptic is not a perfectly horizontal path. The two points where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator are called the equinoxes. This happens twice a year, creating the vernal (Spring) equinox on March 21st and the autumnal equinox around September 22nd.
The precession of the equinoxes is the retrograde or backward motion of these equinoctial points along the ecliptic. A little over 2 100 years ago the vernal equinox could be projected onto the ecliptic at a point corresponding with the beginning of the constellation Aries. Then it moved backwards into the arc of the constellation Pisces, creating a period of time known in astronomy and astrology as the Age of Pisces. The start of the Age of Pisces, on the opposite side of the zodiac to Virgo was marked by the birth of Jesus.
The statement inscribed on the statue of the Black Virgin prophesied « Virgini Pariturae », the Virgin will have child, or it more accurately prophesied the revelation of the divine as the earth passed into the Virgo/Pisces axis of its 26 000 year cycle. This explains why the Templars held in reverence the Virgo/Pisces axis of the Auxerre zodiac.
Due to the turning motion of the earth’s axis, the sun now rises in the sign of Aquarius at the time of the Spring equinox, hence the reason for saying that we are entering into the Age of Aquarius (fig 16b).
Pontigny lies on the Aquarius/Leo axis of the seal of Solomon pattern of length 1/phi x 26 Km (see Fig 15). The abbey, « the second daughter of Citeaux » was founded on the bank of the Serein, also by twelve monks, early in the 12th century. The church in its present form was built 1150-90AD. Its size is impressive, it is almost as big as Notre-Dame in Paris. It is surrounded by three signs of the landscape zodiac, the two fish of Pisces, the ram of Aries and a phoenix for Aquarius.
The Age of Aquarius has its two equinoxes when the sun rises in the constellations of Aquarius and Leo. This astrological phenomenon last occurred 13000 years ago, when the sun rose in the sign of Leo at the Spring equinox and Aquarius at the Autumn Equinox, the opposite way around to now. There are some interesting points relevant to this date of 10 500 BC.
Firstly, it marked approximately the end of the last ice age, therefore the stabilising of our present sea-levels and the areas of land uncovered by the sea. Secondly, it coincides with the
date given by Plato in the « Timaeus » for the end of the Atlantean civilisation. Thirdly, the sphinx that guards the pyramids at Giza pre-dates their construction and it is argued that it was orientated not only to face the rising sun , but also to the appearance of the constellation of Leo at the Spring equinox, which would have been observed anytime between 10 500 and
8 300BC. This great sphinx has the body of a lion and the head and shoulders of a human male. This would seem rather curious until we realise that of the classical imagery associated with the signs of the zodiac, the water-bearer of Aquarius is the only single human male figure, suggesting that the sphinx is a combination of Aquarius and Leo.
The Black Virgin found in the caves underneath Chartres is of a woman carrying a child. This statue prophesied a revelation when the vernal and autumn equinoctial points moved into the houses of Pisces and Virgo. The prophesied revelation was fulfilled with the birth of Jesus. The sphinx would seem to promise a revelation of divine knowledge as the equinoctial points move into the houses of Aquarius and Leo, which last occurred 13000 years ago. We don’t have a sphinx on the axis Aquarius/Leo of the Auxerre zodiac, but we do have Pontigny abbey.
The Vezelay Landscape Zodiac
The seal of Solomon pattern that contains the Vezelay zodiac is attached to the Auxerre zodiac like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle and has the same length of 1/phi x 26 Km (Fig 17).
The major point of interest within this zodiac is the basilica of Vezelay.
The initial abbey c.860AD was founded in the Cure valley, but was reconstructed in its present higher position after being destroyed by the Normans. Vezelay also become at about the same time, one of the great assembly points for German pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela.
It was here in 1146AD that Bernard of Clairvaux, as papal envoy, proclaimed the 2nd crusade (1147-9AD) in response to the Arab conquest of Edessa in 1144AD.
