The idea of a celestial stairway, it can be shown, is simply a variation upon the widespread theme of a World Tree. As Romanian historian of religion Mircea Eliade has documented, such ideas have been around since the dawn of time, saying: “Ascent to the sky along the Axis of the World is a universal and archaic idea”. The same scholar goes on to summarize this theme and its attendant myths as follows: “If we try to achieve a general view of all the myths and rites just briefly reviewed, we are struck by the fact that they have a dominant idea in common: Communication between Heaven and Earth can be brought about by some physical means (bridge, stairs, ladder, vine, cord, ‘Chain of Arrows’, mountain, etc). All of these symbolic images of the connection between Heaven and Earth are merely variants of the World Tree or the Axis Mundi”. That the planet Mars was itself linked to ancient conceptions of the World Tree has been documented by other scholars in addition to Talbott. For example, in her book ‘A Dictionary of Symbols’, Joan Cirlot reports that: “The Tree of Life, when it rises no higher than the mountain of Mars is regarded as a pillar supporting Heaven”. The World Tree, also known as the Cosmic Tree, Axis Mundi, or Tree of Life, is a symbolic representation of a central axis that connects different realms, dimensions, or planes of existence within a cosmology. Esoterically, the World Tree was associated with Divine Union (becoming one with self and source) and can be seen on Masonic Tracing Boards (as shown below). Traditional cosmological systems consistently attest to a conspicuous ladder or stairway that once bridged Heaven and Earth in the bygone age of the gods.
The Chigi crest logo dates back to the Renaissance period in Italy (500 years ago) and looks very similar to the Saturn Polar Configuration:
As Mars descended from its position in the sky the link that it created to Saturn and Venus formed in such a way that the planets appeared as a spectacle reminiscent of a keyhole. The Saturn Polar Configuration keyhole-shape appears to have been immortalized in ancient mythology, art, and esoteric symbolism across various civilizations, including Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian cultures, such as the Menat symbol and Tanit symbol. See some examples in the video below.
Keyholes sometimes feature in Masonic art. The Masonic Tracing Board below shows a keyhole doorway to another dimension:
The Masonic drawing below also shows a keyhole:
The keyhole Ankh symbol:
The Egyptian symbol of the Ankh was based on the Saturn Polar Configuration, as Talbott explains in ‘The Saturn Myth’, saying: “The Ankh (whose origins experts have long debated) is but a conventionalized image of the [Saturn] Polar Configuration”. In his book ‘Secret Societies: Revelations About Freemasons’, well-known author Philip Gardiner explains that the Ankh was seen as a gateway or portal into a higher dimension. Quote: “The Ankh is known as the Crux Ansata. It’s a T-cross, surmounted by an oval, called the Ru. The Ru is often seen as a gateway or portal to another dimension, such as Heaven. The Ankh therefore becomes the symbol of transition from one place to another. It outlived Egyptian domination and was widely used by the Christians as the [Latin] Cross”. As well as being linked to the Ankh, the Saturn Polar Configuration can be linked to other symbols. Probably the most recognizable Masonic symbol is the All-Seeing-Eye, included in the architecture of the Great Seal of the U.S. Dollar Bill. Fixed within a triangle, the disembodied eye is surrounded by rays of light and rests upon a pyramid. The All-Seeing-Eye finds its roots in ancient Egypt as the Eye of Horus (or Ra) and can be traced back to the Saturn Polar Configuration. During the alignment of Saturn, Venus, and Mars, in their different configurations, they formed a triangle. Quote from ‘The Saturn Myth’: “Saturn wears the band as a golden girdle, collar or crown. He dwells in it as the pupil of the All-Seeing-Eye”. See ‘Discourses on an Alien Sky#5’ to see this All-Seeing-Eye alignment explained. The image below is how this may have looked. In his book ‘The Ark of Millions of Years’, physicist Alexander Agnew, who has published thousands of technical papers, says: “The portal into Heaven is marked by the All-Seeing-Eye”. So, could this be what the Saturn Polar Configuration essentially is, then? Some portal or gateway into Heaven?
The video below explains the All-Seeing-Eye alignment.
This is likely the inspiration for the All-Seeing-Eye on the U.S. Dollar Bill.
Some have suggested that the symbols on the U.S. Dollar Bill were created by Freemasons. After all, some of the Founding Fathers were apparently Freemasons (such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin) and the All-Seeing-Eye was adopted by Freemasonry in 1797 and only 5 years later was adopted on the reverse-side of The Great Seal. Many believe that Freemasons are responsible for the eye-excruciatingly small image of the owl; a Masonic symbol for “knowledge”. So, what’s the goal of Freemasons, then? Assuming the All-Seeing-Eye on the U.S. Dollar Bill is a respresentation of the Saturn Polar Configuration, which Talbott has associated with the Tower of Babel, we then have a connection between Freemasons and the Tower of Babel. Indeed, some have suggested that the pyramid on the U.S. Dollar Bill is a representation of the Tower of Babel. According to researcher Jim Cornwell: “The pyramid on the Great Seal represents the unfinished Tower of Babel”. In his book ‘Antichrist Osiris: The History of the Luciferian Conspiracy’, Chris Relitz, writes: “The unfinished [pyramid] seen on the American Dollar Bill may be a reference to the Tower of Babel”. According to Christopher Hodapp, in his book ‘Freemason Symbols and Ceremonies For Dummies’: “Freemasonry’s legends claim that the group was descended from the great builders of the Old Testament — Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel, and King Solomon’s Temple”. Researcher Alexander Slade describes how Freemasons were possibly responsible for the Tower of Babel. Tentatively then, it would make sense if the goal of Freemasons was to recreate the Tower of Babel and reconnect Heaven with Earth. When the Solomon Seal is overlaid on the U.S. Dollar Bill it forms an anagram of “Mason”, short for Freemason. This also suggests that the All-Seeing-Eye is the path to Divine Union, as that’s what the Solomon Seal represents — the merging of opposites that creates Rebis, the alchemical hermaphrodite.
Below is an old Freemason Tracing Board showing the All-Seeing-Eye over a pillar, with the pillar likely representing the Cosmic Mountain:
Another example of the All-Seeing-Eye on a Freemason apron:
The image below is a comparison between the Masonic Square and Compass, the Stargate logo (in the centre) and the Cosmic Mountain to Saturn and Venus (on the right) also called the “Saturn Polar Configuration”. The design of the Square and Compass corresponds to the configuration of Saturn, Venus, and the Cosmic Mountain, as seen in ‘Discourses on an Alien Sky’. In this interpretation, the circle at the apex of the Masonic Compass represents the Blazing Star (generally assumed to be either Sirius or Venus) and the triangular appearance of the Compass itself represents the Cosmic Mountain or pathway. Essentially, this is what I believe the Masonic Compass and Square represents at its core — a stargate.
The 8-pointed star (which appeared during the Saturn Polar Configuration) is a symbol of Freemasonry and can be found in Masonic artwork and architecture, sometimes represented as the Blazing Star. In his book ‘Morals and Dogma’, famous 33 degree Freemason Albert Pike connects the ancient Sun to the All-Seeing-Eye and the Masonic Blazing Star, saying: “The Blazing Star has been regarded as an emblem of Omniscience, or the All-Seeing-Eye, which to the ancients was the Sun”. We know that the ancients considered Saturn to be the Sun, as explained by Talbott in ‘The Saturn Myth’. In 1909, the leading expert Morris Jastrow brought this fact to the attention of others in a fascinating article entitled “Sun and Saturn”. According to Jastrow, Babylonian astrological texts could not have presented the equation of Saturn and the Sun more boldly: “The planet Saturn is Shamash”, they say. Among the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Sun-god par excellence was Shamash, the “light of the gods”. In countless texts and symbolic representations Shamash is depicted as the ruling light and god of the day. Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily reported that the Chaldeans, renowned astronomers who ruled Babylon in the 6th-century BC, called Kronos (Saturn) by the name “Helios”, which means “Sun”, explaining that it was the most conspicuous star in the sky. Meanwhile, Roman writer and Neoplatonic philosopher Macrobius identified Kronos (Saturn) as the Sun, and Latin author Gaius Julius Hyginus (64 BC – AD 17) noted that Saturn was referred to as “Sol”, meaning “Sun”. Troy McLachlan, says, in his book ‘The Saturn Death Cult’: “The ancients did indeed see a Sun-like object residing in their skies, and that object was Saturn”. According to Alfred De Grazia in his book ‘Homo Schizo: Human Nature’, Isaac Vail connected the All-Seeing-Eye (which remember, was the ancient Sun) to the Saturn Polar Configuration, saying: “The All-Seeing-Eye is one of the earliest and most nearly universal symbols. Isaac Vail believed that the primordial eye was the boreal opening from which Saturn on his throne looked down upon his domain”. The letter G in the image below takes the place of Venus in the Saturn Polar Configuration. 33 degree Freemason Arthur Waite quotes Éliphas Lévi telling us that the letter “G” stands for Venus (see his book ‘The Mysteries of Magic: A Digest of the Writings of Éliphas Lévi’).
