June Solstice, 2021

The author in 2017 at Great Serpent Mound

We have reached the point of earth's relationship with the sun at which the North Pole and northern hemisphere are pointed "most directly" towards the sun (the North Pole obviously does not point directly towards the sun, in that the sun is never directly above the North Pole of earth, but rather our earth and its axis of rotation is tilted by 23.4 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic -- that is, from the plane of our relationship with the sun -- and on the June solstice our North Pole is pointing towards the sun but at that 23.4 degree tilt).

This situation, in which the North Pole points towards the sun (but only insofar as that 23.4 degree tilt allows), is the June solstice, which we refer to as summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.

We reach the moment of June solstice -- the moment when the North Pole points most directly towards the sun -- at 11:32 pm Eastern time (2332) today, June 20th, which is also 8:32 pm Pacific time (2032). For Greenwich or UMT the time will be 3:32 am on June 21st (0332). 

Many ancient sites around the globe are aligned to the summer solstice (and other ancient sites are aligned to other significant points in our relationship with the sun in the annual cycle, including the winter solstice, the two equinoxes, and even the cross-quarter days and others).

Four years ago at this time of year I had the privilege of visiting one such aligned ancient site, the Great Serpent Mound in modern-day Ohio, where I gave a presentation about the Star Myths. Graham Hancock and Saantha Faia were there at the same Serpent Mound event, exploring the mysteries of the Serpent Mound and taking photographs and gathering data for America Before.

The Great Serpent Mound is designed such that the gaping mouth of the serpent and the ovoid "egg" feature between the open jaws of the serpent point towards the setting sun on the summer solstice. Today, a dense curtain of trees blocks the horizon from the observer on the ground at the serpent's head, but the phenomenon is still visible if viewed from a drone.

Below is a photograph I took, looking out over the coiled "tail" region of the Serpent Mound, as the sun was setting on June 17, 2017 (a few days prior to the solstice). You can see part of the body of the serpent stretching off to the right.

I am convinced that the great stations of the annual cycle were imbued with deep spiritual significance within the system of celestial metaphor underlying all the world's ancient Star Myths. I find abundant evidence that the path along the "line" stretching from winter solstice up to summer solstice was associated with the reconnection with Self, from whom we become alienated as part of our "descent" into this earthly life (that descent being associated with the "plunge" into the lower half of the year at the fall equinox).

I hope you have time this solstice day to meditate on the significance with which these great stations of the year were held by our distant ancestors around the earth.

Salome, Herodias, Lot's Wife, John's head, and images of the Great Flood

Here is a new video I've just published entitled "Salome, Herodias, Lot's Wife, John's head, and images of the Great Flood: Bible for Children, 1973."

In this video, I reflect on a book I had growing up, The Bible for Children, retold by Bridget Hadaway and Jean Atcheson -- and upon some of the images and stories which might certainly be very disturbing to children, as well as to grown men and women (if they were not aware that these stories are based on celestial metaphor)! 

I had no idea back in the early 1970s that the stories of the Bible can be shown to be based on celestial metaphor. Today I can show with abundant evidence that the figures and events described in these texts are based upon specific constellations and heavenly cycles.

They are esoteric and not literal -- and designed to convey profound truths for our benefit and blessing, and to do so through myth.

These ancient stories, in common with ancient myth and sacred traditions given to cultures around the world, have as a central theme the illustration of our condition of alienation from Self -- and of the pathway back to reconciliation with and recovery of Self.

I hope you will find the contents of this new video to be positive in some way!

Check out the recent "Call-in Extravaganza" on the My Family Thinks I'm Crazy podcast!

Big up and thank-you to Mark and Jay and team at the My Family Thinks I'm Crazy podcast for inviting me to be part of their recent "Call-in Extravaganza," which you can hear using the embedded player above or by following this link (or by going to any number of podcast apps including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Playapod, Breaker, Podcast Addict, Podfriend, and others).

Because I was calling in from my phone instead of using a professional microphone with solid all-digital internet connection, the sound quality was somewhat less than optimal, but for those wishing to check out what we discussed, you can use any of the above links and look for the "Call-in Extravaganza," or simply listen using the above embedded player. You can also download the audio file and listen to it wherever and whenever is most convenient.

My particular call takes place beginning at about the 1:17:00-mark in the file, but of course the entire show deserves a listen.

This interview was recorded on 20 May 2021.

You can also check out my previous visit to the My Family Thinks I'm Crazy podcast from November 2020 by following this link, or visiting the "podcasts" archive within my main website.

Thank you for listening and please give Mark and Jay and the My Family Thinks I'm Crazy team some positive feedback if you enjoyed the show!

