ANTHONY MURPHY - NEWGRANGE AND THE CYGNUS ENIGMA

 

 The gigantic passage grave encircled by a stone circle to be seen at Newgrange in Ireland's Boyne Valley is famous for its alignment towards the midwinter solstice. Each year the first sunlight penetrates a long, narrow corridor before entering a womb-like chamber at the heart of the monument, built c. 3000 BC. Legend speaks of Newgrange being a sidhe, house or palace, of the Tuatha de Danaan, the mythical race that first inhabited Ireland. In this role, it features in 'The Dream of Angus', a tale concerning a chieftain named Angus Mac Og. It relates how this chief of the Danaan falls in love with a swan-maiden after she appears to him each night in a dream for a whole year. After deciding to find her, she agrees to be his wife, at which they transform into swans and fly off to Newgrange, where they live happily ever after.

It was with such knowledge that two Irish earth mysteries researchers, Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore, saw the connection between Newgrange and swans expressed in the presence each winter of flocks of migrating whooper swans, who came to settle in the flooded meadows of the Boyne Valley. Realising that Newgrange might have functioned as an expression of the cult of Cygnus, the celestial swan, they examined the monument's inner chambers, and concluded they were arranged to mirror the position of principal stars of Cygnus. Moreover, if the midwinter sunrise line is extended south-southeastwards for a distance of 15 kilometres (9 miles), it targets a smaller passage grave named Fourknocks. This they found to be aligned perfectly to the rising of Deneb in c. 3000 BC.
In Anthony Murphy's first appearance at QuestCon, he will demonstrate how both Newgrange and Fourknocks reflect the influence of the celestial swan, as preserved in the tale of 'The Dream of Angus', and the presence of migrating colonies of whooper swans in the Boyne Valley.

Anthony Murphy is 32, a newspaper editor and writer. He is the creator and curator of www.mythicalireland.com, a multi award winning website encompassing six years of research into Ireland's ancient sites and mysteries. His hobbies are astronomy, photography, ancient history, reading, writing, web design and graphic design. He is the father of four children, and is currently working on his first book, a volume about Ireland's ancient sky myths and their associated monuments.


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