Tag Archive: Karnak


THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF HUMANITY

http://www.hiddenhistoryhumanity.com/index.htm

A Brief Esoteric History:
Evolution of Consciousness through the Rootraces

The secret history of the world is revealed in many traditions, the durations of which far surpass the miniscule figures used in modern times. H.P. Blavatsky (HPB) brought together many of these historical and chronological strands in her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine (1888), a major foundation stone for the emerging Aquarian cycle. Throughout HPB’s works are scattered details of this ancient history – culled from the Vedas, Upanishads, the Zend Avesta, Old Testament and so forth.

(In the interests of simplicity, I have elected to keep this article relatively footnote-free; most references are from HPB and can be found in my writings where they are fully referenced and footnoted.[1])

In the denial or ignorance of its true origins lies the source of disempowerment for Humanity; in not knowing its divine source, the nature of the human soul or the very lengthy evolution of human consciousness that stretches back some 21 million years.

Who today really reflects about our true history and ancient past, preoccupied in a very busy world trying to survive? Most accept the culturally conditioned views of the Bible and/or modern science, both of which do not offer more than 5-10,000 years for the origin of human civilisation. These figures are however being pushed further back into hundreds of thousands or millions of years in some cases, which is very encouraging. There are also excellent authors like Michael Cremo who are bridging from the ancient Vedic teachings to modern science, challenging many of the latter’s pre-conceptions.

The Hidden History of Humanity Vol. I (HHH-1) is based upon the works of HPB and brings to light for the first time many key points, including the chronology and unfoldment of the ancient civilisations of Lemuria and Atlantis. Further planned volumes will bridge to several aspects of mainstream science – to blend the esoteric teaching with the best discoveries in academia; this has already been attempted (HHH-1) with the examination of the geological key to The Secret Doctrine.
HHH-1 also contains an esoteric interpretation of the first six chapters of Genesis, a blueprint for human evolution and the rootraces. Several breakthroughs were made in this area, particularly with regard to the ‘ages’ of the biblical Patriarchs and the cycles of the races.

In the Fifth Rootrace, resonant with the number 5 and manas or mind, there has been achieved a perfection, refinement and quintessential expression of the concrete mind. Although this has bought many benefits in science and technology, its shadow expression via the lower critical mind, tends to separativeness; it does not recognise whatever cannot be perceived by the five tangible senses.

The sixth sense or intuition is something that is in its early stage of development and hence the perception of the more subtle aspects of human evolution are ignored. There are many crystallised belief systems with regard to our history that influence current world thinking and they are compounded by an unquestioning acceptance of subjects such as scientific dating methods and the evolution of humans from apes – under the ‘authority’ of modern science or religion; there are also many vested interests who are committed to keeping history in a straitjacket of conformist ‘consensus thinking’.

Worlds within Worlds

The esoteric teachings of HPB tell us that the Earth (along with the other planets), incarnates over many vast cycles called ‘rounds’ or manvantaras, in the Hindu parlance. Just as the human soul does so on its tiny scale, so the greater lives that ensoul the planets, our ‘Gods’, seek perfection and eventual liberation within the Plan and Purpose of the greater entity which they inhabit, the Solar System. This solar system is of course the incarnation of a far greater Life that is associated with the star Sirius, but that is another story!

The planets are called ‘schemes’ because behind the visible outer planet are a series of worlds in more subtle matter called ‘globes’ and ‘chains’ (7 globes in a chain, 7 chains in a scheme), that represent past and future incarnations of the life we call a ‘planetary logos’.

Currently in the Earth Scheme, we are said to be half way through our evolution, in the 4th globe of the 4th chain, of the 4th scheme – and in the 4th round or vast cycle that lasts 617 million years! The ‘globe period’ thus far elapsed is about 1.973 billion years and this is the 24th globe or incarnation of a total of 49 globes in the Earth Scheme. We are halfway through our journey and the solar system as a whole is said to be at about this point also. Mind boggling time scales are they not? Yet the deeper one studies this material, the more logical and reasonable do these durations seem.


The Globes and Chains of the Earth Scheme

The Seven Rootraces

On each globe, seven rootraces are slated for unfoldment, providing the ‘physical body’ of incarnational experience for our Earth Logos. Human souls from this perspective are the ‘light cells’ within this greater body. Within each rootrace are seven subraces and within each subrace are seven branchraces, providing a myriad human expression down the ages.

Understanding how life realy comes into manifestation requires occult or esoteric knowledge plus that rare sixth sense/intuitive factor, also called buddhic (as in Buddha) awareness. Hence life always emerges from the subtle and the unseen to the material or physical.

Through the vast ages and cycles that saw humanity come into being, the first two and a half rootraces were etheric; the blueprint for future humanity was being gradually developed from its spiritual prototype.

Individualisation in Lemuria

Half way through the Third Rootrace (known as Lemuria), at the appointed time and in the correct karmic cycle, a magnificent pre-ordained spiritual event occurred on this planet; it was the coming of the ‘Lords of Flame’ who were to impart the ‘spark of mind’ to Humanity; a ‘humanity’ who were really only members of the animal kingdom with animal instinctual awareness and in reality, no mind. This period is known as individualisation and some of the greatest mysteries on Earth are connected to this era.

The Lords of Flame are also known as ‘Kumaras’ and emanated from a chain within the Earth Scheme, associated with the planet Venus. The contents of each planetary scheme are a microcosm of the entire solar system – as all the planets ‘sing together’ within the symphony of the Sun. The presence of the ‘108 Kumaras’ created a great influx of force so powerful that a mighty storm raged over the planet, destroying most of the animal kingdom – dinosaurs and ‘humans’ alike:

“The advent of the Lords of the Flame, the electrical storm which ushered in the period of man, was distinguished by disaster, chaos, and the destruction of many in the third [animal] kingdom of nature. The spark of mind was implanted and the strength of its vibration, and the immediate effect of its presence caused the death of the animal form, thus producing the immediate possibility of the newly vitalised causal [soul] bodies vibrating to such purpose, that new physical vehicles were taken.”[2]

This event occurred in the Jurassic Age 21 million years ago, the true chronology for the death of the dinosaurs. This esoteric dating differs of course from the scientific dating of 65 million years ago and this is a problem that will be resolved; it also brings into contrast the commonly held view that a fiery meteorite was responsible for this cataclysm.

Individualisation occurred in the third branchrace of the third subrace of the Third Rootrace (Lemuria), expressed as 3.3.3, the number 3 relating to the mother or form aspect that births the new. Australia is the largest surviving remnant of this once vast ‘super continent’ that stretched at one time in its evolution from Madagascar in the west to South America in the east.


Lemuria at its greatest extent

Sexual Separation of Hermaphrodite Humanity

From about 21.5 to 18.5 million years ago, various groupings of human souls had their ‘spark fanned’ by the guides of the race, up until the fifth subrace of the Third Rootrace (3.5) – which saw the process of human individualisation for a large number of Earth Chain humanity completed.

Also, over that few million year period, the separation into two sexes of the hitherto hermaphrodite and self-perpetuating Humanity occurred. There is much to be pondered here around the acquisition of mind and the separation of the sexes.

Over the next few million years, Humanity will reach a synthesis in consciousness of manas and buddhi that will be reflected by a return to an androgynous physical body. In the words of an ancient commentary, ‘the circle hath been well nigh trod and the end approacheth the beginning’; the full circle will have been scribed and liberation for the Earth Logos will subsequently ensue.

Shamballa and South America

The early Lemurian period signalled the establishment of the spiritual centre on Earth known as Shamballa, where the ‘Lord of the World’ presides and directs the plan and purpose of the incarnation of our Earth Logos. This being is also known as Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days or Melchisedek, one of the original Kumaras who came to help ‘kick start’ Earth evolution. Sanat Kumara is also known as “The Watcher” and is described most poignantly, ‘He will remain at his post until the last weary pilgrim returns home’ – that is, until the last human soul has achieved perfection and hence liberation.

From hereon in, the fledgling Humanity of the time were under the guidance of divine beings said to emanate from ‘celestial spheres far higher than our own’, giving instruction in building, agriculture, language and so forth. The human bodies of the time were much more refined since the human kingdom was created, yet were still gigantic and clumsy, requiring instruction in Hatha Yoga in order to coordinate the etheric body with the physical; this was the first spiritual goal for humanity and represented the First Initiation.

The first outpost of Shamballa in those days was ‘in the middle’ of what we now call South America. The Science of Initiation was introduced by Shamballa’s Masters and Adepts in order to hasten evolution, due to our Earth Scheme having fallen behind in a previous cycle called the ‘Moon Chain’. Earth does in fact have two major groupings of souls, those who ‘individualised’ on the Moon and Earth chains respectively.

Moon chain souls are far more developed in their mental capacity and to a degree spiritually also, though there is a rapid acceleration by their Earth chain counterparts in this, our current Fifth Rootrace, the race where the mental principle has reached its apotheosis. It is said that the difference between capital and labour on our planet is one expression of the difference between Moon chain (capital) and Earth chain (labour) souls.

Another important crisis that occurred in Lemuria was that some groups of humans procreated with animals, creating all kinds of hybrids and monsters. This went against the ‘evolutionary plan’ and occurred partly because Humanity had just emerged from the animal kingdom with the primeval ‘urge to merge’ still very strong, and an undeveloped mentality that lacked discrimination. Yet it was primarily related to the fact that there was a refusal of certain groups of souls to incarnate because the future forms that they were to inhabit were too ‘coarse’; this incurred a particular type of karma for this group of souls, not the ‘mindless’ perpetrators.

The major outcome of this event is that the modern apes descend from those hybrid creatures and proof of this esoteric fact will eventually cause a revolution in scientific thinking. Can we imagine how different the world will be when the current teaching on human evolution in all educational institutions may shift to the esoteric view?; a whole slew of other facts will emerge once this impasse has been breached, primarily the knowledge of the existence and purpose of the human soul, a far more noble origin for Humanity than the one currently held.

Madagascar was once part of the Lemurian continent and boasts dozens of species of ‘Lemur’ monkeys. Likewise in some ancient parts of Lemuria in Indonesia, the highly intelligent Orangutang ape (‘forest person’), is the most poignantly human reminder of this ancient transgression; it is notable how prominent they have been of late with regard to conservation.

In the mythology of the ancient Cyclopes, the three giants with one eye are said to represent the last three subraces of that newly ‘conscious’ Lemurian race. At the peak of their development this race has been described as, ‘towering giants of godly strength and beauty, and the depositaries of all the mysteries of Heaven and Earth.’

Of course the giants of both Lemuria and Atlantis would have been able to build large structures and lift enormously heavy stones, but later in Atlantis they also had at their disposal a technology based on sound, creating a vacuum and allowing stones weighing many tons to be lifted effortlessly.

The Atlantean Rootrace

Gradually over the next few million years, as the Atlantean or Fourth Rootrace came into fuller expression, this ‘all-seeing eye’ at the top of the head receded into the brain where its remnant, the pineal gland, sits today. At the same time, two eyed sight started to evolve in Atlantis, representing the development of mind. From one point of view, the Lemurian’s were far more spiritual, whilst the Atlanteans were deeply immersed in matter. The ancient story of ‘the fall’ is simply the ‘fall into matter’ by human souls and not necessarily a ‘fall’ from spiritual grace.

““There were four-armed human creatures in those early days of the male-females (hermaphrodites); with one head yet three eyes. They could see before them and behind them. A KALPA long cycle] later (after the separation of the sexes) men having fallen into matter, their spiritual vision became dim; and co-ordinately the third eye commenced to lose its power … When the Fourth (Race) arrived at its middle age the inner vision had to be awakened, and acquired by artificial stimuli, the process of which was known to the old sages … The third eye likewise, getting gradually PETRIFIED, soon disappeared.”[3]

The time of Individualisation in Lemuria (3.5) witnessed the virtually simultaneous appearance of the Fourth Atlantean Rootrace, its existence seeded and developed from within the previous fourth subrace of the Third Rootrace (3.4). As outlined in HHH, the numerical connections and resonances within the universal septenary system are most important to bear in mind and correspond to the various conditionings of the seven rays. (Esoteric Astrology is the astrology of the seven rays.)

These two races co-existed and warred with one another for many millions of years, the last of the Lemurian’s disappearing around four million years ago with the sinking of their last abode through volcanic activity.

The reader may consider reflecting for a moment on these enormous time cycles that would be branded ludicrous or completely fanciful by most people. But how do they know and upon what do they base their derision of these time scales? Paradoxically, scientists who scoff at these cycles, do so very unscientifically, with no investigation and an unquestioning acceptance of status quo thinking. Little does Humanity realise its ancient origins and the many civilisations that have come and gone, achieved great heights and fallen to equally great depths.

The Fourth Rootrace (the Atlanteans) saw a huge acceleration of consciousness take place, caused mainly by a large influx of souls from the Moon chain; they had been held over in a state of ‘pralaya’ (interlude), awaiting Earth-Chain humanity to catch up in their mental development, relatively speaking; the Moon chain souls are in general far more advanced and brought the karma of that particular evolution with them; this planet is unusual in this respect.

In Atlantis many scientific technologies were developed or even ‘gifted’ by the guides of the race; astronomy and astrology were evolved, the arts were developed and so forth. In HHH, it is estimated that this period was around 10 million years ago. Other ‘gifts’ were the artificial awakening of psychic perception within the race, yet this was ultimately misused and abused.


Easter Island statues

Parallel with these developments, a greater sophistication of the mental principle resulted in physical bodies becoming more refined and smaller, yet still gigantic, ten metres or about thirty feet in height! According to HPB, the statues on Easter Island were constructed by Atlantean giants in the image of themselves and measured almost twenty-seven feet in height and eight feet across the shoulders!

(Let us also reflect that the size of the members of the reptile and human kingdoms have decreased in steady proportion to each other from ancient times until now.)

Toward the middle period of the Atlantean civilisation, in the fourth branchrace, fourth subrace of this Fourth Rootrace (4.4.4) emerged a great crisis caused by the abuses of magic, selfishness and materialism. The watching guides of the race who ‘walked amongst humanity’ and who were leaders and kings of nations had to draw a line in the sand, saying: “This is the way of light, there is the way of darkness – Humanity, make your choice.” The reader must bear in mind two facts here:

First, that this period not only represented the middle point of the seven rootraces but also the middle point of the entire globe, chain and scheme periods; in other words, it represented the deepest point of incarnation into matter for the Planetary Logos of Earth over an extraordinarily vast period.

Second, 4.4.4 was rapidly approaching 4.5 – the fifth subrace of the Fourth Rootrace, the seed for the Fifth Rootrace, also known from the Hindu philosophy as the Aryan race.

The Fifth Rootrace and Beyond

At this critical juncture in history, the cream of the Fourth Rootrace were emerging as candidates for the golden age (or Satya Yuga) of the Fifth Rootrace; they were in direct conflict with those who wanted to maintain their old ways of black magic, materialism and the acquisition of luxury and anything they desired (sound familiar?); they were completely immersed in the Kali Yuga period of the Atlantean rootrace – the age of death and destruction. This conflict finally came to a head and a mighty war was fought, epitomised in the spiritual classic, The Mahabharata, of which the Bhagavad Gita is the golden kernel.

According to the ancient scriptures, the war was partially fought with flying craft known as ‘Vimana’, today known as UFO’s. That technology, along with knowledge of pyramid building, has been around for a very long time. After the war was fought, the first Atlantean flood engulfed the Earth, resulting in a large portion of Atlantis sinking entirely beneath the sea; both the war and the flood occurred about four million years ago. There were three more Atlantean floods up until relatively recently; this has been a source of confusion for scholars chronologically, mistaking Plato’s Atlantis as the only Atlantis and the only sinking – when in fact it was spread over several sinkings of many islands and continents around the globe.

This period has also generated confusion for Western and Hindu pundits regarding the history of India. The Kali Yuga period that started in 3102 BC, is for our current Fifth Rootrace, yet all the events of the Kali Yuga for the (Fourth) Atlantean rootrace four million years ago have been wrongly ascribed to 3102 BC!

Presiding over world affairs back then was Vaivasvata Manu, responsible for the incoming Fifth Rootrace and epitomised in the Old Testament as Noah. (A Manu is a highly evolved spiritual being who sets the archetype and destiny for a race.) The symbolism of animals boarding the ark two by two, relates to Manu sailing the Earth rescuing the remnants of Humanity who escaped the floods by reaching the highest land; it is said by one of the Masters that ‘humanity was salvaged in spite of themself’. (!)

In the intervening few million years the Manu created a new race from those survivors that was finally released from the heights of the Himalayas into India about one million years ago. India is the first subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.1) and is the cradle of all the western subraces that have followed after: The Ancient Egyptians (5.2), the Arab-Semitic (5.3), the Latin-Celtic (5.4) and the Teutonic-Nordic (5.5). Currently the Anglo-Saxons (German/British) are the fifth branchrace of the fifth subrace (5.5) of the Fifth Rootrace and this can be expressed as 5.5.5.[4]

This Fifth Rootrace is actually the third rootrace when we count Lemuria as the first truly human rootrace. Note that the three major rootraces elapsed thus far – and crises of Humanity – are reflected in 333, 444 and 555. These are not just fanciful or clever figures but numbers of deep philosophical import. The three periods also represent the three initiations or expansions of consciousness – representing control over the physical, emotional and mental bodies respectively; they also represent three releases of intense spiritual power from the ‘crown chakra’ of the world – Shamballa.

Today in Earth’s 5.5.5 ‘crisis’, it is entering 5.5.6 – the sixth branchrace of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace; it is the seed for the coming rootrace, that will eventually be based in South America over the next 25,000 years.[5] The United States is playing a critical role as a bridge between the old race (Britain 5.5.5 etc) and the Sixth Rootrace, said to be initially based in Brazil, returning to the ‘middle of South America’ where the old power spots are gradually reawakening.[6] Humanity is in a period not dissimilar from the end of the Atlantean period hence the confusion of the Kali Yuga cycles for different rootraces alluded to earlier.

World Wars I & II are occultly regarded as one war, a recapitulation of the ancient Mahabharata conflict, with the same forces ranged against each other: “The Lords of the Dark Face versus the Lords of Shining Countenance” as the Old Commentary has it. (Interesting to note how prominent UFO’s have been in human consciousness since the close of WWII.)

Hence the world is only just emerging from this period, upon the upward swing of the pendulum – from the middle period of development for the entire scheme, chains, globe periods and rounds. The war between these opposing forces still rages upon the mental plane – as Humanity find their way through the ‘darkness before the dawn’, toward the approaching Aquarian cycle, reminding us of Blake’s immortal words, “I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand …”

This 2160 year Aquarian cycle will be coinciding with a 25,000 year Aquarian cycle on a greater zodiacal wheel, said to be a very rare occurrence and the source of much spiritual opportunity, ushering Humanity to the beginning of the Sixth Rootrace. The Sixth Rootrace is where the intuition or that sixth sense will be developed and will express itself through the qualities of the heart and right human relationships. Humanity during the shorter cycle will reclaim knowledge of some of the lost Atlantean technologies, create new forms of music and art, as well as gain an understanding of the nature of the soul, reincarnation and its true place in history.

The Aquarian cycle will be an age of Science, exoteric and esoteric, where the universal spiritual laws will come into a much closer alignment with our earthly laws and a period of peace could well reign in a new Satya Yuga or ‘golden age’.

Phillip Lindsay © 2010.

[1] See The Hidden History of Humanity Vol I, by Phillip Lindsay, at http://www.esotericastrologer.org

[2] A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. p.425.

[3] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.294.

[4] The timescales for all these races are in numerous tables in The Hidden History of Humanity, by Phillip Lindsay.

[5] See the revised and updated 2009 version of The Shamballa Impacts, by Phillip Lindsay.

[6] Ibid.

 

Timelines of Ancient History: An Esoteric Perspective

Abstract This essay explores the notion of TIME from the esoteric and traditional perspectives – as applied to human history thus far unfolded. It looks at the dating methods of science, precession cycles used by the ancients as well as some traditions associated with the Hindu, Egyptian and Mayan civilisations. The past is examined – from the origin of the human soul, to how the apes were created, why the great Atlantean war and devastation came about, through to the present day and into the future Sixth Rootrace in this Aquarian cycle.
Introduction

There is a general tendency for mainstream and alternative authors to use a conventional view of history and time as a reference point. Whether it is the subject of 2012 and the Mayans, Egypt, India or Mexico, the timelines usually discussed are between three and six thousand years BC, maybe 10,000 years or more. Yet esoterically speaking, Humanity has required aeons for physical and mental development to evolve into its relatively sophisticated modern state.

What do you think, have you ever wondered just how long it has taken human evolution to unfold? Have you accepted what you were told at school or believed what adamant Bible scholars have declared so zealously?; or have you fallen prey to modern science’s ‘glamour of authority’ – whatever it says must be right? Perhaps you have accepted this world view unquestioningly or indiscriminately and may not have given it much thought – like most of us, being preoccupied with the vicissitudes of modern living. 

How can we consider a longer time-frame for history, which ultimately conceals the greatest puzzles of existence and the mystery of the human soul? When the traditions of the most ancient cultures are consulted, we find for instance, that the Hindu Tamil calendar known as the “Tirukkanda Panchanga”, gives the beginning of our strictly human evolution in this cycle as around 18.6 million years! [1] These cycles also go back into trillions of years and the Mayans are documented in the billions. Are these figures fanciful, symbolic or factual and literal?

Although there are paradoxes about certain time scales between ancient sources and modern science, there is agreement about some of the really big cycles – for instance, noted scientist, the late Carl Sagan said:
“The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long, longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. [2]

Also, Fritjof Capra, in his best selling book wrote:

“This idea of a periodically expanding and contracting universe, which involves a scale of time and space of vast proportions, has arisen not only in modern cosmology, but also in ancient Indian mythology. Experiencing the universe as an organic and rhythmically moving cosmos, the Hindus were able to develop evolutionary cosmologies which come very close to our modern scientific models.” [3]

In many disciplines, whether it is ‘consensus’ archeology, anthropology, geology or other sciences, there must be cultivated (or initially entertained) an awareness of a longer time-frame for human evolution; this applies even to esoteric students who struggle with conceiving the vaster time cycles, partly because of their own cultural conditioning and so forth.

Thinkers from various disciplines could consider developing a whole new paradigm, one that is based upon information that has already been given via spiritualtraditions, that can bridge to mainstream sciences and provide a framework of enquiry. Perhaps its more a matter of revitalising an existing paradigm that is an inherent part of the ancient wisdom of several cultures; part of our racial memory that we can all intuitively tap into, recognise and understand. The key here is to experiment, before reacting with an out of hand dismissal, to use the information ‘as if’ it were literal.

The enormous timelines of the Mayans and ancient Hindus are some examples, yet these have been regarded and simply ignored by those people who write about these very subjects.
Causes of a Narrow View of Time
Understanding the history of any culture is fraught with illusion, especially when its roots extend far beyond the accepted contemporary view, as taught in most educational institutions around the world today. What are the factors that have been responsible for this universal truncated view of time and human evolution – into the past 10,000 years? The fields of religion and science have both contributed:

1. The timeline derived from the Judeo-Christian tradition posits ‘creation’ at around six thousand years ago. (4,004 BC!) This old thoughtform still conditions thinking in much of the West, where it is accepted by the majority, Christian or non-Christian. Many Christian ‘creationists’, amazingly still adhere literally to this timeline as a core belief, rigidly ignoring or rationalising any evidence to the contrary, such as dinosaurs, fossils etc. Some scientists in past centuries have also been afraid to date anything before 100 AD for fear of upsetting the church. Writing in the nineteenth century, H.P. Blavatsky (HPB) observed:
“Even now evidence is brought forward that the dates for the foundations of cities, civilizations and various other historical events have been absurdly curtailed.  This was done as a peace-offering to Biblical chronology. “No date,” writes the well-known Palæontologist, Ed. Lartet, “is to be found in Genesis, which assigns a time for the birth of primitive humanity”; but chronologists have for fifteen centuries endeavoured to force the Bible facts into agreement with their systems.  Thus, no less than one hundred and forty different opinions have been formed about the single date of “Creation”; “and between the extreme variations there is a discrepancy of 3,194 years, in the reckoning of the period between the beginning of the world and the birth of Christ.” [4]
2. Despite many advances, various scientific disciplines within the lesser cycles (not the aforementioned grand cosmic cycles), seem to gravitate to a similar timeline as the Judeo-Christian, for the emergence of the ancient races. (Wikipedia states 3,300 BC for the Hindus.) This must be partly influenced by religious conditioning and its appeasement but also other factors. Darwin himself did not think that human evolution went back further than 4,000 BC. (He was originally going to train for the clergy.) Even the modern Hindus seem to mainly disregard the treasure of their ancient heritage and toe the consensus line on history, such as the emergence of the Hindu race only a few thousand years BC:
3,000–1500 BCE: Indus Valley Civilisation (Old Chronology), or
6,000–1900 BCE: Indus-Sarasvati Civilisation (New Chronology) [5]
3. The development of the scientific, rationalist approach over the past five hundred years, paralleled by a special cycle of the Fifth Ray of Concrete Science that has only recently withdrawn before the end of last century.

4. The subsequent, accelerated and ongoing development of the concrete mind in Western civilisation – the concrete mind that perceives with only the five tangible senses. This mental development relates to the fifth mental plane and has been quintessentially expressed in this fifth branchrace of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.5.5). (Naturally, the sixth sense of the intuition will start to become far more apparent as the Sixth Rootrace takes hold in the next several thousand years.)

5. The inability of intellectuals who are polarised strongly in the lower mind, to conceive of an ancient evolution that goes beyond the culturally accepted view of the world; their inability or arrogance in recognising that greater civilisations and technologies have come and gone before this current one. Some ‘new age’ authors fall into this category but may not admit it!
6. Stemming from the foregoing, the vested interests of ‘establishment’ sciences such as archeology and anthropology – that seek to maintain the status quo; anything that challenges preciously held views is quite often immediately dismissed – even to the point of hiding or destroying fossil and artefact evidence. Academics have been drummed out of universities with their careers in tatters because they dared to tilt at the authoritarian edifice of academia. An example of this was geo-chronologist, Virginia Steen-McIntyre:
“Virginia Steen-McIntyre later wrote and published a paper concerning the dating of the artifacts found. It reported four sophisticated, independent tests: uranium-thorium dating, fission track dating, tephra hydration dating and the studying of mineral weathering to determine the date of the artifacts. Their 1981 paper (Quaternary Research (1981) v. 16, pp. 1-17) suggested that these tests, among others, validated a date of 250kya [250,000 years] for the Hueyatlaco artifacts. Later analyses conducted by biostratigraphic researcher, Sam VanLandingham, were concordant with the radiometric analyses conducted earlier.[6][7] The professional report, categorizing the findings at Hueyatlaco, was delayed for years. When it was finally published in 1981 it met widespread criticism. Steen-McIntyre argues that her findings were rejected not on their failings or merits, but because her critics engaged in circular reasoning.” [6]

There is an even wider story to the above, as the US Geological Survey verified her claims; this became a big issue with the establishment archeology of Mexicowho demanded that the date be reduced – and the survey team capitulated by dropping a zero – so it is now 25-35 K! The fact that Steen-McIntyre is a woman probably did not help either!
7. The bewildering array of remnants of ancient civilisations with which modern investigators are confronted. When these remnants present themselves in one particular area (for example, the Middle East), it is very difficult for those approaching its study to untangle and discriminate between the older and newer relics and their various cultural threads. Accurate perception is impossible when compounded by the accumulations of modern cultural, religious and educational hypnosis.
8. Contentious methods of establishing correct chronology such as carbon dating, radio-active dating, uranium-lead dating etc., astronomical techniques, religious scriptures, mythology and so on.

Dating Methods, Precession Cycles and Ancient Egypt

Many investigators have done excellent work in the areas of astronomical theories, archeological data etc., yet their figures rarely venture outside the last 5,000, 10,000 or 25,000 years. For example, speculations about the date of the building of the Great Pyramid through certain astronomical alignments, have been advanced and these investigators are most certainly on the right path, having done much good work. Yet as H. P. Blavatsky states, if the three precession cycles depicted upon the Denderah Zodiac were taken into account, 78,000 years ago (26,000 X 3) would be a more accurate figure for the building of the Great Pyramid.[7]

Because the world paradigm view of history has been ‘fixed’ at a much lesser figure, few have wished to stray beyond those boundaries, even to the point of rationalising certain data as ‘symbolic’ or simply dismissing it as ‘fanciful’.

When traveling from the Giza plateau to Saqqara, the location of the Bent, Stepped and Red pyramids, one is struck by how these structures seem to be far more ancient than Giza. The established archeology supports this, though by only a few grudging centuries because of the paradigm it has created and remains trapped within. Zoser’s pyramid at Saqqara was dated by Libby and his radio carbon dating team as around 2,625 BC.

On the Egyptian king lists that have had many hands interpreting them, King Menes is given as only a few centuries earlier around 3,000 BC. Yet HPB tells us that Menes was the Manu of the second subrace of our Fifth Rootrace. [8] , [9] If Table III is consulted, it shows that the Egyptian subrace was established around 860,000 years ago. [10] If then, this author’s deduction is to be believed or better, proven, then the Saqqara site could easily be up to several hundred thousand years older than the Great Pyramid site, dated around 78,000 years ago.

Of course other radio carbon dating questions arise such as the wood that was tested from an Egyptian coffin of the Ptolemaic period – used as a benchmark for carbon dating of the Zoser pyramid. The Egyptian date was arrived at by Wilson [11] on ‘stylistic grounds’. For a civilisation as old as Egypt, certain statue designs might stay in ‘style’ for hundreds of thousands of years, using esoteric chronology!

The original Egyptian coffin date of Zoser supplied by Wilson, against which the carbon dating findings were measured, is itself contentious; it is based upon a chronological assignment made through a traditional academically-influenced view of history that has been hopelessly confused through the centuries (see further in text); it is a shaky basis that compounds and compromises the problem of the accuracy of the carbon dating system itself.

Yet many authors quote radio carbon dates as if they were infallible, like results from a horse race. There are also known problems with radio carbon and its accuracy over 50,000 years due to break down and contamination of organic material. Then of course there are magnetic reversal of the poles issues, alternative dating methods and several other anomalies, too many to do justice in this enquiry. Before carbon dating developed, HPB made some remarks regarding the science of her day in the late 1800’s:
“Unfortunately, dynasties and Pyramids have the fate of geological periods; their dates are arbitrary, and depend on the respective whims of the men of science.  Archæologists … accord in the style of art [‘stylistic’?], and in the standard of measurement employed, with the similar diorite statues of the pyramid builders of the third and fourth Egyptian dynasties … but what is the date fixed for these “dynasties”?  Sanchoniathon’s and Manetho’s Synchronistic tables and their figures have been rejected, or whatever remained of these after holy Eusebius’ handling of them; [12] and still we have to remain satisfied with the four or five thousand years B.C. so liberally allotted to Egypt.

… when we [Masters of Wisdom] talk of the Secondary and Tertiary age, of the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene periods—this is simply to make our facts more comprehensible.  Since these ages and periods have not yet been allowed fixed and determined durations, 2½ and 15 million years being assigned at different times to one and the same age (the Tertiary)—and since no two geologists and naturalists seem to agree on this point—Esoteric teachings may remain quite indifferent to whether man is shown to appear in the Secondary or the Tertiary age. If the latter age may be allowed even so much as 15 million years’ duration—well and good; for the Occult doctrine, jealously guarding its real and correct figures as far as concerns the First, Second, and two-thirds of the Third Root-Race—gives clear information upon one point only—the age of “Vaivasvata Manu’s humanity. [18.5 million years]” [13]

One could argue that if the precession cycle of 25,920 years was known to the ancients, then they may well have studied and lived through those cycles at least a few times. Indeed, according to Pliny, in the astronomical observations of the Chaldeans , Epigenes recognises 720,000 years. Consider also Cicero somewhat indignantly relating the Babylonian  priests’ assertion – that they had preserved upon monuments, observations extending back during an interval of 470,000 years. Simplicius (6th century AD) wrote that he had heard that the Egyptians had kept astronomical observations and records for the last 630,000 years. [14]

There are numerous examples of these kind of figures from historians and philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato who lived in our relatively recent history but who were in touch with a much greater antiquity. Why would these recognised and respected commentators in many fields, contrive these figures  independently of one another? Modern authors have also ignored data that is available to them in their own disciplines such as the Hindu or Mayan systems for measuring time. As Wendell Phillips once said:

“We seem to imagine that whether knowledge will die with us or not, it certainly began with us … We have a pitying estimate, a tender pity for the narrowness, ignorance, and darkness of the bygone ages.” [15]

Reasons for a Conservative Approach to Cycles

Speculations on reasons why investigators do not depart too much from the norm vary:
1. They are not so much interested in the timeline per se, something more specific such as the consciousness or culture that an ancient civilisation exhibited, a form of astronomy that they had devised, or how it related to the present or the future.
2. Using astronomy for dating, yet not considering going beyond one precession cycle of 25,920 years. For some speculative dates, dozens or even hundreds of precession cycles would have to be adopted to ‘wind the clock back’ correctly:
“While the Egyptians have on their Zodiacs … irrefutable proofs of records having embraced more than three-and-a-half sidereal years—or about 87,000 years—the Hindu calculations cover nearly thirty-three such years, or 850,000 years.  The Egyptian priests assured Herodotus that the Pole of the Earth and the Pole of the Ecliptic had formerly coincided.  But, as remarked by the author of the Sphinxiad, “… Hindoos have registered a knowledge of Astronomy for ten times 25,000 years since the (last local) Flood (in Asia), or Age of Horror,” in the latitude of India.  And they possess recorded observations from the date of the first Great Flood within the Aryan historical memory—that which submerged the last portions of Atlantis, 850,000 years ago.” [16]

3. Hoping to keep their readers engaged by using more conventional timelines; sticking to one subject without complicating the discussion; this serves as a bridging process in some ways.
4. Not wanting to be marginalised or rejected by their peers and readers for being too radical with timelines.

5. Simply having no way of substantiating the greater timeline
and with limited tools at their disposal to do so – fair enough!
6. Lacking in imagination or being over-conservative in their approach.

These are a few reasons that come to mind, but what of the greater timelines that exist?
Time Measurement from the Ancient Scriptures

In The Secret Doctrine, HPB gave a wealth of information on the ancient cycles derived particularly from the Vedas and similar Hindu traditions. This world view sees our solar system at about the half way mark in its evolution – 155 trillion years of a 311 trillion year cycle! It posits the evolution of human consciousness as having proceeded from ancient Lemurian times about 18.5 million years ago.

These time spans are related to the ancient cycles called yugas that take place within the larger cycles of the manvantaras. All cycles take place to a lesser degree within the time-span of the so-called seven rootraces, whilst in a far vaster reach of time, the globes, chains and schemes – or the various incarnations of the planet itself. [17] HPB also tells us that we are now in the Fifth Rootrace that started with the advent of the first Hindu subrace one million years ago. [18]

In The Hidden History of Humanity Vol. I (HHH), [19] greater detail and new original information is given outlining how this world view is constructed, viewing the various cycles as they unfold through the rootraces or, to state it another way, the rootraces unfolding within the larger cycles of time allotted to them; it is essentially the history of the unfoldment of human consciousness.

HHH seeks to advance reasonable arguments about the validity of the greater time scales. If this universal view of time was adopted as a framework, investigators may see their enquiries and speculations find an empowering niche; it might enable them to move forward in their specific disciplines far more rapidly, expanding understanding and creating a greater degree of connectivity to the many facets of the one whole. The Hindu tradition is of course the oldest as they constitute the first subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.1) and were heir to the ancient knowledge of the Atlanteans in the previous rootrace.

There was a reason that the Masters of Wisdom [20] worked through HPB to give this information out to the Western world – to re-establish for this next coming cycle, those eternal laws and truths which have brought us thus far. Nevertheless, Humanity is still disempowered in not knowing its true origins, for several reasons:
1. Lack of knowledge about the origin and purpose of the human soul.
2. Not having a ‘fixed time from which to reckon’, by which to measure history. [21]
3. Being saddled with a shortened chronology that is supposed to explain the entire unfoldment of the human race, quite a ludicrous situation.

Hardly any investigators use this ancient treasure trove of material, with one notable exception to this author’s knowledge, the work of Vedantist Michael Cremo and Forbidden Archeology. [22] Cremo takes the cycles as literal in their duration and makes claims for some even greater time-spans; this author’s work is different but in general agreement.

As noted earlier, modern science and occultism roughly concur on some of the big cosmic cycles, yet it is ironic that time scales for the sciences such as archeology and anthropology, there is required such a huge addition of time for the birth of civilisation: from 3,000 – 4,000 BC, back 18.5 million years!

Yet when equating the esoteric record of time with the current accepted geological record, there is a massive subtraction of time: from around 65 million years for the Jurassic Age, down to 28-20 million years. The big dinosaurs may well have existed 65 million years ago but according to our esoteric benchmark The Secret Doctrine, the Jurassic Age was closer to twenty million years ago – at least around the time of its reptile extinction. [23] Disparities and contradictions abound, yet they are not unresolvable or irreconcilable.

Consider that around 500 years ago, it was thought that the Sun orbited the Earth and now that illusion has been stripped away and transcended. Yet despite all the amazing scientific advances since then and expansions of human consciousness – with regard to Earth’s true history we still live in medieval times. It is interesting to note that the ‘Flat Earth Society’ was formed by a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1956!

When considering the larger time cycles, 500 years is but the blink of an eye. Now Humanity’s next phase of penetrating the veil of maya is to understand just exactly how old it is. This is most appropriate as the Third Ray of Active Intelligence that is intimately related to cycles, is currently going through a powerful cycle; third ray ruler Saturn – the Lord of Time, waits with his scythe to strip away the veil and reveal these ancient truths.
The Rootraces

Esoterically, the evolution of consciousness for humanity started about 21.5 million years ago, culminating about 18.5 million years ago with the registering of the ‘spark of mind’ that had been stimulated for the previous three million years in ‘animal humanity’, endowed hitherto with only an instinctual consciousness and a gigantic hermaphroditic form.

This period is known as Individualisation and occurred in the middle period of the Lemurian or Third Rootrace. It was one of the greatest spiritual events in the history of the planet, representing the birth of the human soul via the invocation and appearance of highly evolved beings who undertook the seeding of Humanity and its guidance. One of those remaining beings is called Sanat Kumara or Melchisidek, The Watcher, who presides over humanity ‘until the last weary pilgrim struggles home’, i.e. achieves liberation.

The humanity of that time was enormous in stature, though evolution has been refining and decreasing its size up to our present day. Even four million years ago, when the final destruction of parts of Lemuria occurred, there were still very large giants. Indeed, HPB tells us that the infamous statue heads of Easter Island(about 30ft or 10 metres high) were representative of the height of the giants of that time. [24]

It is most curious how scientists allow a dimunition in size for the dinosaurs to the present day reptiles, but not for man. This is partly due to the ‘lack of evidence’ of physical skeletons, when in fact much evidence pointing to the existence of giants is extant. [25]
“Of all the mammalians, man is the only one whom science will not allow to have dwarfed down, like all other animal frames …” [26]

This is a key point in terms of the time period of six to ten thousand years allotted to human evolution. Because such a small time period for human development has been assigned – and is believed in by the majority – it does not allow sufficient time for thinkers to entertain the idea that giant humans gradually shrank in size over a period of millions of years – in parallel with the reptile kingdom. In other words, in Lemurian times, humans were at least the height of dinosaurs:
“But we can easily believe that the Titans and Cyclopes of old really belonged to the Fourth (Atlantean) Race, and that all the subsequent legends and allegories found in the Hindu Purânas and the Greek Hesiod and Homer, were based on the hazy reminiscences of real Titans—men of a superhuman tremendous physical power, which enabled them to defend themselves, and hold at bay the gigantic monsters of the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic times—and of actual Cyclopes—three-eyed mortals.” [27]

Almost immediately after Individualisation, the Atlantean (fourth) rootrace came into being and developed in parallel with the Lemurians for millions of years. It was in the Atlantean race that two-eyed sight evolved over a few million years, replacing the original one all-seeing eye of the Lemurians; for a while there were three-eyed beings in an interim period. (The first two and a half rootraces were etheric, only manifesting into the physical half way through the Lemurian rootrace, in its third subrace, expressed as 3.3.)
Origin of the Apes

According to HPB, human bestiality in Lemuria created an unnatural and unplanned linking with other members of the animal kingdom, and these hybrids were the ancestors of our modern apes. Certain soul groups who refused to incarnate into their ‘coarse’ habitations were ultimately responsible for the groups of humans that caused this evolutionary anomaly upon the physical plane – the so called ‘sin of the mindless’. The modern Orangutan is a peculiarly ‘human’ reminder of that ancient transgression and today these apes are getting much publicity because their habitats are being destroyed in Indonesia through rainforest logging; in this Fifth Rootrace there are certain esoteric parallels to the Third or Lemurian Rootrace. Indonesia like Australia, is a remnant of Lemuria.

Imagine if scientists in their various disciplines were to run with this one esoteric fact – that apes were created by humans mixing with animals, eventually proving it – and what a dramatic revolution in consciousness would take place in how Humanity view themselves? Currently in most educational institutions around the world, the 5,000 year history of the human race is taught, and that it evolved from apes; Humanity has a much more divine pedigree.

Atlantis was a race that attained greatly in the civilised arts, sciences, astronomy, astrology and technology. Yet much that had been ‘gifted’ to the race by its guides was abused, creating a great crisis at the Atlantean midpoint of evolution – they were forced to choose between the way of light or the way of materialism and black magic:
“To continue the tradition, we have to add that the class of hierophants was divided into two distinct categories: those who were instructed by the “Sons of God,” of the island, and who were initiated in the divine doctrine of pure revelation, others who inhabited the lost Atlantis … and who, being of another race, were born with a sight which embraced all hidden things, and was independent of both distance and material obstacle.

In short, they were the fourth race of men mentioned in the Popol-Vuh, whose sight was unlimited and who knew all things at once. They were, perhaps, what we would now term “natural-born mediums,” who neither struggled nor suffered to obtain their knowledge, nor did they acquire it at the price of any sacrifice. Therefore, while the former walked in the path of their divine instructors, and acquiring their knowledge by degrees, learned at the same time to discern the evil from the good, the born adepts of the Atlantis blindly followed the insinuations of the great and invisible “Dragon,” the King Thevetat … [who] had neither learned nor acquired knowledge, but … was “a sort of Socrates who knew without being initiated.”  Thus, under the evil insinuations of their demon, Thevetat, the Atlantis-race became a nation of wicked magicians.” [28]
Other Errors Contributing to Incorrect Dating

This crisis of choice led to a great battle about four million years ago, epitomised in the Hindu epic, The Mahabharata. There were probably several otherMahabharatas but this was the first and major one. It was an important time as it represented the half way mark of Atlantean development in the fourth subrace of that Fourth Rootrace (4.4), giving birth at the same time to the very nascent beginnings of our current Fifth Rootrace, also known as the Aryan (Indian) race.
Four million years ago the Kali Yuga age of death and destruction was in progress in the Fourth Rootrace – whilst an overlapping Satya Yuga (Golden Age) was starting for the Fifth Rootrace:

Yuga

  Greek Period

  Yuga Duration

        Dates

Manu/Cycle

Satya

Gold

1,728,000

3,893,100

Noah (Manu 5.0)

Treta

Silver

1,296,000

2,165,100

Asuramaya

Dvapara

Bronze

864,000

869,000

Menes (Manu 5.2)

Kali

Iron

432,000

3,102 BC

Kali Yuga 5th R.R.

Table I: The Yugas of the Fifth Rootrace

Table I shows that the period of 3,102 BC was the start of the Kali Yuga for the Fifth Rootrace and will continue for another 427,000 years. This date has been one of the problems that have caused major misunderstandings for scholars and even Hindu pundits incorrectly dating The Mahabharata – out by four million years.
““Yudishthira—the first King of the Sacea, who opens the Kali Yuga  era, which has to last 432,000 years—“an actual King and man who lived 3,102 years B.C.,” applies also, name and all, to the great Deluge  at the time of the first sinking of Atlantis .” [29]

Again, because of cultural illusions perpetrated over the centuries in both the east and west, considering anything outside of several thousand years is a place few have wished to venture. It has been created by the Great Illusion and is also the Great Lie.

Very soon after this great war four million years ago, an enormous global cataclysm took place, flooding most of the world, representing the first and most extensive of the four Atlantean sinkings; the fourth and final sinking was that of Poseidonis in 9,564 BC. Plato’s description of Poseidon’s fate as ‘9,000 years’ is a reference to this latter period but also a veiled reference to the second major sinking of Atlantis which took place 900,000 years ago! [30] Atlantis was not in one particular place as many investigators seem to think; its islands and continents were scattered around the globe. [31]

During the period following the original Atlantean destruction, a nucleus of new humanity were nurtured by Vaivasvata Manu (known as Noah in the Bible) for a period of a few million years, eventually to become the first (Hindu) subrace of the Fifth Rootrace, emerging about one million years ago from their ‘incubator’ in or beyond the Himalayas.

The following table shows the three major rootraces elapsed thus far. Note that there are seven branchraces in a subrace and seven subraces in a rootrace, hence the expressions 3.3.3, 4.4.4 and 5.5.5 reading from left to right, denote the rootrace, subrace and branchrace respectively.

These are not fanciful figures but represent profoundly significant periods in time; they correspond with the Seven Rays of Esoteric Astrology, forces that through numerical resonance with the races, influence them accordingly. Note that the world is now at 5.5.5, the current crisis as we move into the Sixth Rootrace in the next 25,000 years.

3.3.3

Lemuria. Individualisation. The ‘spark of mind’. Birth of Shamballa.

21.6 million yrs ago

4.4.4

Atlantis. Latter part, advanced civilisation, great war, cataclysm.

4 million yrs ago

5.5.5

Aryan. Peak of mental development. Moving into the 6th rootrace.

Now. 2,000 C.E.

Table II: Crises of the Rootraces

This basic outline brings a brief appreciation and overview of the rootraces and time periods. (HHH-I provides many more details.) After the Hindu subrace (the ‘Mother’ of all Western races), four more subraces unfolded in the Fifth Rootrace. The races and subraces have enormous overlaps in time and a crisis always precipitates at the apotheosis of each rootrace.

Subrace

Group

Years ago

5.1

Hindu

1,050,000

5.2

Ancient Egyptian/Mayan

860,000

5.3

Semitic-Arabic-Afghani

610,000

5.4

Celtic-Latin

450,000

5.5

Teutonic-Nordic

100,000

5.6

Synthesis of all subraces

Next 25,000

Table III: Subraces of the Fifth Rootrace

If the figure 5.5.5 is broken down, it represents the Anglo-Saxon branchrace, Teutonic-Nordic subrace of the Fifth Rootrace – moving into 5.5.6. The sixthbranchrace represents a synthesis of all western and eastern races, particularly in the USA. USA ’s particular dharma is to act as a bridge between that which has been (5.5.5 Anglo-Saxon) and that which will come in the Sixth Rootrace, slated to start in about 25,000 years in the location of where Brazil is today. [32]

The Ancient Egyptians and Mayans

Noting the above table, the genesis of the Egytpians and Mayans is very ancient, no less than 860,000 years ago. Both groups came from a now sunken part of southern India (the old Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka) at the time of the second Atlantean submersion, finding their way to Ethiopia and Guatemala respectively. [33]Hence the similarity of their esoteric knowledge, rituals, architecture, art, customs etc., not only with one another but also ‘mother India’. Both groups acted as a bridge between the old Atlantean races and the new Fifth Rootrace. Their genesis goes back a long way into Atlantean history, or ‘pre-Vedic’, which means before the first Hindu subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.1) that emerged about one million years ago. If Table I is consulted, we can see that Asuramaya (note the ‘maya’ part) lived about two million years ago in the Atlantean period.

Egypt has been the repository and guardian of the world’s Mystery Tradition for about 800,000 years. [34] Pyramid technology had been around for millions of years before that, as has the science of astronomy, going back at least 3.24 million years in the Egyptian tradition:
“The astronomical  records of Universal History, however, are said to have had their beginnings with the Third Sub-race of the Fourth Root-race or the Atlanteans [4.3] . When was it? Occult data show that even since the time of the regular establishment of the Zodiacal calculations in Egypt, the poles have been thrice inverted.” [35]

Elsewhere in her books HPB tells us that the poles are inverted every 1,080,000 years, [36] hence 1,080,000 X 3 = 3,240,000 years. Likewise, other popular subjects of researchers have invaluable clues, such as Stonehenge:
“The archaic records show the Initiates  of the Second Sub-race  of the Aryan  family [5.2 – Aryan = Fifth Rootrace] moving from one land to the other for the purpose of supervising the building of menhirs and dolmens, of colossal Zodiacs in stone … The fact of their crossing from France to Great Britain by land may give an idea of the date when such a journey could have been performed on terrâ firma.” [37]

Using this author’s established timeline in Table III for the ‘second subrace of the Aryan family’ (5.2 Egyptian), then Stonehenge and many other constructions in Europe are much more ancient than hitherto speculated, up to 860,000 years old. Note also, these enormous structures were erected partly through the brute strength of the giants of that race:
“Had there been no giants to move about such colossal rocks, there could never have been a Stonehenge, a Carnac (Brittany) and other such Cyclopean structures; and (b) were there no such thing as MAGIC, there could never have been so many witnesses to oracular and speaking stones.” [38]

‘Magic’ here also refers to the utilisation of the science of sound to erect those structures:
“The cycle returns, and in the days to come will be seen the re-appearance of the faculty of the Lemurians  and early Atlanteans  to raise great masses,—this time on a higher turn of the spiral … They were raised through the ability of the early builders to create a vacuum through sound, and to utilise it for their own purposes.” [39]

This fact is elsewhere corroborated in many parts of the world, where priests used mantrams or harmonious chants to raise huge weights effortlessly. Likewise the power of sound was used to destroy:
“You have in the Christian Bible the remnant of a tale which has descended to us from Atlantean days.  In those days the use of sound on physical and emotional levels was understood and practised, being utilised for selfish ends in most of the cases.  You read that at the sound of trumpets, sounded a certain number of times after a rhythmical circuit of the walls of Jericho those walls collapsed.  This was made possible by the occult knowledge of the leaders of the people who—being versed in the science of sound and having studied its destructive and creative effects,—knew just the moment to apply that science and effect the desired end.” [40]

The Mayans

Another glaring example of rationalisations that are used because researchers cannot accept literally the length of given cycles, is the Mayan chronology. Many authors place the Mayans emerging within the last two thousand years. Yet the Mayans speak much about a relatively short time cycle of 5,125 years that started around 3,114 BC. (Note, this date is close to the start of the Hindu Kali Yuga in 3102 BC) Apart from the fact that The Mayans are esoterically around 860,000 years old, various authors have speculated that they ‘worked backward’ to fix the 3,114 BC date as the start of their cycle – but emerged much later from 1,500 BC onward, depending upon who you read. These same authors do not even take into account some of the greatest Mayan cycles that go back billions of years, concurring with other ancient cosmologies such as the Hindu – from which the Mayans originally emerged.

Why have the Mayans come to assume such prominence in esoteric literature in the past fifty years? The alignment with the galactic centre of course, but also because of the approaching date of 2012 that is the end/start of a 26,000 year precession cycle. This will be taking place in Aquarius on the greater 26,000 year wheel, coinciding with the more well known 2,160 year cycle in Aquarius on the ‘lesser wheel’. A new precession cycle starting in 2012 will take Humanity up to the Sixth Rootrace proper in about 25,000 years time. The first seed location for this race will be in the centre of South America where we now call Brazil. [41]

The Mayan tradition also points the way to South America and its role for a ‘relocated’ Shamballa (the crown chakra of the world) from where The Ancient of Days (Sanat Kumara) will resume his watch for the Sixth Rootrace. (Currently Shamballa is located in the Gobi Desert.) It is interesting to note that the original location of Shamballa in Lemurian times was in South America and still later connected to the Mayans, hence a ‘full circle’ cycle is nascent:
“The first outpost for the Shamballa Fraternity was the original temple of Ibez and it was located in the centre of South America, and one of its branches at a much later period was to be found in the ancient Maya institutions, and the basic worship of the sun as the source of life in the hearts of all men.” [42]

Hence the Mayans, with their magnetic history located mainly in Guatemala in Central America, are today acting as a bridge between the USA and South America, or between the rest of the world and South America. Central America has played the role of a great meeting place for many cultures from the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans for thousands of years.

During the intervening period of the next 25,000 years, Britain [43] will sink entirely in the next few thousand years whilst a large chunk of California will disappear.[44]
“Cataclysms of a world wide nature will occur during the next one thousand years; continents will be shaken; lands will be raised and submerged, culminating in the profound material disaster which will overtake the world towards the close of the fourth branch race of the sixth subrace.  This will usher in the infant sixth rootrace.” [45]

Yet there is nothing unusual about these events, they are a natural part of planetary evolution and have occurred in many other cycles in the past, particularly when a new race is about to be established.

“The sinking of Atlantis … began during the Miocene period  as certain of your continents are now observed to be gradually sinking …” [46] Elevation and subsidence of continents is always in progress.  The whole coast of South America has been raised up 10 to 15 feet and settled down again in an hour.  Huxley has shown that the British islands have been four times depressed beneath the ocean and subsequently raised again and peopled.  …  Within the last five or six thousand years the shores of Sweden Denmark and Norway have risen from 200 to 600 feet; in Scotland there are raised beaches with outlying stacks and skerries surmounting the shore now eroded by the hungry wave.  The North of Europe is still rising from the sea and South America presents the phenomenon of raised beaches of over 1,000 miles in length, now at a height varying from 100 to 1,300 feet above the sea-level.” [47]

Forms, whether they are land masses or humans, come and go, but the consciousness remains and moves forward; it is the soul’s evolution toward liberation that is the most important factor – individual, group, racial, national and global.

Once Humanity understands the true chronology of world history, a foundation of understanding can be established that will lead to breakthroughs in many areas of human endeavour: correct knowledge of time will then be applied in the exoteric sciences and the mystery of the origin of the human soul will be unveiled for all.

Phillip Lindsay © 2010.

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Phillip Lindsay is a global traveller, author and counsellor who practices Esoteric Astrology and specialises in investigating the true origins of Humanity. He is currently engaged in a project related to the second volume of his The Hidden History of Humanity II: Geography and Giants; this will be a book and will be filmedas a documentary in many areas of the world. Phillip can be reached from anywhere at phillip@esotericastrologer.org – for readings, seminars in your country and financial support for the above project. To subscribe to his newsletter, please visit http://www.esotericastrologer.org and fill out the appropriate form.


[1] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky . p.69. http://calendars.wikia.com/wiki/Tamil_calendar.

[2] Cosmos Carl Sagan. Ballantine Books (1985). p.258.

[3] Tao of Physics. Fritjof Capra. Shambhala Pub. (1991). p.198

[4] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky .p.691.

[5] http://hinduism.iskcon.com/tradition/1001.htm

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Steen-McIntyre

[7] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky .p.432.

[8] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.627.

[9] The Hidden History of Humanity I, Phillip Lindsay. p.360.

[10] The Hidden History of Humanity I, Phillip Lindsay. This time line on the subraces is one of the original breakthroughs this author has made in this field.

[11] Age determinations by radiocarbon content: checks with samples of known age. J. R. Arnold and W. F. Libby. (1949)

[12] Check Wikipedia for the amazing story of how these authors have distorted original dates.

[13] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. pp.692-3.

[14] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.352.

[15] Lecture on the Lost Arts by Wendell Phillips.

[16] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.332.

[17] See section II, The Hidden History of Humanity I, Phillip Lindsay.

[18] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.651.

[19] The Hidden History of Humanity I, Phillip Lindsay.

[20] See Masters of the Seven Rays, by Phillip Lindsay.

[21] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. pp.63-4. (21,688,345 years ago)

[22] Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race, Michael Cremo & Richard L. Thompson.

[23] The Hidden History of Humanity I, Phillip Lindsay.

[24] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.439.

[25] This is a ‘gigantic’ (!) subject in itself and cannot be done justice within the scope of this enquiry; it is one of the themes of the forthcoming Hidden History of Humanity II: Geography & Giants.

[26] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.352.

[27] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.293.

[28] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. P.593.

[29] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky. P.369.

[30] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.395.

[31] This fact will be expounded upon in the forthcoming volume of The Hidden History of Humanity II by Phillip Lindsay, which will also be a DVD documentary.

[32] See The Shamballa Impacts: Their Esoteric Astrology in World History, by Phillip Lindsay. The new updated 2009 version has a special section about South America. See also “Aquarius and the Fifth Rootrace: The Coming Sixth Rootrace” by this author at: http://www.hiddenhistoryhumanity.com

[33] See this three part essay: www.hiddenhistoryhumanity.com and/or the revised 2009 version of The Shamballa Impacts, by Phillip Lindsay. Guatemala = Gautama Buddha.

[34] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.589.

[35] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.353.

[36] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky . p.654. See also, Collected Writings XIV, p.365.

[37] ibid. p.750.

[38] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.342.

[39] Letters on Occult Meditation, Alice A. Bailey . p.250.

[40] Letters on Occult Meditation, Alice A. Bailey . p.194.

[41] Esoteric Psychology I, Alice A. Bailey, p.387. See also http://www.hiddenhistoryhumanity.com and/or the revised 2009 version of The Shamballa Impacts, by Phillip Lindsay.

[42] A Treatise on White Magic, Alice A. Bailey. P. 379.

[43] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.266.

[44] The Secret Doctrine. Still trying to find this quote!

[45] A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. P.467.

[46] The Mahatma Letters, A. J. Sinnett. P.151.

[47] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.787.

World Historical Overview.
Cambodia, Pol Pot, Angkor Wat Temples
(HHH Launch: Alexandria, Egypt)

One of my main areas of endeavour is in Esoteric History, a project inspired around 1994 and which took its brief from a passage in Esoteric Astrology:
“I [The Master Djwhal Khul] earlier gave a hint upon which definite astrological computation could be based when I gave the time of the "Great Approach" of the Hierarchy to our planetary manifestation when individualisation took place and the fourth kingdom in nature appeared. I placed that stupendous event as happening 21,688,345 years ago.” [1]
With the first volume of The Hidden History of Humanity (HHH), this is where the focus of newsletters will be. Nevertheless, I always write ‘astrologically’ as this is a ‘language’ I use to interpret the world of energies and forces, so there will be plenty for astrological students to ponder. The historical inquiry ranges over many different subjects: Astrology, cycles, races, nations, astronomy, the sciences, religious traditions, mythology etc. – they are all keys to uncovering where we have come from.
On this New Year’s Eve 2006 the Capricorn full moon cycle is upon us (Jan 3, 2007) and it is most appropriate to initiate an exploration into the past as Capricorn and its ruler Saturn have jurisdiction in this area. Likewise, polar opposite sign Cancer and its ruler the Moon also relate to history and the past, as does the Third Ray of Active-Intelligence, intimately associated with both signs.
The place of this ‘launch’ is serendipitously Alexandria, Egypt, named after its founder Alexander the Great. This city has a rich heritage of being the centre of world learning, drawing upon diverse cultures and nations. It was a centre of Greek scholarship and science as well as the capital of Egypt from its founding by Alexander in 332 BC to AD 642 when the Arabs invaded it. It has had a place in the popular imagination through its association with Mark Antony, Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. It also played a key role in passing on Greek culture to Rome and was a centre of scholarship in the theological disputes over the nature of Christ’s divinity that divided the early church.
For the past year the only online discussion of this Esoteric History Project has been in the online Yahoo group of the same name, working forward from the ‘beginning of time’. This has proved to be quite abstract for many as it deals with the esoteric forces that were responsible for eventually bringing about the incarnation of this planet – such as the rounds, chains and globes. The whole area of study becomes much more tangible when there is a civilisation, race or nation to consider and therefore the nature of these newsletters will be to work backward into time.
Therefore this first newsletter deals some impressions of I have had from my recent and current travels in Cambodia and Egypt, seeking to put it into an understandable framework that reaches back into the past civilisations in this early race as well as those before in Atlantis and Lemuria.

Preface: History’s Impasse

Understanding the history of any culture is always fraught with illusion, especially when its roots extend far beyond the accepted contemporary view, as taught in most educational institutions around the world today. The universal dwarfing of human history into the past 10,000 years has occurred for several reasons:
1. The past two thousand years of Christian-Judaic thinking and speculation that has attempted to date events in the Bible extending back to a world creation of 4,004 BC!

2.2. The development of the concrete mind in Western civilisation. This mental development relates to the fifth mental plane and has been quintessentially expressed in this fifth branchrace of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace – abbreviated as 5.5.5. (The concrete mind cognises with the five tangible senses.)

3. The development of the scientific, rationalist approach over the past five hundred years, paralleled by a special cycle of the Fifth Ray of Concrete Science.

4. The bewildering array of remnants of ancient civilisations with which modern investigators are confronted. When these remnants present themselves in one particular area (such as the Middle East for example), it is very difficult for those approaching its study to untangle and discriminate between the older and newer cultures and their various threads. Accurate perception is impossible with all the accumulations of cultural, religious and educational conditioning.

5. Contentious methods of establishing correct chronology such as carbon dating, radio-active dating, uranium-lead dating etc., astronomical techniques, religious scriptures, mythology and so on.

Hence Humanity today labours under many illusions about its past, not that most of the world necessarily thinks about its origins – or the enigma of the soul for that matter; most people are too busy just surviving and making money. Even students of the Mysteries sometimes find it difficult to comprehend the vast cycles to which H.P. Blavatsky refers, when she tells us for instance that human Individualisation occurred around 18.5 million years ago and that the Fifth Rootrace which started in India, is about one million years old. [2]

As Humanity moves toward 5.5.6, the seed of the Sixth Rootrace where intuition will supercede the concrete mind, the revealing of Humanity’s true origin will gradually precipitate into mainstream consciousness. The reasonableness of proposals that have their source in the Secret Wisdom will eventually be accepted; they will constitute the substance of the antahkarana or bridge of light that will illumine the exoteric sciences and become accepted facts.

Can we imagine the revolution in thought that this would create on Earth; knowledge of our origins, the evolution of consciousness and ultimately the reason and purpose for human existence – without the filters of narrow dogmatic thinking in scientific and religious disciplines?

