Earthquest News vol. 9 No. 1 (Summer 2006)

The cult of Cygnus is integrally related to the shamanic process of entering the sky-world (heaven if you like) via a perceived sky-pole that terminates in something known to mythologists as the cosmic axis, synonymous with the north celestial pole. This is marked in the night sky by the Pole Star, or North Star, currently Polaris in Ursa Minor, although this is simply the latest in a series of pole stars which feature during the Earth's 26,000-year precessional cycle. As the perceived guardian of the entrance to the sky-world, Cygnus as the cosmic bird, positioned at the most northerly extent of the Milky Way, is at the heart of ancient cosmologies and religions worldwide. It has been a major influence on the design and orientation of sacred architecture, which, in addition to the megalithic monuments of Britain and Ireland, includes the Pyramids of Giza, the ancient effigy mounds of the United States, as well as various ancient temples in Mexico, Peru and India.

Cygnus is also at the root of Christianity's use of the Crucifix as a symbol of death and redemption, as well as the veneration of the north as the direction of the Primal Cause, God himself. This belief is found within the religions of various Middle Eastern sects descended from the star-worshipping Sabians of Harran (known as the Chaldeans in the Bible). They include the angel-worshipping Yezidi of Syria and Upper Iraq, the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, and the Shi'i Muslim sect called the Brethren of Purity.

In THE CYGNUS MYSTERY, released on 19 October by Watkins Publishing, I trace the origins of the Cygnus cult to the oldest temple in the world, a Pre-pottery Neolithic sub-surface stone complex known as Göbekli Tepe in southeast Turkey, where the swan was replaced as psychopomp by the vulture. It dates to 9500-9000 BC, and clearly displays an alignment to Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus. Other similar Neolithic sites in the same region, as well as the sub-surface city of Çatal Hüyük in southern-central Turkey, also display an interest in the north as a principal direction of cosmic life and death. Yet how did this faceless race, identified with the Watchers and Nephilim of Enochian literature in my earlier books, come to see the north, and the stars of Cygnus as so important, especially as there was no pole star occupying the position of the northern celestial pole in c.9500-9000 BC? I will show that these cosmological beliefs held by our Neolithic ancestors at the very end of the last Ice Age were ancient even by this time, and were inherited by them from the Palaeolithic peoples of Europe and Asia, who revered the stars of Cygnus as an expression of the celestial bird when Deneb, its brightest star, was Pole Star, c.16,000-15,000 BC.

THE CYGNUS MYSTERY

Deneb retained this role for 1,000 years before it was replaced by another of Cygnus's stars, delta Cygni, which held the position through until 13,000 BC. It was during this period that Cygnus was depicted as the cosmic bird on cave walls, such as at Lascaux in France's Dordogne region, where it is shown as a bird on the end of a stick representing the sky-pole and cosmic axis. The constellation's rise in importance through until the end of the last Ice Age c. 8500 BC, went hand in hand with the Palaeolithic people's renewed interest in placing their most sacred cave art in the deepest, darkest sections, a fact which has never been properly explained.

Why did the Palaeolithic cave artists and shamans take such a profound interest in deep caves, especially in the knowledge that at this very same time our race was undergoing extensive changes in symbolic language recognition, behavioural patterns, art evolution, tool manufacture, cosmology, astronomy, and eventually the rise of agriculture and everything we associate with the Neolithic evolution. This sudden explosion in activity we know began on the Euphrates river of Upper Mesopotamia, modern southeast Turkey, northern Syria and northwest Iraq, which the Bible refers to as the land of Eden. Here, of course, was the fabled 'garden' in which mankind's first parents were beguiled into temptation by the Serpent, seen as a personification of the Watchers as walking serpents in the Book of Enoch. Here too, in southeast Turkey, those very first megalithic stone temples were built c.9500-9000 BC, and these we can see as the precursors of all rectilinear and curvilinear structures built after this time. Something very profound went on in southeast Turkey during this period, and there seems little question that it acted as a transition phase between those Palaeolithic cave artists who created the wonderful art in Western Europe and the rise of civilization down on the plains of Iraq's Fertile Crescent, sometime around 5500 BC. Had some external influence been responsible for this noticeable acceleration in evolution beginning c.15,000 BC and culminating c.8000 BC? Had this early interest in Cygnus been inspired simply by astronomical considerations, or were there other reasons as well?

