Origins

 

EARTHQUEST NEWS

The Andrew Collins Newsletter

Vol. 10 No.1 (Summer 2007)

Hi, welcome to a belated newsletter, which should have reached you two months ago. The reason for the delay is moving, for Sue and I now live down in the West Country, having got away from my ancestral realm of Essex at last. This then is the reason for the shift of venue for QuestCon07, which is to be held at Glastonbury in the Assembly Rooms on the High Street. The dates are Saturday, 3rd and Sunday 4th November.

We are pleased that Graham Hancock can join us for the weekend event. He will be chatting on the Saturday evening about Palaeolithic shamanism and its relationship to the worldwide belief in an otherworld inhabited by strange denizens and accessed via trance states, either induced by hallucinogens or perpetual dances. His work dovetails nicely with my own into the nature of Palaeolithic cave art, which I show expresses a belief in the cosmos, particularly in certain cosmic principles focused around the idea that the Milky Way was seen as both the cosmic mother and the source of life in the universe. Her womb and vulva fall in the precise vicinity of the Cygnus stars, where the Great Rift begins - why this constellation has since earliest times been seen as the source of cosmic life and death, where life came from and our souls returned in death.

In a separate talk, I shall be revealing brand new material on the nature of the Giza monuments based on their alignment to the Cygnus stars, and their relationship to Gebel Ghibli, the plateau's primeval mound due south of the Sphinx. The bottom line is that this information might well help us to identify the entrance to the fabled Hall of Records, which many believe exist beneath the sands at Giza.

I am also happy to announce that Kathy Jones, an expert on ancient British goddesses and the organiser of the annual Goddess conference, will be speaking about her discovery of a giant landscape swan in the Glastonbury landscape. She will explain its symbolism, and how it fits into the area's myth cycle. Glastonbury artist Yuri Leitch will be balancing the score by talking about Glastonbury's missing god, Gwyn up Nudd (pronounced Gwyn-ap-noothe). He's a hunter god associated both with Orion and key landscape effigies previously identified by Katherine Maltwood as signs in Glastonbury's terrestrial zodiac.

Glastonbury earth mysteries expert Nicholas Mann will talk about the ancient astronomies of Glastonbury, and show incredible footage of the sun rolling up the side of the Tor shortly after sunrise on the winter solstice.

Caroline Wise will be exploring the goddess Brigid, who has two feast days - one on 1st February and the other on 1st November, dedicated to her dark aspect, the Crone-like Cailleach Bheur.

QuestCon07 also features presentations on psychic questing - Richard Ward on some recent questing exploits and radio presenter Ross Hemsworth on psychic questing and ghost hunting. Paul Weston will talk about the relationship between the so-called Michael Line of sites stretching from Cornwall to the Norfolk coast, and its clear relationship with the Lights of Knowledge quest featured in the Green Stone story.
The venue and the date of QuestCon07 are significant, since Glastonbury's landscape swan is aligned to the setting sun on 4th November, Bonfire Eve, the eve of the cross quarter day between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. This synchronisation provides a perfect opportunity for delegates to walk out to a local holy site and watch sunset on Sunday, 4th November, and at the same time take part in a powerful meditation involving both the Goddess of Glastonbury and the hunter god Gwyn up Nudd.

Geoff Stray will be popping in to update the audience with the very latest news on events surrounding 2012, which is now only five years away.

The previous day, Saturday, 3rd November, weather permitting, I would like to take delegates out to a local holy hill where they can watch the stars rise and hopefully glimpse both the Cygnus constellation and perhaps even the Milky Way stretching up into the sky. Again, this will be accompanied by a suitable meditation to the stars.
Weekend tickets are £32 in advance, and £35 on the Saturday of the conference. No day tickets are as yet planned, but who knows. I really hope to see you there, as I feel this is going to be a much more intimate Questing Conference than ever before.

For a full run down on QuestCon07, including a full break down of speakers, presentations, how to get tickets and where to stay, click here.


THE OLDEST TEMPLE IN THE WORLD

There have been so many discoveries relevant to my work over the past nine months that I don't know where to start. Staggering new revelations are emerging from Gobekli Tepe, the southeast Turkey Proto-Neolithic megalithic complex now being hailed as the oldest temple in the world. German archaeologist Dr Klaus Schmidt, chief excavator at the site since work began there in 1995, has uncovered dozens of detailed carvings of animals and birds - including vultures - on T-shaped stone pillars from the period 9500 BC. He is now of the opinion that Gobekli Tepe expresses the concept of the Old Testament's Garden of Eden, the foundation point of human civilization in the western world.



Carving animal form on a pillar found at Gobekli Tepe.
It dates to c. 9500 BC (Pic credit: German Archaeolical Institute).

