All words and images within our websites are better appreciated within the context of Giorgio de Santillana's & Hertha von Dechend's Hamlet's Mill (Boston, David R. Godine, 1977; especially pp. 49, 140, 268-71, 310-11 & 323) - "Way back in time, before writing was even invented, it was measures and counting that provided the armature, the frame on which the rich texture of real myth was to grow."
Wisdom 11:20
The lunar and solar alignments of Malta's prehistoric temples deserve much more attention than they have so far received (cf. R.I.L.K.O. Journal, no. 60, pp.16-24).
The following notes are provisional and preliminary:
DAVID H. TRUMP's attractively arranged Malta: Prehistory and Temples (Midsea Books, 2002; main photography, artwork and maps by Daniel Cilia; 320 pages), in which the photograph printed in the lower left-hand corner of page 76 displays as on the right those features which in reality appear on the left, and vice versa, also disappointingly fails to include the excellent photograph Daniel Cilia took at the Summer Solstice on 21 June, 1999, of the Sun, viewed through the entrance doorway to the High Chapel at Ħaġar Qim, setting exactly behind the corresponding portion of the hill-top on the distant horizon. A rare old photo on pp. 146-7 includes in front of the doorway of the high chapel at the junction of both pages blocks still forming a V-groove that permitted observation of winter solstice sun-rise in the south-east through a window in the front wall (as recent photos show, this groove has now been filled with concrete!).
Our earlier photograph of that same phenomenon, exhibited above, was taken by Qrendi-born Joseph S.Ellul of Zurrieq on 21 June 1988. The plan displayed below is of the neighbouring Mnajdra site; it was prepared by Professor Vere Gordon Childe, who visited both of these prehistoric complexes before World-War II, when Joseph was still living with his parents in Qrendi and his father, Carmel, previously Sir Themistocles Zammit's foreman-of-works at Tarxien, was then working as a guide at both Mnajdra and Ħaġar Qim, which are situated in the Parish of Qrendi, by the sea-side, and quite close to the war-time Qrendi air-strip, where a battery-chicken fattoria now stands.
Professor Trump, who retired from teaching in 1997, is best known as the author of several academic and popular books with an archæological focus, including A Dictionary of Archæology (London: Book Club Associates, 1973), and Malta - An Archæological Guide (Valletta: Progress Press, 2nd edition, 1990; revised edition 2000). All his proposed dates for the construction of Malta's and Gozo's prehistoric buildings are probably incorrect. They differ markedly both from those earlier suggested by either Zammit or Evans and from those more recently indicated by Renfrew and others, several of whose notably contrasting chronologies will, one suspects, also fall into oblivion soon enough.
Two years ago, while visiting the remains of the prehistoric temple at Tal Qadi between Salina Bay and Burmarrad, I saw for myself how widely Trump's specification of their geographical location (in section 7 of the Tunbridge Wells based Institute for Cultural Research 1988 expanded edition of Rowland Parker and Michæl Rubinstein's Malta's Ancient Temples and Ruts, p.19, here reproduced) diverges from the truth.
His new book, perpetuating the myth that those responsible for the design and construction of Malta's prehistoric monuments kept no written records, omits much that deserved to be said, and he shows little or no appreciation of the importantly different characteristics of different kinds of Maltese stone. Doctor Trump is a scholar and a gentleman. He writes pleasantly and urbanely. He clearly loves the Maltese islands and their inhabitants, and he has visited for himself the many sites his words illumine. If he sometimes places them in a false light, as is, indeed, the case, Professor John D. Evans, whose The Prehistoric Antiquities of the Maltese Islands (University of London, Athlone Press, 1971) has retained its own importance, must take some of the blame.
The caption beneath the illustration on the left at the foot of page 142 of Malta: Prehistory and Temples states that "the seaward wall… has been seriously eroded by the weather." Although this southern wall at ĦaÄ¡ar Qim, which is still standing, is, indeed, made of massive and now severely eroded stones, they are of the sort that are known as "non-eroding globigerina limestone", because, when left in isolation, they never erode. It is a well known fact that stones of this type erode only when in immediate contact with what are called "eroding stones" - and, even then, their rate of erosion is very much less than is that of eroding stones.