It has been said that the release of spiritual knowledge by such messengers as Blavatsky and Alice Bailey, has been as a direct result of Humanity invoking and yearning for more light and understanding – like a field of sunflowers leaning and stretching toward the sun; it has resulted in the past one hundred years as an evocative response from Those who watch over and guide the race. This invocative process is constant and ongoing, leading us rapidly from the ‘seeing through a glass darkly’ syndrome to a sparkling diamond consciousness.

There is much that has been hidden since the great war of Atlantean times and the cycle is upon us where Humanity is starting to reclaim that which has been lost. Yet the disempowerment of not knowing human origins, must and will fade. The approaching Light of the Aquarian cycle will dispel many of these obscurations; we stand poised to receive some of the greatest revelations the world has ever seen. It is said that this Aquarian Age will develop a One World Religion based upon all traditions and no doubt many other syntheses of thought will precipitate on a global scale.

Now is the time of the ‘rainmakers’ who are seeding the ‘raincloud of knowable things’; the approaching ‘monsoon’ will provide ample replenishment for the water pots of the Aquarian Water-Bearers.
This series of essays will attempt to foster a greater awareness by ‘setting the record straight’ through the utilisation of that which has been gifted to us in such sources as The Secret Doctrine – and other works transmitted by the Guides of the race from the inner worlds.
Eastern and Western Races
There are two major kinds of consciousness expressing in the world today, reflecting the Eastern and Western hemispheres:
1. The ‘Aryan’ [3] or Fifth Rootrace consciousness that has its origins in India but which is        essentially expressed in the Western nations.
2. The Atlantean or Fourth Rootrace consciousness that has its origins in ancient Atlantis, expressed predominately in Eastern and many developing nations.
The former is predominately mental in its expression, whilst the latter is emotional or ‘astral’. The Asian races (east of India) are the descendants of the seventh (or last) subrace of that Fourth Rootrace (abbreviated as 4.7). [4]

Of course both types of consciousness know no ethnic boundaries, hence there exists many in Asia imbued with Aryan consciousness, such as one of the foremost, Japan. Yet the ‘cradle’ of the Fifth Rootrace, India – has, despite its potent expression of Aryan consciousness, millions of younger souls at the Atlantean stage of unfoldment. In other words, one can be in an Aryan body with Atlantean consciousness, or in an Atlantean body (Asian) yet have Aryan awareness.

The world hemispheres are conditioned by different rays:

The Occident      Soul Ray                 Ray II.

                        Personality Ray            Ray IV.

The Orient Soul Ray                 Ray IV.

                        Personality Ray            Ray III. [5]

Note that the Fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict (also called the ray of beauty and music) is the one in common between the two hemispheres. This is appropriate as the Fourth Ray conditions Humanity as a whole – in this Fourth Round cycle, upon the fourth globe of this fourthchain. [6] It is also pertinent that the Fourth Ray is the soul ray of the Orient, as those races are derived from the Fourth Rootrace, Atlantis.

Various nations in both hemispheres have feminine or masculine characteristics and generically the Orient seems to play the feminine role whilst the Occident the masculine. The ‘mystic East’ is certainly alluring and beautiful, its ‘yielding yin’ playing out in many areas of life:
“They are feminine in their psychology, — intuitive, mystical, sensitive, alluring, beautiful, fond of display and colour…” [7]

 

Modern Cambodia: Pol Pot’s Purge on the Fourth Shamballa Impact

Starting around 1975, Pol Pot and his genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge cast its shadow over Cambodia for about two decades, resulting in the deaths of between one and two million people, according to various estimates. The regime tried to force the people into a ‘Maoist agrarianism’: slave labour in the hot fields for sixteen-hour days with barely any food; they tried to outlaw Buddhism (can one extinguish the stars in the night sky?); they tortured and carried out the cruellest mass exterminations etc. etc. Pol Pot came forth like a ‘dark avatar’ on the fourth ‘Shamballa Impact’ [8] of 1975:
”Racial Avatars. These Appearances are evoked by the genius and destiny of a race. The typical man (in quality and consciousness, not necessarily physically) foreshadows the nature of some race. Such a man was Abraham Lincoln, coming forth from the very soul of a people, and introducing and transmitting racial quality—a quality to be worked out later as the race unfolds. Coming forth correspondingly from the realm of cosmic evil, and responsible for the focus of materialism upon the planet today was Bismarck. Both men came forth within the same one hundred years, thus demonstrating the balance in nature and the constant interplay of the pairs of opposites. They are both types of the most powerful Avatars which humanity itself has as yet produced. They emerge along the lines of government, of the first ray and in the department of the Manu, and are very sensitive to Shamballa force. Such Avatars frequently emerge at the founding of a nation. This is true of both Bismarck and Lincoln.” [9]


Memorial at the Killing Fields, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Pol Pot may not have necessarily been the equivalent of Bismarck in the 20th century but certainly had his light equivalent in Martin Luther King Jr. (died 1968) who fought for rights that Lincoln helped initiate. It is interesting that in both cases the ‘dark’ equivalent came forth after the light worker had made his mark – seeking to retard human progress. The oriental forces standing behind those such as Pol Pot are most powerful, reminding us of ancient Atlantean times when black magic was widespread and rampant:
“The dark forces are ruled on the physical plane by a group of six oriental leaders and six occidental leaders; of these the oriental are the most powerful because they are the oldest racially and therefore the most experienced. They work by the intensification of glamour and by the stimulation of the lower psychic powers. Their particular point of attack at this time is the group of world disciples and initiates, for these latter are responsible for the fostering of love in the world and for the binding of men together in the spirit of unity.” [10]

The point of least resistance for the Shamballa energy (the equivalent of the First Ray of Will or Power) – is the use of force. Pol Pot (May 19, 1925) had the Sun in Taurus, ruled by first ray planet Vulcan. Taurus is a sign shared by other infamous dictators such as Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Pol Pot also had the Moon in Mars-ruled Aries square to Mars and the other First Ray ruler, Pluto – hence his ruthlessness and destructiveness.

Ancient Cambodia: Angkor Wat and the Egyptian Connection

“Thus is it that all the religious monuments of old, in whatever land or under whatever climate, are the expression of the same identical thoughts, the key to which is in the esoteric doctrine. It would be vain, without studying the latter, to seek to unriddle the mysteries enshrouded for centuries in the temples and ruins of Egypt and Assyria, or those of Central America, British Columbia, and the Nagkon-Wat of Cambodia. If each of these was built by a different nation; and neither nation had had intercourse with the others for ages, it is also certain that all were planned and built under the direct supervision of the priests. And the clergy of every nation, though practicing rites and ceremonies which may have differed externally, had evidently been initiated into the same traditional mysteries which were taught all over the world…

What archæologist will dare assert that the same hand which planned the Pyramids of Egypt, Karnak, and the thousand ruins now crumbling to oblivion on the sandy banks of the Nile, did noterect the monumental Nagkon-Wat [Angkor-Wat] of Cambodia?” [11]

Capricorn also rules rocks and stone as it represents the densest concretion of matter. It is interesting to note that the First Ray energy of Will-Power associated with Capricorn is the spiritual Will that finds itself anchoring in dense matter. Indeed, the stone temples are places of invocation through ritual and ceremony (Seventh Ray), acting as conductors of highly spiritualised electrical forces. God is invited down to Earth and the temple spires reach toward the heavens.

Anyone who has visited these holy places cannot help but marvel at their ingenuity, precision and beauty. As in other dating methods, it seems that the history of Cambodia has also been dwarfed into the very recent 9th –14th centuries. Angkor Wat and most other temples in the region are dedicated to Siva or Vishnu; these chronological errors follow the major mistake by Eastern and Western scholars in dating the Hindu civilization only a few thousand years BC! This has partly stemmed from the confounding of the Kali Yuga of the Fifth Rootrace (3,102 BC) with the Kali Yuga cycle of the Fourth Rootrace (about four million years ago); not a difficult mistake for human investigators to make given the enormity of the time scale! Nevertheless, one error begets another; other historical ‘overlays’ such as the spread of Buddhism in the past 2,000 years has compounded the situation, as many Buddhist statues were added to the temples. HPB informs us:


Angkor Wat Temple, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

“…1,000,000 of years are allowed for our present Root-race (the Fifth) [12] … The Aryan  Hindu is the last offshoot of the first sub-race of the fifth Root-race …” [13]

‘Last offshoot’ suggests that the Hindus emerged from the seventh branchrace of this first subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.1.7). One rootrace or subrace births another and from the first is born the second (Egyptian) subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.2), it’s origin in southern India. Its Manu, Menes, travelled to ancient Ethiopia and founded the new civilisation [14] – probably closer to 800,000 years ago than a few thousand!

The famous Egyptian king-lists place Menes in the latter realm of dynasties and hence it is quite plausible that the earlier dynasties are records of the Manus of the subraces and branchraces going a long way back through Atlantis and to perhaps even Lemurian times.

The ancient Ethiopeans were known as the “Builders” a name most appropriate for this second subrace as it is one of the names for the second ray of Love-Wisdom:
“That these two nations, India and Egypt, were akin? That they were the oldest in the group of nations; and that the Eastern Ethiopians — the mighty builders — had come from India as a matured people, bringing their civilization with them, and colonizing the perhaps unoccupied Egyptian territory.” [15]

Simplicius the Greek philosopher (7th century A.D.) says that he had heard of Egyptian astronomical records dating back 630,000 years. [16] The Ancient Egyptians have left their legacy of profoundly beautiful and mysterious architecture. The pyramids, even in this modern technological age cannot be duplicated. HPB says:
“The archaic records show the Initiates  of the Second Sub-race  of the Aryan  family moving from one land to the other for the purpose of supervising the building of menhirs and dolmens, of colossal Zodiacs  in stone …” [17]

Places like Stonehenge and Carnac are referred to here. We must bear in mind also that these Initiates were giants who stature may have exceeded 15 ft in height, certainly assisting the process of building. Yet essentially most building would have been done through utilising the lost science of sound that created a vacuum, allowing an effortless lifting and placement of the enormous stones. ‘Second Sub-race  of the Aryan  family’ may be a veiled reference that has two possibilities:
1. The second subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.2); i.e. temple/pyramid builders up to 800,000 years ago.
2. And/or it may refer to the second branch or family race of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace – 5.5.2 (about 80,000 years ago). If we take the latter date (as a preliminary exercise in understanding longer cycles than we are used to considering), there is a close correspondence with another remark by HPB:
“Now it is claimed that it is by means of the cycle of 25,868 years (the Sidereal year) that the approximate year of the erection of the Great Pyramid can be ascertained. Assuming that the long narrow downward passage was directed towards the pole star of the pyramid builders, astronomers have shown that … Alpha Draconis, the then pole-star, was in the required position about 3,350 B.C., as well as in 2,170 B.C. … But we are also told that “this relative position of Alpha Draconis and Alcyone being an extraordinary one … it could not occur again for a whole sidereal year”. This demonstrates that, since the Dendera Zodiac shows the passage of three sidereal years, the great Pyramid must have been built 78,000 years ago …” [18] [26,000 x 3]
Whatever time-scale you wish to take – 80,000 or 800,000 years, we can catch a glimpse of the antiquity that extends well past 4,000 BC. The following table is one construct that gives an approximate chronology of the Fifth Rootrace subraces. Note that in some instances the Manus whose names appear in the Old Testament have been used; the 210,000-year increments are one linear perspective to view the races. (Other chronologies are given in HHH ):

Subrace

Patriarch/Manu

Subrace Starts

Duration

210,000 yr. increments

5.1

Enoch

1,050,000

188,519

1,050,000

5.2

Menes

861,481

252,000

840,000

5.3

Abraham

609,481

151,200

630,000

5.4

Isaac

458,281

246,960

420,000

5.5

Jacob

211,321

209,821

210,000

5.6

Moses

1,372 BC

The Hindu subrace is the cradle of all Western races, many of whose languages can be traced back to India’s ancient Sanskrit. Likewise in Cambodia, the origin of the Sanskrit writing and language is obvious, demonstrating that the culture and consciousness that moved westward to Egypt from India, also moved East to Burma, Cambodia across Thailand and Vietnam – even as far as Bali. (China’s origins have far more ancient Atlantean strains and an independent language.)
In fact the ancient Bharata (India) extended almost to Egypt across Asia Minor and probably also the Near East. This is substantiated in ancient myths such as the Hindu Ramayana which links to ancient Thailand (Ramakian = Ramayana) and back again to Egypt in the west:

“… Ravan, the giant, who, in the Ramayana, wages such a war with Rama Chandra, is shown as King of Lanka, which was the ancient name for Ceylon; and that Ceylon, in those days, perhaps formed part of the main-land of Southern India, and was peopled by the “Eastern Æthiopians.” Conquered by Rama, the son of Dasarata, the Solar King of ancient Oude, a colony of these emigrated to Northern Africa.” [19]

Returning to Angkor Wat:

“… it seems impossible to escape the conviction that they were built by peoples moved by the same religious ideas, and that had reached an equal level of highest civilization in arts and sciences.

There is not, perhaps, on the face of the whole globe, a more imposing mass of ruins than Nagkon-Wat, the wonder and puzzle of European archæologists who venture into Siam [Thailand and adjacent areas]. And when we say ruins, the expression is hardly correct; for nowhere are there buildings of such tremendous antiquity to be found in a better state of preservation than Nagkon-Wat, and the ruins of Angkorthôm, the great temple … the ruins of the past Egyptian splendor deserve no higher eulogium than Nagkon-Wat … “We entered upon an immense causeway, the stairs of which were flanked with six huge griffins, each carved from a single block of stone. The causeway is … 725 feet in length, and is paved with stones each of which measures four feet in length by two in breadth. On either side of it are artificial lakes fed by springs, and each covering about five acres of ground … The outer wall of Nagkon-Wat (the city of monasteries) is half a mile square, with gateways … which are handsomely carved with figures of gods and dragons. The foundations are ten feet in height … The entire edifice, including the roof, is of stone, but without cement, and so closely fitting are the joints as even now to be scarcely discernible … The shape of the building is oblong, being 796 feet in length, and 588 in width, while the highest central pagoda rises some 250 odd feet above the ground, and four others, at the angles of the court, are each about 150 feet in height.”
It has also been pointed out that the proportions of the yuga cycles (4320) have been incorporated into Angkor-Wat’s design as well as other astronomical features which render it a solar temple.

“Passing, we ascend a platform … and enter the temple itself through a columned portico, thefaçade of which is beautifully carved in basso-relievo with ancient mythological subjects. From this doorway, on either side, runs a corridor with a double row of columns, cut — base and capital — from single blocks, with a double, oval-shaped roof, covered with carving and consecutive sculptures upon the outer wall. This gallery of sculptures, which forms the exterior of the temple, consists of over half a mile of continuous pictures, cut in basso-relievo upon sandstone slabs six feet in width, and represents subjects taken from Hindu mythology, from theRamayana — the Sanscrit epic poem of India, with its 25,000 verses describing the exploits of the god Rama, and the son of the King of Oudh. The contests of the King of Ceylon, and Hanouma, the monkey-god, are graphically represented. There is no keystone used in the arch of this corridor. On the walls are sculptured the immense number of 100,000 separate figures. One picture from the Ramayâna . . . occupies 240 feet of the wall … In the Nagkon-Wat as many as 1,532 solid columns have been counted, and among the entire ruins of Angkor … the immense number of 6,000, almost all of them hewn from single blocks and artistically carved …

“But who built Nagkon-Wat? and when was it built?  Learned men have attempted to form opinions from studies of its construction, and especially ornamentation,” and have failed. “Native Cambodian historians,” adds Vincent, “reckon 2,400 from the building of the temple … I asked one of them how long Nagkon-Wat had been built … ‘None can tell when … I do not know; it must have either sprung up from the ground or been built by giants, or perhaps by the angels’ …” [20]
Esoteric History Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EsotericHistory/

Phillip Lindsay © 2006.


[1] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.64.

[2] See The Hidden History of Humanity, Vol. I, Phillip Lindsay.

[3] The word ‘Aryan’ is not to be misconstrued in the materialistic sense of Nazi Germany and neo-Nazis of our modern era.

[4] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. p.179.

[5] The Destiny of the Nations, Alice A. Bailey. p.100.

[6] See The Hidden History of Humanity I, Phillip Lindsay.

[7] Esoteric Psychology I, Alice A. Bailey. p.389.

[8] See The Rays and the Initiations, Alice A, Bailey. p.716. The Shamballa Impacts, Phillip Lindsay.

[9] The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A, Bailey. p.298.

[10] Esoteric Psychology II, Alice A. Bailey. p.577.

[11] Isis Unveiled II, H.P. Blavatsky. p.561, 239.

[12] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.650.

[13] Collected Writings XII, H.P. Blavatsky. p.382.

[14] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.589. The Hidden History of Humanity I, Phillip Lindsay.

[15] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.515.

[16] The Secret Doctrine I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.650.

[17] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. p.750.

[18] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. p.432.

[19] Isis Unveiled II, H.P. Blavatsky. p.436.
[20] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.563.

Aquarius and the Fifth Rootrace:
The Coming Sixth Rootrace

A Brief Overview of History: Three Major Crises in the Three Rootraces

Although there are seven rootraces to every great round or manvantara of evolution, the first two and a half were etheric and did not ‘individualise’, hence three strictly human rootraces have elapsed. The crises of these three rootraces are symbolised by the following numbers – representing branchrace, subrace and rootrace:

3.3.3 – human individualisation, birth of the human soul in ancient Lemuria 21.6 million years ago.
4.4.4 – the Atlantean war and the physical destruction of Atlantis around 4 million years ago.
5.5.5 – culmination of the development of manas or mind around 2,000 CE – 16,000 CE.
These are not just ‘convenient’ figures (although they serve as such), but are profoundly descriptive of stages of consciousness that mark the major signposts of esoteric history.
Three Zodiacs

Paralleling these rootrace periods are the three zodiacs. Before Individualisation there were only eight signs and at Individualisation the signs of Leo-Virgo were added, representing the birth of self-consciousness via the solar angel or soul (Leo) – and the lunar angels that build human forms (Virgo).
Later, at the beginning of the Fifth Rootrace, the two opposite signs of Aquarius and Pisces were added (making 12) – because Humanity were ready to develop the consciousness associated with these signs.
“In Lemurian days, during the early period of animal man and before humanity appeared on earth, in the interim period of development, eight signs influenced the planet and the kingdoms of nature found upon it. There was no response to the influences of Leo and Virgo. The mystery of the Sphinx did not exist and these two signs were not then part of the zodiacal wheel. Then individualisation took place and the seed of Christhood was planted in man and these two signs began to influence humanity, and gradually that influence was recognised and the zodiac was then known to have ten signs. The Mutable Cross dominated, but it was then the Tau, for Pisces was lacking and only Gemini, Virgo and Sagittarius were evidenced. Aries to Capricorn marked the circle of experience.

In Atlantean days, man had become so responsive to the planetary and solar influence that the door of initiation into hierarchical experience was opened and two more signs were added. These two signs were the higher correspondences of Leo and Virgo and were the polar opposites of these two: Aquarius and Pisces. Their influence became active and effective and thus they formed part of the zodiacal wheel because man began to respond to their potencies. It then became possible for the Fixed Cross to function esoterically in the life of humanity, and the first reversals of the wheel in the life of the advanced men of the period took place. It was this reversal which was the true cause of the great contest or battle between the Lords of the Dark Face (as they are called in The Secret Doctrine) and the Lords of Light—a contest which is today persisting. Certain men then reached the stage of discipleship wherein they could consciously mount the Fixed Cross and be prepared for a major initiation. This the Forces of Materiality and of Obstruction (as they are sometimes called) fought and the battle was fought out and conditioned in the sign Scorpio.

Today, in Aryan times, a similar conflict upon a higher turn of the spiral is taking place. The reason is that certain world disciples and initiates have reached the point in their unfoldment wherein they are ready to mount the Cardinal Cross and take some of the higher initiations. So the conflict is on between humanity (under the control of the Lords of Materiality) and the Hierarchy (under the control of the Forces of Light and Love), and right before our eyes the battle is being waged [written WWII]. The influences of the twelve signs of the zodiac (particularly of seven of the signs) are being engaged, for today men of all types and rays are responsive to their influences and are implicated in some form or another in the affair.” [1]

Christ and Buddha in Atlantis: Their Relationship Comes Full Circle
Note the passage, ‘man had become so responsive to the planetary and solar influence that the door of initiation into hierarchical experience was opened …’ This phrase relates particularly to earlier incarnations of the Ones who are known today as The Buddha and The Christ:
“… in that first great demonstration of His point of attainment … the Christ was joined by the Buddha.  The Buddha had attained this same point prior to the creation of our planetary life [on the Moon Chain], but conditions for taking the third initiation were not then available, and He and the Christ took the initiation together … They stood in the Presence of the One Initiator … This third initiation was taken in a fourth ray Ashram, the Ray of Harmony through Conflict.” [2]

Their initiations, along with other disciples in the  time of Atlantis, created such an expansion of awareness that challenged the existing mental framework of the race, setting up a conflict between the pairs of opposites upon the mental plane, reflected in the battle between the forces of light and forces of materialism; hence the precipitation of the great Atlantean war.
Yet the deeper implication of this initiation together in the same ashram was that it represented the first fusion on Earth of the two types of Humanity: Buddha who individualised on the Moon Chain and Christ who individualised on the Earth Chain.
Today The Christ is poised to take over the role of the Buddha – who has almost liberated himself from this Earth sphere altogether. So as the tide of the Atlantean war (The Mahabharata) has come full circle/cycle in the World Wars of last century, so too has Their ancient relationship.
The souls who individualised upon the Moon Chain were always more generally advanced in intelligence because they had a much longer period to develop it. Hence their dominance both spiritually and materially upon Earth, despite the fact that the Master of all Masters and the Head of the Hierarchy of Masters, the One who holds the Office of The Christ – is of the Earth Chain.
Now at the high tide mark of the Fifth Rootrace (5.5.5), there has been an extraordinary acceleration in the development of mind in the Earth Chain Humanity; this will bring about a gradual equilibrisation between Earth and Moon chain souls, as the lesser and greater Aquarian Ages unfold and the Sixth Rootrace approaches.

Three Shamballa Impacts [3]
Also paralleling the rootrace crises and the three zodiacs are the first three major releases of power from the planetary centre called Shamballa – all of them extremely destructive.
The first Shamballa ‘impact’ was inaugurated upon Earth some 18.5 million years ago and was responsible for many cataclysms and the wiping out of animal-human and animal species alike. Shamballa was established – from whence the Lord of the World or Sanat Kumara wielded his mighty sword. This period also marked the culmination of the Individualisation process and the transformation of the hitherto hermaphrodite Humanity into two sexes.
The second Shamballa ‘impact’ was responsible for the great floods of Atlantean times that inundated the entire globe and wiped from the face of the Earth much evil that had accrued.
The third Shamballa ‘impact’ culminated at the end of World War II with the dropping of the atom bomb. This war is regarded as a recapitulation of the Atlantean war – with the same issues at stake.

Aquarius and the Fifth Rootrace

Aquarius the Water-Bearer is prominent for the next 2160-year cycle, yet also for three other reasons:
1) A greater 25,000 year cycle of Aquarius is coinciding with the lesser:
“This is, therefore, the most amazing period in the history of humanity … we are entering another greater round of the Zodiac, and this coincides with the lesser zodiacal activity because Aquarius governs the greater immediate cycle of 25,000 years and is also the sign into which the sun is now moving for a period of 2300 years—a most amazing happening and full of import in our planetary history…” [4]

2) The cycle of the Seventh Ray of Ceremonial Magic coincides with Aquarius:

“… that revealing light only finds Location when the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order  is active and in process of manifestation in the three worlds, and necessarily, therefore, upon the seventh plane, the physical plane. Such a manifestation inevitably takes place in moments of planetary crisis, when the seventh ray  is active and when the Sun  is in Aquarius . Such a combination of relationships  is being established now, for the seventh ray is rapidly coming into manifestation and the Sun is in Aquarius, for the Aquarian Age  is just beginning. The Objective of this combination (which has occurred six times during the period of the fifth root-race ) is to bring about illumination and the establishment of order upon the Earth .[5]

3) This culminating Fifth Rootrace is ruled by Aquarius. (See next heading)

Note that this combination of the Seventh Ray cycle with Aquarius is happening for the seventh time in the history of the Fifth Rootrace. Seven is a number of completion, particularly in relation to the seven rootraces, seven subraces and seven branchraces.
Lamech: Manu and Progenitor of the Fifth Rootrace

In the book The Hidden History of Humanity [6] (HHH), this author demonstrates how the Biblical Patriarchs of the Old Testament are actually the Manus, or archetypal representatives of the various subraces – from Lemuria through Atlantis to this Fifth Rootrace. This was indicated by H.P. Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine, but the author of HHH has developed this further, demonstrating the key to the ages of the Manus as representing the duration of their subraces. (These time periods are given in HHH)
The following table shows the Patriarch ‘propagation pattern’, one Patriarch ‘begetting’ another, i.e. a subrace Manu spawns the seed of the next subrace or rootrace. The reader will note that the number of the previous subrace always determines the same number of the following rootrace:

Lemurian Patriarch

Atlantean Patriarch

Aryan Patriarch

3.3.3

3.4.5 Adam 930 years

3.5.5 Seth (Cain) 912 yrs

4.1 Enos         905 years

3.6  Cainan 910 years

4.2 Mahaleel     895 years

3.7  Jared  962 years

4.3 Enoch         365 years

4.4 Methuselah 969 years

4.5 Lamech    777 years

5.0 Noah        500/950

5.1 Enoch                   

5.2 Menes  

5.3 Abraham   

5.4 Jacob         

5.5 Joseph       

5.6 Moses        

Patriarchs of the Races

Note that the bolded races above are highly significant and represent a major seeding period for the next rootrace. Lamech ‘begets’ Noah – the fifth subrace of Atlantis (4.5) gives birth to the Fifth or Aryan Rootrace. H.P. Blavatsky tells us,
“Lam-ach means Lam — the father, and Ou-Lom-Ach is the father of the age; or the father of him (Noah ) who inaugurates a new era or period of creation after the pralaya  of the deluge; … Furthermore, both father and son answer to Aquarius  and Pisces  in the Zodiac ; and thus the former belonging to the airy and the latter to the watery trigons, they close the list of the biblical myths.” [7]

It is fitting that Lamech (Aquarius) is the father of the Fifth Rootrace. Aquarius has only the Fifth Ray of Science passing through it; the destiny of the Fifth Rootrace is the development of mind or manas, symbolised by the number five and of course the five-pointed star of Venus, ruler of the Fifth Ray.

Lamech’s wives, Zillah and Adah, also represent the previous synthesis of the Lemurian and Atlantean races that go toward the seeding of the Fifth Rootrace. [8]

Although Noah is the Patriarch or Manu of the Fifth Rootrace per se, his assignation to Pisces is appropriate symbology for the Atlantean floods and the Ark in which he rescues the remnants of the Atlantean Humanity – ‘in spite of themselves’ (as The Tibetan has it [9] ). The ‘animals’ are not so much that kingdom per se but symbolic of the diverse peoples that the Manu gathered from the Atlantean races, in order to create the next race.
The Apotheosis of the Fifth Rootrace: 5.5.5.
Now, several million years later, this mental development has reached its quintessential expression in the fifth branchrace of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace – 5.5.5. This is the Anglo-Saxon branchrace (British) of the fifth subrace (Teutonic/Nordic) of the Fifth Rootrace (Aryan, with its roots in India). The fifth branchrace has a little way to go:

“…  the weal and woe of nations is intimately connected with the beginning and close of this [25,868 years] sidereal cycle … [this cycle] took place nearly 10,000 years ago … which gives humanity in general, and our civilised races in particular, a reprieve of about 16,000 years.” [10]

Bear in mind that there are several identifiable cycles of this duration – such as the greater Aquarian cycle just beginning or the Mayan cycle which finishes in 2012. Overall however, the Fifth Rootrace has around 427,000 years to diminish (paralleled by the emerging Sixth Rootrace), as it completes the Kali Yuga cycle that started in 3102 BC. The rootraces span enormous periods of time, overlapping each other for millions of years. There are seven rootraces to each round of evolution upon Earth and five have practically elapsed.
The Aquarian vibration that Lamech inaugurated around four million years ago (whilst the Fifth Rootrace was in its nascent development), is now coming full circle/cycle in this lesser/greater cycle of Aquarius. Part of our ‘grand finale’ will be the achievement of the Third Degree Initiation by thousands of world disciples. This will occur through natural evolution and also by the experiments of some of the Masters:
“Other Masters are doing the same as I [DK] am doing. We hope during the next five hundred years to present several such groups to the One Initiator. All who are in these groups have taken the first initiation, as have so many thousands of people in the world today.” [11]
The ‘next five hundred years’ constitutes the greater part of the first decanate of Aquarius, ruled by Saturn, ruler of the Third Ray and associated with the Third Initiation. The ‘One Initiator’ is of course Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World who presides over initiations from the Third Degree upward.
Can we imagine that if these experiments are successful and if the rest of the World Aspirants and Disciples play their part, that the balance for the Forces of Light will be tipped permanently in their favour?; the ‘door where evil dwells’ may again be firmly shut – with a resounding clang!
This period would also represent the major ‘harvesting’ cycle of the achievement of the Aquarian cycle that inaugurated the Fifth Rootrace. Aquarius is the generic ruler of the Third Degree Initiation:
“In Aquarius—In this sign, the long effort of the soul is consummated and concludes the experience of the disciple upon the Fixed Cross. The man then takes the third initiation and becomes free from personality control, taking the next two initiations upon the Cardinal Cross.” [12]
Beginnings of the Sixth Rootrace: Aquarius, Soul of United States of America

Currently Western evolution is unfolding the fifth branchrace of the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.5.5) – moving into the sixth branchrace (5.5.6), the seed for the sixth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.6). The latter 5.6 is the seed for the Sixth Rootrace proper – due to unfold in about 25,000 year’s time:

“They [United States of America] are, in short, the germs of the Sixth sub-race, and in some few hundred years more, will become most decidedly the pioneers of that race which must succeed to the present European or fifth sub-race, in all its new characteristics. After this, in about 25,000 years, they will launch into preparations for the seventh [5.7] sub-race.” [13]

‘Sub-race’ here should read ‘branchrace’ as it refers to the ‘subrace’ of the Sixth sub-race, hence 5.5.7. Branchraces 5.5.6 and 5.5.7 are the seed of the sixth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace [5.6]. Note that the 25,000 year time period corresponds to the greater Aquarian cycle of 25,000 that will lead Humanity into the Sixth Rootrace proper. The United States of America is ruled at a soul level by Aquarius [14] and hence, combined with its status as 5.5.6, it will bridge from Britain (5.5.5) to the Sixth Rootrace. A branchrace has an approximate duration of a precession cycle of 25,000 years:
“It is somewhat curious to mark the comparative approximation of duration between the lives of a  “Family-Race” [branchrace] and a “Sidereal year.”” [15]

Although other nations (such as the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand) are part of the 5.5.6 branchrace that unfolds for the next 25,000 years, the United States of America has the responsibility of the immediate short term Aquarian cycle of 2,160 years (and perhaps the following Age of Capricorn cycle), because the duration of nations is about 4,000 years at most:

“… the nations or the innumerable spines upon it [rootrace tree], vary with each succeeding “season” of three or four thousand years.” [16] (See diagram below)

The USA separated from the mother country in order to pursue religious and political freedoms, culminating in the Declaration of Independence of 1776. Bear in mind that Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, was discovered between the American and French Revolutions in 1781, both dealing liberating blows for the whole world, not just those nations; hence the Uranian power of freedom and the humanitarian qualities of the Aquarian Water-Bearer – who pours forth for thirsting Humanity.
1775 was the beginning of a cycle of the Fifth Ray [17] which, as harbinger of the Aquarian cycle, inaugurated the Industrial Revolution, followed closely by the technological and communications revolutions. This period of the past couple of hundred years has also been a major part of the cuspal period between the zodiacal ages of Pisces and Aquarius.

"…genealogical tree of the Fifth Root-Race generally, though hardly correctly, called the Aryan race …

1. There are seven ROUNDS in every manvantara; this one is the Fourth, and we are in the Fifth Root-Race, at present.

2.    Each Root-Race has seven sub-races.

3. Each sub-race has, in its turn, seven ramifications, which may be called Branch or “Family” races.

4. The little tribes, shoots, and offshoots of the last-named are countless and  depend on Karmic action.  Examine the “genealogical tree” hereto appended, and you will understand."

Rootrace Tree [18]


Great Britain
, United States of America, Brazil and the Sixth Rootrace

It is said that the Sixth Rootrace will eventually inhabit Brazil. Great Britain and the United States of America play a very important role as they represent the past and present that builds for this future.

Great Britain is the ultimate expression of 5.5.5 – the Anglo-Saxon fifth branchrace. The United States of America is Europe transplanted, without too much of the old baggage. Hence the following conditioning triangle that also depicts the soul and personality rays of those nations:

Britain (5.5.5) 2/1

  USA (5.5.6) 2/6  Brazil (6th RR) 4/2

Note that the ray in common is the second ray of love-wisdom. Brazil is the only nation given [19] as having a second ray personality. Even though the UK and USA have a strong expression of this 5th mental aspect, they both have their respective national souls conditioned by the Second Ray of Love-Wisdom [20] and this is evident by their recent histories – where the principles of democracy, freedom and liberation have unfolded. [21] The Tibetan Master explains:

“You will note that of the major nations only Brazil, Great Britain and the United States of America are definitely under the influence of the second ray.  An interesting fact emerges as we consider this grouping.  Great Britain is the custodian of the wisdom aspect of the second ray force for the Aryan race [5.5.5.], so called.  The United States fulfills the same office for the sixth or coming subrace [5.6], which is the germ race for the future sixth great race, whilst Brazil will function as the leading division of the great sixth race.  These three races embody the attractive cohesive aspect of the second ray, and will demonstrate it through wisdom and wise government, based on idealism and love.  The United States will therefore represent a fusion of races, with the Anglo-Saxon element dominating.  Brazil will later represent the best of that which the Latin races have eventually to give.  This presented fusion will be considered from the angle of the ray types and the basic unfolding principles, and not from the angle of culture and civilisation.

Great Britain therefore represents the aspect of mind which expresses itself in intelligent government, based eventually on just loving understanding.  This, I say, is the ideal before her, but not the fulfilled achievement.  The United States represents the intuitive faculty, expressing itself as illumination and the power to fuse and blend.  Brazil (or rather what that country will then be called, for the time of this expression lies thousands of years ahead) will represent a linking interpreting civilisation, based on the unfoldment of the abstract consciousness, which is a blend of the intellect and the intuition, and which reveals the wisdom aspect of love in its beauty.  But the period of the development of this great civilisation lies too far ahead to make speculation possible.” [22]

It is no accident therefore, that the United States of America is now around 30% Spanish-speaking and that the Hispanic population has increased so dramatically in recent years. The USA is truly the bridge between the races and the eventual unfoldment of a new race in South America.

Nuclear War Will Not Be ‘Allowed’?
But in this new era of opportunity can Humanity rise to the occasion? We live in precipitous and perilous times; the world sits somewhat upon a knife edge. Can Humanity make the right decisions that can lead it to liberation or will it miss this great opportunity?
As the astronomical cycle of Aquarius draws close, with the possibility of massive human transformation, the Earth teeters upon the brink – politically, culturally, economically and environmentally. The planet is experiencing the profoundest darkness before the dawn, a collective ‘dark night of the soul’, and much rests upon decisions that will be made – in this time and the near future.

The situation is reflective of the greater Kali Yuga cycle, the age of death and decay, yet also the lesser Satya Yuga or ‘golden age’ which arises within the greater cycle. Some may be familiar with The Tibetan’s statement about a future religious war; it has been commented upon frequently in this new century by various students – in relation to the uncertain state of affairs in the world, whilst the fundamentalist expression of the waning Sixth Ray cycle gives its last gasp:
“If none of these things happen [reconciliation, dialogue], humanity is headed towards a religious war which will make the past war appear like child’s play; antagonisms and hatreds will embroil entire populations and the politicians of all the nations will take full advantage of the situation to precipitate a war which may well prove the end of humanity. There are no hatreds so great or so deep as those fostered by religion.” [23] (Written before 1949)

No truer words uttered by D.K. and it is easy to project this statement onto recent events of terrorism and negative relations between religious faiths. Nevertheless, there is a lesser known statement from which we may take hope, from the book Changing Esoteric Values by Foster Bailey. Foster was the second husband of Alice Bailey and supported her enormously in The Tibetan’s work. He may have had contact with the Master Djwhal Khul, or at least was privy to some inner knowledge from the Hierarchy. Foster is discussing cycles of the New Group of World Servers (NGWS):
“When the war [WWII] was over the forces of darkness were pushed back but they were not crushed. And ever since then there has been the possibility of a third world war that would end the whole human experiment up to date and start us back again as an infant humanity to begin to learn it all over again. And in 1954, it was established subjectively and in reality that there will be no third world war … 1954 was a great year, a very spiritual significant year.” [24]

Students may contend the veracity of this statement. If it is true then obviously it does not mean that workers of the light can be complacent. Yet there are deeper implications; it means that a major decision by the Hierarchy was taken around 1954 that would prevent Humanity from wiping itself out. This is somewhat contrary to the policy of Hierarchy not interfering with human free-will; yet the decision around the year 1954 was made in those intervening years of the atom bomb in 1945 and the 49-year cycle of the Decision Initiation [25] taken by the Masters in 1952.

The Earth is already behind in its evolution since the failure of the Moon (Third) Chain within the Earth Scheme, those many billions of years ago. [26]For evolution to fail again within this Fourth Chain would set back Earth’s evolution even further and hold up the progress of the solar ‘body-corporate’.

The Earth Scheme would truly merit the label of ‘laggard’ amongst its planetary brothers and sisters in the solar system. One could speculate, from how ‘high up’ did this ‘decree’ emanate? Was it from the Solar Logos himself, the one who ‘interfered’ in the Moon Chain?:
“The progress of evolution on the moon was abruptly disturbed and arrested by the timely interference of the solar Logos.  The secret of the suffering in the Earth chain, which makes it merit the name of the Sphere of Suffering, and the mystery of the long and painful watch kept by the SILENT WATCHER, has its origin in the events which brought the moon chain to a terrific culmination.  Conditions of agony and of distress such as are found on our planet are found in no such degree in any other scheme.” [27]
Bearing some of these factors in mind, let there be reiterated some of the current transitions which are causing conflict and pain upon the planet – yet which veil the new emerging consciousness: The world is moving from Pisces to Aquarius, from a cycle of the Sixth Ray to a cycle of the Seventh Ray and from this Fifth Rootrace to the Sixth Rootrace.

Phillip Lindsay © 2007.

[1] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.161.

[2] The Rays and the Initiations, Alice A. Bailey. p.385.

[3] See The Shamballa Impacts, Phillip Lindsay.

[4] The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A. Bailey. p.567. See also, “Zodiac & Ray Cycles  in Esoteric Astrology: Beginning of the Age of Aquarius  (2117).” in Destiny of the Races and Nations by Phillip Lindsay.

[5] Discipleship in the New Age II, Alice A. Bailey. p.425.

[6] By this author, Phillip Lindsay.

[7] Isis Unveiled II, H.P. Blavatsky. p.467.

[8] The Hidden History of Humanity, Phillip Lindsay. pp.306-9.

[9] The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A. Bailey. p.124.

[10] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky . p.330.

[11] Discipleship in the New Age II, Alice A. Bailey. p.336.

[12] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. p.144.

[13] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. pp.444-5.

[14] The Destiny of the Nations, Alice A. Bailey. p.67.

[15] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.435.

[16] ibid.

[17] Esoteric Psychology I, Alice A. Bailey. p. 411.

[18] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky . p.434.

[19] The Destiny of the Nations, Alice A. Bailey.

[20] The Destiny of the Nations, Alice A. Bailey. p.67.

[21] See “Liberation of the Nations” in Destiny of the Races and Nations, Phillip Lindsay.

[22] Esoteric Psychology I, Alice A. Bailey, p.387.

[23] The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A. Bailey. p.546.

[24] Changing Esoteric Values, Foster Bailey. pp.72-3.

[25] “The Decision Initiation 2001: Saturn and Libra” in Soul Cycles of the Seven Rays, Phillip Lindsay. pp.125-136.

[26] See The Hidden History of Humanity, Phillip Lindsay.
[27] A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. p.416.

Shamballa and the Mayan Calendar:
Brazil and the Sixth Rootrace

Part I
Preface
Brazil and the Sixth Rootrace
Shamballa
Shamballa and the Temple of Ibez
The Symbolism of Ibez
The Teaching of Ibez
Part II
THE MAYANS
Mayans and Ancient Egyptians
Mayan Origins in Ancient Southern India
Mayan Language
Mayans and Asuramaya
Mayans: Master Astronomers
Mayan Quetzlacoatl: The Christ
Mayan Calendar
Maya of the Mayan Calendar
Part III
The Greater Aquarian Cycle
Aquarius, Polaris and the Increasing Shamballa Force
Melchizedek, Libra and Shamballa
Shamballa and the ‘Gobi Zodiac’
Shamballa and the White Island
Kalachakra Mandala: Map of Shamballa
Return of Shamballa to South America
___________________________________________________________________

Preface
This next series of essays picks up from the last where the future Sixth Rootrace was discussed along with the roles of Brazil, Great Britain and the USA. To read that article please click on the link in the heading. This ongoing series will discuss in more depth the role of Shamballa and its relation to current cycles, the Mayans and the reappeaarance of Quetzacoatl or Christ at the dawn of the coming Sixth Rootrace. This is newsletter is part I of three parts.


Part I

Brazil and the Sixth Rootrace

“… Brazil will function as the leading division of the great sixth race … [Brazil] will later represent the best of that which the Latin races have eventually to give … Brazil, (or rather what that country will then be called …) will represent a linking interpreting civilisation, based upon the unfoldment of the abstract consciousness, which is a blend of the intellect and the intuition, and which reveals the wisdom aspect of love in its beauty.” [1]

As the Sixth Rootrace does not manifest for another 25,000 years, the reference to ‘Brazil’ (‘what that country will then be called‘) probably includes an area across South America that incorporates other nations like neighbouring Bolivia and Peru.

Note the phrase relating to Brazil, ‘based on the unfoldment of the abstract consciousness, which is a blend of the intellect and the intuition, and which reveals the wisdom aspect of love in its beauty.’ Brazil is conditioned at the soul level by the Fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict, the ray of art and beauty. It is the only nation that the Master D.K. gives as having a second ray personality. Both the second and fourth rays are on the ‘love line’ of 2,4,6 – as indeed is the Sixth Rootrace. The fourth ray is the major ray that conditions Humanity and is the linking ray between the fourth ray soul of the East and the fourth ray personality of the West.

Using the analogy of a greater entity for an individual human, what does it mean to have a second ray personality? Is the expression of love immediate and tangible in the personality and has one worked hard in previous incarnations to ‘earn’ a second ray personality? Although, depending upon the soul ray, that personality expression is not always easy or obvious to discern.

However, anyone who has visited Brazil or met Brazilian people (or many other Latin peoples), will attest to their loving nature; this is the essence of Celtic and Latin races. As the line of development is 2,4,6 – it includes the passionate and emotional sixth ray. In advising one of his (Latin) disciples about a second ray personality, The Tibetan has the following to say:
“Were it not for your second ray personality, you would find it hard to work in my Ashram, but it is this second ray quality of yours—strongly marked and the product of a long series of incarnations in a second ray vehicle—which can make you, if you so desire, one of the focal points for the work which I plan to have this band of disciples do. [2] … In your next incarnation, you should function through a second ray personality … You have, therefore, to transmute your sixth ray devotional and fanatical tendencies into spiritual love and strength [3] … only love, consciously, intelligently and deliberately applied, can make for successful work, both in Europe and South America—your two recognised fields of service. Only your second ray personality will have the capacity to reawaken contact with your students in Spain or hold steady those already working in South America …” [4]

The strong preponderance of the Latin line is currently expanding with great rapidity in the United States of America – the bridge between the Fifth Rootrace and the Sixth Rootrace. The Spanish language is now spoken in about one third of the population of the USA.

The Celtic/Latin race is the fourth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.4) and is very ancient, coming forth within the first few subraces of the Fifth Rootrace about 800,000 years ago. [5] This fourth subrace carries within it the ‘four’ of the Fourth Rootrace (Atlantis) vibration, conditioned in its evolution by the second ray of Love-Wisdom and the sixth ray of Devotion or Idealism. The fourth heart chakra was the highest line of expression and unfoldment for the spiritually evolved of the time – and still is in many ways!

5.4 carries with it certain qualities and karma associated with Atlantis that can only work itself out in a rootrace on the ‘even ray’ line. Even though toward the end of this Fifth Rootrace we have seen a recapitulation of what was achieved and where humanity failed in the Atlantean race, there is still much more to unfold in the Sixth Rootrace.

The rays influencing the races are a study in itself as the following tabulation indicates:
Lemurian Race…………………………..Rays 1. 7. 5.
Atlantean Race…………………………..Rays 2. 6
Aryan Race……………………………….Rays 3. 5
Sixth Race………………………………..Rays 2. 4
Seventh Race…………………………….Rays 1. 7. 2. [6]

The development of the expression of love-wisdom (the heart) and the intuition will be the major goals of the Sixth Rootrace. Note that the Sixth Rootrace is governed by the same rays as Brazil – most appropriate as she has a major role to play – ‘she’ meaning a feminine nation.

No doubt a major cycle of the fourth ray will span the unfoldment of the Sixth Rootrace. Even in this Fifth Rootrace and at the dawn of the Sixth Rootrace, a fourth ray cycle is imminent in 2025, paving the way for the externalisation of the Hierarchy, the reappearance of the Christ and manifestation of the Mystery Schools.

This fourth ray cycle will also bring new forms of music and art, expressive of the new frequencies that Humanity will contact; a major cultural seed that will bear its fruit in the Sixth Rootrace, as it represents the best of the race that has been.

The fourth ray cycle will offset many of the excesses of the previous cycle of the fifth ray of science where the concrete mind has dominated. The theme of the Sixth Rootrace will be continued in the last section of this discussion.

Shamballa
Shamballa appeared at the momentous time of human individualisation 18.5 million years ago. It is known as the ‘centre where the will of God is known’, the planetary crown chakra from whence Sanat Kumara (or Melchizedek) directs the Will and Purpose of Deity, ‘God’ – or the Planetary Logos. The Shamballa force is in a sense the most ‘pure’ spiritual force upon the planet. Because Humanity is inexperienced at handling this energy, the point of least resistance for many is destruction and the use of force. Yet that is part of Shamballa’s role as the ‘first’ centre, it wields the force of the first ray of will or power, destroying that which prevents spiritual evolution. It is ‘constructively destructive’ as opposed to ‘destructively destructive’.

It is highly probable that very few of us have ever had an experience of Shamballa. The modern day aspirant and disciple is still engrossed in what ‘soul’ and Hierarchy are. We can read therefore, what the Tibetan has told us about Shamballa, what is detailed in ancient myth and scripture and formulate mystical perceptions about it – as opposed to direct experience.

Nevertheless, it is not an impossible place to reach in consciousness, in meditation or dream experience, many have visited the ‘fabulous city of Shamballa’ – or Shangri La as it has been mythologised and idealised in the West. Some may not have realised that they have come in contact with Shamballa force, but it may be very potent in their particular service work.

The Shamballa force has only been applied directly to Humanity relatively recently; before Hierarchy acted as a shield to this most potent of spiritual force, embodied in the energy of the First Ray of Will or Power. Hence factually and energetically Shamballa remains an enigma. Yet we can gain a lot through the information that has been given about it, exoterically and esoterically. [7]


From Beyond by Nicholas Roerich

“Towards the end of the century and during the first few decades of the twenty-first century, teaching anent Shamballa will be given forth. The effort of the abstract mind of man will be towards the comprehension of this, just as the goal of hierarchical contact marks the present effort of the disciple. Glamour is disappearing; illusions are being dissipated; the stage of penetration into a new dimension, into a new phase of effort and of attainment is rapidly being promulgated.” [8]

The following tables establish some esoteric time frames: [9]

Race

Activity

Time Period

3.3.3

Lemuria: Human individualisation, birth of the human soul.

21,688,414

4.4.4

Atlantis: Advanced civilization, great war, cataclysms.

3,893,000

5.5.5

Aryan: Culmination mental development. Start of new 6th race.

2,000 -16,000 AD

Race

Activity

Time Period

(in 2000)

3.3.3  

Start of Individualisation : Hierarchy’s “Great Approach”.

21,688,414

3.4 

“Spiritual Ancestors”, Sons of Fire Mist, ‘Elohim’, White Island.

19,897,835

3.5   

Sexual Separation  and anchoring of the manasic impulse.

18,618,850

3.5

The coming of Hierarchy & founding of Shamballa

18,500,000

4.1

Physical plane organization & H.Q. for the mysteries

17,000,000


Shamballa and the Temple of Ibez

“Let us consider the founding of the Temple of Ibez …

This covered a vast period of time, and though the Brotherhood made its headquarters at Shamballa and directed its activities from there, it was found necessary during the first sub-race of the Atlantean Root Race [4.1] to make certain efforts, if the evolution of the race was to proceed according to plan.

It was decided about seventeen million years ago (the coming of the Hierarchy and the founding of Shamballa being about eighteen and a half million years ago) to have on the dense physical plane an organization and a headquarters for the mysteries, and to have a band of Adepts, and Chohans who would function in dense physical bodies and thus meet the need of the rapidly awakening humanity.

The first outpost for the Shamballa Fraternity was the original temple of Ibez and it was located in the centre of South America, and one of its branches at a much later period was to be found in the ancient Maya institutions, and the basic worship of the sun as the source of life in the hearts of all men.  A second branch was later established in Asia, and of this branch the Himalayan and southern Indian adepts are the representatives, though the work is materially changed.” [10]

The ‘centre of South America’ falls in Brazil. Whether this previous statement implies that there are various branches of Shamballa in different physical locations or whether the Shamballa base moves around according to racial need, is unknown. The Masters of course, reside in various locations on the planet and move at will if necessary.

If Shamballa does move according to need, it stands to reason that in the Sixth Rootrace, the location of Shamballa will shift from its current (etheric) location in the Gobi Desert back to its original position. One could argue that in terms of directing energies and forces, Shamballa would not have to move physically; the ‘eye’ of Sanat Kumara can see all.

Nevertheless, the magnetism of the original Shamballa remains, waiting to be reactivated; perhaps it is being reactivated already and workers are already in situ,co-ordinating with the Shamballa base in the Gobi Desert?


South America

It may well be that as Humanity reaches its apotheosis in the Sixth Rootrace, that Shamballa comes ‘full circle’. Those who reach liberation during this period will have completed the journey they set out upon at the period of Individualisation, around the time of the founding of the original Shamballa. Likewise, those of current humanity who individualised on the earlier ‘moon chain’ and who came in later during Atlantean times, will be part of this process.

The above passage is a further confirmation of the duration of the ancient races: 17 million years ago for the founding of the first subrace of Atlantis, or 4.1.

The Symbolism of Ibez
”… Ibez is literally in the nature of an acrostic [11] [acronym] veiling the true name of the planetary Logos of the earth, one of Whose principles is working in Sanat Kumara, making Him thus a direct incarnation of the planetary Logos and an expression of His divine consciousness. These four letters are the first letters of the real names of the four Avatars on the four globes of our earth chain who have embodied four of the divine principles. The letters I B E Z are not the true Sensar letters…”


The Seven Chains of the Earth Scheme

The Seven Globes of the (fourth) Earth Chain depicted above (middle of diagram) have taken several billion years to elapse; they represent the first four incarnations of Earth’s  Planetary Logos – of which Sanat Kumara is the personality expression. In the whole series of chains, these globes represent the 22nd to 25th incarnations!

If we consider the numerology of Ibez and Shamballa, they both equal 24:
I B E Z                  S H A M B A L LA
9 2 5 8 = 24.         1 8  1 4 2 1 3 3 1 = 24.

“The number 24 … expressing as it does the double 12—the greater and the lesser zodiac. Just as the number 6 expresses space, so the number 24 expresses time, and is the key to the great cycle of manifestation.  It is the clue to all cyclic appearance or incarnation.  Its two figures define the method of evolution; 2 equals the quality of love-wisdom, working under the Law of Attraction and drawing man from one point of attainment to another; whilst 4 indicates the technique of conflict and the achieving of harmony through that conflict …” [12]

This ‘greater and lesser zodiac’ expresses the greater 25,000 year cycle and the lesser one year cycle of the zodiac. Yet the celestial zodiac also finds its earthly reflection through the location of Shamballa in the Gobi Desert, the so-called ‘Gobi Zodiac’:
”In the same manner and on the plan of the Zodiac in the upper Ocean or the heavens, a certain realm on Earth, an inland sea, was consecrated and called “the Abyss of Learning”; twelve centres on it in the shape of twelve small islands representing the Zodiacal signs—two of which remained for ages the “mystery signs” and were the abodes of twelve Hierophants and masters of wisdom.  This “sea of knowledge” or learning remained for ages there, where now stretches the Shamo or Gobi desert.  It existed until the last great glacial period, when a local cataclysm, which swept the waters south and west and so formed the present great desolate desert, left only a certain oasis, with a lake and one island in the midst of it, as a relic of the Zodiacal Ring on Earth. [13]
Returning briefly to the numerological symbolism:

“This word equals the number 24 which in its turn equals 6. I would call your attention to the fact that the word has in it nine letters … nine is the number of initiation.  The goal of all the initiatory process is to admit mankind into realisation of and identification with the will or purpose of Deity.  The number 6 is the number of form or of manifestation, which is the agent or medium through which this realisation comes …  Again, 6 being the number of the sixth ray, it is therefore the number of idealism and of that driving force which makes mankind move forward upon the path and in response to the vision and press upward towards the light.  It is in reality devotion to an unseen goal, ever on ahead, and an unswerving recognition of the objective.  Like all other divine qualities, it has its material counterpart, and that is why 666 is regarded as the number of the Beast or of materialism …  In an ancient book on numbers the initiate is defined as "the one who has experienced and expressed 666 and found it naught; who has dropped the 6 and become the 66, and thus has found himself upon the WAY; later, again, he drops the 6 and becomes the perfected 6—form, the instrument and expression of spirit.

…. the sounds which compose the word "Shamballa" are predominantly along the line of will or power or of first ray energy.  Of the nine letters, six are on the first ray line of force.  1.1.1.3.3.1.—spirit and matter, will and intelligence.  Two of them are along the second line of force, 4 and 2.  The number 8 inaugurates ever a new cycle, following after the number 7, which is that of a relative perfection.  It [8] is the number of the Christ-consciousness; just as 7 is the number of man, 8 is the number of the Hierarchy, and 9 is the number of initiation or of Shamballa.  Forget not that, from the angle of the Hierarchy, the third initiation is regarded as the first major initiation.” [14]

The Teachings of Ibez

The work of the guides of the race in those ancient days was markedly different to the methods employed now:
”Their objective was to stimulate mysticism and the stimulating of the kingdom of God within the human atom … The Ibezhan adepts had to deal with a humanity which was in its infancy, whose polarization was most unstable, and whose coordination was very imperfect. There was very little mentality to be found and men were practically altogether astral; they functioned even more consciously on the astral plane than on the physical, and it was part of the work of these early adepts, working under instruction from Shamballa, to develop the energy centres of the human unit, stimulate the brain and make him fully self-conscious on the physical plane  … It was necessary in those days to employ methods more definitely physical than are permissible now, and these methods of physical stimulation were employed and the laws of energy as they work through the various centres were taught … All this took a vast period of time and it is the remnants of the earlier Temple practices which have come down to us in degraded phallic teaching, in Tantrik magic and the practices of Hatha Yogis.  The infant humanity of Lemurian and early Atlantean days had to be taught what they were by means of symbols and methods which to us would be crude, impossible and of a nature which the race should have transcended for many millions of years.” [15]

Obviously The Tibetan refers to those Lemurian times when the polarisation of the race was in the sacral chakra and ‘sex magic’ was the norm; it may have been a teaching tool of the time but redundant today. Of course, as evolution proceeded with the development of the mental faculty, schisms developed:
“When the Ibezhan adepts … under instructions from Shamballa … began to withdraw into the Temples, to make the mysteries more difficult of attainment and to work against abuses and distortions, a number of Their erstwhile followers, many of great power and knowledge, fought Them and thus we have one of the causes of the appearing of black and white magic, and one of the reasons of the purifying waters of the flood being deemed necessary.” [16]

The flood referred to here is probably the one that occurred much later in Atlantean times, when the black magicians had reached the height of their powers:
“… the Atlanteans; the giants whose physical beauty and strength reached their climax… [17] …those antediluvian giants, those terrible sorcerers and magicians …”[18]

A great cleansing took place and this flood was the time of the second ‘Shamballa impact’ in world history, the first one was when Shamballa was established. More remains to be rectified from those early Lemurian times, probably in this approaching cycle:
“The work of the black adepts and the followers of the left hand path. The powerful thought-forms built up in the early Ibezhan mysteries and which (particularly inAmerica) are as yet undestroyed. This gigantic "Dweller on the Threshold" of all the true Mysteries has to be slaughtered before the aspirant can pass on.” [19]

Whether ‘America’ means north or south America or both, is unknown – probably both. If it refers to the ‘early Ibhezan mysteries’, that is when part of the Lemurian continent extended into parts of what is now called South America, whilst in the north, Lemuria reached into a large part of California and extended as far in as Colorado and Wisconsin. Many who are aspirants and disciples upon the path today were those giants of yesteryear and have some of this old karma to expiate, constituting their personal and group ‘dweller’.

In reviewing the past, we must bear in mind that geographical locations represent the evolution of continents at any particular time, whether it is Lemuria, Atlantis or this Fifth Rootrace. Below is a reconstructed map (theosophical) of Lemuria at its ‘greatest extent’, noting that not all of the above descriptions correspond to it.


Lemuria at its ‘greatest extent’

Phillip Lindsay © 2008. To donate to my work, please click here or email.


[1] Esoteric Psychology I, Alice A. Bailey, p.387.

[2] Discipleship in the New Age I, Alice A. Bailey. p.136.

[3] Discipleship in the New Age I, Alice A. Bailey. p.256.

[4] Discipleship in the New Age II, Alice A. Bailey. p.506.

[5] For timescales of around 400,000 years ago, see The Hidden History of Humanity, Phillip Lindsay.

[6] Esoteric Psychology I, Alice A. Bailey, p.357.

[7] For more information, see The Shamballa Impacts, by Phillip Lindsay.

[8] Discipleship in the New Age, Alice A. Bailey. P.262.

[9] From The Hidden History of Humanity, Phillip Lindsay.

[10] A Treatise on White Magic, Alice A. Bailey. p. 378.

[11] 1: a composition usu. in verse in which sets of letters (as the initial or final letters of the lines) taken in order form a word or  phrase or a regular sequence of letters of the alphabet. 2:acronym — acrostic. Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference 2007.

[12] The Rays and the Initiations, Alice A. Bailey. P.79.

[13] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.502.

[14] The Rays and the Initiations, Alice A. Bailey. P.79.

[15] A Treatise on White Magic, Alice A. Bailey. P.380.

[16] A Treatise on White Magic,Alice A. Bailey. P.379.

[17] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.319.

[18] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.272.
[19] A Treatise on White Magic,Alice A. Bailey. P.379.

Part II
THE MAYANS
Mayans and Ancient Egyptians
Mayan Origins in Ancient Southern India
Mayan Language
Mayans and Asuramaya
Mayans: Master Astronomers
Mayan Quetzlacoatl: The Christ
Mayan Calendar
Maya of the Mayan Calendar
THE MAYANS
The Mayans and Ancient Egyptians
An earlier passage mentions a ‘much later period [for the Shamballa base] … in the ancient Maya institutions’. Mayan cosmology has come much to the fore in recent times. The year 2012 is the end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar. Given the close similarity between the Mayans and the ancient Egyptians, the Mayans were most likely part of the second subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.2):

“The author [Le Plongeon] seems to believe and to seek to prove that the esoteric learning of the Aryans and the Egyptians was derived from the Mayas.  But, although certainly coeval [the same or equal age] with Plato’s Atlantis, the Mayas belonged to the Fifth continent, which was preceded by Atlantis and Lemuria.”[1]

The ‘Fifth Continent’ can be counted two ways. Exoterically and geographically it is the Americas, but esoterically it is Europe. Either way, the Mayans are associated with the Fifth Rootrace in consciousness:

“The Fifth Continent was America; but, as it is situated at the Antipodes, it is Europe and Asia Minor, almost coeval with it, which are generally referred to by the Indo-Aryan Occultists as the fifth. If their teaching followed the appearance of the Continents in their geological and geographical order, then this classification would have to be altered. But as the sequence of the Continents is made to follow the order of evolution of the Races, from the first to the fifth, our Aryan Root-race, Europe must be called the fifth great Continent … There was a time when the delta of Egypt and Northern Africa belonged to Europe, before the formation of the Straits of Gibraltar, and a further upheaval of the continent, changed entirely the face of the map of Europe.” [2]

Hence, looking at Europe and its association with Egypt, or the Americas and its association with places like Guatemala – the main habitation of the Mayans, there can be seen an association or derivation from the Fifth Rootrace, not the Atlantean race.

Although ancient Egypt constituted the second subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.2), it was regarded esoterically as a bridge between Atlantis and the Fifth Rootrace; likewise, the Mayans probably functioned in a similar manner:
“The perfect identity of the rites, ceremonies, traditions, and even the names of the deities, among the Mexicans and ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, are a sufficient proof of South America being peopled by a colony which mysteriously found its way across the Atlantic. When? at what period?  History is silent on that point; but those who consider that there is no tradition, sanctified by ages, without a certain sediment of truth at the bottom of it, believe in the Atlantis-legend.” [3]

The period in question is around 860,000 years ago, at the time of the second major flooding of Atlantis when the majority of the ‘troublesome sorcerers’ met their watery fate.


(India) Vanadevata’s (wood spirit) hand issuing from tree trunk offering water.
(Egypt) deceased drinking water offered by tree divinity. [4]


Mayan fresco from Bonampak Chiapas, Mexico.[5]

Note the temple pictured above and its resemblance in colour and style to that of the Egyptians. South American pyramids are of course related to Egyptian pyramids:
The GREAT DRAGON has respect but for the ‘SERPENTS’ of WISDOM, the Serpents whose holes are now under the triangular stones,” i.e., “the Pyramids, at the four corners of the world.”