This confirms what I wrote in FROM THE ASHES OF ANGELS (1996), which builds a powerful case to show that the original land of Eden embraced southeast Turkey, a claim repeated in its sequel GODS OF EDEN (1998). Schmidt even believes that Gobekli Tepe was the home of 'watchmen' of the proto-Neolithic communities, synonymous I suspect with the Watchers of the Book of Enoch, whom I propose were the founders of the Neolithic revolution in SE Turkey. Who exactly they might have been is still unclear. I proposed that they came from the Nile valley, where evidence of proto-agriculture goes back to 13,000 BC. However, in recent years there has been a trend to dismiss Palaeolithic Egypt's proto-agriculture, leaving the matter open once more. However, the recent discovery of hundreds of chiselled images of rock art showing animals and human forms from Qurta, near Kom Ombo, in southern Egypt, dated c. 10,000 BC, refocuses the attention back on Egypt's Palaeolithic communities, which I still believe explored forms of proto-agriculture.

So perhaps these same cultures moved north around 10,000-9500 BC, due to changing global climates (see below), and came to settle on the Upper Euphrates river, where they constructed stone temples such as Gobekli Tepe and nearby Nevali Cori. Certainly evidence of the creation of very early stone calendar circles and stone rows has emerged in Egypt from sites such as Nabta Playa, in the Western Desert near Aswan. However, these are currently only dated to c. 4800 BC, which corresponds to Egypt's Neolithic epoch. Nothing like the decorated megalithic complex of Gobekli Tepe, and other similar examples found in southeast Turkey, has emerged from Egypt or anywhere else for the epoch c.9500 BC, which corresponds to the end of the last Ice Age.



Examples of the cave art from Qurta, Kom Ombo, Southern Egypt,
showing bovines and a possible dog-like creature (Pic Credit: Al-ahram Weekly)


AMERICA'S COMET IMPACT AND THE ATLANTIS MYTH

Of possible relevance to such continental migrations is brand new evidence that a comet struck North America at the end of the last Ice Age, c. '10,900 BC' (an average date created by recalibrated Carbon-14 dating) causing firestorms that wiped out dozens of species of large animals and up to 75% of human life. Moreover, the comet fragments are thought to have produced elliptical craters known as the Carolina Bays, 10,000s of which are to be seen between New Jersey and Florida, with the highest concentrations in the Carolinas on the USA's Eastern Seaboard, all orientated northwest-southeast. These findings were announced at a recent world conference in the USA by a 25-strong scientific team (click here to read more).

All of this is identical to the theories presented in my book GATEWAY TO ATLANTIS (2000), which proposes that a global catastrophe on this scale has massive implications for Plato's myth of Atlantis, said to have been destroyed by earthquakes and floods c. 9500-8500 BC. In this book I propose that the Carolina Bays comet caused untold havoc in the Western Atlantic Basin, temporarily drowning the Bahamas and Caribbean with unimaginable tsunamis and earthquakes, causing a mini ice age (known to scientists as the Younger Dryas) and devastating human and animal life on the archipelagos, which for the most part formed at this time (previously they had been much larger island masses). This was knowledge preserved by the survivors whose descendents retained these memories across millennia until they were transmitted to translatlantic traders from the Mediterranean world, most probably Carthaginians, either before or during Plato's age, just in the same way that very similar catastrophe accounts were conveyed by Bahaman and Caribbean islanders to the first explorers who recorded down their myths and legends following the rediscovery of the New World during the age of Columbus. Such stories and rumours, both of a major catastrophe and of the existence of tropical paradises across the Atlantis Ocean were, I believe, used by Plato to construct his Atlantis account. The new firestorm evidence from the USA makes this scenario even more likely than ever.


MORE ON CYGNUS AND COSMIC RAYS

In THE CYGNUS MYSTERY I proposed that unique cosmic rays coming from the Cygnus constellation caused DNA mutations that led to an acceleration in human evolution during Palaeolithic times. Not only is there now considerably more evidence that cosmic rays have affected human evolution, but there has been more evidence that Cygnus is the principal source of cosmic rays bombarding the Earth. Moreover, scientists now believe that Cygnus X-3, a tight binary star system consisting of a neutron star and large helium star known as a Wolf-Rayet, thought to be responsible for the unique cosmic rays, does so through an interaction with the fifth dimension, which enables the creation of exotic, or 'strange' quarks, that produce extremely high energy particles that rain down on Earth (click here to read more). Known as cygnets, they display unique signatures and have been detected by particle detectors deep underground since 1981. All of this confirms what I wrote in THE CYGNUS MYSTERY, identifying Cygnus X-3 as the source of the cosmic rays. Indeed, the scientific paper behind these new discoveries even credits me as demonstrating that the enigma of Cygnus X-3 remains a mystery.