The Case for Cosmic Rays

It was a tough call, but after much searching I concluded that this rapid mutagenic process could well have been caused by cosmic rays. Not those which constantly bombard the surface of the planet, but those present deep underground. As we know, some of the most important shamanic practices of the Late Upper Palaeolithic age were conducted in deep cave settings under the influence of hallucinogenic substances that enabled communication with perceived otherworldly entities and realms, and there is every likelihood that these experiences brought with them a belief that life, or more correctly the human soul, came originally from the cosmos, i.e. heaven, where it would ultimately return in death. This sky-world, recorded in religious and shamanic traditions around the world, was seen as existing in the northern heavens, from which direction also came the only known form of cosmic rays which have been repeatedly reported deep underground (other than neutrinos from the sun and supernovae, and these pass through us without any noticeable effects). I speak of a unique and possibly exotic primary particle that arrives in sudden bursts from Cygnus X-3, an X-ray binary system in the Cygnus constellation, situated around 30,000 light years away.

Neutron star/black hole like Cygnus X-3 accreting gas from a companion star. Note the production of relativistic jets. Picture credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)

In the knowledge that ice cores extracted from both Greenland and Antarctica have revealed that there was an enormous increase in comic rays c.15,000-12,000 BC made me strongly suspect that Cygnus's X-3's production of cosmic rays might easily have been responsible for causing subtle changes in both human behaviour and evolution in Late Palaeolithic times, the impetus eventually for the Neolithic explosion in Upper Mesopotamia towards the end of the last Ice Age, c. 9500-9000 BC, and finally the rise of civilization. It was a unique and very bold assertion, and then in December 2005 an American scientific think tank known as the Meinel Institute announced that it too now believed that a binary star, a so-called blazar, producing powerful jets of cosmic rays was responsible for a rapid acceleration in evolution towards the end of the last Ice Age. Moreover, it has emerged that as early as 1995, British anthropological writer Denis Montgomery outlined his own belief that cosmic rays from the Cygnus region were responsible for sudden changes in human behaviour during the Upper Palaeolithic age. It is a powerful story told for the first time in THE CYGNUS MYSTERY.

There is so much more in the book as well, for not only is Cygnus's influence behind world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism, but it also helps explain the origins of the cult of the Cosmic Mother, who bears names such as Bride, Brigid, Nut (Nuit) and Saraswati. In cultures worldwide, she was seen as a personification of the Milky Way, who gives birth to the sun-egg. Her mark, the three-pronged bird foot, is found among Palaeolithic cave art, where it also represents the female vulva. Britain and Ireland's Bride-Brigid was associated with the white swan, India's Saraswati, the daughter-wife of Brahma is said to ride hamsa, the swan-goose, while ancient Egypt's Nut was connected with the divine goose known as the Great Cackler. All of them are identified with the Cygnus constellation.

The Cult of Bride-Brigid

The cult of Bride-Bridget in Britain and Ireland exemplified these archaic beliefs, and these survived through until the twentieth century. However, evidence of her worship in England has been scant until now. Yet archaeologists working in southwest England have recently found macabre evidence of a pagan cult of the swan, possibly conducted in the name of Bride-Brigid, which survived through until the 1640s. It comes from a series of earthen pits unearthed at Saveock, Cornwall, close to an ancient holy well, which were found to be lined with swan down. Some contained whole bird carcasses, particularly those of cockerels (offered up in the name of Bride-Brigid), as well as other votive offerings such as eggs, crystals and stones. It is important to recall that at this time England was under Puritan rule, with the punishment for any kind of sympathetic folk magic being very severe indeed.

In Britain, the cult of the swan came under the protection of Bride-Brigid, whose feast day, 1st February, marked the time of departure of swans back to their northern breeding grounds in the Arctic. Yet Bride's worship proved to be only half the story, for a whole different cult of the swan once surrounded the return of the birds each November, around the time of Martinmas, 11 November, a fact echoed today in an archaic ceremony that take places each year on the River Thames known as Swan Upping.