… This tells us clearly that … the Adepts or “Wise” men of the three Races (the Third, Fourth and the Fifth) dwelt in subterranean habitats, generally under some kind of pyramidal structure, if not actually under a pyramid.  For such “pyramids” existed in the four corners of the world and were never the monopoly of the land of the Pharaohs, though until found scattered all over the two Americas, under and over ground, beneath and amidst virgin forests, as in plain and vale, they were supposed to be the exclusive property of Egypt.” [6]
Note also the reference to the ‘serpents of wisdom’ and the later theme of Quetzlcoatl.


Mountain element represented by the Mayan culture in pyramidal stone temples. Temple of Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico. [7]

Mayan Origins in Ancient Southern India
If the Mayans have much in common with the Egyptians, then they must share a common origin. The Egyptians come from Southern India:
"Under the reign of Viswamitra, first king of the Dynasty of Soma -Vanga, in consequence of a battle which lasted five days, Manu -Vina, heir of the ancient kings, being abandoned by the Brahmans , emigrated with all his companions, passing through Arya , and the countries of Barria, till he came to the shores of Masra [Cairo].” (History of India, by Collouca-Batta). Unquestionably this Manu-Vina  and Menes , the first Egyptian King, are identical.

Arya , is Eran (Persia ); Barria, is Arabia, and Masra, was the name of Cairo, which to this day is called,Masr, Musr, and Misro. Phœnician history names Maser as one of the ancestors of Hermes .” [8]

“Egypt  herself had, in those unknown ages when Menes  reigned received her laws, her social institutions, her arts and her sciences, from pre-Vedic India.” [9]

Menes is undoubtedly the Manu of the second subrace (5.2 Ancient Egypt) and there is a close connection to India which persists to this day – as any traveler to both nations will attest. If the Mayans have a ‘perfect identity of the rites, ceremonies, traditions’ of Egypt then it is further proof that their genesis is in India, also known as ‘Bharata’ in ancient times.

”There is definitely an important connection between the old Vedic people and Maya-ancestors. The Mayas are actually referred to in The Mahabharata, one of the main Hindu scriptures, as a tribe having left the Indian subcontinent. There are sources who have revealed those people to be the same as the Nagas, one of the oldest Indian tribes recorded. Those Nagas seem to have been a people, later called Danavas, with a capital Nagapur. They are referred to in another main Hindu-scripture, the Ramayana, as belonging to a Naga-Maya tribe, who is said to have transmitted their culture towards Babylonia, Egypt and Greece.” [10]

Naga is the Sanskrit word for serpent or snake. [11] The feathered serpent represents the Mayan God Kukulcan or Quetzacoatl, a Christ/Krishna-like figure. In those days the ancient serpent  religion referred to the Serpents of Wisdom. Mercury or Hermes (Narada – see further in text) – his symbol is the caduceus : two serpents entwined around a staff. 
“The four principal groups in ancient India were the Asuras (Assyrians or Indus Valley people), Panis (Phoenicians), Yakhus or Yakshas (subjects of Kubera, god of gold and treasure a.k.a. Nagas) and Mayas. We know them today as the Dravidians (Tamils, Malayalam, etc.)

The non Indus Valley people in ancient days were exceedingly superstitious and fearful of the Mayans. The latter were excellent international shippers and traders, builders and astronomers. Their superstitious enemies thought their accomplishments had to be magic and beyond human ability. They were ultimately driven toCeylon where they inhabited the province of Maya. Later, they went to the Americas, having been taken there by Kubera and his Yakshas.” [12] ‘Ceylon’ in those ancient times was more than likely the now sunken land to the south of India and connected geographically to the Ceylon of today, Sri Lanka. This is the ancient Tamil country of which today’s Tamil Nadu in India is but a small remnant:


Ancient Tamil Nadu

The skill of the Mayan astronomers is also well known:
"Recent studies suggests a link between Indus Valley and Mayans of Central America. The studies focused on the calendars of the two advanced civilizations. The Indus Valley inhabitants followed a calendar based on the movements of Jupiter, and the Mayans followed one based on the Venus. In the Puranas, a secondary Hindu scripture, Jupiter, Brihaspati, was acknowledged to be the leader of the gods, while Venus, Shukra, was the leader of the asuras. The texts further state that the devas and asuras lived on opposite sides of the Earth.

Mexico and India are at opposite sides in longitude. The correspondences were pointed out by B. G. Siddarth, director of the B. M. Birla Science Centre in Hyderabad. He also said the Hindu story of the churning of the ocean has been found in carvings in Mexico, as well Mayan representations of a tortoise carrying twelve pillars similar to Indian illustrations. Dr. Ganapati Sthapati of Chennai, a foremost expert on Vastu shatra, the ancient Hindu architecture, has visited the Mayan structures in Central America and found many similarities between the design and construction methods of the Mayans and that of the ancient Hindus.” [13]

South of Mexico lays Guatemala, the major centre for the Mayans, yet they ventured north and south of this location, spreading their knowledge widely.
Mayan Language
Language is one of the major keys to determining the movement and migration of races. Two-thirds of all the aboriginal regional names of Mexico are either variations of the name of Lanka or Tamil names of West Indian regions. This is a major key to the understanding of their ancient Sri Lankan origins which, with southern Tamil India, extended much further south, now since sunk hundreds of thousands of years ago.When speaking of their origins, the Mayans (like the Hopis) had several names for their land: Shilanka (Xilanca) – an ancient name of Ceylon (Zeilan-Ka) Shikalanka (Xicalanca) – Ceylon. In Tamil, Shikalam.

A Mayan culture hero was Ishbalanka (Xbalanca) meaning in Tamil, "Shiva of Lanka" who was supposed to have made the footprint on top of Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka; modernly, in line with the prevailing Buddhist culture, it is known as (Gautama) ‘Buddha’s footprint.’

Palenque, the ancient capital of Guatamala, Palenke (Palenque) derives from the Tamil Pal-Lanka, meaning "Protectorate of Lanka." Guatemala (the main habitat of the Mayans) may derive from Gautemala, meaning "A Subsidiary Land of Gautama Buddha."

Ceren was a name of Ceylon, some Mayan ruins in El Salvador are called Ceren. Mayon was one of the names of Ceylon’s cult religions, still existing among a few aboriginals living on the island.

Asuramaya and the Mayans

“The ancient Hindu and Mayan civilizations exhibit other interesting convergences. Hindu records say that a member of a great race which preceded ours, a highly-developed personage known as Asuramaya, learned all the basic cosmic cycles and used his knowledge to determine the durations of the various geological and cyclical periods of human evolution. The chronology and computations of their still used Tamil calendar, say the Brahmans, are based upon the works of Asuramaya and upon carefully maintained collateral zodiacal records. Their most ancient extant work on astronomy, the Surya Siddhanta, says that Asuramaya lived toward the end of the Krita-yuga, a former age that ended approximately 2,165,000 years before the present. This would place Asuramaya at something less than 2.5 million years ago.” [14]

The figures above are commensurate with the esoteric doctrine, whose source is the same. When the date of the start of the Kali Yuga for the Fifth Rootrace is considered (3,102 BC), then working back from there gives the following table:

Yuga

Greek  Period

Yuga Duration

Dates (2000 AD)

Personage

Satya

Gold

1,728,000

3,893,100

Noah (Manu 5.0)

Treta

Silver

1,296,000

2,165,100

Asuramaya

Dvapara

Bronze

864,000

869,000

Menes (Manu 5.2)

Kali

Iron

432,000

3,102 BC

Kali Yuga 5th R.R.

The Four Yugas  of the Fifth Rootrace

Readers can observe where the Satya or Krita age ends (2,165,100 years), about one million years before the start of the first (Hindu) subrace of the Fifth Rootrace. The death of Krishna was supposed to have heralded the Kali Yuga and there may well have been a Krishna (as there have been many Buddhas) in 3,102 BC. But the Krishna referred to in The Mahabharata heralded the Kali Age of the (Fourth) Atlantean race a few million years ago. The date of 3,102 BC is the Kali Yuga of this, our Fifth (Aryan) Rootrace. This fact has caused confusion amongst scholars and is partially responsible for Hindu and Western pundits diminishing the time-scales of the Hindu scriptures. Regarding Asuramaya, H.P. Blavatsky says:
"The best and most complete of all such calendars, at present, as vouched for by the learned Brahmins of Southern India, is the already mentioned Tamil calendar called the “Tirukkanda Panchanga,” compiled, as we are told, from, and in full accordance with, secret fragments of Asuramâya’s data. As Asuramâya is said to have been the greatest astronomer, so he is whispered to have also been the most powerful “Sorcerer of theWHITE ISLAND, which had become BLACK with sin,” i.e., of the islands of Atlantis.
The “White Island” is a symbolical name.  Asuramâya is said to have lived (see the tradition of Jhána-bhaskara) in Romaka-pura in the West: because the name is an allusion to the land and cradle of the “Sweat-born” of the Third Race. That land or continent had disappeared ages before Asuramâya lived, since he was an Atlantean; but he was a direct descendant of the Wise Race, the Race that never dies.  Many are the legends concerning this hero, the pupil of Surya (the Sun-God) himself, as the Indian accounts allege … Asuramâya, “as great a magician as he was an Astrologer and an Astronomer.”” [15]
The ‘third race’ is of course one of the latter subraces of the (third) Lemurian Rootrace, from where the Hindus and Egyptians have their ancient genesis. (More on the ‘Wise Race’ later.) Due to the deterioriation of the Atlanteans, what were once divine names of the Asuras in that race gradually became applied to those who had abused their god-given powers until,

“Asura was the generic appellation of all the Atlanteans who were the enemies of the spiritual heroes of the Aryans (gods).” [16]
The word Asura comes from Surya, Sanskrit for the sun; Asuramaya learned his art from studying and meditating upon the Sun. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali it is said that, “Through meditation, one-pointedly fixed upon the sun, will come a consciousness (or knowledge) of the seven worlds.” [17]
Maya is illusion, particularly in its densest manifestation upon the physical plane, the most powerful domain of the sorcerers of those days. All these events were occurring at the time of the gradual emergence of the Fifth (Aryan) Rootrace and the conflicts between the old and new races went on for some few million years after the original Mahabharata.
It is interesting to note that The Lord of the Rings is a story gleaned by J.R.R. Tolkien from our racial memory and is probably a fairly accurate account of those Atlantean days of war, monsters, giants, angels and magic. The chief sorcerer against whom Gandalf (the White) fights is Saruman, whose name is virtually an anagram of Asuramaya. The Hobbits are of course, Humanity and perhaps their six toes on either foot represent the coming Sixth Rootrace! In the emerging new race Asuramaya had his counterpart (and mentor) in Narada or ‘Pesh-Hun’, the old Vedic Rishi from whom he learned all, a highly elevated Mercurial type:
“… in Hindu Esotericism, Narada—who is called in Cis-Himalayan Occultism Pesh-Hun, the “Messenger,” … is the sole confidant and the executor of the universal decrees of Karma … who leads and guides human affairs from the beginning to the end of the Kalpa. “Pesh-Hun” … is the mysterious guiding intelligent power, which gives the impulse to, and regulates the impetus of cycles, Kalpas and universal events. He is Karma’s visible adjuster on a general scale … Narada … surpasses Garga’s Guru in his knowledge of cyclic intricacies.  It is he who has charge of our progress and national weal or woe.  It is he who brings on wars and puts an end to them.  In the old Stanzas Pesh-Hun is credited with having calculated and recorded all the astronomical and cosmic cycles to come, and with having taught the Science to the first gazers at the starry vault.  And it is Asuramâya, who is said to have based all his astronomical works upon those records, to have determined the duration of all the past geological and cosmical periods, and the length of the all the cycles to come, till the end of this life-cycle, or the end of the seventh Race.

There is a work among the Secret Books, called the “Mirror of Futurity,” wherein all the Kalpas within Kalpas and cycles within the bosom of Sesha, or infinite Time, are recorded.  This work is ascribed to Pesh-HunNarada.  There is another old work which is attributed to various Atlanteans.  It is these two Records which furnish us with the figures of our [The Hierarchy] cycles, and the possibility of calculating the date of cycles to come …

The chronology and computations of the Brahmin Initiates are based upon the Zodiacal records of India, and the works of the above-mentioned astronomer and magician—Asuramaya.  The Atlantean zodiacal records cannot err, as they were compiled under the guidance of those who first taught astronomy, among other things, to mankind.” [18]
Note one of Narada’s appellations is ‘The Messenger’ equivalent to Mercury, Hermes or the Egyptian Thoth. (Note the earlier reference to the Mayans coming from the ‘Naga tribe’.)
The Mayans: Master Astronomers
As noted earlier, The studies focused on the calendars of the two advanced civilizations. The Indus Valley inhabitants followed a calendar based on the movements of Jupiter, and the Mayans followed one based on the Venus. In the Puranas, a secondary Hindu scripture, Jupiter, Brihaspati, was acknowledged to be the leader of the gods, while Venus, Shukra, was the leader of the asuras.” [19]

The Mayans are well known for their astronomical accuracy through their studies of the cycles of Venus, yet their whole system of astronomy and cycles derives from their ancient Hindu past:

“Modern students of the ancient Mayan numerical glyphs have found that the dating of major series of events noted on Mayan stelae invariably give such reckonings in terms of the time elapsed since a date known as 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu. They know that for the Maya chroniclers this date represented a commencement point in time-reckoning of such awesome magnitude that it was central to all else in subsequent Maya history; but they don’t know what it meant or why it was so important to the latter.  Among other ancient nations only one, the Hindu peoples of the Indian subcontinent, is known to have developed a system of calendrics accounting for such vast periods of time. For computing the age of the earth and various geological and other epochs, as well as the age of mankind, the learned Brahman caste still employs a Tamil calendar derived from archaic astronomical data, known as the "Tirukkanda Panchanga" (The Secret Doctrine, II:49-51).” [20]
Other diverse commentators corroborate these facts:
"The Mayan culture flourished in Mesoamerica during the early Christian era, before being completely wiped out by the Spanish conquest. Astronomy played a significant role in Mayan culture. Venus in particular had a pre-eminent status. Testimony to this rich tradition is borne out by Mayan temple art and the few available Codices, or sacred books, of the Mayans. Western scholars have attempted to relate the Mayan concepts to those of Greek astronomy. The sidereal Mayan astronomy is more akin to the Hindu system and does not easily fit into the Greek model.” [21]
The theories about Greek astronomy are related to the misapprehension of cycles by historians and researchers down the ages – both east and west. Greece is a much more modern and recent culture, Indiaand the Mayans are very ancient. Confusion has arisen do to cross fertilisation of ideas between Greece and India in the past few thousand years, as well as the ‘Greek-centric’ view held by many western historians.
”Striking similarity is found between certain Mayan and Puranic stories, and their related astronomical interpretation. In the Puranas, Lord Vishnu is represented as resting on the serpent Ananta or Sesa, after having dissolved all creation. The serpent represents the eternity of time (Ananta), and the "remainder" (Sesa) in subtle form, of prakriti, the germ of all that has been and will be. After waking up from the yoganidra, Vishnu rides on the eagle Garuda. Both Garuda and Sesa are shown in association with Vishnu in the temples of India. It is said that Garuda represents the Vedas and the solar deities, and Sesa represents the watery deities. The serpent [Naga] is of great significance in the Mayan culture also. A supreme example is the serpent of sunlight and shadow seen at Chichén Itzá. At the time of the equinoxes, as the Sun moves from east to west, a pattern of light and shadow appears on the west balustrade of the north stairway of the Castillo at Chichén Itzá. This display resembles a descending snake whose head is the monumental serpent head carved out of stone at the foot of the stairs. The feathered serpent represents the Mayan God Kukulcan, who is associated with rain water and new life, among other things. Kukulcan appears to be Sesa and Garuda combined into one.” [22]
"In the book The Conquest of the Maya by J. Leslie Mitchell, he explains that the basis of the old Maya empire was not of the work of the ancestors of the present day Maya, but was an import from the same foreigners that built the palaces and temples of the Chams and Khmers in Cambodia, and the temples in Java. He also points out the similarities between the Maya rain-god Chac and the Vedic Indian Indra, and the Maya monkey-god and the Vedic Hanuman. The Vedic origin is further enhanced by the frequency that the elephant motif is found in Maya art, especially the earlier works of the Maya, such as at Copan, although the elephant never existed in the region.” [23]

The reader will note that the temples of Cambodia are commented upon in the newsletter “Ancient Cambodia: Angkor Wat and the Egyptian Connection.” (www.esotericastrologer.org/EA%20Essays/40%20Esoteric%20History%20I.htm)

The ancient Khmer (Cambodian) culture probably belongs to the second subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.2), the same as the Egyptians and Mayans, but of a different branchrace lineage. One is reminded of the vast extent of the Indian empire that stretched from South East Asia to Persia (Iran); it also extended southward to the old Tamil country, since sunk.

"One reason for these similarities between the Americas and India is that in ancient Vedic times there were two great architects, Visvakarma of the demigods or Aryans, and Maya of the asuras. Surya Siddhanta was revealed to Mayasura by Sun. The Mayan people, also known as technicians, were no doubt named as such because of being connected with this person named Maya or Mayasura and Maya Danava. They were a part of his clan or tribe. They had fallen away from the Vedic way of life and were sent or escaped to the region of Central America. They also carried with them much of the science of astronomy and navigation for which this Mayasura was known. Mayasura’s knowledge is more fully explained in the classic work of Indian Vedic astronomy known as the Surya Siddhanta for which he is given credit. Many people have wondered from where the Mayan acquired their astronomical knowledge. This would explain how the Mayan people had such a high degree of understanding in astronomy, from which they also developed their calendar. The Mayan calendar was a science they had long developed, carrying it with them from their previous location and civilization.” [24]

Note the reversal of Asuramaya’s name but the same historical details are intact. The Mayans were known as ‘technicians’ a very interesting word that denotes strong influence of the Fifth Ray of Science, which of course is related to astronomy. This ‘fifth aspect’ not only corresponds to the Fifth Rootrace and ‘fifth continent’ mentioned earlier but to possibly a fifth branchrace (clan/tribe) ‘signature’ such as 5.2.5 – the 5thbranchrace of the second subrace of the Fifth Rootrace.

The second subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.2) came forth around 860,000 years ago [25] – at the second great Atlantean flood and coincident with the migration from India that established the Egyptian civilisation on the Nile.


Atlantean Islands

This map is one of many speculations of the location of the Atlantean islands. It has been included to illustrate how it would not have been very difficult for the ancient Mayans (renowned mariners), to ‘island hop’ their way across the Atlantic from Africa to where Guatemala is today; if they came the same route as the Egyptians from India and kept heading west.

"Like the Vedic culture, the Maya had a pantheon of demigods, many of which have similarities to the Vedic deities. Mayan gods like Xiuhtechutli and Xipe Totec have their Vedic counterparts in Indra and Agni. Indra, like Xiuhtechutli, was the rain god and guardian of the Eastern Quadrant, and Agni, similar to Xipe Totec, was the god of sacrificial fire, born in wood and the life force of trees and plants. Then there is the Vedic Ushas, the beautiful goddess of Dawn or Sky, who is similar to the Mayan view of Venus, goddess of Dawn … Furthermore, hymn 121 of the book ten in the [Hindu] Rig Veda is very similar to the description of creation as found in the [Mayan] Popul Vuh.” [26]
None of this pantheon of gods would be complete without the legendary Quetzalcoatl:
”A Mesoamerican Christ: Quetzalcoatl is to the New World what Christ is to Europe [or Krishna to India]: the center of a religious cosmology and the pre-eminent symbol of the civilized nations of Mesoamerica. Both were considered to be men who ascended into heaven upon their death; Christ to sit at the right hand of God, Quetzalcoatl to become the Morning Star [Venus]. Both were tempted by evil powers; Christ by Satan, Quetzalcoatl by the wizard-god Tezcatlipoca. And both were prophesied to one day return to earth, Christ as the Prince of the Kingdom of Heaven, Quetzalcoatl as a god-king returned to claim his kingdom in Central Mexico. To understand the life and teachings of Jesus Christ is to understand Christianity, the root religion of what we refer to as Western Civilization. To understand the life and mystery of Quetzalcoatl is to understand the religious thought of what we call Mesoamerica.” [27]


Quetzalcoatl

Mayan Calendar
“The Vedic, Maya, and Hopi calendars all describe our current age as the fourth world. The Maya and Hopi calendars also describe the ending of a great age around the year 2000 (several Mayan calendar cycles end at winter solstice, 2012). Mayan cycles describe the Earth’s Great Year (a ~24,000-year cycle caused by the Earth’s wobble) as well as an additional rotation of our sun and galaxy around Alcyon, central star of the Pleiades. The Maya are one of many cultures (as far-flung as the Australian Aborigines, the ancient Greeks, and several Native American nations) with stories about the Pleiades.” [28]

“Incredibly, at the early Maya site of Izapa in southern Mexico, the galactic cosmology and a profound spiritual teaching are preserved. Izapa speaks to us of the Galactic Alignment in 2012 as a transformative nexus in time, a still-point turnabout, inviting us to reconnect with our cosmic heart and eternal source.”[29]

"The doctrine of the World’s Ages (from Hindu Yugas) was imported into Pre-Columbian America … the Mexican sequence is identical with the Hindus …The essential fact remains that they were derived from a common source … It would be ridiculous to assert that such a strange doctrine was of spontaneous origin in different parts of the Old and New Worlds." [30]

The above passage is a more exoteric view but nonetheless testifies to the origin of Mayan astronomy. These yugas contain other yugas within them, or cycles within cycles:
“The Dvapara Yuga  differs for each Race. All races have their own cycles, which fact causes a great difference.  For instance, the Fourth Sub-Race  of the Atlanteans  was in its Kali-Yug , when destroyed, whereas the Fifth was in its Satya or Krita Yuga. [Approximately 4 million years ago.]  The Aryan  Race is now in its Kali Yuga [3,102 BC] , and will continue to be in it for 427,000 years longer, while various “family Races ,” called the Semitic , Hamitic, etc., are in their own special cycles.  The forthcoming 6th Sub Race [of the Fifth Rootrace or 5.6] —which may begin very soon—will be in its Satya (golden) age while we reap the fruit of our iniquity in our Kali Yuga.” [31]

These dark and golden ages (Kali and Satya) overlap as one cycle finishes and another starts. The above statement is confirmed in the Puranas where Lord Krishna tells Ganga Devi that a Golden Age will come in theKali Yuga. Lord Krishna predicted that this Golden Age will start 5,000 years after the begnning of the Kali Yuga, and will last for 10,000 years.
The Mayan Calendar measures the unfolding evolution of consciousness – as do all cycles that are impelled by the rays, planets, yugas or zodiac signs; they all embody a much higher consciousness it is actually two calendars that are closely inter-related: The Tzolkin (Daily Calendar) of 260 days, and the Tun (Prophetic Calendar) of 360 days. These two ‘calendars’ intermesh like gears, the smaller Tzolkin with 260 ‘teeth’ (days) intermeshing with the larger Tun (360 ‘teeth’/days), then as the Tzolkin turns so does the Tun.
It takes 72 turns of the Tzolkin calendar (‘gear’) and 52 turns of the Tun calendar (‘gear’) for each ‘tooth’ (day) of each ‘gear’ (calendar) to come into contact. i.e. 18,720 days (72 x 260 or 52 x 360), or approximately 51 Gregorian calendar years. (18,720/365).


Mayan Calendar or Sunstone

The carvings in the stone represent the four cycles of creation and destruction. The skull at the center depicts the god, Tonatiuh, the fifth sun. The calendar was also adopted by the Aztec and Toltec nations after renaming the days and months.

The Maya of the Mayan Calendar (Maya = Illusion)
“One of the secrets of initiation is concerned with the apprehension of cycles , and with their duration … before a man is considered a true occultist .” [32]

One problem with comprehension of the Mayan Calendar is the hype about it in ‘New Age’ circles. Esoterically the whole subject is ‘glamoured’ – there have been so many speculations, claims and distortions by academics, mystics and ‘new agers’.
The exact astronomical date in 2,012 is something that the general public tend to get somewhat fixated upon, creating confusion, fear and much futile speculation; this is a perennial problem and other ‘significant dates’, including the yearly cycle of eclipses, that continually attract superstitious and uninformed reactions.John Major Jenkins, a leading scholar of the Mayan Calendar, has the following to say:
“So, in point of fact, we have a previous testimonial of Don Alejandro, from an interview he did with reporters that was published as "The Mayan Worldview of the Universe" by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez, Universal Press Syndicate. The Denver Post, January 2, 2000. In it, we read:
"Based on thousands of years of astronomical observation, a cataclysm is indeed predicted by indigenous elders, as opposed to "prophesized." No one is predicting that at the strike of midnight, Dec, 20, 2012, the world will end. Instead, Mayan elders predict that the cataclysm can occur within a year or 100 years—and the cause would be something astronomical as opposed to metaphysical."

[Jenkins continues…] I’ve always agreed with this idea, that we should think of the 2012 end date as being a "zone" stretching on the order of decades. I don’t agree with the above view that the end date is only an astronomical event, for the physical dimension and the metaphysical (or spiritual) dimension unfold in parallel. We further read in the interview that:
"We don’t know what will happen in the next few days or in the next 12 years. What we do know is that it wouldn’t hurt to listen to the worlds of Don Alejandro who said that on Dec. 20, 2012 Mother Earth will pass inside the center of a magnetic axis and that it may be darkened with a great cloud for 60 or 70 hours and that because of environmental degradation, she may not be strong enough to survive the effects. ‘It will enter another age, but when it does, there will be great and serious events. Earthquakes, marimotos (tsunamis), floods, volcanic eruptions, and great illness on the planet Earth. Few survivors will be left.’"

[Jenkins continues…] “Thus, beginning on December 20, as stated, the events stretch almost three full days ("60 or 70 hours") through December 21st. The Earth passing "inside the center of a magnetic axis" is a striking description and sounds like the way I described the alignment in the last chapter to Maya Cosmogenesis 2012. "Darkened by a great cloud" almost sounds like a reference to the dark-rift in the Milky Way. Notice the difference between this conception of "earth in the darkness" and my alignment description — where I describe it as the sun passing through the dark-rift, through the "galactic axis," with different magnetic or gyroscopic effects on either side. I suppose Don Alejandro’s wording works fine, it’s just a translation or interpretation of where the effect is really to be felt (on Earth, ultimately) …
"He [Carlos] said Mayan Daykeepers view the Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator, and the earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy. At sunrise on December 21, 2012for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world’s spiritual traditions. Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration."" [33]

Interesting to note that the winter solstice period (in the northern hemisphere) will have its inherent symbolism of the ‘greatest darkness’ of winter extraordinarily amplified within the cosmic macrocosm in 2012. The winter solstice is a time of initiation where the candidate to the mysteries must ‘find their way through the dark’. The conjunction of the Sun with Pluto in December 2012 signifies the darkness of the underworld experience, transformation and initiation. The Moon is conjunct Uranus in Aries, reflecting the new revolutionary cycle that will begin in consciousness. Perhaps Humanity has an opportunity to do this en masse? A shift that may occur several years around this date is confirmed by other sources:
“In the time of the Buddha  and through the stimulation He produced there was a great gathering in of Arhats  [4th degree Initiates]. These were men who had achieved liberation through self initiated effort. This period, in our Aryan  race, marked a climax for the East . Since then the tide of spiritual life has steadily flowed westward, and we may now look for a corresponding climax in the West , which will reach its zenith between the years 1965 and 2025.” [34]

Phillip Lindsay© 2008. To donate to this work, please click here or email.


[1] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.35.

[2] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.8.

[3] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. P.557.
[4] www.hinduwsdom.org (source: India and Egypt – edited by Saryu Doshi, p. 69.)

[5] Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite.

[6] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.352.

[7] Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite.

[8] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.627.

[9] Isis Unveiled I, H.P. Blavatsky. p.589.

[10] Una Vision del Mundo, Prof. G. Zapata Alonzo, Merida, Mexico, 1994, p.71.

[11] See “Ophiucus : Astronomy , Astrology & the “Thirteenth Constellation” in Soul Cycles of the Seven Rays, Phillip Lindsay.
[12] Will the Maya Prophecy Really Happen? Gene D. Matlock.

[13] Hyderabad, INDIA, April 29, 2002.
[14] Dr. B. N. Narahari Achar. Professor of physics at the University of Memphis.

[15] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. Pp.67-8. p.50.

[16] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.227.

[17] The Light of the Soul, Alice A. Bailey. P.297.

[18] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.50.

[19] Hyderabad, INDIA, April 29, 2002.

[20] Ciphers and Civilizations, Blair Moffett.

[21] Dr. B. N. Narahari Achar.

[22] Maya-Hindu Connection, Dr. B. N. Narahari Achar. http://www.hinduismtoday.com

[23] Proof Vedic Culture’s Global Existence, Stephen Knapp pp.246-7.

[24] Proof Vedic Culture’s Global Existence, Stephen Knapp pp.246-7.

[25] See The Hidden History of Humanity, Phillip Lindsay. pp.361-370.

[26] Proof Vedic Culture’s Global Existence, Stephen Knapp p. 246 -247.

[27] Breakthrough Celebration:A Global Process leading into the Quetzalcoatl/Christ energy of the Fifth Day,Carl Johan Calleman.

[28] ‘JC’. http://www.alley29.com/Sphinx%20Group/sphinx.html

[29] John Major Jenkins, leading Mayan scholar.

[30] Myths of Pre-Columbian America, Donald Alexander Mackenzie (1873-1936).

[31] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. p.147.fn.

[32] A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. p.792..

[33] John Major Jenkins in his article, “Carl Calleman’s latest assault on the traditional end-date, December 21, 2012.”
[34] The Light of the Soul, Alice A. Bailey. pp.ix-x.

Part III
The Greater Aquarian Cycle
Aquarius, Polaris and the Increasing Shamballa Force
Melchizedek, Libra and Shamballa
Shamballa and the ‘Gobi Zodiac’
Shamballa and the White Island
Kalachakra Mandala: Map of Shamballa
Return of Shamballa to South America


The Greater Aquarian Cycle
If the 26,000 Great Year Cycle of the Mayans is ending in 2012 (coinciding with the lesser 5,125 year cycle), it is highly significant because it may also relate to ‘the greater wheel’ and its cycle of 26,000 years – finishing one cycle and starting another. The twelve zodiac signs take 26,000 years to precess the full circle of 360 degrees, the same time span as it takes for one zodiac sign in the greater zodiac.

The world is entering the Age of Aquarius on both the smaller and greater wheels, an event that has only occurred six times (this is the seventh) – in the history of this Fifth Rootrace, hence a time of great opportunity. [1]

Nevertheless, we are on the cusp of these cycles, 500 years for the lesser wheel and 5,000 years for the greater wheel; it is doubtful (as mentioned by other authors) that something will ‘happen’ on December 21, 2012. We are going through a process of unprecedented change during this cuspal period. If the above date is accurate, then this is an advantage for students of astrology and cycles – as it may allow some accuracy to use this as a time marker to work forward or backward.

Another factor to consider is that the 26,000 year cycle coincides with a 104,000 years cycle of the ‘fourth Sun’. (104,000 = 26,000 X 4) In other commentaries this author has dated the fifth subrace of the Fifth Rootrace (5.5) as starting around 100,000 years ago.

Indeed, in this fifth branchrace of 5.5 (5.5.5), the race has reached its apotheosis, and in this Kali Yuga cycle of destruction, is ready for a major shift. According to the Mayans, Humanity will shift to the ‘fifth sun’ phase, "El Quinto Sol", where a golden age of higher consciousness will emerge.

As discussed earlier, there are ‘yugas within yugas’ and a Satya Yuga (golden age) may well be emerging and overlapping the Kali Yuga (black age) of 432,000 years. The Sixth Rootrace is only about 25,000 years away[2] and a parallel may be drawn with the previous Satya Yuga (1,728,000 years) for the Fifth Rootrace when it was in its nascent inception about four million years ago – at the decline of Atlantis when Atlantis was going through its Kali Yuga. Alternatively in this cycle, there may be a smaller Satya Yuga cycle emerging within the Kali Yuga.

Aquarius, Polaris and the Increasing Shamballa Force

The sign Aquarius and the pole star Polaris have a direct connection with the planetary centre called Shamballa. In this 25,000 year greater Aquarian cycle leading up to the start of the Sixth Rootrace, the direct influence of the Shamballa force will come  to bear upon Humanity:

“Polaris—The Star of Direction—governing Shamballa … The influence which emanates from the Pole Star and which is such a potent factor in our solar system reaches our planet via the sign Aquarius.  The reasons will be noted if the student bears in mind the significance of water as a symbol of the emotions, which are but a lower manifestation of love-desire.  Aquarius is a force centre from which the adept draws the "water of life" and carries it to the multitude.  This force from the Pole Star, via Aquarius, is of special power at this time and the day of opportunity is therefore great.  It is one of the agencies which make the coming of the Great Lord a possibility.”[3]

Of course the ‘Great Lord’ is The Christ or Lord Maitreya who intends to culminate the externalisation of the Masters of Wisdom, starting about 2025.
“Esoterically speaking, the Pole Star is regarded as the “star of re-orientation” whereby the art of “refacing and recovering that which is lost” is developed. This eventually brings a man back to his originating source.” It is also said that ‘concentration upon the Pole-Star will give knowledge of the orbits of the planets and the stars.’[4]
What is ‘his originating source’, the soul or even the monad? Note also the earlier statement about ‘meditating on the Sun’ in relation to Asuramaya and the gleaning of similar knowledge.


Polaris and the revolving heavens.

The axis of the Earth determines the poles – our planet is tilted toward the northern pole star, Polaris. The ancient story of Hamlet’s Mill is an allegory for the axis of the Earth, the ‘world tree’ or ‘spindle’ whereon the Earth rotates, angled toward the Pole Star. The Pole Star is where the ‘axle of the mill’ periodically aligns itself. The Earth’s axis symbolically passes through Shamballa, driving the Wheel of Karma, presided over by Sanat Kumara and other great Lords.


Earth’s Orientation to Polaris

Melchizedek, Libra and Shamballa

“Libra occupies a unique place in the Great Wheel, for it is the energy coming from this constellation which controls what we might call (for lack of a more suitable word) the "hub of the wheel." This is that point in intermediate space where the twelve zodiacal energies meet and cross.[5]… Libra admits the soul into the world centre which we call Shamballa.”[6]

Libra is also potent in the planetary horoscope during this transition from Pisces to Aquarius.

“Melchizadek…was lord of the Ecliptic, or balance, or line of adjustment, and therefore was THE JUST ONE … lord of the eighth [planet], which was Mater Terra [Mother Earth].”[7]

‘Melchizadek’ is Sanat Kumara, Lord of Shamballa. The ecliptic is the apparent passage of the Sun upon which the zodiac signs are ‘hinged’. The ‘balance’, ‘line of adjustment’ and ‘Just One’ are all Libran descriptions – “Libra admits the soul into the world centre which we call Shamballa”.[8] The following diagram with its central line illustrates this ecliptic in relation to the zodiac:


Zodiac: Apparent Path of Sun as Seen from Earth

So what does all this mean and what is its purpose? Basically the Planetary Plan is related to the three planetary centres of Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity being reduced to two centres:

“It is interesting to note (though it is of no immediate moment) that the work of destruction initiated by the Hierarchy during the past one hundred and seventy-five years (therefore since the year 1775) has in it the seeds—as yet a very long way from any germination—of the final act of destruction which will take place when the Hierarchy will be so completely fused and blended with Humanity that the hierarchical form will no longer be required. The three major centres will then become the two, and the Hierarchy will disappear and only Shamballa and Humanity will remain, only spirit or life, and substance as an expression of intelligent love will be left. This corresponds to the experience of the individual initiate at the fourth initiation, when the causal body, the soul body, disappears and only the monad and its expression, the personality (a fusion of soul and form) are left. This event of final dissolution will take place only at the close of our planetary existence, when the door to individualisation is finally closed for a pralayic period and the Way of the Higher Evolution will be more closely trodden than the Path of Initiation.”[9]


Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity

Note that the year 1775 was not only the start of a lesser cycle of the fifth ray, but also signalled the start of the 500 year cusp of the Aquarian Age; hence the destructive processes needed to break down the past Piscean cycle.

For Humanity to be blended with Hierarchy can only mean one thing: That Humanity will be initiated into higher consciousness en masse. It is still a ‘long way from germination’ let alone fruition as the impulse in the year 1775 only carried the ‘seeds …. of the final act of destruction’; the latter will occur in a smaller degree in the next 25,000 year cycle, in a greater degree in the Sixth Rootrace and ‘final dissolution will take place only at the close of our planetary existence’. The Tibetan continues:

“Therefore, my brothers, the closer relation of the Hierarchy to Shamballa, the stimulation of its own interior life, and the readiness of humanity for revelation and for certain unexpected development, will condition the cycle into which we are now entering. This is, therefore, the most amazing period in the history of humanity. Added to this, it must be borne in mind that we are entering another greater round of the Zodiac, and this coincides with the lesser zodiacal activity because Aquarius governs the greater immediate cycle of 25,000 years[10] and is also the sign into which the sun is now moving for a period of 2300 years—a most amazing happening and full of import in our planetary history [11]
Kalachakra Mandala: Map of Shamballa
“Kalachakra is an aspect of Buddha–mind representing Time and Space; past, present, future come together in a timeless union of wisdom and compassion. Buddhists regard the Kalachakra mandala at Shamballa as a blueprint for the planet. The sages of Shamballa (Kumaras, Chohans and Masters) perform its meditational practice, or Sadhana, to implement the Plan on Earth.

The Kalachakra mandala is a cosmogram of the outer and inner worlds in idealised form, free from imperfections. In Sanskrit, ‘kala’ means ‘time’ and ‘chakra’ is ‘wheel’. ‘Kala–chakra’, therefore, is ‘The Wheel of Time’; it is a process and an event.

The Wheel of Time implies cycles and therefore astrology, the Science of Cycles. Saturn of course, rules astrology and cycles generally, and is also the Lord of Karma. Saturn is exalted in Libra, a sign intimately related to Shamballa. The Wheel of Time is also known as a Peace Mandala, or a road map to the universe, and is the most complex of Buddhist mandalas. It describes the interrelationship of heavenly bodies, the workings of the human body/mind—the macrocosm and the microcosm. It also describes the stages of meditation followed on the path to inner peace. That inner peace attained is the Peace of Shamballa, and hence relates to Libra the Peacemaker.”[12]


Kalachakra Mandala: The Wheel of Time

Shamballa and the Gobi Zodiac
“In the same manner and on the plan of the Zodiac in the upper Ocean or the heavens, a certain realm on Earth, an inland sea, was consecrated and called “the Abyss of Learning”; twelve centres on it in the shape of twelve small islands representing the Zodiacal signs—two of which remained for ages the “mystery signs” and were the abodes of twelve Hierophants and masters of wisdom. This “sea of knowledge” or learning remained for ages there, where now stretches the Shamo or Gobi desert.  It existed until the last great glacial period, when a local cataclysm, which swept the waters south and west and so formed the present great desolate desert, left only a certain oasis, with a lake and one island in the midst of it, as a relic of theZodiacal Ring on Earth.  For ages the watery abyss—which, with the nations that preceded the later Babylonians, was the abode of the “great mother” (the terrestrial post-type of the “great mother chaos” in heaven), the parent of Ea (Wisdom), himself the early prototype of Oannes, the man-Fish of the Babylonians…”[13]

Recall the image of Melchizdek directing astrological and ray forces whilst bearing in mind the importance of Shamballa as an earth zodiac reflecting the celestial zodiac, then the above passage is a natural extension of this idea. The distribution occurs through certain Masters or ‘hierophants’ who help distribute these forces to all the kingdoms of the planet, not just Humanity. Recall also that there are seven Masters or ‘Chohans’ who are the custodians of the Seven Rays and who help distribute and ‘step them down’.

Shamballa and the ‘White Island’

“The last survivors of the fair child of the White Islandhad perished ages before. Their (Lemuria’s) elect, had taken shelter on the sacred Island (now the “fabled” Shamballah, in the in theGobi Desert)…”[14]

“Mysticism … is reported to have originated in the fabulous country Sambhala … beyond the Sir Deriáu [Yaxartes] between 45º and 50º north latitude. 110º east and 45º north is exact centre ofGobi.”[15]


The Gobi Altai rising from the edge of the Gobi,
southwestern Övörhangay, Mongolia. [16]

“The legend given in Isis [Unveiled] in relation to a portion of the globe which science now concedes to have been the cradle of humanity—though it is but one of the seven cradles, in truth—ran, condensed, and now explained, as follows:

Tradition says … that long before the days of Ad-am, and … He-va [Eve], where now are found but salt lakes and desolate barren deserts, there was a vast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia, north of the proud Himalayan range, and its western prolongation.  An island, which for its unparalleled beauty had no rival in the world, was inhabited by the last remnant of the race which preceded ours.

The last remnant” meant the “Sons of Will and Yoga,” who, with a few tribes, survived the great cataclysm. For it is the Third Race which inhabited the great Lemurian continent, that preceded the veritable and complete human races—the fourth and the fifth. Therefore it was said in Isis that—
“This race could live with equal ease in water, air, or fire, for it had an unlimited control over the elements.  These were the ‘Sons of God’; not those who saw the daughters of men, but the realElohim, though in the oriental Kabala they have another name.  It was they who imparted Nature’s most weird secrets to men, and revealed to them the ineffable, and now lost ‘word.’”

The “Island,” according to belief, exists to the present hour; now, as an oasis surrounded by the dreadful wildernesses of the great Desert, the Gob—whose sands “no foot hath crossed in the memory of man.”[17]This ‘race’ was the primitive archetype of Humanity before the dawning of consciousness and the separation of sexes in later Lemuria (3.5). Adam and Eve (Heva) are the sexually separated hermaphrodite, now endowed with the ‘spark of mind’. These ‘Sons of God’ therefore, were the Lemurian (hermaphrodite) subrace before 3.5 (fifth subrace): 3.4.

It is logical that the Elohim lived in this highly magnetized area of Shamballa under the watchful eye of Sanat Kumara. These ‘Sons of God’ were the ‘ideal humanity’ cared for in the ‘nursery’ of Shamballa by Sanat Kumara and The Manu. This is a profound point as HPB says,

“The gradual evolution of man in The Secret Doctrine shows that all the later … Races have their physical origin in the early Fourth Race. But it is the sub-race, which preceded the one that separated sexually [5th subrace, 3.5], that is to be regarded as the spiritual ancestors of our present generations, and especially of the Eastern Aryan Races.”[18]
At present all this may read like pure fiction, given the incredulity that may accompany the extraordinary time scales, let alone the concepts of Shamballa and Melchizedek. Yet,
“At a later date than the present, discoveries will be made, revealing the reality of the old form of hierarchical work; ancient records and monuments will be revealed, some above ground and many in subterranean fastnesses.  As the mysteries of central Asia in the land stretching from Chaldea and Babylon through Turkestan to Manchuria, including the Gobi desert, are opened up, it is planned that much of the early history of the Ibezhan workers will be revealed.”[19]

A reminder to the reader of the overlapping periods and durations of the races in the following table. The Patriarch ages are code for the durations of the races, discussed at length in The Hidden History of Humanity.

Lemurian Patriarch

Atlantean Patriarch

Aryan Patriarch

3.4.5   Adam (Elohim)  930

3.5.5   Seth     912

4.1  Enos           905

3.6      Cainan   910

4.2  Mahaleel      895

3.7      Jared     962

4.3  Enoch          365

4.4  Methuselah  969

4.5  Lamech      777

5.0 Noah            950 yrs 

4.6

5.1 Enoch          

4.7

5.2 Menes      

5.3 Abraham      

5.4 Isaac         

5.5 Jacob       

5.6 Moses

Patriarchs or ‘Manus’ of the Rootraces and Subraces

Return of Shamballa to South America
The Sixth Rootrace promises the greatest human achievement through the expression of the buddhic principle and love-wisdom. That achievement will be paralleled or caused by the fusion of the two planetary centres, Humanity and Hierarchy into one centre that is in direct relationship with Shamballa.

If the new humanity of the Sixth Rootrace are going to be initially based in South America, then it stands to reason that Shamballa will be physically close to them; just as the Elohim or ‘Sons of the Fire Mist’ were in close proximity to Shamballa and the White Island in the Gobi Desert.

In this future time many initiates and Masters will walk amongst Humanity again, something that has not occurred since the time of the Atlantean war when They withdrew. We are now in the time of the ‘forerunner’ and from 2025 onward, the externalisation of the Hierarchy will proceed.

Eventually Humanity will once again become androgynous Elohim, returning to the state of their original beauty and purity, but with a highly expanded awareness resulting from Earth life activity in the intervening period.

Phillip Lindsay © 2008. To donate to this work, please click here or email.


[1] See previous newsletter “Aquarius and the Fifth Rootrace: The Coming Sixth Rootrace”, Phillip Lindsay, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A. Bailey. P.567 and “Zodiac & Ray Cycles  in Esoteric Astrology: Beginning of the Age of Aquarius  (2117).” in Destiny of the Races and Nations by Phillip Lindsay.

[2] See previous newsletter “Aquarius and the Fifth Rootrace: The Coming Sixth Rootrace”, Phillip Lindsay.

[3] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. P.197. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Alice A. Bailey. P.1263.

[4] Light of the Soul, Alice A. Bailey. P.239.

[5] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. P. 183.

[6] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. Pp. 183, 169.

[7] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.393.

[8] Esoteric Astrology, Alice A. Bailey. P. 168.

[9] The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A. Bailey. P.567.

[10] For more commentary on the lesser and greater cycles of Aquarius, see (A) “Zodiac & Ray Cycles in Esoteric Astrology: Beginning of the Age of Aquarius (2117)” in The Destiny of the Races and Nations, Phillip Lindsay. (B), ”Aquarius and the Fifth Rootrace: The Coming Sixth Rootrace”. Both can be found at http://www.esotericastrologer.org.

[11] ibid.

[12] The Shamballa Impacts, Phillip Lindsay.

[13] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.502.

[14] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.319.

[15] Collected Writings XIV, H.P. Blavatsky. P.441.

[16] Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite. © Brian A. Vikander.

[17] ibid. p.220.

[18] The Secret Doctrine II, H.P. Blavatsky. P.220.
[19] A Treatise on White Magic, Alice A. Bailey. P.379.

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In Carthage, the Canaanites called themselves Punics. Rome attacked Carthage in full force, beginning in 264BC and completed their task after killing or enslaving every Carthaginian, by sowing the land to salt so that nothing could ever grow there again. The Edomitesdescended from Esau later intermarried with the Turks to produce a Turco-Edomite mixture which later became known as Chazars (Khazars) – who are the present occupants of Israel. These Canaanites eventually adopted the name "Sepharvaim" for deceptive purposes. They later became known as Venetians, and by marrying into European royalty and aristocracy, the "black nobility." The Venetians today control the Federal Reserve system in the US.
Around AD1400, European power centers coalesced into two camps: the Ghibellines, who supported the Emperors Hohenstaufen family, and the Guelphs, from Welf, the German prince who competed with Frederick for control of the Holy Roman Empire. The Popeallied himself with the Guelphs. All modern history stems directly from the struggle between these two powers. The Guelphs are also called the Neri, Black Guelphs, or Black Nobility, and supported William of Orange in his seizure of the throne of England, which eventually resulted in the formation of the Bank of England and the East India Company, which would rule the world from the 17th century. All coup d’etats, revolutions and wars in the 19th and 20th centuries are centered in the battle of the Guelphs to hold and enhance their power, which is now the New World Order.

The power of the Guelphs would extend through the Italian financial centers to the north of France in Lombardy (all Italian bankers were referred to as "Lombards"). Lombard in German means "deposit bank", and the Lombards were bankers to the entire Medieval world. They would later transfer operations north to Hamburg, then to Amsterdam and finally to London. The Guelphs would start the slave trade to the colonies. The Guelphs, in order to aid their control of finance and politics, would perpetuate gnostic cults which eventually developed into the Rosicrucians, Unitarians, Fabian Society and the World Council of Churches. The East India company, together with John Stuart Mill, would finance the University of London. A friend of Mill, historian George Grote, a founder of London University donated £6000 for the study of "mental health", which began the worldwide "mental health" movement.
Banks large and small in the thousands are in the Committee of 300 network, including:

  • Banca Commerciale d’Italia

  • Banca Privata

  • Banco Ambrosiano

  • The Netherlands Bank

  • Barclays Bank

  • Banco de Colombia

  • Banco de Ibero-America

Of special interest is Banca del la Svizzeria Italiana (BSI) – since it handles flight capital investments to and from the United States – primarily in dollars and US bonds – located and isolated in "neutral" Lugano, the flight capital center for the Venetian Black Nobility.Lugano is not in Italy or in Switzerland, and is a kind of twilight zone for shady flight capital operations. George Ball, who owns a large block of stock in BSI, is a prominent "insider" and the bank’s US representative.
In the secret 1822 Treaty of Verona (between Austria, France, Prussia and Russia) the Jesuits agreed to smash the US Constitution and suppress the freedom of the US. Their methods included destroying free speech, destroying and suppressing the press, universal censorship, sustaining the cooperation of the Pope and clergy to use religion to help keep nations in passive obedience and financing wars against countries with representative governments. The monarchs who signed this treaty were ultimately deposed. Most of these families are very wealthy and may be more powerful today than when they sat upon thrones. They are known collectively as the Black Nobility. Privately these families refuse to recognize any right to rule except their own. The fact that this treaty was made long ago does not mean it is void. The treaty was placed in the Congressional Record on April 25, 1916 by Senator Owen.

In 1948 George H.W. Bush graduated from Yale University and the Skull and Bones. He is a distant cousin of the Queen of England, part of the Black Nobility which traces its power back 5,000 years.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands created a group that became known as the Bilderbergers. Many "conservative" researchers have come to recognize the Bilderbergers as an important force for the "New World Order."

(Note: Since the Bildebergers, according to former British Intelligence agent John Coleman, serve as a BINDING force between the three major ’one world government’ forces – the Wicca-Masons (i.e. Communism); the Black Nobility descendants of the early Roman emperors; and the Maltese Jesuits. . . each of which have 13 respective representatives on the 39-member Bildeberger board – and since a Nazi SS stormtrooper was responsible for developing this "New World Order" coordination council, and since Adolph Hitler’s second book was titled [believe it or not] "The New World Order." No wonder Adolph Hitler’s dream – and that of his predecessors the "Kaisers", a German translation of "Caesars" – was the revival of the Roman empire).

According to former British Intelligence agent Dr. John Coleman, the three world power groups: the Wicca-Masons (i.e. Communism), the Maltese-Jesuits and the Black-Nobility (’Black’ in this context refers to their character, not their skin color) all work for and under the central Command of the Bavarian Illuminati which binds them together.

The Bavarians created the Bilderberg society for this purpose, the core of which is a council of 13 members from each of the three ’groups’ or 39 in all. The old-line ruling families who believe that they have the right to rule the world because they are descended from the emperors of the ancient Roman and so-called ’holy’ Roman Empires consist of 13-15 ’blue blood’ families. Which include: Rothschild; Kuhn; Loeb; Lehman; Rockefeller; Sach; Warburg; Lazard; Seaf; Goldman; Schiff; Morgan; Schroeder; Bush and Harriman . . . Others that have not been mentioned are more ’powerful’ than others. But these names will get you started if you wish to track down the present-day inner core of the conspiracy. The history of the Bilderberg group itself, a cover for the Bavarian Illuminati, and its Nazi connections, would probably be the best place to start.
Prominent on the board of two insurance giants are Committee of 300 members:

  • the Giustiniani family, Black Nobility of Rome and Venice who trace their lineage to the Emperor Justianian

  • Sir Jocelyn Hambro of Hambros (Merchant) Bank

  • Pierpaolo Luzzatti Fequiz, whose lineage dates back six centuries to the most ancient Luzzatos, the Black Nobility of Venice

  • Umberto Ortolani of the ancient Black Nobility family of the same name

Other old Venetian Black Nobility Committee of 300 members and board members of ASG and RAS are:

  • the Doria family, the financiers of the Spanish Hapsburgs

  • Elie de Rothschild of the French Rothschild family

  • Baron August von Finck (Finck, the second richest man in Germany now deceased)

  • Franco Orsini Bonacassi of the ancient Orsini Black Nobility that traces its lineage to an ancient Roman senator of the same name

  • the Alba family whose lineage dates back to the great Duke of Alba

  • Baron Pierre Lambert, a cousin of the Belgian Rothschild family

Italy was chosen as a test-target by the Committee of 300. Italy is important to the conspirators’ plans because it is the closest European country to the Middle East, and linked to Middle East economics and politics. It is also the home of the Catholic Church, whichWeishaupt ordered destroyed, and home for some of Europe’s most powerful oligarchical families of the ancient Black Nobility. Should Italy have been weakened by Aldo Moro’s death, it would have had repercussions in the Middle East which would have weakened US influence in the region. Italy is important for another reason; it is a gateway for drugs entering Europe from Iran and Lebanon.
Various groups combined under the name of socialism to bring about the downfall of several Italian governments since the Club of Rome was established in 1968. Among these are the Black Nobility of Venice and Genoa, P2 Masonry and the Red Brigades, all working for the same goals. Police investigators in Rome working on the Red Brigades-Aldo Moro case came across the names of several very prominent Italian families working closely with this terrorist group. The police also discovered evidence that in at least a dozen cases, these powerful and prominent families had allowed their homes and/or property to be used as safe houses for Red Brigades cells.
Peccei headed the Atlantic Institute’s Economic Council for three decades while he was the Chief Executive Officer for Giovanni Agnellis’ Fiat Motor Company. Agnelli, a member of an ancient Italian Black Nobility family of the same name, was one of the most important members of the Committee of 300. He played a leading role in development projects in the Soviet Union. The Club of Rome is a conspiratorial umbrella organization, a marriage between Anglo-American financiers and the old Black Nobility families of Europe, particularly the so-called "nobility" of London, Venice and Genoa. The key to the successful control of the world is their ability to create and manage savage economic recessions and eventual depressions. The Committee of 300 looks to social convulsions on a global scale, followed by depressions, as a softening-up technique for bigger things to come, as its principal method of creating masses of people all over the world who will become its "welfare" recipients of the future.
To introduce new cults and continue to boost those already functioning which includes rock "music" gangsters such as the filthy, degenerate Mick Jagger’s "Rolling Stones" (a gangster group much favored by European Black Nobility) and all of the Tavistock-created "rock" groups which began with "The Beatles." To continue to build up the cult of Christian fundamentalism begun by the British East India Company’s servant, Darby, which will be misused to strengthen the Zionist state of Israel through identifying with the Jews through the myth of "God’s Chosen People" and by donating very substantial amounts of money to what they mistakenly believe is a religious cause in the furtherance of Christianity.
Brzezinski was not writing as a private citizen but as Carter’s National Security Advisor and a leading member of the Club of Rome and a member of the Committee of 300, a member of the CFR and as a member of the old Polish Black Nobility. His book explains how America must leave its industrial base behind and enter into what he called "a distinct new historical era."
In this regard a French Black Nobility member, Etienne D’Avignon, as a member of the Committee of 300, was assigned the task of collapsing the steel industry in the US It is doubtful that any of the hundreds of thousands of steel workers and shipyard workers who have been without jobs for the past decade have ever heard of D’Avignon.
A second assassination bureau is located in Switzerland and was until recently run by a shadowy figure of whom no photographs existed after 1941. The operations were and probably still are financed by the Oltramaire family – Swiss Black Nobility, owners of the Lombard Odier Bank of Geneva, a Committee of 300 operation. The primary contact man was Jacques Soustelle – this according to US Army-G2 intelligence files. This group was also closely allied with Allen Dulles and Jean de Menil, an important member of theCommittee of 300 and a very prominent name in the oil industry in Texas.

Army-G2 records show that the group was heavily involved in the arms trade in the Middle East, but more than that, the assassination bureau made no less than 30 attempts to kill General de Gaulle, in which Jacques Soustelle was directly involved. The sameSoustelle was the contact man for the Sendero Luminoso-Shining Pathway guerilla group protecting the Committee’s Peruvian cocaine producers.
Richard Gardner was sent to Rome on a special assignment. Gardner married into one of the oldest Black Nobility families of Venice, thus providing the Venetian aristocracy a direct line to the White House. The late Averill Harriman was another of the committee’s direct links with the Kremlin and the White House, a position inherited by Kissinger after Harriman’s death.
In 1986 in "The Order of St. John of Jerusalem" Dr. Coleman wrote:

"It is therefore not a secret society, except where its purposes have been perverted in the inner councils like the Order of the Garter, which is a prostituted oligarchical creation of the British royal family, which makes a mockery of what the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem stands for. As an example, we find the atheist Lord Peter Carrington, who pretends to be an Anglican Christian but who is a member of the Order of Osiris and other demonic sects, including Freemasonry, installed as a Knight of the Garter at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England, of the Black Nobility Guelphs, also head of the Anglican Church, which she thoroughly despises."

$15.8 billion is one realistic estimate of the Queen’s worth – tax exempt – BOE.

"Only the little people pay taxes."

Leona Helmsly

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_blacknobil07.htm

by Fritz Springmeier

Revised by alex.sk [16. XI 2006]

from FactsAboutPsychiatry Website

Part I

June/28/2000

This page has been prepared to provide some type of table of contents to the various items which will be included in this chapter "The Thirteenth Satanic Bloodline".

In my writings this bloodline has been interwoven into the text of many articles, but it hasn’t been singled out very much. Although a great deal has been mitten by this author on this final family, to pull out articles which concentrate on it solely is difficult. After assembling some pages on it, a few words of explanation were still needed.

Allow me to briefly explain those items which were selected:

  • An article on the top family that appeared in Feb. 1995 newsletter on page 73.

  • An appendix to the Be Wise As Serpents book about the British Royalty. The British Royalty are tied in with the 13th Bloodline.

  • Many of the American political leaders have been related to the British Royalty incl. George Bush and Dan Quayle. A flier from a Christian conference is included showing who the speakers are.

  • Finally, a little of the genealogical information I assembled on the Mormon leaders is given. This was included in the Be Wise As Serpents book to give people an idea of how the Mormon leadership ties back in with the leading occult bloodlines of the Merovingian dynasty (below chart). The chart for LDS President Albert Smith is only about 1/3 typed out. The remainder of Albert Smith’s (as well as other Mormon leaders) genealogical work is in a file in some unknown box at my house.

  • This bloodline is harder to track because it weaves in and out of the other 12 bloodlines. There are many surnames which are part of this bloodline (including the Smith family), however I can give one very prominent one, the Sinclair family.

We know that Satan is the father of all lies, and Christ told the religions leaders who went out to destroy him that they were from the seed of Satan.

2nd Feature Article

THE 13TH ILLUMINATI BLOODLINE

The 13th Illuminati Bloodline is where the Anti-Christ will come from. This bloodline believes that it has both the blood of Jesus and the blood (or seed) of Satan in its bloodline. In my Be Wise As Serpents book, I make reference to this bloodline but I never really took the time to explain it completely.

In fact I don’t fully understand this bloodline myself. I encourage those who want to learn more about this bloodline to study the following books:

  • The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, Dell Publishing Co., New York 1982.

  • The Messianic Legacy by Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1986.

  • The Temple and the Lodge by Baigent & Leigh, Arcade Publishing, New York 1989.

  • Guardians of the Grail by J. R. Church, Prophecy Publications, Oklahoma City, 1991.

  • The Anti-Christ King – Juan Carlos by Dr. Charles R. Taylor.

This bloodline is so extensive in its many branches that its membership takes in many of the Presidents of the United States, including George Bush and George Washington.

The reason that I gave the genealogies of the some of the Mormon Presidents to people back in 1991 in my Be Wise As Serpents book is that all of the Mormon Presidents in history, whether RLDS or LDS, trace their blood back to this 13th bloodline. Within the Illuminati rituals, the emphasis of the 13th bloodline is that they are the seed of Satan. As their secret story goes, they are the direct descendants of Jesus’ spiritual brother Lucifer. Since the Freeman family and the Rothschild family have members who are also in the 13th bloodline, it is unclear to me how interwoven the "seed of Satan" is.
Some of the earliest attempts to trace the seed of Satan were some books which did extensive research on the Tribe of Dan and the descendents of Cain.
"The Curse of Canaan" is an interesting book along with its mate World Order by Eustice Mullins. One of the books which I looked with difficulty for before finding it, was Gerald Massey’s A Book of the Beginning (Secaucus, NJ: University Books Inc., 1974). The book goes in and shows in detail how the inhabitants of the British Isles came originally from Egypt. This is Important because (as this newsletter has always contended) the Druidism of the British Isles was simply a derivative from the Egyptian Satanic witchcraft/magic of Ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian word Makhaut (clan or family) became the Irish Maccu and the Maccu of the Donalds (clan of Donalds) now reflected in the name MacDonald. The sacred keepers of the Clan-Stone in Arran, were also known by the family name of Clan-Chattons. Another word for clan is Mack and the Clan-Chattons were also known as Mack-Intosh.

Ptah-rekh the name of the Egyptian god Ptah was passed down to us by the Druids adopting the name Patrick, which sounded similar. St. Patricks day then is a Christianized form of a druidic holiday which originally had its origins in Egypt. The All-Seeing Eye can be found on ancient buildings in ancient Chaldea, in ancient Greece, and in ancient Egypt. The MI-Seeing Eye represents Osiris. Osiris had debauched revelries (saturnalias) celebrated in his honor.

The temples in Arabia clear back in the time that Moses had his black father-in-law Jethro used the All-Seeing Eye to represent the false Satanic trinity of Osiris, Isis and Horus of Egypt. This MI-Seeing Eye pops up everywhere the Illuminati has been. In the Winter Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia is that Illuminati All-Seeing Eye on top of a pyramid.

You will also see it in the old Mexican Senate Building which is now a museum in Mexico City. You will find this on the back of our one dollar bill, and you will find the All-Seeing Eye was placed on Ethiopian stamps when they got a communist government in power.
The Illuminati is the continuation of the Mystery Religions of Babylon and Egypt. And the bloodlines of the Illuminati go back to people who at one time lived in Babylon and Egypt. Just how the House of David (the Satanic one) and the Holy Blood of the 13th family fit in with everything else in history I can’t say. I’m sure it would be a big story to tell if I knew.

