During the 70-day London 2012 Torch Relay period, two major astronomical events have taken place. The Venus Transit is the subject of the previous post. Here, I will examine some of the broader symbolism concerning the annular eclipse of May 20th to 21st of this year. Much of this continues to be relevant to the present day, and the study of this symbolism could provide deeper insights into the coming Olympics and the subsequent unfolding.
The Olympic Torch arrived in the UK on May 18th, and its 70-day journey through the underworld began on May 19th and will come to its conclusion next Friday. So far, it has been a wild ride.
May 18th was the same day on which the G8 (=Gate) Summit started in Camp David. The G8 Summit was originally scheduled to be held in Chicago prior to the NATO Summit on the 20th.
5/20, then, marked the beginning of the Chicago NATO Summit. Many of you will remember that the internet was abuzz, as they are now about the Olympics, about the possibility of a false flag terror attack on the summit. A sample of the kind of discussion many had concerning the potential of a terrorist event/natural disaster/police state takeover in Chicago can be found here.
Thankfully, that while the police did get fairly nasty with protesters, nothing so extreme actually took place. Whether or not an event was prevented or preempted by this type of discussion/warning is another debate, but one surely worth having as very similar dire predictions dog the London Olympics. I'll leave that to others.
Much more interesting for the purposes of this blog is that May 20th/21st also coincided with an annular solar eclipse.
Combined with the Chicago summit, this eclipse attracted a lot of attention. Apparently, for some, it figured into a couple of Nostradamus prophecies, an alignment with Alcyone in the Pleiades, and a significant crop circle. An article summing up these correspondences can be found here.
It's revealing to examine these one by one. The connection of 5/20 with the Nostradamus prophecies seem clear enough. Here's a better translation:
The Alcyone alignment is also fascinating if correct. According to this reckoning this particular alignment occurs approximately every 52 years. This corresponds to a Calendar Round of the Mayan Calendar, which was discussed in the last post. Finally there was the crop circle which for many also pointed toward the annular eclipse on May 20th.
Before knowing about the eclipse, and the deeper significance of the day, it was a synchronicity involving the number 52 and Christopher Columbus that got me looking into 5/20.
I was flipping through Finnegans Wake for a bit of bibliomancy (which it is perfectly and intentionally designed for, as we'll see in future posts), and I turned to page 513. Pages 512 and 513 have back to back references to Sirius, along with other material that is personally resonant.
Anyway, when I took another look I found two direct mentions of Christopher Columbus, one on each page. This got my attention because I had been thinking about the 520 years since 1492 as a kind of "great year" of 52 week/decades (2012-1492=520). For this reason it was surprising to find written, "with his fiftytwo heirs of age!" on page 513. This marks another direct connection between Columbus and 520, or 52, in a place already loaded with meaning for me.
All this led me to look up Columbus and I found that he died, weirdly enough, on May 20th. This in turn led me to discover that an annular eclipse was occurring this 5/20, and finally I found the information outlined above. Naturally this fed back into and amplified my original sync about Columbus and 1492.
William Blake was also interested in Columbus' "discovery" of America, but for reasons that concern poetry far more than history. Although, for Blake, as for this blog, poetry always trumps history.
The passage from the Eastern shore of the Atlantic to the West symbolized for Blake the reunion of Atlantis. Unlike Plato, Blake did not think Atlantis had sank but, as we see by examining the matching coastlines of Europe, Africa and the Americas, that it had been sundered into opposing hemispheres. Blake saw Columbus' discovery of America back in 1492 (a "discovery" at least in a public, exoteric sense) as marking the first step by which the two shores of the Atlantic would become united. "Atlantis" would rise again.
The year 1492 is interesting for several reasons beyond Columbus. The Jews were expelled from Spain that year on the very significant holiday of Tisha B'Av, a holiday on which both Temples were earlier destroyed (as I'll get into later). 1492 was also the year 7000 in the old Byzantine calendar and millennial sects across Russia were convinced that the end of the world was at hand. Some Russian Orthodox believers now say that 1492 did represent the coming of the age of Antichrist: America.