It is a fascinating story that I will bring you both in the book, and also at QuestCon06. I recently premiered this material at the Megalithomania conference in Glastonbury, held on Saturday, 6th May, and it went down a storm. I shall be playing it out again at various events this year including the Forbidden Knowledge conference in Stoke-on-Trent on 1st July; London Earth Mysteries Group (LEMG) on Tuesday, 11th July; Witchfest International, Fairfield Halls, Croydon, on Saturday, 4th November, and more to be announced. Each of the presentations will be tailored towards the audience in question, and so expect a lot of London content at LEMG, with more goddess influenced material at Witchfest.

Bride-Brigid by unknown artist.

Lynn and Clive's Da Vinci Code

Fresh from their daily appearances at the Da Vinci Code trial in London, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince will make a welcome return to the Questing Conference. They were quite obviously overjoyed to hear Dan Brown admit to the judge that the book that inspired him to write THE DA VINCI CODE (which has sold over 50 million copies worldwide) was their own THE TEMPLAR REVELATION (1997). This was, of course, the tome that brought you all the clues in Leonardo's paintings (such as the Last Supper showing John the Evangelist as a woman), and thus is crucial, you might agree, to Brown's fictional plot. The fact that 'The Da Vinci Code' film is now being seen by countless millions around the globe must be heartening to Lynn and Clive, and we know that you will give them a rapturous welcome when they get up on stage this autumn.

They shall be talking about the court case, which has left HOLY BLOOD AND HOLY GRAIL (1982) authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh with grave financial problems, since they were ordered to pay an estimated two million pounds of legal costs, most of it incurred by their own publisher Random House. They are unable to pay, and so we hope that they are able to come to some kind of agreement with the courts, which will leave them other than bankrupt. In addition to the court case, the Da Vinci Code phenomenon, and their latest discoveries concerning the origins and extent of the Priory of Sion (outlined in their latest book THE SION REVELATION, 2005), Lynn and Clive will be revealing new clues concerning the history of the Turin Shroud, which they conclude in their book THE TURIN SHROUD: IN WHO'S IMAGE (1994) was an early type of 'photograph' created by the wily Leonardo himself. It is material culled from a revised edition of the book republished this year as THE TURIN SHROUD: HOW LEONARDO DA VINCI FOOLED THE WORLD. What I find most satisfying is that it was the Green Stone story and early Questing Conferences that helped inspire Lynn and Clive to investigate historical mysteries such as the Turin Shroud, meaning that without the Green Stone there might never have been THE DA VINCI CODE. It's a thought.

Atlantis and the Great Bimini Hoax

In addition to Lynn and Clive, who are regular contributors and supporters of the Questing Conference, this year billed as QuestCon06, Greg Little from Memphis makes a welcome return. He had everyone in stitches with his southern drawl and jokes back in 2003, and this time he is set to present cutting edge research and some amazing findings regarding the existence of prehistoric harbours, quays, breakwaters and mooring circles off the coasts of three Bahaman islands. I speak of Andros, the largest island in the Bahamas group; Bimini, the site of the famous Bimini Road J-shaped feature, and the recently investigated Proctors Road; and also Anquilla Island, part of the Cay Sal group, just 24 miles (38.5 kilometres) from Cuba. All of these sites have been extensively explored by Greg and his wife Lora over the past five years.

We are not talking here about a few loose blocks, which might have fallen as ballast from some colonial ship. These sites are rectilinear and curvilinear structures, often with multiple layers or corner support stones, which seem to have been constructed by a sea-going culture of immense capability. Carbon-14 dating indicates that these structures date to anywhere between 4000 BC and the age of Christ - a staggering fact when you consider that according to conventional thinking the Bahamas remained unoccupied until the arrival c.AD 500 of the Lucayan islanders, who used only light canoes. There is compelling evidence also that the seafaring peoples responsible for these structures, built most probably to enable their ships to dock safely in calm waters, left behind heavy stone anchors of a type used extensively by several Mediterranean cultures including the Minoans, Phoenicians and Carthaginians. Indeed, throughout the eastern Mediterranean we see very similar harbours and quays constructed from large blocks of natural stone, and these bear an uncanny resemblance to those now under study in the Bahamas. One of the stone anchors found recently off Bimini (see picture below) has been dated using the Carbon-14 technique to 30 BC, or thereabouts.