One of the major points of interest in the basilica is the tympanum of the main door showing Christ in glory surrounded by the labours of the month and the signs of the zodiac. The church of St Lazare in Avallon has similar sculptures of the signs of the zodiac.
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Whereas in the Auxerre zodiac the point of reference was the Rue du Temple and the Virgo/Pisces axis, here it is the hill on which Vezelay basilica is constructed, known by the Romans as Mont Scorpion. By following the outline of the hill, we find that it forms the body of a scorpion. Its sting is at the church of Asquins (Fig 18).
Superimposed over the body of the scorpion is the head of the pregnant Virgo, to which the basilica de la Madeleine is dedicated. Rather confusingly, the Benedictine monks that occupied the basilica claimed to have acquired the relics of Mary Magdalene, a claim which I think was confused with a lingering memory of the landscape zodiac. The main axis of the Auxerre zodiac continues from its centre, through the church at Prégilbert to the centre of the Vezelay zodiac, which contrary to the Auxerre zodiac has no obvious construction to mark its position. What we do find, however, is the significance of the position of Vezelay basilica.
The axis from Auxerre passes through Pregilbert, along the tail of the scorpion and becomes the Scorpio/Taurus axis of the Vezelay zodiac (Fig 19). Curiously, the direction of rotation of the landscape figures is in the opposite direction to the Auxerre zodiac, which brings the Virgo/Pisces axis to pass through the head of the Virgo pregnant woman. Vezelay basilica lies at the intersection of Virgo and Libra which coincides with the birth of Jesus on the Virgo/Pisces axis the earth’s equinoctial cycle.
The other figures of the Vezelay zodiac are as follows :
Aries The ram
Taurus The bull
Gemini The twins.
Cancer The ship
Leo The lion
Virgo The pregnant woman
Libra The dove
Scorpio The scorpion
Sagittarius The goat
Capricorn The horse, Pegasus
Aquarius The phoenix
Pisces The fish
These twelve figures of the landscape zodiac reflect the divine pattern both geometrically and cosmically. They are contained within a circle of diameter 1/phi x 26 or approximately 40 km. Their physical size is far too great for them to have been created using even modern day material or manual methods. Rather, the earth itself was moulded into their shapes at a sub-material level by using the tool of consciousness, the creative element of the divine source. When consciousness is brought into harmony with the ordered development of the divine, through music, art, literature, pilgrimage ,etc, it’s full creative potential manifests itself. Thus the reason for the twelve-fold imagery associated with the disciples of Jesus, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve knights of King Arthur, the twelve monks that founded the abbeys at Clairvaux and Pontigny and the reason for walking labyrinths.
The landscape zodiacs were constructed using a knowledge which could be called ‘Atlantean knowledge,’ which enters into our awareness at the times when the equinoxes are in line on the axis Aquarius/Leo, which is the time period into which the earth is now entering. This alignment last occurred during the Age of Leo, which if Plato was correct corresponds with the Age of Atlantis.
phi and France
The two seal of Solomon patterns that contain the Auxerre and Vezelay landscape zodiacs fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Each of these patterns has a length of 1/phi x 26 Km .
Whereas the Auxerre and Vezelay seal of Solomon patterns link together, the positions of other major religious buildings, for example Orleans cathedral, don’t fit exactly into a continuation of the same grid of Seals of Solomon.
Presuming that Orleans cathedral is either at the centre or very close to the centre of its own seal of Solomon pattern, the same as Auxerre and Vezelay, then there is an overlap of the Seals of Solomon. The larger seal of Solomon pattern extending from Orleans to Puy-de-Dome (Fig 20), is divided into 32 smaller equilateral triangles (c). This grid of smaller equilateral triangles is the basic unchanging framework. The Seals of Solomon (length b) which contain the landscape zodiacs are contained within this pattern and do sometimes overlap.
