Precessional Cosmology 20 Dec 07

This thread has sought to establish a mathematical explanation for the signs and ages of the tropical zodiac, while recognizing that a detailed elaboration of their scientific nature and effects remains to be achieved. A key underlying claim is that signs and ages are physical functions of the orbit of the earth itself, and have nothing to do with stars. This claim presents a valid positive path for further scientific research about long term terrestrial rhythms, while also explaining why the star correlation theory of signs and ages has been such a red herring for both supporters and detractors.

In building a response to Maksutov and Jens’s questions about quantifying my cosmological model, here is a simple science experiment that even Phil Plait could do at his kitchen sink.* Half fill a circular straight-rimmed frying pan with water. Now drip a drop of water into the pan at the rim to make a circular ripple that will radiate across the pan and bounce back where it hits the rim. The section of the ripple on both sides of the opposite point will reflect back towards the origin, inscribing an equilateral triangle in the circle. The fluid dynamics of this experiment indicate that the points of the ripple which hit the rim at exactly ½, ?, ¼, … 1/n of the way around the perimeter will eventually bounce back exactly to the origin. These fractional ripples will meet each other in both directions, and their vertices will inscribe all the regular polygons within the circle. In the practical experiment, the ripples which form the bisect line and the equilateral triangle are powerful enough to generate visible shapes, and cover over the other shapes which are mathematically present, such as the square, pentagon, octagon, …n-agon. These shapes are directly analogous to the harmonics of musical notes, with the vertices equivalent to the harmonic nodes as described at http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/sound/U11L4a.html.

*Some of Phil’s nodal musings while washing up the dishes are at http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2...e-plane-truth/
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Now we jump out of the frying pan into the fire, so to speak, to see how a similar ripple effect causes the signs of the zodiac. The solstices and equinoxes may be considered as the central points of four ripples generated within the annual cycle of the earth, as shown in the attached elaborated version of the diagram from the opening post. The points one third of the way around the earth’s orbit from each solstice and equinox are in the same harmonic relation to each other as the points of the triangle in the frying pan. Four triangles, based at the cardinal points of the earth’s orbit, make the twelve signs, with the points of these triangles making the cusps of the signs.

We can also use this experiment to model precession. If we set up the pan so one drop of water falls each second, in regular sequence at the four cardinal points equally spaced around the rim of the pan, this equates to four drops of water each year, one for each of the four season cusps. Applied to precession, we can use the frying pan analogy (hopefully not the getting burnt bit), by putting a slowly stirring spoon in the middle of the pan, stirring at a constant speed of almost one rotation per day in the opposite direction from the order of the drops falling each second at the rim. At the rate of one season per second, one precessional cycle will take just over a day. For this model to equate to the history of the earth you would need to run it for about 500 years. The history of human evolution illustrated at http://www.bautforum.com/attachments...-2-million.jpg would take about two months. The ripples in the pan would settle in to a steady pattern, with the spoon providing an equally steady, but much slower, weaker and deeper counter pattern.

If we cover the base of the pan with sand, this experiment will generate ripples in the sand in the shape of the four triangles at the attachment to the opening post. This model suggests that a division of the circle into twelve segments will be a primary feature, due to the main reinforcing ripples in the divisions into 2, 3, 4 and 6 segments all bouncing off the rim at 30° intervals. Over time, the slow central reverse stir will develop a resonance to the faster cycle of the drops, and the sand around it will also form into twelve segments, each mirroring the character of the corresponding rim segment. Each quarter of the frypan will have exactly the same character, split in three segments - after drop, between drops and before drop – equating to the cardinal, fixed and mutable qualities discussed previously. When applied to the earth’s tilted orbit, the four quarters will differ from each other. Each analogous quarter of the earth’s year will differ with seasonality, overlaying an elemental character on the qualities to establish twelve unique signs. Tilting the frying pan would similarly produce twelve unique main segments in the harmonic ripple of the sand in the base.

This model illustrates how the natural twelve-fold cycle of the earth’s signs and ages has a basis in the physics of fluid dynamics. This claim is falsifiable and scientific, unlike traditional claims of influence from the stars. The much tougher question is how to establish a correlation between the signs and the precessional ages. At the scale of our frying pan model, this question may be posed metaphorically as ‘What time of day did God start stirring the pot?’ The experiment illustrates how harmonic resonance with the annual cycle creates a pattern of twelve ages in each 26,000 year period of precession, but gives no clue as to the date of the nodes of the precessional wave function. The ‘Age of Aquarius’ and the eleven other Ages of the zodiac signs could very well start any time in the 26,000 year cycle, as this model provides a physical basis for the signs and ages which is completely decoupled from the background stars.