Even though none of this goes to prove the existence of Plato's Atlantis, what it does do is create a transatlantic line of transmission for oral stories being carried from the Bahamas and Caribbean to the Mediterranean world. These would have included legends concerning distant cataclysms and former high cultures of the sort told to the first Europeans to reach the archipelagos in the late fifteenth, early sixteenth centuries. These accounts, preserved in early Spanish chronicles, and even among Afro-Bahaman and Afro-Caribbean cultures today, tell of how the former Bahaman landmass, as well as the Lesser Antilles and parts of the Greater Antilles, were broken up by a sudden flood that accompanied a major natural catastrophe. One legend retold by the earliest African slaves who inhabited Tobago spoke of the 'old moon' falling out of the sky, while other similar stories from mainland cultures formerly attached to the archipelagos, tell of a great serpent that crossed the sky before a time of darkness and floods. All such accounts are likely to be abstract memories of what was perhaps a comet fragmentation witnessed in the skies prior to a major earth upheaval of the type proposed by myself in GATEWAY TO ATLANTIS (2000) and backed up by Greg and Lora Little in a book and DVD entitled THE ARE'S SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS (2003).

Thus there was every opportunity for such stories - most probably conveyed to dock workers at Mediterranean ports by seafarers returning from transatlantic journeys - to have reached Plato's ears, leading to him featuring them in his own account of the final destruction of Atlantis. This Atlantic Island, we should recall, is said to have been linked via a series of smaller islands that were used by 'voyagers' from the ancient world to reach the 'opposite continent', i.e. the Americas.

In addition to revealing the fruits of his and Lora's five-year study into the underwater structures of the Bahamas - inspired, I feel duty bound to add, after Greg read my book GATEWAY TO ATLANTIS - he will tell us about the Great Bimini Hoax. What is this, you might ask. Well, it would seem that Eugene Shinn - a US Geological Survey geologist who in the 1970s visited Bimini for a single weekend and after examining the Bimini Road concluded that it was nothing more than scattered beach rock - deliberately deceived the world. Indeed, Greg presents written testimony to show that Shinn's investigations were little more than a sham, which the marine geologist actually admits today. He told Greg that he did it in order to put a stop to ancient mysteries enthusiasts going to Bimini in the belief that the Road structure was a remnant of Atlantis. It is a shocking story that everyone interested in establishing the truth must now hear, for it typifies the attitude of sceptics towards the mysteries.

Beyond Cosmogenesis 2012

Another speaker at the conference this year is Geoff Stray, author of a fabulous book entitled BEYOND 2012. Let me tell you a little bit about his work. Just six years from now we will hopefully witness one of the most remarkable celebrations since the millennium. I speak here of the phenomenon that is 2012. Sunrise on 21 December 2012 will mark the end of the Maya Long Count calendar (known also as the 13 Baktun cycle) which, although devised as late as 355 BC (coincidentally, when Plato wrote about Atlantis), starts with the date 3114 BC.

Why the Maya scheduled their Long Count calendar to end when it does has never been properly understood, leading to new age writers filling in the missing gaps. For instance, it is a fact that at dawn on 21 December the position of the sun corresponds to the visual position of the centre of this galaxy. This is located in the constellation of Sagittarius, where the so-called Great Rift in the starry trail we call the Milky Way opens out as though to give birth to the sun. Thus it is seen to be reborn from the heart of the galaxy itself, a profound event in some people's opinion.

All around the world the 2012 event will be marked by religious events, not least of all in Mexico, where before dawn on that day a crowd of several hundred thousand people is expected to gather around the Pyramid of Kukulcan at the Mayan city of Chichen Itza. Much has been written about the subject of 2012, and there are thousands of websites already dedicated to this powerful nexus in human history. Yet how much of it is simply new age twaddle? What will really happen on that day? What did the Long Count actually mean to the Maya?

Writer and researcher Geoff Stray, a Glastonbury man, has made it his business to check out every possible website, booklet, book and DVD on the subject of 2012. He presents the truth of the matter in his essential book BEYOND 2012, which covers all angles of the subject. So impressed was I by his book that I invited Geoff to make a presentation on 2012 at QuestCon06.

Cygnus - the Key to 2012?