Blake also believed that the creation of the United States of America represented the next step in the return of Atlantis. He thought the Revolution of 1776, promising the Atlantean values of Liberty and Happiness for all people, would eventually sweep across and transform the world. The Revolution would ultimately become the Revelation in a process that is culminating presently. In this way Blake agrees with Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, and with later writers like Manly P. Hall and David Ovason, on the occult significance of America.
Omens and Portents
The Olympic Torch arrived in the UK on May 18th, and its 70-day journey through the underworld began on May 19th and will come to its conclusion next Friday. So far, it has been a wild ride.
May 18th was the same day on which the G8 (=Gate) Summit started in Camp David. The G8 Summit was originally scheduled to be held in Chicago prior to the NATO Summit on the 20th.
5/20, then, marked the beginning of the Chicago NATO Summit. Many of you will remember that the internet was abuzz, as they are now about the Olympics, about the possibility of a false flag terror attack on the summit. A sample of the kind of discussion many had concerning the potential of a terrorist event/natural disaster/police state takeover in Chicago can be found here.
Thankfully, that while the police did get fairly nasty with protesters, nothing so extreme actually took place. Whether or not an event was prevented or preempted by this type of discussion/warning is another debate, but one surely worth having as very similar dire predictions dog the London Olympics. I'll leave that to others.
Much more interesting for the purposes of this blog is that May 20th/21st also coincided with an annular solar eclipse.
Combined with the Chicago summit, this eclipse attracted a lot of attention. Apparently, for some, it figured into a couple of Nostradamus prophecies, an alignment with Alcyone in the Pleiades, and a significant crop circle. An article summing up these correspondences can be found here.
It's revealing to examine these one by one. The connection of 5/20 with the Nostradamus prophecies seem clear enough. Here's a better translation:
Sun twentieth of Taurus the earth will tremble very mightily,And:
It will ruin the great theater filled:
To darken and trouble air, sky and land,
Then the infidel will call upon God and saints.
A very mighty trembling in the month of May,
Saturn in Capricorn, Jupiter and Mercury in Taurus:
Venus also, Cancer, Mars in Virgo,
Hail will fall larger than an egg.
The Alcyone alignment is also fascinating if correct. According to this reckoning this particular alignment occurs approximately every 52 years. This corresponds to a Calendar Round of the Mayan Calendar, which was discussed in the last post. Finally there was the crop circle which for many also pointed toward the annular eclipse on May 20th.
The fourfold mandalic geometry is notable in the circle. As we've seen with much of the symbolism being examined here, the number 13 is again prominent as bars in the central circles which multiplied by 4 gives us 52.
Beyond the Pillars of Hercules
Before knowing about the eclipse, and the deeper significance of the day, it was a synchronicity involving the number 52 and Christopher Columbus that got me looking into 5/20.
I was flipping through Finnegans Wake for a bit of bibliomancy (which it is perfectly and intentionally designed for, as we'll see in future posts), and I turned to page 513. Pages 512 and 513 have back to back references to Sirius, along with other material that is personally resonant.
Anyway, when I took another look I found two direct mentions of Christopher Columbus, one on each page. This got my attention because I had been thinking about the 520 years since 1492 as a kind of "great year" of 52 week/decades (2012-1492=520). For this reason it was surprising to find written, "with his fiftytwo heirs of age!" on page 513. This marks another direct connection between Columbus and 520, or 52, in a place already loaded with meaning for me.
All this led me to look up Columbus and I found that he died, weirdly enough, on May 20th. This in turn led me to discover that an annular eclipse was occurring this 5/20, and finally I found the information outlined above. Naturally this fed back into and amplified my original sync about Columbus and 1492.
William Blake was also interested in Columbus' "discovery" of America, but for reasons that concern poetry far more than history. Although, for Blake, as for this blog, poetry always trumps history.
The passage from the Eastern shore of the Atlantic to the West symbolized for Blake the reunion of Atlantis. Unlike Plato, Blake did not think Atlantis had sank but, as we see by examining the matching coastlines of Europe, Africa and the Americas, that it had been sundered into opposing hemispheres. Blake saw Columbus' discovery of America back in 1492 (a "discovery" at least in a public, exoteric sense) as marking the first step by which the two shores of the Atlantic would become united. "Atlantis" would rise again.
