ABSTRACT

In the previous two articles of the present trilogy on the origin of the Egyptian Calendar and the Zodiac, we showed, first, how the Great Pyramid was accurately aimed at Vega, when it was the Pole Star, at about 14,000 years ago and, second, how the earth’s librations (period 41,000 years, total amplitude 2.4°) predicted by Celestial Mechanics are exactly corroborated by the historical observations, despite the fact that they are haughtily disdained by positional astronomers.

The present article completes the trilogy, showing how certain ancient zodiacs such as the famous ones of Dendera (Egypt), of Notre Dame (Paris), and of Beth Alpha (Palestine) unequivocally confirm that remote date for the start of the Egyptian calendar, placing the event at the exact epoch given by the Great Pyramid’s alignment with Vega. We also show how this unique date is further confirmed by other traditions, including the Judeo-Christian one.

At this unique date, the three main stars of the entire sky — Vega, Sirius and Canopus — were accurately aligned at the Solstitial Colure, the one which marked the start of the Calendar. Moreover, Vega and Canopus were then at their closest approach to, respectively, the north and the south Pole, being the two Pole Stars of the epoch.

In the present work, we also explain the meaning of the zodiacal myths and the inner working of the Zodiac as a sort of giant Celestial clock. We demonstrate the origin of the Zodiac and the Calendar in the remote times when humanity still lived in a distant tropical paradise, at an epoch when the temperate regions of the world were fully covered by mile-thick glaciers that rendered life and civilization next to impossible at such latitudes.

 

 

[Editor’s note: Hi, this is yet another article from the previous writings of Prof. Santos that are coming to be restored – and soon being published as books as well. All of the figures were lost other than their references which are being collected and in the process of restoration along also all of the original Hyperlinks and references mentioned in the articles you find on this website. Also, we take the liberty of posting one of Prof’s interviews in regards to his then-recent finding of the alignment between the main gallery chambers of the Pyramids of Giza pointing at the then Polar Star Vega 14,000 years ago:

 

]

 

 

The Origin of the Zodiac

by Prof. Arysio Nunes dos Santos Ph.D.

 

I am Isis, the Queen, the ruler of these regions. It was I who disclosed to the mortals the secret of wheat and the other cereals…

It is I who rises in the constellation of the Dog.

Egyptian Book of the Dead

Introduction

The two zodiacs discovered in Dendera (Egypt), in the temple of Hathor, by Napoleon and his men during the conquest of Egypt aroused tremendous interest among the French intellectuals who frequented the elegant salons of Paris. Among these savants were writers like Voltaire, Noël and Diderot, as well as reputed astronomers such as Charles Dupuis, Lallande, Biot, and Le Gentil de la Galaisière. These intellectuals pursued the trend blazed by Bailly, the famous astronomer executed by the French Revolution. They hotly debated the origin of the Zodiac, a controversy that raged for over a century.

One of the two zodiacs was engraved at the doors of the temple, and its stylized form closely evokes the equally famed zodiac of the door of Notre Dame’s cathedral. The other zodiac is the celebrated masterpiece sculpted on the roof of Hathor’s temple, which was shaped as a hemispherical dome replicating the skies. More than an ordinary zodiac, however, this sculpture was an accurate planisphere, a wonderfully detailed chart of the skies. The importance of this find was immense, and cannot be overstated.

Here, for the first time, was definite proof of the antiquity of the world. In order to understand the issue, we have to place ourselves in the perspective of the times. The period of the transition from the 18^th. to the 19^th. century was one of the final victories of Rationalism against the stifling dogmas of the Church and the Inquisition. It was the epoch of the Encyclopedists; one of the downthrows of the monarchy by the French Revolution and of the proclamation of independence by the United States and the other American nations.

Men like Werner, Hutton, Buffon, Lamarck, Maupertuis, Linnaeus, Erasmus Darwin, Cuvier, Buckland, Lyell, Playfair and many others, would soon be carving the ground for the Theory of Evolution of Darwin and Wallace. But the real issue was the eternal polemics between the Creationists and the Evolutionists.

The first group affirmed — and still does — that the world was created on the Biblical date of 4,004 BC, fossils and all, precisely as stated in the Book of Genesis. The second group, often confused with that of the Rationalists, pretended, as even today, that the world, with Man, included, dates from millions or even billions of years in the past.

 

The Riddle of Man’s Origin

The riddle of Man’s origin and of the World’s antiquity has fascinated intellectuals of all ages. But the issue rose to a climax after the Renaissance, in the so-called Age of Enlightenment. The rediscovery of the Classics, and of documents proving the high antiquity of Man, such as Dendera’s zodiac, fascinated both the Rationalists and the Creationists of the period.

The question of the antiquity of such documents is often ill-stated. It is not really its antiquity that matters, but only that of the originals from which they were copied, preserving the original features that allow their astronomical dating to great accuracy. The ancients are often accused of having forged the zodiac of Dendera and others such, after the discovery of the Precession of the Equinoxes by Hippocrates in the first century BC.

Several arguments lead to the rejection of this hypothesis on strictly scientific grounds. The main one is the fact that the date indicated by these zodiacs exactly corresponds to the one given by the Great Pyramid’s alignment with Vega, which we demonstrated in the first article of the present trilogy. Moreover, the zodiacs in question originated from a tradition that far predates the discovery of the Precession of the Equinoxes by Hipparchos, at the end of the second century BC.

 

The Zodiac of Notre Dame’s Cathedral

Before discussing in detail the famous zodiac of Dendera, it is useful to review the equally important one of Notre Dame, and others related to it, which seem to derive from the same primordial tradition. It is also necessary to review certain facts concerning the Zodiac which are usually ignored by the layman and, often, even by the amateur astronomer. Consider, first, the zodiac of Notre Dame, engraved on one of the side doors of the famous Parisian cathedral, and which we show in Fig.1.

We show, further below, that this famous zodiac starts, just as do the other ones, at the time when the Spring Equinox fell in the middle of the zodiacal Era of Virgo. And this took place some 14,000 years ago, at the exact date of the start of the calendar. But, before this demonstration is possible, we have to review the basics of the Zodiacal Eras and the Precession of the Equinoxes that dictates them.