Although the eschatological implications of the 2012 alignment are immense for many in the New Age movement, I was surprised that authors such as John Major Jenkins in his compelling book MAYA COSMOGENESIS 2012 - which contains a number of illustrations of the 2012 alignment - fails to note that the new sun will seem to emerge from the Milky Way's so-called Great Rift, a dark nebulous rift or region of dust and cloud, from its commencement point in the vicinity of the Cygnus constellation. Indeed, if one were to use the analogy of the birth canal, and see the divided branches of the Milky Way on each side of the Great Rift as female 'legs', then Deneb falls precisely in the vicinity of the 'uterus'. So if the Maya really were aware of this galactic alignment, then perhaps they might have visualized the completion of the current solar cycle on 21 December 2012 in slightly different terms.

Mexican legends of Pre-Columbian origin liken the emergence of the sun to the birth of a 'cosmic egg'. One source speaks of the World Mountain, another universal expression of the axis mundi, splitting asunder to bring forth the 'sun-egg', as if brought forth from a deep cave, analogous with the Road to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld identified today as the Great Rift.

One interpretation of the 2012 alignment, showing the sun on 21 December that year being literally 'born' from the Great Rift or Dark Rift region of the Milky Way. Cygnus lies at the top of the Great Rift, signifying the place of cosmic birth. See the article '2012 - The Astronomical Connection' by Robert Marling at www.bibliotecapleyades.net, which includes many other features on the subject.

None of these musings undermine the work of New Age cosmologists such as John Major Jenkins. What they do highlight is an apparent blind spot when it comes to considering the significance played by Cygnus in Olmec and Mayan cosmology, something that was first realized by archaeologist Marion Popenoe Hatch in a series of articles featured in THE CYGNUS MYSTERY. She seems philosophical that very few scholars exploring the cosmological world of these two important civilizations have ever really acknowledged her dedicated work in this field of study. I am convinced that Cygnus acted not just as an astronomical timekeeper for both the Olmec and Maya, but also as the herald and progenitor of the sun-egg, the (as yet unrecognized) role it plays in the cosmic events of 2012.

Precision Technology in Ancient Egypt

Joining Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince, Greg Little, Geoff Stray, Anthony Murphy and myself on stage at QuestCon06 is acoustics engineer John Reid, who in 2004 delivered a memorable presentation on ancient Egyptian stone technology and the power of acoustics in ancient religions. As you will recall, in the final years of the last millennium, there was much speculation about the precision technology of the ancient Egyptians, especially during the Pyramid Age. So exact was the cutting, drilling and manufacture of sarcophagi, building blocks, life-size statues and portable items, such as jars and bowls, many fashioned from some of the world's hardest rocks, that some historical researchers proposed that the Pyramid Builders must have used diamond- or sapphire-tipped cutting tools affixed to primitive lathes. It was a theory explored in the nineteenth century by the British Egyptologist W Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), who made a detailed study of ancient Egyptian stone technology.
Then the millennium came, and such revolutionary ideas crashed as the New Egyptology, pioneered by the likes of Robert Bauval, Robert Schoch and John Anthony West, fell quickly out of favour. Yet one engineer who remained fascinated by Egypt's precision stone technology was acoustics engineer John Reid. He has not just dedicated his life to exploring the evidence first hand, but has also successfully recreated the drills and tools that might have been used by our distant ancestors. This fascinating research project has shown that the Pyramid Builders really did have an amazing stone-cutting technology unequalled even in our own day.

Fresh back from Egypt, John has now accumulated even more evidence of this extraordinary technology. What is more, he has also been attempting to create a sapphire-tipped drill made of meteoric iron in order to finally put to test the theories of Flinders Petrie and others, and from what I know you are going to need to hear what he has to say in his all-new audio-visual presentation.

Meonia - the New Website

For those of you who regularly visit the website www.andrewcollins.com you'll probably have noticed that it has been relaunched with a futuristic white background and feel to it. This is in keeping with THE CYGNUS MYSTERY which is set to attract a whole new audience in search of answers to cosmological, astrophysical and astronomical mysteries. In all honesty, I got tired with the all black retro design, which might have worked a few years ago, but today looks a bit dark and gloomy. Moreover, the site has undergone a certain amount of what we shall call 'esoteric cleansing', in order to make it more accessible to all who might like to enjoy its content. The site, designed by me and made manifest by my good wife Sue, is now easy to navigate with all the 1,000 clickable links working properly. I didn't realise just now much material the site actually contains on the subject of Plato's Atlantis, with as many as 30 different articles on offer. It is a perfect introduction for anyone.