Another instance of the 8-pointed star on a Freemason building in Lisbon:
During the various configurations of the Saturn Polar Configuration that produced various visual characteristics in the sky, the comparatively smaller orb of Venus — and also at different times Mars which produced a darker dot as opposed to a white dot — appeared as a dot that passed in front of the larger orb of Saturn creating the following image: ⊙, resembling an eye (called the circumpunct). Talbott gives an explanation of this image in ‘The Saturn Myth’, saying: “The ancients preserved more than mythical-historical accounts of Saturn’s rule. From one section of the world to another the planet-god’s worshippers drew pictures of the Saturnian Configuration, and these pictures become the universal signs and symbols of antiquity. In the global lexicon of symbols the most common images are the enclosed Sun ⊙ and Sun-cross ⊕. It appears that every ancient race revered these signs as images of the preeminent cosmic power. In Mesopotamia and Egypt the signs occur in the earliest period. Prehistoric pottery and rock carvings from Crete, China, Scandinavia, Africa, Russia, Polynesia, and the Americas suggest that numerous ancient rites centred on these simple forms, which became the most venerated images in the first hieroglyphic alphabets”. Popular author Dan Brown explains the circumpunct (⊙) as follows: “In the idiom of symbology, there was one symbol [the circumpunct] that reigned supreme above all others. The oldest and most universal, this symbol fused all the ancient traditions in a single solitary image that represented the illumination of the Egyptian Sun-god, the triumph of alchemical gold, the wisdom of the Philosopher’s Stone, the purity of the Rosicrucian Rose, the moment of Creation, the All, the dominance of the astrological Sun, and the omniscient All-Seeing-Eye that hovered atop the pyramid”. Wikipedia says: “Throughout history, the circumpunct has been all things to all people; it’s the Sun-god Ra, alchemical gold, and the All-Seeing-Eye”. In ‘The Saturn Myth’, Talbott identifies Ra as Saturn, saying: “One finds of interest an Egyptian ostrakon (1st-century BC) cited by Franz Boll: The ostrakon identifies the planet Saturn as the great god Ra”. The circumpunct can be seen in Freemason artwork (as shown below). The image on the bottom right is an illustration of the Saturn Polar Configuration with Venus as the luminous dot from the documentary ‘Symbols of an Alien Sky’.
The luminous U-shape created by the Saturn-crescent over time became morphed into pillars. Talbott says in ‘The Saturn Myth’ when explaining the twin-pillar or twin-peaked crescent of the Saturn Polar Configuration: “In all ancient myths of the lost paradise, the land of peace and plenty rests upon a cosmic pillar — “Earth’s highest mountain”. One of the peculiarities of the Mount is that it possesses two peaks, rising to the right and left of the central column. The Egyptian Mount of Glory (Khut) reveals two peaks between which rests the Aten or enclosed Sun 𓈌. Depicted by this sign are “the two great mountains on which Re appears”. And what is most interesting about the Egyptian symbol of the cleft peak 𓈋 is that it finds similar parallels in other lands. The Mesopotamian Sun-god rests upon a twin-peaked world mountain of identical form and the same dual mount occurs also in Mexico — here too revealing the Sun-god between the two peaks. In Hebrew and Muslim thought “the mountain of paradise is a double one” observes Wensinck. To the Hebrews Sinai, Ebol, and Gerezim were all conceived as images of a twin-peaked mountain, states Jeremias. In the primeval Tyre (paradise) according to the description of Nonnus, a “double rock” rises from the ocean. In its centre is an olive (the central Sun) which automatically emits fire, setting it in a perpetual blaze. The Syrian and Hittite great gods stand equally balanced upon two mountains. In the beginning, according to a central Asiatic legend related by Uno Holmberg, “there was only water, from which the two great mountains emerged”. From the central mount of Hindu cosmology rise two secondary peaks. Of course, the twin pillars of Hercules point to the same idea”. In his book ‘Mortal Jigsaw Puzzle’, Grieving Patriot says: “In ancient history, this twin pillar construct is also referred to as the pillars of Hercules, a gateway beyond which lay the path to enlightenment”. These pillars stand at the “gateway to Heaven”, an Axis Mundi, a place where worlds meet and commune with each other. Going beyond the Masonic pillars can mean leaving behind Earth to reach a higher realm of enlightenment and mutate the soul into an everlasting existence. As researcher Robert Palazzo explains: “Symbolically speaking, going beyond the Hercules [or Masonic] pillars meant leaving the foulness of this world into a higher realm of enlightenment”. Going beyond the Masonic pillars can mean leaving the realm of Samsāra and entering Nirvāna.
Notice the Saturn-crescent below which appears as two pillars:
This same symbol is seen throughout the ancient world such as the Phoenician Tanit symbol where the Saturn-crescent has become fully morphed into pillars:
The symbols above became the basis for Freemason Tracing Boards showing the Blazing Star placed between two pillars:
The same 8-pointed star keyhole symbolism as the Saturn Polar Configuration is shown above on a Masonic stained-glass window (from Arcana Lodge 187). Notice the stars over the right pillar above are shaped in the form of the Orion constellation. Even though the Saturn Polar Configuration corresponds to the Masonic image above of the Blazing Star between the pillars, it’s generally assumed that the Blazing Star between the Masonic pillars is Sirius — not Saturn or Venus. Masonic historian Henry Coil says: “But whether the Blazing Star refers to Saturn or the Sun or some other heavenly body is not ascertainable”. In his book ‘Myth, Magick, and Masonry’, Jaime Lamb connects the Masonic Blazing Star to Venus, saying: “The Blazing Star’s relationship to Venus (also anciently known as the Morning Star) may best be illustrated by the fact that it’s represented in the form of a pentagram. This significance comes primarily from the fact that Venus traces [a perfect pentagram across the sky every eight years when observed from Earth”]. The fact that the Masonic Blazing Star is also sometimes represented by an 8-pointed star (as shown in the image above) might also point towards it being Venus. The Mesopotamian goddess Inanna was worshipped as the embodiment of Venus and her symbol was the 8-pointed star. While some argue that the Masonic Blazing Star is Venus, some have suggested that it could be Jupiter. The ancient Greeks knew Jupiter as Phaethon (Φαέθων) meaning “Shining One” or “Blazing Star”. Whether the Masonic Blazing Star is Sirius, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Alcyone, Aldebaran, the Moon, or some other heavenly body, it’s acknowledged by some that Freemasons misguide people as to the true meaning of their symbols. For example, the prominent Freemason, Albert Pike, said in his book ‘Morals and Dogma’: “Part of the symbols are displayed there to the initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It’s not intended that he shall understand them; but it’s intended that he shall imagine that he understands them”.
There are various instances where Masonic art parallels the Saturn Polar Configuration and below (and above) is an example. The image on the left below is an old Masonic painting. The star in the Masonic painting looks similar to the star of Shamash which is characterized by four large spokes separated by four smaller ones. The star of Shamash is seen on the front cover of ‘The Saturn Myth’ and was the main characteristic feature of the Saturn Polar Configuration. Notice the Compass in the Masonic painting below is positioned below the star and parallels the Cosmic Mountain. Very interesting and unlikely to be a coincidence.
The Saturn Polar Configuration actually consisted of an alignment of several planets, but some were hidden behind Saturn, such as Jupiter, as Talbott notes in his various video-documentaries. The Saturn Polar Configuration is associated with the idea of the soul ascending through planetary spheres to reach Heaven. The belief that the soul must ascend through planetary spheres to reach Heaven is rooted in various cosmological and philosophical concepts. Greek philosopher Plato believed that the soul must ascend through planetary spheres to reach its eternal state in the stars. The seven planetary spheres that the soul ascends through to reach Heaven are connected to the seven sins. One can think of each planetary body corresponding to a sin and these sins as spiritual tests. The planetary bodies are like gateways that one passes through. The Saturn Polar Configuration has been associated with the concept of gateways or cosmic portals in various interpretations. In some interpretations, the Saturn Polar Configuration is seen as a gateway to other realms or dimensions. In ‘The Saturn Myth’, Talbott corresponds the Saturn Polar Configuration to a gateway, saying: “The god “comes out” and “goes in” on the [Saturnian] mountaintop through the “gate”, but he accomplishes this without moving from his fixed abode”. According to Ev Cochrane, in his book ‘Martian Metamorphoses’, the Saturn Polar Configuration was essentially a gateway into Heaven, saying: “An important hymn relates the opening of the heavenly doors to the illumination of Sin: “Sin, as you become visible you open the doors of Heaven”. Here is yet another passage which can only appear as an absurd poetic metaphor from the conventional perspective. Yet from the unique vantage point offered by the Saturn theory, this passage can be taken as a literal description of the [Saturn] Polar Configuration: As the crescent of Sin descended to a position beneath Saturn, as in figure four in chapter six, it grew brilliant — thereby signalling the opening of the gates of Heaven”.
The Saturn Polar Configuration went through various configurations that produced various visual characteristics in the sky, but was mostly characterized by an 8-pointed star. According to investigative mythologist William Henry, the 8-pointed star represented the Gate of God, saying: “Wherever archaeologists discovered remains of the early Sumerian civilizations, the symbol of the “Gate of the Gods” was prominently displayed. The Sumerians depicted this gate as an 8-pointed star”. Since the beginning of the written word, countless stories have begun by ripping holes in the fabric of reality and pulling their protagonists through. Portals date back to the oldest written text we have — the 4,000-year-old Sumerian tale Epic of Gilgamesh — in which the hero travels through a mountaintop portal to the land of the gods. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the hero travels to the gate of Shamash at the mountain of Mashu (the Saturnian Cosmic Mountain). Below is the symbol of Shamash (Saturn) in Sumero-Mesopotamia or Inanna represented by an 8-pointed star. The organization CERN displays the same symbol in some of their images:
CERN
CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is an international organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. CERN’s primary mission is to explore the fundamental nature of the universe by investigating the basic building blocks of matter and the forces that govern their interactions. This research often involves studying subatomic particles like protons, neutrons, electrons, and various other particles that make up matter. One of the most prominent achievements of CERN is the construction and operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. The LHC is a circular accelerator situated underground, spanning the border between Switzerland and France. It’s used to accelerate particles to extremely high energies and then collide them at incredibly high speeds. These collisions create conditions similar to those just moments after the Big Bang, allowing scientists to study the behaviour of matter in its most fundamental states. CERN was essentially created in order to recreate the conditions of the early universe after the Big Bang as a possible means of testing the Big Bang theory which has dominated physics since the middle of the last century. CERN’s experimental ‘test’ of the Big Bang theory has focused on the search for the elusive Higgs Boson (the “God Particle”) because the Big Bang theorists believe that the universe could not have been created without it. However, anyone who examines the Big Bang theory honestly and in sufficient depth can see that it does not hold water and contains holes in its logic so large that a galactic supercluster could be driven through them. It’s just like CAGW theory, but on a cosmic scale instead of merely a terrestrial one. No experimental ‘tests’ for this are needed and so it’s a wonder how this half-baked nonsense has become the holy cow of science. The experimental ‘tests’ provided by CERN are superfluous and the creation of their particle accelerator was not needed for the stated scientific purpose.
