The Poussin Code. Part 2: Precessional Clock . . . Giza
By Gary Osborn
Written by Gary Osborn, 2004.
Copyright © Gary Osborn 2004. All Rights Reserved.
This is what the staffs held by the shepherds are really leading us to . . . an upright picture of Orion as it appears today.
But how could Poussin have known this?
What we see here (figure 1) is an image of Orion in 2000 AD, and on seeing this many would ask, ‘why would Poussin want to encode an image of Orion exactly how it would look during our era?
Was Poussin demonstrating some psychic precognitive power? Was he able to predict the time when his code would be discovered?
No, and its all very simple really.
To explain ‘how’ he would have known how Orion looked during our era – some 360 years in his future – it’s obvious that someone he knew understood Precession and could chart the changing horizon positions and orientations of Orion in the 26,000-year precessional cycle.
Encoding a picture of how Orion would look in 2000 AD is logical especially if you want to express the phenomenon of Precession.
But before we go further into the subject of precession so as to understand what Poussin encoded, I would like to bring your attention to a well known theory which is still being contested - but one which appears to be associated with Poussin's Code.
The Giza Pyramids / Orion Connection
It is already known that more than any other pyramid in Egypt – as well as any other building on earth – the Great Pyramid of Giza is aligned exactly to astronomical north – only being out by three arc minutes.
Due to the initial work of author and researcher, Robert Bauval and his co-author in The Orion Mystery (1995), Adrian Gilbert – it is also believed by many now that the diagonal orientation of the three Giza pyramids represent Orion’s Belt – the ‘three belt stars’ of the constellation of Orion. Also, that the four shafts exiting from the north and south walls of the Great Pyramid’s two inner chambers are aligned with the most important stars in the constellations of Draco, Ursa Minor, Orion and Canis Major.
Below is a diagram similar to the one shown in Bauval and Gilbert’s book The Orion Mystery. (p. 64). As we can see, the shafts from the chambers are shown to line up with the stars, Sirius, Al-Nitak, Thuban and Kochab.
Figure 2: The King and Queen Chamber Shafts and their Alignment with the Stars
between 2,500 and 2,400 BC - according to author Robert Bauval’s theory.
Although Robert Bauval has become the most famous and widely exposed spokesperson on the ‘stellar shaft’ theory, he is not the first person to have come to this as he himself would admit. The idea that the original purpose of these shafts had something to do with their possible alignment with the northern ‘circumpolar stars’ (known as the “imperishables” because they never set) and the southern ‘setting stars’ (which never rise) was first put forward by scholars Alexander Badawy and Virginia Trimble in 1964.
Bauval says that the shafts are ‘stargates’ constructed to guide the dead Pharaoh’s soul to the heavens. However, like most theories this conclusion has had its fair share of critics who are right to inform us that 1), no stars can be seen through the shafts as the angles of the shafts are irregular. 2), the shafts are horizontal for a few good feet where they begin from the chambers, and 3), two of the shafts – those exiting the Queen’s Chamber – don’t even reach the surface! Bauval is adamant he is right and that these alignments are merely symbolic.
Bauval’s theory is that the layout of the Giza plateau was first planned and begun around 10,450 BC (12,500 years ago) by a mysterious priesthood who possessed advanced astronomical knowledge. He informs us that these people were known as the Shemsu Hor (“Followers of Horus”) otherwise known as the Akhu. ‘Akhu’ is derived from the word Akh – the ancient Egyptian name meaning ‘Light’, and used to refer to the spiritual source-centre of creation, and so ‘Akhu’ again translates as ‘Shining Ones’.
The constellation of Orion, known to the ancient Egyptians as Sah, represented not only the soul of Osiris, but also his son and reincarnation, Horus. As said, we find that the significance of Orion is universal and because it represents the shamanic ‘resurrection god’ of different cultures.
Bauval’s theory rests on the position of the constellation of Orion and its three belt stars, which he says were at their lowest point on the Giza Meridian in the south sky around 10,450 BC – the two largest stars orientated at the same angle (45º) as the two largest pyramids. Bauval says that both the pattern of the stars in the sky and the pyramids on the ground, are a reflection of each other (see figure 3).
This has become known as Krupp’s ‘Upside Down argument’.
However, if we were standing facing the southern sky, and asked to draw the star constellation of Orion on a piece of paper laid on a table in front of us, we would naturally draw what we see in figure A with the stars (like the pyramids) making an upward diagonal from the largest to the smallest.
Although figure B is more accurate as regards a ‘mirror image’ of the skies and the matching north and south alignment of each and as if peeling away a Polaroid photo from a negative film – figure A is based on the perspective of someone looking south towards the constellation, and imagining the image of the three belt stars on the ground and in the same way that one would instinctively draw it! And this is both Bauval’s and Hancock’s argument. I would have to agree with the authors.
The Giza Meridian and Precession
Today the Prime Meridian runs through Greenwich, London, and it has been theorised by many researchers and authors and with good reason, that the original 0º Prime Meridian ran through Giza and was marked by the Great Pyramid.