The website has had a name change as well. Out goes Eden - the Home of the Watchers, and in comes Meonia (pronounced mê as in 'knee', ô as in gô, nia, as in wire - mê-ô-nia). The Meonia Stone, or Green Stone, is the small cabochon stone found in 1979 by Graham Phillips following the discovery of a short steel sword bearing the inscription 'Meonia fore Marye'. Meonia is an anagram of 'I am One', with the One being the cosmic source, the divine being, in Judaism, Islam and Graeco-Egyptian Hermetica, practised by the Sabians of Harran. Meonia, the website, contains a lengthy feature entitled 'Meonia - Its Philosophy and Relevance to Psychic Questing', which offers an introduction to the name and its meaning.

For me, Meonia perfectly encapsulates the sentiment of what I am doing, where I am coming from, and what I hope to achieve in the coming years. It is also the spirit of Cygnus, which as a constellation has been linked with the Green Stone story since its inception in 1979. Indeed, it is reflected in the Swan's Neck, the bend on the River Avon in Worcestershire where we became convinced the stone was located prior to its acquisition. The bend lies in view of Bredon Hill, the site of a famous Iron Age encampment that bears a place-name that derives from the same root as Bride and Brigid. Each February the fields around the Swan's Neck flood to give the impression of a swan, Bride's totemic form, spread out across the landscape.

Memorial to Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956)

It was fifty years ago, on 15 May 1956, that one of the most underrated, yet influential British painters of the twentieth century passed away neglected and in virtual poverty. The inspired art and magical writings of Austin Osman Spare have been at the heart of the esoteric scene since the late 1970s, and today his name is known to a rising generation of art and esoteric enthusiasts.

Yet it is openly accepted among aficionados that Spare would have remained relatively unknown had it not been for his exposure by gothic rock band Fields of the Nephilim back in the late 1980s, early 1990s. They produce esoteric artwork under the name SheerFaith, and a reworking of Spare's painting 'The Self's Vision of Enlightenment' appeared on the cover of the Nephilim's 1991 live album 'Earth Inferno', which is the name of Spare's first book, published in 1904. In addition to this, the Nephilim live video 'Visionary Heads', released in 1992, was dedicated to Austin Osman Spare. Furthermore, many of the sigils and artwork pieces that have graced Nephilim material, from records to merchandise, at least give a nod to the artist.

As part of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations in memory of Spare's death, I conducted a special interview with Nephilim frontman Carl McCoy, which appears in a unique book published by I M O Press to commemorate the occasion. It includes what the artist means to him, and how Spare's work, magical ideas and personal philosophy has contributed to Carl's creative output over the past 20 years. The article - entitled 'Chaos for the Normal' and featuring original artwork from SheerFaith - speaks of Carl's affinity with the artist, Spare's influence on lyric writing, song production and artwork. Carl tells also of how the artist's personal philosophy has helped him lead a lifestyle away from the public eye and the usual pressures of the music world. There is also an introduction by me, along with my own comments on both Spare and what Carl has to say about the man.

The limited edition monograph, which was given free to those lucky enough to have attended a sell out memorial event in honour of Spare held at the St Bride Institute, off London's Fleet Street, on Sunday, 14 May 2006, includes articles by other high profile admirers of the influential artist. They include Alan Moore, the graphic novelist behind cult films such as 'From Hell' and 'V for Vendetta'. Proceeds from both the publication and the event went to the RSPCA, Spare's favourite charity. A new edition of the publication, as well as another major Spare event, is planned for later this year. For those wishing to learn more I suggest contacting Starfire Publishing at spare50@btinternet.com.

The Red Rain of Kerala

One of the things that I want to see before I shuffle off this mortal coil (which hopefully is a long way off yet) is proof positive of extra-terrestrial life. I don't know why, but I feel that having written in my earlier days about UFOs, abduction experiences, close encounters of the third kind, alien energy and even panspermia - the concept of life on earth originating in the cosmos (featured in THE CYGNUS MYSTERY) - I would like some kind of final closure on the matter. I came close to this on 7 Auguest 1996, when US president Bill Clinton, on behalf of NASA, announced to the world that what appeared to be fossilized microbes had been detected in a meteorite from Mars, the notorious ALH84001, which fell on Antarctica some 13,000 years ago. Yet sceptical scientists soon called a halt to the celebrations by insisting that the 'microbes' were most probably the result of non-biological processes, leading to much further debate, which continues to this day.