Maksutov asked why the six coming Ages I described might not happen in reverse order, or with arbitrary appellation. My explanation above shows why the Ages exist, and why they must happen in the sequence I proposed. This is a real cosmological finding, but it gives no clue as to the date or detailed character of the Ages. The harmonic model shows why it makes sense to claim “Aquarius = fixed air”, recognizing that at this stage ‘fixed’ and ‘air’ are labels of mathematical convenience rather than symbolic meaning. The leap to “Fixed air = principle of knowledge”, let alone to “The Age of Aquarius will start in about 2150 CE” is beyond what I can quantize. I believe that one day this will be made possible by study of how our solar system fits in to larger directional patterns of the galaxy as a complex system. In the interim, I believe it is helpful to examine intuitive and traditional observations to build a model. My approach takes the science as far as I can, and then maps it on to traditional thought forms to assess their underlying power.

The absence of a mathematical ground to say when the Ages begin means the only way now available to date the Ages is the inductive method of examination of historical records to map the evolution of culture. Structural predictions from this method are set out at www. By this method, we can look at how the last 3000 years of human culture maps the precessing signs. Maksutov is correct to criticize this method as not meeting scientific standards, but this criticism does not indicate the method is invalid, only that it presents results which are possible rather than necessary. As explained below, I think the results are so interesting that this unproven step is worth taking. With this method I am suggesting a meaningful link between mathematical cosmology and the mythic archetypes of psychology, and that this link can be usefully explored to develop a global framework of purpose and direction. The hypothesis is that the frameworks of meaning, often presented as myths, which resonate most powerfully to the prevailing culture for the ages of Aries, Pisces and Aquarius will be those which map the underlying precessional sign position. The point of this exercise is not to criticize the scientific paradigm, but to present a method whereby science can take over terrain now held by unscientific traditions.

The correlation between Christianity and the Age of Pisces, the 2152 year period from ~5BC to ~2147AC, is a main case in point. The Piscean core principle of belief arguably fits this period much more strongly than any of the other eleven sign themes. Belief provides the defining theme for this period through doctrines such as John 3:16 ‘believers will have eternal life’. The use of the Piscean fish symbol to mark the new age in the early church is just one of numerous apparent correlations.

The annual cycle of the signs has a natural beginning and end between northern winter and spring at the cusp from Pisces to Aries. The corresponding precessional cusp from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces should in some way be a start and end point of the entire 26,000 year cycle. The claim that this event occurred at the time of Christ maps on to Christian theology about Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, and provides a cosmological framework for Christological claims about the eternal nature of Christ as an avatar of the entire precessional cycle.

The mapping against precession is reinforced by looking at how Christianity emerged from the Arian principle of identity, and how it is now shifting from a Piscean basis in belief towards an Aquarian basis in knowledge. Looking at how the putative principles interact at the cusp of transition between the ages, the Piscean principle of belief was nascent as a governing world principle during the preceding Age of Aries, when by this theory the Arian identity principle “I am” was dominant. On the model of the Chinese political theory of the Mandate of Heaven as the governing principle for dynastic change, the Piscean principle of belief can be viewed as a dynamic power that was able to defeat the worn out and degenerate politics of Arian identity in the classical world. This model fits neatly with the transition from the Roman Republic and the Mosaic Law to the Empire and Christianity.

This approach can be applied to the current situation, where the Aquarian principle of knowledge, the claimed defining theme of the new age of Aquarius, has been nascent within a world governed by belief. While scientific knowledge seems to be powerful as a governing principle, the political reality is that false belief, for example in creationism, remains stubbornly present. This theory suggests that knowledge has been steadily growing in power, but is unlikely to reach the tipping point where it will take over as a defining world principle until the middle of the 22nd century. By analogy with the transition from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces, we can predict a corrupt and degenerate rule of hollow belief for some time to come.

