The story that most often gets repeated goes something like this;
A lecturer giving a scientific presentation about the Earth finishes his speech and then gets accosted by a little old lady who states: "You're wrong, Sir, the Earth rests on the back of a giant turtle".
The lecturer then politely asks: "..but what does the turtle stand on?"
To which the old lady insistently replies: "Another turtle".
He then further questions her: "..but what does this second turtle stand on?"
She then triumphantly answers: "It's no use, Sir, it's turtles all the way down".
The first question that always springs to mind whenever I hear this story is how odd it is that a little old lady in the western world would believe such a thing in the first place. Was this a common belief in this part of the world in earlier times? Was she well read up on her eastern mysticism perhaps? Or is it simply a made up story, in part inspired by these eastern ideas, used to conveniently illustrate the ignorance and superstition of unscienced folk?
It's certainly an odd little story.
Etymology of the Two T's
Anyway, returning to the basic idea, what I really find fascinating is the etymology.
"Turtle" and "Tortoise" both contain a double "T" sound. In fact, in many ways they're both just variants of the same word, more or less meaning the same thing.
Curiously, we also have many words containing this double "T" sound denoting places at the edge of the world; Antarctica, Tartaria, Tartarus.
In Greek mythology Tartarus was a place at the edge of the world where souls were tortured after death. Torture is another word containing this double "T" sound and means "to twist" (another word with two t's).
The name turtle/tortoise no doubt simply denotes a shell or shelled creature. Shells, seashells and such, are often twisted too it's perhaps worth noting. The ring-shaped pasta tortellini also springs to mind.
So could it be that this idea of the Earth on the back of a giant turtle is simply a misunderstanding of what was originally meant? Maybe the idea was that we were "in" the turtle shell. After all, a turtle's shell is its home. As shells are for many other creatures. So it's a fitting motif.
Perhaps the idea was originally used as a metaphor for the "outer edge" surrounding the Earth. Hence why we have words conveying this double "T", suggestive of a shell, for places at the edge. When considered this way the idea of a "world turtle shell" doesn't seem quite as silly. It's also very similar to the concept of the "cosmic" or "world egg". Again, another conceptual idea where the world is within a "shell".
(Also as a side note, is "shield" related to "shelled"??)
It's also thought that the words turtle and tortoise could be related to the name Tartarus. The keepers of Tartarus were called Tartaruchi. According to Wikipedia the Italian and Portuguese word tartaruga (tortoise or turtle) derives from this noun.
The Arctic and Tartaria
A further thing worth relating is the potential overlap between the words Arctic and Tartar (or Tartaria / Grand Tartary). In fact, the Arctic Ocean was often labelled the Tartar Sea on older maps.
(Carte Generale Des Decouvertes
De L'Amiral De Fonte)
(Close up - "Mer De Tartarie")
I would imagine part of this confusion is due to the way directions can easily get confused. In this case the directions north and east.
If you travel from Europe to north eastern Russia or Alaska you can go straight east through Russia, or straight north across the North Pole.
(Which way?)
So there's land to the east and land to the north, but it's the same land. It would be easy to imagine how mapmakers, on hearing about land in these directions, could perhaps duplicate this land on their maps. This is maybe why the large area labelled "Tartaria" on older maps disappears so suddenly. It may have been that they overestimated the size of the territory by placing it both to the east and to the north of Europe.
Also, finally (and back to etymology) we have tartar sauce. This is a white coloured sauce normally eaten with seafood dishes. Its name is said to derive from the Tartars. According to Wikipedia;
This name comes from confusion over their allies the Tatars, because of whom the Europeans called Mongolia Tartary. This misnomer came from associating the name Tatar with the Greek mythological hell known as Tartarus.
However, given it's a white sauce perhaps its name also comes because of its similarity in appearance to the snowy Arctic. There's also steak tartare too, which similarly is said to get its name from the Tartars - owing to their fondness for eating raw meat. Again, Eskimo peoples tend to eat raw meat. So the overlaps seem numerous.
This is going to be a post about human eye and hair colour. I also want to post it on Twitter as a little series of tweets, so I'm going to do it BuzzFeed-style with short sentences and nice pictures ..hopefully.
Variation in human appearance, a product of domestication. A theory.
There's a lot of variation in how humans look. Hair colour, skin colour, eye colour. Especially amidst European populations. Red hair, blonde hair, brown hair. Green, blue and hazel eyes. Freckles and different skin tones.
(the eyes have it)
This is quite different to what we see in the animal kingdom, where species tend to be quite fixed in how they look. So you could say this human variation is a little odd and unexplained.