But I do feel that somehow the 13th Illuminati family does goes back to ancient times. Is this via the Tribe of Dan or via some Druidic bloodline or is it via the Merovingians or is it via all three.

And where do the Guelphs and Black Nobility fit into this?

Whatever the case, the 13th bloodline has amassed a great deal of power and wealth on this planet. The 13th bloodline lacks nothing to bring forth their Anti-Christ who will appear to have all the correct credentials. I would not even be surprised if their Anti-Christ in order to appear real will expose another Anti-Christ.

The 13th bloodline has kept its genealogies very secret. I would welcome more input from informed persons about this bloodline. The tribe of Dan was prophesied to be the black sheep of the nation of Israel which would bite the other tribes of Israel. The tribe of Dan had the snake and the eagle as its two logos. The tribe of Dan left its calling card all over Europe as it migrated west in the names of many places.

The tribe of Dan ruled the Greeks, the Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian empire and many others which used the eagle as its logo.
Great Britain is the mother country of Satanism.1 Scotland has long been an occult center. The national symbol of Scotland is the dragon (the snake), and for years the chief of Scotland was called the dragon. The Gaelic language is an important language for Satanism, although English and French are also use extensively by the Illuminati.

The planning sessions for world takeover that some ex-Satanists experienced were held in French. The British Royal Family have long been involved with the occult. For more information on this there is a detailed examination of the Royal family and the occult in the book The Prince and the Paranormal – The Psychic Bloodline of the Royal Family by John Dale (1987).2

They have also been actively involved with Freemasonry (see the chart). British MI6 has been a major vehicle for the Satanic hierarchy working behind the secret veil of Freemasonry to control world events.3

British MI6 is the most secret intelligence organization in the world.4 (It is properly known as British Secret Service not to be confused with the U.S. agency by that name but performing a different function entirely.)

The British Royalty have served as important figureheads to British Freemasonry lending credibility and respectability. British Freemasonry has managed to keep itself free of much of the criticism that the other national Masonic groups have brought on themselves. However, much of the credibility of British Freemasonry is undeserved.

True, British Freemasonry is what it portrays itself to the public for the lower levels. But, the lower level Masons by their dues and activities are unwittingly supporting an organization that is led by Satanists at the top. An example of the subterfuge constantly exercised on the public by Freemasonry is a book purportedly written by a non-Mason entitled The Unlocked Secret Freemasonry Examined.

The book portrays itself as an unbiased and complete expose of Freemasonry. The book states unequivocally that the Masonic order called Societas Rosicrucian in Anglia is only open to Christians and is a "Christian Order".

However, Edith Star Miller reprints copies of a number of letters from the chief of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia which show that the English Grand Masonic Lodge, the SRIA, the OTO, and the German Illuminati are all working together.5

She briefly explains how she obtained the letters.

Notes

1.Interviews with numerous Ex-Witches and Ex-Satanists.
2.Copies available from Bury House Christian Books, Clows Top, Kidderminster, Wores, DY 149HX, England.
3.Confidential Interviews.
4.Wise, David and Thomas B. Ross. The Espionage Establishment, p. 79.
5.Miller, Occult Theocracy, Appendix IV, pp. 8-35.

Part II

July/01/2000

In this, the second of a four-part study on the real rulers of the world, in which we set out to discover how it can be possible that at the close of the Gentile dispensation "Rome has acquired nearly all the supplies of gold", as prophesied by Brother Branham, we’ll study the common thread between the nobility, the priesthood, and the merchants. In one word, it is "power" by privilege or right in perpetuity over the lesser beings in human society.
This concept of an arbitrarily "chosen people" is marked bold. It identifies the true authors of Nazi philosophy whom British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli described as, "the hidden hand behind government".
This common thread could also be called "the trail of the serpent" because it is a history of wisdom against faith that may be traced from the present-day "mystery Babylons" of Hollywood and Rome that have corrupted faith and morals, to Nebuchadnezar’s Babylon which hybrid the faith and morals of captive Judah, and Nimrod’s Babel, another scene of religious and moral impurity.
These people have two things in common. Carnality and human wisdom in place of the faith of Jesus, and the Babylonian religion, or learning. Perhaps the majority of these people are related to the serpent by blood, as well as by cunning. Computer genealogies of dynastic families uncover interesting links with other families in the past, disclosing hidden criminal interests that continue to represent the main source of income of these pillars of society to the present time.

The opium trade and usury are two such examples.
And looking at the natural, over ninety percent of those "who say they are Jews", are not. They lie because they have no kinship to Abraham, Isaac, and/or Jacob by blood. (Check Encyclopedias Judaica and Britannica, Jewish and Universal Jewish Encyclopedias.) And certainly not by faith. True Israelites who are Hebrews call them Ashkenazim or Khazars.

These people earned the title of "Black" Nobility from their ruthless lack of scruple. They employed murder, rape, kidnapping, assassination, robbery, and all manner of deceit on a grand scale, brooking no opposition to attaining their objectives. These all have immense wealth. And money is power.
The most powerful of the Black Nobility families are located in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Holland and Greece in that order. Their roots may be traced back to the Venetian oligarchs who are of Khazar extraction. They married into these royal houses in the early part of the twelfth century. (Indeed, after a great Khazar victory over the Arabs, the future Emperor, Constantine V, married a Khazar princess. Their son became Emperor Leo IV, known as Leo the Khazar. I have read that Pope John Paul II is (was) a Khazar, but can’t confirm it.)

Many of these royal families no longer have kingdoms, and not all Black Nobility are royal houses. According to author John Coleman, a "Committee of 300" from this untouchable ruling class includes Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Holland, the Queen of Denmark and the royal families of Europe (The Black Nobility).
Documentary proof as to the existence of the "Committee of 300" is not forthcoming, and it may be no more than a convenient phrase to describe certain key players.

Socialist politician and financial adviser to the Rothschilds, Walter Rathenau, writing in the Wiener Press (24 December, 1921) said,

"Only 300 men, each of whom knows all others govern the fate of Europe. They select their successors from their own entourage. These men have the means in their hands of putting an end to the form of State which they find unreasonable."

Exactly six months after publication, Rathenau was assassinated.
Dr. Coleman’s work opens the door to further studies on named members of the ruling elite, particularly in America. Whereas the English have a long history and are very aware of their ancestry, there are certain families of "blue-bloods" in the United States that have historic ties with the British through blood and money.
These "noble" families are behind most if not all of the so-called pro-environmental movements that are actually intended to curb the population growth of ALL nations. Prince Philip and Prince Charles are the most visible symbols of this movement, and are a true part of this conspiracy to destroy industry and take the world back to a New Dark Age.
Most if not all the crowned and uncrowned heads of these dynasties enjoy huge incomes from ground rents. All favor Global 2000 Report to the President that’s calculated to end all industrial progress, and by famine, disease and wars, eliminate the excess population industry supports. All oppose nuclear power that can produce clean cheap electricity, the key to economic development and prosperity in the Third World. They ardently desire a return to the feudal system where they will once again be absolute rulers.
While professing Christianity, the oligarchical families, for the greater part actually despise it in secret. Masonry provides their religious fulfillment. And without faith, they have no belief in reward or punishment and a world to come. They live for the here and now.
Many of these oligarchies are in the drug and arms trade through well-distanced intermediaries (like so many of the large banks).
The Masonic-controlled Swiss banks owe their existence to these families. In 1815 the Jesuits and their Freemason allies among the crowned heads of Europe held the Congress of Vienna, whereby Swiss neutrality (already sanctioned by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) was forever guaranteed; and no matter how many wars are provoked in which the common man has to do the fighting, the money of the Nobility in Switzerland should always be free from plunder.

It’s part of Rothschild’s meticulous long-range planning, and why Switzerland exists to this day. But that doesn’t mean your money would be safe. Some US$280 billion p.a. in flight capital and drug money flows into the Swiss accounts of the Black Nobility.
The place of Freemasonry in the power structure of the elites is quite evident as they carried through Adam Weishaupt‘s conspiracy to avenge the Jesuits after their abolition in 1773 by short-lived Pope Clement XIV as "immoral and a menace to the Church and the Faith". By launching the French Revolution and directing Napoleon’s conquest of Catholic Europe, and by revolts against the church in Mexico and Latin America, they cut-off Vatican income.
Nathan Rothschild‘s financing of Britain resulted in the defeat of Rome’s enemy Napoleon, (as well as being the source of his wealth and influence). Since Gregory XVI conferred a Papal decoration on Kalman Rothschild for loaning the Vatican five million pounds in a period of difficulty, the Rothschilds have been the fiscal agents of the Vatican.

With Vatican interests at heart, the Rothschilds extended their financial and political dominion in the United States.

The Vatican’s interest in the US was clearly revealed in the secret 1822 Treaty of Verona between Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia whereby the Jesuit Order pledged itself as the price of reinstatement to destroy "the works of Satan" it had established in setting-up, by revolution, representative governments such as the republics and "democracies" of France and the USA, replacing them with the only form of government approved by the church, rule by "divine right", as declared by the Vatican (Daniel 2:42-43; Revelation 17:12-13).
As Senator Robert Owen pointed out to the US Senate in 1916, the prime target to which the Vatican and the "Holy Alliance" directed the subversive and destructive activities of the Society of Jesus, in the United States, and other republics in the Western hemisphere. This plot, he claimed, was the target at which the Monroe Doctrine was directed.

What the Senator does not realize is that the Monroe Doctrine protects the interests of The City of London.
The Rothschild-Vatican cabal unsuccessfully attempted to gain control over the power of the purse in the US through the First and Second Bank of the United States. They were established under emergency powers granted to the President by the Constitution, as temporary institutions to tide the country through the periods of financial stress occasioned by the Revolutionary and 1812 Wars. But the aims of the conspirators to establish a banking monopoly were thwarted by the Constitution. Until the FED.
It is said the Black Nobility promised a neutral Germany if Soviet Russia allowed East and West Germany to reunite. And that Russia promised to see that all royal houses are restored to the rightful heirs if they decouple Europe from the American Alliance.
Imperial nobility enjoy a more elevated status than the nobilities of the German successor states and, indeed, of the Italian states. The descendants of Italian Holy Roman Empire titles have formed an Association to which all male line descendants of someone ennobled by Imperial Patent is entitled to belong.

And the Principality of Liechtenstein has also claimed the ability to confirm a succession to Imperial titles, and has confirmed the right of a Spanish noble man to heir such a title for purposes of the Spanish law requiring the successor state to confirm that the claimant to a particular title is in fact the heir. Thus there is a remaining jurisdiction, even though no Imperial titles have been conferred since 1806.
In 1963, the Holy Roman Empire Association (Associazioni dei Nobili del Sacro Romano Impero) was established to unite male descendants in its membership who are invested with nobility of the Holy Roman Empire. It also includes a number of honorary members.
According to William Cooper‘s book "Behold A Pale Horse", which I am coming more and more to appreciate, all nations have agreed to relinquish sovereignty to the Pope and submit future problems to the Vatican for solution once the NWO is established. This I have been unable to confirm but in general, this is what will happen.
"All nations" can only refer to the Black Nobility who have agreed to relinquish sovereignty to Rome in return for the restoration of royal power under a NWO.

This was foretold in Daniel 7:20 and Revelation 17:12-13,

"The ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast."

These ten horns were ten kings, represented in Daniel 2 by the ten toes of the image King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. They are the royal houses into which the old Roman Empire was divided after the fall of the last emperor Romulus Augustus, in AD 476.

They were Alemani (Germany), Franks (France), the Burgundians (Switzerland), the Suevi (Portugal), the Anglo-Saxons (Britain), the Visigoths (Spain), the Lombards (Italy), Vandals, Ostrogoths and Heruli. The last three were German tribes destroyed by the Pope for refusing to become Roman Catholic "Christians" (The False Prophet, The Beast and The Times of The Gentiles).
Although their thrones will not be returned, their royal authority as kings will be recognized by Rome so long as she rules the NWO. Revelation 17:13, "These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast."
This explains Brother Branham’s prophecy about Rome CONTROLLING the gold:

"The whore, Mystery Babylon is seated on the beast. She is controlling the last, or fourth empire. This Roman Church is doing that. With the world church system under her, Rome will be controlling, and this image (church system) will be obedient to Rome because Rome CONTROLS the GOLD of the world. Thus all the people have to belong to the world church system or be at the mercy of the elements for they cannot buy or sell without the mark of the beast in the hand or head"

(Church Ages, 376:1).

The Black Nobility belong to the "Committee of 300" that controls the UN.

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has the power to veto the Vatican’s choice of any pope it selects. This may explain the untimely end to Pope John Paul I’s 33-day pontificate. The Prince has veto power because his family, the Habsburgs, are descended directly from the last Roman emperor. (The Habsburg Frederick III was the last emperor to be crowned in Rome; his great-grandson Charles V was the last to be crowned by a pope.)

This is the civil equivalent of the Pope’s claimed "apostolic succession" from Saint Peter.
Prince Bernhard is leader of the Black Families and he also claims descent from the House of David through the Merovingian dynasty, a claim that was acknowledged to be valid by the Carolingian dynasty that supplanted them, by other monarchs and by the Roman Church of that time. Thus he can truly say that he is "related to Jesus".
Prince Bernhard’s House of Orange had its origins in France. The Habsburgs are related through marriage with the Merovingians, who are said to have descended from the Tribe of Benjamin who went into exile following war with the other eleven Tribes.

Exile took them to Arcadia in the central Peloponnese, Greece. Here they aligned with the Arcadian royal line and towards the advent of the Christian era, migrated up the Danube and Rhine, through marriage engendering the Sicambrian Franks – the immediate forebears of the Merovingians, who were ultimately of Semitic or Israelite origin, and descendants of King Saul.
They are identified with the Spartans, and both books of Maccabees link the Spartans with the Jews. I Maccabees 12 tells of Jonathan sending a letter to the Lacedemonians (Spartan Greeks) asking for their help, since they were brethren.

The Spartans replied,

"It is found in writing, that the Lacedemonians and Jews are brethren and that they are of the stock of Abraham"

(verse 21).

It is assumed by some writers that this means the Spartans were Israelites, but the Spartans were not Israelites they were Edomites descended from Bela son of Beor and brother of Baalim, and king of Edom (Genesis 36:32; I Chronicles 1:43). Edom was the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham who sold his birthright, and bred his posterity off the Book of Life.
Early in the fifth century the Merovingians established themselves in what is now Belgium and northern France. There they adopted the Cabalistic pseudo-Christianity of the Cathars, a dualistic religion that holds there are two eternal gods, the god of Good and the god of Evil. It is revealing that this Luciferian belief is held by those who would be Masters of this world today, and who claim that Lucifer will ultimately be victorious.
Under Clovis I, who reigned from 481-511, the Franks converted to Roman Catholicism. Through him, Rome began to establish undisputed supremacy in Western Europe. In return for being the sword of Rome whereby the church would manifest her power and impose a spiritual dominion, Clovis was granted the title of "New Constantine" and to preside over a unified "Holy Roman Empire" based on the church and administered on the secular level in perpetuity by the Merovingian bloodline. Like "the sure mercies of David", this was a pact that could be modified, but not revoked, broken or betrayed.
They believe Jesus survived the cross and married Mary Magdalene who bore his son then lived in seclusion in the south of France. During the fifth century this lineage is said to have married with the royal line of the Franks engendering the Merovingian dynasty.
When in 496 the church pledged itself in perpetuity to the Merovingian bloodline it was presumably in full knowledge of their claimed identity. This would explain why Clovis was offered the status of Holy Roman Emperor, and why he was not created but only "crowned" king. In 754 the church clandestinely betrayed its pact.
The Prieure de Sion is the name of the secret order which created the Knights Templars as its military and administrative arm. (See A History of the Knights Templar and Their Involvement With the Priory of Sion – It should be remembered that the Knights Templars were the forerunners of Freemasonry.) The Prieure de Sion continues to function through the centuries, acting in the shadows, and has orchestrated certain critical events in Western history.
It exists today and is still operative. Its declared objective is the restoration of the Merovingian dynasty and bloodline – to the throne not only of France, but of other European nations as well – a restoration that is sanctioned and justifiable, both legally and morally.
There is strong evidence to suggest that this Jewish order was the author of Freemasonry, and "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Sion", as well as the Rosicrucians. There is abundant evidence to suggest that Nostradamus was one of their secret agents, and there is no question that numerous quatrains which refer to the advent of "Le Grand Monarch" indicate that this sovereign will ultimately derive from the Merovingian dynasty.

Implying a double hegemony of the Papacy and the Empire, of the Vatican and of the Habsburgs. He frequently referred quite explicitly to the Knights Templars and to the house of Lorraine which is now synonymous with the Habsburgs.
Although deposed in the eighth century, the Merovingian bloodline did not become extinct. On the contrary it perpetuated itself in a direct line from Dagobert II and his son Sigisbert IV. By dint of dynastic alliances and intermarriages, this line came to include Godfroi de Bouillon, who captured Jerusalem in 1099, and various other noble and royal families, past and present – Blanchefort, Gisors, Saint-Clair (Sinclair in England), Montesquieu, Montpezat, Poher, Luisignan, Plantard and Habsburg-Lorraine. At present, the Merovingian bloodline enjoys a legitimate claim to its heritage.
The crown of Charlemagne – a replica of which is now part of the imperial Habsburg regalia – is said to have borne the inscription "Rex Salomon" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th Ed., 1972, Crown and Regalia, Fig. 2).

And the "Spear of Destiny", which is said to have pierced Christ reside today in the Treasure House, Vienna, awaiting another Holy Roman Emperor (The Rigby Joy of Knowledge Library. History and Culture I, 1977:160; The Holy Roman Empire, Friedrich Heer, p. 284).

It is clear why the "Protocols of the Elders of Sion" speak of a new king "of the holy seed of David" (Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln).

Otto von Habsburg is today the titular Duke of Lorraine and King of Jerusalem.

The Prieure de Sion claim to hold the lost treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem plundered by Titus in AD 70 which would be returned to Israel "when the time was right". This might explain why Rome must defer to the "kings of the earth" and how she will seal a covenant with the Jews who have long hidden behind the shield of baptism.
Prince Bernhard is in fact related to the Khazars, and therefore a Gentile.

Assisted by the CIA, Prince Bernhard has brought the hidden ruling body of the Illuminati into public knowledge as De Bilderberg Group. (Established in 1954, its headquarters is 1 Smidswater, Den Haag, Nederlands.)

At the heart of the Bilderberg Group are 39 members of the Illuminati chosen from three committees drawn from the members of all the secret groups that comprise the Illuminati:

  1. the Freemasons

  2. the Vatican

  3. the Black Nobility

This committee works year round in offices in Switzerland.
The "Committee of 300" now call themselves World Government Founders for the NWO. A reference no doubt to their hereditary claim to the "Divine Right of Kings". It is imperative that we realize that privately, the Black Nobility refuse to ever recognize any government other than their own inherited and divine right to rule.

They believe the United States still belongs to England. And work diligently behind the scenes to cause conditions whereby they might regain their crowns. Every royal and so-called noble dynasty past and present of Europe have seats on the "Committee of 300", most often by nominees. There are just too many of these "royal" families for them each to have representatives on the "Committee of 300".

Precedence is determined by rank: first royal family members, then dukes, earls, marquises and lords, then finally "commoners", who usually get the title of "Sir". (Conspirator’s Hierarchy: The "Committee of 300", Dr. John Coleman.)
The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Hospitallers, or Knights of Malta, is a Black Nobility order which operates as an agent for British Intelligence in various parts of the world, and as a cover for drug-smuggling operations, notably the drugs for diamonds part of the trade. (The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, John Coleman; Dope Inc., Senator Lyndon LaRouche.)
They have their own Constitution and are sworn to work toward the establishment of a NWO with the Pope at its head. Although the Order no longer exercises territorial control, it issues passports and its sovereign status is recognized by the Holy See and scores of Roman Catholic states. Membership in certain ranks is confined to Roman Catholics and many knights have diplomatic immunity.
The High Master of the Teutonic Knights the Grand Prior of Germany of the Order of Saint John (Malta), and the Master of the Knights of the Johanniter Order also had seats in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, ranking as Princes of the Empire.
On 26 November 1963, an Alliance was consolidated with the signing of a joint declaration between the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Most Venerable Order, at St. John’s Gate, London. One more rapprochement between Rome and the Protestants.
Allegedly among their number are:

  • Australia’s Governor General, Sir William Dean

  • NSW Police Commissioner, Peter Ryan

  • George Bush

  • Alexander Haig

  • President of Canadian Pacific, John Gilmer and co-directors W. E. McLaughlan, Chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada, J. P. W. Ostiguy, and Sir Michael Turner, ex-Chairman of Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank

  • Michael Sandberg now Chairman of the Bank

  • Charles, Sam, and Allan Bronfman

  • the late Joseph Kennedy

  • Henry Kissinger

  • Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve

  • Colin Powell of Gulf War fame

  • James Wolfensohn of the World Bank

According to Brother Branham,

"… the church system of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant in COMING TOGETHER will CONTROL the WHOLE WEALTH of the world system and force the whole earth into its religious trap, or will kill them, by refusing them the privilege of buying and selling whereby they would make a living.

This will be accomplished simply, for the harlot’s daughters are all but gone back to her. In the meantime, Rome has ACQUIRED nearly all the supplies of GOLD. The Jews have the bonds and all the paper.

At the right time, the harlot will destroy the present-day money system by calling in all the paper, and demanding gold. With no gold, the system falls. The Jews will be trapped and come into the alliance, and the harlot church will take over the whole world"

(Church Ages 314:1).

Let’s talk about gold for a few minutes:

On September 30, 1931, British Prime Minister and Fabian Socialist Ramsay MacDonald, took Britain off the gold standard in obedience to the "Committee of 300".

In 1933, as one of his first presidential acts, FDR declared a banking holiday and ordered all US citizens to turn in all gold in their possession to the Treasury. Roosevelt handed over the gold supply of the USA to the privately-owned tax-exempt Federal Reserve, as the Seal of Solomon was attached to the Shield of Britannia, and the Judaistic symbol of the Serpent was placed around her Trident.
(In "Confessions of A Monopolist" Frederick Howe wrote:

"These are the rules of big business. They have superseded the teaching of our parents, and are reducible to a simple maxim: Get a monopoly; let Society work for you; and remember that the best of all business is politics, for a legislative grant, franchise, subsidy or tax exemption is worth more than a Kimberly or Comstock lode, since it does not require any labor, either mental or physical, for its exploitation.")

Next gold was revalued to US$35/oz, causing a dollar devaluation to 59.06% of its former gold value, and creating a profit for the US Treasury of US$2.8 billions.
In 1944, Soviet agent Harry Dexter White, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, crafted the Bretton Woods agreement that created WB, IMF and GATT. These measures robbed the US of its monetary gold. Inflation was institutionalized and a mechanism was created for US tax dollars to finance steel mills and factories world-wide to compete with American industry (unprotected by tariffs).
In 1933 the U.S. owned 40% of the gold in the world. The debt of the US in 1963, was $1.25 trillion, and gold, subject to call by foreign nations, exceeded by $16 billions, the amount on hand at Fort Knox. By 1963, it was said that the Rothschilds had withdrawn all the gold from England and the United States to their coffers in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Holland. Remember that name.
In August 15, 1971, Nixon broke with the Bretton Woods agreements so carefully devised by the Bilderbergers and other elite planners and the US went off the gold standard. In 1973, gold hit US$850, after Russia invaded Afghanistan.
In December 1975 the Group of Ten agreed the BIS could be used to purchase IMF gold for central banks that wanted it. In 1976 the IMF announced that gold would be replaced by SDR as its reserve. Since then, the IMF has been auctioning off its gold holdings.

"Somebody" has been purchasing all of this gold. The power of our national governments was their control over exchange rates. Since this power is now in the hands of private interests like the WB and IMF, national governments have (already) fallen to the NWO.
Did you hear what I just said? FDR claimed:

"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

GK Chesterson wrote:

"The proper study of political mankind is the study of power elites, without which nothing that happens could be understood."
"These elites, preferring to work in private, are rarely found posed for photographers, and their influence upon events has therefore to be deduced from what is known of the agencies they employ."
"Their goal was to work through such agencies, and financial support received from one or other or all three big American foundations – Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Ford – provides an infallible means of recognizing them."

He said in candor:

"At times Capitalism and Communism would appear to be in conflict, but this writer is confident that their interests are in common and will eventually merge for one-world control. That policy outlined previously in Woodrow Wilson’s Point Six has never been dropped. Capitalism and Communism, in terms of power, are merely their twin mechanisms to destroy the sovereignty of christian nations.

They will merge them into the projected super-state, where their financial power will exercise full sway and masterdom through that monopoly of atomic energy which is being sought with such feverish and fiendish persistence."

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_blacknobil07.htm

These people earned the title of "Black" nobility from their ruthless lack of scruple. They employed murder, rape, kidnapping, assassination, robbery, and all manner of deceit on a grand scale, brooking no opposition to attaining their objectives. These all have immense wealth. And money is power.

The most powerful of the Black Nobility families are located in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Holland and Greece in that order. Their roots may be traced back to the Venetian oligarchs, who are of Khazar extraction, and married into these royal houses in the early part of the twelfth century. (Following a great Khazar victory over the Arabs, the future Emperor, Constantine V, married a Khazar princess and their son became Emperor Leo IV, also known as "Leo the Khazar". The Medecci popes, and Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) were Khazars, as is the present Pope, John Paul II. Not all Black Nobility are royal houses, and many of the royal families no longer have kingdoms. According to researcher and author Dr. John Coleman, a "Committee of 300" was established early in the eighteenth century, "although it did not take on its present form until around 1897", (when the China opium trade was legalised)

Documentary proof as to the existence of the Committee of 300 is not forthcoming, and it may be no more than a convenient phrase to describe certain key players. Socialist politician and financial adviser to the Rothschilds, Walter Rathenau, writing in the Wiener Press (24 December, 1921) said, "Only 300 men, each of whom knows all others govern the fate of Europe. They select their successors from their own entourage. These men have the means in their hands of putting an end to the form of State which they find unreasonable." Exactly six months after publication, Rathenau was assassinated.

Dr. Coleman’s work opens the door to further studies on named members of the ruling elite, particularly in America. Whereas the English have a long history and are very aware of their ancestry, certain families of "blue-bloods" in the United States that have historic ties with the British through blood and money.

These "noble" families are behind most if not all of the so-called pro-environmental movements that are actually intended to curb the population growth of ALL nations. Prince Philip and Prince Charles are the most visible symbols of this movement, and are a true part of this conspiracy to destroy industry and take the world back to a New Dark Age.

Most if not all the crowned and uncrowned heads of these dynasties enjoy huge incomes from ground rents. All favor Global 2000 Report to the President that’s calculated to end all industrial progress, and by famine, disease and wars, eliminate the excess population industry supports. All oppose nuclear power that can produce clean cheap electricity, the key to economic development and prosperity in the Third World. They ardently desire a return to the feudal system where they will once again be absolute rulers.

While professing Christianity, the oligarchical families, for the greater part, actually despise it in secret. Masonry provides their religious fulfillment. And without faith, they have no belief in reward or punishment and a world to come. They live for the here and now.

Many of these oligarchies are in the drug and arms trade through well-distanced intermediaries (like so many of the large banks).

In 1815 the Jesuits and their Freemason allies among the crowned heads of Europe held the Congress of Vienna, whereby Swiss neutrality (already sanctioned by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) was forever guaranteed; and no matter how many wars are provoked in which the common man has to do the fighting, the money of the Nobility in Switzerland should always be free from plunder. It’s part of Rothschild’s meticulous long-range planning, and why Switzerland exists to this day. But that doesn’t mean to say your money would be safe. Some US$280 billion p.a. in flight capital and drug money flows into the Swiss accounts of the Black Nobility.

The place of Freemasonry in the power structure of the Elites is quite evident as they carried through Adam Weishaupt’s conspiracy to avenge the Jesuits after their abolition in 1773 by short-lived Pope Clement XIV as "immoral and a menace to the Church and the Faith". By launching the French Revolution and directing Napoleon’s conquest of Catholic Europe, and by revolts against the church in Mexico and Latin America, they cut-off Vatican income.

Nathan Rothschild’s financing of Britain resulted in the defeat of Rome’s enemy Napoleon, (as well as being the source of his wealth and influence). Since Gregory XVI conferred a Papal decoration on Kalman Rothschild for loaning the Vatican five million pounds in a period of difficulty, the Rothschilds have been the fiscal agents of the Vatican. With Vatican interests at heart, the Rothschilds extended their financial and political dominion in the United States. The Vatican’s interest in the US was clearly revealed in the secret 1822 Treaty of Verona between Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia whereby the Jesuit Order pledged itself as the price of reinstatement to destroy "the works of Satan" it had established in setting-up, by revolution, representative governments such as the republics and "democracies" of France and the USA, replacing them with the only form of government approved by the church, rule by "divine right", as declared by the Vatican (Daniel 2:42-43; Revelation 17:12-13).

As Senator Robert Owen pointed out to the US Senate in 1916, the prime target to which the Vatican and the "Holy Alliance" directed the subversive and destructive activities of the Society of Jesus, is the United States, and other republics in the Western hemisphere. This plot, he claimed, was the target at which the Monroe Doctrine was directed. What the Senator did not realize is that the Monroe Doctrine protects the interests of "The City of London".

The Rothschild-Vatican cabal unsuccessfully attempted to gain control over the power of the purse in the US through the First and Second Bank of the United States. They were established under emergency powers granted to the President by the Constitution, as temporary institutions to tide the country through the periods of financial stress occasioned by the Revolutionary and 1812 Wars. But the aims of the conspirators to establish a banking monopoly were thwarted by the Constitution. Until the FED.

It is said the Black Nobility promised a neutral Germany if Soviet Russia allowed East and West Germany to reunite. And that Russia promised to see that all royal houses are restored to the rightful heirs if they decouple Europe from the American Alliance.

Imperial nobility enjoy a more elevated status than the nobilities of the German successor states and, indeed, of the Italian states. The descendants of Italian Holy Roman Empire titles have formed an Association to which all male line descendants of someone ennobled by Imperial Patent is entitled to belong. And the Principality of Liechtenstein has also claimed the ability to confirm a succession to Imperial titles, and has confirmed the right of a Spanish noble man to heir such a title for purposes of the Spanish law requiring the successor state to confirm that the claimant to a particular title is in fact the heir. Thus there is a remaining jurisdiction, even though no Imperial titles have been conferred since 1806.

In 1963, the Holy Roman Empire Association (Associzioni dei Nobili del Sacro Romano Impero) was established to unite male descendants in its membership who are invested with nobility of the Holy Roman Empire. It also includes a number of honorary members.

The Black Nobility belong to the "Committee of 300" that controls the UN. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has the power to veto the Vatican’s choice of any pope it selects. This may explain the untimely end to Pope John Paul I’s 33-day pontificate. The Prince has veto power because his family, the Habsburgs, are descended directly from the last Roman emperor. (The Habsburg Frederick III was the last emperor to be crowned in Rome; his great-grandson Charles V was the last to be crowned by a pope). This is the civil equivalent of the Pope’s claimed "apostolic succession" from Saint Peter.

Prince Bernhard is leader of the Black Families and he also claims descent from the House of David through the Merovingian dynasty, a claim that was acknowledged to be valid by the Carolingian dynasty that supplanted them, by other monarchs and by the Roman Church of that time. Thus he can truly say that he is "related to Jesus".

Prince Bernhard’s House of Orange had its origins in France. The Habsburgs are related through marriage with the Merovingians, who are said to have descended from the Tribe of Benjamin who went into exile following war with the other eleven Tribes — see Judges chapter 21. Exile took them to Arcadia in the central Peloponnese, Greece. Here they aligned with the Arcadian royal line and towards the advent of the Christian era, migrated up the Danube and Rhine, through marriage engendering the Sicambrian Franks — the immediate forebears of the Merovingians, who were ultimately of Semitic origin, and descendants of King Saul.

They are identified with the Spartans, and both books of Maccabees link the Spartans with the Jews. I Maccabees 12 tells of Jonathan sending a letter to the Lacedemonians (Spartan Greeks) asking for their help, since they were brethren. The Spartans replied, "It is found in writing, that the Lacedemonians and Jews are brethren and that they are of the stock of Abraham" (verse 21). It is assumed by some writers that this means the Spartans were Israelites, but the Spartans were not Israelites they were Edomites descended from Bela son of Beor and brother of Baalim, and king of Edom (Genesis 36:32; I Chronicles 1:43). Edom was the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham who sold his birthright, and bred his posterity off the Book of Life.

Early in the fifth century the Merovingians established themselves in what is now Belgium and northern France. There they adopted the Cabalistic pseudo-Christianity of the Cathars, a dualistic religion that holds there are two eternal gods, the god of Good and the god of Evil. It is revealing that this Luciferian belief is held by Masons of high degree and those who would be Masters of this world today, and who claim that Lucifer will ultimately be victorious.

Under Clovis I, who reigned from 481-511, the Franks converted to Roman Catholicism. Through him, Rome began to establish undisputed supremacy in Western Europe. In return for being the sword of Rome whereby the church would manifest her power and impose a spiritual dominion, Clovis was granted the title of "New Constantine" and to preside over a unified "Holy Roman Empire" based on the church and administered on the secular level in perpetuity by the Merovingian bloodline. Like "the sure mercies of David", this was a pact that could be modified, but not revoked, broken or betrayed.

They believe Jesus survived the cross and married Mary Magdalene who bore His son then lived in seclusion in the south of France. During the fifth century this lineage is said to have married with the royal line of the Franks engendering the Merovingian dynasty.

When in 496 the church pledged itself in perpetuity to the Merovingian bloodline it was presumably in full knowledge of their claimed identity. This would explain why Clovis was offered the status of Holy Roman Emperor, and why he was not created but only "crowned" king. In 754 the church clandestinely betrayed its pact.

The Prieure de Sion is the name of the secret order which created the Knight Templars as its military and administrative arm. (It should be remembered that the Knight Templars were the forerunners of Freemasonry). The Prieure de Sion continues to function through the centuries, acting in the shadows, and has orchestrated certain critical events in Western history.

It exists today and is still operative. Its declared objective is the restoration of the Merovingian dynasty and bloodline — to the throne not only of France, but of other European nations as well — a restoration that is sanctioned and justifiable, both legally and morally.

There is strong evidence to suggest that this order was the author of Freemasonry, and "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Sion", as well as the Rosicrucians. There is abundant evidence to suggest that Nostradamus was one of their secret agents, and there is no question that numerous quatrains which refer to the advent of "le Grand Monarch" indicate that this sovereign will ultimately derive from the Merovingian dynasty. Implying a double hegemony of the Papacy and the Empire, of the Vatican and of the Habsburgs. He frequently referred quite explicitly to the Knights Templars and to the house of Lorraine which is now synonymous with the Habsburgs.

Although deposed in the eighth century, the Merovingian bloodline did not become extinct. On the contrary it perpetuated itself in a direct line from Dagobert II and his son Sigisbert IV. By dint of dynastic alliances and intermarriages, this line came to include Godfroi de Bouillon, who captured Jerusalem in 1099, and various other noble and royal families, past and present — Blanchefort, Gisors, Saint-Clair (Sinclair in England), Montesquieu, Montpezat, Poher, Luisignan, Plantard and Habsburg-Lorraine. At present, the Merovingian bloodline enjoys a legitimate claim to its heritage.

The crown of Charlemagne — a replica of which is now part of the imperial Habsburg regalia — is said to have borne the inscription "Rex Salomon" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th Ed., 1972, Crown and Regalia, Fig. 2). And the "Spear of Destiny", which is said to have pierced Christ, reside today in the Treasure House, Vienna, awaiting another Holy Roman Emperor (The Rigby Joy of Knowledge Library. History and Culture I, 1977:160; The Holy Roman Empire, Friedrich Heer, p. 284). It is clear why the "Protocols of the Elders of Sion" speak of a new king "of the Holy seed of David", (Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln). Otto von Habsburg is today the titular Duke of Lorraine and King of Jerusalem.

The Prieure de Sion claim to hold the lost treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem plundered by Titus in AD70 which would be returned to Israel "when the time was right". This might explain why Rome must defer to the "kings of the earth" and how she will seal a covenant with the Jews who have long hidden behind the shield of baptism.

Prince Bernhard is in fact related to the Khazars, and therefore a Gentile. Revelation 2:9, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but you are rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."

Assisted by the CIA, Prince Bernhard has brought the hidden ruling body of the Illuminati into public knowledge as De Bilderberg Group. (Established in 1954, its headquarters is 1 Smidswater, Den Haag, Nederlands). At the heart of the Bilderberg Group are 39 members of the Illuminati chosen from three committees drawn from the members of all the secret groups that comprise the Illuminati: the Freemasons, the Vatican and the Black Nobility. This committee works year round in offices in Switzerland.

The Committee of 300 now call themselves World Government Founders for the NWO. A reference no doubt to their hereditary claim to the "Divine Right of Kings". It is imperative that we realize that privately, the Black Nobility refuse to ever recognize any government other than their own inherited and divine right to rule. They believe the United States still belongs to England. And work diligently behind the scenes to cause conditions whereby they might regain their crowns. Every royal and so-called noble dynasty past and present of Europe have seats on the Committee of 300, most often by nominees. There are just too many of these "royal" families for them each to have representatives on the Committee of 300. Precedence is determined by rank: first royal family members, then dukes, earls, marquises and lords, then finally "commoners", who usually get the title of "Sir". (Conspirator’s Hierarchy: The Committee of 300", Dr. John Coleman).

 

Revelation 17:12-13 – Part II

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/bb980306.htm

The Black Nobility


In this, the second of a four-part study on the real rulers of the world, in which we set out to discover how it can be possible that at the close of the Gentile dispensation "Rome has acquired nearly all the supplies of gold", as prophesied by Brother Branham, we’ll study the common thread between the nobility, the priesthood, and the merchants. In one word, it is "power" by privilege or right in perpetuity over the lesser beings in human society.

This concept of an arbitrarily "chosen people" is marked bold. It identifies the true authors of Nazi philosophy whom British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli described as, "the hidden hand behind government".

This common thread could also be called "the trail of the serpent" because it is a history of wisdom against faith that may be traced from the present-day "mystery Babylons" of Hollywood and Rome that have corrupted faith and morals, to Nebuchadnezar’s Babylon which hybrid the faith and morals of captive Judah, and Nimrod’s Babel, another scene of religious and moral impurity. From Babel it goes back to the original sin and the fall in the garden of Eden.

These people have two things in common. Carnality and human wisdom in place of the faith of Jesus Christ, and the Babylonian religion, or learning. Perhaps the majority of these people are related to the serpent by blood, as well as by cunning. Computer genealogies of dynastic families uncover interesting links with other families in the past, disclosing hidden criminal interests that continue to represent the main source of income of these pillars of society to the present time. The opium trade and usury are two such examples.

It’s well to remember that all Scripture has a compound meaning as we read the Words of Jesus. "I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you" (Revelation 3:9).

Brother Branham explained how in the Spiritual, Jesus was speaking of those who claimed to be in the election: Christians circumcised in heart and ear and full of the Spirit, when in fact they were impersonators of Christianity. He said, "It’s a principle of Satan to organize and claim originality and therefore be entitled to special rights and privileges" (Church Ages, 310:1).

Paul said in Romans 9:6-8, "Not as though God’s Word had failed, for they are not all elect Israelites, who are of born of Jacob: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all heirs of the Promise: because It was to come through the line of Isaac. So the heirs of the Promise are not children from Abraham’s loins, but an election from Isaac through Jacob".

And looking at the natural, over ninety percent of those "who say they are Jews", are not. They lie because they have no kinship to Abraham, Isaac, and/or Jacob by blood. (Check Encyclopedias Judaica and Britannica, Jewish and Universal Jewish Encyclopedias). And certainly not by faith. True Israelites who are Hebrews call them Ashkenazim or Khazars.

"What’s that got to do with the Bride of Christ, Brother Anthony?"

Brother Branham said, "If a person can’t see the revelation of the true Oneness of the godhead, Scriptural water baptism, and serpent seed, just walk away from them. You know the election’s off". And didn’t Jesus assure us that the Holy Spirit would reveal to those who are born-again,"things that will come to pass in their day?"

How are you going to defend yourself? How are you going to fight, if you don’t know your enemy? This is the children’s bread. The enemy is anything off the Word.

(This transcript of the teaching contains far more detail than was delivered in Church, otherwise I’d be a "marathon" preacher. You’d need to bring a cut lunch to church. Or "smelling salts" in order to stay awake. There’s no necessity for Christians to memorize all of this material but the historical and current background is provided for any who may care to study deeper into some particular aspect).

We’re teaching on Revelation 17:12-13, and a people known as "the Black Nobility". These people earned the title of "Black" nobility from their ruthless lack of scruple. They employed murder, rape, kidnapping, assassination, robbery, and all manner of deceit on a grand scale, brooking no opposition to attaining their objectives. These all have immense wealth. And money is power.

The most powerful of the Black Nobility families are located in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Holland and Greece in that order. Their roots may be traced back to the Venetian oligarchs, who are of Khazar extraction, and married into these royal houses in the early part of the twelfth century. (Following a great Khazar victory over the Arabs, the future Emperor, Constantine V, married a Khazar princess and their son became Emperor Leo IV, also known as "Leo the Khazar". The Medecci popes, and Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) were Khazars, as is the present Pope, John Paul II. Not all Black Nobility are royal houses, and many of the royal families no longer have kingdoms. According to researcher and author Dr. John Coleman, a "Committee of 300" was established early in the eighteenth century, "although it did not take on its present form until around 1897", (when the China opium trade was legalised) Theodore Herzl organized this Jewish super-organization at the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland. Its purpose was to manage the political power of Rothschild’s huge kingdom which was rapidly absorbing the wealth of the Gentiles and to realize the Talmudic perversion that the "Jews" were the "chosen people" and that God had promised them that they should rule the world (Rothschild Money Trust, George Armstrong, pp.24-25). It includes the Queen of Holland, the Queen of Denmark and all the royal families of Europe, or Black Nobility. It’s head today is Queen Elizabeth II.

Documentary proof as to the existence of the "Committee of 300" is not forthcoming, and it may be no more than a convenient phrase to describe certain key players. Socialist politician and financial adviser to the Rothschilds, Walter Rathenau, writing in the Wiener Press (24 December, 1921) said, "Only 300 men, each of whom knows all others govern the fate of Europe. They select their successors from their own entourage. These men have the means in their hands of putting an end to the form of State which they find unreasonable." Exactly six months after publication, Rathenau was assassinated.

Dr. Coleman’s work opens the door to further studies on named members of the ruling elite, particularly in America. Whereas the English have a long history and are very aware of their ancestry, certain families of "blue-bloods" in the United States that have historic ties with the British through blood and money.

These "noble" families are behind most if not all of the so-called pro-environmental movements that are actually intended to curb the population growth of ALL nations. Prince Philip and Prince Charles are the most visible symbols of this movement, and are a true part of this conspiracy to destroy industry and take the world back to a New Dark Age.

Most if not all the crowned and uncrowned heads of these dynasties enjoy huge incomes from ground rents. All favor Global 2000 Report to the President that’s calculated to end all industrial progress, and by famine, disease and wars, eliminate the excess population industry supports. All oppose nuclear power that can produce clean cheap electricity, the key to economic development and prosperity in the Third World. They ardently desire a return to the feudal system where they will once again be absolute rulers.

While professing Christianity, the oligarchical families, for the greater part, actually despise it in secret. Masonry provides their religious fulfillment. And without faith, they have no belief in reward or punishment and a world to come. They live for the here and now.

Many of these oligarchies are in the drug and arms trade through well-distanced intermediaries (like so many of the large banks).

The Masonic-controlled Swiss banks owe their existence to these families. In 1815 the Jesuits and their Freemason allies among the crowned heads of Europe held the Congress of Vienna, whereby Swiss neutrality (already sanctioned by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) was forever guaranteed; and no matter how many wars are provoked in which the common man has to do the fighting, the money of the Nobility in Switzerland should always be free from plunder. It’s part of Rothschild’s meticulous long-range planning, and why Switzerland exists to this day. But that doesn’t mean to say your money would be safe. Some US$280 billion p.a. in flight capital and drug money flows into the Swiss accounts of the Black Nobility.

The place of Freemasonry in the power structure of the Elites is quite evident as they carried through Adam Weishaupt’s conspiracy to avenge the Jesuits after their abolition in 1773 by short-lived Pope Clement XIV as "immoral and a menace to the Church and the Faith". By launching the French Revolution and directing Napoleon’s conquest of Catholic Europe, and by revolts against the church in Mexico and Latin America, they cut-off Vatican income.

Nathan Rothschild’s financing of Britain resulted in the defeat of Rome’s enemy Napoleon, (as well as being the source of his wealth and influence). Since Gregory XVI conferred a Papal decoration on Kalman Rothschild for loaning the Vatican five million pounds in a period of difficulty, the Rothschilds have been the fiscal agents of the Vatican. With Vatican interests at heart, the Rothschilds extended their financial and political dominion in the United States. The Vatican’s interest in the US was clearly revealed in the secret 1822 Treaty of Verona between Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia whereby the Jesuit Order pledged itself as the price of reinstatement to destroy "the works of Satan" it had established in setting-up, by revolution, representative governments such as the republics and "democracies" of France and the USA, replacing them with the only form of government approved by the church, rule by "divine right", as declared by the Vatican (Daniel 2:42-43; Revelation 17:12-13).

As Senator Robert Owen pointed out to the US Senate in 1916, the prime target to which the Vatican and the "Holy Alliance" directed the subversive and destructive activities of the Society of Jesus, is the United States, and other republics in the Western hemisphere. This plot, he claimed, was the target at which the Monroe Doctrine was directed. What the Senator did not realize is that the Monroe Doctrine protects the interests of "The City of London".

The Rothschild-Vatican cabal unsuccessfully attempted to gain control over the power of the purse in the US through the First and Second Bank of the United States. They were established under emergency powers granted to the President by the Constitution, as temporary institutions to tide the country through the periods of financial stress occasioned by the Revolutionary and 1812 Wars. But the aims of the conspirators to establish a banking monopoly were thwarted by the Constitution. Until the FED.

It is said the Black Nobility promised a neutral Germany if Soviet Russia allowed East and West Germany to reunite. And that Russia promised to see that all royal houses are restored to the rightful heirs if they decouple Europe from the American Alliance.

Can you see this in the Bible? I can. Read Revelation 17:16.

Imperial nobility enjoy a more elevated status than the nobilities of the German successor states and, indeed, of the Italian states. The descendants of Italian Holy Roman Empire titles have formed an Association to which all male line descendants of someone ennobled by Imperial Patent is entitled to belong. And the Principality of Liechtenstein has also claimed the ability to confirm a succession to Imperial titles, and has confirmed the right of a Spanish noble man to heir such a title for purposes of the Spanish law requiring the successor state to confirm that the claimant to a particular title is in fact the heir. Thus there is a remaining jurisdiction, even though no Imperial titles have been conferred since 1806.

In 1963, the Holy Roman Empire Association (Associzioni dei Nobili del Sacro Romano Impero) was established to unite male descendants in its membership who are invested with nobility of the Holy Roman Empire. It also includes a number of honorary members.

According to William Cooper’s book "Behold A Pale Horse", which I am coming more and more to appreciate, all nations have agreed to relinquish sovereignty to the Pope and submit future problems to the Vatican for solution once the NWO is established. This I have been unable to confirm but in general, this is what will happen.

"All nations" can only refer to the Black Nobility who have agreed to relinquish sovereignty to Rome in return for the restoration of royal power under a NWO. This was foretold in Daniel 7:20 and Revelation 17:12-13, "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast".

These ten horns were ten kings, represented in Daniel 2 by the ten toes of the image king Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. They are the royal houses into which the old Roman Empire was divided after the fall of the last emperor Romulus Augustus, in AD476. The were Alemani (Germany), Franks (France), the Burgundians (Switzerland), the Suevi (Portugal), the Anglo-Saxons (Britain), the Visigoths (Spain), the Lombards (Italy), Vandals, Ostrogoths and Heruli. The last three were German tribes destroyed by the Pope for refusing to become Roman Catholic `Christians’ (The False Prophet, the Beast and the Times of the Gentiles).

Although their thrones will not be returned, their royal authority as kings will be recognized by Rome so long as she rules the NWO. Revelation 17:13, "These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast".

This explains Brother Branham’s prophecy about Rome CONTROLLING the gold, "the whore, Mystery Babylon is seated on the beast. She is controlling the last, or fourth empire. This Roman Church is doing that. With the world church system under her, Rome will be controlling, and this image (church system) will be obedient to Rome because Rome CONTROLS the GOLD of the world. Thus all the people have to belong to the world church system or be at the mercy of the elements for they cannot buy or sell without the mark of the beast in the hand or head" (Church Ages, 376:1).

The Black Nobility belong to the "Committee of 300" that controls the UN. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has the power to veto the Vatican’s choice of any pope it selects. This may explain the untimely end to Pope John Paul I’s 33-day pontificate. The Prince has veto power because his family, the Habsburgs, are descended directly from the last Roman emperor. (The Habsburg Frederick III was the last emperor to be crowned in Rome; his great-grandson Charles V was the last to be crowned by a pope). This is the civil equivalent of the Pope’s claimed "apostolic succession" from Saint Peter.

Prince Bernhard is leader of the Black Families and he also claims descent from the House of David through the Merovingian dynasty, a claim that was acknowledged to be valid by the Carolingian dynasty that supplanted them, by other monarchs and by the Roman Church of that time. Thus he can truly say that he is "related to Jesus".

Prince Bernhard’s House of Orange had its origins in France. The Habsburgs are related through marriage with the Merovingians, who are said to have descended from the Tribe of Benjamin who went into exile following war with the other eleven Tribes — see Judges chapter 21. Exile took them to Arcadia in the central Peloponnese, Greece. Here they aligned with the Arcadian royal line and towards the advent of the Christian era, migrated up the Danube and Rhine, through marriage engendering the Sicambrian Franks — the immediate forebears of the Merovingians, who were ultimately of Semitic or Israelite origin, and descendants of King Saul.

They are identified with the Spartans, and both books of Maccabees link the Spartans with the Jews. I Maccabees 12 tells of Jonathan sending a letter to the Lacedemonians (Spartan Greeks) asking for their help, since they were brethren. The Spartans replied, "It is found in writing, that the Lacedemonians and Jews are brethren and that they are of the stock of Abraham" (verse 21). It is assumed by some writers that this means the Spartans were Israelites, but the Spartans were not Israelites they were Edomites descended from Bela son of Beor and brother of Baalim, and king of Edom (Genesis 36:32; I Chronicles 1:43). Edom was the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham who sold his birthright, and bred his posterity off the Book of Life.

Early in the fifth century the Merovingians established themselves in what is now Belgium and northern France. There they adopted the Cabalistic pseudo-Christianity of the Cathars, a dualistic religion that holds there are two eternal gods, the god of Good and the god of Evil. It is revealing that this Luciferian belief is held by Masons of high degree and those who would be Masters of this world today, and who claim that Lucifer will ultimately be victorious.

Under Clovis I, who reigned from 481-511, the Franks converted to Roman Catholicism. Through him, Rome began to establish undisputed supremacy in Western Europe. In return for being the sword of Rome whereby the church would manifest her power and impose a spiritual dominion, Clovis was granted the title of "New Constantine" and to preside over a unified "Holy Roman Empire" based on the church and administered on the secular level in perpetuity by the Merovingian bloodline. Like "the sure mercies of David", this was a pact that could be modified, but not revoked, broken or betrayed.

They believe Jesus survived the cross and married Mary Magdalene who bore His son then lived in seclusion in the south of France. During the fifth century this lineage is said to have married with the royal line of the Franks engendering the Merovingian dynasty.

When in 496 the church pledged itself in perpetuity to the Merovingian bloodline it was presumably in full knowledge of their claimed identity. This would explain why Clovis was offered the status of Holy Roman Emperor, and why he was not created but only "crowned" king. In 754 the church clandestinely betrayed its pact.

The Prieure de Sion is the name of the secret order which recent legend claims created the Knights Templars as its military and administrative arm. (It should be remembered that the Knights Templars were the forerunners of Freemasonry). According to fiction, the Prieure de Sion continues to function through the centuries, acting in the shadows, and has orchestrated certain critical events in Western history.

There is abundant evidence to certify that the Prieure de Sion is a hoax. Its promoters claim it exists today, that it is still operative and that its declared objective is the restoration of the Merovingian dynasty and bloodline – to the throne not only of France, but of other European nations as well – a restoration that is sanctioned and justifiable, both legally and morally. ("The Wandering Jew" by Eugene Sue provides a good background to the hatred between the Roman Catholic church and the Merovingians).

Australian researcher Peter Myers (myers@cyberone.com.au) in debunking the Priory of Sion and the Da Vinci Code suggests that the myth of the Priory of Sion has been promoted as a rival to the Protocols of Zion. "Anyone who argues that the Protocols of Zion is authentic is stigmatised. But if you instead argue that the rival "Priory of Sion" myth is authentic, your books and movies can be best-sellers" (e.g. Holy Blood, Holy Grail" by Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown).

"The real conspiracy-hunters aren’t allowed to sell their books except by mail-order, nor air their views in movies. How convenient that a rival to The Protocols of Zion, the Priory of Sion, is available to mislead the people".

Although deposed in the eighth century, the Merovingian bloodline did not become extinct. On the contrary it perpetuated itself in a direct line from Dagobert II and his son Sigisbert IV. By dint of dynastic alliances and intermarriages, this line came to include Godfroi de Bouillon, who captured Jerusalem in 1099, and various other noble and royal families, past and present — Blanchefort, Gisors, Saint-Clair (Sinclair in England), Montesquieu, Montpezat, Poher, Luisignan, Plantard and Habsburg-Lorraine. At present, the Merovingian bloodline enjoys a legitimate claim to its heritage.

The crown of Charlemagne — a replica of which is now part of the imperial Habsburg regalia — is said to have borne the inscription "Rex Salomon" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th Ed., 1972, Crown and Regalia, Fig. 2). And the "Spear of Destiny", which is said to have pierced Christ, reside today in the Treasure House, Vienna, awaiting another Holy Roman Emperor (The Rigby Joy of Knowledge Library. History and Culture I, 1977:160; The Holy Roman Empire, Friedrich Heer, p. 284). It is clear why the "Protocols of the Elders of Sion" speak of a new king "of the holy seed of David", Otto von Habsburg is today the titular Duke of Lorraine and King of Jerusalem.

Prince Bernhard is in fact related to the Khazars, and therefore a Gentile. Revelation 2:9, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but you are rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."

Assisted by the CIA, Prince Bernhard has brought the hidden ruling body of the Illuminati into public knowledge as De Bilderberg Group. (Established in 1954, its headquarters is 1 Smidswater, Den Haag, Nederlands). At the heart of the Bilderberg Group are 39 members of the Illuminati chosen from three committees drawn from the members of all the secret groups that comprise the Illuminati: the Freemasons, the Vatican and the Black Nobility. This committee works year round in offices in Switzerland.

The Committee of 300 now call themselves World Government Founders for the NWO. A reference no doubt to their hereditary claim to the "Divine Right of Kings". It is imperative that we realize that privately, the Black Nobility refuse to ever recognize any government other than their own inherited and divine right to rule. They believe the United States still belongs to England. And work diligently behind the scenes to cause conditions whereby they might regain their crowns. Every royal and so-called noble dynasty past and present of Europe have seats on the Committee of 300, most often by nominees. There are just too many of these "royal" families for them each to have representatives on the Committee of 300. Precedence is determined by rank: first royal family members, then dukes, earls, marquises and lords, then finally "commoners", who usually get the title of "Sir". (Conspirator’s Hierarchy: The Committee of 300", Dr. John Coleman).

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Hospitallers, or Knights of Malta, is a Black Nobility order which operates as an agent for British Intelligence in various parts of the world, and as a cover for drug-smuggling operations, notably the drugs for diamonds part of the trade. (The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, John Coleman; Dope, Inc., Senater Lyndon LaRouche).

They have their own Constitution and are sworn to work toward the establishment of a NWO with the Pope at its head. Although the Order no longer exercises territorial control, it issues passports and its sovereign status is recognized by the Holy See and scores of Roman Catholic states. Membership in certain ranks is confined to Roman Catholics and many knights have diplomatic immunity.

The High Master of the Teutonic Knights the Grand Prior of Germany of the Order of Saint John (Malta), and the Master of the Knights of the Johanniter Order also had seats in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, ranking as Princes of the Empire.

On 26 November 1963, an Alliance was consolidated with the signing of a joint declaration between the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Most Venerable Order, at St John’s Gate, London. One more rapprochement between Rome and the Protestants.

Allegedly among their number are Australia’s Governor General, Sir William Dean; NSW Police Commissioner, Peter Ryan; George Bush, Alexander Haig; President of Canadian Pacific, John Gilmer and co-directors W.E. McLaughlan, Chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada, J.P.W. Ostiguy, and Sir Michael Turner, ex-Chairman of Hongkong & Shanghai Bank; Michael Sandberg now Chairman of the Bank; Charles, Sam, and Allan Bronfman; the late Joseph Kennedy; Henry Kissinger; Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve; Collin Powell of Gulf War fame, and James Wolfensohn of the World Bank.

According to Brother Branham, " . . . the church system of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant in COMING TOGETHER will CONTROL the WHOLE WEALTH of the world system and force the whole earth into its religious trap, or will kill them, by refusing them the privilege of buying and selling whereby they would make a living. This will be accomplished simply, for the harlot’s daughters are all but gone back to her. In the meantime, Rome has ACQUIRED nearly all the supplies of GOLD. The Jews have the bonds and all the paper. At the right time, the harlot will destroy the present-day money system by calling in all the paper, and demanding gold. With no gold, the system falls. The Jews will be trapped and come into the alliance, and the harlot church will take over the whole world" (Church Ages 314:1).

Let’s talk about gold for a few minutes:

On September 30, 1931, British Prime Minister and Fabian Socialist Ramsay MacDonald, took Britain off the gold standard in obedience to the Committee of 300. In 1933, as one of his first presidential acts, FDR declared a banking holiday and ordered all US citizens to turn in all gold in their possession to the Treasury. Roosevelt handed over the gold supply of the USA to the privately-owned tax-exempt Federal Reserve, as the Seal of Solomon was attached to the Shield of Britannia, and the Judaistic symbol of the Serpent was placed around her Trident.

(In "Confessions of A Monopolist" Frederick Howe wrote: "These are the rules of big business. They have superseded the teaching of our parents, and are reducible to a simple maxim: Get a monopoly; let Society work for you; and remember that the best of all business is politics, for a legislative grant, franchise, subsidy or tax exemption is worth more than a Kimberly or Comstock lode, since it does not require any labor, either mental or physical, for its exploitation").

Next gold was revalued to US$35.00/oz, causing a dollar devaluation to 59.06% of its former gold value, and creating a profit for the US Treasury of US$2.8 billions.

In 1944, Soviet agent Harry Dexter White, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, crafted the Bretton Woods agreement that created the WB, IMF and GATT. These measures robbed the US of its monetary gold. Inflation was institutionalized and a mechanism was created for US tax dollars to finance steel mills and factories world-wide to compete with American industry (unprotected by tariffs).

In 1933 the U.S. owned 40% of the gold in the world. The debt of the US in 1963, was $1.25 trillion, and gold, subject to call by foreign nations, exceeded by $16 billions, the amount on hand at Fort Knox. By 1963, it was said that the Rothschilds had withdrawn all the gold from England and the United States to their coffers in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Holland. Remember that name.

In August 15, 1971, Nixon broke with the Bretton Woods agreements so carefully devised by the Bilderbergers and other elite planners and the US went off the gold standard. In 1973, gold hit US$850, after Russia invaded Afghanistan.

In December 1975 the Group of Ten agreed the BIS could be used to purchase IMF gold for central banks that wanted it. In 1976 the IMF announced that gold would be replaced by SDR as its reserve. Since then, the IMF has been auctioning off its gold holdings.

"Somebody" has been purchasing all of this gold. The power of our national governments was their control over exchange rates. Since this power is now in the hands of private interests like the WB and IMF, national governments have (already) fallen to the NWO. ("In 1952 . . . Bishop McShea, for the papal representative, admitted the purchase of gold by the Vatican . . . He added that a large number of papal ingots were held in the Federal reserve Vaults in New York" — Avro Manhattan, The Vatican Billions, p. 154).

Did you hear what I just said? FDR claimed: "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way".

GK Chesterson wrote: "The proper study of political mankind is the study of power elites, without which nothing that happens could be understood."

"These elites, preferring to work in private, are rarely found posed for photographers, and their influence upon events has therefore to be deduced from what is known of the agencies they employ."

"Their goal was to work through such agencies, and financial support received from one or other or all three big American foundations — Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Ford — provides an infallible means of recognizing them."

He said in candor: "At times Capitalism and Communism would appear to be in conflict, but this writer is confident that their interests are in common and will eventually merge for one-world control. That policy outlined previously in Woodrow Wilson’s Point Six has never been dropped. Capitalism and Communism, in terms of power, are merely their twin mechanisms to destroy the sovereignty of Christian nations. They will merge them into the projected super-state, where their financial power will exercise full sway and masterdom through that monopoly of atomic energy which is being sought with such feverish and fiendish persistence. They are selling us into slavery and using our material resources for their own nefarious world-wide purposes. To say that in exposing their plans for world domination we are playing the Kremlin’s game is to act as an unconscious agent of Christendom’s betrayal."

Proverbs 22:7 says: "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the lenders slave."

Francis Bacon said: "If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master."

John Ruskin stated: "Borrowers are nearly always ill spenders, and it is with lent money that all evil is mainly done and all unjust war protracted."

Peter Cooper suggested "The Dealers in money have always, since the days of Moses, been the dangerous class."

Members of the Committee of 300 are also drawn from the Anglican Church. Archbishop Runcie was hand-picked by Queen Elizabeth. Some other institutions and organizations represented include the WCC, Universal Zionism, Universal Freemasonry, Trilateral Commission, The Round Table, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, The Order of Skull and Bones, Christian Fundamentalism, Bilderbergers, the Council on Foreign Relations and of course, the Rothschilds.

The play has already been written by the elites who are awaiting suitable conditions to bring it to fruition. We are accounted but dumb beasts in their circus. An item from the Internet stated, "In July 1996, Amschel Rothschild was murdered – just as he was about to become the new head of the Rothschild worldwide banking empire, tied to the Vatican".