Far more than just an astrological contraption developed for horoscopical purposes, the Zodiac is a very clever astronomical computer that the ancients utilized for the prediction, not only of the hours of the day and the months of the year, but also for the accurate computation of the passage of the zodiacal eras of mankind. As with the Great Pyramid, a zodiac such as the one of Dendera is capable of accurately establishing a date, in the remotest past, to the exact hour, day and year.

 

 

Fig. – The Zodiac of Notre Dame
(J. Baltrusaitis, La Quête d’Isis, pag. 32,
or P. Le Cour, L’Ére du Verseau, pg. 83)

 

The Zodiacal Clock

In Fig. 2 below, we show the Zodiacal Clock which we owe to Paul Le Cour, the noted French scholar. The Zodiacal Clock is very useful for understanding the inner working of the zodiac. It has two hands working in opposite directions, as a sort of very peculiar clock. The “hours” hand works in a normal, clockwise, direction while the “minutes” hand works in a counter-clockwise direction.

 

Fig.  – Zodiacal Clock (adapted by editor)
(P. le Cour, L’Ère du Verseau, pg. 80)

The “hours” hand indicates the zodiacal eras, whose durations are marked out on the rim of the clock. Each era lasts 2,160 years, and corresponds to the period of the Precession of the Equinoxes (25,920 years) divided by the 12 zodiacal houses. The “minutes” hand corresponds to the yearly passage of the Sun by the zodiacal houses. The four seasons are also marked out at the four “Cardinal Points” of the Zodiacal Clock. It is now known that the Precession of the Equinoxes causes a slow precession of the yearly seasons, so that they gradually advance as the eras go by.

We could also add a third hand to the Zodiacal Clock; the one corresponding to the zodiacal “seconds” due to the daily rotation of the earth. As is known, the earth has three main motions: rotation, translation and precession. These result in the three values mentioned above, which are indicated by the three hands of the Zodiacal Clock.

 

The Hidden Message of the Zodiac of Notre Dame

Consider, then, the zodiac of Notre Dame shown above. The central motif — which stands out at its center — is that of the Virgin. Peculiarly enough, the second sign of Virgo, at the usual location between the Balance and Leo, has been replaced by that of the Stone-cutter. This change was made by Viollet le Duc when he reformed Notre Dame, and has to do with Masonic symbolism. Moreover, the sign of Leo has also been switched with that of Cancer. The idea is that the Zodiac underwent a reversal in the age of Leo after its start in the middle of the previous era, that of Virgo, the Virgin.

The zodiac in question has three collated renditions. One corresponds to the zodiacal eras, the other to the corresponding agricultural labors, and the third to allegorical figures that do not interest us at the present moment. The Virgin at the center of the zodiac represents not only Virgo, but also her alias, Vega, the Pole Star. Vega, the star of Hathor, is Notre Dame herself or, as some would have it, Isis-Hathor in her guise as the Great Virgin Mother suckling Horus. Hence the epithets such as Stella Matutina (“Morning Star”) or Stella Maris (“Star of the Seas”) pertaining to Mary and, more generally, to the Great Mother of all traditions.

The Virgin stands upon a pole around which is coiled the Primeval Serpent of Eden. This pole represents the Polar Axis, whereas the coiled serpent is Draco, the Celestial Serpent (or Dragon). The Virgin truly personifies Vega, the star of Hathor, the Great Mother of the Egyptians, that was the Pole Star some 14,000 years ago. But, as we said, she also stands for Virgo, the Virgin of the Zodiac, in whose era the paradisial events portrayed actually happened.

The agricultural tasks illustrated in the enigmatic zodiac of Notre Dame are also telltale of the true date of its start. The one corresponding to the sign of Cancer shows a man sharpening his harvesting scythe, and the consecutive one of Leo shows a man tying up a corn-sheaf, and then carrying it away on his back. At the latitudes of France, corn harvesting began in the month the French Revolutionaries called Messidor (from the Latin messis = “harvest” and the Greek doron = “gift”), which started at the Summer Solstice (Sept.- Oct.).

 

 

Bailly and the Origin of the Zodiac

Bailly, the great astronomer executed by the French Revolution, was perhaps the first one to point out the fact that the astronomical tables and the zodiacs of the Hindus and other ancient peoples indicated an astoundingly remote epoch for the invention of astronomy, in perfect accord with their traditions. By a close study of several ancient zodiacs such as the one of Notre Dame, Bailly was able to demonstrate that they place the creation of the zodiac and of agriculture at the epoch when the Spring Equinox fell in the sign of Virgo.

The Spring Equinox now falls on the sign of Pisces, the present era, so the zodiac completed just over a ½ turn since that epoch, showing that the origin of the zodiac occurred about 14 thousand years ago. Not only Bailly, but Dupuis and others also reached the same conclusion. It is perhaps worthwhile noting that the Tropic of Cancer and that of Capricorn delimit the extremes of the yearly course of the Sun northward and southward.

In other words, they mark — or, rather, used to do so at the start of the Christian era, some 2,000 years ago — the positions of the solstitial colures of Summer and Winter. They have moved almost a full zodiacal era since then, and the Solstitial Points now fall in Gemini and Sagittarius, just as they did at the start of the Zodiac, 14,000 years ago, except that the seasons theymark out are now interchanged.

So, as we see, by means more or less independent of ours, Bailly and Dupuis, along with many other astronomers, have also concluded that the Zodiac dates back to 14,000 years ago. They based themselves on mythology and on the Bible, as well as in the astronomical treatises of the Hindus, the sacred traditions of the Egyptians, and the ancient monuments such as the zodiacs of Dendera and Notre Dame.