From this natural, known and intrinsic characteristic of Maltese stone of this sort, it follows, firstly, that this southern and now "seaward" wall has not eroded at all during the five thousand years or more that have elapsed since a tidal-wave from the West destroyed most of the other walls at Ħaġar Qim and threw down those eroding stones which had previously beeen in direct contact with that part of the southern wall which is still standing and, secondly, that at the time when that tidal-wave occurred, this southern wall had already been standing for some 4,800 years, as Joseph S. Ellul, whose father, Carmel, for many years Sir Temi Zammit's foreman-of-works and close collaborator, has very clearly and patiently already explained more than once.
Moreover, since the oldest man-made constructions at Ħaġar Qim predate the construction of that particular wall by another 2,000 years, Professor Vere Gordon Childe was not mistaken in claiming that Ħaġar Qim dates back 12,000 years, and Mr. Ellul has recently and cogently summarised several features of the evidence which are, all too often, overlooked (see below).
When the correct dates for their original construction are ascertained, Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid and the mind-boggling stone platform at Baalbek may still prove to be much more ancient than any of the prehistoric remains on the Maltese islands, Għar Dalam excepted. Meanwhile, David Trump's Malta - Prehistory and Temples, with its abundance of excellent photographs by Daniel Cilia, is among the best available books of its kind and, as a first point of reference for casual visitors and serious students alike, clearly deserves the ready welcome that many readers have already accorded it.
The attractive illustrations showing how the temples were built are, however, quite impractical, being inspired more by modern building methods and a romantic imagination rather than by archæological evidence; they are, indeed, good examples of what George Pullicino has rightly called '"incredible detail". From a literary standpoint, Doctor Trump's text is, perhaps, "impeccably written"; factually, however, I prefer David Trump's own more realistic assessment of our current situation:
"The temples of Malta are surely one of the wonders of the prehistoric world, and one cannot expect to understand wonders fully." (From his Foreword to Part One of the 1988 edition of Malta's Ancient Temples and Ruts.)
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven
Image 33 above is a photograph of a prehistoric statuette belonging to a second set of seven, found at ĦaÄ¡ar Qim. When originally displayed in the National Museum of Archæology in Valletta, it was accompanied by a rectangular white-card label, inscribed by Professor Doctor Sir Themistocles Zammit: "Headless statuette of globigerina limestone representing a standing naked figure of male sex. It has been cut from a flat block. On the upper surface there is a centrally placed hole, perhaps of modern workmanship."
"The Ħaġar Qim Complex was built in three different stages, thousands of years apart. So far apart in fact, that changes in working practices occurred between stages. When the first, small temple was built they had no flint tools. they used only chunks of lower coralline limestone as tools to cut and work the blocks of stone used to build this temple. Such tools were found in the fields surrounding the temples. This temple was built with its entrance facing almost directly South, towards the midday Sun.
The second temple was built thousands of years later when they had better tools to work the globigerina limestone. It was built with its entrance facing directly North.
With the first temple it seems that they were still looking for a good astronomical direction. Now it seems that they had improved with their choice. But it was not yet a good one; the hard northerly wind was very cruel. They had to block the entrance with rotating sheets like our doors. It was smaller than the first temple.
The first temple was built in the form of their squatting god. Two oval chapels, one behind the other with three niches at the back, facing the entrance. This shape gave the form of seven apses inside the temple, one for each of their gods. Seven continued to be their holy number throughout all their constructions, including the wells for their water at Misqa.
This second temple was also built in the form of their idols, with two oval chapels, one behind the other with somes apses at the back, facing the entrance. The passage from the first chapel into the second is flanked by a decorated altar on each side with a passage between them, about five feet wide. This passage is closed with blocks of stone that do not fit perfectly. this shows that this closure was not in the original construction.
When they constructed the third and last part of the temple, they annexed the back chapel of the second temple and incorporated it in the third temple, closing the middle passage.
By the time they had constructed the third temple they had learnt a lot about astronomy. they had discovered the position of the major standstill of the Moon, towards which they then built the main entrance of all their main temples: ĦaÄ¡ar Qim, Mnajdra, Ä gantija, Tarxien and Ta' ĦaÄ¡rat.
They also made doorways in their buildings that face important directions in astronomy. At Ħaġar Qim, the chapel they had annexed from the second temple, being at a right angle to the main entrance of the second temple, meant the opening of a doorway towards the West had to be directly facing the West or the setting of the Sun at the Equinox.