The 32 numerology is contained within the « Revelation of John »
22.v1 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of GOD and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s street. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, which yields twelve crops of fruit, one for each month of the year ; the leaves of the tree serve for the healing of the nations.
The quote above tells us of the « tree of life » which is the basic element of the Jewish esoteric science known as the Cabbala. The Cabbala is a primordial science of relationship between form and number whereby the universe is viewed as existing in four stages, the closest to us (and the furthest from direct union with GOD) being the ordinary material world, called « Assiyah » the « World of Action ». The medieval theosophists described each world as embodied in a « tree of life », a diagram of cosmic law containing 32 pathways.
The pattern of phi has influenced the position and construction of religious monuments, settlements and even the landscape zodiacs. The absolute conformity with the divine pattern created the conditions which allowed the ancients to literally shape the landscape on the scale of the landscape zodiacs, but there are also what are considered to be natural features of the earth as a part of the pattern. Puy de Dome is a region of volcanic peaks reaching up to over
1 800 m. Nevertheless, it also conforms to the growth of the pattern of phi, providing evidence that consciousness is the medium that shapes entire land-masses.
Until relatively recent times our ancestors constructed their sacred places of worship and conducted their pilgrimages as a means of bringing human consciousness into unity with the divine pattern in both « place » and « time ».To determine their « place » of worship, we need only to look at the position of France’s major religious constructions and see how they comply with the pattern. We will also see the emergence of a country zodiac which determined the « time » of pilgrimage.
We shall first investigate the size and shape of France and its sacred monuments.
The French Zodiac
The distance between the points of the seal of Solomon at Orleans cathedral and the geographical centre of the volcanic Puy de Dome at Brioude is 2/phi x 28 Km, or half of the distance between the towns or Rouen and Nimes (Fig 21).
The seal of Solomon pattern of length 2/phi x 29 Km therefore fits very closely into the natural boundaries of France. An immediate point of reference to determine the compliance of France’s sacred monuments with the divine pattern is the basilica at Vezelay, which was founded on the hill named by the Romans as Mont Scorpion, or Scorpio of the country zodiac.
The line which passes directly through Vezelay is therefore the Scorpio/Taurus axis.
Monday, 3 September 2007
Scorpio/Taurus
The Scorpio/Taurus line of the French seal of Solomon pattern is further accentuated in that it passes exactly through the XIIIth century cathedral of St Cyr and Ste Julitte at Nevers (B Fig 22). It continues into the Taurus side of the zodiac to eventually reach Toledo, Spain’s ancient capital. It wasn’t until 1561 that the capital was transferred to Madrid. The symbolism of the Taurean bull is, of course, of foremost importance in Spanish culture.
Aquarius/Leo
The crucial Aquarius/Leo axis is precisely pinpointed by the XIIIth century Benedictine abbey at Le Mont St Michel (D). Highlighting not only the position of a world renowned religious monument, but also a striking natural feature of the earth.
On the Leo side, the line passes 20 Km south of Lyon (E), over the Alps and out through Menton (F). The location of Lyon in the country zodiac is the same as Pontigny abbey and St Lazare at Avallon in the Auxerre and Vezelay landscape zodiacs.
Lyon, named by the Romans « Lugdunum », « the town of Lug », was of such importance to the Gauls that it was their capital and the god Lug, also known as the « genie », or « guardian » of Lyon, was the most important of their pantheon of gods. The annual pilgrimage to Lyon, « Lugnasadh », in reverence of Lug and the most important Celtic religious festival took place on the 1st August, which coincides with the sun’s annual passage into the zodiacal sign of Leo.
The Gauls respected the divine pattern in both place and time through their pilgrimages and sacred festivals, but before their arrival in western Europe we know little of their history. The traces left of the Celtic civilisation in France does not give us a complete record of their knowledge. However, the knowledge that remains of their symbolic use of gods and their spirituality provides clear evidence that their high level of culture was achieved by an attempted union between the nation’s collective consciousness and the divine pattern.