Consulting our Zodiacal Clock it is easy to see that, indeed, the sign of Virgo is the sixth in the counterclockwise direction, counted from the start in Aries, in the Vernal Equinox. When the calendar started, in the middle of the sign Virgo, the Vernal Equinox was placed there. At the same time, the Summer Solstice lay in the colure determined by Vega, the one corresponding to Sagittarius. The date of this epoch is easy to estimate. We are now at the end of the Era of Pisces, so that a total of about 6.5 zodiacal eras have elapsed since the start of the Zodiac and the Calendar. At the rate of 2,160 years per zodiacal era, this amounts to a total of 6.5 x 2,160, or just about 14,000 years.

Such is, hence, the actual date indicated by the zodiac of Notre Dame and of others that, like it, start in the age of Virgo. We see how, due to the Precession of the Equinoxes, the seasons have just about reversed, and what was then the Spring Equinox is now the Fall Equinox, falling on Sept. 22 in the Northern Hemisphere.

 

 

The Myth of the Corn Mother and Her Virgin Daughter

There is a paradox involving the mysterious origin of the Zodiac and the Calendar that has defied the skills of all kinds of exegetes since the earliest times. On one hand, most calendars traditionally start at the Spring Equinox (March 21), the epoch of the year when Nature springs back to life after the dormancy of Winter. On the other hand, the Zodiac traditionally starts with Virgo and her corn spikes, in a clear allusion to harvests, an agricultural task normally performed in the Summer or the Fall.

This connection is further confirmed in certain zodiacs such as the ones of Dendera, of Thebes, of Notre Dame and of Beth Alpha, that we discuss in the present article. Such zodiacs show an explicit connection between the Virgin and the agricultural tasks of harvesting or threshing grain. Indeed, rather than one Virgin, we often have two of them, the Great Mother and her Virgin daughter, both associated with crops and fertility.

Corn harvesting is normally done in Summer or Fall. Indeed, the word “harvest” derives from the Anglo-Saxon haerfest meaning “autumn”. Harvests are often associated to ritual commemorations of the Great Mother and her Daughter, who legendarily introduced agriculture everywhere. The Great Mother often receives names such as “Corn Mother” or “Harvest Queen”, and her daughter those of “Corn Maiden” or “Harvest Maiden”.

As Sir James G. Frazer demonstrated in his memorable The Golden Bough, the Corn Maiden and her mother are found the world over. In Greece and Rome they are Demeter and her daughter Kore, names that mean, respectively “Corn Mother” and “Virgin”. In Egypt they are Hathor and Isis; in Russia they are the Corn Mother and the Harvest Maiden; in Brazil they are Mani, the mother of manioc, and Romi Kumo, the Great Mother; in Oceania and Indonesia they are Hainuwelle, the Corn Girl, and Sanina Sari, the Rice Mother.

The universality of the myth of the Corn Mother and her Virgin Daughter, the Corn Maiden, is proof of the archaic origin of the tradition, which must have been framed before the diaspora of humanity from the distant regions of the world where agriculture was first invented. In the Indonesian name of Sari (“grain”) we discern the origin of the one of Ceres, the Roman Mother of Cereals, from whose name the word “cereal” originated.

It may even be that words such as “rice” (arici, in Dravidian, riso in Italian, arroz in Portuguese, etc.) ultimately derive from the same base as that of saris or saris and of “cereal”, with the drop of the initial c or s. This etymological fact suggests that the myth of Ceres, the Mother of Cereals, may well have originated in Indonesia, which is also the site of origin of cereals and agriculture, as well as of mankind itself.

The myth of the Virgin Mother of Corn survives even in Christianism, in the figures of the Virgin Mary and that of her son, Christ, the true Eucharist or Host (“corn”). We also reencounter the two Corn Mothers in the Book of Revelation, one as the Virgin Mother that defeats the Dragon, and the other as the Whore “seated upon many waters”.

Figs. – Zodiacs depicting the dual aspects at center

 

Two Crops a Year

With the above, we are finally in a position where we can also determine the true site of the origin of the Zodiac and the Calendar. More than just the time of the start of the calendar, dated zodiacs such as the ones of Notre Dame and Dendera also tell us the site of origin of the respective zodiac. And that is no other than the Malay Archipelago itself.

As we shall see next, this siting also solves the paradox, mentioned above, concerning the fact that the start of the Zodiac and the Calendar seems to be double and to take place when the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice both lay in the sign of Virgo, the one associated with harvests. Of course, such a thing is an impossibility. But, the paradox is more apparent than real, despite the fact that it has baffled all experts so far. It is true that corn is normally harvested between Summer and Fall in the Mediterranean region, including Europe, North Asia, Asia Minor, North Africa and the Near East. But this is not true of South Asia and the Far East and, particularly, of Indonesia.

In these tropical regions of the world, we normally have two crops a year, a fact that filled the Greeks and the Romans with wonder when they first came in contact with these distant civilizations. The Alexander historians, and even Plato himself, in his fascinating description of the luxuriant vegetation of Atlantis, mention the fact that these sunny regions normally produced two crops a year. These two crops normally consist of rice, the staple food of the warmer regions of the world, where this wonderful graminea thrives, bringing abundance and happiness to all.

This cereal has two varieties adapted for the two different epochs of the year, one wet, the other dry. The dry variety is called “upland rice”, and the wet one is called “paddy” or “lowland rice”. Paddy thrives in the marshes and ponds formed by the abundant monsoon rains, which occur from July to October in India, and from November to May in Indonesia, the two regimes being controlled by entirely different factors.

Rice takes about four months to grow and mature, so the crops planted in one season are harvested in the next. In equatorial Indonesia, the weather is controlled more by the monsoon rains than by the sun itself, so that the wet season, that of the more copious crops, starts in the Winter and lasts to the Summer season of the Northern Hemisphere. Rice is planted when the monsoons start (Nov.- Dec.) and is harvested in March-April, the epoch of the Spring Equinox, which signals the onset of the dry, hot season, corresponding to Summer, particularly in Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

 

The Solution to the Paradox

Hence, the paradox posed by the Zodiac’s start is neatly solved. It is only in the region of Indonesia and Malaysia that the two conflicting requirements concur at a single date of the year so that the Spring Equinox marks the epoch of the harvests, as well as that of the hottest season of the year.