They also built a high-floored room from where they could watch the setting of the Sun at the Summer Solstice, over the top of the hill of Ta'l-Gholja. From the opposite direction they could watch the rising of the Sun during the Winter Solstice through a window in the front wall of the temple - but wise modern archæologists have closed this gap with artificial stone.
This shows that the temple of Ħaġar Qim was constructed as an astronomical calendar. It marks:(1) the major standstill of the Moon in Summer through the front doorway;As said earlier, these three temples were built in three different periods, thousands of years apart. Proof of this comes from the layers of flooring used in the corresponding temples. The first small temple was given a layer when it was built. When the second temple was built and was given flooring, the first temple was given a second layer. Later, when the third temple was ready and was given a layer of flooring, another layer was given to the second temple and a third layer to the oldest, first temple.
(2) the major standstill in Winter through the back doorway;
(3) the setting of the Equinox Sun;
(4) the setting of the Summer Solstice Sun from the High Chapel; and
(5) the rising of the Sun at the Winter Solstice from the opposite direction through a window in the front wall of the temple.
Here we notice that the upright orthostats of the first temple were, inside the temple, smoothed up to the top of the top layer of flooring. This proves that the wall of the oldest temple was built before flint, which was discovered after the laying of the third layer of flooring, came into local use. This also proves that this temple is the oldest in Malta and the world - and older than Ta' Ħaġrat. This small derelict temple, left to disintegrate under trees and shrubs, is the oldest man-made free-standing stone construction in the world.
The claim that the entrances of the temples are aligned towards the Sun when they are 10 degrees further South is a naïve idea. That direction, 10 degrees further South than the Solstice, is exactly in the direction of the Moon. Also, the idea that the Sun shone through the so called 'oracle hole' is wrong, because outside the 'oracle hole' there was a chapel for women who were not allowed to enter the temple proper. The name 'oracle hole' is a misnomer. The women had this chapel reserved for them just outside the main temple. There is this one at ĦaÄ¡ar Qim and another one like this, but larger and better constructed, at Tarxien. The associated 'oracle hole' was for the transmission of sound from the inside of the temple into the women's chapel outside.
These temples were built by experts in acoustics. As an example of this, there is a sound amplifier built out of solid rock at the Hypogeum. At Ħaġar Qim, they passed the sound through a hole, about one foot in diameter, by effective sound reflections. At Tarxien, they had a big gap high up in the wall. So the term 'oracle hole' should be changed to 'transmission hole'.
I mentioned the 'oracle hole' because that is the name by which it is nowadays known, but in the Stone Age, there were no oracles. They only existed in Rome, Greece and Egypt. But our archæologists are so imbued with the idea of the 'oracle' that, wherever they see a hole for a window, they lablel it an 'oracle hole'. In fact, there are several such holes in Mnajdra. One of them is in the bedroom of the chief priest, who had a baby sleeping inside and whose skeleton was discovered furing the first excavation. In this high priest's bedroom were three beds, one on top of the other, like a three-tier bunk. These beds were destroyed during the first crumbling of the Mnajdra temple in 1994. These flat beds also had another purpose, that of supporting the walls of the temples. These beds have not been replaced. My great-great-grandfather was one of the excavators who saw the baby skeleton in the niche, and told us about it.
Lately, we heard the news that some foreign students laughed when they were told that the statue inside the information office in Valletta was the Goddess of Fertility, and when those intelligent students saw that it had no female breasts, they started laughing. Who knows how many tourists, the intelligent ones, laugh at our ideas and ridiculous opinions. But it is only the indoctrinated guides who may 'explain' such matters to the tourists. I am not permitted, by law, to speak the truth on archæology to tourists" in a group of five persons or more!
I earlier found fault with some of this gentleman's calculations and speculations about the orientation of the prehistoric buildings at Mnajdra. Although on that occasion I commended Paul's study of Maltese sundials, unsurprisingly, this book, too, is not without its shortcomings.
Suffice it here to mention one. It is claimed (p.61) that the two-faced sundial fixed against an old farmhouse on the road down from Qrendi, as one walks towards Ħaġar Qim, has on one side a dial "facing south", and that "the other side is facing west."