Depopulation

Following World War II the elites were told that by or shortly after 2000, the total collapse of civilization as we know it, and the possible extinction of the human race could occur. They were informed that the one thing that could stop these predicted events would be a severe reduction of the human population, cessation or retardation of technological and economic growth, elimination of meat in the human diet, strict control of future human production, a total commitment to preserving the environment, colonization of space or a paradigm shift in man’s evolutionary consciousness.

The baby boom caused this consternation. At this point in history the birth rate so exceeded the death rate that world population doubled between 1957 and 1990. This came about by modern medicine, better diets, pure drinking water, heat in winter and proper disposal of sewage. The elites decided that the common man could not be trusted with individual freedom.

The first study was made during WW II to determine the impact of returning soldiers on the economy. The result mobilized the ruling elite. A second study in 1957 confirmed the results of the first. The conclusion was that civilization as we know it would collapse shortly after 2000 unless population was seriously curtailed. A third study by the Club of Rome, ending in 1968, produced the same result. They were commissioned to build a computer model of the world to predict the outcome of corrections made to social and economic structures by the elect. The Club of Rome (which is controlled by Europe’s Black Nobility) was also asked to develop a computer model of a NWO.

It was determined that an immediate attack on the problem would involve lowering the birth rate and increasing the death rate.

To lower the birth rate, various positive birth-control methods from IUD to the pill, sterilization, abortion, and hysterectomy were developed and implemented. The Women’s Liberation movement started advocating "pro-choice",and homosexuality was encouraged.

Still population increased. Therefore, the death rate had to be raised. The Club of Rome’s Dr. Aurelio Peccei advocated developing a microbe that would attack the auto-immune system and thus render the development of a vaccine impossible. Orders were given to develop the microbe and to develop a prophylactic and a cure. The microbe would be used against the general population and would be introduced by vaccine. The prophylactic was to be used by the elite. The cure would be administered to the survivors when it was decided that enough people had died. It will be announced as newly developed when in fact it existed from the beginning. This plan is part of Global 2000.

Funding was obtained from the US Congress H.B. 15090 (1969), where $10 million was given to DOD’s 1970 budget. Since large populations were to be decimated, the ruling elite decided to target the "undesirable" elements of society. Specially targeted were the black, the Hispanic, and homosexual populations. According to the late Dr. Robert Strecker, "Without a cure the entire black population of Africa will be dead within 15 years. Some countries are well beyond epidemic status". Dr. Strecker has since become an apparent suicide (W.H.O. Murdered Africa, Dr. William Douglass).

The US population was infected in 1978 with the hepatitis B vaccine. Dr. Wolf Szmuness, the ex-roommate of Pope John Paul II, during student-days, was the mastermind behind the November 1978, October 1979 and March 1980 to October 1981 experimental hepatitis B vaccine trials conducted by the Centers for Disease Control in New York, San Francisco and four other American Cities. He loosed the plague of AIDS upon the American people. The advertisements for participants specifically asked for "promiscuous homosexual male volunteers". What ever causes AIDS was in the vaccine which was manufactured and bottled in Phoenix. (Aids as a Weapon of War, Dr. W. Douglass; AIDS:A Doctor’s Note on the Man-Made Theory, Dr. Alan Cantrell Jr.).

The order was given by the Policy Committee of The Bilderberger Group based in Switzerland. The Vatican is a member of this Group and Dr. Szmuness is one of the present Pope’s oldest acquaintances (The "Gay" Experiment,Dr. Alan Cantrell Jr.).

Our Medical Associations are secret societies not yet quite purged of healers rather than drug pushers for chemical industries and drug houses. Our lawmakers have marked natural alternatives for extinction. Industrial medicines alter the molecular structures of naturally occurring remedies and preventatives in order to gain patents. The altered substances are often more dangerous than the illness they are designed to combat. Often they are infected with substances alien to the well-being of patients. Mass inoculations and vaccination programs will affect babies from the womb (SIDS), and will infect the parents. Whole national immune systems are to be wiped-out in the process of eliminating unwanted population.

Other policies dictated that Third World nations take positive and effective steps to decrease their populations and hold them in check or receive no US aid. Those Third World nations that refused found civil war broke out, with rebels trained, armed and financed by the CIA. This is why many more civilians, (especially young fertile females) than soldiers have been killed.

George Orwell was not ahead of time calling his warning, "1984". Because the State Department’s Office of Population Affairs (OPA) was established by Henry Kissinger in 1975. In classic "newspeak", it seeks to depopulate the world by 2 billion through war, famine, disease and any other means necessary.

According to Thomas Ferguson, the Latin American case officer for the OPA, "The Shah of Iran (whose "illness" became fatal once he landed on the US Air Base) was overthrown because his ambitious industrialization program encouraged migration towards overcrowded cities such as Teheran, and because he was working with the Hunt brothers to free the State of Texas from the Federal Reserve and International Bankers".

The Shah virtually put an end to the immensely lucrative opium trade being conducted out of Iran by the British monopoly. Under the Ayatollah Khomeini, opium production soared, and industrial development programs were disbanded. He encouraged half Teheran’s 6 million population to relocate. According to Ferguson, "Iran’s war with Iraq really pleased the OPA".

Marcos fell victim to the same policy. He was deposed when he refused to give the International Bankers control in perpetuity over the resources of the Philippine Islands.

In ensuring that population falls in El Salvador, Ferguson said, "The OPA learned a lot from its experiences in Vietnam. We studied the thing. That area was also overpopulated and a problem. We thought that the war would lower population and we were wrong". To reduce population "quickly", said Ferguson, "You have to pull all the males into the fighting and kill significant numbers of fertile, child-bearing females".

In other measures, tobacco fields in the US have been fertilized with the radioactive tailings from uranium mines, resulting in a tremendous increase in the incidence of lip, throat, and lung cancer.

Malathion, a nerve gas developed by the Nazis during World War II, has been sprayed heavily over population centers in California "to kill the Mediterranean fruit fly". Contractors from Arizona have sprayed population centers rather than the orchards.

And in Colorado, dioxin is turning up in the drinking water. Where does it come from? ("Behold A Pale Horse", William Cooper).

Eighty years ago, people consumed more salt, fat, cholesterol and everything else that is today blamed for heart disease, but this disease was then rare. If the problem is diet, it is associated with the manner in which the food is grown rather than the type of food we eat.

Radioactive leaks into the atmosphere and into ground water have sometimes been found to be purposeful. Legionnaire’s disease, an experimental bacteria, was released into the wind on San Francisco Bay from a government-operated boat. So how did it come to Sydney? It is suspected that the San Francisco Bay area was also subjected to large doses of radiation to test the effects upon a population over a prolonged period of time. Why San Francisco? Because it has the largest homosexual population in America, and they have been targeted for extermination. What about Sydney?

Many people are going to die between now and the year 2,000. Cash will disappear, and with it most crime. Inheritance and private property will be abolished, as will the individual home and family life and ALL religions established and existing at the time, along with patriotism and all ordered national governments so that the Luciferian ideology of totalitarianism may be imposed on mankind. Technological development and economic growth will be severely cut back. Man will be required to live like his ancestors. Man will come once again to conform to the law of the survival of the fittest. Many things we now take for granted, like motor cars, will be absent. The old, the infirm and the handicapped will be eliminated, and the unproductive killed.

This is the age old plan of the Illuminati, (once based in Germany in the House of Rothschild, but now in New York: presumably under the headship of the Rockefellers.

Was it a coincidence I wonder, that Rockefeller was among many of the world’s most powerful people who attended the Bohemian Club’s annual get-together at Boho Grove in 1983 where Boho recognized Queen Elizabeth sitting on a pyramid (the Illuminati symbol), calling her "the Queen of Babylon", which she acknowledged. Quite a boast for these Druids, Masons and Satanists who feel that they can come out of the closet. Long-time Boho, David Rockefeller, has his offices in Rockefeller Plaza, suite 3600 – six sixes).

Henry Kissinger said, "Everything is going to be different. Many will suffer. A NWO will emerge. It will be a much better world for those who survive. In the long run life will be better. The world we have wanted will be a reality".

Economic Contraction = Control

Economic contraction due to the Maastricht Treaty, IMF, and World Bank conditionalities is keeping developed nations open to control by the global financial establishment.

National development and prosperity are antithetical to global financial control. The highly leveraged speculation against Asian currencies clearly shows that the "establishment" aims to contract Asian economies.

Emission reductions will contract financially stressed national economies even further, facilitating control over the nations thus affected. There is nothing surer.

The change-over to carcinogenic unleaded fuel and imposition of emission controls over the safer leaded fuel-driven vehicles will hit the wage-earner with crippling force. Public transport is not available, nor is it a viable proposition to many, and small cash-strapped farmers will cease producing food.

We are being told that we must reduce industrial emissions which, "experts" say, are causing "global warming". The fact that 96% of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere is generated by volcanic and marine activity, and that the major greenhouse gas is water vapor, is suppressed. We are lied-to when they claim "overturning" of the atmosphere rather than "radiation" is the principal cooling mechanism of the earth. Their purpose is to retard industry which is genocide by policy.

Volcanoes and the oceans produce nitrous oxides and methane and a whole host of other gases, including CFC’s at a far greater rate than human activity can produce them. The "Green-Hoax Effect" is one of many dirty tricks to destroy private enterprise and channel production or profits into the hands of a monopoly — the holder of patent rights — by the silent weapon of environmental legislation.

The fact that the "ozone holes" were discovered in 1954, before the widespread use of CFC’s was suppressed at the Montreal Climate Conference. The relatively non-toxic CFC’s were banned as a result of the falsification and suppression of science, and HCFC-123 and 124, which were both known to be very toxic, were rushed into production without the usual testing process which is required for chemicals of this nature. These chemicals produce liver damage, and acute hepatitis but they also generate huge profits for DuPont who allegedly hold world wide patents.

Economic contraction translates into loss of human lives and helps the vested interests to obtain absolute control over the world’s resources, and nations. Recent events in Cambodia, Central Africa, the Gulf and Bosnia have shown that human lives are cheap. After all, "population" conferences are all about depopulation. The WB allowed Bosnia to be destroyed in a genocidal war by depriving it of any aid until it had agreed to pay the foreign debts of former Yugoslavia.

In his classic book, "1984", George Orwell warned us of the coming NWO and what he called "newspeak" and "doublethink" where what was said was the opposite of what was meant. History was constantly rewritten. We live in the reality of his warning.

Turning their backs upon faith and the answers in God’s Word, like the new birth, the elites have long studied "alternative" ways in which to preserve peace in a NWO. As usual, their solution is one of Hegelian deception of the masses by first creating a problem, and then presenting the world with its solution. At a price.

Reader’s Digest reported that a Rockefeller once said, "Pollution might bring the planet together". It’s now vehemently claimed that this report was simply a "hoax". But as Henry Ford said, "it sure explains what’s going on . . ."

Iron Mountain, near the town of Hudson, is "an underground nuclear hideout for hundreds of large American corporations". Early in 1963 the exact form of the Iron Mountain 15-member Peace Study was worked out at a time when"big changes in military spending were planned with plant closures, relocations, and so forth."

This peace the elites plan will eliminate unwanted population, and enslave the rest of us by enforced labor on economically useless tasks as surrogates for war. The equivalent of pyramid-building.

The Report from Iron Mountain "On the Possibility or Desirability for Peace" (Leonard C. Lewin, 1967) stated, "An effective political substitute for war would require "alternative enemies," some of which might seem equally far fetched" — like invaders from outer space. "It may be, for instance, that gross pollution of the environment can eventually replace the possibility of mass destruction by nuclear weapons as the principal apparent threat to the survival of the species".

The Arms Race was a control mechanism by the elites, and there was little likelihood of nuclear war. This realization first struck me one night after preaching in Pakistan while walking to the home of some brethren for supper. Their town is built over an underground munitions facility. I suddenly saw the friction between Pakistan and India has a two-fold purpose. It was designed by the Khazar-controlled UN when they partitioned India into opposing religious camps at the time of independence, thereby hindering Pakistan’s development, disadvantaging Bangladesh, and containing the Soviet economic development by preventing the opening of the corridor through Afghanistan. Counting on human nature, they knew that the ruling elites of each country would use the religious intolerance as a means to build and maintain their own political power bases.

Then my thoughts went back to my childhood. I can recall frequent gunnery practice by the military from Sydney Heads and offshore by the Navy. It was really quite dramatic. We heard the guns, saw black smoke in the skies from the exploding ordinance, and watched aeroplanes towing targets. The question was: What was all of this about? Why so close to the largest concentration of population in the country with the longest coastline in the world? Against whom were we planning to defend ourselves? Hadn’t we been victorious in World War II just five or six years before?

There under Pakistan’s starry sky I saw that the free citizens of democratic Australia were but pawns in the game of the mega-rich. The gunnery practice was a play, staged to brain-wash or condition us for the Cold War. Let’s return to Report from Iron Mountain.

"Poisoning of the air, and of the principal sources of food and water supply, is already well advanced, and at first glance would seem promising in this respect; it constitutes a threat that can be dealt with only through social organization and political power. But from present indications it will be a generation to a generation and a half before environmental pollution, however severe, will be sufficiently menacing on a global scale, to offer a possible basis for a solution."

"It is true that the rate of pollution could be increased selectively for this purpose; in fact, the mere modifying of existing programs for the deterrence of pollution could speed up the process enough to make the threat credible much sooner . . ." A program of deliberate environmental poisoning was considered politically unacceptable. (Winston’s Journal, No. 1, Vol. 1 at 2, November 1991).

Now you know that environmental issues are a contrived Hegelian device. A first step to our enslavement was some form of universal military service: "It is entirely possible that the development of a sophisticated form of slavery may be an absolute prerequisite for social control in a world of peace."

Anti-reproduction pills to be added to water supplies or essential foodstuff were "already under development." Proposed replacements for war included: a comprehensive social-welfare program, an open-ended space program aimed at unreachable targets, a permanent inspection program for disarmament, an international police force, an extraterrestrial threat, massive global pollution, fictitious alternative enemies, enslavement programs (derived from the peace corps model), new religious and other mythologies, socially oriented blood games, and a program of eugenics.

Limiting procreation "to the products of artificial insemination" was discussed, to allow direct eugenic management. (Leonard C. Lewin, Report From Iron Mountain On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace, 1967).

There was no suggestion of abiding by the first Command in God’s Word to, "MULTIPLY and FILL the earth and SUBDUE it," and let Him take care of the rest.

In 1976, Taylor Caldwell summarized the Iron Mountain Report: "There will be no peace in the tormented world, only a programmed and systematic series of wars and calamities — until the plotters have gained their objective: an exhausted world, willing to submit to a planned Marxist economy, and total and meek enslavement — in the name of peace." (Taylor Caldwell, Ceremony of the Innocent 289 — Fawcett Books 1976).

Taylor Caldwell was obviously acquainted with the plans of the World Revolutionary Movement of the Illuminati drawn up by Albert Pike in 1871. But clearly not a Bible believer. bb980306.htm

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/bb980306.htm

Eye of Horus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus

Eye of Horus bw.svg

The Wedjat – later called The Eye of Horus

An Eye of Horus or Wedjatpendant

The Eye of Horus personified in the goddess Wadjet also written as Wedjat[1][2][3],Uadjet, Wedjoyet, Edjo or Uto[4] and as The Eye of Ra[5] or "Udjat"[6] is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power. The name Wadjet is derived from ‘wadj’ meaning ‘green’ hence ‘the green one’ and was known to the Greeks and Romans as ‘uraeus’ from the Egyptian ‘iaret’ meaning ‘risen one’ from the image of a cobra rising up in protection.[7]

Wadjet was one of the earliest of Egyptian deities who later became associated with other goddesses such as Bast, Mut, and Hathor. She was the tutelary deity of Lower Egypt and the major Delta shrine the ‘per-nu’ was under her protection.[8] Hathor is also depicted with this eye.[9] Funerary amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus. The Wedjat or Eye of Horus is "the central element" of seven "gold, faience,carnelian and lapis lazuli" bracelets found on the mummy of Shoshenq II.[10] The Wedjat "was intended to protect the king [here] in the afterlife"[11] and to ward off evil. Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel.[12]

Horus

Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as a falcon. His right eye was associated with the sun Ra. The eye symbol represents the marking around a Peregrine Falcon‘s eye that includes the "teardrop" marking sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon and the god Djehuti (Thoth).[13]

wedjet – Eye of Horus
in hieroglyphs

D10

The eye as a hieroglyph and symbol

There are seven different hieroglyphs used to represent the eye, most commonly ‘ir.t’ in Egyptian, which also has the meaning ‘to make or do’ or ‘one who does.’[14] In Egyptian myth the eye was not the passive organ of sight but more an agent of action, protection or wrath.

In arithmetic

Hathor showing her sacred eye inherited from Wedjat – depicted in thePapyrus of Ani

In the Ancient Egyptian measurement system, the Eye Of Horus defined Old Kingdom number one (1) = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + 1/64, by throwing away 1/64 for any rational number. Eye of Horus numbers created six-term rounded-off numbers. The Old Kingdom definition had dropped a seventh term, a remainder 1/64, that was needed to report exact series. During the Middle Kingdom that included the eleventh through fourteenth dynasties, exact series definitions and applications were often written by 6-terms, or less. The Egyptian fraction notation scaled to volume unit remainders to 1/320 hekat. For example, the Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll, theRMP 2/n table and the Akhmim Wooden Tablet wrote binary quotients and scaled remainders. The metaphorical side of this information linked Old Kingdom fractions 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64, to separate parts of the eye, as noted by:

  • 1/2 was represented by smell, symbolized by the right side of the eye in a form of the nose. The pyramid text says: "Behold [the fire] rises in Abydos and it comes; I cause it to come, the Eye of Horus. It is set in order upon thy brow, O Osiris Khenti-Amenti; it is set in the shrine and rises on thy brow."
  • 1/4 was represented by sight or the sensation of light, symbolized by the pupil. The pyramid text says: "Perfect is the Eye of Horus. I have delivered the Eye of Horus, the shining one, the ornament of the Eye of Ra, the Father of the Gods."
  • 1/8 was represented by thought, symbolized by the eyebrow. The pyramid text says: "…the Eye of Horus hath made me holy…I will hide myself among you, O ye stars which are imperishable. My brow is the brow of Ra."
  • 1/16 was represented by hearing, symbolized by the left side of the eye in the form of an arrow pointing towards the ear. The pyramid text says: "That which has been shut fast/dead hath been opened by the command of the Eye of Horus, which hath delivered me. Established are the beauties on the forehead of Ra."
  • 1/32 was represented by taste, by the sprouting of wheat or grain from the planted stalk, symbolized by a curved tail. The pyramid text says: "Come, the Eye of Horus hath delivered for me my soul, my ornaments are established on the brow of Ra. Light is on the faces of those who are in the members of Osiris."
  • 1/64 was represented by touch, symbolized by a leg touching the ground, or what can also be thought of as a strong plant growing into the surface of the earth. The pyramid text says: "I shall see the Gods and the Eye of Horus burning with fire before my eyes!"

Earthenware Wedjat amulet on display at the Louvre, c. 500–300 BC

In the Middle Kingdom the 1/64 symbol denoted ‘rest’ and ‘healing’ as connected to the hekat, with the word dja being attached.

The ‘Eye of Horus’ fractions were further discussed in the Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll following elementary definitions that built the Egyptian fraction system. Weights and measure subunits of a hekat were also connected to Eye of Horus numbers in the quotient, and as an exact remainder, the remainder including an Egyptian fraction and a ro unit, correcting the Eye of Horus 1/64 roundoff error. The ro unit, 1/320 of a hekat, is cited in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and applied in the medical texts, i.e. Ebers Papyrus in two ways. The first replaced the hekat by a unity, 64/64 (in RMP 47, 82 and 83), and the second by 320 ro (in RMP 35–38). Exact divisions of 64/64 by 3, 7, 10, 11 and 13, written as 1/3, 1/17, 1/10, 1/11 and 1/13 multipliers, are also found in the Akhmim Wooden Tablet.

Arithmetic values

Wooden case

Faience vessel, Bes holding Eyes

Collection of amulets in the British Museum Room 62

References


Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eye of Horus

  1. ^ Pommerening, Tanja, Die altägyptischen Hohlmaße (Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, Beiheft 10), Hamburg, Helmut Buske Verlag, 2005
  2. ^ M. Stokstad, "Art History"
  3. ^ Chapter 14, Egyptian Art in David P. Silverman, Ancient Egypt, Duncan Baird Publishers, 1997. p.228
  4. ^ "?".
  5. ^ Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache 1, 268.13
  6. ^ Alessandro Bongioanni & Maria Croce (ed.), The Treasures of Ancient Egypt: From the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Universe Publishing, a division of Ruzzoli Publications Inc., 2003. p.622. According to the editors, ‘Udjat’ was the term for amulets which used the Eye of Horus design.
  7. ^ The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, George Hart ISBN 0-415-34495-6
  8. ^ The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, George Hart ISBN 0-415-34495-6
  9. ^ Lady of the West at hethert.org
  10. ^ Silverman, op. cit., p.228
  11. ^ Silverman, op. cit., p.228
  12. ^ Charles Freeman, The Legacy of Ancient Egypt, Facts on File, Inc. 1997. p.91
  13. ^ Eye of Horus, Eye of Ra (Udjat, Wedjet)
  14. ^ "?". Retrieved 24 August 2010.

Categories: Eye | Ancient Egyptian culture | Ancient Egyptian society | Egyptian fractions | Egyptian hieroglyphs | Egyptian hieroglyphs-Gardiner listed | Ancient Egyptian symbols | Ancient Egyptian concepts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus

1922175200_cf050c9e7b (1) 92_c hqdefaultThree Stars Above Great SealThree Stars Above Below

Eye of Providence

ChristianEyeOfProvidence

A Christian version of the Eye of Providence, emphasizing the triangle representing the Trinity.

The Eye of Providence, or the all-seeing eye of God, is a symbol showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light or a glory and usually enclosed by a triangle. It is sometimes interpreted as representing the eye of God watching over humankind. (see Divine Providence).[1][2][3]

In the modern era, the most notable depiction of the eye is the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, which appears on the United States one-dollar bill.

dollar bill, front and back

Religious use of the Eye

Imagery of an all-seeing eye can be traced back to Egyptian mythology and the Eye of Horus. It also appears in Buddhism, where Buddha is also regularly referred to as the "Eye of the World" throughout Buddhist scriptures (e.g. Mahaparinibbana Sutta) and is represented as a trinity in the shape of a triangle known as the Tiratna, or Triple Gem.

In Medieval and Renaissance European iconography, the Eye (often with the addition of an enclosing triangle) was an explicit image of the Christian Trinity. Seventeenth-century depictions of the Eye of Providence sometimes show it surrounded by clouds or sun bursts.

United States

SealOfTheUS Prototype

Original design for the Great Seal by Simitiere

In 1782, the Eye of Providence was adopted as part of the symbolism on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. It was first suggested as an element of the Great Seal by the first of three design committees in 1776 and is thought to be the suggestion of the artistic consultant, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere.[4]

On the seal, the Eye is surrounded by the words Annuit Cœptis, meaning "He approves (or has approved) [our] undertakings", and Novus Ordo Seclorum, meaning "New Order of the Ages". The Eye is positioned above an unfinished pyramid with thirteen steps, representing the original thirteen states and the future growth of the country. The lowest level of the pyramid shows the year 1776 in Roman numerals. The combined implication is that the Eye, or God, favors the prosperity of the United States.

Perhaps due to its use in the design of the Great Seal, the Eye has made its way into other American seals and logos, notably the Seal of Colorado and DARPA‘s Information Awareness Office.

Freemasonry

An early Masonic version of the Eye of Providence with clouds and a semi-circular glory

Today, the Eye of Providence is usually associated with Freemasonry. The Eye first appeared as part of the standard iconography of the Freemasons in 1797, with the publication of Thomas Smith Webb‘s Freemasons Monitor.[5] Here, it represents the all-seeing eye of God and is a reminder that a Mason’s thoughts and deeds are always observed by God (who is referred to in Masonry as the Great Architect of the Universe). Typically, the Masonic Eye of Providence has a semi-circular glory below the eye. Sometimes the Eye is enclosed by a triangle.

Popular among conspiracy theorists is the claim that the Eye of Providence shown atop an unfinished pyramid on the Great Seal of the United States indicates the influence of Freemasonry in the founding of the United States. This was dramatized in the 2004 Disney film National Treasure. However, common Masonic use of the Eye dates to 14 years after the creation of the Great Seal. Furthermore, among the members of the various design committees for the Great Seal, only Benjamin Franklin was a Mason (and his ideas for the seal were not adopted). Indeed, many Masonic organizations have explicitly denied any connection to the creation of the Seal.[6][7]

Other selected uses of the symbol

The coats of arms of Braslaw,Belarus.

Currency

Pictures

Eye of Ra

Eye of Horus, son of the chief deity of the ancient Egyptians.[8]

QuoModoDeum

An alchemical woodcut showing the all-seeing eye of God floating in the sky.

430px-Jacopo_Pontormo_001

A 1525 Jacopo Pontormopainting using the Eye of Providence in a triangle as a symbol of the Christian Trinity.

450px-Allsehendes_Auge_am_Tor_des_Aachener_Dom

An all-seeing eye that appears on the tower ofAachen Cathedral.

799px-Alexander_Column_2006

An all-seeing eye that appears on the pedestal decorations of Alexander Column.

478px-Declaration_of_Human_Rights

An all-seeing eye that appears on the top of Declaration of Human Rights (1789), French Revolution.

MountEcclesia_002entr

An all-seeing eye that appears in a triangle at the facade of an Esoteric Christian Temple (1920),Mount Ecclesia.

Great_Seal_of_United_States

The Eye of Providencecan be seen on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, seen here on the US $1 bill

Eye_of_Ra eyeofhoruscopyea6

The Eye of Horus

Eye of Horus

Horus was an ancient a sky god whose eyes were said to be the sun and the moon. However, he soon became strongly associated with the sun (and the sun god Ra as Ra-Horakhty ("Ra, who is Horus of the two horizons") while Thoth was associated with the moon. An ancient myth describes a battle between Horus and Set in which Horus´ right eye was torn out and Set lost his testicles! Thoth magically restored Horus´ eye, at which point it was given the name "Wadjet" ("whole" or "healthy"). In this myth it is specifically stated that it is Horus´ left eye which has been torn out, so the myth relates to the waxing and waning of the moon during which the moon appears to have been torn out of the sky before being restored once every lunar month.

Eye of Horus amulet late 6th�4th centuries BC. From the Tell of the Apadana in Susa
Eye of Horus copyright Guillaume Blanchard
Eye of Horus pendant from www.egyptarchive.co.uk

There are a number of depictions of the restoration of the eye in Greco-Roman temples. Thoth is assisted by fourteen gods including the gods of the Ennead of Hermopolis or thirty male deities (in Ismant el-Kharab, the Dakhla Oasis). Each god represented one of the fifteen days leading up to the full moon, and to the waning moon. The restored eye became emblematic of the re-establishment of order from chaos, thus closely associating it with the idea of Ma´at. In one myth Horus made a gift of the eye to Osiris to help him rule the netherworld. Osiris ate the eye and was restored to life. As a result, it became a symbol of life and resurrection. Offerings are sometimes called "the Eye of Horus" because it was thought that the goods offered became divine when presented to a god.

Wadjet fractions

The Eye of Horus was believed to have healing and protective power, and it was used as a protective amulet. It was also used as a notation of measurement, particularly for measuring the ingredients in medicines and pigments. The symbol was divided into six parts, representing the shattering of Horus´ eye into six pieces. Each piece was associated with one of the six senses and a specific fraction.

More complex fractions were created by adding the symbols together. It is interesting to note that if the pieces are added together the total is 63/64 not 1. Some suggest that the remaining 1/64 represents the magic used byThoth to restore the eye, while others consider that the missing piece represented the fact that perfection was not possible. However, it is equally likely that they appreciated the simplicity of the system which allowed them to deal with common fractions quickly, after all they already had a symbol for the number "1" and they had other numerical notations available when they needed to use smaller fractions.

According to later traditions, the right eye represented the sun and so is called the "Eye of Ra" while the left represented the moon and was known as the "eye of Horus" (although it was also associated with Thoth). However, in many cases it is not clear whether it is the left or right eye which is referred to. Others myths suggest that it is Horus´ right eye which was torn out and that the myth refers to a solar eclipse in which the sun is momentarily blotted from the sky.

The Eye of Ra

According to one myth, Ra (who was at that point the actual Pharaoh of Egypt) was becoming old and weak and the people no longer respected him or his rule. They broke the laws and made jokes at his expense. He did not react well to this and decided to punish mankind by sending an aspect of his daughter, the Eye of Ra. He plucked her from the Ureas (royal serpent) on his brow, and sent her to earth in the form of a lion. She waged war on humanity slaughtering thousands until the fields were awash with human blood. When Ra saw the extent of the devestation he relented and called his daughter back to his side, fearing that she would kill everyone. However, she was in a blood lust and ignored his pleas. So he arranged for 7,000 jugs of beer and pomegranate juice (which stained the beer blood red) to be poured all over the fields around her. She gorged on the "blood" and became so drunk that she slept for three days and awoke with a terrible hangover. Thus mankind was saved from her terrible vengeance.

There are a number of different versions of the myth, and a number of goddesses are given the title "Eye of Ra", in particular Hathor, Sekhmet, Tefnut, Bast, Mut, Nekhbet and Wadjet . The "Daughter of Ra" was sometimes symbolised as a Cat who protected Ra from the serpent Apep (linking it with the leonine aspects of Hathor, Bast, Sekhmet, Tefnut,Mut, Nekhbet and Wadjet amongst others). The Cat was also thought to be able to cure and scorpion or snake bite and was associated with the goddesses Isis (although she is only linked to the symbol in its protective function).

Similar to the Eye of Horus, the Eye of Ra is one of the most ancient magical symbols. Also called the udjat, the Eye of Ra is sometimes invoked as a sigil of protection.

The symbolism of eyes appears in many different cultures and civilizations — it’s no surprise that the image of an "all-seeing eye" is common in today’s society! In Reiki, the eye is often associated with knowledge and enlightenment — the Third Eye — and it typically is connected to the true soul.

The eye symbol was painted on the boats of Egyptian fishermen before they set out to cast their nets along the Nile River. This protected the boat from evil curses, and its occupants from those who might wish them harm. The Egyptians also marked this symbol on coffins, so that the person held within would be protected in the afterlife. In the Book of the Dead, the dead are led into the afterlife by Osiris, who offers the deceased soul nourishment from the Eye of Ra.

The notion of the "evil eye" is a universal one. Ancient Babylonian texts make reference to this, and indicate that even 5,000 years ago, people were trying to protect themselves from the malevolent thoughts of others. Use this symbol as one of protection against someone who might harm you or your loved ones. Invoke it around your property, or wear it on a talisman or amulet as a protective device.

Eye of Horus/Eye of Ra (Udjat, Wedjat)

Click for enlargement

Designed to resemble the eye of a falcon, this symbol is called the Eye of Ra or Eye of Horus represents the right eye of the Egyptian Falcon God Horus. As the udjat (or utchat), it represented the sun, and was associated with the Sun God Ra (Re). The mirror image, or left eye, represented the moon, and the God Tehuti (Thoth).  (A very similar concept of the sun and moon as eyes appears in many religious traditions, such as the Celtic tale of the hand of Nuada.)

According to legend, the left eye was torn from Horus by his murderous brother Seth, and magically restored by Thoth, the God of magick. After the restoration, some stories state, Horus made a gift of the eye to Osiris, which allowed this solar deity to rule the underworld. The story of this injury is probably an allusion to the phases of the moon as the eye which is “torn out” every month.

Together, the eyes represent the whole of the universe, a concept similar to that of the Taoist Yin-yang symbol. Spiritually, the right eye reflects solar, masculine energy, as well as reason and mathematics. The left eye reflects fluid, feminine, lunar energy, and rules intuition and magick. Together, they represent the combined,transcendent power of Horus.

The Eye of Horus was believed to have healing and protective power, and it was used as a protective amulet, and as a medical measuring device, using the mathematical proportions of the eye to determine the proportions of ingredients in medical preparations) to prepare medications.

The Masonic all seeing eye, the Eye of Providence symbol found on American money, and our modern Rx pharmaceutical symbol are all descended from the Eye of Horus.

 

Hieroglyps for RaThe Egyptian God Ra

Ra is the Sun God of Egypt. Many people call him “rah” but the correct pronunciation is “ray” (that’s why his name is also written as “Re”). He is considered the father of Gods, and was the most important and worshipped king of Gods.

Ra is usually depicted with the body of a human and thehead of a falcon.

Ra’s wife is called Ratet and his daughter Hathor, aka Eye of Ra.

The Sun God

Hieroglyphs for sun

The sun was first worshipped as Horus, later as Ra. He is associated with the mid-day sun (other deities represent other positions of the sun).

The sun was the primary element of life in ancient Egypt and represented:

  • light
  • warmth
  • growth

This is why sun deities were very important in ancient Egypt.

Father of Gods

Ra is known as the father and grandfather of Gods. He rose in the beginning of creation and spit forth the first godly couple:

  • Shu (symbolizes air)
  • Tefnut (moisture)

They bore:

  • Geb (earth)
  • Nut (sky)

Ra bore several other offspring; amongst those was his son, the king.

The Symbolism of Ra

Ra embodies the Egyptian beliefs of order and truth.

In Egyptian mythology, he signifies the cycle of birth, life and death. That’s why he is known as the father of creation:

Ra is perpetually resurrected in the mornings, he rides across the sky during the day and at sunset he is swallowed by the goddess Nut, only for her to give birth to him in the morning.

The most common symbol associated with the ancient Egyptian God Ra is the sun. He is depicted in a wealth of symbols, but they all are formed around the theory of Ra representing creation and nature. Most of his symbols were shared with other solar deities, mainly Horus.

  • In Egyptian art, Ra is usually seen as a man with a pharaoh’s crown on his head and a sun disk above it.
    Ancient Egyptian God Ra
  • Ra is often depicted with a falcon head, just like Horus.
  • The winged sun disk: the primary symbol of Ra, a very ancient symbol that signifies the “Sun of Righteousness with healing in his arms.” It also represents the creative elements of nature.
    Winged sun
  • Wedjat: (aka utchat, eye of Ra, eye of Horus) is a sacred eye symbol (see below).
  • Phoenix: Ra rose in the shape of a phoenix from the primordial ocean of Nun and landed on a single mound of dry land and then let the sun’s rays shine forth.
  • Lotus Flower: Ra formed himself from the chaos of Nun and emerged from the lotus petals.

The History of the Sun God Ra

The ancient Egyptians have numerous Gods in there culture and they feel that the Gods walk among them, invisibly on Earth. Ra is the most central God of the Egyptian Pantheon and doesn’t dwell on earth, but watches his children and kingdom from the sky.

Ra in his sun boat

At sunrise, Ra is a young boy called Khepri, mid-day he becomes the falcon-headed man and at sunset he becomes an elder called Atum. He travels in a sun boat and had to be defended against Apep, a giant serpent that tries to eat the sun boat every night.

Ra changed greatly over the course of ancient Egyptian history. In dynastic times he was merged with Horus and became Re-Horakhty. He then ruled over sky, earth and underworld and was the creator of the world.

Ra developed through the second and fifth dynasty. In the fourth dynasty, pharaohswere known as "sons of Ra". Ra was upheld the most in the fifth dynasty, where he became more associated with the king then the pharaoh. Kings erected pyramids that were considered solar temples and aligned them with the rising and setting sun in his honor.

During the Middle Kingdom, Ra was more and more combined with other deities like Osiris and Amun.

In the New Kingdom, Ra became more and more popular, which resulted in a kind of monotheism.

The worship of Ra as a religious and cultural figure has significantly deteriorated over years due to the rise of christianity.

The Eye of Ra

The eye of Ra

The Eye of Ra

The name has changed over generations but the meaning is still the same. The Eye of Ra was once known as the Eye of Horus or Wedjat. It is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and thedivine royal power. It is a powerful force that is linked with the fierce heat of the sun and was passed on to each Pharaoh. The Eye is considered the all-seeing eye and protects the king and thwart off evil.

This Egyptian symbol appears on the Great Seal of the United States, and on every United States dollar bill. The eye within the pyramid represents Ra awaiting rebirth. Even though he is enclosed in the pyramid his soul remained alive and watchful, as indicated by the open eye.

The ancient pyramid texts state: Perfect is the Eye of Horus. I have delivered the Eye of Horus, the shining one, the ornament of the Eye of Ra, the Father of the Gods."

Solar System

Solar System

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System

This article is about the Sun and its planetary system. For other systems, see planetary system and star system.

Planets and dwarf planets of the Solar System. Sizes are to scale, but relative distances from the Sun are not.

The Solar System[a] consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by gravity, all of which were formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. Of the many objects that orbit the Sun, most of the mass is contained within eight relatively solitary planets[e] whose orbits are almost circular and lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic plane. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also called the terrestrial planets, are primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets, the gas giants, are substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are composed largely of ices, such as water, ammonia and methane, and are often referred to separately as "ice giants".

The Solar System is also home to two regions populated by smaller objects. The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is similar to the terrestrial planets as it is composed mainly of rock and metal. Beyond Neptune’s orbit lie trans-Neptunian objects composed mostly of ices such as water, ammonia and methane. Within these two regions, five individual objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris, are recognized to be large enough to have been rounded by their own gravity, and are thus termed dwarf planets.[e] In addition to thousands of small bodies[e] in those two regions, various other small body populations, such as comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust, freely travel between regions.

The solar wind, a flow of plasma from the Sun, creates a bubble in the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere, which extends out to the edge of the scattered disc. The hypothetical Oort cloud, which acts as the source for long-period comets, may also exist at a distance roughly a thousand times further than the heliosphere.

Six of the planets and three of the dwarf planets are orbited by natural satellites,[b] usually termed "moons" after Earth’s Moon. Each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles.

Discovery and exploration

Main article: Discovery and exploration of the Solar System

For many thousands of years, humanity, with a few notable exceptions, did not recognize the existence of the Solar System. People believed the Earth to be stationary at the center of the universe and categorically different from the divine or ethereal objects that moved through the sky. Although the Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos had speculated on a heliocentric reordering of the cosmos,[1] Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically predictive heliocentric system. His 17th-century successors, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton, developed an understanding of physics which led to the gradual acceptance of the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun and that the planets are governed by the same physical laws that governed the Earth. In more recent times, improvements in the telescope and the use of unmanned spacecraft have enabled the investigation of geological phenomena such as mountains and craters, and seasonal meteorological phenomena such asclouds, dust storms and ice caps on the other planets.

Structure

The orbits of the bodies in the Solar System to scale (clockwise from top left)

The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a main sequence G2 star that contains 99.86 percent of the system’s known mass and dominates it gravitationally.[2] The Sun’s four largest orbiting bodies, the gas giants, account for 99 percent of the remaining mass, with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more than 90 percent.[c]

Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth’s orbit, known as the ecliptic. The planets are very close to the ecliptic while comets and Kuiper belt objects are frequently at significantly greater angles to it.[3][4] All the planets and most other objects also orbit with the Sun’s rotation (counter-clockwise, as viewed from above the Sun’s north pole). There are exceptions, such as Halley’s Comet.

The overall structure of the charted regions of the Solar System consists of the Sun, four relatively small inner planets surrounded by a belt of rocky asteroids, and four gas giants surrounded by the outer Kuiper belt of icy objects. Astronomers sometimes informally divide this structure into separate regions. The inner Solar System includes the four terrestrial planets and the main asteroid belt. The outer Solar System is beyond the asteroids, including the four gas giant planets.[5] Since the discovery of the Kuiper belt, the outermost parts of the Solar System are considered a distinct region consisting of the objects beyond Neptune.[6]

Kepler’s laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of objects about the Sun. According to Kepler’s laws, each object travels along an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Objects closer to the Sun (with smaller semi-major axes) travel more quickly, as they are more affected by the Sun’s gravity. On an elliptical orbit, a body’s distance from the Sun varies over the course of its year. A body’s closest approach to the Sun is called its perihelion, while its most distant point from the Sun is called its aphelion. The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids and Kuiper belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits.

Due to the vast distances involved, many representations of the Solar System show orbits the same distance apart. In reality, with a few exceptions, the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between it and the previous orbit. For example, Venus is approximately 0.33 astronomical units (AU)[d] farther out from the Sun than Mercury, while Saturn is 4.3 AU out from Jupiter, and Neptune lies 10.5 AU out from Uranus. Attempts have been made to determine a correlation between these orbital distances (for example, the Titius-Bode law),[7] but no such theory has been accepted.

Most of the planets in the Solar System possess secondary systems of their own, being orbited by planetary objects called natural satellites, or moons (two of which are larger than the planet Mercury), or, in the case of the four gas giants, by planetary rings; thin bands of tiny particles that orbit them in unison. Most of the largest natural satellites are insynchronous rotation, with one face permanently turned toward their parent.

The objects of the inner Solar System are composed mostly of rock,[8] the collective name for compounds with high melting points, such as silicates, iron or nickel, that remained solid under almost all conditions in the protoplanetary nebula.[9][9] Jupiter and Saturn are composed mainly of gases, the astronomical term for materials with extremely low melting points and high vapor pressure such as molecular hydrogen, helium, and neon, which were always in the gaseous phase in the nebula.[9] Ices, like water, methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide,[8] have melting points up to a few hundred kelvins, while their phase depends on the ambient pressure and temperature.[9] They can be found as ices, liquids, or gases in various places in the Solar System, while in the nebula they were either in the solid or gaseous phase.[9] Icy substances comprise the majority of the satellites of the giant planets, as well as most of Uranus and Neptune (the so-called "ice giants") and the numerous small objects that lie beyond Neptune’s orbit.[8][10] Together, gases and ices are referred to as volatiles.[11]

Sun

Main article: Sun

A transit of Venus

The Sun is the Solar System’s star, and by far its chief component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth masses)[12] produces temperatures and densities in its core great enough to sustain nuclear fusion,[13] which releases enormous amounts of energy, mostly radiated into space as electromagnetic radiation, peaking in the 400–to–700 nm band we call visible light.[14]

The Sun is classified as a type G2 yellow dwarf, but this name is misleading as, compared to the majority of stars in our galaxy, the Sun is rather large and bright.[15] Stars are classified by the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, a graph which plots the brightness of stars with their surface temperatures. Generally, hotter stars are brighter. Stars following this pattern are said to be on the main sequence, and the Sun lies right in the middle of it. However, stars brighter and hotter than the Sun are rare, while substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, are common, making up 85 percent of the stars in the galaxy.[15][16]

It is believed that the Sun’s position on the main sequence puts it in the "prime of life" for a star, in that it has not yet exhausted its store of hydrogen for nuclear fusion. The Sun is growing brighter; early in its history it was 70 percent as bright as it is today.[17]

The Sun is a population I star; it was born in the later stages of the universe’s evolution, and thus contains more elements heavier than hydrogen and helium ("metals" in astronomical parlance) than older population II stars.[18] Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first generation of stars had to die before the universe could be enriched with these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, while stars born later have more. This high metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the Sun’s developing a planetary system, because planets form from accretion of "metals".[19]

The heliospheric current sheet.

Interplanetary medium

Main article: Interplanetary medium

Along with light, the Sun radiates a continuous stream of charged particles (a plasma) known as the solar wind. This stream of particles spreads outwards at roughly 1.5 million kilometres per hour,[20] creating a tenuous atmosphere (the heliosphere) that permeates the Solar System out to at least 100 AU (see heliopause).[21] This is known as the interplanetary medium. Geomagnetic storms on the Sun’s surface, such assolar flares and coronal mass ejections, disturb the heliosphere, creating space weather.[22] The largest structure within the heliosphere is the heliospheric current sheet, a spiral form created by the actions of the Sun’s rotating magnetic field on the interplanetary medium.[23][24]

Earth’s magnetic field stops its atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar wind. Venus and Mars do not have magnetic fields, and as a result, the solar wind causes their atmospheres to gradually bleed away into space.[25] Coronal mass ejections and similar events blow magnetic field and huge quantities of material from the surface of the Sun. The interaction of this magnetic field and material with Earth’s magnetic field funnels charged particles into the Earth’s upper atmosphere, where its interactions create aurorae seen near the magnetic poles.

Cosmic rays originate outside the Solar System. The heliosphere partially shields the Solar System, and planetary magnetic fields (for those planets that have them) also provide some protection. The density of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium and the strength of the Sun’s magnetic field change on very long timescales, so the level of cosmic radiation in the Solar System varies, though by how much is unknown.[26]

The interplanetary medium is home to at least two disc-like regions of cosmic dust. The first, the zodiacal dust cloud, lies in the inner Solar System and causes zodiacal light. It was likely formed by collisions within the asteroid belt brought on by interactions with the planets.[27] The second extends from about 10 AU to about 40 AU, and was probably created by similar collisions within the Kuiper belt.[28][29]

Inner Solar System

The inner Solar System is the traditional name for the region comprising the terrestrial planets and asteroids.[30] Composed mainly of silicates and metals, the objects of the inner Solar System are relatively close to the Sun; the radius of this entire region is shorter than the distance between Jupiter and Saturn.

Inner planets

Main article: Terrestrial planet

The inner planets. From left to right:Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (sizes to scale, interplanetary distances not)

The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no moons, and no ring systems. They are composed largely of refractory minerals, such as the silicates which form their crusts andmantles, and metals such as iron and nickel, which form their cores. Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have atmospheres substantial enough to generate weather; all have impact craters andtectonic surface features such as rift valleys and volcanoes. The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates those planets which are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).

Mercury
Mercury (0.4 AU from the Sun) is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest planet in the Solar System (0.055 Earth masses). Mercury has no natural satellites, and its only known geological features besides impact craters are lobed ridges or rupes, probably produced by a period of contraction early in its history.[31] Mercury’s almost negligible atmosphere consists of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind.[32] Its relatively large iron core and thin mantle have not yet been adequately explained. Hypotheses include that its outer layers were stripped off by a giant impact, and that it was prevented from fully accreting by the young Sun’s energy.[33][34]
Venus
Venus (0.7 AU from the Sun) is close in size to Earth, (0.815 Earth masses) and like Earth, has a thick silicate mantle around an iron core, a substantial atmosphere and evidence of internal geological activity. However, it is much drier than Earth and its atmosphere is ninety times as dense. Venus has no natural satellites. It is the hottest planet, with surface temperatures over 400 °C, most likely due to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.[35] No definitive evidence of current geological activity has been detected on Venus, but it has no magnetic field that would prevent depletion of its substantial atmosphere, which suggests that its atmosphere is regularly replenished by volcanic eruptions.[36]
Earth
Earth (1 AU from the Sun) is the largest and densest of the inner planets, the only one known to have current geological activity, and is the only place in the universe where life is known to exist.[37] Its liquid hydrosphere is unique among the terrestrial planets, and it is also the only planet where plate tectonics has been observed. Earth’s atmosphere is radically different from those of the other planets, having been altered by the presence of life to contain 21% free oxygen.[38] It has one natural satellite, the Moon, the only large satellite of a terrestrial planet in the Solar System.
Mars
Mars (1.5 AU from the Sun) is smaller than Earth and Venus (0.107 Earth masses). It possesses an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide with a surface pressure of 6.1 millibars (roughly 0.6 percent that of the Earth’s).[39] Its surface, peppered with vast volcanoes such as Olympus Mons and rift valleys such as Valles Marineris, shows geological activity that may have persisted until as recently as 2 million years ago.[40] Its red colour comes from iron oxide (rust) in its soil.[41] Mars has two tiny natural satellites (Deimos and Phobos) thought to be captured asteroids.[42]
Asteroid belt

Main article: Asteroid belt

Image of the main asteroid belt and the Trojan asteroids

Asteroids are mostly small Solar System bodies[e] composed mainly of refractory rocky and metallic minerals.[43]

The main asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU from the Sun. It is thought to be remnants from the Solar System’s formation that failed to coalesce because of the gravitational interference of Jupiter.[44]

Asteroids range in size from hundreds of kilometres across to microscopic. All asteroids save the largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar System bodies, but some asteroids such as Vesta andHygieia may be reclassed as dwarf planets if they are shown to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium.[45]

The asteroid belt contains tens of thousands, possibly millions, of objects over one kilometre in diameter.[46] Despite this, the total mass of the main belt is unlikely to be more than a thousandth of that of the Earth.[47] The main belt is very sparsely populated; spacecraft routinely pass through without incident. Asteroids with diameters between 10 and 10−4 m are called meteoroids.[48]

Ceres
Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest body in the asteroid belt and is classified as a dwarf planet.[e] It has a diameter of slightly under 1000 km, and a mass large enough for its own gravity to pull it into a spherical shape. Ceres was considered a planet when it was discovered in the 19th century, but was reclassified as an asteroid in the 1850s as further observation revealed additional asteroids.[49] It was again reclassified in 2006 as a dwarf planet.
Asteroid groups

Asteroids in the main belt are divided into asteroid groups and families based on their orbital characteristics. Asteroid moons are asteroids that orbit larger asteroids. They are not as clearly distinguished as planetary moons, sometimes being almost as large as their partners. The asteroid belt also contains main-belt comets which may have been the source of Earth’s water.[50]

Trojan asteroids are located in either of Jupiter’s L4 or L5 points (gravitationally stable regions leading and trailing a planet in its orbit); the term "Trojan" is also used for small bodies in any other planetary or satellite Lagrange point. Hilda asteroids are in a 2:3 resonance with Jupiter; that is, they go around the Sun three times for every two Jupiter orbits.[51]

The inner Solar System is also dusted with rogue asteroids, many of which cross the orbits of the inner planets.[52]

Outer Solar System

The outer region of the Solar System is home to the gas giants and their large moons. Many short period comets, including the centaurs, also orbit in this region. Due to their greater distance from the Sun, the solid objects in the outer Solar System contain more ices (such as water, ammonia, methane, often called ices in planetary science) than the rocky denizens of the inner Solar System, as the colder temperatures allow these compounds to remain solid.

Outer planets

Main article: Gas giant

From top to bottom: Neptune, Uranus,Saturn, and Jupiter (not to scale)

The four outer planets, or gas giants (sometimes called Jovian planets), collectively make up 99 percent of the mass known to orbit the Sun.[c] Jupiter and Saturn are each many tens of times the mass of the Earth and consist overwhelmingly of hydrogen and helium; Uranus and Neptune are far less massive (<20 Earth masses) and possess more ices in their makeup. For these reasons, some astronomers suggest they belong in their own category, “ice giants.”[53] All four gas giants have rings, although only Saturn’s ring system is easily observed from Earth. The term outer planet should not be confused with superior planet, which designates planets outside Earth’s orbit and thus includes both the outer planets and Mars.

Jupiter
Jupiter (5.2 AU), at 318 Earth masses, is 2.5 times the mass of all the other planets put together. It is composed largely of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter’s strong internal heat creates a number of semi-permanent features in its atmosphere, such as cloud bands and the Great Red Spot.
Jupiter has 63 known satellites. The four largest, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa, show similarities to the terrestrial planets, such as volcanism and internal heating.[54] Ganymede, the largest satellite in the Solar System, is larger than Mercury.
Saturn
Saturn (9.5 AU), distinguished by its extensive ring system, has several similarities to Jupiter, such as its atmospheric composition and magnetosphere. Although Saturn has 60% of Jupiter’s volume, it is less than a third as massive, at 95 Earth masses, making it the least dense planet in the Solar System. The rings of Saturn are made up of small ice and rock particles.
Saturn has 62 confirmed satellites; two of which, Titan and Enceladus, show signs of geological activity, though they are largely made of ice.[55] Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System, is larger than Mercury and the only satellite in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere.
Uranus
Uranus (19.6 AU), at 14 Earth masses, is the lightest of the outer planets. Uniquely among the planets, it orbits the Sun on its side; its axial tilt is over ninety degrees to the ecliptic. It has a much colder core than the other gas giants, and radiates very little heat into space.[56]
Uranus has 27 known satellites, the largest ones being Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda.
Neptune
Neptune (30 AU), though slightly smaller than Uranus, is more massive (equivalent to 17 Earths) and therefore more dense. It radiates more internal heat, but not as much as Jupiter or Saturn.[57]
Neptune has 13 known satellites. The largest, Triton, is geologically active, with geysers of liquid nitrogen.[58] Triton is the only large satellite with a retrograde orbit. Neptune is accompanied in its orbit by a number of minor planets, termed Neptune Trojans, that are in 1:1 resonance with it.
Comets

Main article: Comet

Comet Hale-Bopp

Comets are small Solar System bodies,[e] typically only a few kilometres across, composed largely of volatile ices. They have highly eccentric orbits, generally a perihelion within the orbits of the inner planets and an aphelion far beyond Pluto. When a comet enters the inner Solar System, its proximity to the Sun causes its icy surface to sublimate and ionise, creating a coma: a long tail of gas and dust often visible to the naked eye.

Short-period comets have orbits lasting less than two hundred years. Long-period comets have orbits lasting thousands of years. Short-period comets are believed to originate in the Kuiper belt, while long-period comets, such as Hale-Bopp, are believed to originate in the Oort cloud. Many comet groups, such as the Kreutz Sungrazers, formed from the breakup of a single parent.[59] Some comets with hyperbolic orbits may originate outside the Solar System, but determining their precise orbits is difficult.[60] Old comets that have had most of their volatiles driven out by solar warming are often categorised as asteroids.[61]

Centaurs

Main article: Centaur (minor planet)

The centaurs are icy comet-like bodies with a semi-major axis greater than Jupiter (5.5 AU) and less than Neptune (30 AU). The largest known centaur, 10199 Chariklo, has a diameter of about 250 km.[62] The first centaur discovered, 2060 Chiron, has also been classified as comet (95P) since it develops a coma just as comets do when they approach the Sun.[63]

Trans-Neptunian region

The area beyond Neptune, or the "trans-Neptunian region", is still largely unexplored. It appears to consist overwhelmingly of small worlds (the largest having a diameter only a fifth that of the Earth and a mass far smaller than that of the Moon) composed mainly of rock and ice. This region is sometimes known as the "outer Solar System", though others use that term to mean the region beyond the asteroid belt.

Kuiper belt

Main article: Kuiper belt

Plot of all known Kuiper belt objects, set against the four outer planets

The Kuiper belt, the region’s first formation, is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but composed mainly of ice.[64] It extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. Though it contains at least three dwarf planets, it is composed mainly of small Solar System bodies. However, many of the largest Kuiper belt objects, such as Quaoar, Varuna, and Orcus, may be reclassified as dwarf planets. There are estimated to be over 100,000 Kuiper belt objects with a diameter greater than 50 km, but the total mass of the Kuiper belt is thought to be only a tenth or even a hundredth the mass of the Earth.[65] Many Kuiper belt objects have multiple satellites,[66] and most have orbits that take them outside the plane of the ecliptic.[67]

The Kuiper belt can be roughly divided into the "classical" belt and the resonances.[64] Resonances are orbits linked to that of Neptune (e.g. twice for every three Neptune orbits, or once for every two). The first resonance begins within the orbit of Neptune itself. The classical belt consists of objects having no resonance with Neptune, and extends from roughly 39.4 AU to 47.7 AU.[68] Members of the classical Kuiper belt are classified as cubewanos, after the first of their kind to be discovered, (15760) 1992 QB1, and are still in near primordial, low-eccentricity orbits.[69]

Pluto and Charon

Comparison of Eris, Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna,Orcus, 2007 OR10, Quaoar, and Earth (all to scale)

Pluto (39 AU average), a dwarf planet, is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt. When discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth planet; this changed in 2006 with the adoption of a formal definition of planet. Pluto has a relatively eccentric orbit inclined 17 degrees to the ecliptic plane and ranging from 29.7 AU from the Sun at perihelion (within the orbit of Neptune) to 49.5 AU at aphelion.
Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, is sometimes described as part of a binary system with Pluto, as the two bodies orbit a barycenter of gravity above their surfaces (i.e., they appear to "orbit each other"). Beyond Charon, two much smaller moons, Nix and Hydra, orbit within the system.
Pluto has a 3:2 resonance with Neptune, meaning that Pluto orbits twice round the Sun for every three Neptunian orbits. Kuiper belt objects whose orbits share this resonance are called plutinos.[70]
Haumea and Makemake
Haumea (43.34 AU average), and Makemake (45.79 AU average), while smaller than Pluto, are the largest known objects in the classical Kuiper belt (that is, they are not in a confirmed resonancewith Neptune). Haumea is an egg-shaped object with two moons. Makemake is the brightest object in the Kuiper belt after Pluto. Originally designated 2003 EL61 and 2005 FY9 respectively, they were given names and designated dwarf planets in 2008.[71] Their orbits are far more inclined than Pluto’s, at 28° and 29°.[72]
Scattered disc

Main article: Scattered disc

The scattered disc, which overlaps the Kuiper belt but extends much further outwards, is thought to be the source of short-period comets. Scattered disc objects are believed to have been ejected into erratic orbits by the gravitational influence of Neptune’s early outward migration. Most scattered disc objects (SDOs) have perihelia within the Kuiper belt but aphelia as far as 150 AU from the Sun. SDOs’ orbits are also highly inclined to the ecliptic plane, and are often almost perpendicular to it. Some astronomers consider the scattered disc to be merely another region of the Kuiper belt, and describe scattered disc objects as "scattered Kuiper belt objects."[73] Some astronomers also classify centaurs as inward-scattered Kuiper belt objects along with the outward-scattered residents of the scattered disc.[74]

Eris
Eris (68 AU average) is the largest known scattered disc object, and caused a debate about what constitutes a planet, since it is at least 5% larger than Pluto with an estimated diameter of 2400 km (1500 mi). It is the largest of the known dwarf planets.[75] It has one moon, Dysnomia. Like Pluto, its orbit is highly eccentric, with a perihelion of 38.2 AU (roughly Pluto’s distance from the Sun) and an aphelion of 97.6 AU, and steeply inclined to the ecliptic plane.

Farthest regions

The point at which the Solar System ends and interstellar space begins is not precisely defined, since its outer boundaries are shaped by two separate forces: the solar wind and the Sun’s gravity. The outer limit of the solar wind’s influence is roughly four times Pluto’s distance from the Sun; this heliopause is considered the beginning of the interstellar medium.[21] However, the Sun’s Roche sphere, the effective range of its gravitational dominance, is believed to extend up to a thousand times farther.[76]

Heliopause

The Voyagers entering the heliosheath

The heliosphere is divided into two separate regions. The solar wind travels at roughly 400 km/s until it collides with the interstellar wind; the flow of plasma in the interstellar medium. The collision occurs at the termination shock, which is roughly 80–100 AU from the Sun upwind of the interstellar medium and roughly 200 AU from the Sun downwind.[77] Here the wind slows dramatically, condenses and becomes more turbulent,[77] forming a great oval structure known as the heliosheath. This structure is believed to look and behave very much like a comet’s tail, extending outward for a further 40 AU on the upwind side but tailing many times that distance downwind; but evidence from the Cassini and Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft has suggested that it is in fact forced into a bubble shape by the constraining action of the interstellar magnetic field.[78] Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are reported to have passed the termination shock and entered the heliosheath, at 94 and 84 AU from the Sun, respectively.[79][80] The outer boundary of the heliosphere, the heliopause, is the point at which the solar wind finally terminates and is the beginning of interstellar space.[21]

The shape and form of the outer edge of the heliosphere is likely affected by the fluid dynamics of interactions with the interstellar medium[77] as well as solar magnetic fields prevailing to the south, e.g. it is bluntly shaped with the northern hemisphere extending 9 AU (roughly 900 million miles) farther than the southern hemisphere. Beyond the heliopause, at around 230 AU, lies the bow shock, a plasma "wake" left by the Sun as it travels through the Milky Way.[81]

No spacecraft have yet passed beyond the heliopause, so it is impossible to know for certain the conditions in local interstellar space. It is expected that NASA‘s Voyager spacecraft will pass the heliopause some time in the next decade and transmit valuable data on radiation levels and solar wind back to the Earth.[82] How well the heliosphere shields the Solar System from cosmic rays is poorly understood. A NASA-funded team has developed a concept of a "Vision Mission" dedicated to sending a probe to the heliosphere.[83][84]

Oort cloud

Main article: Oort cloud

An artist’s rendering of the Oort Cloud, the Hills Cloud, and the Kuiper belt (inset)

The hypothetical Oort cloud is a spherical cloud of up to a trillion icy objects that is believed to be the source for all long-period comets and to surround the Solar System at roughly 50,000 AU (around 1 light-year (LY)), and possibly to as far as 100,000 AU (1.87 LY). It is believed to be composed of comets which were ejected from the inner Solar System by gravitational interactions with the outer planets. Oort cloud objects move very slowly, and can be perturbed by infrequent events such as collisions, the gravitational effects of a passing star, or the galactic tide, the tidal force exerted by the Milky Way.[85][86]

[eedna

90377 Sedna (525.86 AU average) is a large, reddish Pluto-like object with a gigantic, highly elliptical orbit that takes it from about 76 AU at perihelion to 928 AU at aphelion and takes 12,050 years to complete. Mike Brown, who discovered the object in 2003, asserts that it cannot be part of the scattered disc or the Kuiper belt as its perihelion is too distant to have been affected by Neptune’s migration. He and other astronomers consider it to be the first in an entirely new population, which also may include the object 2000 CR105, which has a perihelion of 45 AU, an aphelion of 415 AU, and an orbital period of 3,420 years.[87] Brown terms this population the "Inner Oort cloud," as it may have formed through a similar process, although it is far closer to the Sun.[88] Sedna is very likely a dwarf planet, though its shape has yet to be determined with certainty.

Boundaries

See also: Vulcanoid asteroid, Planets beyond Neptune, and Nemesis (star)

Much of our Solar System is still unknown. The Sun’s gravitational field is estimated to dominate the gravitational forces of surrounding stars out to about two light years (125,000 AU). Lower estimates for the radius of the Oort cloud, by contrast, do not place it farther than 50,000 AU.[89] Despite discoveries such as Sedna, the region between the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, an area tens of thousands of AU in radius, is still virtually unmapped. There are also ongoing studies of the region between Mercury and the Sun.[90] Objects may yet be discovered in the Solar System’s uncharted regions.