I find this model to have significant explanatory power when applied to the structure of cultural evolution, interpreting the Christian eschatology of a new heaven and new earth against a scientific framework of transition of precessional ages. For those interested, two articles where I investigate it further are at http://www.wscfglobal.org/StudPDF/StudentWorld2507.pdf , exploring the theme of judgment, and http://www.geocities.com/rtulip2005/...lve_Jewels.htm, asserting a scientific cosmology of the Bible.

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Topology of Time

The precession of the equinox is a topology of terrestrial time. Interpretation of this topology starts by observation of astronomy, producing the empirical model at http://www.bautforum.com/attachments...-2-million.jpg. The hypothesis that human culture is adapted to the long term cycles of precession requires study of history against this topology. The theory suggests that changes in culture can be mapped against long term physical patterns of time. Precession produces ages about 2148 years long. One way to map the topology of this period is on a cube. The sum of the angles of a cube is 2160 degrees (24 vertices x 90°), with the result that angles of 89.5° will produce the year values on the first attached diagram, mapping the years of an age onto a cube. This idea comes from a reading of Revelation 21, the Biblical vision of the New Jerusalem, in which precession of the equinox is directly encoded.* The angle of 89.5 degrees results from the same reason that precession shifts the stars by one degree in just under 72 years: 72 x 30 = 90 x 24 = 2160, but the precession period of 2148 years produces the equation 71.7 x 30 = 89.5 x 24 = 2148.

The ongoing problem with this material is that its subject matter has informed anti-scientific outlooks, making the idea of exploring it with science seem preposterous. The need for a scientific explanation is great, since otherwise we have believers who maintain that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will break the laws of physics. The precessional cosmology I am presenting reconciles science and religion, explaining the energy of Christ in terms of a physical turning point of the precessional cycle, allowing the Second Coming to be postulated as an event within physical time. This approach refines the study of time by discarding traditional miraculous theories and explaining a natural philosophy with no reference to the supernatural, reconciling Laplace and Augustine.

In preparing the attached cube of time, I also inscribed the cube in a sphere as an interesting problem in geometry. Each circle can be viewed from two different perspectives, creating a simultaneous dual view of the circles pulling the cube as a cart in two directions which are incompatible in three dimensions but compatible in two. Several illustrations are attached.

*A precessional interpretation of the following passage is at http://www.geocities.com/rtulip2005/...lve_Jewels.htm. By long tradition, the twelve jewels are the twelve signs of the zodiac in reverse order: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, mapping the order of precession. “...the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 21:11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it was a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 21:12 having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. 21:13 On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 21:14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 21:15 He who spoke with me had for a measure, a golden reed, to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. 21:16 The city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its breadth. He measured the city with the reed, Twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 21:17 Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 21:18 The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. 21:19 The foundations of the city's wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 21:20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst.”

A good interpretive study of precession is by Alan Oken in his essay “The New Consciousness and the Cusp of the Ages”. For example, Oken interprets the feeding of the 5000 by observing that the two fishes and five loaves from which Jesus fed the multitude are traditional signs for Pisces and Virgo. Oken suggests that Jesus was therefore noting the Pisces-Virgo precessional axis of his time as a productive source of physical and spiritual nourishment. He provides numerous similar thoughts about the ages of Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius and Capricorn, with a ten thousand year historic sweep from 4000BC to 6000AD.

Along this line, the event which to me symbolizes the previous precessional transition from Taurus to Aries in 2000BC is the Odyssey story of the escape from Polyphemus the Cyclops. Deconstructing the analytical psychology, the story symbolizes the triumph of Ulysses the Arian man over Polyphemus the Taurean Cyclops. By wile, Ulysses hides himself and his men holding the fleecy bellies of rams emerging from the cave while the blinded giant feels the woolly backs of his stock in a failed effort to prevent the captives’ escape. Similarly, the cult of Mithras of the Roman Legions celebrated the triumph of man over bull. From my southern hemisphere perspective in Australia, I have read this Mithraic image in the star constellations as Orion killing Taurus, but I have heard the old story was that Perseus did the deed.

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Merry Christmas and best wishes to all.

If I were to sit by the Christmas tree, watch a toy train run circles around it, and sip enough high-octane eggnog, I just might start seeing similar patterns.

Let's find the nearest time warp and go back about 25 centuries, when our present day knowledge of dynamics was unknown, and Pythagoras and his merry band of numerologists believed that the numbers alone could reveal the whole truth about the world around us. Your ideas probably would have fit right in.