The year 1492 is interesting for several reasons beyond Columbus. The Jews were expelled from Spain that year on the very significant holiday of Tisha B'Av, a holiday on which both Temples were earlier destroyed (as I'll get into later). 1492 was also the year 7000 in the old Byzantine calendar and millennial sects across Russia were convinced that the end of the world was at hand. Some Russian Orthodox believers now say that 1492 did represent the coming of the age of Antichrist: America.
Blake also believed that the creation of the United States of America represented the next step in the return of Atlantis. He thought the Revolution of 1776, promising the Atlantean values of Liberty and Happiness for all people, would eventually sweep across and transform the world. The Revolution would ultimately become the Revelation in a process that is culminating presently. In this way Blake agrees with Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, and with later writers like Manly P. Hall and David Ovason, on the occult significance of America.
Thus wept the Angel voice & as he wept the terrible blasts
Of trumpets, blew a loud alarm across the Atlantic deep.
No trumpets answer; no reply of clarions or of fifes,
Silent the Colonies remain and refuse the loud alarm.
On those vast shady hills between America & Albions shore;
Now barr'd out by the Atlantic sea: call'd Atlantean hills:
Because from their bright summits you may pass to the Golden world
An ancient palace, archetype of mighty Emperies,
Rears its immortal pinnacles, built in the forest of God
By Ariston the king of beauty for his stolen bride,
Here on their magic seats the thirteen Angels sat perturb'd
For clouds from the Atlantic hover o'er the solemn roof.
According to Plato, Atlantis was located beyond the Pillars of Hercules. These two pillars have become identified in occult circles with the two outer pillars of the Tree of Life. These in turn are identical to the famous pillars, Jachin and Boaz, of Solomon's Temple. A voyage through the Pillars and across the Atlantic is another way to symbolize the crossing of the Abyss. Atlantis is slowly rising from 1492 to 1776 to 2012 in a great year of 52 decades.
Blake coupled together the two mythologies of
Atlantis and the New Jerusalem. For the poet, the two were symbolically the
same. He equated the rising of Atlantis with the coming of Zion or
the New Jerusalem, and both as metaphors of the turning of the Age.
Blake viewed this process as happening gradually. The first step in the
rising of Atlantis, really the coming together of the sundered
continents of Europe and America, was Columbus' "discovery" of America
in 1492.
Is 2012, 520 years after the voyage of Columbus, the culmination of this process? Will Zion come to Earth? Will Atlantis rise again? Will apocalyptic revolution sweep the planet?
It's interesting that some of what is seen today appears to provide an affirmative answer to these questions. In an earlier post, we have seen how the London Olympic Park is assuming the previously fictitious postcode of E20 (or 520). And on July 2nd, well within the 70-day "underworld" period, it was widely announced that diver-scientists had discovered "Britain's Atlantis" in the North Sea.
Is the whole world following Blake? The global revolutionary wave of 2011 is only slightly diminished at the moment, and there are signs from all over that it is on the rise again. And by now almost everyone is aware of the connection between London 2012 and Zion.
Destruction of the Temple
Another strange link with both Zion and 1492, though, is that several researchers have pointed out that the Opening Ceremony of the London Games coincides with the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av.
Tisha B'Av is actually on July 28th this year, but this day will mark the beginning of most of the actual competition. In any case, these last few weeks of the "underworld" Torch Relay perfectly coincide with the traditional Three Weeks of mourning which always precede the Ninth of Av.
As noted above, Tisha B'Av is the most sinister date in the Jewish calendar. The destruction of both the first and second Temples occurred on this holiday as well as many other terrible events, including the expulsion from Spain in 1492.
The destruction of the Temples is resonant with the tearing of the Temple veil during Christ's death. All of the events signify moments of revelation. Once again, this date marks the passage across the Abyss. It is obvious that this holiday, while happening at different dates due to the lunar calendar, generally occurs during the Dog Days of summer when Sirius rises with the Sun, finally emerging from the underworld.
Lord of the Ring
The dire and millennial predictions involving 5/20 did not come to fruition, and with this perhaps people will caution those making bold statements about what will happen at London 2012. Reality is a trickster.