The Spring Equinox then lay in Virgo or, more exactly in Spica Virginis. The Virgin that lay in the colure of the Summer Solstice at the epoch of the start of the Calendar, together with Sagittarius, is Vega, the North Star of the epoch. At the same time, Sirius, its southern dual, was placed at the colure of the Winter Solstice, which then lay in Gemini. The three stars correspond to the Three Virgins or the Triple Virgin (Hecate) that we discuss further below.

We see, then, why the famous zodiac of Notre Dame shows the task of harvesting associated with the stifling heat of Summer and placed the start of the Zodiac at the occasion when the Spring Equinox fell on the sign of Virgo. This connection is signaling the fact that the origin of the Zodiac lies in Indonesia, the true site of Eden. We can comb the whole world, and we will not find another region where such conditions match reality.

 

The Supportive Evidence

The Calendar provides another direct proof that the Zodiac started when the Spring Equinox — the Point γ of modern astronomy that marks, even today, the start of the Zodiac — was placed at the center of the Era of Virgo. Indeed, the date of 11,917 BC, indicated by the Great Pyramid’s alignment with Vega corresponds, at the rate of 2,160 years per zodiacal era, to 11,917 ÷ 2,160 = 5.5 zodiacal eras.

Point γ is now located at the boundary of Pisces and Aquarius. But it was placed at the zero of Aries at the start of the present era. Counting backward from this position we see, with the help of the Zodiacal Clock of Fig.2, that the start of the Zodiac then lay at the center of Virgo, just as we said above. Space does not allow full coverage of the many myths which show how the origin of the Zodiac and the Calendar took place at the Era of Virgo. So, we restrict ourselves to the zodiacal evidence, and its astronomical support.

 

The Rise of Sirius And the Start of the Calendar

There is yet another cogent proof that the calendar was invented further south than Europe and the Levant. The start of the calendar lies at a date — that of 11,917 BC — when Sirius was nearer the South Pole and, hence, permanently invisible at such latitudes. So, if the calendars based on the heliacal rise of Sirius started at the dates envisaged here, it was not possibly invented in Egypt, or in Mesopotamia or in the nearby regions.

Nevertheless, most ancient peoples of such regions utilized a zodiac based on the heliacal rising of Sirius, utilized as the marker and herald of the New Year. Now, the date of the first appearance (the heliacal rising) of Sirius increases with latitude at the rate of about 1-day lag per degree of latitude increase. It took place on the 29^th. of July in Olympia (Greece), at a latitude of about 36ºN. In Tanis located at the Nile’s mouth, at a latitude of 31ºN, the year started on July 25^th., yielding about 1 day per degree of latitude.

Further south, in Thebes (25,6ºN), the date of the New Year was July 20^th., in accordance with the above rule. In Elephantine, near the first cataract, at a latitude 1º further south, the year began a day earlier, and so on. Hence, if we extrapolate to the latitude of º0 N, that of the Equator, we get a date of June 21^st., that of the Summer Solstice.

As the Egyptian year traditionally started at the Summer Solstice, we see, once again, that it could only have been originally instituted at the latitude of the Equator, exactly as we concluded above. When the Egyptians moved to their second abode, they brought their calendar with them, adapting it to their new habitation. They commemorated their harvests and the year’s end with a feast to Min, the god of Punt (Indonesia). These celebrations included Min’s mating with the Great Mother (Virgo), and his burial under the Holy Mountain, facts that unequivocally link the origin of the calendar and harvest rituals to their original Paradise.

 

The Hindus and the Start of the Calendar

Fig, – Representation of an Indian Zodiac in a temple.

Even today, the Hindus start their calendar with the month of Chaitra, that of the Spring Solstice (March-April). This name derives from that of Chitra (“Bright One”), the name they give to Spica Virginis, the brightest star of the constellation Virgo. Now, Chitra is the nakshatra (lunar mansion) that corresponds to Spica Virginis, and which marks the start of the calendar year.

More exactly, the Hindu year starts with the full moon of the month of Chaitra. The full moon is directly opposed to the sun, so that, when it is placed in Chitra, the sun is in opposition to that constellation. Six zodiacal eras ago, when the Zodiac started, the situation was opposite to this one, so that the Spring Equinox then resided in the sign of Virgo, exactly as we said. And, of course, the fact that Virgo is the sixth zodiacal sign refers to the epoch of the origin of the zodiac and the calendar, six zodiacal eras ago. Somewhere in between, the Hindus passed from a Solar calendar to a Lunar one dictated by the nakshatras considering time and the Zodiac as inverted.

In reality, the Hindus had two different years, exoterically interpreted as two-year-halves, but really corresponding to the two starts of the calendar. One is connected with the elder, unlucky sister of Lakshmi, Jyeshtha. Jyeshtha (“the Elder”) corresponds to Vega (Shukra = “the Bright One”) or, more exactly, to the times when the Summer Solstice fell in Sagittarius (Ashada) and the Spring Equinox in Virgo (Chitra). The colures then also passed through Sirius and Vega, as well as through Spica Virginis and Pisces, as well as through Sirius and Vega.

Their second calendar corresponds to the times when the colures fell in the four Cardinal Constellations: Leo, Aquarius, Taurus and Scorpio. Experts generally consider that this second start corresponds to the onset of the Era of Taurus in 4,320 BC, which is also the date of the founding of Egypt. But, more likely, as we shall see further below, it corresponds to the time of the foundering of the second Atlantis, at about 9,600 BC, the date given by Plato. This date corresponds to the elapsing of one full zodiacal era, so that the Spring Equinox moved from Spica to the center of Leo, so that the colures were now positioned at the Cardinal Constellations, the ones of the Tetramorph.

 

The Hindu Festivals and the Calendar

The Hindus are usually very reticent about the secret meaning of their rituals. But they have two festivals commemorating the New Year. One is that of Jagannatha (“Juggernaut”, in English). Jagannatha is Krishna, figured as “the Lord of the Universe” (Jagannatha), a figure that closely recalls that of Christ Cosmocrator (“Lord of the Universe”) placed at the center of the Zodiac. Jagannatha’s festival occurs at the date of the more ancient New Year (June-July), and is one of the most important Hindu festivities.