Galactic context

Location of the Solar System within ourgalaxy

The Solar System is located in the Milky Way galaxy, a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 100,000 light-years containing about 200 billion stars.[91] Our Sun resides in one of the Milky Way’s outer spiral arms, known as the Orion Arm or Local Spur.[92] The Sun lies between 25,000 and 28,000 light years from the Galactic Centre,[93] and its speed within the galaxy is about 220 kilometres per second, so that it completes one revolution every 225–250 million years. This revolution is known as the Solar System’s galactic year.[94] The solar apex, the direction of the Sun’s path through interstellar space, is near the constellation of Hercules in the direction of the current location of the bright star Vega.[95] The plane of the Solar System’s ecliptic lies at an angle of about 60° to the galactic plane.[f]

The Solar System’s location in the galaxy is very likely a factor in the evolution of life on Earth. Its orbit is close to being circular and is at roughly the same speed as that of the spiral arms, which means it passes through them only rarely. Since spiral arms are home to a far larger concentration of potentially dangerous supernovae, this has given Earth long periods of interstellar stability for life to evolve.[96] The Solar System also lies well outside the star-crowded environs of the galactic centre. Near the centre, gravitational tugs from nearby stars could perturb bodies in the Oort Cloud and send many comets into the inner Solar System, producing collisions with potentially catastrophic implications for life on Earth. The intense radiation of the galactic centre could also interfere with the development of complex life.[96] Even at the Solar System’s current location, some scientists have hypothesised that recent supernovae may have adversely affected life in the last 35,000 years by flinging pieces of expelled stellar core towards the Sun as radioactive dust grains and larger, comet-like bodies.[97]

Neighbourhood

The immediate galactic neighbourhood of the Solar System is known as the Local Interstellar Cloud or Local Fluff, an area of denser cloud in an otherwise sparse region known as the Local Bubble, an hourglass-shaped cavity in the interstellar medium roughly 300 light years across. The bubble is suffused with high-temperature plasma that suggests it is the product of several recent supernovae.[98]

There are relatively few stars within ten light years (95 trillion km) of the Sun. The closest is the triple star system Alpha Centauri, which is about 4.4 light years away. Alpha Centauri A and B are a closely tied pair of Sun-like stars, while the small red dwarfAlpha Centauri C (also known as Proxima Centauri) orbits the pair at a distance of 0.2 light years. The stars next closest to the Sun are the red dwarfs Barnard’s Star (at 5.9 light years), Wolf 359 (7.8 light years) and Lalande 21185 (8.3 light years). The largest star within ten light years is Sirius, a bright main sequence star roughly twice the Sun’s mass and orbited by a white dwarf called Sirius B. It lies 8.6 light years away. The remaining systems within ten light years are the binary red dwarf systemLuyten 726-8 (8.7 light years) and the solitary red dwarf Ross 154 (9.7 light years).[99] Our closest solitary sun-like star is Tau Ceti, which lies 11.9 light years away. It has roughly 80 percent the Sun’s mass, but only 60 percent its luminosity.[100] The closest known extrasolar planet to the Sun lies around the star Epsilon Eridani, a star slightly dimmer and redder than the Sun, which lies 10.5 light years away. Its one confirmed planet, Epsilon Eridani b, is roughly 1.5 times Jupiter’s mass and orbits its star every 6.9 years.[101]

A series of five star maps that show from left to right our location in the Solar System, in the Sun's neighborhood of stars, in the local area of the Milky Way galaxy, in the Local Group of galaxies, and in the Supercluster of galaxies

A diagram of our location in the Local Superclusterclick here to view more detail

Formation and evolution

Projected timeline of the Sun's life.

Main article: Formation and evolution of the Solar System

The Solar System formed from the gravitational collapse of a giant molecular cloud 4.568 billion years ago.[102] This initial cloud was likely several light-years across and probably birthed several stars.[103]

As the region that would become the Solar System, known as the pre-solar nebula,[104] collapsed, conservation of angular momentum made it rotate faster. The centre, where most of the mass collected, became increasingly hotter than the surrounding disc.[103] As the contracting nebula rotated, it began to flatten into a spinning protoplanetary disc with a diameter of roughly 200 AU[103] and a hot, dense protostar at the centre.[105][106] At this point in its evolution, the Sun is believed to have been a T Tauri star. Studies of T Tauri stars show that they are often accompanied by discs of pre-planetary matter with masses of 0.001–0.1 solar masses, with the vast majority of the mass of the nebula in the star itself.[107] The planets formed by accretion from this disk.[108]

Within 50 million years, the pressure and density of hydrogen in the centre of the protostar became great enough for it to begin thermonuclear fusion.[109] The temperature, reaction rate, pressure, and density increased until hydrostatic equilibrium was achieved, with the thermal energy countering the force of gravitational contraction. At this point the Sun became a full-fledged main sequence star.[110]

The Solar System as we know it today will last until the Sun begins its evolution off of the main sequence of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. As the Sun burns through its supply of hydrogen fuel, the energy output supporting the core tends to decrease, causing it to collapse in on itself. This increase in pressure heats the core, so it burns even faster. As a result, the Sun is growing brighter at a rate of roughly ten percent every 1.1 billion years.[111]

Around 5.4 billion years from now, the hydrogen in the core of the Sun will have been entirely converted to helium, ending the main sequence phase. As the hydrogen reactions shut down, the core will contract further, increasing pressure and temperature, causing fusion to commence via the helium process. Helium in the core burns at a much hotter temperature, and the energy output will be much greater than during the hydrogen process. At this time, the outer layers of the Sun will expand to roughly up to 260 times its current diameter; the Sun will become a red giant. Because of its vastly increased surface area, the surface of the Sun will be considerably cooler than it is on the main sequence (2600 K at the coolest).[112]

Eventually, helium in the core will exhaust itself at a much faster rate than the hydrogen, and the Sun’s helium burning phase will be but a fraction of the time compared to the hydrogen burning phase. The Sun is not massive enough to commence fusion of heavier elements, and nuclear reactions in the core will dwindle. Its outer layers will fall away into space, leaving a white dwarf, an extraordinarily dense object, half the original mass of the Sun but only the size of the Earth.[113] The ejected outer layers will form what is known as a planetary nebula, returning some of the material that formed the Sun to the interstellar medium.

See also

Objects in the Solar System

Categories

moons


Book:Solar System

Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

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Notes

  1. ^ Capitalization of the name varies. The IAU, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects (Solar System). However, the name is commonly rendered in lower case (solar system) – as, for example, in the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary, and Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2. ^ See List of natural satellites for the full list of natural satellites of the eight planets and five dwarf planets.
  3. ^ The mass of the Solar System excluding the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn can be determined by adding together all the calculated masses for its largest objects and using rough calculations for the masses of the Oort cloud (estimated at roughly 3 Earth masses),[114] the Kuiper belt (estimated at roughly 0.1 Earth mass)[65] and the asteroid belt (estimated to be 0.0005 Earth mass)[47] for a total, rounded upwards, of ~37 Earth masses, or 8.1 percent the mass in orbit around the Sun. With the combined masses of Uranus and Neptune (~31 Earth masses) subtracted, the remaining ~6 Earth masses of material comprise 1.3 percent of the total.
  4. ^ Astronomers measure distances within the Solar System in astronomical units (AU). One AU equals the average distance between the centers of Earth and the Sun, or 149,598,000 km. Pluto is about 38 AU from the Sun and Jupiter is about 5.2 AU from the Sun. One light-year is 63,240 AU.
  5. ^ According to current definitions, objects in orbit around the Sun are classed dynamically and physically into three categories: planets, dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. A planet is any body in orbit around the Sun that has enough mass to form itself into a spherical shape and has cleared its immediate neighbourhood of all smaller objects. By this definition, the Solar System has eight known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto does not fit this definition, as it has not cleared its orbit of surrounding Kuiper belt objects.[115] A dwarf planet is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity but which has not cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite.[115] By this definition, the Solar System has five known dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.[71] Other objects may be classified in the future as dwarf planets, such as Sedna, Orcus, and Quaoar.[116] Dwarf planets that orbit in the trans-Neptunian region are called "plutoids".[117] The remainder of the objects in orbit around the Sun are small Solar System bodies.[115]
  6. ^ If ψ is the angle between the north pole of the ecliptic and the north galactic pole then:
    cosψ = cos(βg)cos(βe)cos(αg − αe) + sin(βg)sin(βe),
    where βg = 27° 07′ 42.01″ and αg = 12h 51m 26.282 are the declination and right ascension of the north galactic pole,[118] while βe = 66° 33′ 38.6″ and αe = 18h 0m 00 are those for the north pole of the ecliptic. (Both pairs of coordinates are for J2000 epoch.) The result of the calculatgion is 60.19°.

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Categories: Solar System | Planetary science | Space science | Planetary systems

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System

Our Cosmic Neighborhood

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

From our small world we have gazed upon the cosmic ocean for thousands of years. Ancient astronomers observed points of light that appeared to move among the stars. They called these objects "planets," meaning wanderers, and named them after Roman deities—Jupiter, king of the gods; Mars, the god of war; Mercury, messenger of the gods; Venus, the goddes of love and beauty, and Saturn, father of Jupiter and god of agriculture. The stargazers also observed comets with sparkling tails, and meteors or shooting stars apparently falling from the sky.
Since the invention of the telescope, three more planets have been discovered in our solar system: Uranus (1781), Neptune (1846), and, now downgraded to a dwarf planet, Pluto (1930). In addition, there are thousands of small bodies such as asteroids and comets. Most of the asteroids orbit in a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, while the home of comets lies far beyond the orbit of Pluto, in the Oort Cloud.
The four planets closest to the sun—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars—are called the terrestrial planetsbecause they have solid rocky surfaces. The four large planets beyond the orbit of Mars—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—are called gas giants. Tiny, distant, Pluto has a solid but icier surface than the terrestrial planets.
Nearly every planet—and some of the moons—has an atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere is primarily nitrogen and oxygen. Venus has a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, with traces of poisonous gases such as sulfur dioxide. Mars’s carbon dioxide atmosphere is extremely thin. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are primarily hydrogen and helium. When Pluto is near the sun, it has a thin atmosphere, but when Pluto travels to the outer regions of its orbit, the atmosphere freezes and collapses to the planet’s surface. In that way, Pluto acts like a comet.
Moons, Rings, and Magnetospheres
There are 140 known natural satellites, also called moons, in orbit around the various planets in our solar system, ranging from bodies larger than our own moon to small pieces of debris.
From 1610 to 1977, Saturn was thought to be the only planet with rings. We now know that Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also have ring systems, although Saturn’s is by far the largest. Particles in these ring systems range in size from dust to boulders to house-size, and may be rocky and/or icy.
Most of the planets also have magnetic fields, which extend into space and form a magnetosphere around each planet. These magnetospheres rotate with the planet, sweeping charged particles with them. The sun has a magnetic field, the heliosphere, which envelops our entire solar system.
Ancient astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that the sun and all the other stars revolved around the Earth. Copernicus proved that Earth and the other planets in our solar system orbit our sun. Little by little, we are charting the universe, and an obvious question arises: Are there other planets where life might exist? Only recently have astronomers had the tools to indirectly detect large planets around other stars in nearby solar systems.
—Text courtesy NASA/JPL

Animation of asteroid flying by the Earth

Two Small Asteroids to Pass Close by Earth on September 8, 2010
September 7, 2010

Two asteroids, several meters in diameter and in unrelated orbits, will pass within the Moon’s distance of Earth on Wednesday, September 8th. The Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson Arizona discovered both objects on the morning of September 5 during their routine monitoring of the skies.

Full Story


Trajectory of Asteroid 2010 KQ - March-Oct 2010Asteroid 2010 KQ: Probably a Rocket Body
May 27, 2010

A small asteroid-like object has been discovered in an orbit about the Sun that is so similar to the Earth’s orbit that scientists strongly suspect it to be a rocket stage that escaped years ago from the Earth-Moon system.

Full Story


Trajectory of Asteroid 2010 GA6 Past EarthAsteroid 2010 GA6 To Fly Within Moon’s Orbit on April 8, 2010
April 6, 2010

A newly discovered asteroid, 2010 GA6, will safely fly by Earth this Thursday at 4:06 p.m. Pacific (23:06 U.T.C.). At time of closest approach 2010 GA6 will be about 359,000 kilometers (223,000 miles) away from Earth – about 9/10ths the distance to the moon. The asteroid, approximately 22 meters (71 feet) wide, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, Tucson, Az.

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Trajectory of Asteroid 2010 AL30 Past Earth on January 12/13, 2010Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 To Fly Past The Earth
January 12, 2010

Asteroid 2010 AL30, discovered by the LINEAR survey of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories on Jan. 10, will make a close approach to the Earth’s surface to within 76,000 miles on Wednesday January 13 at 12:46 pm Greenwich time (7:46 EST, 4:46 PST).

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Trajectory of Asteroid 2009 VA Past Earth on November 6, 2009Small Asteroid 2009 VA Whizzes By The Earth
November 9, 2009

A newly discovered asteroid designated 2009 VA, which is only about 7 meters in size, passed about 2 Earth radii (14,000 km) from the Earth’s surface Nov. 6 at around 16:30 EST. This is the third-closest known (non-impacting) Earth approach on record for a cataloged asteroid.

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Image for amateur video of the smoke trail of the fireballAsteroid Impactor Reported over Indonesia
October 23, 2009

On October 8, 2009 about 03:00 Greenwich time, an atmospheric fireball blast was observed and recorded over an island region of Indonesia. The blast is thought to be due to the atmospheric entry of a small asteroid about 10 meters in diameter that, due to atmospheric pressure, detonated in the atmosphere with an energy of about 50 kilotons (the equivalent of 110 million pounds of TNT explosives). The blast was recorded visually and reported upon by local media representatives. See the YouTube video here

A report from Elizabeth Silber and Peter Brown at the University of Western Ontario indicates that several international very-long wavelength infrasound detectors recorded the blast and fixed the position near the coastal city of Bone in South Sulawesi, island of Sulewesi. They note that the blast was in the 10 to 50 kT range with the higher end of this range being more likely. Assuming an estimated size of about 5-10 meters in diameter, we would expect a fireball event of this magnitude about once every 2 to 12 years on average. As a rule, the most common types of stony asteroids would not be expected to cause ground damage unless their diameters were about 25 meters in diameter or larger. A more extensive report by Elizabeth Silber and Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario is here.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

 

The Sun and Nine Planets
The Solar System
For I dipped into the Future, far as human eye could see; saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be. -Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1842

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/solarsys.htm

Our solar system consists of an average star we call the Sun, the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. It includes: the satellites of the planets; numerous comets,asteroids, and meteoroids; and the interplanetary medium. The Sun is the richest source of electromagnetic energy (mostly in the form of heat and light) in the solar system. The Sun’s nearest known stellar neighbor is a red dwarf star called Proxima Centauri, at a distance of 4.3 light years away. The whole solar system, together with the local stars visible on a clear night, orbits the center of our home galaxy, a spiral disk of 200 billion stars we call the Milky Way. The Milky Way has two small galaxies orbiting it nearby, which are visible from the southern hemisphere. They are called the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way but is 4 times as massive and is 2 million light years away. Our galaxy, one of billions of galaxies known, is traveling through intergalactic space.

The planets, most of the satellites of the planets and the asteroids revolve around the Sun in the same direction, in nearly circular orbits. When looking down from above the Sun’s north pole, the planets orbit in a counter-clockwise direction. The planets orbit the Sun in or near the same plane, called the ecliptic. Pluto is a special case in that its orbit is the most highly inclined (18 degrees) and the most highly elliptical of all the planets. Because of this, for part of its orbit, Pluto is closer to the Sun than is Neptune. The axis of rotation for most of the planets is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic. The exceptions are Uranus and Pluto, which are tipped on their sides.

Composition Of The Solar System

The Sun contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System. The planets, which condensed out of the same disk of material that formed the Sun, contain only 0.135% of the mass of the solar system. Jupiter contains more than twice the matter of all the other planets combined. Satellites of the planets, comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and the interplanetary medium constitute the remaining 0.015%. The following table is a list of the mass distribution within our Solar System.

  • Sun: 99.85%
  • Planets: 0.135%
  • Comets: 0.01% ?
  • Satellites: 0.00005%
  • Minor Planets: 0.0000002% ?
  • Meteoroids: 0.0000001% ?
  • Interplanetary Medium: 0.0000001% ?
Interplanetary Space

Nearly all the solar system by volume appears to be an empty void. Far from being nothingness, this vacuum of "space" comprises the interplanetary medium. It includes various forms of energy and at least two material components: interplanetary dust and interplanetary gas. Interplanetary dust consists of microscopic solid particles. Interplanetary gas is a tenuous flow of gas and charged particles, mostly protons and electrons — plasma — which stream from the Sun, called the solar wind.

Interplanetary Wind

The solar wind can be measured by spacecraft, and it has a large effect on comet tails. It also has a measurable effect on the motion of spacecraft. The speed of the solar wind is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) per second in the vicinity of Earth’s orbit. The point at which the solar wind meets the interstellar medium, which is the "solar" wind from other stars, is called the heliopause. It is a boundary theorized to be roughly circular or teardrop-shaped, marking the edge of the Sun’s influence perhaps 100 AU from the Sun. The space within the boundary of the heliopause, containing the Sun and solar system, is referred to as the heliosphere.

The solar magnetic field extends outward into interplanetary space; it can be measured on Earth and by spacecraft. The solar magnetic field is the dominating magnetic field throughout the interplanetary regions of the solar system, except in the immediate environment of planets which have their own magnetic fields.

Terrestrial Planets
The Terrestrial Planets

The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They are called terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like the Earth’s. The planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres while Mercury has almost none. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the terrestrial planets to the Sun.

approximate distance of the terrestrial planets to the Sun

The Jovian Planets

jovian 
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are known as the Jovian (Jupiter-like) planets, because they are all gigantic compared with Earth, and they have a gaseous nature like Jupiter’s. The Jovian planets are also referred to as the gas giants, although some or all of them might have small solid cores. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the Jovian planets to the Sun.

Distance of the Jovian Planets to the Sun

Solar System Animation

Views of the Solar System

milkyway

Our Milkyway Galaxy
This image of our galaxy, the Milky Way, was taken with NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer’s (COBE) Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE). This never-before-seen view shows the Milky Way from an edge-on perspective with the galactic north pole at the top, the south pole at the bottom and the galactic center at the center. The picture combines images obtained at several near-infrared wavelengths. Stars within our galaxy are the dominant source of light at these wavelengths. Even though our solar system is part of the Milky Way, the view looks distant because most of the light comes from the population of stars that are closer to the galactic center than our own Sun. (Courtesy NASA)
converted PNM file

Our Milky Way Gets a Makeover
Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way’s elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was thought to possess four major arms.

This artist’s concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way, along with other findings presented at the 212th American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis, Mo. The galaxy’s two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major arms. The major arms consist of the highest densities of both young and old stars; the minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets of star-forming activity.

The artist’s concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the "Far-3 kiloparsec arm," discovered via a radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is shorter than the two major arms and lies along the bar of the galaxy.

Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms. (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)
ngc4414

Spiral Galaxy, NGC 4414
The majestic galaxy, NGC 4414, is located 60 million light-years away. Like the Milky Way, NGC 4414 is a giant spiral-shaped disk of stars, with a bulbous central hub of older yellow and red stars. The outer spiral arms are considerably bluer due to ongoing formation of young, blue stars, the brightest of which can be seen individually at the high resolution provided by the Hubble camera. The arms are also very rich in clouds of interstellar dust, seen as dark patches and streaks silhouetted against the starlight. (Courtesy NASA/STSCI)
Obliquity of the Nine Planets

Obliquity of the Eight Planets
This illustration shows the obliquity of the eight planets. Obliquity is the angle between a planet’s equatorial plane and its orbital plane. By International Astronomical Union (IAU) convention, a planet’s north pole lies above the ecliptic plane. By this convention, Venus, Uranus, and Pluto have a retrograde rotation, or a rotation that is in the opposite direction from the other planets. (Copyright 2008 by Calvin J. Hamilton)
ss2

The Solar System
During the past three decades a myriad of space explorers have escaped the confines of planet Earth and have set out to discover our planetary neighbors. This picture shows the Sun and all nine planets of the solar system as seen by the space explorers. Starting at the top-left corner is the Sun followed by the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. (Copyright 1998 by Calvin J. Hamilton)
The Sun and Nine Planets

Sun and Planets
This image shows the Sun and nine planets approximately to scale. The order of these bodies are: Sun,Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. (Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)
jovian

Jovian Planets
This image shows the Jovian planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune approximately to scale. The Jovian planets are named because of their gigantic Jupiter-like appearance. (Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)
plntmoon

The Largest Moons and Smallest Planets
This image shows the relative sizes of the largest moons and the smallest planets in the solarsystem. The largest satellites pictured in this image are: Ganymede (5262 km), Titan (5150 km), Callisto (4806 km), Io (3642 km), the Moon (3476 km),Europa (3138 km), Triton (2706 km), and Titania (1580 km). Both Ganymede and Titan are larger than planet Mercuryfollowed by Io, the Moon, Europa, and Triton which are larger than the planet Pluto. (Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)
vgr_fam2

Diagram of Portrait Frames
On February 14, 1990, the cameras of Voyager 1 pointed back toward the Sun and took a series of pictures of the Sun and the planets, making the first ever "portrait" of our solar system as seen from the outside. This image is a diagram of how the frames for the solar system portrait were taken. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
vgr_fam3

All Frames from the Family Portrait
This image shows the series of pictures of the Sun and the planets taken on February 14, 1990, for the solar system family portrait as seen from the outside. In the course of taking this mosaic consisting of a total of 60 frames, Voyager 1 made several images of the inner solar system from a distance of approximately 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) and about 32° above the ecliptic plane. Thirty-nine wide angle frames link together six of the planets of our solar system in this mosaic. Outermost Neptune is 30 times further from the Sun than Earth. Our Sun is seen as the bright object in the center of the circle of frames. The insets show the planets magnified many times. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
vgr_fam1

Portrait of the Solar System
These six narrow-angle color images were made from the first ever "portrait" of the solar system taken by Voyager 1, which was more than 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) from Earth and about 32° above the ecliptic. Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen. Mars was not detectable by the Voyager cameras due to scattered sunlight in the optics, and Pluto was not included in the mosaic because of its small size and distance from the Sun. These blown-up images, left to right and top to bottom are Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

Sun and Planet Summary

The following table lists statistical information for the Sun and planets:

Statistical Information for the Sun and Planets

* The Sun’s period of rotation at the surface varies from approximately 25 days at the equator to 36 days at the poles. Deep down, below theconvective zone, everything appears to rotate with a period of 27 days.

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/solarsys.htm

 

A Decade of Studying the Earth’s Magnetic Shield, in 3-D

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100831201420.htm

ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2010) — Space scientists around the world are celebrating ten years of ground-breaking discoveries by ‘Cluster’, a mission that is illuminating the mysteries of the magnetosphere, the northern lights and the solar wind.


Cluster is a European Space Agency mission, launched in summer 2000. It consists of a unique constellation of four spacecraft flying in formation around Earth, studying the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. The spacecraft each carry an identical set of 11 scientific instruments, which together capture 3D information about the magnetosphere — Earth’s ‘magnetic shield’. A key instrument — PEACE — was designed by a team led by space scientists at UCL.

The solar wind is a continuous outflow of hot, magnetised, electrified gas from the Sun. Earth is shielded from the solar wind by its magnetic field, which surrounds the planet in a zone called the magnetosphere, many times larger than the Earth.

The magnetosphere prevents the solar wind from stripping away the atmosphere and protects Earth from deadly energetic particles produced by storms on the Sun. However the magnetosphere is not a perfect shield. Energy and material from solar wind can get inside, to cause the northern lights, ionospheric disturbances, the generation of radiation belts and disturbances to the ground-level magnetic field. These "space weather effects" are important because they interfere with spacecraft operations, communications, GPS signals and electrical power systems on the ground. Cluster is being used to find out how transfer of solar wind energy to the magnetosphere leads to these diverse effects.

PEACE measures electrons and electric currents in the solar wind, magnetosphere and aurora. During Cluster’s mission PEACE has been used to study huge bubbles of plasma three times the size of Earth jetting through the magnetosphere, very thin sheets of electric current flowing through space where explosive magnetic reconnection occurs, and grand waves on the edge of the magnetosphere, formed by the solar wind ‘blowing’ over the surface before breaking and forming tornado-like vortices.

Dr Andrew Fazakerley, from UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, and Principal Investigator for PEACE, said: "Cluster is revolutionising the study of the solar wind and the magnetosphere because it is the first space mission to reveal what plasmas are like in 3D, which is crucial to testing our theoretical models."

Cluster is also the first multi-spacecraft mission to study the northern lights or aurora. The aurora are caused when electrons from the magnetosphere smash into the upper atmosphere, but it’s a mystery how these electrons are accelerated to high enough energies. Cluster’s simultaneous measurements at different locations have given scientists the first opportunity to test ideas about what could be the cause.

"Cluster was not designed to visit the aurora, but luckily the orbit of the four spacecraft has naturally evolved to allow us to explore the unexplained auroral acceleration region which is the key to the formation of the aurora," said Dr Forsyth.

"We are very excited at the coming opportunity to investigate how the magnetosphere responds in the near future, as solar activity increases to solar maximum," said Dr Fazakerley.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100831201420.htm

Solar System May Be 2 Million Years Older Than We Thought, Meteorite Analysis Suggests

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825112300.htm

ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2010) — Timescales of early Solar System processes rely on precise, accurate and consistent ages obtained with radiometric dating. However, recent advances in instrumentation now allow scientists to make more precise measurements, some of which are revealing inconsistencies in the ages of samples. Seeking better constraints on the age of the Solar System, Arizona State University researchers Audrey Bouvier and Meenakshi Wadhwa analyzed meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 2364 and found that the age of the Solar System predates previous estimates by up to 1.9 million years.


ASU researcher Audrey Bouvier works in the lab. Bouvier and fellow ASU researcher Meenakshi Wadhwa analyzed meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 2364 and found that the age of the Solar System predates previous estimates by up to 1.9 million years. (Credit: Audrey Bouvier)

By using a dating technique known as lead-lead dating, Bouvier and Wadhwa were able to calculate the age of a calcium-aluminum-rich inclusion (CAI) contained within the Northwest Africa 2364 chondritic meteorite. These CAIs are thought to be the first solids to condense from the cooling protoplanetary disk during the birth of the Solar System.

The study’s findings, published online on August 22 in Nature Geoscience, fix the age of the Solar System at 4.5682 billion years old, between 0.3 and 1.9 million years older than previous estimates. This relatively small revision to the currently accepted age of about 4.56 billion years is significant since some of the most important events that shaped the Solar System occurred within the first ~10 million years of its formation.

"This relatively small age adjustment means that there was as much as twice the amount of iron-60, a certain short-lived isotope of iron, in the early Solar System than previously determined. This higher initial abundance of this isotope in the Solar System can only be explained by supernova injection," said Bouvier, a faculty research associate in the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "This supernova event, and possibly others, could have triggered the formation of the Solar System. By studying meteorites and their isotopic characteristics, we bring new clues about the stellar environment of our Sun at birth."

According to Meenakshi Wadhwa, professor in SESE and director of the Center for Meteorite Studies, "This work also helps to resolve some long-standing inconsistencies in early Solar System time scales as obtained by different high-resolution chronometers. However, there is certainly room for future studies. In particular, it will be important to conduct high precision chronologic investigations of CAIs from other pristine meteorites. We also need to understand the reasons for why the CAIs measured previously from two other chondritic meteorites, Allende and Efremovka, have yielded younger ages."

One significant aspect of this study is that it is the first published lead-lead isotopic investigation that takes into account the possible variation of the uranium isotope composition. Earlier work conducted in Wadhwa’s laboratory by ASU graduate student Gregory Brennecka, in collaboration with SESE professor Ariel Anbar, has shown that the uranium isotope composition of CAIs, long assumed to be constant, can in fact be highly variable and this has important implications for the calculation of the precise lead-lead ages of these objects.

Using the relationship demonstrated by Brennecka and colleagues between the uranium isotope composition and other geochemical indicators in CAIs, Bouvier and Wadhwa inferred a uranium isotope composition for the CAI for which they reported the lead-lead age. Future work at ASU will focus on development of analytical techniques for the direct measurement of the precise uranium isotope composition of CAIs for which lead-lead isotopic investigations are being conducted.

"Our work can help researchers better understand the sequence of events that took place within the first few million years of the Solar system formation, such as the accretion and melting of planetary bodies," Bouvier said. "All these processes happened extremely rapidly, and only by reaching such a precision on isotopic measurements and chronology can we find out about these processes of planetary formation."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825112300.htm

 

Solar System Similar to Ours? Richest Planetary System Discovered

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100824082222.htm

ScienceDaily (Aug. 24, 2010) — Astronomers using ESO’s world-leading HARPS instrument have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180. The researchers also have tantalising evidence that two other planets may be present, one of which would have the lowest mass ever found. This would make the system similar to our Solar System in terms of the number of planets (seven as compared to the Solar System’s eight planets). Furthermore, the team also found evidence that the distances of the planets from their star follow a regular pattern, as also seen in our Solar System.


The planetary system around the Sun-like star HD 10180 (artist’s impression). (Credit: ESO/L. Calçada)

"We have found what is most likely the system with the most planets yet discovered," says Christophe Lovis, lead author of the paper reporting the result. "This remarkable discovery also highlights the fact that we are now entering a new era in exoplanet research: the study of complex planetary systems and not just of individual planets. Studies of planetary motions in the new system reveal complex gravitational interactions between the planets and give us insights into the long-term evolution of the system."

The team of astronomers used the HARPS spectrograph, attached to ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla, Chile, for a six-year-long study of the Sun-like star HD 10180, located 127 light-years away in the southern constellation of Hydrus (the Male Water Snake). HARPS is an instrument with unrivalled measurement stability and great precision and is the world’s most successful exoplanet hunter.

Thanks to the 190 individual HARPS measurements, the astronomers detected the tiny back and forth motions of the star caused by the complex gravitational attractions from five or more planets. The five strongest signals correspond to planets with Neptune-like masses — between 13 and 25 Earth masses [1] — which orbit the star with periods ranging from about 6 to 600 days. These planets are located between 0.06 and 1.4 times the Earth-Sun distance from their central star.

"We also have good reasons to believe that two other planets are present," says Lovis. One would be a Saturn-like planet (with a minimum mass of 65 Earth masses) orbiting in 2200 days. The other would be the least massive exoplanet ever discovered, with a mass of about 1.4 times that of the Earth. It is very close to its host star, at just 2 percent of the Earth-Sun distance. One "year" on this planet would last only 1.18 Earth-days.

"This object causes a wobble of its star of only about 3 km/hour — slower than walking speed — and this motion is very hard to measure," says team member Damien Ségransan. If confirmed, this object would be another example of a hot rocky planet, similar to Corot-7b (eso0933).

The newly discovered system of planets around HD 10180 is unique in several respects. First of all, with at least five Neptune-like planets lying within a distance equivalent to the orbit of Mars, this system is more populated than our Solar System in its inner region, and has many more massive planets there [2]. Furthermore, the system probably has no Jupiter-like gas giant. In addition, all the planets seem to have almost circular orbits.

So far, astronomers know of fifteen systems with at least three planets. The last record-holder was 55 Cancri, which contains five planets, two of them being giant planets. "Systems of low-mass planets like the one around HD 10180 appear to be quite common, but their formation history remains a puzzle," says Lovis.

Using the new discovery as well as data for other planetary systems, the astronomers found an equivalent of the Titius-Bode law that exists in our Solar System: the distances of the planets from their star seem to follow a regular pattern [3]. "This could be a signature of the formation process of these planetary systems," says team member Michel Mayor.

Another important result found by the astronomers while studying these systems is that there is a relationship between the mass of a planetary system and the mass and chemical content of its host star. All very massive planetary systems are found around massive and metal-rich stars, while the four lowest-mass systems are found around lower-mass and metal-poor stars [4]. Such properties confirm current theoretical models.

The discovery was announced Aug. 24 at the international colloquium "Detection and dynamics of transiting exoplanets," at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France.

Notes

[1] Using the radial velocity method, astronomers can only estimate a minimum mass for a planet as the mass estimate also depends on the tilt of the orbital plane relative to the line of sight, which is unknown. From a statistical point of view, this minimum mass is however often close to the real mass of the planet.

[2] On average the planets in the inner region of the HD 10180 system have 20 times the mass of the Earth, whereas the inner planets in our own Solar System (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) have an average mass of half that of the Earth.

[3] The Titius-Bode law states that the distances of the planets from the Sun follow a simple pattern. For the outer planets, each planet is predicted to be roughly twice as far away from the Sun as the previous object. The hypothesis correctly predicted the orbits of Ceres and Uranus, but failed as a predictor of Neptune’s orbit.

[4] According to the definition used in astronomy, "metals" are all the elements other than hydrogen and helium. Such metals, except for a very few minor light chemical elements, have all been created by the various generations of stars. Rocky planets are made of "metals."

More information

This research was presented in a paper submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics ("The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets. XXVII. Up to seven planets orbiting HD 10180: probing the architecture of low-mass planetary systems" by C. Lovis et al.).

The team is composed of C. Lovis, D. Ségransan, M. Mayor, S. Udry, F. Pepe, and D. Queloz (Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, Switzerland), W. Benz (Universität Bern, Switzerland), F. Bouchy (Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, France), C. Mordasini (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany), N. C. Santos (Universidade do Porto, Portugal), J. Laskar (Observatoire de Paris, France), A. Correia (Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal), and J.-L. Bertaux (Université Versailles Saint-Quentin, France) and G. Lo Curto (ESO).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100824082222.htm

Searching For Extrasolar Planets
Astronomers Need Your Help To Find Planets Outside Our Solar System

May 1, 2007 — A new distributed computing program analyzes data to characterize new planetary systems by computing the light reflected from nearby extrasolar planets and the wobble the planets cause in their stars and wobble combinations and compares them to known planet systems.


Systemic Space Search

SYSTEMIC Console Homepage

http://oklo.org/

Systemic Console Download Page

http://www.ucolick.org/~smeschia/SystemicConsole/download/download.html

Systemic Console Tutorial Pages

#1  http://oklo.org/systemic-console-tutorial-1-hd-4208/

#2  http://oklo.org/systemic-console-tutorial-2-upsilon-andromedae/

#3  http://oklo.org/systemic-console-tutorial-3-gl-876/

There are 209 known planets outside our solar system, but there are even more out there, and astronomers need help finding them.

Greg Laughlin, Ph.D., an astronomer at the University of California in Santa Cruz, says anyone can help. He explains, "You don’t have to have any experience or knowledge of astronomy, just an interest is all that you really require to help us out."

University of California student Rion Parsons is happy to help look for other worlds. All he needs is a computer, the Internet, and some spare time. Parsons told DBIS, "The whole process of looking is really fun."

The out of this world project is called Systemic. It’s a free web program that lets anyone hunt outer-space data to find our cosmic neighbors, which is not a one man job. Dr. Laughlin explains, "The kinds of computations that we need to do are computations that require a lot of computer power. They can be farmed out to a large number of individual computers."

The process works like this: stars, like our sun, reflect light off orbiting planets. Planets also tug on stars, causing them to wobble. Software measures the light and wobble combinations and compares them to known planet systems. Users submit the information to confirm a new planet.

Laughlin explained why it is fun for users. He says, "If you find a planet that hasn’t been announced and then later find that the data supports your planet, then you have a real thrill of discovery."

More than 4,000 possible planets have been submitted, and four are awaiting confirmation. Parsons is still searching. He says, "I haven’t found anything too amazing yet, but, you know, keep trying."

The American Astronomical Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

BACKGROUND: Astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz are seeking the public’s help to find and understand planets outside our solar system. No advanced degree or fancy equipment is needed: just a computer, Internet access, and an interest in astronomy. The project is called Systemic, and it enlists volunteers to identify and explore other planetary systems in the Milky Way. This will help create a virtual database of extrasolar planetary systems. Several hundred people have already volunteered in the project’s introductory phase.

HOW IT WORKS: Systemic is modeled on other successful public participation projects, such as SETI@home, where users download a screensaver that uses their personal computerýs processing power to analyze radio telescope data. But instead of just a screensaver, the astronomers wanted something that would more fully engage the user. The project involves a sophisticated simulation of the search for planets by creating a data set of 100,000 stars.

Participants can analyze this virtual galaxy themselves with freely available software. They can analyze the data for a target star. They can change planetary properties like mass, shape of the planet’s orbit, and the time it takes for the planet to orbit its sun to find a configuration that best fits the data. Complicated large-scale simulation systems with multiple planets require a human eye and patience to arrive at an accurate description, which is a data-intensive, time-consuming process. By comparing the simulated observations with the real observations, the researchers hope to better understand how well, or how poorly, the search process collects a census of extrasolar planets.

WHY IT’S NEEDED: Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity says that gravity occurs because the mass of a celestial object, like the sun, warps the surrounding space-time. Planets orbiting the star follow that curvature. Astronomers find planets outside our own Solar system by measuring slight wobbles in a star’s motion caused by the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet. Nearly 200 planets have been found orbiting other stars in our galaxy. However, this technique tends to locate planets that are both very large — on a par with Jupiter — and also close to their star. To make the process even slower, astronomers must share time on the few very large telescopes and are limited to observations lasting only a few days. This also limits what parts of the sky astronomers can observe, and thus the current data on planets outside our solar system is incomplete. Systemicýs simulated search uses the same kind of planetary wobble data that astronomers measure, as well as incorporating the observational biases that occur as they collect real data.

 

First Superstorm on Exoplanet Detected

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100623132100.htm

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2010) — Astronomers have measured a superstorm for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, the well-studied "hot Jupiter" HD209458b. The very high-precision observations of carbon monoxide gas show that it is streaming at enormous speed from the extremely hot day side to the cooler night side of the planet. The observations also allow another exciting "first" — measuring the orbital speed of the exoplanet itself, providing a direct determination of its mass.


Astronomers have measured a superstorm for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, the well-studied "hot Jupiter" HD209458b. The very high-precision observations of carbon monoxide gas show that it is streaming at enormous speed from the extremely hot day side to the cooler night side of the planet. This artist’s impression shows the Jupiter-like transiting planet around its solar-like host star. (Credit: ESO/L. Calçada)

The results appear in the journalNature.

"HD209458b is definitely not a place for the faint-hearted. By studying the poisonous carbon monoxide gas with great accuracy we found evidence for a super wind, blowing at a speed of 5000 to 10 000 km per hour," says Ignas Snellen, who led the team of astronomers.

HD209458b is an exoplanet of about 60% the mass of Jupiter orbiting a solar-like star located 150 light-years from Earth towards the constellation of Pegasus (the Winged Horse). Circling at a distance of only one twentieth the Sun-Earth distance, the planet is heated intensely by its parent star, and has a surface temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius on the hot side. But as the planet always has the same side to its star, one side is very hot, while the other is much cooler. "On Earth, big temperature differences inevitably lead to fierce winds, and as our new measurements reveal, the situation is no different on HD209458b," says team member Simon Albrecht.

HD209458b was the first exoplanet to be found transiting: every 3.5 days the planet moves in front of its host star, blocking a small portion of the starlight during a three-hour period. During such an event a tiny fraction of the starlight filters through the planet’s atmosphere, leaving an imprint. A team of astronomers from the Leiden University, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), and MIT in the United States, have used ESO’s Very Large Telescope and its powerful CRIRES spectrograph to detect and analyse these faint fingerprints, observing the planet for about five hours, as it passed in front of its star. "CRIRES is the only instrument in the world that can deliver spectra that are sharp enough to determine the position of the carbon monoxide lines at a precision of 1 part in 100 000," says another team member Remco de Kok. "This high precision allows us to measure the velocity of the carbon monoxide gas for the first time using the Doppler effect."

The astronomers achieved several other firsts. They directly measured the velocity of the exoplanet as it orbits its home star. "In general, the mass of an exoplanet is determined by measuring the wobble of the star and assuming a mass for the star, according to theory. Here, we have been able to measure the motion of the planet as well, and thus determine both the mass of the star and of the planet," says co-author Ernst de Mooij.

Also for the first time, the astronomers measured how much carbon is present in the atmosphere of this planet. "It seems that H209458b is actually as carbon-rich as Jupiter and Saturn. This could indicate that it was formed in the same way," says Snellen. "In the future, astronomers may be able to use this type of observation to study the atmospheres of Earth-like planets, to determine whether life also exists elsewhere in the Universe."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100623132100.htm

 

Prospects for Finding New Earths Boosted by Brand New Planet-Finding Technique

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100708192842.htm

ScienceDaily (July 9, 2010) — A team of astronomers from Germany, Bulgaria and Poland have used a completely new technique to find an exotic extrasolar planet. The same approach is sensitive enough to find planets as small as the Earth in orbit around other stars. The group, led by Dr Gracjan Maciejewski of Jena University in Germany, used Transit Timing Variation to detect a planet with 15 times the mass of the Earth in the system WASP-3, 700 light years from the Sun in the constellation of Lyra.


This image shows the faint star WASP-3 (magnitude 10.5 or about 60 times fainter than can be seen with the unaided eye) in the centre of the image, made using the 90-cm telescope of the University Observatory Jena. The star is enlarged with better sensitivity and resolution in the inlay in the lower left. WASP-3 is at a distance of 700 light years and is located in the constellation Lyra. North is up, east to the left. The large image is a composite of three images taken using different filters (blue, visual and red) and the small inlay only uses a red filter. (Credit: Gracan Maciejewski, Dinko Dimitrov, Ralph Neuhäuser, Andrzej Niedzielski et al.)

They publish their work in the journalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Transit Timing Variation (TTV) was suggested as a new technique for discovering planets a few years ago. Transits take place where a planet moves in front of the star it orbits, temporarily blocking some of the light from the star. So far this method has been used to detect a number of planets and is being deployed by the Kepler and Corot space missions in its search for planets similar to the Earth.

If a (typically large) planet is found, then the gravity of additional smaller planets will tug on the larger object, causing deviations in the regular cycle of transits. The TTV technique compares the deviations with predictions made by extensive computer-based calculations, allowing astronomers to deduce the makeup of the planetary system.

For this search, the team used the 90-cm telescopes of the University Observatory Jena and the 60-cm telescope of the Rohzen National Astronomical Observatory in Bulgaria to study transits of WASP-3b, a large planet with 630 times the mass of the Earth.

"We detected periodic variations in the transit timing of WASP-3b. These variations can be explained by an additional planet in the system, with a mass of 15 Earth-mass (i.e. one Uranus mass) and a period of 3.75 days," said Dr Maciejewski.

"In line with international rules, we called this new planet WASP-3c." This newly discovered planet is among the least massive planets known to date and also the least massive planet known orbiting a star which is more massive than our Sun.

This is the first time that a new extra-solar planet has been discovered using this method. The new TTV approach is an indirect detection technique, like the previously successful transit method.

A team of astronomers from Germany, Bulgaria and Poland have used a completely new technique to find an exotic extrasolar planet. The same approach is sensitive enough to find planets as small as the Earth in orbit around other stars. The group, led by Dr Gracjan Maciejewski of Jena University in Germany, used Transit Timing Variation to detect a planet with 15 times the mass of the Earth in the system WASP-3, 700 light years from the Sun in the constellation of Lyra. They publish their work in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The discovery of the second, 15 Earth-mass planet makes the WASP-3 system very intriguing. The new planet appears to be trapped in an external orbit, twice as long as the orbit of the more massive planet. Such a configuration is probably a result of the early evolution of the system.

The TTV method is very attractive, because it is particularly sensitive to small perturbing planets, even down to the mass of the Earth. For example, an Earth-mass planet will pull on a typical gas giant planet orbiting close to its star and cause deviations in the timing of the larger objects’ transits of up to 1 minute.

This is a big enough effect to be detected with relatively small 1-m diameter telescopes and discoveries can be followed up with larger instruments. The team are now using the 10-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas to study WASP-3c in more detail.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100708192842.htm

 

Fifth Dwarf Planet Named Haumea

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080918234427.htm

ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2008) — The International Astronomical Union (the IAU) has announced that the object previously known as 2003 EL61 is to be classified as the fifth dwarf planet in the Solar System and named Haumea.


2005FY9art

The decision was made after discussions by members of the International Astronomical Union’s Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN) and the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). This now means that the family of dwarf planets in the Solar System is up to five. They are now Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Eris and Makemake.

The discovery of Haumea was announced in mid-2005, and the object was initially given the provisional designation of 2003 EL61. It is a bizarre object with a shape resembling a plump cigar. Its diameter is approximately the same as that of the dwarf planet Pluto; however, its odd shape means that it is much thinner. It is also known to be spinning very fast, making one rotation in about four hours. Some have suggested that this rapid rotation could be the reason Haumea came to look as it does – the dwarf planet has been drawn out and elongated by its swift spin.

Haumea sits among the trans-Neptunian objects, a vast ring of distant cold and rocky bodies in the outer Solar System. At this moment it is roughly 50 times the Sun-Earth distance from the Sun, but at its closest the elliptical orbit of Haumea brings it 35 times the Sun-Earth distance from our star.

haumea_nasa_big

Haumea is the name of the goddess of childbirth and fertility in Hawaiian mythology. The name is particularly apt as the goddess Haumea also represents the element of stone and observations of Haumea hint that, unusually, the dwarf planet is almost entirely composed of rock with a crust of pure ice.

Hawaiian mythology says that the goddess Haumea’s children sprang from different parts of her body. The dwarf planet Haumea has a similar history, as it is joined in its orbit by two satellites that are thought to have been created by impacts with it in the past. During these impacts, parts of Haumea’s icy surface were blasted off. The debris from these impacts is then thought to have gone onto form the two moons.

After their discovery, in 2005, the moons were also given provisional designations, but have now too been given names by the CSBN and the WGPSN. The first and largest moon is to be called Hi’iaka, after the Hawaiian goddess who is said to have been born from the mouth of Haumea and the patron goddess of the island of Hawai’i. The second moon of Haumea is named Namaka, a water spirit who is said to have been born from Haumea’s body.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080918234427.htm

 

Gas giant

Our solar system’s four gas giants against the Sun, to scale

A gas giant (sometimes also known as a Jovian planet after the planet Jupiter, or giant planet) is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. There are four gas giants in our Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, andNeptune. Many extrasolar gas giants have been identified orbiting other stars.

Planets above 10 Earth masses are termed giant planets. Below 10 Earth masses they are called super earths or, sometimes probably more accurately for the higher mass examples, "Gas Dwarfs" eg. as suggested by MIT Professor Sara Seager for Gliese 581c using a model where that exoplanet was mostly composed of hydrogen and helium.

Objects above 13 Jupiter masses are called brown dwarfs and these occupy the mass range between that of large gas giant planets and the lowest mass stars.

Description

This cut-away illustrates a model of the interior of Jupiter, with a rocky core overlaid by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen.

A gas giant is a massive planet with a thick atmosphere and a solid core. The "traditional" gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed primarily ofhydrogen and helium. Uranus and Neptune are sometimes called ice giants, as they are mostly composed of water, ammonia, and methane ices. Among extrasolar planets, Hot Jupiters are gas giants that orbit very close to their stars and thus have a very high surface temperature. Hot Jupiters are currently the most common form of extrasolar planet known, perhaps due to the relative ease of detecting them.

Gas giants are commonly said to lack solid surfaces, but it is closer to the truth to say that they lack surfaces altogether since the gases that make them up simply become thinner and thinner with increasing distance from the planets’ centers, eventually becoming indistinguishable from the interstellar medium. Therefore landing on a gas giant may or may not be possible, depending on the size and composition of its core.

Belt-zone circulation

The bands seen in the Jovian atmosphere are due to counter-circulating streams of material called zones and belts, encircling the planet parallel to its equator. The zones are the lighter bands, and are at higher altitudes in the atmosphere. They have an internal updraft, and are high-pressure regions. The belts are the darker bands. They are lower in the atmosphere, and have an internal downdraft. They are low-pressure regions. These structures are somewhat analogous to high- and low-pressure cells in Earth’s atmosphere, but they have a very different structure — latitudinal bands that circle the entire planet, as opposed to small confined cells of pressure. This appears to be a result of the rapid rotation and underlying symmetry of the planet. There are no oceans or landmasses to cause local heating, and the rotation speed is much faster than it is on Earth. There are smaller structures as well: spots of different sizes and colors. On Jupiter, the most noticeable of these features is the Great Red Spot, which has been present for at least 300 years. These structures are huge storms. Some such spots are thunderheads as well.

Relative masses of the gas giants of the Solar System

Jupiter and Saturn

Jupiter and Saturn consist mostly of hydrogen and helium, with heavier elements making up between 3 and 13 percent of the mass.Their structures are thought to consist of an outer layer of molecular hydrogen, surrounding a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen, with a probable rocky core. The outermost portion of the hydrogen atmosphere is characterized by many layers of visible clouds that are mostly composed of water and ammonia. The metallic hydrogen layer makes up the bulk of each planet, and is described as "metallic" because the great pressure turns hydrogen into an electrical conductor. The core is thought to consist of heavier elements at such high temperatures (20,000 K) and pressures that their properties are poorly understood.

Uranus and Neptune

Uranus and Neptune have distinctly different interior compositions from Jupiter and Saturn. Models of their interior begin with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere that extends from the cloud-tops down to about 85% of Neptune’s radius and 80% of Uranus’. Below this point is predominantly "icy", composed of water, methane and ammonia. There is also some rock and gas but various proportions of ice/rock/gas could mimic pure ice so the exact proportions are unknown.

Very hazy atmosphere layers with a small amount of methane gives them aquamarine colors such as baby blue and ultramarine colors respectively. Both have magnetic fields that are sharply inclined to their axes of rotation.

Unlike the other gas giants, Uranus has an extreme tilt that causes its seasons to be severely pronounced.

Extrasolar gas giants

An artist’s conception of 79 Ceti b, the first extrasolar gas giant found with a mass less than the mass of Saturn

See also: Hot Jupiter

Because of the limited techniques currently available to detect extrasolar planets, many of those found to date have been of a size associated, in our solar system, with gas giants. Because these large planets are inferred to share more in common with Jupiter than with the other gas giant planets some have claimed that "Jovian planet" is a more accurate term for them. Many of the extrasolar planets are much closer to their parent stars and hence much hotter than gas giants in the solar system, making it possible that some of those planets are a type not observed in our solar system. Considering the relative abundances of the elements in the universe (approximately 98% hydrogen and helium) it would be surprising to find a predominantly rocky planet more massive than Jupiter. On the other hand previous models of planetary system formation suggested that gas giants would be inhibited from forming as close to their stars as have many of the new planets that have been observed.

Smaller gas planets

Comparison of sizes of planets with different compositions

Although the words "gas" and "giant" are often combined, hydrogen planets need not be as large as the familiar gas giants from our solar system. However smaller gas planets and planets closer to their star will lose atmospheric mass more quickly viahydrodynamic escape than larger planets or planets farther out.

Terminology

The term gas giant was coined in 1952 by the science fiction writer James Blish. Arguably it is something of a misnomer, since throughout most of the volume of these planets all the components (other than solid materials in the core) are above the critical point and therefore there is no distinction between liquids and gases. Fluid planet would be a more accurate term. Jupiter is an exceptional case, having metallic hydrogen near the center, but much of its volume is hydrogen, helium and traces of other gases above their critical points. The observable atmospheres of any of these planets (at less than unit optical depth) are quite thin compared to the planetary radii, only extending perhaps one percent of the way to the center. Thus the observable portions are gaseous (in contrast to Mars and Earth, which have gaseous atmospheres through which the crust may be seen).

The rather misleading term has caught on because planetary scientists typically use "rock", "gas", and "ice" as shorthands for classes of elements and compounds commonly found as planetary constituents, irrespective of what phase they appear in. In the outer solar system, hydrogen and helium are "gases"; water, methane, and ammonia are "ices"; and silicates and metals are rock. When deep planetary interiors are considered, it may not be far off to say that, by "ice" astronomers mean oxygen and carbon, by "rock" they mean silicon, and by "gas" they mean hydrogen and helium.

The alternative term Jovian planet refers to the Roman god Jupiter—the genitive form of which is Jovis, hence Jovian—and was intended to indicate that all of these planets were similar to Jupiter. However, the many ways in which Uranus and Neptune differ from Jupiter and Saturn have led some to use the term only for the inner two.[who?]

With this terminology in mind, some astronomers are starting to refer to Uranus and Neptune as "ice giants" to indicate the apparent predominance of the "ices" (in liquid form) in their interior composition.

Solar Maximum

Solar maximum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_maximum

Three recent solar cycles

Solar maximum or solar max is the period of greatest solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During solar maximum, sunspots appear.[1]

Solar maximum is contrasted with solar minimum. Solar maximum is the period when the sun’s magnetic field lines are the most distorted due to the magnetic field on the solar equator rotating at a slightly faster pace than at the solar poles. The solar cycle takes an average of about 11 years to go from one solar maximum to the next with an observed variation in duration of 9 to 14 years for any given solar cycle.

For more detailed explanation of solar cycles, see Solar variation.

Historic maxima

History of sunspot numbers

The last solar maximum was in 2000. The next solar maximum is currently predicted to occur in May 2013 and to be one of the weakest cycles since 1928.[2][3]

The unreliability of solar maxima predictions is demonstrated in that NASA had previously predicted the solar maximum for 2010/2011 and possibly to occur as late as 2012. Previously, on March 10, 2006, NASA researchers had announced that the next solar maximum would be the strongest since the historic maximum in 1958 in which the northern lights could be seen as far south as Rome, approximately 42° north of the equator.[4]

Film

There is an IMAX documentary about solar maximum called Solarmax.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=37575
  2. ^ "New Solar Cycle Prediction", Science@NASA, 09 May 2006, Accessed 26 Mar. 2010
  3. ^ "Solar Cycle Process and Prediction", NOAA/Space Weather Center, 9 May 2009, Accessed 22 Mar. 2010
  4. ^ "Solar Storm Warning", Science@NASA, 10 March 2006, Accessed 26 Mar. 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_maximum

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2010

Recent Media Reports On Solar Maximum

image

# 4843

Twice over the past few months I’ve written about the concerns that  FEMA and NASA, along with a host of other agencies and governments, have voiced about potential damage a severe solar storm might cause to our high-tech infrastructure.

NASA Braces For Solar Disruptions
A Carrington Event

While sounding a bit like science-fiction, in truth large and potentially disruptive solar storms do occur on rare occasions – usually at the time of a solar maximum.

The next solar maximum is due in 2012-2013, and some scientists have suggested this could be a particularly active cycle.

Some have gone so far as to suggest we could see a flare as big as 1859’s `Carrington Event’ (described here), or the somewhat lesser event of 1921.

Both were strong enough, that were they to happen today, would likely cause serious damage to parts of our electrical infrastructure.

NASA, while admitting that a serious solar storm could happen practically anytime, also cautions that the next big one could be many decades away. It is a genuine threat, they say, but the timing is impossible to predict.

In 2009 the National Academy of Sciences produced a 134 page report on the potential damage that another major solar flare could cause in Severe Space Weather Events—Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts.

You can read it for free online at the above link.

Last year Space.com produced a spectacular 18 minute video entitled Attack of the Sun, which may be viewed on YouTube.

Which brings us to some slightly frantic news reports that appeared this week – inspired by an article that appears in Australasian Science by David Reneke called Huge Solar Storms to Impact Earth.

Typical is the report from news.com.au that proclaims:

Sun storm to hit with ‘force of 100m bombs’

Admittedly, these sorts of disaster headlines sound a bit like a `Scarrington’ event to me, but the point is to draw the reader’s attention to the story, and here I suppose the headline succeeds admirably.

The body of the article is a bit more grounded, and provides an entertaining and interesting overview of the concerns being voiced by some astronomers about the upcoming solar max.

As you might imagine, this threat has been picked up and greatly amplified by a number of prophesy/ Mayan 2012/ End-of-the-World websites, which tends to dilute it’s legitimacy in many circles.

But astronomers know that our sun is a variable star, and it goes through many major, and minor cycles. The best documented of these is the 11-year/22-year sunspot cycle.

Roughly every 11 years (it runs anywhere from 9 to 14 years), the sun experiences a magnetic pole shift at the time of solar maximum – a period of high sunspot and solar flare activity.

Every 22 years, the cycle completes, and the poles return to their `original’ position.

Our sun has, since 2006, been in a solar minimum or quiescent phase.   Very few sunspots and solar flares.

The next solar maximum was predicted to occur in 2012, but the sun’s sunspot activity remains low, and so now NASA is looking more towards 2013.

This from science.nasa.gov.

As the Sun Awakens, NASA Keeps a Wary Eye on Space Weather

June 4, 2010: Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that’s new to human history. To make preparations, authorities in Washington DC are holding a meeting: The Space Weather Enterprise Forum at the National Press Club on June 8th.

Many technologies of the 21st century are vulnerable to solar storms. [more]

Solar flares the size of 1859’s  `Carrington Event’ don’t happen very often, and in order to affect earth, the flare or CME (coronal mass ejection) must be pointed towards our planet (or where the earth will be when it arrives 2-3 days later).

Still, in 1989 a geomagnetic storm fried several large power transformers in Quebec, causing a province-wide blackout.

And in 2003, a number of satellites were severely damaged by an extremely powerful CME which also caused some power outages in Europe.

Over the past couple of decades we’ve become increasingly dependant upon computers, the Internet, cell phones, electronic devices, and of course . . . the electrical grid.

Systems that are considered vulnerable to unusually severe geomagnetic storms.

While imbued with a certain degree of hyperbole, the media reports this week aren’t without scientific merit, although the immediacy of the threat is far less certain.

As I’ve stated before, another `Carrington Event’ may not happen in our lifetime, or it could happen within the next few years.

No one knows.

Since National Preparedness Month (NPM10)  is just a week away, it is a good time to remind my readers that:

If you are well prepared for an earthquake, ahurricane, or a pandemic . . . you are automatically in a better position to weather the disruptions caused any disaster . . . including something as rare as a catastrophic a solar storm.

Preparing is easy.  Worrying is hard.

Some resources to get you started on the road to `all threats’ preparedness include:

   FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm

READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/

AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/

 
Solar Storm Warning

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/10mar_stormwarning/

March 10, 2006: It’s official: Solar minimum has arrived. Sunspots have all but vanished. Solar flares are nonexistent. The sun is utterly quiet.

Like the quiet before a storm.

This week researchers announced that a storm is coming–the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.

see captionThat was a solar maximum. The Space Age was just beginning: Sputnik was launched in Oct. 1957 and Explorer 1 (the first US satellite) in Jan. 1958. In 1958 you couldn’t tell that a solar storm was underway by looking at the bars on your cell phone; cell phones didn’t exist. Even so, people knew something big was happening when Northern Lights were sighted three times in Mexico. A similar maximum now would be noticed by its effect on cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other modern technologies.

Right: Intense auroras over Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1958. [More]

Dikpati’s prediction is unprecedented. In nearly-two centuries since the 11-year sunspot cycle was discovered, scientists have struggled to predict the size of future maxima—and failed. Solar maxima can be intense, as in 1958, or barely detectable, as in 1805, obeying no obvious pattern.

The key to the mystery, Dikpati realized years ago, is a conveyor belt on the sun.

We have something similar here on Earth—the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, popularized in the sci-fi movieThe Day After Tomorrow. It is a network of currents that carry water and heat from ocean to ocean–see the diagram below. In the movie, the Conveyor Belt stopped and threw the world’s weather into chaos.

see caption
Above: Earth’s "Great Ocean Conveyor Belt." [More]

The sun’s conveyor belt is a current, not of water, but of electrically-conducting gas. It flows in a loop from the sun’s equator to the poles and back again. Just as the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt controls weather on Earth, this solar conveyor belt controls weather on the sun. Specifically, it controls the sunspot cycle.

Solar physicist David Hathaway of the National Space Science & Technology Center (NSSTC) explains: "First, remember what sunspots are–tangled knots of magnetism generated by the sun’s inner dynamo. A typical sunspot exists for just a few weeks. Then it decays, leaving behind a ‘corpse’ of weak magnetic fields."

Enter the conveyor belt.

see caption"The top of the conveyor belt skims the surface of the sun, sweeping up the magnetic fields of old, dead sunspots. The ‘corpses’ are dragged down at the poles to a depth of 200,000 km where the sun’s magnetic dynamo can amplify them. Once the corpses (magnetic knots) are reincarnated (amplified), they become buoyant and float back to the surface." Presto—new sunspots!

Right: The sun’s "great conveyor belt." [Larger image]

All this happens with massive slowness. "It takes about 40 years for the belt to complete one loop," says Hathaway. The speed varies "anywhere from a 50-year pace (slow) to a 30-year pace (fast)."

When the belt is turning "fast," it means that lots of magnetic fields are being swept up, and that a future sunspot cycle is going to be intense. This is a basis for forecasting: "The belt was turning fast in 1986-1996," says Hathaway. "Old magnetic fields swept up then should re-appear as big sunspots in 2010-2011."

Like most experts in the field, Hathaway has confidence in the conveyor belt model and agrees with Dikpati that the next solar maximum should be a doozy. But he disagrees with one point. Dikpati’s forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011.

"History shows that big sunspot cycles ‘ramp up’ faster than small ones," he says. "I expect to see the first sunspots of the next cycle appear in late 2006 or 2007—and Solar Max to be underway by 2010 or 2011."

Who’s right? Time will tell. Either way, a storm is coming.

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/10mar_stormwarning/

 

Coronal mass ejection

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection

This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details. WikiProject Astronomy or the Astronomy Portal may be able to help recruit an expert.(November 2008)

A coronal mass ejection in time-lapse imagery. The Sun (center) is obscured by the coronagraph’s mask. (September 30 – October 1, 2001)

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive burst of solar wind, other light isotope plasma, and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space.[1]

Coronal mass ejections are often associated with other forms of solar activity, most notably solar flares, but a causal relationship has not been established. Most ejections originate from active regions on Sun’s surface, such as groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares. CMEs occur during both, the solar maxima and the solar minima of sun activity, albeit with decreased frequency during the minima.

Description

Arcs rise above an active region on the surface of the Sun.

Coronal mass ejections release huge quantities of matter, magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation into space above the sun’s surface, either near the corona or farther into the planet system or beyond (interplanetary CME). The ejected material is a plasma consisting primarily of electrons and protons, but may contain small quantities of heavier elements such as helium, oxygen, and even iron. It is associated with enormous changes and disturbances in the coronal magnetic field.

Coronal mass ejections are usually observed with a white-light coronagraph.