(identical animals)
However, one place you do see variation in the animal kingdom is in domesticated animals. Cats, dogs, cattle, etc. In a single field you may see cattle of a multitude of colours. Black fur, white fur, ginger fur, blonde and toffee-coloured coats. Some with one single uniform colour, others spotted or patterned. Likewise you tend to see cats and dogs with all manner of fur and colour patterns.
(cattle colours)
So are humans domesticated too?
If you were being quite wacky you could perhaps speculate that we've been domesticated by aliens or some other nefarious force. If you're being a bit more down to earth you could maybe pose the idea that other humans have done the domesticating. Through slavery and ownership.
(alien slave market :p)
Or, and this is my personal favourite, you could opine that we've domesticated ourselves by creating civilisation, and by separating ourselves from nature.
(civilization_)
And that perhaps the rise of western civilisation was responsible for the large amount of variation we see in hair and eye colour in Europe.
Maybe the onward advance of civilisation will bring ever more variation in human appearance as we continue to evolve forward.
This is a theme I first wrote about a very long time ago. I remember reading biographies of John Lennon in my late teens and early twenties and being surprised and delighted to find that he seemed to be interested in many of the esoteric or fortean ideas that I myself was. It shouldn't have been surprising really as alternative ideas permeate the work of the Beatles. Meeting the Maharishi, Aleister Crowley appearing on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's, and so on and so forth.
Anyway, I've been reacquainted with the theme recently simply by virtue of the fact that I've been watching a lot of Beatles documentaries and footage on YouTube. Particularly stuff in regard to John's death. So I thought it would be an interesting topic to readdress. Plus my original articles on the theme aren't up online anymore ( they were pretty awful tbf xD ).
There's a fair bit I have to relay today, so I'll try to keep the writing short and trashy. I'll start with the UFO stuff, which is generally fairly well known. Then finish with the more recent flat earth stuff. Cramming everything else in between the two.
John Lennon and UFOs
Lennon claimed to have actually seen a UFO in New York in the summer of 1974. In the sleeve notes for the album Walls and Bridges he makes reference to it;
"On the 23rd Aug. 1974 at 9 o'clock I saw a UFO J.L."
He also speaks about it in the following radio interview, claiming that it was so close "I could have hit it with a brick if I'd have thrown a stone at it".
(Lennon speaking about the incident)
There are also references to UFOs in some of his songs.
In the song Out The Blue he states;
Like a U.F.O. you came to me
And blew away life's misery
And in the track Nobody Told Me he states;
Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high
Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
There's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised
The illusionist Uri Geller also claims that Lennon told him of an actual alien encounter in his Dakota apartment. Where he was accosted by bug-eyed men who gave him a strange metallic egg. An egg which Lennon then gave to Geller.
Now personally I'm of the opinion that Geller is a professional charlatan, so I think the story is completely fraudulent. Even from a credible source though such a story would be difficult to take seriously. Entertaining though nonetheless.
Religion, Esoterica and Other Alternative Ideas
I'll just rattle off some of the other topics Lennon was interested in here.
According to the book Lennon in America: 1971-1980 by Geoffery Giuliano, Lennon went through a Christian phase.
John became convinced he was receiving divine communication from the Lord. He called The 700 Club prayer line on several occasions to seek help for his failing eyesight, troubled marriage, and various addictions. Lennon even recorded a tune that he never especially liked, "Talking with Jesus," and was further inspired to compose several other unrecorded Christian songs, including a musical version of the Lord's Prayer, called simply "Amen."
Of course, it's worth bearing in mind that the book was published after Lennon's death so it's perhaps unfair to simply take all this on face value. Plus Lennon's sense of humour is often misread by people. I would guess that his interest in Christianity was sincere and heartfelt, but that writers such as this tend to bend things towards a less flattering lilt. Listening to Lennon speak he always comes across as brilliantly rational, so such portrayals seem a little misleading to me.
The book also states that Lennon took an interest in the religion of Islam too.
John's latest spiritual diversion was a fascination with Islam. He adopted the Muslim tradition of fasting, glorifying Allah, and constantly thanking him for his many mercies. As usual, his conversion lasted only a few frantic, over-the-top days.
Again this sounds like a misreading of someone taking a genuine interest in something.
Lennon and Yoko also dabbled in astrology and used it to help make predictions about their business ventures. Business ventures that were becoming increasingly serious towards the end of Lennon's life. One wonders what plans they had for the coming years?
Interestingly, Lennon also took part in past-life regression sessions as well. He was supposedly regressed back successfully to some of his earlier lives. Including one where he had lived during the Crusades and another where he had lived as a Neanderthal hunter-gatherer in pre-history. Listening to Lennon speak about this in interviews though it appears it was something he went along with more out of politeness towards the practitioner than through genuine belief.