In fact, as any visitor to the locality can easily verify, one dial faces south-west, the other south-east.
Paul's book, dedicated to the Din L-Art Helwa Foundation, is prefaced by John Greenleaf Whittier's evocative lines:"With warning hands I mark Time's rapid flightA worthy consideration. Paul Micallef, I think, was more a poet than a scientist at heart.
From life's glad morning to its solemn night;
Yet, through the dear God's love, I also show
There's Light above me by the Shade below."
Din l-Art Helwa is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1965, shortly after Malta achieved its present independent status as a Republic, and inspired by Article 9 of the Constitution, which lays down that "the State shall safeguard the landscape and the historic and artistic patrimony of the Nation".
This NGO's own achievements are, indeed, impressive, but it is noteworthy that the aim is that of "safeguarding Malta's historic, natural and environmental heritage" or, as this books back-cover blurb has it, "creating a greater awareness of Malta's natural, historic and cultural environment."
No reference is made to the archipelago's uniquely important prehistoric patrimony. Perhaps alarm-bells need to sound?
"There is no doubt that public interest in archæology has increased in the past few years… Constructive entrepreneurship is essential. However,… the absolute necessity to preserve and conserve the priceless archæological remains that are the heritage of Mankind cannot always be assured by commerical interests alone and must be guaranteed by Government on behalf of the People."
I have visited Ħaġar Qim several times since those words were written. What proportion of the $72,000 granted by the UNESCO World Heritage Emergency Fund to remedy the damage suffered by Ħaġar Qim on 28 November 1998 was, in fact, spent and wisely spent for its intended purpose? What proportion of the prehistoric artefacts originally excavated at Ħaġar Qim during the 19th century are now in private hands, in Malta or abroad? Human nature being as it appears likely to continue for some time yet, these are sensitive issues. The challenge remains.
"The great Yuga cycles of Vedic India have been a source of wonder or puzzlement to students who have taken up the challenge to study the teachings of a civilization whose roots are shared by our own Western civilization.
For most people these vast periods are accepted at their face value as being one of those truths only accessible to a people who have a deep spiritual knowledge, denied us lesser mortals. But let us look at these vast time periods in the light of known facts, to see if we can trace a possible source for the computations.
Firstly let us see the Yuga periods as described in Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine by Mme. Blavatsky who appears to take them at their face value, but hints at a hidden key. They are said to have been maintained in the traditions of the Tirvalour Brahmins of southern India.360 days of mortals = 1 year.A Manu reigns for 71 Maha Yugas (= 306,720,000 years), and their are 14 Manus during the human period (their reign = 994 Maha Yugas = 4,294,080,000 years).
Krita Yuga (Golden age) = 1,728,000 years.
Treta Yuga (Silver age) = 1,296,000 years.
Dwapara Yuga (Bronze age) = 864,000 years.
Kali Yuga (Iron age) = 432,000 years.
Hence, Maha Yuga = 4,320,000 years in all.
Add to the above figure, Sandhis: intervals between the age of each Manu (= 6 Maha Yugas = 25,920,000 years). Total: 994 + 6 = 1000 Maha Yugas = 4,320,000,000 years.
One day in the life of Brahma the Creator is equivalent to the reign of 14 Manus plus Sandhis = 4,320,000,000 years.
One year in the life of Brahma is 360 days and nights, the nights being of equal length to the days = 3,110,400,000,000 years.
The life of Brahma is 100 such years = 311,040,000,000,000 years, after which the Universe is destroyed, to sleep for a similar period before re-emergence.
Furthermore, it is said that we entered into the Kali Yuga period in 3,102 B.C. on the 16th February at 02 hours 27 minutes 30 seconds a.m. There was a conjunction of the planets, Jupiter and Mercury were at the same degree on the ecliptic, Mars was 8 degrees and Saturn was 17 degrees distant. It marked the passing from the Earthly plane of the Lord Shri Krishna, thus plunging mankind into darkness. He died of a wound in the heel, like another legendary hero. The 'Eye of the Bull' (Aldebaran) and the 'Heart of the Scorpion' (Antares) were at the equinoctial points, the 'Heart of the Lion' and the 'Southern Fish' were near the solstitial points.