The ritual consists of the dragging of the immense chariot of the god by the worshippers, who sometimes die, crushed under its wheels. Jagannatha’s chariot (Rathayatra) is the Solar one, and represents the zodiac and its implacable whirling as the eras elapse. The date of the festival (June-July) corresponds precisely to that of the Egyptian New Year and the summer crops. The hidden message in Jagannatha’s ritual is that the calendar and the Zodiac first started to roll at the date when the Summer Solstice lay in Vega and the Vernal Equinox in Virgo.

The second Hindu New Year festival (Holi) is placed at the Spring Equinox and commemorates the winter crops and the burning of Kama. Kama is the Hindu love god who personifies the burnt Paradise. Holi starts in Chaitra (March-April), the month of the Spring Equinox. The moon then resides in Chitra (α Virginis), the asterism associated with Virgo, the alias of Lakshmi, the lucky sister of unlucky Jyeshtha. In these two Virgins we have the archetypes of Demeter and Kore, and of their many aliases.

 

A Traditional Hindu Zodiac

Another interesting zodiac that starts, like the previous one, in the sign of Virgo, is the Hindu zodiac shown in Fig.3 below. This zodiac was first published by J. Call in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1772, and was compared in detail with the zodiac of Notre Dame by Le Gentil de la Galaisière.

Fig. – Hindu Zodiac Starting in Virgo (Adapted by editor)
(J. Baltrusaitis, Quête d’Isis, pg. 34)

This Hindu zodiac closely parallels Notre Dame’s, so that we see that the mysterious builders of the Gothic cathedrals fetched their initiatic knowledge in India. In this zodiac, we also have, as in the one of Notre Dame, the Virgin appearing twice: once at the center of the zodiac, and another at its start, in the upper left corner.

Fig. Hindu Zodiac (Adapted by the editor)

 

Another Zodiac that also starts in Virgo is shown below, in Fig. 4, below.

 

Fig.  – The Zodiac of the Villa Albani (Rome)
(P. le Cour, Verseau, pg. 93)

This zodiac shows Atlas bearing the skies, figured as a zodiac. The first zodiacal sign — the one at the bottom left is that of Virgo, and is followed (as usual) by Leo and the other signs. At the center sits a stately figure (Zeus?) holding a staff that clearly represents the Polar Axis. In this remarkable zodiac, we have a direct connection between the eponymous hero of Atlantis and the start of the Zodiac in the Era of Virgo.

 

The Jews and the Secret of the Zodiac

Another remarkable zodiac that has intrigued the experts is the one shown in Fig.5, below. It is of Jewish origin, and alludes to Cabalistic secrets connected to the birthplace of this mysterious race.

Fig. – The Zodiac of Beth-Alpha
(J. Vogh, The 13^th. Zodiac, pag. 89)

The Beth-Alpha zodiac was published in Scientific American (Jan. 1973, pg. 4). It was engraved on the floor of the synagogue at Beth-Alpha (Palestine) which was built by a Jewish community in 520 AD. Visible at its center is the Solar Chariot ridden by a strange personage bearing a crown with six rays instead of the seven normally associated with the Sun.

Rather than Apollo or some other usual charioteer, the auriga here seems to be an avatar of Virgo, not unlike the Virgin shown at the center of the zodiac of Notre Dame and of the Hindu one we commented above.

Certain “errors” in the construction of this zodiac have been pointed out by its commentator, but seem to have been quite purposeful. The first one is that the sign of Virgo, in the upper left corner is far larger (38º) than the other ones, whose average size is only about 27º. Leo is next in size, with 34º.

More than a mistake of the designer, this difference in size brings to attention the fact that Virgo is the first sign, and the most important of all. The four Tetramorphic figures at the corners of the zodiac — the ones who usually represent the Four Seasons — are also badly misplaced and misrepresented.

With the possible exception of the Cow (Taurus), they all seem to be replicas of the Virgin, exactly as is the case with Dendera’s zodiac. Moreover, the first of these four Virgins — the one at the upper left corner — bears the sickle and the threshing-flail in her hands. Now, these are the traditional symbols of harvests, processed by means of these two instruments.

The indication leaves no room for doubt. The zodiac of Beth-Alpha indicates a date for the start of the calendar in the sign of Virgo, when the Spring Equinox, the other epoch of harvests, fell on its center. Again, this means a date of about 14,000 BP. This incredibly ancient date would not be acceptable, were it not for the fact that other traditions and other zodiacs indicate precisely the same date, as we are showing in the present series.

Fig. – A Medieval Zodiac (Adapted by Editor)

Fig. – Jesus as the Tetramorph

Fig. – The World Card of the Tarot is also another example of the Tetramorph.

 

The Jewish Virgin is Really Vega

The central figure of the zodiac, the Virgin riding the Solar Chariot corresponds, as before, to Vega in its position as the Pole Star, some 14,000 years ago. The six rays of her diadem, as well as their gloomy appearance, are indicative of a Lunar, feminine character. The Sun, usually considered male and associated with the other Pole Star (the Seven Rishis of Septemtrio) is characterized by the Seven Rays (the seven stars of Ursa Minor = Septemtrio).

As we see, not only the ancient Egyptians, but also the Christians and the Jews, as well as the Hindus and other nations, partook of the same, secret, ancestral tradition. It is strange to realize that the fiercely monotheist Jews also had a cultural relationship with the zodiac, one that is, besides, centered on the sign of the Virgo, the Virgin. Virgo is the zodiacal, decayed counterpart of Vega, the Celestial Virgin that then resided in the uppermost regions of the skies.

Some experts, among them Ben Adams (Astrology, the Ancient Conspiracy, N. York, 1963) and D. Bullinger (The Witness to the Stars, London, 1954) are of the opinion that the zodiac is really the Sacred History of Mankind written with astrological signs, in the same way, that the Bible tells the identical story under the allegories of the Patriarchs. And many experts are of the opinion that the Virgin Mary, the Great Mother of the Christians, is the same as Virgo, the virgin of the Zodiac.