Christmas greetings and very best wishes for 2008 to all at BAUT.

Okay so I like Pythagoras. Hornblower has caught me out on this. Further evidence is at Inferior Conjunctions of Venus with Earth on how Pythagorean ideas map the Earth-Venus cycle. Sure, many Pythagorean ideas are obsolete, but his thought provided a key building block for science, and there is more gold amidst the dross than is commonly recognised. The nub here is that modern astronomy has ruled that the subject of earthly cycles linking the cosmos and the biosphere is too difficult because of the political association between cyclic thought and anti-scientific approaches. This is a prime example of how a methodological restriction needlessly limits the scope of astronomy.

This thread examines, for those who can put aside their prejudices, how cosmic number is imbedded in biology and how understanding temporal cycles underpins a coherent and fruitful way of thought. Biocosmic cycles are inherently chaotic, but (get saladometer ready) regularity in chaos can be found in the way long term cycles of the earth are imbedded in human attunement to the cosmos as revealed in prevailing myth. Linking astronomy and culture in this way is complex, but not inherently impossible or invalid. The evidence for a precessional analysis of myth is strong.

Sorry if the pictures on my last post were too way out. I hope they are of interest for the mathematically inclined. I would post a really colourful picture of the planetary rhythms of the 1960s except it is a bit too big.

Some concluding points.

Kepler, in the Cosmographic Mystery, a work at the foundation of modern cosmology, used the Platonic solids as an important transitional step in the formulation of the elliptical theory of planetary motion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanne...Cosmographicum and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanne...rmonices_Mundi provide references.
Similarly, Newton and Einstein were much more open to a unifying visionary approach to astronomy than is the contemporary mainstream. Ken Wilber, in Quantum Questions, has collected works by the great physicists such as Einstein, Bohr and Planck which illustrate this theme. I believe these precedents help to justify a more Pythagorean approach to cosmology, recognizing that number is imbedded in nature. The science of the signs and ages requires such an approach, and cannot be simply written off because it does not fit with the interests of contemporary astronomers.

The approach to cosmology I have presented here suggests that precessional rhythms can be detected in human evolution, primarily in mythic culture. The attached diagram provides a simple picture of precession. The case I have presented is scientifically possible, but the inability to determine the alignment between the precessional and annual wave cycles of the earth means my argument cannot yet be scientifically persuasive. A useful analogy may be electromagnetic standing waves, with the precession understood as a standing wave moving backwards at 1/26,000 the speed of the annual cycle.

Although not scientifically conclusive, there is a wealth of cultural data which justifies this approach. In particular, I have drawn attention to the scope for precessional cosmology to provide a scientifically possible explanation for Christian eschatology, in contrast to the unscientific miraculous tradition of the church. Jesus Christ, whose birth is celebrated as the ‘turning point of time’, was born at a moment which has an elegant fit with the hypothesis. In another paper, http://www.geocities.com/rtulip2005/...xity_Faith.htm, I explain this further. The Olivet discourse of Matthew 24 fits strongly with this precessional vision of time. Jesus says there that the end of the age would not happen until his teaching had reached the ends of the earth, seemingly a clear statement that globalization is a prerequisite for the Second Coming. I personally think Jesus was a cosmologist on par with Galileo and Einstein, and that this precessional cosmology is clearly encoded as his central teaching. The implication is that Jesus saw that the Age of Pisces would be an age of belief, in which human evolution would not be ready for his knowledge, whereas the Age of Aquarius would be a time in which his messianic cosmology would be understood. Hence the Age of Pisces is a time of preparation, in which the gospel is spread throughout the earth in readiness for its application during the Age of Aquarius. His resolute approach to the cross is explained by this large vision. We are now in the final stretch, with the contest between knowledge and belief entering its climax. Victory for knowledge is not certain, as human stupidity still has the capacity to send our planet back to a much lower level of complexity. As I intimated at Why not Terraform Earth? , I see human use of the earth’s 71% ocean surface, including to regulate the atmosphere and protect biodiversity, as the defining security challenge as we move into the Aquarian Age. I have many more ideas for productive application of these themes.

And finally, thank you very much to all who have commented in this thread. The ATM discipline is an excellent spur to thinking, and to presentation of ideas in a rigorous way.

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