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

Pontigny abbey indicates an astrologically important position in the Auxerre zodiac. In the corresponding position in the Vezelay zodiac there is the church of St Lazare at Avallon which contains the sculptures of the signs of the zodiac similar to those at Vezelay basilica. Avallon therefore also marks the Aquarius/Leo axis.

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.