To confirm our subsequent evidence, Mme. Blavatsky states the computations refer to great cosmic and small terrestrial events and cataclysms.
We have one reference date, 3102 B.C. In a footnote to Isis Unveiled a quote is taken from 'Volnay's Ruin s of Empire'; it is remarked that Aries was in its 15th degree in 1447 B.C.
THE MILL OF HEAVEN
The book which gives us the clue to the calculation of the ages, is Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend. In their investigation of human knowledge and its transmission through myth they find common ground from many diverse sources.
From Persia comes the story of Kai Khusrau who ascended the Ivory Throne and made this remarkable statement at his enthronement: 'The whole world is my kingdom, all is mine, from Pisces downward to the Bull's Head', indicating that we are dealing with cosmic, not earthly regions and times.
He ruled the Ivory Throne for 60 years and eventually, falling into melancholy, decides to abdicate and retire to the mountains. He departs with five of his Paladins, has a last conversation with them, and disappears. The Paladins are lost and buried in a snowstorm.
Now to India and the Mahabharata, in which Yudhishthira, with his four brothers and their joint wife Draupadi, set off for the Himalayas. All perish save Yudhisthira, who ascends to heaven.
The same tale is told of Enoch, whose companions died under snow and hailstones when he ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot.
The tales are all related to the end of an age, and the Mahabharata specifically mentions the period of the war between the Pandava and the Kaurava brothers as being between the Dwapara and Kali Yugas.
The title of the book draws on the myth tradition of the heavens and earth being likened to a mill, Cleomedes (c.150 A.D.) speaking of northern latitudes: 'The heavens there turn around in the way a millstone does'.
From Arab sources comes the information that Kotb, the common name of the pole, really means the axle of the moveable upper millstone, which goes through the lower fixed one what is called the 'mill iron'. From Bhagavata Purana we learn that the virtuous prince Dhruva was appointed as the pole-star. He ascended 'to the exalted seat of Vishnu, round which the starry spheres forever wander, like the upright axle of the corn-mill circled without end by the labouring oxen'. And again: ' similarly fixed on the inside and outside of the circle of time, stars and planets exist, supporting themselves on Dhruva; and propelled by the wind, they range in every direction until the end of the Kalpa'. The end of an age is clearly indicated.
IN THE BEGINNING
From which point in time were the cycles first established? The current cycle commonly used in astrology is based on the first point of Aries being at the vernal point, i.e., March 21st.
Though it may be convenient for astrological calculations to fix permanently the relationship between the Earth and the Stellar background, due to the fact that the Earth has a wobble in its journey around the Sun [i.e., the plane of the Earth's orbital-path around the Sun differs from that of a circular plane drawn through the centre of the Sun at right-angles to its own axis, so that, viewed from the centre of the Sun, the Earth appears to wobble], the Stellar background moves at a constant rate. This phenomenon is termed the Precession of the Equinoxes and was known to the Babylonians and the Egyptian astronomers.
THE TROPICAL ZODIAC OF CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
According to Ptolemy, he made his observations of the stars between A.D. 127 and 151 when the longitude of the Vernal point was in Aries 1 degree 11 minutes and 0 degrees 51 minutes respectively. This is the authority for the Tropical zodiac in common use today. In his lifetime the Sidereal and Tropical zodiacs were almost identical. They coincided exactly in A.D. 213. So we can establish the period of each sign from this date of A.D. 213. Pisces extends from A.D. 213 to A.D. 2373. Aries extends from B.C. 1947 to A.D. 213. Taurus from B.C. 4107 to B.C. 1947.
Since precession moves 1 degree in 72 years, the Vernal point must be in Pisces 5 degrees 277 minutes 30 seconds in 1986. A point of minor interest is that, according to Babylonian and Egyptian texts, the zodiacal constellations each measured 30 degrees in extent. Also the constellations bear the same name-meanings as they did as early as the 8th century B.C.