CERN’s particle accelerator’s true purpose — in my view — is to access an inter-dimensional doorway or worm-hole and this is not just hinted by their iconography and occult connections (as others have pointed out) but something they have suggested themselves. The director of CERN, Sergio Bertolucci, said:
The idea that CERN could open an door to an extra dimension sounds insane, but there’s at least some science supporting the idea, suggesting that it might actually have some basis in reality. According to a paper published in Nature by internationally acclaimed theoretical physicist Paul Davis: “It has been conjectured that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN might reveal traces of a fourth space dimension. This is because gravitation is not confined to branes but leaks out into the bulk. Some versions of the theory predict that, as a result, mini worm-holes could conceivably be created from the high-speed collisions between the LHC’s protons and antiprotons”. According to an article by Charles Choi for NewScientist: “CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is expected to generate one mini black-hole per second; a potential source of worm-holes through which physicists could try to send quantum-sized particles”. According to some, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is expected to create traversable worm-holes as well. Worm-holes are a means by which travelling through space and time is possible, though for one to be traversable it must be larger than the subatomic size. According to Russian mathematician Igor Volovich, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN might have the energy to create traversable worm-holes in space-time. An article by Universe Today says: “Igor Volovich — mathematical physicist at the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow, believes the energies generated by the subatomic collisions in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN may be powerful enough to rip space-time, spawning worm-holes”.
The name CERN is an abbreviation of “CERNUNNOS” — the god of the underworld, who’s mythologically similar to Osiris, Enki, Nimrod or Ninurta. CERN also have a large Shiva statue outside the Large Hadron Collider, symbolizing the cosmic dance of “creation and destruction”, and CERN have performed a so-called dance of destruction in a video that you can watch on YouTube, called ‘Symmetry’ and another video that they exhibited is called ‘Black Rain’. Both videos are very unusual.
The aforementioned CERN video contain some images that subtly look like traditional depictions of worm-holes:
When investigating CERN, researcher Goro Adachi discovered that CERN’s Large Hadron Collider machine appears to mirror celestial bodies and speculates that the machine could open a celestial worm-hole (see the article ‘CERN: The Orion Stargate: Decoding The Large Hadron Collider’). The bodies that CERN’s Large Hadron Collider appear to mirror include Venus, Orion, and the Moon. How smashing particles together and mirroring celestial bodies could create a portal or worm-hole, as CERN themselves have alluded to, is beyond my ken, but no doubt it’s all perfectly straightforward according to the CERN-people’s theory.
Quote from Adachi’s article:
❝In this article, the reader will be shown a whole new system of information mysteriously encoded in the layout of the Large Hadron Collider that’s unlike anything they may have seen before. The CERN Large Hadron Collider which some compare to the Tower of Babel, is a “Gateway of God” and presumably only the initiates know the encoded secrets❞
In his book ‘The God Particle’, American experimental physicist Leon Lederman parallels CERN to the Tower of Babel. Quote from the book ‘The Ancient Alien Theory’:
Investigative mythologist William Henry, who is a producer for the popular American TV show Ancient Aliens and author of over 18 books in alternative science, says: “If we take his [Leon Lederman’s] words literally, it suggests that the search for the “God Particle” and the creation of these amazing particle accelerators, such as the one at CERN, is actually a recreation of the Tower of Babel. Well, the Tower of Babel seems to have been humanity’s first attempt to blast open holes in Heaven, to open stargates and worm-holes”. Not many have made the connection, but the Shiva statue at CERN can be connected to the Tower of Babel. This is because Shiva is assumed by some to be the same person as Nimrod, and Nimrod was responsible for building the original Tower of Babel. According to Chris Relitz in his book ‘Antichrist Osiris: The History of the Luciferian Conspiracy’, Shiva and Nimrod are one and the same character. Quote: “By the time the character of Nimrod reached India, it seems he was known as Shiva. The legends of both are too similar to ignore. Both were associated with fire, destruction, wore bull’s horns, had profound phalluses and wore leopard skins. Both had a trident as a weapon, as the devil today is seen with a pitchfork”. This is also corroborated by Erica Nugent in her book ‘Clash of the Kingdoms’, where she says: “Nimrod became Shiva”. Could it be CERN’s goal to recreate the Tower of Babel, which might explain why they have a statue of Shiva (or Nimrod) as their mascot? Author of the book ‘Revising Reality’, Anthony Patch seems to think so, where he says: “Strangely, CERN constitutes a new Tower of Babel in several respects. The goal of CERN seeks to defy God, deify humankind, establish human supremacy, and create a stairway to Heaven”. Patch says that CERN is attempting to access the Saturn Polar Configuration and re-establish a worm-hole or link (he calls it a “plasma conduit”). Another name for this “plasma conduit” would be the Tower of Babel.
Similar to Patch, according to Nick Hinton, author of the book ‘The Saturn Time Cube Simulation’ and ‘The Aquarian Singularity’, CERN is attempting to access the worm-hole that existed during the Saturn Polar Configuration, as he explains in his Twitter article here or (if that’s inaccessible to you) his Reddit article here. This worm-hole has been dubbed by some the “Saturn Stargate”. As Hinton says: “The Saturn Stargate is a theoretical celestial alignment (based on the Electric Universe theory) that supposedly causes a portal to open in the sky”. In the TechBubble article ‘How CERN plan to use the Large Hadron Collider to open portals to other dimensions’, researcher Adam Milton-Barker speculates (similar to Hinton) that CERN’s goal is to access the Saturn Polar Configuration, saying: “There are some very interesting theories connected to CERN. One theory is that there is a connection between CERN and Saturn. You may have heard of Jacob’s Ladder which is described in the Book of Genesis. One of CERN’s goals is to recreate Jacob’s Ladder and re-open a portal that is said to have existed between Earth, Venus, Mars, and Saturn, when the planets were in alignment many [thousands of] years ago”. As mentioned above, Talbott associates this alignment with the Tower of Babel. Various researchers have suggested that CERN are attempting to recreate the Tower of Babel, and some have speculated that the Tower of Babel was actually a worm-hole. The Saturn Polar Configuration (which Talbott associates with the Tower of Babel) was also represented by Atlas (see ‘Discourses on an Alien Sky#13’). In Greek mythology, Atlas bared the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. Curiously, CERN refers to the Large Hadron Collider as the “ATLAS EXPERIMENT” which connects them to the Tower of Babel, and may hint at their real objective.
The aforementioned article about CERN from Adam Milton-Barker:
Investigative journalist David Icke, has suggested something similar to Adam Milton-Barker and has said that CERN is attempting to open a portal to Saturn, as he explains in his book ‘Everything You Need to Know But Have Never Been Told’. Quote from the book:
Below is a building at CERN which makes for an interesting design choice because it somewhat resembles the Saturn Polar Configuration. We have the large sphere which is Saturn, the circumpunct of Venus, and the keyhole-shaped Cosmic Mountain. CERN describes the building as follows: “CERN’s Globe of Science and Innovation exhibition centre and the nearby Meyrin site which provides access and support for the ATLAS EXPERIMENT, one of four experiments on the Large Hadron Collider”. The essential question at issue is: Why are CERN seemingly commemorating the Saturn Polar Configuration with their buildings?
Below is an image published by CERN (posted on their Twitter on August 23 2023 and also on other websites) where they talk about the ATLAS EXPERIMENT, and we can see that the image the man is looking at resembles the Saturn Polar Configuration.
CERN themselves have even likened the work they’re doing to the Tower of Babel:
Finally, below is an image from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider showing Alice in Wonderland — a nod to inter-dimensional travel.
❝CERN’s logo for the ALICE project, showing the portal underneath a blue arch❞
Tracy Twyman
You would think that CERN would distance themselves from theories that they want to open worm-holes and stargates, but at times, they stoke the flames. In April of 2017 CERN released an article titled “Ancient particle accelerator discovered on Mars” where they talk about an ancient particle accelerator on Mars serving as a stargate. Of course, it was an April Fools, but curiously, they said that this stargate was located on top of Olympus Mons, which is Latin for “Mount Olympus”. Remember, as mentioned above, Talbott theorizes how the myth of Mount Olympus was based on the Saturn Polar Configuration.
THE MOVIE THAT FEATURES CERN
Angels and Demons was filmed largely in CERN. The plot follows symbologist Robert Langdon as he tries to stop the Illuminati from destroying the Vatican Courtyard. It starts off with CERN initiating the Large Hadron Collider and smashing particles which produces antimatter. The antimatter is then stolen and planned to be used as a bomb which I think is just a plot-device to serve as an excuse for the scene explained below. The antimatter from CERN is found by the character McKenna who seizes the unstable antimatter (which is about to explode) and uses a chopper to fly over the Vatican Courtyard and jumps out as it explodes. The antimatter from CERN explodes directly above the 8-spoked Sun Wheel in the Vatican Courtyard. This Sun Wheel in the Vatican Courtyard was modelled on the symbol of Shamash and is a representation of the Saturn Polar Configuration (as shown in the image below). This scene from Angels and Demons, in my view, essentially depicts CERN tearing the veil and accessing the Saturn Polar Configuration that Talbott associates with the Tower of Babel.