Lennon also enjoyed occult literature. One of his favourite books concerned the Spear of Destiny - the spear used to pierce the side of Christ at the Crucifixion. Again, from the above Lennon in America book;
..Lennon dove head-long into the wacky world of the occult. One of his favourite paperbacks addressed the Lost Spear of Destiny, the lance allegedly used to pierce the side of Christ at his crucifixion. Always fascinated by religious relics, John called on Green to try to divine the location of this coveted article.
Lennon had visions of playing the adventurer and taking a bus tour of southeastern Europe (thought to be the site of the relic) to search for it. When Green asked what he would do with the spear, John responded that he could do anything in the universe. He'd always had brilliant ideas for action, he said, but only lacked the mystical force necessary to put them into action.
Further evidence for this interest in the esoteric comes in Lennon's song Mind Games where he mentions the Holy Grail;
Some call it magic to search for the grail
Also, in regards conspiracy theories Lennon actually gave money to help fund the radio host Mae Brussell, whose work focused on the JFK assassination among other things. From Wikipedia;
An impressed John Lennon donated money so Krassner could afford to print Mae Brussell's work.
John Lennon and the Flat Earth
The links made online between Lennon and the flat earth all tend to stem from his song Watching the Wheels. It contains the following lines;
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball?
I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go
It doesn't contain a direct reference stating the world is flat, however, it's easy to see why people would interpret it as so - no longer on the ball, no longer riding the merry-go-round. Again though, they're interpretations about a song made after the man's death, so it's maybe unfair to overstate any perceived connection.
Digging further though there are a few more interesting avenues to take this down. Firstly, John Lennon and Yoko Ono actually launched a hot air balloon in 1969. It was for a film tilted Apotheosis - meaning the elevation of someone to divine status. Some of the footage was also used in the video for the song Nobody Told Me. Of course, high altitude balloon footage is now a big feature in the flat earth scene. So it's interesting to speculate as to why Lennon and Yoko were so interested in getting a view from above the clouds.
(Apotheosis - John Lennon and Yoko Ono)
Also, Double Fantasy - the album containing the song Watching the Wheels - was released just three weeks before Lennon's death. In fact, Lennon's killer, Mark Chapman, actually recited lines from the song whilst in custody. Chapman also famously carried a copy of the novel The Catcher in the Rye whilst carrying out the murder. A book that has concurrent themes - such as the carousel which features at the end of the book. The imaginary "catcher" in the book also stops children from falling off the edge of a cliff. Something that perhaps has echoes of people being stopped from falling off the ends of the earth. In fact, the following documentary about Lennon's death is well worth watching in this regard. Though the tone of it seems a little creepy and disturbing.
Also, you could kind of say that the album cover for Season of Glass, Yoko Ono's first album following Lennon's death, has allusions to flat earth. It features the horizon, level water and what I'm guessing are John's blood-spattered glasses.
(Season of Glass - Yoko Ono)
Again though, this is all just idle speculation, and it would only be fair to leave the last words on the topic to Lennon himself. When asked by Rolling Stone magazine what the song Watching the Wheels was about he replied;
The whole universe is a wheel, right? Wheels going round and round. They’re my own wheels, mainly, but, you know, watching meself is like watching everybody else. And I watch meself through my child too.
John Lennon and Yoko Woko
Finally, to round things off, I'll provide a few quotes from one of John Lennon's final interviews. It was conducted by Playboy magazine and shows how truly awake John and Yoko were at the time.
ONO: "It's a hard realization. These days, the society prefers single people. The encouragements are to divorce or separate or be single or gay... whatever. Corporations want singles-- they work harder if they don't have family ties. They don't have to worry about being home in the evenings or on the weekends. There's not much room for emotions about family or personal relationships. You know, the whole thing they say to women approaching 30 that if you don't have a baby in the next few years, you're going to be in trouble, you'll never be a mother, so you'll never be fulfilled in that way and..."
LENNON: "Only Yoko was 73 when she had Sean."
(laughter)
ONO: "So instead of the society discouraging children, since they are important for society, it should encourage them. It's the responsibility of everybody. But it is hard. A woman has to deny what she has, her womb, if she wants to make it. It seems that only the privileged classes can have families. Nowadays, maybe it's only the McCartneys and the Lennons or something."
LENNON: "Everybody else becomes a worker/consumer."
ONO: "And then Big Brother will decide. I hate to use the term Big Brother..."
LENNON: "Too late. They've got it on tape." (laughs)
ONO: "But, finally, the society..."