 

A Gnostic Medieval Zodiac

A further interesting zodiac is the one of Fig.6, below. It dates from the Middle Ages, but embodies Gnostic traditions that can be traced to the remotest antiquity.

(O. Wirth, El Simbolismo Astrologico, cover)

This zodiac shows the Phoenix at its center, perched on a branch that is burning. Around it the legend: Tempus imago Aeternitatis est. Sicut Phenix multiplicabo dies (“Time is the image of Eternity. Like the Phoenix, I multiply my days”).

Around the Phoenix and its frame are located the twelve signs of the zodiac starting, as usual, with the one of Virgo, at the lower left. The signs are shown as fruits or flowers borne by the tree of Life, which grows as a vine from the two lower corners of the figure. As is known, the Tree of Life is dual, and is conventionally represented as a vine, often identified to the grapevine and, more usually, with the strangling fig-trees of India (Ficus indica and Ficus religiosa)

The twelve zodiacs are placed, three on each side of the figure, in accord with the four seasons of three months each. The season is clearly summer, with the trees bearing fruits. The fact that the zodiac starts in the era of Virgo is indicated by several facts. To begin with, this sign starts the parade, on the lower left corner, being followed by Leo, Cancer, etc., in the reverse of the normal (yearly) order, as if to indicate that it is to the eras rather than to the month that this zodiac refers.

The sign of Virgo is also the first one to spring from the Tree of Life, in the lower left corner. Moreover, the word Phoenix — that can, in many ways be considered synonymous with “start” — indicates the sign of Virgo by its proximity.

 

The Zodiac and the Rebirth of the Phoenix

The outstanding feature of this zodiac is, however, the Phoenix at its center. The bird is starting to burn with the fire that issues from the sign of Leo. The indication is clear. The Conflagration that destroyed the world and, more exactly, the Atlantean empire, took place when the Spring Equinox had moved to the center of the sign of Leo, nearly 2,160 years after the start of the calendar, in the sign of Virgo.

The Phoenix here represented looks very much like a Lyrebird, in a clear representation of the constellation Lyra, the Lyrebird. Lyra is the constellation of Vega, the Pole Star of the epoch we are discussing. The Phoenix also represents Atlantis, the terrestrial image of Vega, the Fallen Eagle. As usual, the rebirth of the Phoenix embodies the hope or certainty that Atlantis-Eden, the New Jerusalem, will rise again, at the end of times

The legend that surrounds the Phoenix is a direct allusion to the circular nature of time. It means that Time, though limited and cyclical like the zodiac, is ever-returning like the Phoenix. Such is truly the promise of the Lord to the Patriarchs: Time will cease, and the world will end periodically with Floods and Conflagrations. But it will be reborn again, and again, and again, hopefully forever.

 

Biot and the Zodiac of Dendera

The name of “zodiac” given to the planisphere of Dendera is highly deficient. The sculpture is a detailed chart of the heavens, a Celestial map of the highest accuracy. So much so that it served the purpose of initiating the adept in the secrets of astronomy. The planisphere was located on the roof of a room in the temple of Isis which had, as an annex, another room without a roof, so that the initiants could visually inspect the details of Dendera’s zodiac and compare them directly with the skies themselves.

Many experts have studied the Celestial configuration of Dendera’s planisphere in detail, coming to the conclusion that it is highly accurate, at least insofar as they were able to identify the individual stars and constellations depicted there. The celebrated French physicist and astronomer, Jean Baptiste Biot, published in 1823 a detailed study of the stars and the constellations of Dendera’s zodiac, was the first to reach the conclusion that Dendera’s zodiac was a precision chart of the skies, incorporating a homeomorphic projection of the southern hemisphere upon the northern one and the superposition of two distinct epochs.

From his meticulous measurements, taken on the monument itself, Biot concluded that the zodiac of Dendera had served as a research instrument for the accurate measurements of the Celestial ephemerides by comparison with the stellar positions therein accurately depicted. Unfortunately, Biot was not able to determine the true identity of most of the stars and constellations depicted in Dendera’s zodiac and concluded that further research was still required for that purpose.

Despite the above-mentioned difficulties, Biot was also able to determine the fact that Dendera’s planisphere had two distinct astronomical centers: the Celestial Pole of the Zodiac itself, and the one corresponding to that of the temple. These two correspond, as Schwaller de Lubicz later verified by means of detailed studies, to the Ecliptic Pole and the Celestial Pole, the one of the Equator. It was these two centers and their position relative to the constellations of the Zodiac that allowed us to calculate the absolute date of Dendera’s monument, as we will see further below.

 

Figs. The Dendera Temple of Isis – Hathor.

 

The Lion and the Three Virgins of Dendera

As many experts have recognized, it is indubitably the Lion and the three Virgins representing Virgo who open the impressive cortege of strange animal-headed deities in Dendera’s zodiac. Moreover, as we shall see further below, the Virgin is placed at the Spring Equinox in a highly scientific, unequivocal way, so as to leave no room for doubt that the zodiac of Dendera indeed alludes to a date of about 14,000 years ago for the start of both the calendar and the zodiac.

It is impossible to think that the Egyptian priests, even of the times when the temple of Dendera was last built or reformed — which experts place at the times of the Ptolemies and hence, a century before the discovery of the Precession of Equinoxes by Hipparchus — could ever have had the highly advanced astronomical knowledge embodied in that masterpiece of human skill.

The conclusion is hence inescapable: the Egyptian priests and the architects that built and rebuilt many times over the temple of Dendera, copied the Celestial configuration represented in the model with which they were provided, and which doubtlessly dated from the Era of Virgo, some 14,000 years ago, when Vega was the Pole Star. The underground temple of Dendera represents the sunken realm of Atlantis (what else?), and dates from extreme antiquity. By the times of Pharaoh Cheops and the Old Kingdom, the temple had already been rebuilt three times due to the ravages of time, always replicating the original conception.