Cause

Recent scientific research has shown that the phenomenon of magnetic reconnection is responsible for CME and solar flares. Magnetic reconnection is the name given to the rearrangement of magnetic lines of force when two oppositely directed magnetic fields are brought together. This rearrangement is accompanied with a sudden release of energy stored in the original oppositely directed fields.

On the sun, magnetic reconnection may happen on solar arcades—a series of closely occurring loops of magnetic lines of force. These lines of force quickly reconnect into a low arcade of loops, leaving a helix of magnetic field unconnected to the rest of the arcade. The sudden release of energy in this reconnection causes the solar flare. The unconnected magnetic helical field and the material that it contains may violently expand outwards forming a CME.[2]

This also explains why CMEs and solar flares typically erupt from what are known as the active regions on the sun where magnetic fields are much stronger on average.

Impact on Earth

When the ejection is directed towards the Earth and reaches it as an interplanetary CME (ICME), the shock wave of the traveling mass of Solar Energetic Particles causes a geomagnetic storm that may disrupt the Earth’s magnetosphere, compressing it on the day side and extending the night-side magnetic tail. When the magnetosphere reconnects on the nightside, it releases power on the order of terawatt scale, which is directed back toward the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

This process can cause particularly strong auroras in large regions around Earth’s magnetic poles. These are also known as the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) in the northern hemisphere, and the Southern Lights (aurora australis) in the southern hemisphere. Coronal mass ejections, along with solar flares of other origin, can disrupt radio transmissions and cause damage to satellites and electrical transmission line facilities, resulting in potentially massive and long-lasting power outages.[3]

Humans in space or at high altitudes, for example, in airplanes, risk exposure to intense radiation. Short-term damage might include skin irritation. Long-term consequences might include an increased risk of developing skin cancer.[4]

Physical properties

Solar Storm on August 1, 2010.OGG

Play video

 

A Video of the series of CMEs in August 2010

A typical coronal mass ejection may have any or all of three distinctive features: a cavity of low electron density, a dense core (the prominence, which appears as a bright region on coronagraph images embedded in this cavity), and a bright leading edge.

Most ejections originate from active regions on the surface, such as groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares. These regions have closed magnetic field lines, in which the magnetic field strength is large enough to contain the plasma. These field lines must be broken or weakened for the ejection to escape from the sun. However, CMEs may also be initiated in quiet surface regions, although in many cases the quiet region was recently active. During solar minimum, CMEs form primarily in the coronal streamer belt near the solar magnetic equator. During solar maximum, they originate from active regions whose latitudinal distribution is more homogeneous.

Coronal mass ejections reach velocities between 20km/s to 3200km/s with an average speed of 489km/s, based on SOHO/LASCO measurements between 1996 and 2003. The average mass is1.6×1012kg. The values are only lower limits, because coronagraph measurements provide only two-dimensional data analysis. The frequency of ejections depends on the phase of the solar cycle: from about one every other day near the solar minimum to 5–6 per day near the solar maximum. These values are also lower limits because ejections propagating away from Earth (backside CMEs) can usually not be detected by coronagraphs.

Current knowledge of coronal mass ejection kinematics indicates that the ejection starts with an initial pre-acceleration phase characterized by a slow rising motion, followed by a period of rapid acceleration away from the Sun until a near-constant velocity is reached. Some balloon CMEs, usually the slowest ones, lack this three-stage evolution, instead accelerating slowly and continuously throughout their flight. Even for CMEs with a well-defined acceleration stage, the pre-acceleration stage is often absent, or perhaps unobservable.

Association with other solar phenomena

Coronal mass ejections are often associated with other forms of solar activity, most notably:

  • solar flares
  • eruptive prominence and X-ray sigmoids
  • coronal dimming (long-term brightness decrease on the solar surface)
  • EIT and Moreton waves
  • coronal waves (bright fronts propagating from the location of the eruption)
  • post-eruptive arcades.

The association of a CME with some of those phenomena is common but not fully understood. For example, CMEs and flares are normally closely related, but there was confusion about this point caused by the events originating beyond the limb. For such events no flare could be detected. Most weak flares do not have associated CMEs; most powerful ones do. Some CMEs occur without any flare-like manifestation, but these are the weaker and slower ones.[5] It is now thought that CMEs and associated flares are caused by a common event (the CME peak acceleration and the flare impulsive phase generally coincide). In general, all of these events (including the CME) are thought to be the result of a large-scale restructuring of the magnetic field; the presence or absence of a CME during one of these restructures would reflect the coronal environment of the process (i.e., can the eruption be confined by overlying magnetic structure, or will it simply break through and enter the solar wind).

Theoretical models

At first, it was thought that CMEs might be driven by the heat of an explosive flare. However, it soon became apparent that many CMEs were not associated with flares, and that even those that were, often began before the flare. Because CMEs are initiated in the solar corona (which is dominated by magnetic energy), their energy source must be magnetic. Only flares could provide enough heat energy to drive the CME, and flares get their energy from the magnetic field anyway.

Because the energy of CMEs is so high, it is unlikely that their energy could be directly driven by emerging magnetic fields in the photosphere (although this is still a possibility). Therefore, most models of CMEs assume that the energy is stored up in the coronal magnetic field over a long period of time and then suddenly released by some instability or a loss of equilibrium in the field. There is still no consensus on which of these release mechanisms is correct, and observations are not currently able to constrain these models very well.

Interplanetary CMEs

Illustration of a coronal mass ejection moving beyond the planets towards theheliopause.

CMEs typically reach Earth one to five days after the eruption from the Sun. During their propagation, CMEs interact with the solar wind and the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). As a consequence, slow CMEs are accelerated toward the speed of the solar wind and fast CMEs are decelerated toward the speed of the solar wind. Fast CMEs (faster than about 500 km s−1) eventually drive a shock. This happens when the speed of the CME in the frame moving with the solar wind is faster than the local fast magnetosonic speed. Such shocks have been observed directly by coronagraphs[6] in the corona and are related to type II radio bursts. They are thought to form sometimes as low as 2 Rs (solar radii). They are also closely linked with the acceleration of Solar Energetic Particles.[7]

NASA mission Stereo

On 25 October 2006, NASA launched the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), two near-identical spacecraft which from widely separated points in their orbits will produce the first stereoscopic images of CMEs and other solar activity measurements. The spacecraft will orbit the Sun at distances similar to that of the Earth, with one slightly ahead of Earth and the other trailing. Their separation will gradually increase so that after four years they will be almost diametrically opposite each other in orbit.[8]

History

First traces

The largest recorded geomagnetic perturbation, resulting presumably from a CME, coincided with the first-observed solar flare, on 1 September 1859, and now referred to as the solar storm of 1859. The flare was independently observed by R. C. Carrington and R. Hodgson. The geomagnetic storm was observed with the recording magnetograph at Kew Gardens. The same instrument recorded a crotchet, an instantaneous perturbation of the Earth’s ionosphere by ionizing soft X-rays. This could not easily be understood at the time because it predated the discovery of X-rays by Röntgen and the recognition of the ionosphere by Kennelly and Heaviside.

First clear detections

The first detection of a CME as such was made on December 14, 1971, by R. Tousey (1973) of the Naval Research Laboratory using the Seventh Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO-7).[9] The discovery image (256 × 256 pixels) was collected on a Secondary Electron Conduction (SEC) vidicon tube, transferred to the instrument computer after being digitized to 7 bits. Then it was compressed using a simple run-length encoding scheme and sent down to the ground at 200 bps. A full, uncompressed image would take 44 minutes to send down to the ground. The telemetry was sent to ground support equipment (GSE) which built up the image onto Polaroid print. Mr. David Roberts, an electronics technician working for NRL who had been responsible for the testing of the SEC-vidicon camera, was in charge of day to day operations. He thought that his camera had failed because certain areas of the image were much brighter than normal. But on the next image the bright area had moved away from the Sun and he immediately recognized this as being unusual and took it to his immediate superior, Dr. Guenter Brueckner,[10] and then to the solar physics branch head, Dr. Tousey. Earlier observations of coronal transients or even phenomena observed visually duringsolar eclipses are now understood as essentially the same thing.

Recent events

On 1 August 2010, during solar cycle 24, scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) observed a series of four large CMEs emanating from the Earth-facing hemisphere. The initial CME was generated by an eruption on August 1 associated with sunspot 1092, a sunspot which was large enough to be seen without the aid of a solar telescope. The event produced significant aurorae on August 4.

See also

References

  1. ^ Coronal Mass Ejections (at nasa.gov)
  2. ^ "The Mysterious Origins of Solar Flares", Scientific American, April 2006
  3. ^ Baker, Daniel N., et al. (2008). Severe Space Weather Events – Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report. National Academies Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-309-12769-1. "These assessments indicate that severe geomagnetic storms pose a risk for long-term outages to major portions of the North American grid. John Kappenman remarked that the analysis shows “not only the potential for large-scale blackouts but, more troubling, … the potential for permanent damage that could lead to extraordinarily long restoration times.”"
  4. ^ How Stuff Works: solar flares
  5. ^ Andrews, M. D., A search for CMEs associated with big flares, in Solar Physics, 218, pp 261–279, 2003
  6. ^ Vourlidas, A., Wu, S.T., Wang, A. H., Subramanian, P., Howard, R. A. "Direct Detection of a Coronal Mass Ejection-Associated Shock in Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment White-Light Images" in the "Astrophysical Journal", 598, 2, 1392–1402, 2003
  7. ^ Manchester, W. B., IV, T. I. Gombosi, D. L. De Zeeuw, I. V. Sokolov, ;, Roussev I., I., K. G. Powell, J. Kóta, G. Tóth, and T. H. Zurbuchen (2005). Coronal Mass Ejection Shock and Sheath Structures Relevant to Particle Acceleration. The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 622, Issue 2, pp. 1225–1239. 622 2: 1225–1239.
  8. ^ Spacecraft go to film Sun in 3D BBC news, 2006-10-26
  9. ^ R.A. Howard, A Historical Perspective on Coronal Mass Ejections
  10. ^ Obit with brief bio for Dr. Brueckner

Natchimuthukonar Gopalswamy, Richard Mewaldt, Jarmo Torsti, Editors, Solar Eruptions and Energetic Particles, Am. Geophys. Union Geophys. Mongraph Series Vol 165, ISBN 0-87590-430-0, 2006.

External links


Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Coronal mass ejection

The Sun

Internal structure

Core · Radiation zone · Convection zone

Yohkohimage.gif

Atmosphere

Photosphere

Supergranulation · Granule · Faculae · Sunspot

Chromosphere

Plage · Spicule · Moreton wave

Corona

Transition region · Coronal hole · Coronal loop · Coronal mass ejection · Prominence · Helmet streamer

Variation

Solar cycle · Solar maximum · Solar minimum · Wolf number · Flare · Helioseismology

Heliosphere

Solar wind (Current sheet) · Termination shock · Heliosheath · Heliopause · Bow shock

Related topics

Solar System · Solar dynamo · Solar telescope · Eclipse · Radiation

Spectral class: G2

Categories: Solar phenomena | Stellar phenomena

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection

Orion (constellation)

Orion, the Hunter

Orion, the Hunter, is by far the most famous seasonal constellation. No other is more distinct or bright as this northern winter constellation. The famous Orion’s Belt makes the hunter easy to find in the night sky. Orion looks very much like a person. First, you should spot Orion’s Belt, which is made of three bright stars in a straight line. One of Orion’s legs is represented by the bright star Rigel, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. His two shoulders are made of the stars Bellatrix and Betelgeuse. You can see Betelgeuse’s reddish color without a telescope. Other bright stars make up the two arms, one which holds a shield, and another that carries a club. Many different civilizations saw this constellation in the sky. The most famous stories come from Greek and Roman myths. Orion was a famed hunter, and in one story boasted that no creature could kill him. Hera then sent a scorpion to sting the hunter. Orion smashed the animal with his club, but not before he was poisoned. Both are now on opposite sides of the sky. They cannot be seen at the same time. A different story tells of the love between Orion and the goddess, Artemis. One day, Orion was swimming out in the sea. Apollo, who very much disliked the man, bet his sister that she couldn’t hit the object in the sea with her bow. Artemis didn’t realize it was her lover, and shot Orion with an arrow. When she later found out what she had done, she honored the hunter by putting him in the sky. There are several clusters and nebulae to view in this awesome constellation. The famous Orion Nebula is located in Orion’s sword, which hangs from the belt. It is so bright, that even the naked eye can see the fuzzy patch. It looks spectacular even with a small telescope or binoculars. There are numerous other objects in Orion, so scan the constellation with a telescope or binoculars on a clear night!

http://www.astro-tom.com/getting_started/mythology.htm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)

Orion

Constellation

Orion
List of stars in Orion

Abbreviation
Ori

Genitive
Orionis

Pronunciation
/ɒˈraɪ.ən/

Symbolism
Orion

Right ascension
5 h

Declination
+5°

Quadrant
NQ1

Area
594 sq. deg. (26th)

Main stars
7

Bayer/Flamsteed
stars
81

Stars with planets
6

Stars brighter than 3.00m
8

Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly)
8

Brightest star
Rigel (β Orionis) (0.12m)

Nearest star
GJ 3379
(17.51 ly, 5.37 pc)

Messier objects
3

Meteor showers
Orionids
Chi Orionids

Bordering
constellations
Gemini
Taurus
Eridanus
Lepus
Monoceros

Visible at latitudes between +85° and −75°.
Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of January.

click on to see large image

Credit: Mouser Williams

For other uses, see Orion (disambiguation).

Orion, often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous, and most recognizable constellations in the night sky.[1] Its name refers to Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology.

Visualizations

See also: List of stars in Orion

Orion as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.

Orion includes the prominent asterism known as the Belt of Orion: three bright stars in a row. Surrounding the belt at roughly similar distances are four bright stars, which are considered to represent the outline of the hunter’s body. Descending from the ‘belt’ is a smaller line of three stars (the middle of which is in fact not a star but the Orion Nebula), known as the hunter’s ‘sword’.

In artistic renderings, the surrounding constellations are sometimes related to Orion: he is depicted standing next to the river Eridanus with his two hunting dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor, fighting Taurus the bull. He is sometimes depicted hunting Lepus the hare.

There are alternative ways to visualize Orion. From the Southern Hemisphere, Orion is oriented differently, and the belt and sword are sometimes called theSaucepan, or Pot in Australia/New Zealand. Orion’s Belt is called Drie Konings (Three Kings) or the Drie Susters (Three Sisters) by Afrikaans speakers in South Africa,[2] and are referred to as les Trois Rois (the Three Kings) in Daudet‘s Lettres de Mon Moulin (1866). The appellation Driekoningen (the Three Kings) is also often found in 17th- and 18th-century Dutch star charts and seaman’s guides. The same three stars are known in Spain and Latin America as "The Three Marys".

In the tropics (less than about 8° from the equator) the constellation transits in the zenith which is best seen in Nov-Feb each year. In the northern hemisphere, it is a winter constellation because from Apr-Aug it can only be viewed in the southern hemisphere. However, in Antarctica it is best seen in the winter months of the southern hemisphere, due to the summer sun not setting and therefore no stars are visible. From May-July in the southern hemisphere, Orion is in the ‘daytime’ sky; however for most of Antarctica, the Sun is below the horizon even at midday, so stars (and thus Orion) are most visible at twilight for a couple of hours around midday low in the North. On the South Pole itself (Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station) only Rigel is 8° above the horizon and the belt sweeps just along the horizon.

Navigational aid

Using Orion to find stars in neighbor constellations

Orion is very useful as an aid to locating other stars. By extending the line of the Belt southeastward, SiriusCMa) can be found; northwestward, AldebaranTau). A line eastward across the two shoulders indicates the direction of ProcyonCMi). A line from Rigel through Betelgeuse points to Castor and PolluxGem and β Gem). Additionally, Rigel is part of the Winter Circle. Sirius and Procyon, which may be located from Orion by tracing lines, also are points in both the Winter Triangleand the Circle.[3]

Notable features

Stars

See also: list of stars in Orion

  • Betelgeuse, known alternatively by its Bayer designation Alpha Orionis, is a massive M-type red supergiant star nearing the end of its life. When it explodes it will even be visible during the day. It is the second brightest star in Orion, and is a semiregular variable star[4]. It serves as the "right shoulder" of the hunter it represents (assuming that he is facing the observer), and is the twelfth brightest star in the night sky.[5]
  • Rigel, which is also known as Beta Orionis, is a B-type blue supergiant that is the sixth brightest star in the night sky. Similar to Betelguese, Rigel is fusing heavy elements in its core and will pass its supergiant stage soon (on an astronomical timescale), either collapsing in the case of a supernova or shedding its outer layers and turning into a white dwarf. It serves as the left foot of Orion, the hunter.[6]
  • Bellatrix was designated Gamma Orionis by Johann Bayer, but is known colloquially as the "Amazon Star;" it is the twenty-second brightest star in the night sky.[7]Bellatrix is considered a B-type blue giant, though it is too small to explode in a supernova. Bellatrix’s luminosity is derived from its high temperature rather than its radius,[8] a factor that defines Betelguese.[4] Bellatrix serves as Orion’s left shoulder.[8]
  • Mintaka garnered the name Delta Orionis from Bayer, even though it is the faintest of the three stars in Orion’s Belt. It is a multiple star system, composed of a large B-type blue giant and a more massiveO-type white star. The Mintaka system constitutes an eclipsing binary variable star, where the eclipse of one star over the other creates a dip in brightness. Mintaka is the westernmost of the three stars that constitute Orion’s Belt.[9]
  • Alnilam was named Epsilon Orionis, a consequence of Bayer’s wish to name the three stars in Orion’s Belt (from north to south) in alphabetical order. Alnilam is a B-type blue supergiant, despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun as Mintaka andAlnitak, the other two belt stars, its luminosity makes it nearly equal in magnitude. Alnilam is losing mass quickly, a consequence of its size;[10] approximately four million years old [10].
  • Alnitak was designated Zeta Orionis by Bayer, and is the easternmost star in Orion’s Belt. It is a triple star some 800 light years distant, with the primary star being a hot blue supergiant and the brightest class O star in the night sky.
  • Saiph was designated Kappa Orionis by Bayer, and serves as Orion’s right foot. It is of a similar distance and size to Rigel, but appears much fainter, as its hot surface temperature (46,000°F or 26,000°C) causes it to emit most of its light in theultraviolet region of the spectrum.

Of the lesser stars, Hatsya (or Iota Orionis) forms the tip of Orion’s sword, whilst Meissa (or Lambda Orionis) forms Orion’s head. In common with many other bright stars, the names Betelgeuse, Rigel, Saiph, Alnitak, Mintaka, Alnilam, Hatsya and Meissaoriginate from the Arabic language.

Belt

Orion constelation PP3 map PL.jpg

Orion Constellation Map

Orion Belt.jpg

Closeup Image of Orion Belt

Orion’s Belt or The Belt of Orion is an astronomical asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars ζ Ori (Alnitak), ε Ori (Alnilam), and δ Ori (Mintaka). Alnitak is approximately 800 light years away from earth and considering ultraviolet radiation, which human eye can not see, Alnitak is 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun[11]. Alnilam is approximately 1340 light years away from earth and shines with magnitude 1.70. Considering ultraviolet light Alnilam is 375,000 times more luminous than the Sun[12]. Mintaka is 915 light years away and shines with magnitude 2.21. Mintaka is 90,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Mintaka is a double star. Both stars orbit around each other every 5.73 days. [13] Looking for Orion’s Belt in the night sky is the easiest way to locate constellation Orion in the sky. In the Northern hemisphere, Orion’s Belt is best visible in the night sky during the month of January at around 9:00 PM when it is approximately around local meridian.[14]

The same three stars are known in Latin America as "The Three Marys".[15] They also mark the northern night sky when the sun is at its lowest point, and were a clear marker for ancient timekeeping.

Richard Hinckley Allen lists many folk names for the Belt of Orion. The English ones include: Jacob’s Rod or Staff; Peter’s Staff; the Golden Yard-arm; the L, or Ell; the Ell and Yard; the Yard-stick, and the Yard-wand; theEllwand; Our Lady’s Wand; the Magi; the Three Kings; the Three Marys; or simply the Three Stars.

The passage "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" is found in the Bible‘s Book of Job.

Meteor showers

Around October 21 each year the famous Orionid meteor shower reaches its peak. Coming from the border to the constellation Gemini as much as 20 meteors per hour can be seen.

Deep sky objects

Hanging from Orion’s belt is his sword, consisting of the multiple stars θ1 and θ2 Orionis, called Trapezium and the Orion Nebula (M42). This is a spectacular object which can be clearly identified with the naked eye as something other than a star; using binoculars, its swirling clouds of nascent stars, luminous gas, and dust can be observed.

Another famous nebula is IC 434, the Horsehead Nebula, near ζ Orionis. It contains a dark dust cloud whose shape gives the nebula its name.

Besides these nebulae, surveying Orion with a small telescope will reveal a wealth of interesting deep sky objects, including M43, M78, as well as multiple stars including Iota Orionis and Sigma Orionis. A larger telescope may reveal objects such asBarnard’s Loop, the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024), as well as fainter and tighter multiple stars and nebulae.

All of these nebulae are part of the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which is located approximately 1,500 light-years away and is hundreds of light-years across. It is one of the most intense regions of stellar formation visible in our galaxy.

Cultural significance

Star formation in the constellation Orion as photographed in infrared by NASA‘s Spitzer Space Telescope.

The current configuration of stars now known as the constellation of Orion roughly formed about 1.5 million years ago, as stars move relatively slowly from the perspective of Earth. Orion will remain recognizable in the night sky for the next 1 to 2 million years, making it one of the longest observable constellations, parallel to the rise of human civilization.

Because they are so bright and distinctive, the pattern of stars that forms Orion was recognized as a coherent constellation by many ancient civilizations, though with different representations and mythologies.

Ancient Near East

The Babylonian star catalogues of the Late Bronze Age name Orion MULSIPA.ZI.AN.NA, "The Heavenly Shepherd" or "True Shepherd of Anu" – Anu being the chief god of the heavenly realms.[16] The Babylonian constellation was sacred to Papshukal and Ninshubur, both minor gods fulfilling the role of ‘messenger to the gods’. Papshukal was closely associated with the figure of a walking bird on Babylonian boundary stones, and on the star map the figure of the Rooster was located below and behind the figure of the True Shepherd.[17]

The Bible mentions Orion three times: Job 9:9 ("He is the maker of the Bear and Orion"), Job 38:31 ("Can you loosen Orion`s belt?"), and Amos 5:8 ("He who made the Pleiades and Orion"). In ancient Aram, the constellation was known as Nephila, Orion’s descendants were known as Nephilim.[18]

The stars of Orion were associated with Osiris, the sun-god of rebirth and afterlife, by the ancient Egyptians.[19][20][21]

Orion has also been identified with the last Egyptian Pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty called Unas who, according to the Pyramid Texts, became great by eating the flesh of his mortal enemies and then slaying and devouring the gods themselves. This was based on a belief in contiguous magic whereby consuming the flesh of great people would bring inheritance of their power.[22] After devouring the gods and absorbing their spirits and powers, Unas journeys through the day and night sky to become the star Sabu, or Orion.[23] The Pyramid Texts also show that the dead Pharaoh was identified with the god Osiris, whose form in the stars was often said to be the constellation Orion.[24]

Greek and Roman

Main article: Orion (mythology)

Orion’s current name derives from Greek mythology, in which Orion was a gigantic hunter of primordial times[25]. Some of these myths relate to the constellation; one story tells that Orion was killed by a giant scorpion; the gods raised him and the Scorpion to the skies, as Scorpio/Scorpius. Yet other stories say Orion was chasing the Pleiades.[26]

The constellation is mentioned in Horace‘s Odes, Homer‘s Odyssey (Book 5, line 283) and Iliad, and Virgil‘s Aeneid (Book 1, line 535)

Hungarian

In ancient Hungarian mythology, Orion is also a great hunter and warrior, his name is Nimród and he’s the mythological father of Hungarians.

Scandinavia

In pre-Christian Scandinavia, "Orion’s belt" was known as Frigg‘s Distaff (Friggerock) or Freyja‘s distaff[27].

In Finnish mythology the constellation of Orion is called the scythe of Väinämöinen. The term most likely comes from the fact that it can be seen in the sky in early autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, the time of harvesting crops.

Indian

In Indian mythology, the Rig Veda refers to the Orion Constellation as Mriga (The Deer).[28]

Chinese

In China, Orion was one of the 28 lunar mansions Sieu (Xiu) (宿). Known as Shen (參), literally meaning "three", it is believed to be named so for the three stars located in Orion’s belt. (See Chinese constellations)

The Chinese character 參 (pinyin shēn) originally meant the constellation Orion (Chinese: 參宿; pinyin: shēnxiù); its Shang dynasty version, over three millennia old, contains at the top a representation of the three stars of Orion’s belt atop a man’s head (the bottom portion representing the sound of the word was added later)[29].

Native American

The Yokut Native American tribe of the California Central Valley saw the three bright stars as the foot prints of the god of the flea people. According to legend, when his five wives became itchy and ran away, three times the god of the flea people jumped into the sky to look for them. When his footprints are seen (stars are visible in the winter months) the flea people grow afraid and go into hiding (i.e. dormant). This helped explain to the tribal people why they couldn’t count on those stars for guides in the summer months, and why there were no fleas about.

The Seri people of northwestern Mexico call the three stars in the belt of this constellation Hapj (a name denoting a hunter) which consists of three stars: Hap (mule deer), Haamoja (pronghorn), and Mojet (bighorn sheep). Hap is in the middle and has been shot by the hunter; its blood has dripped onto Tiburón Island.[30]

The Aztecs called the belt and sword of Orion the Fire Drill. Its appearance over the horizon served as the signal of the start of the New Fire ceremony.

Australian aboriginal

Orion is also important in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy. For example, the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land say that the constellation of Orion, which they call Julpan, is a canoe. They tell the story of two brothers who went fishing, and caught and ate a fish that was forbidden under their law. Seeing this, the Sun sent a waterspout that carried the two brothers and their canoe up into the sky where they became the Orion constellation.

Contemporary symbolism

The imagery of the belt and sword has found its way into popular western culture, for example in the form of the shoulder insignia of the 27th Infantry Division of the United States Army during both World Wars, probably owing to a pun on the name of the division’s first commander, Major General John F. O’Ryan.

The defunct film distribution company Orion Pictures used the constellation as its logo.

Future

Orion is presently located on the celestial equator, but it will not always be so located due to the effects of precession of the Earth’s axis. Orion lies well south of the ecliptic, and it only happens to lie on the celestial equator because the point on the ecliptic that corresponds to the June solstice is close to the border of Gemini and Taurus, to the north of Orion. Precession will eventually carry Orion further south, and by 14,000 CE Orion will be far enough south that it will become invisible from the latitude ofGreat Britain [31].

Further in the future, Orion’s stars will gradually move away from the constellation due to proper motion. However, Orion’s brightest stars all lie at a large distance from the Earth on an astronomical scale. (For example, they are much farther away thanSirius is.) Orion will still be recognizable long after most of the other constellations – composed of relatively nearby stars – have distorted into new configurations, with the exception of a few of its stars eventually exploding as supernovae. For example,Betelgeuse, the "right shoulder", is so large and old enough that it may explode and disappear within a few thousand years.

[edit]See also

Notes

  1. ^ Dolan, Chris. "Orion". Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  2. ^ Three Kings and the Cape Clouds at psychohistorian.org
  3. ^ Orion Constellation
  4. ^ a b "Variable Star of the Month, Alpha Ori". Variable Star of the Season. American Association of Variable Star Observers. 2000. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  5. ^ "Betelgeuse". Chris Dolan’s Constellations. University of Wisconsin. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  6. ^ "Rigel". Jim Kaler’s Stars. University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign Campus. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  7. ^ "Bellatrix". Chris Dolan’s Constellations. University of Wisconsin. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  8. ^ a b "Bellatrix". Jim Kaler’s Stars. University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign Campus. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  9. ^ "Mintaka". Jim Kaler’s Stars. University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign Campus. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  10. ^ a b "Alnilam". Jim Kaler’s Stars. University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign Campus. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  11. ^ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alnitak.html
  12. ^ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alnilam.html
  13. ^ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/mintaka.html
  14. ^ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Orion.html
  15. ^ Lenda de Órion e as Três Marias
  16. ^ John H. Rogers, "Origins of the ancient contellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions", Journal of the British Astronomical Association 108 (1998) 9–28
  17. ^ Babylonian Star-lore by Gavin White, Solaria Pubs, 2008, page 218ff & 170
  18. ^ Peake’s commentary on the Bible[citation needed]
  19. ^ The Oxford Guide: Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology, Edited by Donald B. Redford, p302-307, Berkley, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
  20. ^ Mackenzie, Donald A. (1907). "Triumph of the Sun God". Egyptian Myth and Legend. Gresham Pub. Co.. pp. 167–168. ISBN 0517259125.
  21. ^ http://www.coldwaterschools.org/lms/planetarium/myth/orion.html; http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Orion.html
  22. ^ Mackenzie, Donald A. (1907). "Triumph of the Sun God". Egyptian Myth and Legend. Gresham Pub. Co.. pp. 167–168. ISBN 0517259125.
  23. ^ The Oxford Guide: Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology, Edited by Donald B. Redford, p302-307, Berkley, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
  24. ^ The Oxford Guide: Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology, Edited by Donald B. Redford, p302-307, Berkley, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
  25. ^ Star Tales – Orion
  26. ^ Chandra :: Photo Album :: Constellation Orion
  27. ^ Schön, Ebbe. (2004). Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. p. 228.
  28. ^ Holay, P. V.. "Vedic astronomers". Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India 26: 91–106.
  29. ^ 漢語大字典 Hànyǔ Dàzìdiǎn (in Chinese), 1992 (p.163). 湖北辭書出版社和四川辭書出版社 Húbĕi Cishu Chūbǎnshè and Sìchuān Cishu Chūbǎnshè, re-published in traditional character form by 建宏出版社 Jiànhóng Publ. in Taipei, Taiwan; ISBN 957-813-478-9
  30. ^ Moser, Mary B.; Stephen A. Marlett (2005) (in Spanish and English). Comcáac quih yaza quih hant ihíip hac: Diccionario seri-español-inglés. Hermosillo, Sonora and Mexico City: Universidad de Sonora and Plaza y Valdés Editores.
  31. ^ http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/moonkmft/Articles/Precession.html

References

External links


Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Orion

Constellation history

Coordinates: Sky map 05h 30m 00s, +00° 00′ 00″

Categories: Orion constellation | Constellations | Northern constellations | Constellations listed by Ptolemy | Eastern constellations

Orion’s Belt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the group of stars within the constellation Orion. For other uses, see Orion’s Belt (disambiguation).

Astrophotograph of Orion’s Belt.

Orion’s Belt or The Belt of Orion is an astronomical asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars ζ Ori (Alnitak), ε Ori (Alnilam), and δ Ori (Mintaka). Alnitak is approximately 800 light years away from earth and considering ultraviolet radiation, which human eye can not see, Alnitak is 100,000 more luminous than Sun[1]. Alnilam is approximately 1340 light years away from earth and shines with magnitude 1.70. Considering ultraviolet light Alnilam is 375,000 times more luminous than Sun [2]. Mintaka is 915 light years away and shines with magnitude 2.21. Mintaka is 90,000 times more luminous than Sun. Mintaka is double star. Both stars orbit around each other every 5.73 days. [3] Looking for Orion’s Belt in the night sky is the easiest way to locate constellation Orion in the sky. In the Northern hemisphere, Orion’s Belt is best visible in the night sky during the month of January at around 9.00 PM when it is approximately around local Meridian.[4]

The same three stars are known in Latin America as "The Three Marys".[5] They also mark the northern night sky when the sun is at its lowest point, and were a clear marker for ancient timekeeping.

Richard Hinckley Allen lists many folk names for the Belt of Orion. The English ones include: Jacob’s Rod or Staff; Peter’s Staff; the Golden Yard-arm; the L, or Ell; the Ell and Yard; the Yard-stick, and the Yard-wand; the Ellwand; Our Lady’s Wand; the Magi; the Three Kings; the Three Marys; or simply the Three Stars.

The passage "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" is found in the Bible‘s Book of Job.

Gallery

Map of Orion.

Amateur astrophotograph of Orion’s Belt.

Astrophotograph of the region of Orion’s Belt and the Flame Nebula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)

 

LEGENDS

OF

ORION

The legend as given here is from "Dictionary of Ancient Deities" by Patricia Turner & Charles Russell Coulter, pg. 365. Oxford Press, 2000.

ORION – Oarion, Urion (Greek)

Hunter. Constellation. Orion, a famous giant and hunter, was the son of the sea god Poseidon or Hyrieus, the king of Hyria and Euryale, the daughter of Minos. He became the father of the nymph Menodice. In a later account of his birth it is said that Hyreius, king of Thrace or of Boeotian Hyria, who had been a gracious host to Poseidon, Hermes, and Zeus, was asked by the gods how they could repay him. He asked for a child. They urinated on the hide of a bull and buried it. After nine months, Orion grew up on the spot and was named Urion by his father. Orion married Side, who bragged that she was more beautiful than Hera. It is possible that this did not sit well with the jealous goddess, for Side died young and was sent to the Underworld.

The idea of Orion being a son of three gods who represent the elements of (respectively) Water, Air and Earth is an interesting one. Orion, composed of stars then becomes Fire. Being born from the urine of these three gods is a sort of "male divine virgin birth" that is not often seen in mythology but is not uncommon. Kartikkeya (Skanda) the son of Shiva is said to have been born from a spurt of Shiva’s semen which contained 7 drops. These drops fell into the river and became Kartikkeya, who was then raised by the Pleiades (Kartik). The river, in this case is the Milky Way. Orion sits near to the Pleiades, so we have a little cross-referencing of myth here. He also sits near Taurus the Bull and the gods are said to be urinating on the hide of a bull. The name of his first wife — Side (sy-dee) is also similar to the name of the Hindu goddess Siddhi (see-dee) or Success, who is sometimes said to be the sister of Kartikkeya. Also similar to the Siddhe (shee) or Tuatha de Danaan. The Tuatha de Danaan are "the sons of the goddess" as are the bene elohim (Hebrew) and the Adityas or Danavas (Hindu), who are also said to be giants and artificers.

Orion met Meriope, the daughter of Oenopion, king of Chios, and asked for her hand in marriage. As the price of betrothal Oenopion set the task, which Orion quickly accomplished, of clearing his island of wild beasts. Impatient, Orion did not wait for the wedding, he raped his fiancee and reaped the wrath of her father, who blinded him and threw him out on the beach. Orion, who had the power to walk on water, found his way to Lemnos. Out of pity, the god of fire and metalworking, Hephaestus, offered him the services of his servant, the dwarf Cedalon, who mounted on the shoulders of the giant guided him to the sun where his eyesight was restored by the sun god Helius (some say Apollo).

Chios? Is this an allusion to chaos (khaos)? I ask this question, because there are many legends regarding the "lost sister of the Pleiades", Meriope. The Pleiades are called the Seven Sisters, but only six are visible. Many cultures have explained this by weaving stories to the effect that she left her ‘husband’ (whatever his name in the story) and went to live with the Seven Sages, who are the stars of Ursa Major or the Big Dipper that revolve around the northern pole-star. It would seem that perhaps this star exploded and ‘disappeared’, possibly hurtling off fragmented toward the northern portion of the heavens. Every year, in August, comes the Perseid meteor showers and hundreds if not thousands of meteor trails adorn the night sky. Perseus sits in the same area of the sky as Orion, Taurus, the Pleiades and Hyades. This is a very active region of the sky and could seem to be chaotic in terms of the amount of astronomical phenomena going on in it.

The story of Orion asking for Meriope’s hand in marriage and not waiting until the wedding night to have her is very similar to a story in Genesis, where Shechem asks for the hand of Dinah, a daughter of Jacob and sister to Jacob’s sons Levi and Simeon. Shechem is so in love and infatuated with Dinah, that he too does not wait for the wedding night and ‘rapes’ her. (She’s supposedly staying at his house at the time, so can’t say if it wasn’t a mutual kind of thing.) Simeon and Levi become enraged over this and go to the town and supposedly kill every man-jack there and steal all the women and animals for their own. (How very ‘Hebrew’) One wonders how two men accomplished all this! Is this a case of the writers of the Bible borrowing again (this time) from Greek mythology? Possibly. And it possibly indicates that Genesis was not written as long ago as we are led to believe. I say this, because at the time the books of the Bible were being assembled and written at Qumran, Greek occupation of the Holy Land was in full swing. The Greeks ruled and enforced their ways and ideals on the Hebrews. Not to think that the writer or writers of Genesis were not aware of the myths of the Greeks and their ‘blasphemies’, is denial of their great knowledge and adept usage of myth.

Orion’s ability to ‘walk on’ or under water is seen in his relation to the Milky Way, as the head of the constellation is just into the edge of said river of stars.

Some say Orion became drunk and attacked Merope, others say the King made Orion drunk and put out Orion’s eyes while he slept. Orion’s blindness explains why the stars in the head of Orion are faint.

Orion regained his eyesight when he asked to be led in the direction of the rising sun. (At first glance this doesn’t appear to make sense: when Orion is visible, he is always running toward the west, not east. It might make more sense in the context of precession of the equinoxes.) [ from http://www.scivis.com/AC/stor/orion.html ]

Like Samson, Orion is also blinded. While Samson does not recover his sight, physically, he does recover his ‘light’ and finds his way back to his innate divinity.

His eyesight restored but his judgement still cloudy, he chased the daughters of Atlas, the Pleiades and possibly their mother, Pleione (whom he didn’t recognize as his great grandmother), around for years until they became exhausted. To give them relief, Zeus placed them among the stars. Orion and his dog Sirius joined the moon goddess Artemis for the more traditional type of hunting. Old habits die hard; it is said that she shot him either for raping her or her attendant Opis, or out of jealousy because he slept with Eos, the goddess of dawn. In another less dramatic version, he was stung by a monster scorpion sent by the goddess Gaea (earth) and died. After death Orion became the brightest constellation in the sky along with Sirius, his faithful dog.

Orion is also equated with Osiris in Egyptian myth. People such as Robert Bauval have theorized that the three great pyramids of Egypt are an earthly reflection of the three stars of Orion’s belt. I personally agree with this theory. Osiris was the god of laws, agriculture and religion. The same source as the Orion myth says of Osiris:

His vegetable aspect is symbolized by corn and many effigies made of corn husks and corn-stuffed images bandaged like mummies have been located. Osiris is thought to have been the first mummy. Like the corn, he was first trodden in the earth (burial), then rested in the dark and the new seed germinated (resurrection). Osiris was also a tree spirit. In the hall of Osiris at Denderah, the coffin containing the hawk-headed mummy of Osiris is depicted as enclosed within a tree…. He owas regularly identified with the bull of Apis of Memphis and the bull Mnevis of Heliopolis. His name may mean "place of the eye" which would correspond with his written sign.

Here, we find the connections made with Dumuzi/Tammuz and Dionysius/Bacchus, as well as the Death of the Corn King, and the death of John Barleycorn. Connecting these divinities to Shemyaza also makes him a ‘corn king’, the dying and resurrected one. While all this may seem confusing and hopelessly intertwined, it’s not. Not at all. They all represent a single concept on both the earthly and spiritual planes. One must die to be reborn in a purer form. That death may be symbolic. It is the death of the Phoenix, who is reborn from the pyre of it’s own ashes. Osiris is reborn in a purer form and becomes immortal. Gnostically speaking, the ideal is to die symbolically and reach one’s enlightenment while still living in the flesh. This is refered to in the song Exodus (Zoon), when McCoy sings "Rise, rise, rise alive!".

We also see the connections with the bulls Apis and Mnevis, who are symbolized in the sky by Taurus. There is also a reference to Osiris’s ‘tree aspect’. Recall that the Watchers were dreamed of as two hundred trees in the Book of Giants . They were also called ‘trees’ or ‘cedars’ because of their giant stature and their knowledge. Tree spirits in many pantheons are seen as tutelary (teaching) dieties, which is exactly what the Watchers are. They "taught men the worthless secrets of heaven" [Enoch]

Sirius – the binary star that follows at Orion’s heels and is said to be the ‘head of the dog’, is also connected with Isis….but that may have to be another page 😉

http://www.semjaaza.com/seven/orion.html

[star chart]

India & Constellation Orion Myths

India & Constellation Orion Myths: Ancient Hindu Mythology About the Hunter and Nearby Constellations http://www.suite101.com/content/india-constellation-orion-myths-a26806#ixzz0ytmDbctg

Ancient Hindu Mythology About the Hunter and Nearby Constellations

Jul 21, 2007 Paul A. Heckert

In ancient Hindu mythology, the constellation Orion was the god Prajapati, who had an incestuous relationship with the dawn.

Prajapati and the Rg Veda

The oldest Hindu myths are those found in the Rg Veda, which is the oldest known document in any Indo-European language and was passed down orally for several centuries before it was written.

In this ancient tradition the constellation, Orion, is the god Prajapati, one of the creator gods. In an interesting parallel with one of the Greek myths about Orion, Prajapati has a relationship with the dawn or in some versions the sky. There is a twist however. She is his daughter. The relationship is incestuous.

Dawn took the form of a doe, so Prajapati took the form of a stag to seduce her. The other gods did not approve of this incestuous relationship. They assembled a malevolent deity, Rudra, and told him to shoot the incestuous stag with an arrow. The deer or the deer’s head is the modern constellation, Capricorn. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and now thought of as one of Orion’s hunting dogs, was the deer piercer who shot the arrow.

The brightest star in Taurus, Aldeberan, was called Rohini and represents the female deer. Prajapati is represented by Orion, but the row of three stars that is considered his belt in western tradition is the arrow that pierced him. The three arrow (belt) stars are Agni, Soma, and Visnu representing the shaft, head, and point of the arrow. Visnu was the solar or supreme god. Soma was both the god’s ambrosia and the moon. Agni was the fire god. Extend Orion’s belt to find Sirius and Aldeberan representing the deer piercer and Rohini. They are roughly equidistant from Orion’s belt but on opposite sides of the belt.

In this version of the myth only Prajapati pursued Dawn, but in a later alternate version, Prajapati and his four sons, Fire, Wind, Sun, and Moon all pursue her. In this latter version Dawn was actively seductive by taking the form of a nymph.

Skanda and the Mahabharata

In the Mahabharata, a later epic and the major Hindu epic, Orion was the warrior, Skanda. Skanda was the six headed son of Shiva, the god of ascetics and cosmic destruction. Skanda’s aliases included Kumara, Karttikeya, and Guha. He was both the god of war and the general of the gods. Riding a red crested cock and blowing fearful sounds on a conch-shell, he thrust his spear into the White Mountain. The top split off into the sky becoming the Milky Way. The hero also killed various demons and restored peace.

Read more at Suite101: India & Constellation Orion Myths: Ancient Hindu Mythology About the Hunter and Nearby Constellations http://www.suite101.com/content/india-constellation-orion-myths-a26806#ixzz0ytmDbctg

EGYPT MAP 08 Pyramid Map 2Bottom Pyramid Map 2topWashington Obelix3 Ecliptic Seven Hills of Rome Orions belt Winter Solstice 23 Dec 6Pm Washington July4th Orion_constelation_PP3_map_PL (1) Orion_Belt656px-The_region_of_Orion’s_Belt_and_the_Flame_NebulaCintura_di_Orione_binocolo

Natural disaster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disaster

For the professional wrestling tag team, see The Natural Disasters.

A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g., flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake, or landslide) that affects the environment, and leads to financial, environmental and/or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster, and their resilience.[1] This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability."[2] A natural hazard will hence never result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or disasters without human involvement.[3]

Natural disasters

Main articles: Disaster and List of natural disasters

Land movement disasters
Avalanches

Avalanche on the backside (East) of Mt. Timpanogos, Utah at Aspen Grove trail

Notable avalanches include:

Earthquakes

An Earthquake is a sudden shake of the Earth’s crust caused by the tectonic plates colliding.The vibrations may vary in magnitude. The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the "focus". The point directly above the focus on the surface is called the"epicenter". Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes, that are actually the human disaster. Many of these could possibly be avoided by better construction, safety systems, early warning and evacuation planning.Earthquakes are caused by the discharge of accumulated along geologic fault.

Lahars

A lahar is a volcanic mudflow or landslide. The 1953 Tangiwai disaster was caused by a lahar, as was the 1985 Armero tragedy in which the town of Armero was buried and an estimated 23,000 people were killed.

Volcanic eruptions

Main article: Types of volcanic eruptions

See also: World’s largest eruptions

Pu’u ‘Ō’ō

  • An Eruption may in itself be a disaster due to the explosion of the volcano or the fall of rock but there are several effects that may happen after an eruption that are also hazardous to human life.
  • Lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano a material consisting of superheated rock. There are several different forms which may be either crumbly or gluey. Leaving the volcano this destroys any buildings and plants it encounters.
  • Volcanic ash – generally meaning the cooled ash – may form a cloud, and settle thickly in nearby locations. When mixed with water this forms a concrete like material. In sufficient quantity ash may cause roofs to collapse under its weight but even small quantities will cause ill health if inhaled. Since the ash has the consistency of ground glass it causes abrasion damage to moving parts such as engines.
  • Supervolcanoes : According to the Toba catastrophe theory 70 to 75 thousand years ago a super volcanic event at Lake Tobareduced the human population to 10,000 or even 1,000 breeding pairs creating a bottleneck in human evolution. It also killed three quarters of all plant life in the northern hemisphere. The main danger from a supervolcano is the immense cloud of ash which has a disastrous global effect on climate and temperature for many years.
  • Pyroclastic flows consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up in the air above under its own weight and streams very rapidly from the mountain burning anything in its path. It is believed that Pompeii] was destroyed by a pyroclastic flow.
Water disasters
Floods

Main article: List of floods

The Limpopo River, in southernMozambique, during the 2000 Mozambique flood

Some of the most notable floods include:

Tropical cyclones can result in extensive flooding and storm surge, as happened with:

Limnic eruptions

A cow suffocated by gases from Lake Nyos after a limnic eruption

A limnic eruption occurs when a gas, usually CO2 suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat of suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in the lake as the rising gas displaces water. Scientists believe landslides, volcanic activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption. To date, only two limnic eruptions have been observed and recorded:

  • In 1984, in Cameroon, a limnic eruption in Lake Monoun caused the deaths of 37 nearby residents.
  • At nearby Lake Nyos in 1986 a much larger eruption killed between 1,700 and 1,800 people byasphyxiation.
Tsunami

The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004, earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand.

Tsunamis can be caused by undersea earthquakes as the one caused in Ao Nang, Thailand, by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, or by landslides such as the one which occurred at Lituya Bay, Alaska.

(This also fits within the "Land movement disaster" category because it started with an earthquake.)

Weather disasters

Main article: Meteorological disasters

Young steer after a blizzard, March 1966

Blizzards

Significant blizzards in the United States include:

Cyclonic storms

Main articles: Tropical cyclone and Cyclone

Cyclone, tropical cyclone, hurricane, and typhoon are different names for the same phenomenon a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans. The deadliest hurricane ever was the 1970 Bhola cyclone; the deadliest Atlantic hurricane was the Great Hurricane of 1780 which devastated Martinique, St. Eustatius and Barbados. Another notable hurricane is Hurricane Katrina which devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005.

Droughts

Well-known historical droughts include:

  • 1900 India killing between 250,000 and 3.25 million.
  • 1921-22 Soviet Union in which over 5 million perished from starvation due to drought
  • 1928-30 northwest China resulting in over 3 million deaths by famine.
  • 1936 and 1941 Sichuan Province China resulting in 5 million and 2.5 million deaths respectively.
  • As of 2006, states of Australia including Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland had been under drought conditions for five to ten years. The drought is beginning to affect urban area populations for the first time.
  • In 2006, Sichuan Province China experienced its worst drought in modern times with nearly 8 million people and over 7 million cattle facing water shortages.
Hailstorms

Hailstorms (AKA hailstones) are rain drops that have formed together into ice. A particularly damaging hailstorm hit Munich, Germany, on July 12, 1984, causing about 2 billion of dollars in insurance claims.

Heat waves

The worst heat wave in recent history was the European Heat Wave of 2003.

Hurricane Katrina

A summer heat wave in Victoria, Australia, caused the massive bushfires in 2009.Melbourne experienced three days in a row of temperatures exceeding 40°C. The bushfire, otherwise known as "Black Saturday" was also started intentionally.

Tornadoes

Main article: Tornado

Different Types of Tornadoes:

Supercell Tornadoes

Main article: Supercell

Some of the most violent tornadoes develop from supercell thunderstorms. A supercell thunderstorm is a long-lived thunderstorm possessing within its structure a continuously rotating updraft of air. These storms have the greatest tendency to produce tornadoes, some of the huge wedge shape. The supercell thunderstorm has a low-hanging, rotating layer of cloud known as a "wall cloud." It looks somewhat like a layer of a layer cake that hangs below the broader cloud base. One side of the wall cloud is often rain-free, while the other is neighbored by dense shafts of rain. The rotating updraft of the supercell is seen on radar as a "mesocyclone."

The tornadoes that accompany supercell thunderstorms are more likely to remain in contact with the ground for long periods of time—an hour or more—than other tornadoes, and are more likely to be violent, with winds exceeding-200 mph.

Landspout

Main article: Landspout

Generally weaker than a supercell tornado, a landspout is not associated with a wall cloud or mesocyclone. It may be observed beneath cumulonimbus or towering cumulus clouds and is the land equivalent of a waterspout. It often forms along the leading edge of rain-cooled downdraft air emanating from a thunderstorm, known as a "gust front."

Gustnado

Main article: Gustnado

Weak and usually short-lived, a gustnado forms along the gust front of a thunderstorm, appearing as a temporary dust whirl or debris cloud. There may be no apparent connection to or circulation in the cloud aloft. These appear like dust devils.

Waterspout

A waterspout is a tornado over water. A few form from supercell thunderstorms, but many form from weak thunderstorms or rapidly growing cumulus clouds. Waterspouts are usually less intense and causes far less damage. Rarely more than fifty yards wide, it forms over warm tropical ocean waters, although its funnel is made of freshwater droplets condensed from water vapor from condensation – not saltwater from the ocean. Waterspouts usually dissipate upon reaching land.

The following are tornado-like circulations

Dust Devils

Main article: Dust devil

Dry, hot, clear days on the desert or over dry land can bring about dust devils. Generally forming in the hot sun during the late morning or early afternoon hours, these mostly harmless whirlwinds are triggered by light desert breezes that create a swirling plume of dust with speeds rarely over 70 mph. These differ from tornadoes in that they are not associated with a thunderstorm (or any cloud), and are usually weaker than the weakest tornado.

Typically, the life cycle of a dust devil is a few minutes or less, although they can last much longer. Although usually harmless, they have been known to cause minor damage. They can blow vehicles off the road and could damage your eyes by blowing dust into them.

Firewhirls

Main article: Fire whirl

Sometimes the intense heat created by a major forest fire or volcanic eruption can create what is known as a firewhirl, a tornado-like rotating column of smoke and/or fire. This happens when the fire updraft concentrates some initial weak whirl or eddy in the wind. Winds associated with firewhirls have been estimated at over 100 mph. They are sometimes called fire tornadoes, fire devils, or even firenadoes.[4]

Fire

Main article: List of forest fires

Wildfires are an uncontrolled fire burning in wildland areas. Common causes include lightning and drought but wildfires may also be started by human negligence or arson. They can be a threat to those in rural areas and also wildlife.

A notable case of wildfire was the 2009 Victorian bushfires in Australia.

Nine elderly Russians have died in a blaze at a nursing home that may have been started by a resident setting himself on fire.The fire at the facility in Tver, northeast of Moscow, injured two others and forced the evacuation of some 480 people early on Monday,and investigators found a canister of flammable liquid in the room where the fire started, leading to speculation the resident set himself ablaze.

Health and diseases
Epidemic

Main article: List of epidemics

The A H5N1 virus, which causes Avian influenza

An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads at a rapid rate through a human population. A pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global. There have been many epidemics throughout history, such as Black Death. In the last hundred years, significant pandemics include:

  • The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide
  • The 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million people
  • The 1968-69 Hong Kong flu pandemic
  • The 2002-3 SARS pandemic
  • The AIDS epidemic, beginning in 1959
  • The H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic 2009-2010

Other diseases that spread more slowly, but are still considered to be global health emergencies by the WHO include:

Famine

Main article: List of famines

In modern times, famine has hit Sub-Saharan Africa

Space

Fallen trees caused by the Tunguska meteoroid of the Tunguska event in June 1908.

Gamma ray bursts

Main article: gamma ray burst

Impact events

Main article: impact event

One of the largest impact events in modern times was the Tunguska event in June 1908.

[edit]Solar flares

Main article: solar flare

A solar flare is a phenomenon where the sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar radiation, much more than normal. Some known solar flares include:

  • An X20 event on August 16, 1989
  • A similar flare on April 2, 2001
  • The most powerful flare ever recorded, on November 4, 2003, estimated at between X40 and X45
  • The most powerful flare in the past 500 years is believed to have occurred in September 1859
Supernovae and hypernovae

Main articles: supernova and hypernova

Future of natural disasters

The United Kingdom based charity Oxfam publicly stated that the number of people hit by climate-related disasters is expected to rise by about 50%, to reach 375 million a year by 2015.[5]

Insurance

Natural disasters play a major role in the insurance industry, which pays for certain damages arising from hurricanes, wildfires, and other catastrophes. Large reinsurance companies are particularly involved.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ G. Bankoff, G. Frerks, D. Hilhorst (eds.) (2003). Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People. ISBN ISBN 1-85383-964-7.
  2. ^ B. Wisner, P. Blaikie, T. Cannon, and I. Davis (2004). At Risk – Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters. Wiltshire: Routledge. ISBN ISBN 0-415-25216-4.
  3. ^ D. Alexander (2002). Principles of Emergency planning and Management. Harpended: Terra publishing. ISBN ISBN 1-903544-10-6.
  4. ^ Weather Encyclopedia, The Weather Channel, Accessed on June 2, 2009, http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com.
  5. ^ BBC: Oxfam warns of climate disasters
  6. ^ III. (2008). 2008 Natural Catastrophe Review.

External links

Categories: Natural disasters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disaster

 

List of natural disasters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters

The following is a list of the most notable natural disasters by type.

Ten deadliest natural disasters

Rank↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓
Death toll (estimate)↓

1.
1931 China floods
China
July, November, 1931
1,000,000–2,500,000*[1]

2.
1887 Yellow River flood
China
September, October, 1887
900,000–2,000,000[2]

3.
1556 Shaanxi earthquake
Shaanxi Province, China
January 23, 1556
830,000[3]

4.
1970 Bhola cyclone
East Pakistan (nowBangladesh)
November 13, 1970
500,000[1]

5.
1839 India Cyclone
India
November 25, 1839
300,000[citation needed]

6.
526 Antioch earthquake
Antioch, Turkey
May 526
250,000–300,000

7.
1976 Tangshan earthquake
Tangshan, Hebei, China
July 28, 1976
242,419[1]

8.
1920 Haiyuan earthquake
Haiyuan, NingxiaGansu, China
December 16, 1920
234,117[1]

9.
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
Sumatra, Indonesia
December 26, 2004
230,210

10.
2010 Haiti earthquake
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 12, 2010
222,000[4]

* Estimate by Nova’s sources are close to 4 million and yet Encarta’s sources report as few as 1 million. Expert estimates report wide variance.

An alternative listing is given by Hough in his 2008 book Global Security.[5]

Ten deadliest natural disasters of the past century

Rank↓
Event*↓
Location↓
Date↓
Death toll (estimate)↓

1.
1931 China floods
China
November 1931
1,000,000–2,500,000

2.
1970 Bhola cyclone
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)
November 1970
500,000

3.
1976 Tangshan earthquake
China
July 1976
300,000

4.
1920 Haiyuan earthquake
China
December 1920
234,000

5.
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
Indonesia
December 2004
230,000+

6.
2010 Haiti earthquake
Haiti
January 2010
222,000

7.
1923 Great Kanto earthquake
Japan
September 1923
142,000

8.
Cyclone Nargis
Myanmar
May 2008
138,000+

9.
1991 Bangladesh cyclone
Bangladesh
April 1991
138,000

10.
1948 Ashgabat earthquake
Turkmen SSR, (nowTurkmenistan)
October 1948
110,000

* Does not include industrial or technological accidents.

Lists of natural disasters

Blizzards

Main article: Blizzard

Rank↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓
Death toll (estimate)↓

1.
1972 Iran blizzard
Iran
1972
4,000

2.
2008 Afghanistan blizzard
Afghanistan
2008
926

3.
Great Blizzard of 1888
United States
1888
400

4.
1993 North American Storm Complex
United States
1993
318

5.
Schoolhouse Blizzard
United States
1888
235

6.
Hakko-da Mountains incident
Japan
1902
199

7.
Armistice Day Blizzard
United States
1940
144

8.
2008 Chinese winter storms
China
2008
133

9.
1995 Kazakh Blizzard
Kazakhstan
1995
112

10.
Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978
United States
1978
54

Contractible diseases

See also: List of epidemics

Pandemics killing at least 1,000,000 people:

Rank↓
Event↓
Location↓
Death toll (estimate)↓
Date↓

1.
Black Death
Asia, Europe, Africa
100,000,000 approx.
1300s–1720s

2.
Spanish Flu
Worldwide
50,000,000–100,000,000
1918–1920

3.
Plague of Justinian
Asia, Europe, Africa
40,000,000–100,000,000
540–590

4.
Third Pandemic of Bubonic Plague
Worldwide
12,000,000 ?
1850s–1950s

5.
Antonine Plague
Roman Empire
5,000,000
165–180

6.
Asian Flu
Worldwide
4,000,000
1956–1958

Other deadly communicable diseases. Death counts are historical totals unless indicated otherwise.

Rank↓
Disease↓
Death toll (estimate)↓
Notes↓

1.
Smallpox
300,000,000 approx.
1900 to eradication.[6] Declared eradicated May 8, 1980.[7]

2.
Measles
200,000,000 ?
last 150 years[8]

3.
Malaria
80,000,000–250,000,000
20th century – present

4.
Tuberculosis
40,000,000–100,000,000
20th century – present[8]

5.
AIDS pandemic
25,250,000
1981–present.

6.
Seasonal influenza
at least 250,000 annually
As of April 2009[9]

Cyclones

Main article: Tropical cyclone

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
500,000
1970 Bhola cyclone
East Pakistan, Pakistan (nowBangladesh)
November 13, 1970

2.
300,000
1839 Indian cyclone
India
November 25, 1839

3.
300,000[10]
1737 Calcutta cyclone
India
October 7, 1737

4.
210,000
Super Typhoon Nina—contributed to Banqiao Dam failure
China
August 7, 1975

5.
200,000[11]
Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876
present day Bangladesh
October 30, 1876

6.
~146,000
Cyclone Nargis
Myanmar
May 2, 2008

7.
138,866
1991 Bangladesh cyclone
Bangladesh
April 29, 1991

8.
100,000
1882 Bombay cyclone
Bombay, India
1882

9.
60,000
1922 Swatow Typhoon
China
August 1, 1922

9.
60,000
1864 Calcutta Cyclone
India
October 5, 1864

Earthquakes

Main article: List of earthquakes

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
830,000
1556 Shaanxi earthquake
China
January 23, 1556

2.
242,419–779,000
1976 Tangshan earthquake
China
July 28, 1976

3.
250,000
526 Antioch earthquake
Antioch, Byzantine Empire(now Turkey)
May 526

4.
235,502
1920 Haiyuan earthquake
China
December 16, 1920

5.
230,000+
2004 Indonesian earthquake
Indonesia
December 26, 2004

6.
230,000
2010 Haiti earthquake
Haiti
January 12, 2010

7.
230,000
1138 Aleppo earthquake
Syria

8.
200,000
856 Damghan earthquake
Iran
December 22, 856

9.
150,000
893 Ardabil earthquake
Iran
March 23, 893

10.
142,000
1923 Great Kanto earthquake
Japan
September 1, 1923

11.
137,000
1730 Hokkaido earthquake
Japan
1730

12.
110,000
1948 Ashgabat earthquake
Turkmen SSR, Soviet Union(now Turkmenistan)
October 5, 1948

13.
100,000
1290 Chihli earthquake
China
1290

14.
100,000
1755 Lisbon earthquake
Portugal
November 1, 1755

15.
100,000
1908 Messina earthquake
Italy
December 28, 1908

16.
100,000
1667 Shamakhi earthquake
Azerbaijan
1667

17.
79,000
2005 Kashmir earthquake
Pakistan
October 8, 2005

18.
77,000
1727 Tabriz earthquake
Iran
1727

19.
75,000
1970 Ancash earthquake
Peru
May 31, 1970

20.
70,000
1932 Changma earthquake
Gansu, China
1932

21.
68,712 (18,392 missing)
2008 Sichuan earthquake
China
May 12, 2008

22.
60,000
1268 Cilicia earthquake
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia(now Turkey)
1268

23.
60,000
1693 Sicily earthquake
Italy
January 11, 1693

24.
60,000
1935 Balochistan earthquake
British India (now part ofPakistan)
May 31, 1935

25.
50,000
1783 Calabrian earthquakes
Italy
1783

26.
50,000
1990 Manjil-Rudbar earthquake
Iran
June 21, 1990

27.
45,000
1999 İzmit earthquake
Turkey
August 17, 1999

28.
40,000
1498 Nankaido earthquake
Japan
September 20, 1498

29.
40,000
1797 Riobamba earthquake
Ecuador
1797

30.
40,000
1927 Gulang earthquake
Gansu, China
1927

31.
32,962
1939 Erzincan earthquake
Turkey
December 26, 1939

32.
30,000
1202 Syria earthquake
Syria
May 20, 1202

33.
30,000
1939 Chillán earthquake
Chile
January 24, 1939

34.
28,000
1949 Khait earthquake
Tajikistan
July 10, 1949

35.
26,271
2003 Bam earthquake
Iran
December 26, 2003

36.
25,000
1988 Spitak earthquake
Armenia
December 7, 1988

37.
23,700
1293 Kamakura earthquake
Japan
1293

38.
23,000
1976 Guatemala earthquake
Guatemala
February 4, 1976

39.
22,066
1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake
Japan
June 15, 1896

40.
20,000
1812 Caracas earthquake
Venezuela
March 26, 1812

41.
20,000
1905 Kangra earthquake
British India
April 4, 1905

42.
19,727
2001 Gujarat earthquake
India
January 26, 2001

43.
15,621
1970 Tonghai earthquake
China
January 4, 1970

44.
15,000
1960 Agadir earthquake
Morocco
February 26, 1960

45.
15,000
1978 Tabas earthquake
Iran
September 16, 1978

46.
12,225
1962 Bou’in-Zahra earthquake
Iran
September 1, 1962

47.
12,000–15,000
1907 Qaratog earthquake
Tajikistan
October 21, 1907

48.
12,000
1968 Dasht-e Bayaz and Ferdows earthquake
Iran
August 31, 1968

49.
10,500
1934 Bihar earthquake
British India
January 15, 1934

50.
10,153
1985 Mexico City earthquake
Mexico
September 19, 1985

51.
10,000
1509 Istanbul earthquake
Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (nowTurkey)
September 10, 1509

52.
10,000
1703 Apennine earthquakes
Italy
1703

53.
10,000
1703 Genroku earthquake
Japan
December 31, 1703

54.
10,000
1854 Ansei-Nankai earthquake
Japan
December 24, 1854

55.
10,000[12]
1944 San Juan earthquake
Argentina
January 15, 1944

56.
9,000
1933 Diexi earthquake
China
August 25, 1933

57.
8,064
1966 Xingtai earthquake
China
March 8, 1966

58.
7,928
1993 Latur earthquake
India
September 30, 1993

59.
7,273
1891 Mino-Owari earthquake
Japan
October 28, 1891

60.
6,433
1995 Great Hanshin earthquake
Japan
January 17, 1995

61.
6,000[12]
1861 Mendoza earthquake
Argentina
March 20, 1861

62.
6,000
1960 Valdivia earthquake
Chile
May 22, 1960

63.
5,300
1974 Hunza earthquake
Pakistan
December 28, 1974

64.
5,000
1707 Hōei earthquake
Japan
October 28, 1707

65.
5,000
1972 Nicaragua earthquake
Nicaragua
December 23, 1972

66.
4,000
1945 Balochistan earthquake
British India
November 28, 1945

67.
3,800
1929 Koppeh Dagh earthquake
Iran
January 5, 1929

68.
3,769
1948 Fukui earthquake
Japan
June 28, 1948

69.
3,000
1906 San Francisco earthquake
United States
April 18, 1906

70.
3,000
1933 Sanriku earthquake
Japan
March 2, 1933

Famines

Main articles: List of famines and Famine

Please Note: Some of these famines may be partially or completely caused by humans.