LENNON: "Big Sister-- wait till she comes!"
ONO: "The society will do away with the roles of men and women. Babies will be born in test tubes and incubators..."
I recently read A Brief History of Atlantis: Plato's Ideal State by Stephen P. Kershaw. It was a really enjoyable read, so I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Atlantis topic. Though if you're an Atlantis enthusiast be warned it does tend to err on the side of mainstream academia. The book provides a quite comprehensive overview of everything that's been written on the topic of Atlantis since its first mention by Plato in his works Timaeus and Critias. The information re ancient sources is particularly excellent. I'll share a few of the bits I found especially curious below.
First up is the following piece of information concerning the Carthaginians. It comes from a work titled On Marvellous Things Heard, once commonly attributed to Aristotle, but now thought to be pseudonymous. The passage states that the Carthaginians knew of an island out in the Atlantic ocean, but kept their knowledge hidden through fear of competition.
"in the sea outside the Pillars of Heracles they say that a desert island was found by the Carthaginians, having woods of all kinds and navigable rivers, remarkable for all other kinds of fruits, and a few days' voyage away; as the Carthaginians frequented it often owing to its prosperity, and some even lived there, the chief of the Carthaginians announced that they would punish with death any who proposed to sail there, and that they massacred all the inhabitants, that they might not tell the story, and that a crowd might not resort to the island, and get possession of it, and take away the prosperity of the Carthaginians"
This mystery island would be alluring to Atlantis-hunters for obvious reason, however, it caught my eye as the idea seems to tally with flat earth ideas of hidden land ..and the power in knowing (or not knowing) the extent of the terrain. It seems to give a historic example of the extent to which some people will go to keep others in the dark.
Another interesting snippet from the book concerns the god Atlas, said to be the first king of Atlantis. Not to be confused with the more commonly known Atlas, the Titan from Greek myth who was condemned to hold the sky above his head for eternity. Though it would seem both these gods are just variations on a theme.
"A further euhemeristic interpretation explains that Atlas [king of Atlantis] perfected the science of astronomy and was the first to publish the doctrine of the sphere, which is the 'reality' behind the myth of Atlas supporting the world on his shoulders."
Euhemerism is an approach to history which presumes that myths are garbled or embellished versions of real historical events. In the notes the book then offers the further information;
"Diodorus says that Atlas 'discovered the spherical nature of the stars'; numerous ancient writers refers to Atlas as the discover of astronomy."
It's probably also worth mentioning that the name Atlantis is said to mean belonging to Atlas or effectively the Island of Atlas. However, I wonder if maybe the history is all a little garbled. Perhaps the word Atlas/Atlantis once had a more general meaning. We have the English word atlas, simply meaning a collection of maps. Now it's said that this word derives from the myth of Atlas holding the world aloft, but maybe it's the other way round.
For example, we have older map collections which use the word "atlantis" - with the word being used in the same sense as the word atlas. Such as the following, which is the title page of a map collection by the cartographer Johannes Janssonius. It dates from the 17th century.
So in this case it would seem that the word atlantis is simply Latin for atlas. In this reading Atlantis would simply be the map - or in effect the known world. So Atlantis is the world - the very world held up by the figure (perhaps symbolic, rather than mythological figure) of Atlas.
With this reasoning Atlantis, far from being a lost or unknown land, would, quite ironically, be the very much mapped and known land we're standing upon. There in plain sight all along.
Of course orthodox history would forbid us from thinking that such a word usage could precede Plato's tale. Or rather that Plato's tale could be a much more recent invention (perhaps why it isn't mentioned by Herodotus, etc). Fortunately though I don't feel such constraints. It's my general view that most if not all ancient Greek and Roman texts date from within the last one thousand years - i.e. they are from the medieval period and onward.
For example, take the following from the book A History of the World in Twelve Maps by Jerry Brotton, which ties in with the current theme quite nicely;
"After its completion, Ptolemy's Geography disappeared for a thousand years. No original copies from Ptolemy's own time have survived, and it only reappeared in thirteenth-century Byzantium.."
Then further down;
"Turning to Ptolemy's biography to try to understand the significance of his book offers little help. Virtually nothing is known about his life. There is no autobiography, no statue, not even an account written by a contemporary."
It's hard to have confidence in such "ancient" dating when the texts are so recent, and that's assuming the text dates are correct.