NUMBERS IN MYTHOLOGY
We are again indebted to the authors of Hamlet's Mill for drawing together similar number sequences from different myths. From Ragnarok and Twilight of the Gods we learn of the end of a world age. When the Fenrir Wolf breaks his bonds, his jaws stretching from heaven to earth, he is joined by the Midgard Serpent, by Loki and the Frost Giants to oppose the Gods. Heimdal blows the Gjallarhorn to summon the Gods and heroes, the Einherier, who once fell in battle on earth and now reside in Valhalla. On the last day they issue forth to battle. 'Five hundred gates and forty more are in the mighty building of Valhalla - eight hundred Einherier come out of each gate, at the time they go out in defence against the Wolf'. In the ensuing battle the Gods and their enemies are destroyed, and the whole universe is burnt up, and time is no more. But the Almighty will cause a new heaven and earth to rise out of the sea, the new earth will be abundant, and men and Gods will live happily together.
540 × 800 = 432,000; a number already familiar to us.
The Rig Veda has 432,000 syllables made up from 10,800 stanzas, each of 40 syllables. 10,800 is the number of bricks of the Indian fire-altar.
Berossos made the Babylonian Great Year equal to 432,000 years.
THE CATACLYSMS
The destruction of the 'World' by a great deluge is a myth common to all civilisations, even told by those nations who have never seen sea, lakes or great rivers. Deucalion's flood, like that of Noah, are mythical. What these floods are referring to are astronomical images, based on geometry and astronomy. [As Zecharia Sitchin and others have noted, this fact does not preclude the possibility, or even the likelihood of some historically real Great Flood or Floods on our present planet Earth - "As above, so below", analogically…] Other images need to be explained.
The Great Circle which passes through the equinoctial points and the poles is called the Equinoctial Colure, and that which passes through the solsticial points and poles the Solsticial Colure. Lines drawn between the equinoctial and solsticial points on the Celestial Sphere produce a quadrangular figure. This is the 'square Earth' or 'flat Earth' of the Ancients, giving rise to the [quite mistaken] idea that they thought the Earth [in our sense of our present planet Earth] was flat.
The constellation which rose with the Sun marked the Sun's resting-place, and was known as the Sun's carrier and as the main 'pillar' of the sky. Of course, owing to precession, this gradually changed.
The 'Earth' [of the Ancients thus] represented the ideal plane on the ecliptic defined by the four points of the year, and since they did not remain permanently in the same region, it was said that the Earth 'perished', and a new 'Earth' arose from the [celestial] waters, the heavens above the tropic of Cancer being the "waters over the Earth", and those below the tropic of Capricorn the "waters below the Earth". In fact, the new vernal equinoctial constellation rises from the waters and at the autumn equinox is "drowned", as it glides beneath the equator.
The concealing of such knowledge in myth is illustrated by the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The quest, to return the ghost of Phrixus who had fled a generation before on the back of a divine ram, to avoid being sacrificed, and to bring back the golden fleece of the ram, now hanging in the grove in Colchis. On the return journey with the golden fleece on board, they had to pass the Symplegades, the 'clashing rocks'. Once a ship with its crew had passed through safely, the 'blessed ones' had decreed they would clash no more. The Argo did so, but the rocks did cut off the ornament on the ship's stern wherein, it was said, the soul of the ship resided. The legend appears to demonstrate the coming of the 'Age of Aries' and the Symplegades being the point of the Vernal Equinox. The meaning of the word 'colure' in 'equinoctial colure' is from the Greek 'Kolouros' meaning 'docked tail'. Perhaps the 'soul of the ship' was left in the underworld.
THE HOLY SCIENCE
In 1894, in India was held a Khumbha Mela at Allahabad at the confluence of the Ganges, Jamuna and Saraswati rivers. A visiting sage was invited to meet with the Mahavatar Babaji and to him he opened his heart, describing to him his view of the state of mind which mankind was presently experiencing. He pointed out that in the Western world were many persons of great intelligence, far greater than most present at the Mela, fit to hold communion with the spiritual devotees, but who were sadly caught up in materialist pursuits.
If you see that a need must be fulfilled, then you are the one chosen to complete the task. Not surprisingly, Babaji smilingly informed the sage that the task of enlightening the West by writing a book about the subject, was his, and he was invested with the title of Swami, later taking the name Sri Yukteswar. The book was written in the same year.
The principal content is a spiritual treatise of great enlightenment, but it is the Introduction which contains information of a surprising nature in view of the generally held views about the Yuga cycles, even in India.
In the first place, the generally held view of the unfolding of the cycles from Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali, followed by the same sequence is confounded.