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
15,000,000–43,000,000
Great Chinese Famine
China
1958–1961

2.
24,000,000
Chinese Famine of 1907
China
1907

3.
19,000,000
Indian Famine
British India
1896–1902

4.
15,000,000
Bengal famine of 1770, incl. Bihar & Orissa
India
1769–1771

5.
13,000,000
Northern Chinese Famine
China
1876–1879

6.
10,000,000
Indian Great Famine of 1876–78
India
1876–1879

7.
7,500,000
Great European Famine
Europe (all)
1315–1317

8.
5,000,000
Chinese Famine of 1936
China
1936

8.
5,000,000
Soviet famine of 1932–1933 (Holodomor)
Soviet Union
1932–1934

8.
5,000,000
Russian famine of 1921
Russia, Ukraine
1921–1922

11.
3,000,000
Chinese Drought 1941
China
1941

11.
3,000,000
Chinese Famine of 1928–1930
China
1928–1930

13.
2,000,000
Russian famine of 1601–1603
Russia (Muscovy)
1601–1603

13.
2,000,000
Vietnamese Famine of 1945
Vietnam
1943–1945

13.
2,000,000
Deccan Famine of 1630–32
India
1630–1630

16.
1,500,000–4,000,000
Bengal Famine of 1943
India
1943

17.
1,200,000
North Korean famine
North Korea
1996–1998

18.
1,000,000–1,500,000
Great Irish Famine
Ireland
1846–1849

18.
1,000,000
1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
1984

18.
1,000,000
Horn of Africa famine
Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia
1888

21.
26,000–1,000,000
Bangladesh famine of 1974—Official records claim 26,000. However, various sources claim about 1,000,000.
Bangladesh
1974

22.
150,000
Finnish famine of 1866–1868
Finland
1866–1868

22.
18,000
Dutch famine of 1944
The Netherlands
1944

Floods and landslides

Main articles: Flood and List of landslides

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
2,500,000–3,700,000[13]
1931 China floods
China
1931

2.
900,000–2,000,000
1887 Yellow River (Huang He) flood
China
1887

3.
500,000–700,000
1938 Yellow River (Huang He) flood
China
1938

4.
231,000
Banqiao Dam failure, result of Typhoon Nina. Approximately 86,000 people died from flooding and another 145,000 died during subsequent disease.
China
1975

5.
145,000
1935 Yangtze river flood
China
1935

6.
more than 100,000
St. Felix’s Flood, storm surge
Netherlands
1530

7.
100,000
Hanoi and Red River Delta flood
North Vietnam
1971

8.
100,000
1911 Yangtze river flood
China
1911

9.
50,000–80,000
St. Lucia’s flood, storm surge
Netherlands
1287

10.
2.400
North Sea flood, storm surge
Netherlands
31 December 1953

Heat waves

Main article: Heat wave

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
20,000–35,000
2003 European heat wave
Europe
2003

2.
15,000
2010 Russian heat wave
Russia
2010

3.
5,000–10,000
1988 United States heat wave
United States
1988

4.
1,700
1980 United States heat wave
United States
1980

5.
1,500
Southern India heat wave
India
2003

6.
946
Los Angeles heat wave
United States
1955

7.
891
New York City heat wave
United States
1972

8.
739
1995 Chicago heat wave
United States
1995[14]

Limnic eruptions

Main article: Limnic eruption

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
1,746
Lake Nyos
Cameroon
1986

2.
37
Lake Monoun
Cameroon
1984

Storms (non-cyclone)

Main article: Storm

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
15,100
Torrential rains and mudslides
Venezuela
1999

2.
500
Lofoten, Heavy storm
Norway
1849

3.
250
Great Lakes Storm of 1913
United States and Canada (Great Lakes region)
1913

4.
242
1996 Amarnath Yatra tragedy
India
1996

5.
210
Trøndelag, storm ("Follastormen")
Norway
1625

6.
189
Eyemouth, Scotland, storm ("Black Friday")
United Kingdom
1881

7.
140
Trøndelag, storm ("Titran disaster")
Norway
1899

8.
96
Lofoten, storm
Norway
1868

9.
46
Columbus Day Storm
United States
1962

10.
30
Haugesund, storm ("Røvær disaster")
Norway
1899

Tornadoes

Main article: Tornado

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
1,300
The Daulatpur-Salturia Tornado
Manikganj, Bangladesh
April 26, 1989

2.
923
1969 East Pakistan Tornado
East Pakistan, Pakistan (nowBangladesh)
1969

3.
695
The Tri-State Tornado
United States (MissouriIllinoisIndiana)
March 18, 1925

4.
681
1973 Dhaka Tornado
Bangladesh
1973

5.
600
The Valetta, Malta Tornado
Malta
1551

6.
500
The Sicily Tornado
Sicily, Two Sicilies (now Italy)
1851

6.
500
The Narail-Magura Tornadoes
Jessore, East Pakistan, Pakistan (nowBangladesh)
1964

6.
500
The Comoro Tornado
Comoro
1951

9.
440
The Tangail Tornado
Bangladesh
1988 B.C

10.
400
The 1984 Yaroslavl tornado
Soviet Union (now Russia)
1984

Tsunami

See also: Historic tsunami

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
229,866
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
Indonesia
2004

2.
100,000
1755 Lisbon earthquake/tsunami/fire
Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (Cornwall)
1755

3.
100,000
1908 Messina earthquake/tsunami
Messina, Italy
1908

4.
36,000
Caused by 1883 eruption of Krakatoa
Indonesia
1883

5.
30,000
1707 Hōei earthquake
Tōkaidō/Nankaido, Japan
1707

6.
27,000
Japan
1826

7.
25,674
1868 Arica earthquake/tsunami
Arica, Chile
1868

8.
22,070
1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake
Sanriku, Japan
1896

9.
15,030
1792 Mount Unzen eruption in southwestKyūshū
Kyūshū, Japan
1792

Volcanic eruptions

Main article: Volcano

See also: World’s largest eruptions

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
92,000
Mount Tambora (see also Year Without a Summer)
Indonesia
April 10, 1815

2.
36,000
Krakatoa
Indonesia
August 26–27, 1883

3.
29,000
Mount Pelée
Martinique
May 7 or May 8, 1902

4.
33,000
Mount Vesuvius
Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy
August 24, 79 AD

5.
23,000
Nevado del Ruiz
Colombia
November 13, 1985

6.
15,000
Mount Unzen
Japan
1792

7.
10,000
Mount Kelut
Indonesia
1586

8.
9,350
Laki. Killed about 25% of the population (33% were killed about 70 years before by smallpox)
Iceland
June 8, 1783

9.
6,000
Santa Maria
Guatemala
1902

10.
5,115
Mount Kelut
Indonesia
May 19, 1919

A supervolcanic eruption at Lake Toba around 74,000 years ago could have wiped out as much as 99% of the global human population, reducing the population from a possible 60 million to less than 10 thousand; see Toba catastrophe theory. However, this theory is not widely accepted because the evidence is disputed, and there have been, for instance, no remains found. The eruption is not listed here as it was pre-historic and outside the scope of this article. Also, the Thera eruption in the Aegean Sea between 1550 and 1650 BC may have caused a large number of deaths throughout the region, from Crete to Egypt. See also La Garita Caldera,Yellowstone Caldera, and Supervolcanoes.

Wildfires and bushfires

Main articles: Wildfire and Bushfire

Rank↓
Death toll↓
Event↓
Location↓
Date↓

1.
1,200–2,500
Peshtigo Fire, Wisconsin
United States
October 8, 1871

2.
1,200
Kursha-2 Fire
Soviet Union
August 3, 1936

3.
453
Cloquet Fire, Minnesota
United States
October 12, 1918

4.
418
Great Hinckley Fire, Minnesota
United States
September 1, 1894

5.
282
Thumb Fire, Michigan
United States
September 5, 1881

6.
273
Matheson Fire, Ontario
Canada
July 29, 1916

7.
240
Sumatra and Kalimantan Fires
Indonesia
1997

8.
230
Landes region
France
1949

9.
213
Black Dragon Fire
China
May 1987

10.
173
Black Saturday bushfires
Australia
February 7 – March 14, 2009

See also

Other lists organized by death toll

References

  1. ^ a b c d The world’s worst natural disasters Calamities of the 20th and 21st centuries CBC News’.’ Retrieved 2010-2-10.
  2. ^ "NOVA Online | Flood! | Dealing with the Deluge". Pbs.org. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  3. ^ "Top 10 Deadliest Earthquakes". Time. January 13, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
  4. ^ "Magnitude 7.0 – HAITI REGION". Earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  5. ^ Understanding Global Security, Peter Hough, 2008, chapter 8, page 192, table 8.1 ‘The ten worst natural disasters in history’
  6. ^ "UC Davis Magazine, Summer 2006: Epidemics on the Horizon". Retrieved 2008-01-03.
  7. ^ Smallpox and bioterrorism, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 81 no. 10 Genebra October 2003 ISSN 0042-9686
  8. ^ a b "Torrey EF and Yolken RH. 2005. Their bugs are worse than their bite. Washington Post, April 3, p. B01". Birdflubook.com. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  9. ^ Influenza (Seasonal), World Health Organization, April 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  10. ^ "10 ‘Worst’ Natural Disasters". Eas.slu.edu. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  11. ^ ThinkQuest Team #C003603. "Hurricanes: case studies". Library.thinkquest.org. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  12. ^ a b "Listado de Terremotos Históricos". Inpres.gov.ar. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  13. ^ "Worst Natural Disasters In History". Nbc10.com. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  14. ^ Eric Klinenberg (July 30, 2002). "Dead Heat: Why don’t Americans sweat over heat-wave deaths?". Slate. Retrieved 30 July 2010.

External links

Categories: Disaster lists | Lists by death toll | Death-related lists | Natural disasters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters

Man-made disasters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Man-made_disasters

SanFranHouses06.JPG
Disasters portal

The main article for this category is anthropogenic hazard.

Subcategories

This category has the following 17 subcategories, out of 17 total.

B
E
F
H
I
M
N
P
S
T
W

Pages in category "Man-made disasters"

The following 9 pages are in this category, out of 9 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

B
C
H
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Y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Man-made_disasters

A Man Made Disasters Lie

Man made disasters occur when human actions lead to severe threats to safety and health, property, and the environment. The ultimate man made disaster is global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Man Made Disasters

Clearing mangrove swamps removes natural protection from cyclones and flooding. Excessive deforestation or cultivation, combined with heavy rain, leaves settlements vulnerable to landslides, soil erosion, water pollution and ultimately desertification. Accidental man made disasters include fire, industrial accidents, oil spills, transport disasters, and the spread ofcontagious diseases.
Deliberate man made disasters include acts of war or large-scale violence, terrorism, arson and destruction of property, and environmental pollution. War and violence can lead to societal collapse resulting in widespread hunger, disease, and suffering: Cambodia, Rwanda and the Congo are recent examples of these ‘complex emergencies’.

 

Anthropogenic hazard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-made_hazard

  (Redirected from Man-made hazard)

An anthropogenic hazard is a threat having an element of human intent, negligence, or error, or involving a failure of ananthropogenic system. Anthropogenic disasters are disasters resulting from the same factors, as opposed to natural disastersresulting from natural hazards.

Sociological hazards

Crime

Main article: Crime

Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority (via mechanisms such as legal systems) can ultimately prescribe a conviction. Individual human societies may each define crime and crimes differently. While every crime violates the law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime; for example: breaches of contract and of other civil law may rank as "offences" or as "infractions". Modern societies generally regard crimes as offenses against the public or the state, distinguished from torts (offenses against private parties that can give rise to a civil cause of action).

In context, not all crimes provide man-made hazards.

Arson

A building damaged by arson.

Main article: Arson

Arson is the criminal intent of setting a fire with intent to cause damage. The definition of arson was originally limited to setting fire to buildings, but was later expanded to include other objects, such as bridges, vehicles, and private property. Arson is the greatest cause of fires in data repositories. Sometimes, human-induced fires can be accidental: failing machinery such as a kitchen stove is a major cause of accidental fires.[1]

Civil disorder

Main articles: Civil disorder and Riot

Civil disorder is a broad term that is typically used by law enforcement to describe forms of disturbance. Although civil disorder does not necessarily escalate to a disaster in all cases, the event may escalate into general chaos. Rioting has many causes, from low minimum wage to racial segregation. And example of riots were those in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California in 1965 and 1992. The 1992 riots, which started at the intersections of Florence and Normandie streets, started immediately after the Rodney King verdict was announced on live TV. Approximately 50 people died in the 1992 riots.

Terrorism

Main articles: Terrorism and Asymmetric warfare

Terrorism is a controversial term with multiple definitions. One definition means a violent action targeting civilians exclusively. Another definition is the use or threatened use of violence for the purpose of creating fear in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological goal. Under the second definition, the targets of terrorist acts can be anyone, including civilians, government officials, military personnel, or people serving the interests of governments. In the early 21st century, terrorism has been considered by some a constant threat to all people of the world, after the worst disaster of its kind struck on September 11, 2001 (known primarily as9/11).

War

Main article: War

War is conflict between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. Warfare has destroyed entire cultures, countries, economies and inflicted great suffering on humanity. Other terms for war can include armed conflict, hostilities, and police action. Acts of war are normally excluded from insurance contracts and disaster planning.

Technological hazards

Industrial hazards

Industrial disasters occur in a commercial context, such as mining disasters. They often have an environmental impact.

Structural collapse

Structural collapses are often caused by engineering failures. Bridge failures may be caused in several ways, such as under-design (as in the Tay Rail Bridge), by corrosion attack (such as in the Silver Bridge), and by aerodynamic flutter of the deck (as in Galloping Gertie, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge). Failure of dams was not infrequent during the Victorian period, such as the Dale Dyke dam failure in Sheffield, England in the 1860s, causing the Great Sheffield Flood. Other failures include balcony collapses.

Power outage

Main article: Power outage

A power outage is an interruption of normal sources of electrical power. Short-term power outages (up to a few hours) are common and have minor adverse effect, since most businesses and health facilities are prepared to deal with them. Extended power outages, however, can disrupt personal and business activities as well as medical and rescue services, leading to business losses and medical emergencies. Extended loss of power can lead to civil disorder, as in the New York City blackout of 1977. Only very rarely do power outages escalate to disaster proportions, however, they often accompany other types of disasters, such as hurricanes and floods, which hampers relief efforts.

Electromagnetic pulses and voltage spikes from whatever cause can also damage electricity infrastructure and electrical devices.

Fire

A forest fire

Main articles: Bush fire, Fire, Mine fire, Wildfire, and Firestorm

See also Category: Fire disasters involving barricaded escape routes

Bush fires, forest fires, and mine fires are generally started by lightning, but also by human negligence or arson. They can burn thousands of square kilometers. If a fire intensifies enough to produce its own winds and "weather", it will form into a firestorm. A good example of a mine fire is the one near Centralia, Pennsylvania. Started in 1962, it ruined the town and continues to burn today. Some of the biggest city-related fires are The Great Chicago Fire, The Peshtigo Fire(both of 1871) and the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Casualties resulting from fires, regardless of their source or initial cause, can be aggravated by inadequate emergency preparedness. Such hazards as a lack of accessible emergency exits, poorly marked escape routes, or improperly maintained fire extinguishers or sprinkler systemsmay result in many more deaths and injuries than might occur with such protections.

Events like this have happened as the Australian Bush fires in 2009.

Hazardous materials
Radiation contamination

When nuclear weapons are detonated or nuclear containment systems are otherwise compromised, airborne radioactive particles (nuclear fallout) can scatter and irradiate large areas. Not only is it deadly, but it also has a long-term effect on the next generation for those who are contaminated. Ionizing radiation is hazardous to living things, and in such a case much of the affected area could be unsafe for human habitation. During World War II, United States troops dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities ofHiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, the radiation fallout contaminated the cities’ water supplies, food sources, and half of the populations of each city were stricken with disease. The Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus are part of a scenario like this after a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a meltdown in 1986. To this day, several small towns and the city of Chernobyl remain abandoned and uninhabitable due to fallout. In the 1970s, a similar threat scared millions of Americans when a failure occurred at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. The incident was fortunately resolved, and the area retained little contamination.

A number of military accidents involving nuclear weapons have also resulted in radioactive contamination, for example the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash and the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash.

CBRNs

Main article: CBRN

A catch-all initialism meaning Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear. The term is used to describe a non-conventional terror threat that, if used by a nation, would be considered use of a weapon of mass destruction. This term is used primarily in the United Kingdom. Planning for the possibility of a CBRN event may be appropriate for certain high-risk or high-value facilities and governments. Examples include Saddam Hussein‘s Halabja poison gas attack on Kurds, the Sarin gas attacks in Tokyo and the preceding test runs in Matsumoto, Japan 100 kilometers outside of Tokyo,[2], and Lord Amherst giving smallpox laden blankets to Native Americans.[3].

Transportation
Aviation

Main article: Air disasters

An aviation incident is an occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operations, passengers, or pilots. The category of the vehicle can range from a helicopter, an airliner, or a space shuttle. One of the more devastating events occurred in 1977 on the island of Tenerife of the Canary Islands, when miscommunications between and amongst air traffic control and an aircrew caused two fully loaded jets to collide on the runway, killing over 500 passengers.

Railroad

Main article: Rail disasters

A railroad disaster is an occurrence associated with the operation of a passenger train which results in substantial loss of life. Usually accidents with freight (goods) trains are not considered disasters, unless they cause substantial loss of life or property. One of the more devastating rail disasters occurred in 2004 in Sri Lanka when 1,700 people died in the Queen of the Sea train accident. Other notable rail disasters are the 1989 Ufa accident in Russia which killed 574, and the 1917 Modane train accident in France which killed 540.

See also the list of train accidents by death toll.

Space disasters

Main article: Space accidents and incidents

Space disasters, either during operations or training, have killed around 20 astronauts and cosmonauts, and a much larger number of ground crew and civilians. These disasters include either malfunctions on the ground, during launch, or in orbit with technology, or of natural forces. Not all space disasters result in human fatalities, for example, unmanned orbiting satellites that drop to the Earth can incinerate and send debris spewing across the sky. One of the worst manned space disasters, the Space Shuttle Challengerexplosion of 1986, cost all of the lives on board. The shuttle exploded several seconds after taking off from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Another example is the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during a landing attempt over Texas in 2003, with a loss of all 7 astronauts on board. The debris field extended from as far as eastern New Mexico to Mississippi. An example of a space disaster killing nearby residents occurred on February 15, 1996, in Sichuan Province, China, when a Long March3B rocket crashed during takeoff. Then in 1960 also killed 126 when an R-16 ICBM exploded on the launch pad.

See also

See also Category: Man-made disasters

References

Categories: Hazards | Man-made disasters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-made_hazard

Top 10: Man-Made Disasters

Humans are good at creating disasters, and throughout history we’ve rarely been afraid to prove it. Yet in crafting a top 10, the job of slotting one man-made disaster ahead of another begs an uncomfortable justification. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a colossal disaster, beginning well before it ran aground and extending to poor decisions made during cleanup. But with a human death toll at zero, how can it rank higher than London’s killer fog that took the lives of 12,000?
Fortunately, a top 10 is a subjective survey. Excluding acts of war or terrorism as well as transportation disasters, the following presents the top 10 man-made disasters whose negative effects were most profoundly experienced by people and the environment that otherwise bore no responsibility for them.

Number 10
London’s killer fog

The winter of 1952 was a typically cold one for Londoners and many responded in typical fashion, burning coal in their furnaces. The smoke met the city’s iconic fog and together the air become even colder. Residents burned more coal. The air, heavy and stagnant, fell to street level and visibility suddenly dropped as a black fog descended on the city.
This killer fog, laden with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and soot, soon muffled London under near total darkness and was so pervasive it was even found among the book stacks of the British Museum. Just four days later it vanished, but the damage was done: Over the following months, the fog killed over 12,000 people.
In hindsight: Londoners, accustomed to the fog, apparently didn’t panic over it. But hospital wards were overrun with severely ill patients, and the smog killed 4,000 people alone during its four-day stay. And no one thought to send up an alarm?

Number 9
Al-Mishraq fire
On June 24, 2003, NASA satellites picked up a massive plume of smoke rising near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. When the fire was determined to be coming from the al-Mishraq state sulfur plant, scientists began to monitor it closely and what they discovered was shocking.
The fire, which burned for about a month, became responsible for releasing the most man-made sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere in history: More than 600,000 tonnes (1.3 billion tons), a little more than half the total sulfur dioxide released in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State.
In hindsight: Since sulfur dioxide was allegedly used by Napoleon to execute hundreds of thousands of slaves, and since it can wipe out crops, create respiratory problems and, when oxidized, lead to acid rain, a better effort should have been mounted to put this out.

Number 8
Jilin chemical plant explosions
The No.101 Petrochemical Plant in Jilin City, China, produced a significant amount of aniline, a chemical compound used to make dyes, polyurethane and even acetaminophen (Tylenol). They used benzene and nitrobenzene as solvents.
In November 2005, a series of huge explosions rocked the plant, killing six people at the outset. It further forced mass evacuations, after an 80 km-long toxic slick composed largely of benzene and nitrobenzene (known human carcinogens) developed in the Songhua River. Water contamination reached the Sea of Japan and forced city governments to shut off water supplies, inciting panic in a number of cities.
In hindsight: Accidents happen, but Chinese government secrecy prevented a better, faster response to the disaster.

Number 7
Yellowstone fires
In many areas similar to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana, fires are part of the game; they’re expected every dry season and monitored accordingly. But in the time leading up to the summer of 1988, authorities for Yellowstone neglected a number of indicators suggesting that the upcoming dry season could be disastrous, and that’s exactly what it was: When autumn snowfall finally arrived to effectively extinguish the fires, they burned almost 800,000 acres — or about one-third — of the entire park.
In hindsight: The previous winter had seen one-third the normal amount of snow fall on Yellowstone, and while spring dropped a good amount of rain, it only contributed to more growth that would die in the upcoming drought.

Coupled with the excessively low humidity, the forests were littered with the right kind of fuel to signify disaster.

Number 6
St. Francis dam disaster
America’s worst civil engineering failure began as a solution to the need to supply the residents of Los Angeles with water. The job of building an appropriate dam was left to the chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a self-taught civil engineer named William Mulholland. During construction, Mulholland ruled with dictatorial power and continued to make adjustments to the dam’s design, creating a bigger and bigger reservoir behind the dam. What no one knew was that the rock on which the dam was built was entirely inadequate for the job.

Just before midnight on March 12, 1928, and 12 hours after Mulholland had finished an inspection and declared it safe, the dam failed, unleashing 12 billion gallons (45 billion liters) of water onto the San Francisquito Canyon below. The death toll is estimated at around 600.
In hindsight: Inadequate rock aside, Mulholland’s dam design was not even up to the standards of the era, and he never should have been given so much control and allowed to be the only person overseeing design and construction.

Number 5
Minamata disease
In 1932, the Chisso Corporation in Minamata city on Japan’s Kyūshū Island began releasing a nasty toxic compound called methyl mercury into the waters of Minamata Bay.

For the next 24 years they dumped with impunity, until a young girl came forward with multiple symptoms affecting her central nervous system. By the end of 1956, an investigation uncovered 40 more cases, 14 of them already dead. Remarkably, while the source was under investigation, the Chisso factory began dumping the methyl mercury into a nearby river, poisoning everyone and everything downstream.

To date, the death toll stands at almost 1,800 people.
In hindsight: People had been seeing feral cats that ate fish scraps from the bay seem to lose their minds and die for years and years prior to the discovery of the source. While Chisso’s egregious behavior is shocking, Japanese society at the time didn’t show victim support. Rather, victims were discriminated against in the same manner as the so-called Hibakusha, sickened survivors of the atomic bombs.

Number 4
Castle Bravo
In March 1954, the United States detonated a thermonuclear weapon in the Pacific code-named Castle Bravo. They expected it would yield no more than eight megatons of energy [to express the amount of energy released by nuclear weapons, science uses an equivalent amount of TNT, i.e. 1 megaton = 1 billion kg (2.2 billion pounds) of TNT]. Confident in their math, they lit the fuse.
Instead, Bravo yielded 15 megatons, 1,000 times stronger than the bomb that smashed Hiroshima. It unleashed a three-mile wide fireball and its enormous mushroom cloud went 130,000 feet high and 62 miles in diameter. The excessive yield, coupled with high winds, dispersed nuclear fallout over inhabited islands and fishing boats, and much of the area remains contaminated to this day.
In hindsight: It might have benefited everyone if, before detonating a hydrogen bomb, someone would have double-checked the math and perused the chemistry. Instead, the arms race with the USSR had priority.

Number 3
Chernobyl
Workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Northern Ukraine were in the process of running some tests when, just like a nuclear chain reaction, things began to go wrong in disastrous succession. It all culminated in a steam explosion in the Number 4 reactor, which was powerful enough to blow the roof off. Nuclear meltdown followed in the form of added explosions and a terrible fire. In an instant, Chernobyl assumed every nuclear nightmare from the past 50 years and became a byword for “meltdown.”
The explosions and fires sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. Soviet secrecy prevents an accurate death toll, but an estimated 6.6 million people were exposed to ghastly levels of radioactive contaminate and untold thousands continue to suffer the effects, from birth defects to cancer.

Despite this disaster, two of the three other reactors at the Chernobyl plant remained in operation until 2000 (the Number 2 reactor was shut down following a fire in 1991).
In hindsight: Today, blame for the meltdown is placed on either poor reactor design or human error. Not unlike Castle Bravo, it’s hard not to wish that both countries would have been less concerned with each other and more concerned with their own people.

Number 2
Exxon Valdez


The oil tanker Exxon Valdez left Valdez, Alaska, at around 9 p.m. on March 23, 1989, loaded with 53 million barrels of crude oil for delivery to the lower 48 states. At 11 p.m. or so, ship captain Joseph Hazelwood retired to his cabin, evidently exhausted from the two-hour shift. He left the ship to an officer who was not certified to pilot [his own ass] through notoriously difficult Prince William Sound.

Just after midnight on March 24th, the officer showed why he wasn’t certified, running Valdez aground onto a huge, well-charted reef. The stranded tanker spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Sound, contaminating the water, hundreds of miles of coastline and beaches, and every individual ecosystem within a massive area.
In hindsight: Captain Hazelwood’s New York State driver’s license was revoked at the time of the disaster due to multiple drunk driving arrests. Now, just because you aren’t allowed to drive a car, it doesn’t automatically mean you can’t pilot an oil tanker, but it may indicate a problem with wider implications, such as sleeping on the job or poor discretion in delegating authority.

Number 1
Bhopal (Union Carbide)
In 1969, a subsidiary of chemical powerhouse Union Carbide Corporation built a pesticides plant in the middle of Bhopal, India, a city of over 900,000 people. Over the next 15 years, massive slums grew around the plant, which was home to thousands of the city’s most destitute.
In the early morning of December 3, 1984, a tank holding over 40 tonnes of extremely toxic methyl isocynate (MIC) overheated and released the heavier-than-air gas. It rolled along the ground like a poisonous foggy avalanche. Thousands were killed almost instantly and panic erupted as others were choked and temporarily blinded.
To date, history’s worst industrial disaster has killed as many as 20,000 people, and another 120,000 still suffer from a variety of hideous health problems


In hindsight: The local government should have prevented the establishment of sprawling slums so close to the plant, but Union Carbide shoulders most of the responsibility. By opening a plant in India, the U.S. company was saving hundreds of millions of dollars; yet in the years leading up to the disaster they found countless ways to cut expenses. The result was diminished quality control, compromised safety regulations, under-trained employees, and broken equipment.


Deadly disasters
George Santayana famously wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Past mistakes are available for all of us to study, but history shows we’ve typically shown very little interest in their application.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://news.bbc.co.uk
www.npr.org

 

And Now there a New on bigger then them all

BP’S DEEP WATER HORIZON OIL LEAK

Corporate pollution

Posted by Sokari Ekine

http://www.newint.org/blog/majority/2009/05/07/corporate-pollution/ 

dirty-main-graphic-large

The trial of Chevron Oil last December and the forthcoming trial of Shell – who are charged with contributing to environmental destruction in Nigeria as well as being complicit in the state murder of Ogoni activist, Ken Saro Wiwa – are two landmark cases that have tried to call multinationals to account for their actions in the developing world. These two cases are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exploitation and human rights violations: from children in theDRC being used to work the coltan mines (coltan is used in video games and mobile phones) to mining violations in Ghana’s gold mines, Angola’s diamond mines and Zambia’s copper mines.

Angola is a particularly nasty case not just because of the exploitation and human rights violations of workers there but also because of the connection with illegal settlements in the West Bank and rogue landlords in New York. Behind this spider’s web is Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.

Leviev owns Alluvial, one of the main diamond mining operations in Angola. Thousands work in mines in Angola, often in dangerous conditions, largely unregulated and digging with their bare hands, while standing in dirty muddy water.

Angolan journalist and human rights activist Rafael Marques has documented human rights violations [Operation Kissonde] and the impact of diamond mining on one million people in Angola. The violations by private security firms for the mines are described as sadistic:

‘[They] include beating their victims on the buttocks, undressing them and making them circulate naked or semi-naked in public, as well as other rituals of humiliation. They use, as distinct instruments of torture, shovels, or the handles of shovels, clubs and machetes. In the particular case of (security firm) Alfa-5, various cases have been documented in which the victims are forced to carry out homosexual acts. In one particular case, a son-in-law was forced to violate his father-in-law.’

At the same time, Leviev is alleged to be behind the construction of illegal homes in the West Bank of Palestine. As a measure of the serious violations against the Palestinian people, the British Government took the decision to boycott Leviev in March this year. A press release byone on-line organization claimed:

‘Leviev’s companies have built Jewish-only homes on occupied Palestinian land in the Israeli settlements of Zufim, Mattityahu East, Har Homa and Maale Adumim, impoverishing villages like Bil’in and Jayyous and violating international law. Leviev also funded the settlement organization the Land Redemption Fund. In December, the Israeli financial journal Globes published an expose of Leviev’s serious human rights abuses and failure to fully comply with the Kimberley Process in Angola. And in Namibia, Leviev recently fired around 200 striking diamond polishers, some of whom were already struggling to survive on less than $2 per day.’

Ghana is presently on the edge of a biodiversity disaster as mining companies such as Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA), Bogoso Gold Limited (BGL) and Newmont Gold Ghana (NGG)Bogoso Gold Limited Bogoso Gold Limited

They continue to operate without consideration for land or people. The use of toxic chemicals from the mining has led to contaminated water supplies. The forests, which have been reduced from 8.3 million hectares in 1957 to a mere 1.2 million today, contain over 700 varieties of trees, plants, birds and animals, all at risk of being destroyed forever.

Biodiversity is being threatend everywhere, even in our landscape development, but what we are concerned about is the impact that such activity would have on the biodiversity,’ confirms biodiversity expert, Professor Alfred Oteng Yeboah. ‘Mining as an extractive activity destroys, therefore when mining is taking place in areas containing very important natural Ghanaian biological resources, that activity limits the extension of those particular biological resources.’

For example, Bogoso Gold has one of the worst records of environmental damage and human rights violations in Ghana, according to Mining Watch. They have damaged five rivers, cocoa farms and are responsible for cyanide spillages in their area of operation. The situation in Ghana is hardly different from that of the Niger Delta or Angola. In each country, the multinationals behave like bullies towards the local communities, refuse to meet international standards of mining and pollution as well as human rights. The state governments are equally culpable in that they fail to strengthen the environmental laws or even enforce those that exist, whilst the rights of communities are tossed aside.

To return to Shell and other oil multinationals operating in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, Nnimmo Bassey of the Environmental Rights Action (ERA) Nigeria recently reported that there were over 1000 oil spills a year in the region:

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‘Between 1981 and 1994 Nigeria has been said to have lost 3.7 million hectares of forest and farmlands to erosion and other forms of soil degradation. About 285,000 Km2, or just under a third of Nigeria’s land area, has been lost to this phenomenon over the past three decades.

‘The situation is not only dangerous for agriculture in terms of lost farmland, there is also the threat of significant but adverse changes in weather and the soil system.’

The trial of Chevron Nigeria, Shell Nigeria and the ongoing bribery investigation of US company Halliburton in respect of a contract to build a liquid gas oil refinery in Nigeria are all evidence that at least in Nigeria the commons are fighting back. It’s only a matter of time before other communities in Africa’s mining and agricultural sector will also pursue justice through the courts.

http://www.newint.org/blog/majority/2009/05/07/corporate-pollution/

The Toxic Ten

by Harry Hurt III Feb 19 2008

That old corporate demon Wal-Mart is preaching renewable energy. DuPont is pioneering corn-based bioplastics. General Electric‘s NBC Universal unit turned off the lights in its studio smack in the middle of aSunday Night Football broadcast last season and urged viewers to do the same in their homes.

Most major American corporations are trying to board the environmental bandwagon, and practically any C.E.O. can expound on the threat of global climate change and the virtues of sustainable growth. But what does all this corporate green really mean?

Condé Nast Portfolio decided to take a closer look (see our coverage of the "green" trend). Concerned that many corporate environmental efforts may be degenerating into self-serving marketing stunts, we endeavored to separate the admirable (Whole Foods‘ purchase of enough wind-energy credits to offset 100 percent of its electricity use) from the laughable (the "green" holiday window display at Barneys department store last Christmas that recommended such must-have gifts as "a Prius in a pear tree").
Our team consulted dozens of government agencies, court records, and environmental watchdog groups. We also spoke extensively with representatives from the corporations themselves. We looked at firms in a variety of industries, not just the traditional smokestack polluters. This process, though informed by scientific data, contains a heavy dose of subjective judgment. Consequently, neither our Toxic 10 list of offenders nor our Green 11 roster of good guys should be seen as empirical rankings. These are merely companies that we think could be doing better, given their resources and position in their industries, or those that deserve to be commended. We hope our findings will inspire lively debate and, most of all, some serious thought about what corporations can do to really make a difference for the environment.

J.R. Simplot Co.

Headquarters: Boise, Idaho
Revenue: $11.9 billion1
Last summer, the E.P.A. determined that a Simplot factory was the main source of a potentially deadly amount of phosphorus dumped into the Portneuf River.
Simplot produces more than 3 billion pounds of french fries annually and supplies McDonald’s with over half of its potato inventory. But some of the company’s nonedible products—including phosphate, phosphorus, and nitrate compounds—have made it infamous among environmentalists. For decades, Simplot has stored the waste by-products from its Pocatello, Idaho, fertilizer factory in an unlined stockpile that has contaminated the surrounding groundwater and polluted the nearby Portneuf River with a mixture of toxins, including arsenic and nitrate. Although Simplot has worked to clean up the site, which is listed as a Superfund site, it has also continued to operate the fertilizer plant.
Not only does Simplot process the fertilizer, it also mines the phosphate ore that makes it, a practice that has contaminated southeastern Idaho with mining waste and selenium, a natural trace element that can be deadly in large quantities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned of harmful air pollutants from Simplot’s Superfund site. In 2004, the company’s silica-sand-mining facility in Overton, Nevada, was fined $500,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to control its sulfur-dioxide emissions. The facility was required to install $2 million worth of pollution-control equipment as well.
What the company says: Simplot understands that certain groups will be upset by its phosphate mining and is working with the government to clean up its sites.

Cargill

Headquarters: Minneapolis
Revenue: $88.3 billion
A Cargill plant in Virginia has been overwhelming wastewater-treatment facilities, causing the dumping of toxic substances into the North Fork Shenandoah River.
Cargill’s corn-processing plants have been significant sources of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (which can cause cancer), and smog. The company is now working to comply with a settlement it entered into with the E.P.A. and the Justice Department in 2005 that requires it to spend an estimated $130 million to clean up its plants. Cargill has spent most of the past decade battling lawsuits over the dumping of residue from salt production into a holding pond in a wildlife preserve near San Francisco Bay. Last spring, a U.S. appeals court overturned previous rulings against Cargill on a technicality, saying that the polluted pond isn’t covered by the federal Clean Water Act because it doesn’t seep into navigable waterways. Last summer, the E.P.A. determined that a former Cargill plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, had contaminated the community’s groundwater and said it would take up to 30 years to eliminate the contamination.
What the company says: Cargill says it has consistently tried to act in an environmentally responsible way and that private wastewater-treatment plants are to blame for discharges into Virginia’s North Fork Shenandoah River.

Ford Motor

Headquarters: Dearborn, Michigan
Revenue: $172.5 billion
Ford has contributed waste to 40 Superfund sites.
Ford set out to be a leader in greening the auto industry, becoming the first U.S. carmaker to offer a hybrid S.U.V., with its 2004 Escape. The company also recently announced a more fuel-efficient car engine. But the automaker had the second-worst fleetwide gas-mileage rating in both 2006 and 2007, according to the E.P.A. And in 2006, Ford withdrew its guarantee that it would manufacture a quarter of a million hybrid vehicles annually by 2010, opting instead to explore alternative energy sources. Ford recently created the world’s largest living-grass rooftop on its Dearborn plant, but the lawn crowns a factory that produces one of the least fuel-efficient vehicles on the market, the F-150. Ford cleaned up its 500-acre Superfund site in Upper Ringwood, New Jersey, in 1994, but the E.P.A. relisted it in 2006—the only time the agency has relisted a site—when tests found that paint sludge still contaminated the area.

What the company says:
Ford says it takes its environmental responsibilities seriously and is committed to creating a better and more sustainable world, whether by increasing fuel efficiency or working closely with local and state authorities on Superfund site cleanups.

Boeing

Headquarters: Chicago
Revenue: $66.4 billion
Studies show that greenhouse-gas emissions from aircraft could more than triple by 2050.
With more than 800 orders already placed and sales of over $100 billion recorded, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is the fastest-selling passenger jet in history, and thanks to an innovative carbon-composite construction, the midsize 787 will be lighter and an estimated 20 percent more fuel efficient than comparable airplanes. Boeing says it delivers "exceptional environmental performance." But recently, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority, which has been on the lookout for misleading environmental claims in ads, reprimanded Boeing for overstating the fuel efficiency of another aircraft, its yet-to-launch 747-8 Intercontinental. Despite its efforts to reduce CO2, the company has been less than transparent about its greenhouse-gas emissions. After initially declining to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project, an investor-led initiative that gathers information on companies’ carbon footprint, Boeing responded the past two years but declined to make the information public. Air pollution aside, Boeing was slapped with $500,000 in water-pollution fines last September for its laboratory near Simi Valley, California. According to the Los Angeles Regional Water Board, which levied the fines, Boeing had exceeded limits on dumping dioxin, lead, and mercury, among other pollutants. The E.P.A. is considering adding the 2,850-acre laboratory to its list of Superfund sites, citing concerns about the local drinking-water supply.
What the company says: Boeing claims that it has substantially reduced emissions and noise pollution in its aircraft, that it has an aggressive plan moving forward, and that it calculated the efficiency of its aircraft using the industry-standard formula.

Apple

Headquarters: Cupertino, California
Revenue: $24 billion
Significant amounts of phthalate, a toxin thought to cause birth defects, have been found in the iPhone and iPod headphone cords.
Steve Jobs has promised a "greener Apple," setting goals for reducing e-waste (Al Gore is on the board), but the company came under fire last May when it rejected two shareholder proposals that were intended to help. Apple pledged to finish phasing out toxins such as polyvinyl chlorides and brominated flame retardants from its products this year, but the iPhone, unveiled after that promise was made, contained both types of chemical, according to tests by an environmental group, which many major cell-phone makers have eliminated from their handsets. Apple’s computer-recycling program also lags behind those of some of its competitors. The company will take back old computers for free, but only if a new Mac is purchased directly from Apple and the old one returned within 90 days. Dell, Apple’s main rival, will accept any Dell computer, anytime.
What the company says: Apple says it plans to eliminate PVCs and brominated flame retardants by the end of 2008. It has no comment on the phthalate issue.

Southern Co.

Headquarters: Atlanta
Revenue: $15.2 billion
Southern operates the top three carbon-dioxide-emitting plants in the U.S.
Southern provides power to more than 4 million customers, but its plants emit a mass of noxious gases across the southern United States. Analyzing E.P.A. data, the Environmental Integrity Project reports that Southern runs six of the 50 dirtiest power plants in the country in terms of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury released. Its Bowen plant in Georgia, run by subsidiary Georgia Power, is the biggest American sulfur-dioxide polluter. Southern owns the top three carbon-dioxide-emitting plants in the U.S., two of which rank second and third in mercury output as well. And five of its other plants are among the country’s top 50 nitrogen-oxide producers.
What the company says: Southern continues to invest billions of dollars to lower its chemical and greenhouse-gas emissions while also seeking out new ways to produce cleaner energy.

American Electric Power

Headquarters: Columbus, Ohio
Revenue: $13.1 billion
American Electric Power is one of the biggest mercury polluters in the U.S.
American Electric Power has been winning praise for cutting back its greenhouse-gas emissions. The Ohio-based utility company plans to implement new technology that stores carbon dioxide underground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. But the company still releases large amounts of mercury.  Analyzing E.P.A. data, the Environmental Integrity Project ranked five of A.E.P.’s plants among the 50 biggest mercury polluters in the U.S. in 2006. The company’s Pirkey, Texas, plant had the worst ratio of power produced (roughly 5 million megawatt hours) to mercury released (over 1,000 pounds). According to the E.P.A.’s toxic-release inventory, A.E.P.’s plant in Winfield, West Virginia, is the 22nd-biggest polluter in the country, releasing more than 20 million pounds of toxins each year, not including carbon dioxide.
What the company says: As a large producer of electricity, A.E.P. would naturally expect to find its plants atop lists for emissions by volume. However, A.E.P. claims that its plants operate in compliance with state and federal environmental regulations and are among the most efficient in the world. The company has reduced mercury emissions by installing new technology.

Massey Energy

Headquarters: Richmond, Virginia
Revenue: $2.3 billion
Massey owns a controversial sludge reservoir that lies less than 400 yards from a West Virginia elementary school.
As one of the largest practitioners of a mining technique known as "mountaintop removal," Massey, the fourth-largest coal company in the U.S., is responsible for leveling peaks across the Appalachians and polluting miles of streams with waste from the blasts. Responding to public criticism, the company launched a radio and TV ad campaign in 2005, along with a website, OurTotalEnvironment.com, saying it works to restore the land it has mined and uses the most environmentally friendly processes available. In January, Massey agreed to pay $20 million, plus take a series of steps to ensure compliance, to settle a suit brought by the E.P.A. for more than 4,000 counts of illegally dumping coal sludge into waterways in West Virginia and Kentucky. The suit claimed Massey has "an extensive history of violating the Clean Water Act."
What the company says: Massey says that the sludge reservoir isn’t toxic, that it restores any peaks it levels, and that it does not pollute streams.

Chevron

Headquarters: San Ramon, California
Revenue: $207 billion
Chevron has contributed waste to more than 90 active Superfund sites.
Chevron has spent billions on alternative-fuel technology and research and touted its green credentials when it bought a 20 percent stake in a Galveston, Texas, biodiesel plant. But that partnership fell apart soon after the plant’s May 2007 opening when the partners sued, alleging Chevron had failed to give a needed cash infusion. In December, the New York City comptroller filed a shareholder resolution asking Chevron to look into its environmental record around the world. Among the causes for concern: The oil company was fined more than $300 million by the government of Kazakhstan in October for environmental violations. In the U.S., Chevron has faced fines from state and federal regulators over its water and air pollution, including $1.8 million over the past five years for its Richmond, California, refinery.
What the company says: Chevron says it has taken great steps to reduce its energy use and invest in renewable and efficient energy technology. It believes the charges against its environmental record are inaccurate and misleading. It says it has honored its contractual obligations to the Galveston plant. Read Chevron’s full response.

Alcoa

Headquarters: Pittsburgh
Revenue $30.7 billion
Alcoa’s aluminum smelters release 6.1 million pounds of air pollution annually.
Alcoa’s corporate environmental push, called Ecoalcoa, has some solid initiatives, such as plans to reduce the company’s nitrogen-oxide and mercury emissions, but its power plants are among the dirtiest, on a pollution-per-megawatt basis. Though only a small producer of power compared with Southern or American Electric Power, its plant in Warrick County, Indiana, produces nearly 30 pounds of sulfur dioxide for every megawatt hour it generates, making it the third-least-efficient power plant in the United States.
In 2003, the Department of Justice ordered Alcoa to shut down three of its four Rockdale, Texas, power plants, which at the time the E.P.A. said were the dirtiest in the nation. As part of a consent decree with the Department of Justice and citizens’ groups, Alcoa promised to spend $330 million to replace those plants with a new, updated facility. But Alcoa didn’t actually close the Rockdale plants until the Justice Department slapped the aluminum company with $9.2 million in penalties in 2006 for nearly 2,000 violations of clean-air standards. The cleaner plant was originally scheduled to begin operation in April 2007. But under a new consent decree, it won’t open until 2009, and Alcoa will no longer operate it.
Alcoa unloaded another environmental problem by selling its Three Oaks mining operation late last year.
What the company says: Alcoa says it has been working to improve its environmental record and has no comment on the criticisms raised.

—Research by Ben H. Carmichael, Frank Hentic, Genevieve Smith, and Herman Wong
Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/10-Worst-Corporate-Polluters

 

TOXICSWATCH-ALLIANCE AGAINST POLLUTION & CORPORATE CRIMES

ToxicsWatch keeps track of callousness, corporate crimes, military-mining-industrial complex & their impact on humans, wildlife & ecosystem. It is concerned about public health impacts from companies of all ilk and related public and corporate policies. It is an ally of WaterWatch Alliance. Visit:www.toxicswatch.com, banasbestosindia.blogspot.com, imowatch.blogspot.com

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Letter to Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New & Renewable Energy

Date: 20 July, 2010
To
Dr. Farooq Abdullah,
Union Cabinet Minister
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
Government of India
Block-14, CGO Complex,
Lodhi Road,New Delhi-110003
Subject-Seeking Appointment to Discuss Waste to Energy Plants in Residential Areas of Delhi
Sir,
This is to seek an appointment to meet you with a small delegation from Delhi based Residential Welfare Associations, environmental groups and waste recyclers in the matter of proposed waste to energy plants based on incineration technology in general and Timarpur-Okhla Waste to Energy project in particular.
I wish to draw your attention towards the Timarpur-Okhla Waste to Energy project that has met with protest rally from the residents of Gaffar Manzil, Sukhdev Vihar and Hazi Colony together. Local politicians have also pledged their support for the protesters. Over 600 people walked through the colonies in a procession to stage their protest. The proposed plant is located inside dozens of densely populated residential colonies like Harkesh Nagar and Johori Farm, when the policy of the government is to shift or relocate all existing industries whatsoever from the residential areas. Besides this the site is in proximity of hospitals like Holy Family, Fortis-Escorts and Apollo. Inhabitants of colonies like Gaffar Manzil, Sukhdev Vihar and Hazi Colony are rightly alarmed at the prospect of a Dioxins emitting incinerator plant from coming up in their vicinity.
This has reference to your reply dated December 11, 2009 in the Lok Sabha and laying of foundation stone on June 26, 2010 by Mrs Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s Chief Minister for a polluting waste to energy plant in the residential area despite the experience of Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster.
In your reply it was stated, “Our Ministry is implementing a programme for setting up five pilot projects on Energy recovery from municipal solid waste”. Initially, Delhi Government claimed in the Delhi High Court that it was one of the five projects you referred to in your reply, which the court later found to be not true.
Your Ministry and Delhi government and have been misled into promoting this dubious technology despite incontrovertible evidence against the technology and in spite of its explicit exclusion by the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan for Climate Change.
While no one will allow a incinerator based plant in one’s own backyard or in one’s own residential area, the same is being done by the Delhi Government and your Ministry. In an open letter to the Chief Minister which is attached for your perusal, the residents said, “This plant will emit large quantities of hazardous and toxic emissions (such as dioxins and furans) due to burning of Municipal Solid Waste, and will profoundly affect the health of the people living in the surrounding areas and environment for all times to come in future.”
Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) must take cognizance of the sad plight at waste to energy site in Gandhamguda village in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh (wrongly mentioned as Hyderabad project) which had the same technology. While the RDF incinerator was in operation, the village was covered by a heavy shroud of dark smoke. Originally a pelletisation plant with a furnace, After the plant came up, local doctors started detecting case of problems not found before
— skin rashes, asthma, respiratory problems and some cases of stillborns. In a statement, Gandhamguda sarpanch D. Shakuntala had said: ‘‘Everyone in Peerancheru Gram Panchayat and its adjoining regions is now contaminated with harmful pollutants and symptoms are visible in the form of brain fever, vomiting, jaundice, asthma,
miscariages, infertility.’’ Similar fate awaits residents of Delhi.
For misplaced carbon revenue, it would not be appropriate to turn Delhi residents as guinea pigs. MNRE has an incorrect policy of subsidizing hazardous technologies like proposed incinerators.
Environmental groups, recycling workers and neighborhood residents are demanding closure of this combustion based project for a just transition from burning waste to building a better, cleaner future for the residents of Delhi. The transition is necessary in the face of issues such as the high cost of incineration, health effects of pollution in neighborhoods, and adverse climate change. Children suffer asthma rates three times the national average among other devastating health impacts.
This plant is based on a hazardous technology that receives fiscal incentives from Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Notably, while ‘whether or not energy from mixed municipal waste (with hazardous characteristics) is a driving concern’ remains in dispute, the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) categorically refers to Biomethanation technology, a biological
treatment method for waste to energy instead of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) process which is a incineration technology and is a tried,tested, failed and Dioxins emitting technology.
Your Ministry and Delhi Chief Minister has turned a blind eye to Delhi High Court order which led to an inquiry by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) into the failure of the Timarpur plant that was also based on incineration technology (namely Refuse Derived Fuel) and the ‘White Paper on Pollution in Delhi with an Action Plan’ prepared by Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Chief
Minister has been misled in to promoting it. The White Paper says, “The experience of the incineration plant at Timarpur, Delhi and the briquette plant at Bombay support the fact that thermal treatment of municipal solid waste is not feasible, in situations where the waste has a low calorific value. A critical analysis of biological treatment as an option was undertaken for processing of municipal solid waste in Delhi and it has been recommended that composting will be a viable option. Considering the large quantities of waste requiring to be processed, a mechanical composting plant will be needed.”
Even Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s own Feasibility Study and Master Plan for Optimal Waste Treatment and Disposal for the Entire State of Delhi of March 2004 says, “Incineration of RDF is considered waste incineration.” (Page 25, Appendix D, Technology Catalogue). It also says the costs of RDF are often high for societies with low calorific value because energy is used to dry the waste before it becomes
feasible to burn it.
In fact the Master Plan Report (2020) of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) itself says,… “RDF is often an option when emission standards are lax and RDF is burned in conventional boilers with no special precautions for emissions.” One is surprised that despite this observation the report then goes on to suggest RDF. In fact the MCD
report itself says that RDF is another form of incineration.
A 10 member Fact Finding Team visited the plant site on 18th June 2010 to take stock of the situation. Its preliminary findings are as follows: 1. RDF or incineration is completely inappropriate for Indian urban waste, which is largely biodegradable in nature. They extract a very high cost for the energy which they claim to generate. 2. The cost largely subsidised by various schemes, does not however include the environmental and health costs caused by their toxic releases, and which are externalized. 3. These technologies also use valuable resources which can be recycled, such as plastics and metals, and which support a massive recycling sector in the country. Indian municipal waste is fit for composting and bio-methanation treatment processes. 4. RDF is a thermal and combustion technology, mainly used
to prepare waste for mass incineration. 5. If mixed waste is burnt will create problems of very toxic compounds such as dioxins and furans, heavy metals and other pollutants. 6. The calorific value for the waste comes from materials such as plastics and metals. 7. Plastics, especially chlorinated plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) when combusted gives rise to these highly toxic pollutants and
8. PVC plastic combustion which is part of the mixed waste is banned in India by regulation both in the municipal and bio-medical waste handling rules.
Earlier residents had not allowed the land hand over ceremony for the project that is proposed in the residential area of Okhla but unmindful of the public protest, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had permitted Jindal Urban Infrastructure Ltd to set up this plant. This company has secured a contract from New Delhi Waste
Processing Company Limited, a joint venture between the Delhi Government and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS), to produce 16 MW power from 2, 000 metric tonnes of municipal waste. Jindal company’s misplaced claims to that effect that it will process nearly 2000 tonnes of waste, later it would be in a position to process as much as 4,000 tonnes based on obsolete technology will
distort capital city’s waste management beyond repair.
The proposed polluting technology to deal with the waste from South Delhi, North West Delhi and East Delhi is fraught with disastrous public health consequences for which two companies namely, Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company (TOWMCL) and the Unique Waste Processing Company (subsidiary of IL&FS Infrastructure Development
Corporation Limited have been set up.
As per the agreement, BRPL will procure 50 per cent of the 16 MW electricity to be produced by TOWMCL at its plant in Okhla in the vicinity of numerous residential areas such as Sukhdev Vihar, Hazi Colony, Gaffar Manzil and others. The plant being set up plans to process over 6,43,500 lakh metric tonnes or one third of Delhi’s
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) per year generated in Delhi. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in late 2010-2011. Around 1,300 Tonnes Per Day (TPD) of MSW will be sourced from the Okhla landfill site and 650 TPD from Timarpur. BRPL will procure power at a DERC approved competitive tariff rate, determined by a competitive bidding process. The agreement allows the promoters to sell the remaining 50 per cent
electricity through a suitable open access mechanism.
Similar waste to energy project is coming up at Ghazipur as well. Earlier, in November, 2009 BRPL had signed a 25-year-agreement to procure 49 per cent of the electricity generated from garbage to energy project at Ghazipur. Chief Minister referred to this project as well while laying the foundation stone.
Unmindful of the environmental and human cost the installation of proposed municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy plants in Ghazipur, Timarpur and Okhla, based on incineration of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) is being pursued. This compelled the residents to move to the Delhi High Court. Earlier, the matter came up for hearing on December 11, 2009 wherein the petitioners (Sukhdev Vihar Residents Welfare
Association & others) pointed out the polluting nature of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Incineration technology and how both the central government and the Delhi government has misled the court. The court in its latest order has found that it was misled earlier which had led to it dismissing the petition which has now been restored and is scheduled for hearing on 22nd July before the Delhi High Court. In the presence of A.S. Chandihok, Additional Solicitor General, the bench headed by the Chief Justice, Delhi High Court in an order dated 15th January observed, “that the project in question” and “the location of the pilot project in Delhi was neither recommended by the Expert Committee nor approved by the Supreme Court.”
East Delhi Waste Processing Company Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle of the latter company is working for generating electricity at the Ghazipur site with the support of the Delhi Government. ‘New Delhi Waste Processing Company Private Limited’ a Joint Venture company of Delhi Government, IL&FS and APTTDC is supporting the project as well. The integrated municipal waste-processing complex is proposed to
include a MSW processing plant at Ghazipur to produce Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) along with a power plant of 10 MW capacity where the RDF derived from the waste will be used as fuel to produce electricity. It is supposed to handle an average 1300 tons per day. It claims that 111,949 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum of green house gases would be reduced. The crediting period for the project is from 1st
November, 2010 to 31 October, 2020.
The Timarpur-Okhla carbon credit project which was registered on 10th November, 2007 with a claim to reduce green house gases to the tune of 262,791 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum. Unique Waste Processing Company, a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Centre (APTDC) has incorporated Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management
Company for developing the project for processing municipal waste and also to produce electricity at two locations namely Timarpur and Okhla, at the site at Okhla that is adjacent to defunct Okhla Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). TOWMCL is working with New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and MCD. The Timarpur and Okhla plant will together be processing 650 tonnes per day of MSW at Timarpur site and 1300 tonnes
per day of MSW at Okhla and claims to generate 16 MW of electricity.
The move underway to install RDF plants in Delhi and several other state capitals is an environmentally unsustainable solution, which should be deemed unacceptable. If Delhi allows such toxic plant, it will set a bad precedent for other cities. It raises serious concerns about the health and safety of the citizens, which such a technology, will jeopardize.
In view of these grave concerns which Delhi residents, environmental groups and waste recyclers face, please grant us an appointment to meet you as a delegation and apprise of the situation at the earliest.
warm regards
Gopal Krishna
Founder-Convener
ToxicsWatch Alliance
New Delhi
Mb: 9818089660
Website: http://www.toxicswatch.com
Blog: toxicswatch.blogspot.com

 

World’s top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/18/worlds-top-firms-environmental-damage

Report for the UN into the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment

COP15 : Black clouds hover over the central JakartaBlack clouds over the central business district, Jakarta. The report into the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest public companies has estimated the cost of use, loss and damage of the environment. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

The cost of pollution and other damage to the natural environment caused by the world’s biggest companies would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable, a major unpublished study for the United Nations has found.

The report comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, fisheries and fertile soils.

Later this year, another huge UN study – dubbed the "Stern for nature" after the influential report on the economics of climate change by Sir Nicholas Stern – will attempt to put a price on such global environmental damage, and suggest ways to prevent it. The report, led by economist Pavan Sukhdev, is likely to argue for abolition of billions of dollars of subsidies to harmful industries like agriculture, energy and transport, tougher regulations and more taxes on companies that cause the damage.

Ahead of changes which would have a profound effect – not just on companies’ profits but also their customers and pension funds and other investors – the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment initiative and the United Nations Environment Programme jointly ordered a report into the activities of the 3,000 biggest public companies in the world, which includes household names from the UK’s FTSE 100 and other major stockmarkets.

The study, conducted by London-based consultancy Trucost and due to be published this summer, found the estimated combined damage was worth US$2.2 trillion (£1.4tn) in 2008 – a figure bigger than the national economies of all but seven countries in the world that year.

The figure equates to 6-7% of the companies’ combined turnover, or an average of one-third of their profits, though some businesses would be much harder hit than others.

"What we’re talking about is a completely new paradigm," said Richard Mattison, Trucost’s chief operating officer and leader of the report team. "Externalities of this scale and nature pose a major risk to the global economy and markets are not fully aware of these risks, nor do they know how to deal with them."

The biggest single impact on the $2.2tn estimate, accounting for more than half of the total, was emissions of greenhouse gases blamed forclimate change. Other major "costs" were local air pollution such as particulates, and the damage caused by the over-use and pollution of freshwater.

The true figure is likely to be even higher because the $2.2tn does not include damage caused by household and government consumption of goods and services, such as energy used to power appliances or waste; the "social impacts" such as the migration of people driven out of affected areas, or the long-term effects of any damage other than that from climate change. The final report will also include a higher total estimate which includes those long-term effects of problems such as toxic waste.

Trucost did not want to comment before the final report on which sectors incurred the highest "costs" of environmental damage, but they are likely to include power companies and heavy energy users like aluminium producers because of the greenhouse gases that result from burning fossil fuels. Heavy water users like food, drink and clothing companies are also likely to feature high up on the list.

Sukhdev said the heads of the major companies at this year’s annual economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, were increasingly concerned about the impact on their business if they were stopped or forced to pay for the damage.

"It can make the difference between profit and loss," Sukhdev told the annual Earthwatch Oxford lecture last week. "That sense of foreboding is there with many, many [chief executives], and that potential is a good thing because it leads to solutions."

The aim of the study is to encourage and help investors lobby companies to reduce their environmental impact before concerned governments act to restrict them through taxes or regulations, said Mattison.

"It’s going to be a significant proportion of a lot of companies’ profit margins," Mattison told the Guardian. "Whether they actually have to pay for these costs will be determined by the appetite for policy makers to enforce the ‘polluter pays’ principle. We should be seeking ways to fix the system, rather than waiting for the economy to adapt. Continued inefficient use of natural resources will cause significant impacts on [national economies] overall, and a massive problem for governments to fix."

Another major concern is the risk that companies simply run out of resources they need to operate, said Andrea Moffat, of the US-based investor lobby group Ceres, whose members include more than 80 funds with assets worth more than US$8tn. An example was the estimated loss of 20,000 jobs and $1bn last year for agricultural companies because of water shortages in California, said Moffat.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/18/worlds-top-firms-environmental-damage