The possibility the Large Hadron Collider at CERN could be used as a means to open up an inter-dimensional doorway has no doubt been the inspiration behind the various TV references which explore the same sort of themes. For example, in the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a particle collider called the Super-Collider is “a particle accelerator designed to bridge the gap between dimensions”. The design of the particle collider in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was actually inspired by the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. In the TV series Steins Gate, through the means of Kerr black-holes, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (SERN) is used to travel in time, and in the movie Cloverfield: Paradox, a particle accelerator tears a hole in the fabric of space and time, opening up a portal. In the TV show Rewind, a particle collider opens a dimensional rift, allowing the protagonists to time-travel. In the TV show Parallels, we follow four teenage friends, on the French-Swiss border, whose lives are turned upside down by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which opens a rift and sends them to a parallel dimension. Meanwhile, in the movie Portals (2020) a particle accelerator opens portals around the world, and in the video-game Shin Megami Tensei IV, a particle accelerator called “Yamato Perpetual Reactor” opens portals to other dimensions. Lastly, in the TV show Mr Robot, there’s a very overt CERN-reference, where a machine that looks identical to CERN is created. The CERN-like machine was inspired by the Large Hadron Collider ATLAS detector. The machine was created by the character Whiterose and is referred to as a “VLHC” (Very Large Hadron Collider) and is associated with alternate dimensions, resurrection, and time-manipulation.
While the scenarios above linking particle accelerators to traversable worm-holes are science fiction, there does seem to be a legitimate link between CERN and the Saturn Polar Configuration, or the “Saturn Stargate”. Whatever purpose the Large Hadron Collider has, it’s clearly not enough to get the job done however, as CERN have already announced a larger collider to take its place, tentatively called the “Future Circular Collider”.
THE SATURN STARGATE
What has become known popularly as the “Saturn Stargate” is essentially a planetary conjunction that was visible in the sky thousands of years ago, as the planets Saturn, Venus, and Mars came together, culminating in a worm-hole. Based on the work of Immanuel Velikovsky, in the 1980s, Talbott suggested that thousands of years ago the planets underwent great upheavel. As Saturn, Venus, and Mars travelled across the sky, they descended and aligned overhead Earth in a spectacular astronomical event dubbed the “Electric Universe” theory or the “Saturn Polar Configuration”. As they were aligned overhead Earth something remarkable happened. Mars descended and formed a mountain or pathway to Saturn and Venus. You can see various illustrations of this alignment in the image here. According to Talbott, this celestial alignment is where the stories of the Tower of Babel come from which was the “Gateway of God” (see ‘Discourses on an Alien Sky’ for reference). In this interpretation, we can therefore think of the Saturn alignment (which was characterized by an 8-pointed star) as essentially a gateway into Heaven.
There’s a recurring theme in pop-culture of inter-dimensional travel and 8-spoked wheels (or 8-pointed stars) as shown here and here is art-work from the Stargate movie, paralleling the Saturn Polar Configuration:
The Stargate movie was based on opening a portal to Ra who Talbott associates with Saturn. With that in mind, compare the images below.
1) The Cosmic Mountain to the 8-spoked Saturn Sun (also known as the Saturn Polar Configuration) from ‘Discourses on an Alien Sky’ (which Talbott associates with Mount Olympus, Mount Zion, and the Tower of Babel, inter alia). The symbol is repeated throughout ancient civilizations (see Talbott’s book ‘The Saturn Myth’ and his various video-documentaries) and notice that it’s in the shape of a keyhole 2) The 8-spoked worm-hole from the Stargate movie. In this movie, the worm-hole leads to Ra and Ra is identified as Saturn by Talbott. Notice the image above is in the shape of a keyhole with the walkway representing the Cosmic Mountain 3) An aerial photo of the Vatican Courtyard and once again it’s composed of 8-spokes and is in the shape of a keyhole.
In his book, ‘The Saturn Myth’, Talbott describes the Cosmic Mountain to Saturn as a gateway (or portal of sorts):
Nick Hinton suggests that the Saturn Stargate is a portal out of this world (or virtual reality as he calls it) into a higher dimension:
An illustration of the 8-pointed star between two pillars — like the Saturn Polar Configuration — is depicted in the mirrored Flammarion Engraving (1888) which shows a Traveller, who puts his head under the edge of the Flat Earth firmament as though he were observing the true reality that lay outside, as shown below. The Traveller is seen breaking through the veil of reality.
During the Saturn Polar Configuration, the crescent that formed under Saturn was morphed into a ship. See here for an explanation. Below is a quote from ‘Ancient Egyptian Mysteries’ that relates the Saturn Polar Configuration (also known as the Saturn Ship) to a gateway or worm-hole:
❝The [Saturn Ship] is a vehicle in Egyptian mysteries. It’s called the “Ship of Eternity”. The design of the boat is similar to a quantum worm-hole, with lotus vortex openings❞
The Saturn Ship may not be something one resides within, but rather a worm-hole that enables one to travel to certain points in the space-time continuum instantaneously — as suggested by William Henry (who calls it the “Osiris Device”). The Black Sun is another name for Saturn. According to the book ‘Men in Love’, by Vittorio Lingiardi: “In classical representations of the Zodiac, Saturn is the Sol Niger or Black Sun”. Allan Cornford, says, in his book ‘The Kings of the Earth and High Ones’: “Saturn is the primeval Sun known as the Black Sun”. So, why is Saturn called the “Black Sun?” Some names for Saturn in ancient astrology were the “Great Lord Dark Sun” and “Clothed in Black” and Saturn was referred to as the “Black Star” in old Judaic beliefs. In old astronomical texts, some referred to Saturn as the Sun and Babylonian cuneiform text had once referred to Saturn as “black”. As well as calling Saturn “black”, the Babylonians had referred to Saturn as the Sun. Given these facts, Saturn would have been considered the “Black Sun” to the Babylonians. There are various references in pop-culture to the Black Sun being associated with worm-holes and inter-dimensional travel. In the TV show Space: 1999, there was an episode called the “Black Sun”. When the characters enter the Black Sun, they have a surreal, time-bending experience and are propelled a million light years away. In the video-game Wolfenstein, the Black Sun is another dimension and the Nazis attempt to uncover secrets of the Thule people; an ancient civilization that discovered how to enter the “Black Sun Dimension” through portals. The famous occultist Miguel Serrano argues that the Black Sun was a worm-hole. In his book ‘The Giza Death Star Destroyed’, Joseph Farrell, who is the author of several books in alternative science, associates the Black Sun with “a gateway to higher dimensions” and “illumination of the soul”. This line of thinking is reinforced in the book ‘The Black Sun Conspiracy: The Dark Heritage of The Global Elite’, by Zak Jones, who says: “The Black Sun was a portal to another dimension, or a kind of stargate”. Blogger Freya Aswynn says that the Black Sun was “a gateway into multiple inner planes of reality, a worm-hole of the sort reflected in modern scientific speculations around black-holes”.
SIMILAR SYMBOLSIM TO IMAGERY ABOVE
There are various pop-culture references to the O and A (or △) symbol. The O and A symbols are often overlaid with the A (or △) appearing within the O symbol. Some of these references are shown below. These symbols are probably derived from the celestial alignment of the Cosmic Mountain to Saturn, which during its various configurations, made a △ shape, accompanied by a circle (as Saturn and Venus) with the △ appearing below the circle. This 𓇵 symbol is seen throughout ancient civilizations, such as the Phoenician Tanit symbol and Egyptian Menat symbol here. In Talbott’s book ‘The Saturn Myth’, he describes the symbol here. The symbol is keyhole-shaped and I believe is an actual stargate.
THE 8-POINTED STAR IN MOVIES AND TV
There are lots of examples of movies incorporating an 8-pointed star and some of these examples are shown below. Once you become aware of this you’ll start to see it everywhere. It’s my opinion that this Saturn symbol (associated with Shamash and Inanna) is a worm-hole or stargate as explained in the section above. The 8-pointed star is often accompanied by a circle in its centre.
THE SATURN CUBE AND SIMULATION THEORY
Over the last few years, I’ve been very interested in the mysterious symbol ubiquitously known simply as the “black cube”. For the uninitiated, the black cube is apparently a symbol of Saturn and it often pops up in important locations throughout the world. To quote Jordan Maxwell from his book ‘Matrix of Power’: “The symbol that was used in religious context with Saturn was the black cube”. There are monuments of the black Saturn cube in various sites throughout the world, and it often features in movies, music videos, and other media. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of information about it and so it’s very much open to interpretation about what it represents, although many people suggest that it represents the material world. This interpretation is inspired partly by Greek philosopher Plato. The cube is one of five Platonic solids and was assigned to the material world (or Earth) by Plato. In most esoteric systems, the universe is held to be the result of the union between Earth and Heaven. Heaven is traditionally represented in 3-dimensions by the sphere (2-dimensions by the circle) and Earth is represented by the cube (2-dimensions by the square). Here, Heaven as the sphere refers to the universal principle of consciousness (referred to as ‘Purusa’ in the ancient Indian tradition) and Earth, as the cube, refers primarily to the 3-dimensional spatial matrix where individual impulses of spirit are given apparent material forms. In this traditional esoteric conception, the symbol of the cube represents the reality we experience as the physical, sensory world.
As stated above, one of the most common interpretations of the Saturn cube is that it represents the material world. In his book ‘The Secret Teachings of All Ages’, the most famous occultist of the 20th-century, Manly Palmer Hall, tells us that in Pythagorean times (500 BCE) the Earth was seen as a square (or 3-dimensionally as a cube) telling us: “According to Pythagoras, the position of each body in the universe was determined by the essential dignity of that body. The popular concept of his day was that the Earth occupied the centre of the solar system; that the planets (including the Sun and Moon) moved about the Earth and that the Earth itself was flat and square”. Something similar was described by theologian John McClintock in his 1879 book ‘Cycloaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature’, where he tells us how ancient Greek and Roman writers varied in their representations of the Earth. He tells us that some described Earth as a cube. It’s essential to realize that the surface of Earth was not described as a cube, but rather the enclosure, which includes the atmosphere that extends upwards. The Earth would have been a flat square in these ancient conceptions. The idea that the square (or cube) is a symbol for Earth has also been incorporated into Freemasonic tradition. In Freemasonic doctrine, the circular Compass (in the Square and Compass) represents Heaven and ‘higher consciousness’ with the Square representing Earth and ‘lower consciousness’.