I don't often blow my own trumpet, but over the last nine months the theories in many of my books have been vindicated quite dramatically, and I want to share this good feeling with you. What's significant here is that most of my theories come initially from pure intuition, gut feelings and inspired ideas, which I then follow through till the end. If I feel something is right, I will not be swayed by alternative views. For instance, when writing THE CYGNUS MYSTERY, a scientific think tank known as the Meinel Institute believed that they had traced the source of the cosmic rays reaching Earth in Palaeolithic times as coming, not from Cygnus, but from its neighbour Draco, the constellation of the celestial dragon. With the serpent being an obvious sign of DNA and cosmic knowledge, I wondered whether I had got it wrong, and really I should be looking towards Draco for answers to the cosmic ray question. However, I stuck to my guns, held my own with the Meinel group, and eventually found that they had originally looked in Cygnus for a cosmic ray source, but found nothing of interest. This was a gross oversight on their part, for we now know that Cygnus is the main source of cosmic rays hitting the Earth. More and more evidence of Cygnus's role in this saga is emerging all the time. So I was right to stay with Cygnus, even though I was tempted by the serpent, so to speak.

Out of interest, the first UK hardback edition of THE CYGNUS MYSTERY has now sold out. There are still copies available here and there. What this means is that the 213 copies of the limited edition sold late last year with the swan skull imprint are going up in price.

The publishers might produce a second print run of the hardback, before the appearance of a paperback, or they might decide to import copies of the US edition, which has a different cover. We'll see. Anyway, I am happy with how the book has gone, although we can always sell more. I still have a few copies to sell of the first edition, so first come first serve with these. Although not part of the limited edition, I will sign and dedicate them on request.

For more information on THE CYGNUS MYSTERY click here.


THE BLACK ALCHEMIST

Here's something that old fans of mine will want to hear. I am currently re-mastering my cult classic THE BLACK ALCHEMIST (1988) for probable release on 16 October 2007, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of England's Great Storm. Initially, I had intended simply to write a new intro sequence - featuring the Elizabethan magician and royal confident Dr John Dee and his psychic sidekick Edward Kelley. I wanted also to give the book a new ending, based on the events surrounding 8th August 1988, which featured the numbers 8.8.8 and appeared originally at the beginning of my book THE SECOND COMING (1993). These should have been THE BLACK ALCHEMIST's natural ending. Anyway, this has now been done, but I have found that the whole book needs re-editing to bring it up to date. For instance, you can't describe stereos as hi-fis any more - we are not in the dark ages now! Lots of silly things like this need changing, although don't worry I am not ethically cleansing it of cigarettes and alcohol. Even though THE BLACK ALCHEMIST is arguably the only book that gives you a cough just by reading it, I will preserve the true spirit of the original. I am, however, intensifying some scenes, which should have been made more of at the time, but weren't. It actually amazes me just how much detailed material the book contains on Graeco-Egyptian alchemy, which demonstrates just how intricate the chaotic work of the Black Alchemist really was.

The book will appear as both a limited edition hardback and slightly different open edition. And I'll let you in on a secret. I am encoding into the text clues that will lead one lucky quester to an artefact of great psychic questing merit. Many of you will recall Kit William's book MASQUERADE (1979), with its strange clues leading to the discovery of a golden hare. This is similar, although the journey is a mystical quest in its own right, not an imaginary one, and the goal will be well worth the patience.

To find out more about the Black Alchemist, and how to obtain the book, click here.


THE GREAT GIZA DEBATE

THE BLACK ALCHEMIST is being done now, although also being written is a definitive book on Cygnus's relationship with Giza. The furore surrounding the idea that the three wing stars of Cygnus overlay the three Giza pyramids better than those of Orion has been phenomenal. For ages I was locked in battle on the Graham Hancock online message board (GHMB) arguing my case with Robert Bauval, as he attempted to dispel it.

Robert had no option but to attack Cygnus and its involvement in ancient Egyptian mythology and religion on every level, as failing to do so would have meant his Orion correlation theory taking an unprecedented battering. I answered every attack graciously and informatively, without losing it ever. This is the only way to make what you have to say come across as objective and real.

I am convinced that Cygnus played a hitherto unknown role in ancient Egyptian astronomy, and need to make this clear. I am not going to stand down simply because Robert Bauval or any of his supporters tell me otherwise. Despite this, Robert and I are still on good terms, and he has agreed to contribute to my new book. The debate over whether Cygnus or Orion fits best at Giza will go on and on, and I feel I know who is going to win!! See you at QuestCon in Glastonbury. Various of my books are still available, so click here to take a look and see which ones would help complete the set. Orders are sent out signed, and dedicated only if requested.

Origins