Despite the overwhelming evidence for the existence of the primary building blocks of life (i.e. organic chemical compounds known as PAHs, 'polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons') existing everywhere in the universe, no conclusive evidence far extraterrestrial life has never been forthcoming. Yet finally this might all be about to change if tests currently being carried out at the University of Cardiff can prove that the DNA of countless single celled organisms found in deposits of a curious red rain from the Kerala province of southwest India which fell between July and September 2001 are of non-terrestrial origin. Bucket loads of this stuff fell in urban, suburban and rural areas over a period of three months before ceasing completely. Initial speculation that the red rain was caused by large amounts of sand from Arabia, fungal spores or cells of algae being swept up into the sky by violent storms, or even blood from thousands of bats caught up in some kind of unaccountable maelstrom, were quickly dismissed. Finally, scientists started to look seriously at the possibility that the red matter, which was estimated to total around 50 tonnes, was in fact cellular in nature and of extra-terrestrial origin. This theory was strengthened by the fact that just two hours prior to the first fall of red rain in July 2001 there had been several reports of a large explosion, which had seemed to come from the sky. Scientists speculated that this could have been the sound of a large meteor disintegrating on impact with the upper atmosphere.

For four years Dr. Louis Godfrey of the School of Pure and Applied Physics at the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, Kerala, conducted tests on the red rain. He confirmed that the microscopic particles are indeed living cells (see picture), which although very similar to those of blood, bear a quite different appearance and also come alive and even divide in 'hostile' environments such as oil. This information was finally reported in 2006 not within some new age journal or on a UFO website, but in a scientific paper that was published in a peer-reviewed journal (see www.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601022). The story is also being followed closely by NEW SCIENTIST magazine

The red cells from the red rain of Kerala.

Most recently, samples of the red rain have been examined by Dr Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University, who has long been a supporter, along with his late colleague Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001), of panspermia. In their view, life on earth was seeded by spores arriving on meteors, asteroids or comets, while flu epidemics, they wrote, are also likely to be of extraterrestrial origin, having arrived here in a similar manner. Once the meteor brakes up, the spores are left behind in the upper atmosphere. They are eventually drawn downwards by thermal currents rising up and over high mountain ranges, which then take them down on to the plains of surrounding countries. It was probably under very similar conditions that the cellular matter that emerged from the exploding meteor fell as red rain over Kerala in 2001.

Dr Wickramasinghe and his team have now determined that the red cells contain DNA, although it is of a type not recognised at present. They are now running further tests designed to better identify the DNA in order to decide whether or not it is of terrestrial or extraterrestrial origin. I sense we are getting close to a dramatic revelation indeed, and one which is going to have enormous ramifications for religion and philosophy. What is more it will open a new chapter regarding the ideas of panspermia, and how the origins of life on earth might have been perceived by our earliest ancestors, who I sense saw themselves as intimately connected with the cosmos. It is a matter I dedicate a whole chapter to in THE CYGNUS MYSTERY.

Mystery of the Bosnian Pyramids Revealed

Before now there were no classical-style pyramids in Europe, or so it was believed (even though pyramid-like structures do exist in the Canary Islands, Greece and Italy). However, in October 2005 all focus went on Bosnia when it was announced that three pyramids of enormous proportions had been detected in a valley outside of the town of Visoki, which was once the royal capital of a Bosnian medieval kingdom.

In all three pyramids have been detected by aerial surveys behind the facades of natural looking hills or hill-sides, which are thought to be linked by a series of man-made tunnels. Excavations are now in progress under the guidance of Bosnian author Semir Osmanagic, who has renamed Visocica Hill, beneath which the principal structure is said to be located, as 'the pyramid of the sun', with other hills nearby now becoming the 'pyramid of the moon' and 'pyramid of the (Bosnian) dragon' (see artist's impression below).