 

 

A Brief Discussion of Dendera’s Zodiac

A technical discussion of Dendera’s zodiac would demand a thick treatise, full of obscure and tedious astronomical questions that are best left for the specialists. We hence limit ourselves to the barest essentials and to the most important points:

1) As we said above, it is indubitably Isis, the Great Virgin Mother, who, in her triple aspect, opens the parade of quaint personages that personify the constellations in Dendera’s planisphere. She is the owner of the temple and is represented as the great goddess who supports the skies with upstretched arms. And it is she, again, who appears as the four goddesses who support the skies at its four corners. This zodiac starts, as conventionally, at the lower left corner, marked by the Tetramorphic figure of Isis that corresponds to the era of Virgo and to the Spring Equinox.

As we enter the zodiac through this “door” — the Equinoctial Door — we encounter, first of all, Hathor, figured as a crouched cow bearing a star between her horns. Hathor is the alias of Isis as the Great Mother. More exactly, she represents Vega, the Pole Star of the epoch of the Zodiac’s start. Following Hathor we have, again, the Goddess (Virgo) in her three aspects corresponding to deadly Diana (the archer), to the kind Great Mother suckling her son and, as the seated figure holding up two vases of perfume, to the love-goddess Venus. As such, the Virgin here corresponds to Hecate Triformis (“three-formed”).

 

 

The Three Morning Stars

These three (Celestial) aspects of Isis-Hathor personify the three main stars of the Egyptian tradition: a) Vega, the Pole Star of Hathor; b) Sothis-Sirius, the star of Isis-Sothis; c) Spica Virginis (α Virginis), personified as Nephtys, the twin sister of Isis. The three goddesses were also considered the Three Morning Stars that heralded the new era and the new calendar, with Spica-Nephtys marking the Spring, Sirius-Sothis the Winter, while Vega-Hathor heralded the New Era as the Pole Star.

In Dendera’s zodiac, Hathor is represented as the cow having the Sun between her lyre-shaped horns. The “Sun” represents Vega and the horns the constellation Lyra. The figure bears a hieroglyphic inscription consisting of a pyramid, a star and a mountain. This is usually interpreted as designating Sirius (Seped). But this star was often (purposefully) confused with Vega, as seems to be the case here, for the pyramid and the mountain symbolize the Pole.

If our identification is correct, we have here an unequivocal statement of the fact that Vega is the Pole Star associated with the Great Pyramid as well as with the start of the calendar back in the era of Virgo, some 14,000 years ago.

Fig. – Unearthed Ancient Zodiac in Egypt

 

The Island of the Lions

Above the three aspects of Isis that open the zodiacal procession, we have the magnificent figure of a lion riding a mandjit, the Solar Boat or Ark of Salvation of the ancient Egyptians. The Lion is indissolubly linked with the Great Mother, as well as with Lemurian Atlantis, the “Island of the Lions” (Lanka).

Lanka, the Island of the Lions, is the same as the legendary Avalon, the island of origin of the Celts. The “lions” are the “heroes” who survived the cataclysm, the two terms being synonymous in Sanskrit and Dravida. The true etym of Avalon or Avallon is not really “island of the apple-trees”, but the Dravidian ava-lon, “the land (ava) of the lions (lon)”. This etym is attested by many Celtic myths which we will discuss in future articles in AA&ES, and which are crucial for the determination of the mysterious site of origin of the Celtic ancestors.

In Dendera’s zodiac, the Lion and his mandjit represent the same as the vahana (“vehicle”, in Sanskrit) upon which the Goddess saves herself and her twin male aspects, Shiva and Shava, in Hindu mythology. No matter what interpretations is given to the figures in question, experts such as Slösman agree that the Lion riding the Ark represents the escapees of the cataclysm that sunk Atlantis, and which is the same as the Biblical Flood. And this is also the same one that, in Celtic legend, likewise sunk the island of Avalon and its capital city, Ys.

After the gigantic figure of the Lion, the zodiacal figures seem to follow the normal sequence, with Virgo holding up a giant spike of corn (Spica Virginis), then the Balance, followed by the Scorpion, Sagittarius, Capicornus, Aquarius, etc.. This is the standard zodiacal sequence, except that in reverse from the usual order.

The inversion can only mean one thing, as any expert will readily recognize. The zodiac of Dendera represents the Zodiacal eras, rather than the normal years. Indeed, since the Precession of the Equinoxes causes the seasons to slowly regress as the years proceed, it runs in the opposite direction than the Sun follows among the constellations in its diurnal and yearly course, precisely as indicated in the Zodiacal Clock of Fig.2.

However, the start of Dendera’s zodiac seems to be dual and scrambled. Just as we have two or three Virgos, we also have two Leos placed oppositely to them, one towards the left and the other towards the right. What this means is that we had a reversal of the way the zodiac ran at the first start of the calendar. Of course, this reversal is not factual, but merely symbolic of the two different starts of the Zodiac and the Calendar that we discussed above.

 

 

The Virgin and the Corn Spike

As we already mentioned, the corn spike is the well-known euphemization of the phallus, which it resembles in both name and characteristic shape, as well as in the association with a “seeding pod”. Apparently, the Virgin (Isis) appropriated male’s phallus for herself, and became the ruler of the present era, more or less in the manner of the queen-bee by which she was often symbolized.

The spike held in triumph by the Virgin has several further meanings. First of all, it represents Spring and Summer, the occasions when corn spikes are harvested, as here. Secondly, it represents the Primordial Castration — that of Osiris and his many aliases. Thirdly, it represents Mt. Atlas and its “castration” (explosion), an event that caused the skies to collapse and to bury the former era, starting the present one. And this interment is precisely the one represented by the subterranean temple of Isis-Hathor in Dendera. This event will happen again (in reverse) when the New Jerusalem returns, precisely as described in St. John’s Revelation, if we are indeed to believe the Bible.