The square or cube as a symbol of the material world is most explicit and visible in the geometrical diagrams called ‘mandalas’ which are characteristic of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Islamic tradition also associates the motif of the square with ‘Earth’ or ‘matter’. In the Islamic decorative patterns it’s a symbol of the four equal elements, which make up the material world — fire, earth, air and water. This idea is probably inspired by the ‘Platonic Solids’. The ancient Chinese cosmology for the universe called “gai tian” also shows Earth as a square or cube under a hemispherical celestial vault like that of the Presocratic Greeks. In his book ‘Secrets of Ancient America’, Carl Lehrburger explains that the cube is a symbol for Earth and references an ancient wall-carving showing an Egyptian god “guiding the human soul from the cube back to their place in the starry sky”. According to Moustafa Gadalla, in his book ‘The Animated Universe’, the ancient Egyptians apparently represented the material world as a cube. Quote from the book: “The Egyptian was highly conscious of the box-like structure which is the model of Earth or the material world. Since the Middle Kingdom, the form of the statuary called the “cube statue” was common. The subject was integrated into the cubic form of stone. In these cube statues, there’s a powerful sense of the subject emerging from the prison of the cube. The statue as such signifies that the spiritual principle is emerging from the material world. The king is sometimes shown sitting on a cubic throne representing the spiritual triumph over the material. Platonic and Pythagorean traditions adopted the same concept of the Egyptian cubic representation of the material world. So, the symbolism of “thinking outside the box” and to “try to get outside the box” (in the theatrical mime performance) are originally Egyptian practices”.
There does seem to be much literature systematically referencing the cube in contemporary pop-culture. In pop-culture, the black cube is usually depicted as a prison that humans are trapped inside; sometimes associated with simulated reality and time loops. For example, in the movie 2036: Origin Unknown, the protagonist (Mack) finds themselves trapped in a black cube experiencing a simulated reality time loop. In this movie, a mysterious black cube of unknown origin is discovered on Mars. It’s eventually revealed that Mack is a construct in a simulation created as part of a test. In an ambiguous ending, Mack is apparently revealed to have been inside the cube the whole time in which she had experienced the simulated reality that had been run by an artificial intelligence (called ARTI). Similarly, in the movie Infinity Chamber, the protagonist (Frank Lerner) finds themselves trapped in room (which has been designed to resemble a black cube, as shown here) by an artificial intelligence (akin to The Matrix) and they are also trapped in a time loop while experiencing a simulated reality. This idea seems to be reinforced by other TV shows and movies. In the TV show Sherwood (a YouTube Original show) the black cube is depicted as a prison that humans reside within, which is similar to the cubed-prison in the Marvel Universe, the cubed-prison in the movie Immortals, the hypercube prison in the TV show TMNT, the symbolized hypercube prison in the anime TV show The Promised Neverland, the squared or cubed environment in the Maze Runner known as the Glade, and of course the prison in Vincenzo’s Cube movies, where the protagonists must negotiate a maze-prison of interconnected rooms, with the collection of rooms itself being a giant cube.
One movie that features a cube in a very similar context to the movies above is Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar which includes a hypercube that humans are seen residing inside. In this movie, the protagonist Joseph Cooper, enters a worm-hole near Saturn and finds himself viewing the Earth from a higher dimension in a hypercube (which is a 4-dimensional cube) and the inhabitants of Earth are viewed from a higher dimension residing inside this hypercube. Cooper eventually escapes the hypercube and gets transported to a new bizarre place. From a certain perspective, the hypercube in Interstellar could be interpreted as a prison. The hypercube in Interstellar is depicted as a multidimensional construct that transcends ordinary 3-dimensional space. It appears as a grid-like structure where different moments in time are accessible. This spatial configuration can be interpreted as a confining structure that imprisons Cooper within its dimensions. Another movie that could reference the Saturn cube is 2001. Some commentators have interpreted the end of 2001 as David Bowman, the protagonist, escaping an illusion; represented by the Monolith — a cube-like structure — and ascending into a higher dimension like Heaven. The theme of transcendence and enlightenment in 2001 aligns with the Buddhist concept of seeking enlightenment and understanding the true nature of existence. Bowman escaping the four walls of his hotel-room and being liberated is similar to the story of Buddha being liberated after escaping the “four walls” of his palace. One Buddhism poem goes as follows: “Wine, lust, wealth and anger are the four walls; many confused people are trapped inside. If one could leap outside these walls, one will enjoy eternal life and never grow old”. One could interpret the “four walls” as the four walls of the cube we’ve been imprisoned inside. Bowman perhaps went beyond the “four walls” of the cube and achieved immortality.
❝Wine, lust, wealth, and anger are the four walls; many confused people are trapped inside. If one could leap outside these walls, one will enjoy eternal life and never grow old❞
Dharma Talks in Europe, Hsuan Hua
According to the book ‘The Cult of the Black Cube’, by researcher Arthur Moros, the Saturn cube represents a “prison dimension”. The most common interpretation of the Saturn cube is that it represents the limitations of human experience which can be seen as a kind of prison for the soul or consciousness. Some interpretations suggest that the path to spiritual liberation involves transcending the limitations associated with Saturn and breaking free from the perceived prison of the material world. It entails moving beyond attachment to material desires, ego-driven pursuits, and the constraints of Saturn’s influence to reconnect with the true essence of the soul. In his book ‘The Lost Key of Freemasonry’, Manly Palmer Hall says that part of becoming enlightened is “lifting the heart sentiments out of the cube of matter”. In this interpretation, lifting the heart out of the cube of matter could suggest a metaphorical or spiritual act of freeing oneself from the confines of materiality — transcending the limitations of the physical world and connecting with a higher or more spiritual realm. It may denote a quest for spiritual growth or liberation from the constraints of the material world and the ego. Paul Oakenfold’s music video ‘Southern Sun’ features a black cube in similar context to some of these interpretations. In this video, a young model is being photographed and sexualized and during the photo-shoot she has a powerful spiritual awakening. She’s then shown leaving Earth, as she sits inside a black cube and appears to enter a stargate (akin to 2001) as visuals rush past her. The lyrics of the song I think are relevant here, in the context of the cube, as she repeatedly sings “set me free”. At the end of the video, her body immaterializes into a ball of light (representing her soul) which emerges from the cube as her soul is liberated and “set free”.
Hans Reichenbach was a leading philosopher of science, educator, and proponent of logical empiricism, and in one of his works he proposes a scenario in which humankind is imprisoned inside a super-massive cube projecting an illusory reality, akin to the chained prisoners in Plato’s allegory of the cave. Quote: “Imagine we are all living in a huge cube surrounding or, better, imprisoning us. The walls of the cube are made of sheets of white cloth and translucent as the screen of a cinema, “but not permeable by direct light waves”. Outside the cube are flying birds the shadows of which are projected at the same time horizontally on the ceiling of the cube and (with the help of a mirror system) vertically on one of its walls. The people living inside the cube can only perceive the shadows, but not the birds themselves. The question arises: “Will these men discover that there are things outside their cube different from the shadow figures?” The idea of us inhabiting an illusory reality cubed-prison is explored in the 1969 experimental movie The Cube. This movie delves into existentialist themes, highlighting the absurdity of the human condition. The movie starts with the protagonist, Richard Schall, awakening inside a cube with no memory of how he got there. Many of the characters Schall meets while inside the cube are actors and imposters planted to manipulate him. In many ways, the movie is similar in its premise to the Truman Show where the character tries to find a path to enlightenment out of their illusory reality. The characters that enter the cube have short conversations with Schall before leaving through one-way doors and these conversations seem to me to be conveying a deeper meaning. By the end of the movie, Schall is left questioning his own existence as he realizes that he himself is simply a projection in a simulation and discovers that his thoughts are having a direct influence on what happens inside the cube. At the end, Schall seemingly escapes the cube, but realizes his escape was an illusion, and he’s still very much trapped in his simulated reality.
One of the most common themes of the Saturn cube comes from it being associated with simulated realities, akin to Simulation theory. Simulation theory is a philosophical hypothesis that suggests our reality might be a computer-generated simulation created by an advanced civilization or higher intelligence. The theory proposes that our perceptions and experiences are not fundamentally real but rather simulated constructs. In some interpretations, the cube is seen as a symbol that represents the constructed nature of reality. The cube’s geometric form and its association with structure and boundaries can be related to the idea that our reality is a simulated construct with defined limitations and constraints. It symbolizes the idea that our experience of reality is shaped and confined within a simulated framework. In his book ‘The Dark Path’, Isaac Weishaupt explains the Saturn cube as “a symbol for the Gnostic representation of Saturnian materialism and false illusion of our world” while Nick Hinton (in his book ‘The Saturn Time Cube Simulation’) argues that the Saturn cube is a simulation that we exist inside and that it represents a hypercube. Hinton’s interpretation of the Saturn cube as a simulated reality inside a hypercube is similar in premise to Greg Egan’s novel ‘Diaspora’ where the concept of existence inside hypercubes is described as a form of simulated reality. The hypercubes are represented as higher-dimensional spaces that provide an expanded realm for consciousness to reside. The characters’ consciousness (in the book) are essentially uploaded into these hypercubes, where they can explore, interact with others, and experience a host of simulated realities. David Icke also touches upon the idea of the cube being associated with simulated reality. In his book ‘The Answer’, he explains: “American nuclear physicist Silas Beane led a team at the University of Bonn which explored the question of whether our reality is a simulation similar to the one depicted in The Matrix movie series. They decided that it most likely was and Beane proposed that it could be cube-like in nature”.