Welcome to new visitors from Skeptiko with Alex Tsakiris! (and to returning friends)

Warm thanks again go to Alex Tsakiris of the Skeptiko podcast for inviting me back for a third visit to the show, this time to explore questions regarding the figure of Josephus, the Mysteries of Mithras, the burning of Herod's Temple, the scandal and suppression of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the treasure that likely led to the successful seizure of the throne of Empire by Titus Flavius Vespasianus, better known as the Emperor Vespasian.

Welcome to all new visitors finding this site for the first time after hearing this interview! And of course welcome back to returning friends. I hope what you find here will have a positive and beneficial impact in some way.

This wide-ranging conversation between me and Alex was recorded on Friday, 23 April 2021. It includes many visual aids such as artwork and star-charts, and therefore watching the video version is recommended, if at all possible. Here is the link to the video of our discussion, which is also embedded above.

For videos of my previous two conversations with Alex on Skeptiko, you can visit the "podcasts" archive on my website -- or simply follow these two links: 

• 08 December, 2016
• 15 August, 2019

For those wishing to explore the evidence and events from this most-recent conversation more deeply, the books I've written which deal with these topics most directly are The Undying Stars (2016) and Myth and Trauma (2020). You can find details about those two books in the "books" section of my website, along with some sample content.

You can also search through my previous blog posts, which now number well over 1,300 and which are fully searchable. Some previous posts which discuss subject matter that Alex and I touched upon in this latest conversation include:

• "Ten reasons to suspect a close relationship between ancient Roman Mithraism and ancient Roman Christianity"

• "Commodus and Marcus Aurelius"

• "Ambrose and Theodosius"

• "Evidence of an ancient conspiracy in the works of Josephus"

• "Parallels between the Odyssey and the Gospels"

• "Maya artwork provides powerful evidence of the Ancient World-Wide System"

• "The Gospel of Thomas and the Divine Twin"

• "The Gospel of Philip and the Zodiac Wheel"

• "The Self: the hidden treasure"

I appreciate Alex's willingness to roll out the questions that other interviewers often don't go after. We don't agree on every subject, of course, but no two human beings on this planet ever agree on everything, and that should not be a surprise to anyone -- a fact that we should all keep in mind during this period in which manipulators are deliberately working overtime to divide the people from one another using all kinds of hot-button issues and events designed to play on our emotions, stoke tensions, and set men and women against each other in all kinds of different ways.

The history discussed in this interview should cause us all to step back and see that we have far more in common with one another than they want us to believe -- and that these tactics have been used for millennia to keep the people from coming together and putting a stop to the depredations and oppression of the self-styled "elites," who have been waging a war to suppress the ancient wisdom given to all cultures on our earth, ancient wisdom which we need today perhaps more than ever before.

If you think that Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls and the takeover of Rome by literalist Christianity (in conjunction with the machinations of the secret society of Mithras) is ancient history -- you might want to reconsider that assumption. I hope that you will pursue the evidence discussed in this podcast, and in my most-recent book, Myth and Trauma, because the evidence overwhelmingly shows that we have been told lies about our past.

Understanding the world-wide system of ancient metaphor -- metaphor based on the stars and heavenly cycles -- which forms the foundation for the sacred traditions of all cultures helps us to see these deceptions for what they are. 

The Truth is up there -- and the Truth will prevail.

West Point Class of 1991: 30 year anniversary of graduation

Today marks the 30th year since the day that I and my classmates in the West Point Class of 1991 took a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

The thirtieth anniversary of an event of investiture was extremely significant in ancient cultures such as ancient Egypt, where a special festival would be observed at the thirtieth year of a king's reign, for example. The significance of this anniversary likely derives from the cycle of the orbit of the planet Saturn, the farthest visible planet and the one who "gives the measures" (including the measure of time) in the world's ancient systems, as explained by the authors of Hamlet's Mill (1969).

Above is a clip of video from that day, now thirty days ago, which I assembled from videos uploaded by my West Point Class of '91 classmate Eric Kelly (and likely filmed by one of his friends or family members). You can see the original videos Eric posted on YouTube -- the footage above is from videos 4 and 5 in his 5-part series.

I chose to focus on the singing of the Alma Mater and the recitation of the Oath of Commissioning, concluding with the dismissal of the class. I find it significant that we still retain the older tradition of singing together at important occasions, something that was once an integral part of our culture but which has all but disappeared over the past one hundred years.

It is very moving for me to see the faces of my friends and classmates from that day, some of whom have now already run their course on earth and to whom we say, "Well done." 

And it is equally moving for me to reflect on the feelings of that day, now so long ago, and the promise that it held, and the significance of the charge included in that Oath, recorded here, which I share with you.