We should not be surprised that these predictions of the doom-mongers and bliss-cravers did not happen. There were no great earthquakes, no obvious returns of feathered serpent spirits, and no falls of hail larger than eggs. This does not mean, though, that nothing happened as we'll see. At this late stage, researchers should be well aware of how gradually things precede and how subtle the signs are.
It was cloudy in the morning on the day of the eclipse where I live, so I was able to see the full ring of the eclipse, the moon perfectly centred, with my naked eyes. An incredible experience.
Beyond the immediate and beautiful spectacle in the sky, however, is its significance. The annular eclipse appeared towards the very beginning of the 70-day Torch Relay. Like the relay, it formed part of a sequence of astronomical events -- the partial lunar eclipse on June 4th, and the transit of Venus on the 6th. There is an ambiguity involved in adapting any of these as symbols. They have multiple meanings and very subtle nuances. It is informative to turn to Venus again to illustrate this symbolic ambiguity.
Twins of the Morning Star
Venus, in addition to being identified with the goddess Aphrodite, is also called the Morning Star (as well as the Evening Star). In the Bible, both Christ and his adversary Lucifer are described as being the Morning Star. How can this be? Are they not total opposites? Is Venus, then, a good or an evil symbol?
As with similar heroes in many other mythologies, however, perhaps these figures are not as adversarial as they first appear. Throughout the world we find stories of heroic twin brothers who are both rivals and comrades. Only within Christianity are these two separated to the point where any co-dependent relation between them is entirely denied.
By adopting a largely dualistic stance in our research, we miss out on the bigger picture which tends to be very subtle, complex, and in constant flux. To bring a rigid dualism into this is to invite great confusion.
As in Mayan mythology, where we see the journey of the Hero Twins, Hunahphu and Xibalanque, to the underworld at the end of the Age, perhaps both Christ and Antichrist appear at once, and perhaps acting together, at the shifting of this Age. Dualistic rigidity could break us in this storm of change.
Precession of the Cheeses
To return finally to the annular eclipse on 5/20. No, we should not be surprised that what we anticipated did not happen, either the good or the bad. And we should also not be surprised that our prognostications for the Olympics or for 2012 in general will not come to pass as we imagine either.
By now we should know that reality is far more subtle, far more ambiguous, far more mysterious and far more playful than anything we can imagine. Doom or bliss may well be in the cards, but even the highest of the occult elite do not hold all of these. This in itself is empowering, and sometimes we get things right.
The fact is that there was an earthquake on 5/20. It happened in northern Italy. Although alarming, most researchers conceded that this could not have been the one allegedly predicted by Nostradamus. It caused damage, but it was not catastrophic in terms of death and destruction. It was also almost certainly unrelated to the eclipse. The fact, though, that it was a big event -- an earthquake -- made me think that it would be symbolically relevant. It was.
Of all of the intense media coverage, two points were repeated endlessly: the destruction of national heritage, and the damage to the local parmesan cheese industry. The first was captured iconically in the image of the tower split in two along its clock face in Finale Emilia.
This Reuters photo was endlessly reproduced throughout the media. I saw it on the front page of the Financial Times with the caption "Fractured time" printed below it. There are a few things to explore in this image, but the most obvious message is that time has ended. The wheel of time has been fractured. This is the first symbol.
The second involves the cheese. This appears in an Associated Press story that got taken up by hundreds of media outlets about an Italian cheese producer who woke up to the roar of 30,000 86-pound WHEELS of parmesan cheese crashing to the floor.
Now, 30,000 times 86 equals 2,580,000. The traditional length of the precessional cycle is 25,920 years, but the usual modern, more scientifically accurate, figure is 25,800 years. In numerology, 2,580,000 and 25,800 are of equal value.
Are these wheels of cheese, therefore, symbolically referring to the greater wheel of time? Is this also the message of the fractured clock tower? Is this the message of 5/20? Robert Anton Wilson called this kind of thing a "cosmic giggle" (although certainly nothing funny for the affected people of Northern Italy).
And to really stretch this -- if we look again at the destroyed clock in Italy and
imagine the longer jagged edges along its face to represent the minute hand and the shorter edge as the hour
hand it can be read as 11:32.