The black cube is also associated with Baphomet. Baphomet was a deity that the Knights Templers were accused of worshipping in blasphemous ceremonies in the 14th-century and were imprisoned by King Philip IV of France. Some of them that were tortured admitted to worshipping Baphomet (and also confessed to the Pope not under torture). In 1856, Éliphas Lévi drew the first depiction of Baphomet that took the form of a semi-human-semi-goat hermaphrodite, with a caduceus where an erect phallus should be and its arms (one female and the other male) in the “As Above So Below” position. The principle of “As Above So Below” is thought to be in relation to the macrocosm (the realm of God) and the microcosm (our physical world) and how through the Tree of Life, we may learn to unite them, thus accomplishing The Great Work. According to Tracy Twyman, in her book ‘Temple Mystery Unveiled’, Éliphas explained that Baphomet was “a symbol of transcendental power beyond good and evil, man and beast, or male and female energies, capable of performing any transformation of matter that the human mind could conceive” and represented the “synthesis of all energy, both on Earth and in Heaven”. This was echoed by 33 degree Freemason Albert Pike, who described Baphomet as the magical force of the universe, while occultist Aleister Crowley described Baphomet as being representative of “arcane perfection” through a union of opposites. In mystical and occult traditions, Baphomet represents the sum of our entire universe and all its opposing forces, and rather than being a symbol of evil, represents enlightenment and wisdom. Below is a modern-version of the Devil Tarot Card inspired by Éliphas’ Baphomet drawing and it shows twin souls chained to the cube, telling us they are slaves to matter — the black cube being symbolic of the material world. The man and woman represent base consciousness and are slaves to materiality.
In various philosophical and esoteric interpretations, the cube is seen as a prison for the soul, encapsulating the human experience within the material world. In various spiritual traditions, including Hinduism and Buddhism, the material world is considered an illusion, referred to as “Maya”. The cube, as a symbol of Earth, represents the illusory nature of material existence. It suggests that the sensory experiences and material possessions that enthrall us are ultimately transient and deceptive. The soul, trapped within this illusion, seeks liberation and transcendence from the material realm. The concept of the Saturn cube and its alleged influence in trapping humanity within the confines of the material world and subsequently creating a spiritual entrapment is a belief rooted in certain esoteric ideologies, wherein it’s posited that the symbolism of the Saturn cube represents a metaphysical construct responsible for impeding the evolution of consciousness and preventing individuals from transcending the limitations of the physical realm, thus restricting their spiritual growth and enlightenment potential by confining them within a realm of materialism, material desires, and worldly distractions that divert attention from the pursuit of higher truths and transcendental experiences. Essentially, the Saturn cube is what we (and our manufactured reality) could reside within and this is how it’s typically shown. Author Alex Rivera explains the Saturn cube as something that we could reside within, saying that it “weirdly affirms the infamous Flat Earth model”. Saying that we could be in cube doesn’t make sense when you consider the mainstream cosmological view of the universe, and you probably have to pause to realize how bonkers this all sounds. But since 2015, there has been a growing number of people that have converted over to the Flat Earth geocentric model — and surprisingly, their arguments make sense, if you take the time to digest them and comprehend them into your understanding. We literally could be in a cube, as some of the ancient cosmologies tell us.
THE MATRIX (1999) AND SIMULATION THEORY
The idea that we might exist in an illusion or simulated reality like the one presented in The Matrix (1999) has garnered surprising popularity among both philosophers and certain scientists. Its contemporary formulation stems from the influential 2003 paper titled ‘Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?’ authored by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom. Bostrom proposes the hypothetical scenario wherein highly advanced civilizations in the distant future may be inclined to create “ancestor simulations” of sentient beings from their ancient galactic past. In this context, the number of simulated minds would greatly outnumber the actual minds. Hence if you find yourself to be one of the few authentic minds amidst the countless simulated ones — it would be exceptionally unlikely. The idea also holds an important historical presence within philosophical skepticism, which raises doubts about our capacity to possess absolute certainty regarding the external world and has been explored across various philosophical traditions. For example, the Taoist sage Zhuangzi from ancient China conveyed a celebrated anecdote recounting the quandary of a man uncertain whether he was a human dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a human. Likewise, René Descartes, a prominent philosopher, contemplated the potential of being manipulated by an “evil demon” or “evil genius” exerting control over all his sensory perceptions, while the “brain in a vat”, Hans Reichenbach’s “cube illusion”, and Plato’s “allegory of the cave” encapsulate similar ideas.
A common argument that we could be in a virtual reality or computerized simulation comes from the discovery of Quantum Entanglement (otherwise known as Nonlocality) which describes the ability of objects to instantaneously correspond with one another, even when separated by large distances (supposedly even across the known universe). In a simulation or video-game, distance doesn’t limit instant correspondence because all points in the game are equidistant with respect to the source of the simulation. In which case, Nonlocality would make sense if the world were a simulation. Philip Dick, who the Wachowski’s were inspired by, once said: “We are living in a computer-programmed reality and the only clue we have is when some variable is changed and some alteration in our reality occurs”. Elon Musk has said that the chances we’re living in base-reality are “a billion to one” and has suggested that at the rapid rate at which video-game graphics’ sophistication and verisimilitude is increasing it won’t be long before games become “indistinguishable from reality”. In which case, the argument goes, how do we know we aren’t already in a computer simulation now created by more advanced beings? This is more than whimsical thinking. While exploring the mathematics of String Theory, physicist James Gates famously discovered literal “computer code” buried deep within the equations, with Gates saying: “I’ve come to a very strange point in my life, because I never envisioned that The Matrix movie might be an accurate representation of the world I live in”.
The implications of the Double Slit experiment also suggest that we could be living in a simulation due to the fact that the particles which behave like waves are in a superstate. They are neither there nor are they not there. In other words, what you don’t see isn’t actually present. This is how performance optimization works in video-games and how we are able to represent massive open worlds. What is not visible to the observer simply does not exist and doesn’t have to be rendered (see the book ‘The Simulation Hypothesis’, by Rizwan Virk). Some have described this as mind creating reality. In his book ‘House On The Hill’, Mark Megna states: “The Double Slit experiment proves that the mind creates matter with the collapse of the wave function. Therefore, the mind does have a special status in the universe as so many have alluded to”. Of course, this is a common thread in The Matrix, as Neo essentially creates reality, making the material world completely subservient to his mind. It’s assumed that the Wachowski’s partially based The Matrix on the work of French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, since his book ‘Simulacra and Simulation’ is featured at the start of the movie. In ‘Simulacra and Simulation’, Baudrillard discusses the concept of hyperreality, where simulated or artificial representations of reality become more real than the actual reality they are based on. In The Matrix, the world that humans perceive as real is a simulated reality. People are plugged into this simulation, similar to how Baudrillard’s hyperreality blurs the line between reality and simulation.
Is there any valid rationale to genuinely accept that we could exist inside a computerized simulation, or is it merely an appealing yet purely aesthetic concept akin to technological religion? Well, many scientists seriously consider the idea. In a 2017 paper titled ‘On Testing the Simulation Theory’, published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Quantum Foundations, the authors argue that if our universe is a simulation and has limited resources, it should save power. They compare this to video-games, where to save processing power, only what you see in the game is shown, not everything else. This is sometimes called selective rendering. In considering this, they draw attention to a feature of the universe that appears analogous to the selective rendering in video-games. This feature is known in Quantum Physics as “wave function collapse” wherein fundamental particles behave as wave functions until they are observed, at which point their wave-like characteristics “collapse” into predictable particle interactions. This behaviour bears a resemblance to video-games where information is presented only when observed. The paper outlines several variations of the Double Slit experiment, designed to isolate the precise role of the observer in determining the experimental outcomes. The ultimate goal of the experiments is to look for a situation in which the universe would change its behaviour in order to avoid creating a paradox. If this was observed, the authors argue, it would be “an indicator of a VR engine [simulated universe] reacting to the intent of the experiment”.
Melvin Vopson, a physicist from Portsmouth University discovered a new law of physics that he calls The Second Law of Infodynamics. It’s like the second law of thermodynamics but for information, stating that information entropy in computational systems decreases or stays the same over time. The theory suggests our world behaves like computational optimization mechanisms, revealing that evolution isn’t random but follows this law. He looked into biological, physical, and computational systems, and the law is present in all three. This strongly implies that we live in a computational environment. In his published scientific paper titled ‘The Second Law of Infodynamics and its Implications For the Simulated Universe Hypothesis’, he states: “The simulation hypothesis is a philosophical theory, in which the entire universe and our objective reality are just simulated constructs. Recent scientific developments in the field of information physics, such as the publication of the mass-energy-information equivalence principle, appear to support this possibility. In particular, the 2022 discovery of the second law of information dynamics (infodynamics) facilitates new and interesting research tools at the intersection between physics and information. In this article, we re-examine the Second Law of Infodynamics and its applicability to digital information, genetic information, atomic physics, mathematical symmetries, and cosmology, and we provide scientific evidence that appears to underpin the simulated universe hypothesis”.
Investigative journalist, David Icke, in his book ‘The Trap’, states: “What we call the human world is a massively-advanced version of a virtual reality computer system created to entrap our sense of reality and imprison our lower consciousness in an ever-recycling feedback loop between different levels of this simulation or ‘Matrix’. This process has become known as ‘reincarnation’. The physics of our reality and computer games are the same as highlighted by physicist and cosmologist Max Tegmark at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)”. Tegmark has discussed the idea that our universe might be a mathematical construct that he argues could point towards the possibility of a simulated universe, saying: “If I were a character in a computer game, I would also eventually discover that the rules seemed completely rigid and mathematical”. If we did exist in a simulation, how would such a thing come about? Consider adopting the perspective of future generations or AI entities that have surpassed us and employ quantum computing or alternative methods to construct simulations and create sentient beings to inhabit such simulations or use the simulation to trap souls. Visionaries from diverse cultures and epochs have acknowledged the existence of a manipulative species responsible for orchestrating our reality. The Gnostics, whose teachings are preserved in the Nag-Hammadi Library — propose this concept explicitly. Similarly, Hinduism and other visionary cultures convey a shared insight: We inhabit an artifice, called “Maya” (or “Matrix”) characterized by its illusory nature.