The strict connection between zodiacal myths and the apocalyptic events of Revelation discloses an important fact. Rather than a sheer fable or superstitious traditions wildly exaggerated from actual cataclysms, we see that the foundations of Egyptian religion are essentially identical with the ones of Judeo-Christianism. They both derive from the certainty that what happened, at the start of times, in Atlantis-Eden, will again happen in the end of times, when Atlantis-Eden returns as the New Jerusalem of Revelation.

 

 

The Millennial Message of Dendera’s Zodiac

The awe-inspiring images of Dendera’s zodiac tell us something of the highest importance. The Book of Revelation converges with many other similar prophecies concerning the apocalyptic events that shall attend our end. They all affirm that these events will begin to take place in the year 2,000, when we enter the final Millennium, and the Golden Age returns for the brief interval of a thousand years.

The zodiac of Dendera affirms exactly the same thing when correctly interpreted. The Twin Lions that we see departing from the start of this zodiac in Virgo, in opposite directions will again meet at the transition of the era of Pisces to that of Aquarius, an event that will take place now, at the year 2,000, when we enter the Millennium. Unfortunately, space does not allow us to enter this fascinating subject, which is left for a better occasion.

Ours are certainly exciting times, and it will be extremely interesting to be around to see for oneself whether the prophecies of long ago will indeed come true. Our overburdened world certainly needs a change, and it is up to us to reconstruct the Golden Age. And we can make it come about, if we indeed want to.

 

 

The Secret Message of Dendera’s Zodiac

There is an important discovery relative to the planisphere of Dendera which unequivocally shows that, far more than a mere zodiac or even an embellished chart of the skies, it is in reality a sophisticated scientific device, an apparatus that demonstrated to the initiants the Celestial configuration of the skies some 14,000 years ago, allowing a direct visualization of the Precession of the Equinoxes and related phenomena.

This discovery is based on the finds of Biot and Schwaller de Lubicz and is shown in Fig.7 below. As they have shown, the strange, spiraled structure of the zodiac of Dendera results from the fact that it consists of the superposition of two different maps of the skies, one centered at the Celestial Pole and the other at the Ecliptic Pole. In other words, Dendera’s zodiac consists of the superposition of two different projections of the Celestial Hemisphere, one on the Ecliptic Plane and the other at the Equatorial Plane. Moreover, the planisphere indicates three different epochs, and certain asterisms such as Vega are so positioned as to indicate the corresponding date.

The two circles shown at the center ofFig.7 correspond to the Ecliptic Circle and the Equatorial Circle. Their intersections define the Equinoctial Points for they correspond to the point where the path of the Sun (the Equator) crosses the Ecliptic Plane in his yearly journey on the skies. At the perpendicular points lie the Solstitial Points, where the Sun reaches the farthest points of its yearly course, in Summer and in Winter.

 

Fig. – The Zodiac of Dendera and Its Structure
(P. Tompkins, Secrets G. P., pg.173)

As is visible in the figure, the three different epochs are indicated by the three corresponding sets of colures. The first is aligned along the axes of the temple, the second along the Cardinal Directions, and the third along the line defined by the fiducial marks that indicate the start of the counting of times. The alignment along the Cardinal Directions corresponds to the date of the construction of the temple, and do not interest us presently.

Vega-Hathor is represented twice. The first time as the crouched cow between her horns, at the position of the true North, and the second as the crowned falcon perched upon the top of the papyrus stem that represents the North Pole. The Falcon is the terrible shape of the Great Goddess (Hathor) as the Eye of Ra. It was the form assumed by Hathor in order to carry out the destruction of mankind at the Flood. As such it represents Vega as the Pole Star of 14,000 years ago, marking the start of the calendar some 14,000 years ago.

The original alignment passes through the crowned figure of Osiris holding the flail and the staff. The personage represents Orion, the giant who personifies Atlantis, just as Hathor personifies Lemuria. The colures of the main alignment of the temple pass, one through the constellations of Virgo and Pisces, the other through Gemini and Sagittarius. Virgo is placed at the Vernal Equinox, Gemini at the Winter Solstice, Sagittarius at the Summer one and Pisces at the Fall Equinox, the situation of the start of the Egyptian Calendar.

The second alignment of Dendera’s zodiac that interests us is that along the original direction. It is oriented at about 30° ahead of the axis of the temple’s axis. This rotation is due to the Precession of the Equinoxes and corresponds to the elapsing of a full zodiacal era, or 2,160 years. The corresponding colures pass one through Leo and Aquarius, the other (not shown) through Taurus and Scorpio.

These four signs correspond to the usual ones of the Tetramorph which usually indicates the date of the second start of the Calendar. This can be easily computed as 11,917 – 2,160 = 9,757 BC. This date corresponds fairly well with the one of the founderings of Atlantis, as given by Plato and other authorities.

 

 

The Inescapable Conclusion

Some have argued that the dates indicated by zodiacs such as that of Dendera, though factual, were contrived and result from the fabrications of the Egyptian priests. But, as we showed in the first article of this series in AA&ES, the Great Pyramid’s alignment with Vega also indicates exactly this date. Of course, that alignment could never have been forged at all, as the Great Pyramid existed far before the phenomena in question were ever discovered, let alone calculated with the uncanny accuracy that we verified.

The a priori probability of such a unique alignment being purely coincidental is of the order of 10^-24, as we showed there. This number is utterly small, and precludes random coincidences. Likewise, it was also impossible for the pre-dynastic Egyptians —those of the times of its original construction — to forge the dates and the Celestial events portrayed in its zodiac. They embody a highly advanced knowledge of Celestial Mechanics and of astronomical events such as the Precession of the Equinoxes, whose discovery then lay in the distant future and hence could not possibly be faked.

The ineluctable conclusion is, hence, that the remote dates indicated by Dendera’s zodiac and by the Great Pyramid’s alignment with Vega, though unbelievable, are real and undeniable. The only rational thing to do, in view of the circumstances, is to change our way of regarding our ancestors as a bunch of liars or of primitive savages and recognize the fact that the superior civilizations of such as the ones of Atlantis and Punt, The Original Paradise, were indeed real.

Fig. – Medieval Zodiac