Let’s imagine we are standing at the centre of the Giza Plateau (see figure 5) At the centre of the southern sky, dividing east and west, the imaginary vertical line of the Giza Meridian begins from its 0º nadir point on the horizon (where land meets sky) and continues upward and overhead to the 90º zenith point. From the zenith point we then trace the line north and downwards through another 90º to the centre of the northern horizon. We shall come back to the deeper significance of the Giza Meridian in a moment, as we first need to understand the movement of the sun throughout the year and from the perspective of an observer in the northern hemisphere – especially at Giza.
Figure 5: The Giza Meridian and the Celestial Equator with the Equinoctial Points both East and West
Due to the tilt of the earth’s axis, throughout the year the rising and setting points of the sun will be seen to move slowly back and forth on the eastern and western horizons – moving from south to north and back to south again, crossing the central equinoctial point twice.
For example, on the day of the Summer Solstice – June 21 – the sun will have reached its furthest point north of the equinoctial point. At Giza the declination (rising point) of the sun will be just over 26º north of the two equinoctial points (see figure 6). On the day of the Winter Solstice – December 21 – the sun will have reached its furthest point south of the equinoctial point. Again at Giza the declination of the sun would be over 26º south of the two equinoctial points.
Of course the rising and setting positions of the sun on the eastern and western horizons during the summer and winter solstices will change depending on our location on earth. For example, at Stonehenge in Salisbury, England, the declination of the sun during these times will be just over 51º north and south of the equinoctial point on the eastern and western horizons. This is interesting because 51.84º is the angle of the sides of the Great Pyramid. Furthermore, we have only been describing the sun’s movement for an observer in the northern hemisphere.
In the southern hemisphere and on the day of June 21, the sun would rise south of the equinoctial point instead of north and instead of marking the onset of summer as it does for those of us north of the equator, this day would mark the onset of winter. And again on the day of December 21, the sun would rise north of the equinoctial point instead of south and this day would mark the onset of summer.
Now that we have understood this we will go back to the Giza Meridian.
It’s possible that in Egypt, the Giza Meridian was used – perhaps by the predynastic Akhu or ‘Shining Ones’, who were also astronomers – not only to measure the passage of the sun each day and at different months of the year, but also to chart the position of the star constellation of Orion and which like the sun, had risen in the east, crossed this ‘midpoint’ line, and then set in the west. By charting Orion’s position on the Giza meridian as Orion crossed it, they could calculate ‘where’ and ‘when’ we are in terms of the “Great Year” – the 26,000-year Precessional Cycle, and for some very good reasons. However, before we can begin to understand why they felt the need to do this and how Orion (which represented the archetypal ‘resurrection god’ Osiris) was used as a gauge marker for Precession we should first understand what Precession is.
Precession
The present 23.43º obliquity (incline) of the earth’s axis causes the sun and moon (at separate times) to be either above the earth’s equatorial plane or below it and so the gravitational forces of the sun and moon are constantly pulling upward or downward on the earth’s bulge at the equator. It’s the pull of the sun and moon that keeps the angle of the earth’s axis steady and within a restricted limit. If the moon suddenly disappeared the obliquity (angle) of the axis would change drastically.
The earth – being an oblate sphere (slightly-flattened) – is like the spinning top; the only difference being that this wobble is moving at a constant speed and over long periods of time – always altering the direction of the earth’s polar axis. In other words, the slow wobble causes the axis to regress or precess – in that like a gyroscope, the axis wobbles slowly in a clockwise direction as the earth turns anticlockwise – causing the axis to trace a large abstract circle in the heavens, which by today’s agreed estimate takes 25,776 years to complete. My own estimate is that it takes 25,758 years - see here.
This revolution in the north sky is the precessional cycle, and the theory is that the ancients used the roughly accurate Platonic figure of 25,920 years to reference the precessional cycle, and we say because this number is comprised of multiples of 9 and was therefore easier to encode.
As shown in figure 7, Like the ancient Egyptian ‘Sun symbol’ – a simple circle with a dot in the centre – the central axis of this precessional revolution is called the ‘pole of the ecliptic’ and the central and unmoving still point in the heavens, which the abstract pole of the ecliptic is pointing to, is called the ecliptic centre.
Why is this geophysical phenomenon called the ‘Precession of the Equinoxes’?
Well first of all, like every circle, the cycle around this still point is divided into 360 degrees. As most of us will know, from our perspective on earth the zodiac is seen to move behind the sun in a clockwise direction – each sign being completed in a month and the whole zodiac completed in a year. This is really due to the earth’s anticlockwise orbit around the sun, which again, takes a year to complete.
But again, the precessional axis is also moving forward (clockwise) and slowly – at a rate of 71.6 years every degree going by today’s calculations. Because the earth turns anticlockwise on its axis, this means that the sun is seen to move backward very slowly through the 12 constellations of the Zodiac.
The measurement of this movement is determined by observing the rising position of the sun on the Spring Equinox every year, which is seen to move slowly backwards through the zodiac and again at a rate of one degree every 71.6 years – or 72 years as the rough estimate used by the ancients.