1132 happens to be the number most recurrent in the prophetic and enigmatic Finnegans Wake. There are a number of theories for the great frequency of 1132 that scholars have offered. Whatever Joyce's real intentions for repeating this number, one other interesting sync is with the traditional Nepali Sambat calendar. According to this calendar this year, 2012, is the year 1132.
There's no real indication that Joyce knew of this calendar, although he obsessively informed himself of languages and calendar systems across the globe. He does include, though, the word "sambat" on page 493 of the Wake, where it follows possibly related words like "rupee" and "Hindustani." Is 1132 the year 2012?
The point of all this absurdity is that meaning can spring from places we least expect it. Is this real meaning? Are these patterns actually there or are we simply imagining them? But do any patterns exist without our imagination? How are certain patterns assigned "meaning" and others dismissed? Isn't there a certain amount of stretching in even the most respectable of pattern identifying? The cheese wheels of time should both humble and amaze us.
Meanwhile, the underworld Torch is on the last week of its journey through the 33 boroughs of London and, after being carried by a marine abseiling down from a military helicopter to the Tower of London, set out from the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the home of the Prime Meridian.
Just a couple of more related syncs on a personal level before I close. These I hope will show how all of this operates on many layers at once (or it will show how mad I am!)
I'm deep into Dante's Divine Comedy at the moment and it is fascinating that while the events in the epic take place in AD 1300, Dante started writing the Divine Comedy in 1308 (13:8 again!) Dante's guide through the underworld was Virgil, and it was while I was reading Virgil's Aeneid on 5/20 (the annular eclipse) that there was an earthquake centred near Virgil's birthplace of Mantua. After, while reading the Inferno on 6/6 (Venus transit) there was another rare earthquake in northern Italy. This time the earthquake was centred near Ravenna -- the deathplace of Dante!
Are these dead poets also involved in the unfolding structure of reality?
The syncs multiply. The world grows weirder at an exponential rate. The dark night rises in horror at dawn. We all need to pay close attention with no preconceptions. Surprises are in store.
1132 happens to be the number most recurrent in the prophetic and enigmatic Finnegans Wake. There are a number of theories for the great frequency of 1132 that scholars have offered. Whatever Joyce's real intentions for repeating this number, one other interesting sync is with the traditional Nepali Sambat calendar. According to this calendar this year, 2012, is the year 1132.
There's no real indication that Joyce knew of this calendar, although he obsessively informed himself of languages and calendar systems across the globe. He does include, though, the word "sambat" on page 493 of the Wake, where it follows possibly related words like "rupee" and "Hindustani." Is 1132 the year 2012?
The point of all this absurdity is that meaning can spring from places we least expect it. Is this real meaning? Are these patterns actually there or are we simply imagining them? But do any patterns exist without our imagination? How are certain patterns assigned "meaning" and others dismissed? Isn't there a certain amount of stretching in even the most respectable of pattern identifying? The cheese wheels of time should both humble and amaze us.
Meanwhile, the underworld Torch is on the last week of its journey through the 33 boroughs of London and, after being carried by a marine abseiling down from a military helicopter to the Tower of London, set out from the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the home of the Prime Meridian.
The Poetic Epicentre
Just a couple of more related syncs on a personal level before I close. These I hope will show how all of this operates on many layers at once (or it will show how mad I am!)
I'm deep into Dante's Divine Comedy at the moment and it is fascinating that while the events in the epic take place in AD 1300, Dante started writing the Divine Comedy in 1308 (13:8 again!) Dante's guide through the underworld was Virgil, and it was while I was reading Virgil's Aeneid on 5/20 (the annular eclipse) that there was an earthquake centred near Virgil's birthplace of Mantua. After, while reading the Inferno on 6/6 (Venus transit) there was another rare earthquake in northern Italy. This time the earthquake was centred near Ravenna -- the deathplace of Dante!
Are these dead poets also involved in the unfolding structure of reality?
The syncs multiply. The world grows weirder at an exponential rate. The dark night rises in horror at dawn. We all need to pay close attention with no preconceptions. Surprises are in store.