Also, if Atlantis is simply the "known world" then the myth becomes even more similar to the Biblical flood myth, and the flood in the Gilgamesh epic. A topic touched upon in A Brief History of Atlantis. In fact, one final thing from the book that I should mention before I finish concerns this. It mentions the flood story in the Epic of Atrahasis - an Akkadian epic which gives an account of the great flood which has overlaps with that in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The tale states that the gods deem men too noisy and that it would be better to eradicate them. However, after the flood it's decided that mankind can remain, but that population numbers must be kept down to keep the noise within acceptable limits...
"..when they find out Atrahasis has survived, they decide that the noise will remain within limits, invent childbirth and infant mortality, and establish celibate priestesses and high priestesses in order to cut down childbirth."
The idea that celibacy in religion would be linked to population control is something that I found quite fascinating. The celibacy in the Catholic Church is something that I've always found quite bizarre. Maybe the origins of that too are in population management. Though their general resistance to birth control and contraceptives would suggest otherwise. Again though, this obsession with population control is something that seems to have its parallels in today's society.
Quite a lighthearted post today. Last night I watched the movie Waterworld. For those who've never seen it, it's set in a watery future where, thanks to the melting of the polar icecaps, the whole world is now submerged beneath the ocean. What's left of humanity struggling to survive on the ocean's surface, drifting aimlessly on various floating contraptions.
It was also at the time the most expensive movie ever made (it's release came in 1995). It's an odd movie in a way and was generally perceived as a huge flop at the time. Although it's incredibly cheesy, for some reason I've always quite liked it. In fact, I remember years ago, when I was studying music at Middlesbrough College, having a friend who semi-ironically always claimed it was his favourite movie. Whenever he said this I kind of knew what he meant. You can enjoy it on two levels - you can laugh at it, but also get caught up in its epic adventurousness.
When I watched it last night it was the first time I'd seen the film in quite a long while. So I was interested to see if there was anything I'd missed, or that had went over my head, when I'd originally viewed it. In the alternative conspiracist world there's often this notion that truth is hidden in Hollywood movies. With this being the "most expensive ever made" at the time, I thought it would be worth a re-look. Especially with regard to the flat earth/alternative cosmology revival that's taken place online in recent years. This being very much an Earth-themed movie.
Anyway, what caught my eye this time was the tattoo mapthat figures heavily in movie. This is a tattoo that's found on the back of a young girl, which is thought to be a map showing the way to dry land. In fact, the entire movie revolves around the goodies and baddies fighting for possession of this young girl in order to gain possession of the all-important map.
The map is globe-shaped and contains an arrow pointing to a mountain situated at the top. The tattoo also contains what look like strange Chinese characters. (It can be viewed in the top right hand corner of the first image in this article).
Intrigued, I had a search online and came across the following Cracked article that explains the tattoo (along with a few other tattoos featured in movies).
The article provides a translation of the Chinese characters (plus the one Japanese character also oddly included). They translate as map coordinates. Giving a longitude and a latitude for a specific location on the globe - that location being Mount Everest in the Himalayas.
However, strangely the tattoo actually gets the latitude and the longitude the wrong way round. The actual location of Mount Everest is longitude 86 degrees, 56 minutes and latitude 27 degrees, 59 minutes. The tattoo gives longitude 27 degrees, 59 minutes and latitude 86 degrees, 56 minutes.
The tattooed map also fails to give directions for the coordinates. Latitude goes from 0 degrees at the equator to 90 degrees at the poles. So 86 degrees could be either 86 degrees north from the equator, or 86 degrees south. Likewise longitude can go east or west from the prime meridian, going up to 180 degrees either way. So the location given could have been any one of four places on the globe.
The Cracked article states that the errors in the map are simply lazy mistakes, which seems completely reasonable given how complicated Chinese characters are for westerners to understand. Plus longitude and latitude are easy concepts to confuse. Plus plus ..it's just a movie.
However, it would be interesting if the mistakes were deliberate as it would mirror another geographical confusion I've mentioned on here before. Namely discussions about the "centre" of the Earth. On the famous flat earth map the centre is the North Pole. (Of course, there is no centre on a globe). However, in other cultures the Himalayas are often seen as the centre of the world. I've noted before the Theosophical obsession with the Himalayas in the 19th and early 20th century.
If we read the coordinates on the tattoo map as they appear, then all four possible locations fall at the poles. Two at the North Pole, and two at the South Pole (86 degrees being very close to the 90 degree north/south coordinate signifying each pole). So once again we have this overlap between the poles and the Himalayas.
This all started with some speculation with a friend about a building in my home town of Middlesbrough. The building concerned was the old synagogue near Albert Park. The building is not in use as a synagogue anymore and has now been converted into apartments. The building is named Lugs Lodge and has a big 33 above the door (it being house no.33 on the road).