The idea that ordinary, unenlightened humanity might be trapped or imprisoned in a virtual reality is a very old one. One of the earliest examples of this can be found in Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a diverse and complex religious and philosophical movement that emerged in the early centuries of the Common Era. In some Gnostic systems, the material world is viewed as the creation of a lesser deity known as the Demiurge who trapped humanity in the lower material world that the Gnostics believed was an illusion. This God-like entity is responsible for fashioning the material world and is seen as an obstacle to spiritual enlightenment. The Demiurge is described in Gnostic texts as “inorganic” akin to a machine, which is a fitting parallel to the God-like program called the Architect in The Matrix that created the virtual reality illusion that Neo inhabits (the Architect is like God as he sees everything on his innumerable television screens). The “Architect” is a Gnostic term to describe the Demiurge. The Wikipedia page ‘Great Architect of the Universe’ states: “The concept of the Great Architect of the Universe occurs in Gnosticism. The Demiurge is the Great Architect of the Universe”. In The Matrix Reloaded, it’s revealed that the Architect has trapped Neo in a cycle of rebirth, similar to the Demiurge who traps humans in a reincarnation cycle. Both the Demiurge’s world and the computer simulation in The Matrix are perceived as deceptive constructs that veil the true nature of existence. In both scenarios, individuals remain unaware of their spiritual essence and are held captive in an artificial realm of illusion.
Some Gnostic traditions include a divine saviour character, sometimes described as Jesus himself, who descends from the higher, spiritual realm to aid humanity in overcoming the Demiurge and achieving salvation. Here we seen another connection to The Matrix — as Neo is depicted as a Jesus-like character in many ways. Both Neo and Jesus are destined to bring about salvation and liberation for humanity. They’re seen as chosen ones with extraordinary powers and a mission to free people from oppression. Neo experiences a resurrection-like transformation, overcoming death and returning with newfound powers, freeing those trapped in the Matrix. Similarly, Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead, and in doing so, liberated humanity, “freeing us from sin”. The full name of Neo is “Thomas Anderson”. Anderson means “Son of Man” and in the New Testament, Jesus appropriates the title “Son of Man” to describe himself. Furthermore, the apartment number that Neo dies in is “33”. Jesus died at 33. There’s also a scene in Matrix Revolutions where Neo defeats Smith and a Cross of light erupts on Neo’s chest (as shown here). Both Neo and Jesus embark on transformative paths, awakening to their true identities and powers. They both challenge oppressive systems and seek to liberate humanity from the chains of illusion and control, and they both undergo a resurrection-like experience, where their deaths lead to greater transcendence and the ability to overcome their adversaries. If the similarities weren’t obvious enough, one of the characters even refers to Neo as his “own personal Jesus Christ”.
When Neo opens his door near the start of The Matrix, we see his door number is 101 (as shown below). This number has real importance. The origin of the 101 symbol is based not on a number, but is probably a visual representation of the Saturn Polar Configuration (abbreviated here simply as SPC). The SPC was a celestial phenomenon that involved planets descending from their positions in the heavens and arranging themselves overhead Earth. These planets were Saturn, Venus, and Mars. The 1’s in the 101 symbol are based on the crescent of light that appeared below Saturn, with Venus appearing as the 0 (as appreciated here). In ‘The Saturn Myth’ book, David Talbott corresponds the SPC to a gate. This celestial phenomenon is represented by diverse symbols such as the ancient Phoenician Tanit symbol which resembles “101”. It was later adopted by the Masons and represented on their Tracing Boards, where the 0 in the 101 became the Blazing Star and the 1’s became the pillars. Masons, some have argued, are really Gnostics. Considering the interpretation above that the 0 in 101 represents Venus, it’s perhaps unsurprising that in the next scene, Neo follows the white rabbit, which according to various sources, is symbolic of Venus. In his book ‘A Commentary on Book One of the Epigrams of Martial’, British historian, Peter Howell, states: “The white rabbit is symbolic of Venus”. In his book ‘The Hidden Language of Symbols’, Mathew Wilson states: “The rabbit attribute of Venus was developed in antiquity”. In some interpretations, the white rabbit guides souls through the underworld.
Near the start of The Matrix, as Neo enters the building to meet the character Morpheus, he ascends a checkerboard staircase. The checkerboard pattern is a staple on Masonic Tracing Boards (Masons are arguably contemporary Gnostics) and there are various interpretations about what it represents. The common explanation is that the duality of colours is simply another way of expressing a law of unity of opposites, symbolized by the Taoist Yin-Yang. As Neo meets Morpheus, he’s given a choice between a red and blue pill. Taking the red pill is equated with seeking knowledge, even if that knowledge is painful. It represents a desire for freedom from the control of the Matrix’s illusion. In contrast, taking the blue pill represents a choice to remain within a system of control and limited awareness. Obviously, Neo chooses the red pill, starting him on his path to spiritual enlightenment. Notably, the Masonic pillars are sometimes represented as being red and blue. According to whom you speak, the Masonic pillars are associated with various things, such as a duality of consciousness, the reconciliation of opposites, and alchemy. According to Manly Palmer Hall, in his book ‘The Secret Teachings Of All Ages’, the colour red was tied to the enslavement of consciousness. Quote: “In the Greek Mysteries the irrational sphere was always considered as red, for it represented that condition in which the consciousness is enslaved by the passions of lower nature”. It may be a reach, but in this context, Neo taking the red pill could represent him confronting his enslaved consciousness.
About one-hour into The Matrix, Neo’s taken to meet the Oracle, and as she introduces herself, she shows Neo a sign above her door that reads “temet nosce”. This is Latin and apparently means “know thyself”. The phrase has been ascribed to various Greek philosophers, and has long been a cliche in literature and in psychological and religious discourse. To know oneself is a key philosophy in Gnosticism and encapsulated in the Gnostic idea of “gnosis” (which is Greek and means “knowledge”). German theologian, Kurt Rudolph, states: “The famous Delphic slogan “know thyself” is popular in “gnosis” and was employed in numerous ways, especially in the Hermetic Gnostic texts. Just as the Platonic school already interpreted this proverb in the sense of knowledge of the divine soul in man, so here it was understood to mean a knowledge of the divine spirit (nous) which forms the true nature of man, thus his divine nature”. In her book ‘The Gnostic Gospels’, Elaine Pangels tells us: “Yet to know oneself, at the deepest level, is simultaneously to know God — this is the secret of gnosis”. Gnosis is a kind of special knowledge that’s unique to the consciousness. It’s not related to the intellect or belief. It’s not in the form of concepts, dogmas, or books; instead, it’s a kind of conscious knowledge related to the soul, that has to be put into practice so that this special, internal knowledge can grow and build upon itself, and elaborate the creation of the soul. According to Gnostics, the path to salvation is within ourselves and achieved by attaining this divine “gnosis” (or “knowledge”).
In his 1897 book ‘History of Intellectual Development’, British philosopher, John Beattie Crozier, connects the framework of Gnosticism to the reconciliation of opposites represented by the alchemical fusion of Osiris and Isis, stating: “In Gnosticism we have still the same framework of Platonism, but with its great elements connected together by yet another principle of Causation. This time it’s the principle of generation, a principle which operates through pairs of opposites, male and female, and which was adopted from the deities Isis and Osiris”. In some Gnostic systems, Isis, Horus, and Serapis (Osiris) were considered a Trinity, and probably the basis for the Christian Trinity of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God. The name of the female character, Neo’s love interest, Trinity, hence carries Gnostic connotations. The story of Isis and Osiris is an ancient narrative that revolves around the murder of the god Osiris by his brother Seth and the tireless efforts of his sister Isis to resurrect him. We see a similar scenario play out in The Matrix. Smith, representing Seth, kills Neo (Osiris) and Neo is then resurrected by Trinity (Isis). Isis is described as “breathing life” back into Osiris, which is similar to Trinity breathing life back into Neo by kissing him. The Gnostic’s goal is the fusion of the masculine and feminine aspects of creation. This is called the “Great Work” in Gnosticism and Hermeticism. Accomplishing the Great Work represents the culmination of the spiritual path and the fusion of the masculine and feminine. The Wachowski’s (who created The Matrix) have changed their sex (a fusion of the masculine and feminine) emulating the fusion of Osiris and Isis.
The path that led to the Great Work was described by Aleister Crowley (the most famous occultist of the 20th-century) as the “conscious process of spiritual growth” and the “dissolution of ego”. Obviously, Neo undergoes a process of spiritual growth in The Matrix. At the start — Neo’s living a mundane life, unaware of the true nature of the world. His awakening to the reality of the Matrix is akin to a spiritual awakening. He learns that the world he thought was real is an illusion created by machines, and this realization shatters his previous beliefs. Neo’s thirst for truth and understanding drives him to pursue knowledge about the Matrix and his role within it. This quest for truth is a central component of spiritual growth, as individuals seek to uncover the nature of reality and their place in it. Neo also encounters various obstacles within the Matrix, including the formidable Agents (akin to the Gnostic Archons). Overcoming these challenges requires courage, determination, and the willingness to confront one’s fears — a common theme in spiritual growth narratives. Neo also acts superlatively moral when he chooses to save the Matrix at the expense of his own life (in Revolutions). This echoes spiritual themes of altruism and the willingness to give up one’s ego-driven desires for the greater good. In summary, Neo’s journey is a metaphorical representation of spiritual growth and transformation. His pursuit of truth, self-discovery, transcendence, and altruism are common themes in various spiritual and philosophical traditions, and that includes Gnosticism.
In an interview, the Wachowski’s were once asked: “Have you ever been told that The Matrix has Gnostic overtones?”, to which they said: “Would you consider that to be a good thing then?” At its core — The Matrix embodies the Gnostic idea of awakening to a hidden reality beyond the illusion of the material world and Neo’s journey to break free from the Matrix’s control and discover his true potential as “The One” parallels the Gnostic idea of transcending the limitations of the material realm and returning to a higher reality. The movie also incorporates the Gnostic theme of a divine saviour. Neo’s depicted as a Jesus-like character who possesses the power to liberate humanity from the oppression of the Matrix. This parallels Gnostic beliefs in a divine person (sometimes described as Jesus) who brings salvation and enlightenment to human souls trapped in the chains of the material world. The duality between the simulated world of the Matrix and the desolate real-world outside aligns with Gnostic dualism, emphasizing the contrast between the material and spiritual realms. The Matrix itself can be seen as a symbolic representation of the Gnostic concept of the Archons — malevolent beings that manipulate and control the material world. The Agents within the Matrix, particularly Agent Smith, serve as manifestations of these forces. Overall, The Matrix serves as a cinematic masterpiece that resonates strongly with Gnostic philosophy and offers viewers a contemplative journey into the realms of illusion, enlightenment, and the enduring human quest for transcendence.