He states that in a complete cycle there is a descending arc and an ascending arc. We proceed from the Krita down to the Kali in the first half of the cycle, then rise again from Kali to the Krita in the second half of the ascending cycle.
Thus, the division of a full cycle is 4:3:2:1:1:2:3:4. So we may say that we pass from a golden age of innocence, passing deeper into experience and materialism, on to an eventual golden age of knowledge with experience. This seems to be a more logical progression than the current view.
Further, he says that the periods of time described are not true periods. Following the departure of Yudhisthira with all his wise men, the method of computation was not known, and the years of mortals were thought to be Daiva years, or years of the Gods equal to a thousand earthly years. The errors crept into the almanacs about 700 B.C. after the completion of the descending Dwapara age of 2400 years. Hence the first year of the Kali Yuga was numbered 2401 along with the age of the Dwapara Yoga, giving a date of 3102 B.C.
He also states that the cycle of the Yugas relates to the Precessional cycle, but he gives the period of precession as 24,000 years. Furthermore, that the Sun has a dual, and together they rotate around the Grand Centre, called Vishnunabhi, the seat of the creative power, Brahma, which regulates the mental virtue of the internal world of man. When the Sun in its revolution around its dual comes nearest to its Grand Centre, 'when the Autumn Equinox is at the first point of Aries', the mental virtue of man becomes so highly developed that he can comprehend all, even the mysteries of SPIRIT. When the first point of Aries is at the Vernal equinox, the Sun is then furthest away from the Grand Centre, the mental virtue is so reduced that man cannot grasp anything beyond the gross material creation.
He shows that the 12,000 years of the descending arc are made up thus:Krita or Satya Yuga 4/10 = 4,800 years, made up from a 'dawn' of 400 years + 4,000 years Krita + 'twilight' 400 years.
Treta Yuga 3/10 = 3,600 years, made up from a 'dawn' of 300 years + 3,000 years Treta + 'twilight' 300 years.
Dwapara Yuga 2/10 = 2,400 years, made up from a 'dawn' of 200 years + 2,000 years Dwapara + 'twilight' 200 years.
Kali Yuga 1/10 = 1,200 years, made up from a 'dawn' of 100 years + 1000 years Kali + 'twilight' 100 years.
By this computation the 1st point of Aries at the Autumn equinox is dated 11,501 B.C. and the commencement of the Kali Yuga was thus 700 B.C., the actual date when Yudishthira retired.
The descending arce of the Kali Yuga lasted 1200 years, which takes us to 500 A.D. The Kali Yuga of the ascending arc brings us to 1700 A.D., and it is noticeable that mankind began to be freer in thought and develop an awareness of finer states of matter. In 1600 A.D., the final 100-years Sandhi of the Kali Yuga, William Gilbert discovered magnetic forces and electrical charges in substances. Discoveries have continued apace, new nations were formed, and a greater measure of freedom has been enjoyed with the emancipation of the peasant classes. According to his calculations we have passed through the 200-years Sandhi of the Dwapara Yuga and are now 86 years into the Dwapara Yuga proper.
The suggestion that our Sun has a dual, and that together they rotate like the Earth and the Moon around a common centre, is an interesting one. It is known that the Sun appears to be moving within the galaxy in the general direction of Vega. It is also known that there are Globular Clusters comprising hundreds of thousands or even millions of stars, and Galactic clusters containing a few hundred stars. The Globular Clusters are found about the Galactic Centre, but the Galactic clusters are in the plane of the Galaxy and share the galactic rotation.
It is not improbable that our solar system belongs to such a Galactic cluster of which about three hundred are known. Among the more obvious are the Pleiades, Hyades, the great double cluster in Perseus, Coma Berenices and X Crucis in the Southern Cross. The Ursa Major group is a less obvious cluster.
Sirius may well be the Sun of our Sun and, based on the velocity of our Sun through space, we would circle Sirius in about 800,000 years, so we would make 250 revolutions about Sirius for every full circuit of the Milky Way. Other possible members of this system would be Procyon, Altair, Formalhaut, Pollux, Vega and others, lying within about 40 light-years of the Sun.
Astronomical observations indicate that the central region of the Milky Way, the source of its creative energy, lies towards Sagittarius. When we face Gemini, we are looking towards the edge of the galaxy. When the Sun is in Sagittarius, the radiations from the Milky Way and the Sun are in conjunction; when the Sun is in Gemini, the radiations reach us in opposition.