You would be forgiven for asking why, if these pyramids exist, were they not discovered before, and to which the answer would be: no one recognised the distinct symmetrical appearance of the hills until Osmanagic came along. As puzzling as this might seem, the current excavations are proving him right, for in April 2006 investigators led by experienced cavers penetrated a deep tunnel beneath Visocica Hill and confirmed that it was artificial in nature. Osmanagic points out that other similar tunnels inside the hill could have acted as ventilation shafts, like those found in Egypt's Great Pyramid. Since then lines of cyclopean stone blocks have been unearthed around the base of the hill, indicating that the original structure, if manmade, or made-enhanced, must have been covered with these enormous blocks, giving it an appearance similar to Mexico's Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, near Mexico City.

The Bosnian Pyramids

Should Visocica Hill prove to be a manmade construction, then at 213 metres (699 feet) in height, it will become the largest pyramid in the world, its height being a third larger even than the Great Pyramid, which was originally just 147 metres (485 feet) in height. As to the possible age of the Bosnian 'pyramid of the sun', Osmanagic was widely quoted (or more appropriately misquoted) as saying that it could be 14,000 years old. He in fact said that they could be anything 'between 500 BC and 12,000 BC', based on Bosnia's known archaeological past. Only when suitable datable evidence is retrieved from Visocica Hill will the matter be properly settled.

Yet already Osmanagic is claiming that Visocica Hill is the 'mother of all pyramids', a claim which is somewhat premature. A newly-formed organization called the Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Research Foundation already has a busy timetable through to 2010. This includes increased availability of Visocica Hill to tourists, better methods of transportation to the town of Visoki, and the establishment of 'the pyramid of the sun' as a UNESCO site of international importance.

Academics around the world have been quick to condemn Osmanagic excavations as potentially harmful to Bosnian archaeological sites, such as the remains of Bosnia's royal capital on Visocica Hill, while his theories have been dismissed as 'wacky' and 'absurd'. In a book entitled THE WORLD OF THE MAYA, written under the name 'Sam Osmanagich', Osmanagic claims a common origin for pyramids worldwide. These he sees as having been built by cultures whose ancestors came originally from lost continents such as Mu and Atlantis. We wait with baited breath for further developments in this ongoing saga, which will be reported both here in EARTHQUEST NEWS and on the Meonia - Andrew Collins/QuestCon website. For further information on the Bosnian Pyramids see the Wikipedia entry.

The Green Man and the Dragon

Finally, I have received for review a copy of Paul Broadhurst's new book THE GREEN MAN AND THE DRAGON (2006), published under his own imprint name of Mythos, based in Launceston, Cornwall. It is simply one of the most beautiful books I have had the pleasure to read. It contains many colour plates and copious illustrations, the whole thing printed in a dark brown ink on a thick brown paper to give it that extra quality. The book's contents are informative and concise, and demonstrate the emergence of the St George and the dragon story from much earlier religious sources, such as the Islamic spirit of Al-khidr, the 'Green Man', who was occasionally shown slaying the dragon.

There is also a chapter on the evolution of the myth surrounding the hawk-headed Horus slaying Set, the Greek Typhon, which is also behind the Christian dragon slaying tradition. Interestingly, he shows that originally the story might actually have featured Set himself as the hero, with the Apep serpent, which ate the sun at the time of eclipses, as the villain. Beyond the emergence of St George and his dragon-slaying capabilities is the importance of the dragon itself as a symbol of the earth's primordial powers suppressed by Christianity during its formative years. There is also a section demonstrating the place in this saga of the Green Man, such a familiar sight in medieval churches and cathedrals across Europe. There is plenty in here for everyone who has read Paul's previous books, such as THE SUN AND THE SERPENT (1989) and THE DANCE OF THE DRAGON (2001), both co-authored with dowser Hamish Miller. For those wishing to order THE GREEN MAN AND THE DRAGON, which I thoroughly recommend as a worthy addition to the bookshelf, buy it direct from Mythos Press at www.mythospress.co.uk.

Green Man and the Dragon

Special edition of THE CYGNUS MYSTERY
A signed and number version of THE CYGNUS MYSTERY, with a unique 'Circle of Cygnus' stamp mark, is being produced. Yet note: only 213 (3 x 71) copies will be made available. These can be yours at a cost of £16.99 each. This includes postage and packing (Uk only) ( Europe £21.99, rest of the world £22.99). Simply press here to register your name. You will be notified when the book is printed, and the different methods of payment open to you.

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