The colonisation of Gaul by the Romans brought about many changes to the Celtic civilisation, but the many parallels in their spiritual knowledge were largely continued.
However, the knowledge of the seal of Solomon as a pattern of consciousness can be traced to way before the Celtic civilisation. It is known that the Sphinx at Giza is aligned to face the rising of the constellation of Leo at the spring equinox, which occurred between approximately 10 500 and 8 500BC. The perfectly harmonious location of the sphinx in both place and time is even more evident in that it lies exactly on the Leo /Aquarius axis and in the same zodiacal house as Lyon, the ancient capital of the French zodiac. There is therefore a link between Celtic and ancient Egyptian tradition, which would seem likely to originate from the same source. Lyon, and the pyramids of which the sphinx is guardian, were both places of worship with the aim of achieving the same unification between human consciousness and the divine pattern in aspects of both place and time.
Cancer/Capricorn
The axis’ Leo/Aquarius and Scorpio/Taurus of the French zodiac are, therefore, precisely marked within France by religious monuments of national importance. The Cancer/Capricorn axis passes with the same precision through Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (G).
gypsies pay homage during their annual pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer the 24th and 25th May. The date of the pilgrimage therefore coincides with the passage of the sun into the sign of Gemini, the twins, but Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer indicates the following sign of Cancer. The solution is illustrated in the landscape zodiacs of Auxerre and Vezelay, whereby a remarkable feature of them both is that the sign of Cancer is represented by a boat. In the Auxerre zodiac, the Gemini twins are actually sitting inside the boat. The symbolic union of Gemini and Cancer is experienced during the gypsy pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. It includes a ceremonial procession through the town of statues of the two Marys inside a boat, culminating in their being plunged three times consecutively into the sea, the symbolic return.
The seal of Solomon, or pattern of consciousness that becomes the blueprint of France, contains therefore the cosmic time-scale of the zodiac. The Cancer/Capricorn axis of the zodiac passes precisely through Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and continues to form the path of a series of religious monuments and natural features. Despite lacking the pin-point accuracy of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Vezelay and Le-Mont-Saint-Michel, they are, nevertheless contained within a band 20 Km wide, which over a length of 633 Km is a very slight margin of error. The most important places within the band are, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (G), Brioude (J), Clermont-Ferrand (K), Bourges (L), Orléans (M), Chartres (N) and Rouen (O).
Of particular importance is the cathedral at Chartres, which lies approximately 3 Km off the centre of the Capricorn axis. A 3 Km displacement corresponds with a location relevant to the centre of its own landscape zodiac. There is, however, an interesting feature of the cathedral which is relevant to its position in the French zodiac.
Contrary to the usual case of Christian establishments, this cathedral is not orientated towards the East but 47° towards the north-east. The normal Eastern direction is chosen due to the West to East rotation of the earth, therefore greeting the relative movement of the sun from East to West. The angle of Chartres cathedral is due to an alignment of the south-western corner of its rectangular table, its central axis and the rising sun at the summer solstice, or, in other words, when the sun is at its highest point in the annual cycle as it enters the sign or Cancer. Chartres cathedral, however, is not in the sign of Cancer, but in the opposing sign of Capricorn, therefore in alignment with the zodiacal axis of the two solstices; mid-summer (Cancer) and mid winter (Capricorn).
There is a further curiosity of the cathedral relevant to the summer solstice.
The cathedral has a stained glass window called the « Saint Appollinaire ». It has been purposely made with a small space which allows the passage of a beam of light, at exactly midday on the summer solstice, to illuminate a carefully positioned, white decorated stone within the cathedral.
Chartres cathedral is the chef d’œuvre of sacred Gothic architecture and is far more than a reference marker of the solar solstice axis of the French zodiac. It is also perfectly in harmony with the next crucial development of the pattern of consciousness, but first of all we will consider the remaining axis’ of the French zodiac.
Virgo/Pisces