Having read lots of books about conspiracy theories and Freemasons controlling the world the name Lugs Lodge, along with the big 33, used to fascinate me no end. And I often wondered what the building was for and why it was so named. When I discovered it was simply a bunch of flats or apartments it seemed a little more mundane than I had imagined.
The fact that it used to be a synagogue also interested me as well. It seems odd that there was once a flourishing Jewish community in Middlesbrough that has since dwindled away. There's also a small Jewish cemetery in town, which again has always seemed a little poignant and enigmatic to me.
Anyhow, after recently speaking with a friend about the building I decided to look up the name Lug to see if there was a meaning to it (of course, it could simply be the name, or nickname, of the person who owns the apartment block, but that would be way too boring).
I found that the name Lug, or Lugh, is the name of an Irish deity, depicted in texts as a hero or high-king. The etymology of the name was particularly intriguing. According to Wikipedia it either means light or oath - both quite fitting masonic motifs.
"Lugh's name has been interpreted as deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *leuk-, "flashing light", and he is often surrounded by solar imagery, so from Victorian times he has often been considered a sun god, similar to the Greco-Roman Apollo though historically he is only ever equated with Mercury."
"Juliette Wood interprets Lugh's name as deriving from the Celtic root *lugios, "oath", and the Irish word lugh connotes ideas of "blasphemy, cussing, lies, bond, joint, binding oath", which strengthens the identification with Mercury, who was, among other attributes, a god of contracts."
I think it might be time I ditched the Flat Earth hashtag. Things are getting a little shaded. I think it's time to go somewhere beyond. So this'll probably be my last post with "Flat Earth" in the title.
In conclusion I've seen enough to make me deeply sceptical that mainstream science has all the answers it says it has, but at the same time I've seen enough to know that there's a lot of disinformation in the Flat Earth movement. Half the major YouTube channels dedicated to the topic seem backed and pushed - if not by "the government", then by other interest groups. There's something to all this, but exactly what I just don't know.
I'm left with a few obvious anomalies to guide me.
Anomaly One: NASA & Co can't do what they claim they can do in "space".
Anomaly Two: The politics and science surrounding the Antarctic continent is very odd, and doesn't make too much sense in light of the traditional narrative we have.
After that I don't really know what to believe ..but I'm very, very curious and will keep investigating.
Going back to the topic at hand I thought I'd mention "the Collins Elite" in this post. The Collins Elite are supposedly a secret group within the U.S. government that believe that UFOs, far from being nuts n bolts spaceships from other planets, are actually demons - that's demons in the biblical sense. The group were brought to public light by Nick Redfern, in his book Final Events. It's a good read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the UFO topic.
Anyway, when I first read the book a few years back I found it fascinating, as it made sense of a few things that previously had seemed quite odd. Now personally I don't believe that UFOs are demons, in fact I'm quite agnostic about the whole UFO issue in general, however I do believe that some people believe they are demons - if that makes sense. And it maybe explains some of the more bizarre aspects of American foreign policy that we've seen over the last few decades.
For example, take the story that George Bush referenced "Gog and Magog" when trying to persuade French President Jacques Chirac to support the war in Iraq. According to French sources Bush saw "Gog and Magog at work" in the Middle East and believed that biblical prophecies were unfolding there.
When this story first appeared it seemed simply bizarre that a world leader would be speaking in such terms. Just as it seemed equally bizarre to us here in the UK when it was suggested that George Bush and Tony Blair "prayed together" in the run up to the war. In fact, Tony Blair even converted to Catholicism straight after stepping down as Prime Minster. Are these guys really that religious? At the time I thought they were maybe just putting on a false front of piety, but maybe they really are believers. Maybe they have their reasons.
Anyway, the subtext of all this is that 9/11 was faked as an excuse to trample into the Middle East, in a bid to fulfil end-times prophecy - by people high-up in the American government that literally believed that UFOs were biblical demons and signs of the end times. The book Final Events even contains testimony from one Collins Elite whistle-blower that elements within the government wanted to detonate a dirty bomb in an American city to pave the way for totalitarian lock down in the U.S. - in order to turn the U.S. into a true "Christian" state. I remember warnings about a "dirty bomb" attack being reeled out on TV at the time.
All of this is quite far fetched of course, but again, it does kind of explain the "Gog and Magog" madness. And now with "Flat Earth" blowing up all of a sudden, it may even make a little more sense. If there is some sort of kink in the scientific chain when it comes to the state of our earthly realm, it may give people of a Christian mindset a little more reason to believe they have it right. Just as we're seeing on YouTube at the moment. Maybe the higher-ups have had a head start on this debate we've been having.