At present, we are living in the ‘Age of Pisces’, which began around 1 A.D. And so every year on the Spring Equinox – the sun is seen to rise against the zodiacal constellation of Pisces. In other words, the sun is moving backwards slowly and in a clockwise direction from Pisces towards the ‘Age of Aquarius’ – but won’t reach the constellation of Aquarius for another 170 years.
During the epoch of 10,450 BC when Bauval says that the orientation of the three pyramids matched the orientation of the three belt stars of Orion, the sun would have been seen to rise against the constellation of Leo “the lion”. Bauval says that this would explain the presence and position of the Sphinx, which would have been gazing at the sun rising in the east and against an image of itself.
10,450 BC is considered the cusp point between the ‘Age of Virgo’ and the ‘Age of Leo’ and therefore the end of Virgo and the beginning of Leo. Researcher, John Anthony West, by reason of the conclusions made by geologist Robert Schoch, says he has evidence that the Sphinx was possibly around at this time, and according to Bauval, perhaps for this very reason.
Today, like the sun, Orion will be seen to rise everyday on the eastern horizon and on the Equinoctial point – the same spot on the horizon that the sun will rise on the mornings of the two Equinoxes. It will rise first on its side, pointing north, and will then move sideways across the sky; turning slowly to stand upright as it crosses the Giza meridian – see figure 8. It will then continue to turn until it sets in the west on its side pointing north again.
Now due to precession, and as the celestial axis moves back-and-forth in the north sky, tracing a giant circle in the sky and at twice the span of its 23.5-degree tilt – (again, see figure 7), the stars of Orion in the south sky – like all stars – will slowly change their altitude positions.
This means that although the three belt stars of Orion, today rise on the equinoctial point of the sun in the east, they haven’t always risen on this point. They will only rise on this point during THIS TIME in the precessional cycle – the time we are at now, and the epoch where and when Al-Nitak reaches its highest altitude position on the Giza Meridian. This perfect alignment between the three belt stars of Orion and the Equinoctial points and the transiting path of these belt stars along the celestial equator and all during this halfway point or ‘Midpoint’ in the cycle, is intriguing, and its significance was not lost on the early astronomers who designed and built the Giza complex.
Today we have the advantage of being able to view the changing positions of these stars; scanning through thousands of years in a few seconds using a good astronomy computer programme.
This movement of Orion and taking its first star Al-Nitak, as a marker, takes roughly 13,000 years to move from its nadir position (lowest point on the horizon) – an altitude of 9º 14’ to its highest altitude of 58º 4’, and takes another 13,000 years to move from 58º 4’ back down to 9º 14’ again – a total of 26,000 years approx. In hours and minutes of arc, this movement gives a distance of 49º 26’ – over twice the obliquity of the earth’s axis – allowing for its slow shift between 22.6º and 24.6º according to the Milankovitch Cycle.
Again, at present, the star Al-Nitak is moving close to its highest position – but between 11,000 and 10,450 BC, it was at its lowest position and roughly in line with the correct diagonal orientation of the three pyramids of Giza when looking south. (I now know the correct dates for these highest and lowest altitude positions for Al-Nitak, See here:)
Bauval says that this lowest position of Orion marked the ‘Golden Age’ known as Zep Tepi, the “First Time”.
We are apt to ask, the “first time” of what?
The “first time” is associated with the ‘first act’ of creation. However in reality, creation is ‘cyclical’ or ‘circular’ – meaning re-creation, so there is a continual repetition of Zep-Tepi. By all accounts this particular “first time” when Orion was at its lowest point on the Giza Meridian and on the south horizon, could indeed mean the arrival of the “gods” or “Elder builders” as mentioned in the Edfu Building texts – which is why it is also called the “Time of Osiris” as well as the “Time of Horus” (Osiris’ son and ‘reincarnated self’).
Again, and as the evidence suggests, these ‘El-ders’, (who also included the ‘wisdom god’ Thoth), were the ‘Shining Ones’.
However, this ‘First Time’ could also mark the time of a global catastrophe and which from that point on, the human race had to begin over again. See here: In this context the term, ‘First Time’ could still apply, in that the so-called “gods” (Shining Ones) that had arrived from some place else and had initially taught mankind agriculture and other useful things to get the human race back on its feet again, were those who survived, therefore they represented the rebirth or resurrection of the human race. We are told that these 'Shining Ones' were also called ‘Zep Tepis’.
Furthermore, I should emphasise that if the earth’s axis of rotation became inclined from the vertical, then surely this event would mark the beginning of time, as the earth and man fell into the cycles of the seasons. If precession in a “post-cataclysmic phenomenon” due to the tilting of the earth’s axis, as Allan and Delair state in their book Cataclysm, then this would explain why the ancients had constructed Giza as a ‘star clock’ or precessional clock to mark time.
This would mean that the time of Osiris, the ‘Golden Age’ was ‘before time’ – before time really began to be recorded. Again the term ‘Zep Tepi’ could still apply, as it was from this point that time began.
As I see it, the construction of this ‘precessional clock’ was not just to record time, but also to convey profound knowledge of cyclical phenomena associated with time, which man had fallen ever deeper into, and hopefully the means to escape it.
Is this why Poussin had encoded this information about Orion and Precession?