The relative positions of the Earth, Sun and Sirius within the galactic system will determine the nature of the energies experienced; they will undoubtedly effect changes within the biosphere of the planet, perhaps as described by the Indian sage.
To return to our computations - the time measure for the full precession is taken as 25,920 years, so that each 30-degree sign represents a precessional period of 2,160 years, or 72 years per degree.
It is apparent that this was the figure on which the Yuga periods were based, since the periods are all multiples of this number, and in at least one school of Vedic teaching the cycles of the Yugas are related to the precessional cycle and, as shown earlier, the cataclysmic myths are related to time periods based upon the same precessional shifts.
Based upon the half-cycle of precession of 12,960 years, we can re-compute the Yuga periods, and arrive at the following: 5184 years, 3888 years, 2592 years and 1296 years. By taking the known date of 213 A.D. for 0 degrees Aries at the Vernal Equinox, we can obtain adjusted figures for the suggested Arian inception of the Yuga cycles, and a possible alternative, based upon the known fact that the centre of our universe is not in the direction of Aries but towards Sagittarius, from which calculations can be made.
Why did Sri Yukteswar associate the cycle of evolution of mankind with the Arian period? From the Theosophical publications it is suggested that in the evolution of mankind there are root-races made up of sub-races, each developing particular aspects. It is especially interesting that the Western nations, following the introduction of Christianity, superseded the Lunar with a Solar Calendar - and also imposed upon the world a set of astronomical co-ordinates based upon a fixed system, wherein the First Point of Aries is permanently set at the Vernal Equinox.
It may well be that the Western European groups of people are developing a particular aspect of their psyche and the Archetypal pattern is related to the sign of Aries, which exerts an influence upon the cultures embraced by the civilisation, and whose influences are as subtle as those energies emanating from the stellar systems which surround us."
Undersea photographs © Shaun Arrigo.
"Our existing temples have been very reliably carbon-dated to the period 3,600 to 2,500 B.C. In that space of time we have traced a regular evoltion in style, from the small and rudimentary to the large and complex. Even the earliest examples fall within that bracket of time, which strongly suggests that the temples of Malta originated from that period."If that quotation is accurate, Bonanno's use of "we" is interesting, since his own training and competency are in historical rather than in protohistorical or prehistoric archæology. Megaliths, moreover, cannot be, as he here so intriguingly suggests, "very reliably carbon-dated".
"The archæological proof that the Ancients already used an alphabet in the Neolithic (second era of the Stone Age) was thought to have been found in France at the beginning of the 20th century.
On March 1, 1924, Claude Fradin and his grandson, Émile, were taking a walk in the countryside around the tiny hamlet of Glozel, near Ferrière-sur-Sichon, in the Allier. Suddenly, strange objects attracted their attention: they were astounded by the discovery of bricks, engraved tablets, two cutting tools, two small hatchets, and two flat pebbles bearing inscriptions.
And this was only the beginning. Dr Morlet, who lived in the region, was informed of the mysterious discovery. He had always been passionately interested in the strange, the unknown, the extraordinary, and he now followed up on the excavating work. This is how it came about that he unearthed more than one hundred tablets, tools of split stone, pottery of a type which has never been found elsewhere, and finally, engraved flat pebbles. Famous experts like Camille Jullian and Salomon Reinach dated these unique finds as having been made ten to fifteen thousand years ago. Some experts recognized, on certain objects, a linear disposition of characters resembling an alphabet, such as V W L H T I K O C J X.
But the discovery of Glozel was soon to be sharply challenged by other experts, those of the International Institute of Anthropology and those of the French Identité judiciaire. They claimed fraud and concluded that the excavated objects were 'non-antique' [meaning, perhaps, no more than 'not originally discovered by one of their own number'?!]
Apart from this questionable mastery of writing, which was challenged [at the time, but is now, in the light of Kurt Schildmann's recent findings, difficult reasonably to deny], it appears that certain ancient peoples possessed a vocabulary and a literature far more extensive than our own. The American Indians have a different name for the same plant or the same tree according to the season, whereas we simply indicate the change of a tree in the springtime to the same tree in the autumn by using an adjective…"
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