For me though the answers won't be found in any book, be it a physics book or the Bible itself. I think more work is needed, and I think I'll stick to scientific and spiritual agnosticism for the time being. Peace out x
Last night I sat up 'til about 2 in the morning watching Conan the Barbarian (the 1982 Schwarzenegger version). It was the first time I'd ever seen this film and it was surprisingly entertaining (although it had me in stitches at times as well). The whole film looked pretty cool, quite iconic actually. My main reason for posting about it though is that I was surprised to see it contained all the elements of the modern pop-culture 'illuminati' mythos.
(Conan the Barbarian - stills from the movie)
Conan takes on a snake-worshipping bad guy who shape-shifts into a snake and rules over humanity using violence and manipulation to keep them subjugated. The humans are seen as sacrificial pawns, willing to literally jump to their deaths for their reptilian ruler. The palace headquarters of this evil snake cult is a den of sexual licentiousness, where people indulge in orgies and drink from a brew containing human body parts. The cult even has a classic Illuminati-style eye-in-a-pyramid type symbol, although theirs is also adorned with twin serpents.
(Serpentine and all-seeing eye symbolism)
It made me wonder whether this was the subconscious inspiration for David Icke's world view. It was a pretty big movie in the 80's and I'm guessing most people will have watched it. Did it seep into people's minds and inspire a generation? Of course, the alternative view would be that the movie was tapping into a historical vein of truth and that maybe it resonated so well at the time because of this. I guess it's a chicken and egg scenario. Still it's interesting that these themes were so well established in 1982. I'd be interested to see how true the film is to the original Conan fantasy stories created by Robert E. Howard in the 1930's. Were these themes there then as well?
On a parallel note this got me thinking again about our inherent fear of serpents. I think it stems in part from how serpents devour their victims. As humans we seem to be naturally horrified by the idea of being eaten alive. When a big cat kills its prey then eats it, it somehow doesn't seem as horrific as when a bird or a snake simply devours a living creature whole.
I remember watching a nature programme where a baby bird wandered from its mother and subsequently got devoured - whole and alive - by a huge seagull. The image was worse than anything I'd ever seen in any horror movie. Seeing the bulge of a living creature slide down its throat. It actually made me feel depressed for days after it. Even now when I think back I feel a sense of despair. The question is why?
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that as humans we kill animals first before we eat them. We can't digest bones and would choke on them if we tried. So maybe this is partly why we see swallowing animals whole as just plain wrong. And, of course, there's our fear of dying and being killed in general. And being eaten alive must be an especially horrid way to go.
When you see medieval visions of hell, where humans are being boiled, burned and eaten, it's quite often birds or bird-headed men that are doing the eating. Again there's just something inherently more awful about being eaten by a bird or a reptile as opposed to being killed by a lion or tiger. Eating something alive seems in this light to be the very embodiment of evil.
I don't wanna get on my high horse too much, but all my thinking on this does make me relieved that I chose to be a vegetarian. I think if you want to have a positive impact on the world a good place to start is to decide not to eat anything that's conscious of the fact it's being ate.
I've recently read The Tree of Common Wealth by Edmund Dudley - of the famous Tudor Dudley line. I found it on Google Books by accident whilst searching for other things. It was written while he was imprisoned in the tower awaiting execution for high treason, in the early days of the reign of Henry VIII.
The book basically sets out the rules for managing a good and prosperous kingdom, using a tree and its various fruits as a metaphor. The treatise was interesting in of itself, however what aroused my curiosity also was that the edition I'd came across had been published in the 19th century by a Rosicrucian order.
Now first Printed from a Copy of his Manuscript
for the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross.
Later on in the preface it then states;
This small contribution to the literature of the Tudor period is respectfully offered to the student and lover of history by The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross.
I thought that was pretty cool, but then again I have read a lot of conspiracy stuff.
I've just read an article in the Mirror about Oliver Letwin, David Cameron's right-hand man, disposing of secret papers in park waste bins - see here.
One of the documents, concerning MI5 and MI6, contained this telling line;
"We know in the past agencies have provided, for whatever reason, incomplete and inaccurate information. This was the case on rendition, but also on the London terrorist attacks."
Conspiracy theorists get your teeth into that. Is this a deliberate leak? Would someone so high up in government really be stupid enough to dispose of documents by dumping them in public waste bins?
Personally, I feel that over the last ten years since 9/11 things have been happening in Britain that shouldn't have been happening in an open, democratic country. Is this leak an indication that the British Government and Parliament are trying to wrestle back control of our foreign policy and intelligence services? Were our intelligence services, our elements within them, working not on our behalf but on the behalf of foreign interests during the years following 9/11?
The recent scandal surrounding Defence Secretary Liam Fox and his 'adviser' Adam Werritty only adds interest to all this. Dr Fox is something of an 'Atlanticist' and is very much of the American opinion when it comes to foreign policy. If he loses his position on the back of this it may very well put a dent in the 'special relationship' we supposedly have with the United States.
If all this moves us towards re-establishing our independence in regard foreign affairs I think it'll be a good thing. Although, I don't hold my breath.
Interesting bit of local esoterica. A carved 'All-Seeing Eye' has been uncovered on the ceiling of a chapel in Kirkleatham, near Redcar. It was found underneath the keystone of the altar arch central window. See the link below for image.
I've been gripped by the storm currently facing Rupert Murdoch - phone hacking, News of the World termination, falling share price, etc. Personally, I'm quite pleased about all this as I'm not a fan of News Corp. However, I'm still waiting for a really good conspiracy theory about all this. It seems to have the perfect ingredients. Jay Rockefeller leading the charge against Murdoch in the US, Murdoch being a staunch critic of the EU (and therefore something of a bulwark against plans for a one world government, New World Order, and so on). In fact, I also recall reading a few slight digs at Nat Rothschild in Murdoch owned papers. Are we seeing another round of infighting in the world of global, high powered politics?
Or is this just the public finally bringing Murdoch to account?
Just read an article in Fortean Times (April 2011) about SLIders - people who have the ability to turn off street lamps as they walk past them. I mention this because the same thing used to happen to me. When I was in my late teens/early twenties it was quite a frequent occurrence. Sometimes streetlights would turn off as I walked under them, sometimes as I was walking towards them. I even remember the one outside our house turning off as I looked out the window. At first I assumed it was just coincidental, but as it happened more frequently I began to find it a bit spooky. At the time I’d never heard of this happening to anyone else, so I was quite surprised to find that others had experienced it. Anyway, it hasn’t happened to me since then and I can only assume it was either coincidence or some as yet unexplained scientific anomaly.
In the article it did associate the phenomenon with a persons emotional and/or mental state. And looking back I guess I was a lot more nervous and intense at that time in my life than I am now, so maybe that has something to do with it. Also, with the number of cameras aimed at England’s streets these days maybe there’s some CCTV footage of it out there. Hopefully there’ll be more discussion of this topic in the pages of Fortean Times in the coming years and months.
I made this collage a few years back. At the time I was quite interested in the relationship between ufology and rock music. In fact, I’m still amazed that so many famous musicians have had UFO experiences. I'll list a few of my favourites here.
John Lennon saw a UFO outside his New York apartment. He referenced this in his song 'Nobody Told Me' - "there's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised."
Happy Monday’s front man Shaun Ryder claimed he was abducted by aliens at the age of 15. Commenting on it in an interview with the Guardian newspaper he said "once they see you, they do keep a check on you."
Elvis Presley believed he’d seen UFOs and met otherworldly beings. He also apparently believed that he himself was from another planet, somewhere in the Orion constellation.
In 1968 Mick Jagger saw a cigar-shaped "mothership" whilst camping in Glastonbury with Marianne Faithful. He also had a UFO detector installed in his home - whatever one of them is. Stones guitarist Keith Richards also claimed to have spotted "a few."
And finally, Smiths lead singer Morrissey claimed to have witnessed a fleet of flying saucers travelling across the sky in a hexagonal formation whilst with a friend. He later said, "The whole thing had an astonishing effect on me."
If anyone else knows of any other rock star UFO stories (or UFO stories concerning any celebrity for that matter) please feel free to add to the list.
I’ve just noticed that the words, ‘Princess of the Illuminati,’ are scrawled, tongue in cheek, on a piece of paper in Rihanna’s video for the song ‘S&M.’ I'm sure I’m not the first to notice this. Anyway, I’ve got to say I really like the way esoteric symbolism is being used in pop videos these days. If this is what music looks like in the 21st century, I’m a fan.
Kanye West’s epic video, ‘Runaway,’ is particularly good. In fact, it’s amazing what’s happened in rap music recently. It used to be just dollar signs, guns and marijuana, now it’s the Eye of Horus and the death and rebirth of the Phoenix. Interesting times.
Jay-Z’s a Freemason, supposedly. Lady Gaga a puppet of the New World Order - the fact that the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables were leaked via an erased Lady Gaga CD seems particularly apt actually.
Personally, I’d be surprised if members of the Illuminati are sitting round watching pop and rap videos - assuming such people even exist. But still, it’s all quite interesting, and the music of our times seems a lot richer for the association. Long may it continue.