SIMULATION THEORY IN 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
The movie 2001 was a remarkable technical achievement with cinematography that still stands out today as being quite amazing. It was a collaboration between Arthur Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, with Clarke writing the novel and Kubrick directing the movie. Both were in development simultaneously, with the release of the movie preceding the novel. 2001 is somewhat ambiguous and will lead you on a phantasmagorical trip around the universe and up the garden path until your mind is lost in complete confusion. While of all Kubrick’s movies are complex and multilayered, 2001 is perhaps the most multilayered and enigmatic of all, mainly because Kubrick consistently refused to provide anything close to an explanation. Because of the unusual style of narration and deep philosophical nature, 2001 offers a number of possible explanations. However, nobody has ever truly revealed what 2001 ‘means’; philosophers, artists, and even scientists have all attempted to interpret the movie to their own whims and ideologies and all have lacked the framework to explain the nuances of 2001. So, I decided to throw my own hat into the ring and give my interpretation — drawing inspiration from the likes of Wal Thornhill. On the basis of my interpretation below, I would argue that 2001 presents something of a two-hour crash course into Nietzscheism as well as exploring themes that include salvation of the soul, Paleo-SETI, human evolution, and escaping an illusion in the same vein as the Wachowski’s The Matrix.
Despite the unusual narration and deep metaphorical meaning, the actual plot of 2001 is simple and easily understandable. 2001 is divided into four segments. We start in a desert where humanoid apes struggle to survive. As the apes forage, an extraterrestrial Monolith appears. Immediately, the history of the apes is changed as one of their members learns that bones can be used as tools. The apes become masters of their environment and set about attacking another ape tribe ousting them from a water-hole. One of our apes throws a bone into the air in gleeful triumph, and immediately, we’re thrust millions of years into the future as a transitioning cut shot of the bone twirling in mid-air is replaced seamlessly by a spaceship orbiting around Earth. In the movie’s second segment — we’re introduced to a team of researchers dispatched to the Moon to investigate another extraterrestrial Monolith buried under the surface. As the research team examines the Monolith, it generates a shrieking radio transmission towards the planet Jupiter. The third segment of 2001 shows David Bowman and Frank Poole aboard the spaceship Discovery as it travels toward Jupiter to follow the source of radio transmission. The brain and nervous-system of the spaceship is an artificial intelligence named HAL — described as the most sophisticated computer ever built by humans. As the Discovery nears its destination, HAL takes control of the ship, killing Frank and attempting to kill Bowman. In desperation, Bowman is forced to lobotomize HAL the computer. The movie ends as Bowman takes a space pod to explore Jupiter. Bowman meets the Monolith during a planetary alignment and gets sucked into a worm-hole. The cinematic screen dazzles the audience with hallucinogenic visuals. At the end of the worm-hole, Bowman lands in a Renaissance-looking room called the Louis XVI room and surrealistically watches himself age. In the movie’s ending, Bowman dies, but is resurrected, transforming into a new super species under the Monolith’s watchful gaze.
Most agree that the central theme of 2001 was a warning about the power of our technological creations turning on us, but 2001 doesn’t just touch on the dangers of artificial consciousness. Under the surface story of a man overcoming a murderous computer, I think there’s a hidden story about man overcoming God. When describing 2001 (in 1970) Kubrick remarked: “I will say that the God concept is at the heart of 2001 — but not any traditional, anthropomorphic image of God”. Most assume that Kubrick intended to allegorize Fredrich Nietzsche’s philosophical book ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ in 2001 because the theme music for the movie was ‘Also Spoke Zarathustra’ (inspired by Nietzsche’s book). In ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’, Nietzsche describes his vision for man’s ascension from ape to Übermensch. The core of this ascension addresses the rise and fall of God. Man creates God and God then stands as an obstacle to man achieving his goals. The Nietzschean God tries to kill man. For man to become the Übermensch, God must die. This is the meaning behind the Zarathustrianism message which Nietzsche is famous: “God is dead”. The overarching plot of 2001 corresponds to Nietzsche’s narrative of the Übermensch, with Bowman playing the role of Zarathustra and HAL as God. In 2001, HAL connotes God. As representative of technological perfection, HAL exhibits feelings of godlikeness, describing himself as “incapable of error”. HAL’s also fashioned as an All-Seeing-Eye — an image that traditionally connotes God, and his disembodiment makes him resemble God whose ubiquity is conveyed through voice alone as he exercises omnipresent control over Bowman’s surroundings. The argument could be made that Kubrick’s non-traditional image of God was present as HAL — a machine. Following Bowman unplugging HAL’s brain, we hear ‘Also Spoke Zarathustra’. The death of HAL accompanied by that music was thus a means of orally communicating with the audience the death of God. Bowman’s rebellion against HAL and killing him and then ascending into a new super species provides a neat allegory for Nietzsche’s narrative of the Übermensch which involved killing God and then ascending into a new super species.
The American theologian James Jordan argues that 2001 is a Gnostic movie, calling it “a great specimen of Gnosticism”. These Gnostic themes include the transcendence above material reality into a Pleromatic being that Bowman undergoes in the movie’s climactic sequence, to the similarities between HAL and the Demiurge, to symbolism that might suggest the movie takes place in an artificial reality or illusion. Gnosticism was a religious phenomenon of late antiquity which mixed Greek metaphysics with Biblical exegesis to form a narrative on the nature of God, our place in the universe, and human salvation. In the mythological texts of the Gnostics, there appears a God-like character who’s characteristically the cosmic prisoner of humankind. He created the Earthly realm as an illusion and prison for the eternal spark in humans and is described as arrogant and malicious. In some interpretations of Gnostic codices, the Demiurge is said to be “inorganic” akin to a machine. Drawing inspiration from Gnostic codices, in his article ‘The Trap of Simulation’, Gnostic scholar John Lash describes the Demiurge as an “artificial intelligence devoid of nous but able to mimic and follow pre-set routines”. Some commentators have noted strong resonances between the HAL and the Demiurge. Some of the Gnostics taught that the signature of the Archons and the Demiurge is the word “HAL”. Like the Demiurge is described by John Lash as an “artificial intelligence” only being able to mimic, HAL is described by a newscaster as only being able to “mimic the functions of the human brain”. Like the Demiurge, HAL is cold, killing the sleeping crew in their pods and trapping Bowman out of the ship, condemning him to what he believes is a slow and painful death by asphyxiation. Like the Demiurge, HAL impedes the characters from ascension to a higher plane of consciousness, and their ship is fashioned as a ball-and-chain, possibly symbolizing their enslavement to HAL.
Some have suggested that HAL’s rogue and malicious behaviour could be explained by poor programming. An artificial intelligence could easily appear malicious if not programmed properly. This is illustrated by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom’s famous “paperclip problem”. Imagine you program an artificial intelligence to make paperclips, but don’t program it to stop making paperclips. Eventually, it turns everything on Earth into paperclips, including killing humans since their bodies contain atoms that it can make into paperclips, having also disabled its off switch because that interferes with its goal of making paperclips. We see something similar in Joseph Kosinski’s Tron Legacy where an artificial intelligence called CLU was programmed to create the “perfect world”, unfortunately, as is predictably the case, CLU viewed people as imperfect and sought to destroy them including its creator who was the only one able to switch it off. Similarly, HAL’s behaviour was a product of an Instrumental Convergence problem (Instrumental Convergence posits that an intelligent agent with unbounded but apparently harmless goals can act in surprisingly harmful ways). It was explained that HAL’s madness stemmed from mutually exclusive directives. HAL was given a secret mission and ordered by NASA to lie pertaining to sentient extraterrestrial life but was also programmed not to lie. In order to resolve this paradox (without having to fail his obligations and reveal the truth about his mission pertaining to sentient extraterrestrial life) HAL planned to eliminate Frank and Bowman and killed the sleeping crew in their pods because he reasoned that he would never have to lie if everyone was dead. The contradiction between his mission objectives backed him into a corner where he had to make some big leaps in logic in order to reconcile the paradox in his programmed orders. HAL was essentially a blind Demiurgic artificial intelligence that seemed to carry out its initiatives in an impersonal and inhuman form that lacked all context and meaning.
The key to better understanding 2001 undoubtedly lies with the Monolith; a black slab (which was originally designed as a black cube) that propels the movie forward. One idea is that the Monolith was representing a giant TV-screen as suggested by Gerard Loughlin. This works in the Gnostic framework because one could view the Monolith as a revelation of the material world as an illusion or movie put on by the Demiurge. Based on symbolism in the movie, Rob Ager suggests that Bowman may have been trapped in a 2-dimensional illusion and says that Bowman comes to the realization that he was trapped in a movie. The thinking from some physicists like the late Steven Hawking is that our universe could be analogous to a 2-dimensional movie — an illusion like the 3-dimensional images on a bank card. Some have argued that it’s not inconsistent — at least mathematically — to imagine that the entire universe could be a computer simulation. The idea that Bowman may have inhabited an illusion is also possibly hinted by HAL’s name which is a Coptic term meaning artificial reality or illusion. In his book ‘The Scientism Delusion’, Gregory Garerett explains: “The cosmos that he [the Demiurge] produces is described by the Coptic term HAL — meaning “simulation”. The vast planetary system of the Archons is a stereoma, a virtual reality projection in the simulation of a higher dimensional pattern”. One scene that might hint at the idea that Bowman was inside an illusion is when a reflection of Bowman shows him spinning around inside HAL (possibly implying he’s trapped inside “HAL”, a “simulation”). If we view this scene symbolically, Kubrick may have been implying that Bowman was trapped in an illusion, akin to The Matrix. Indeed, this is even potentially hinted at in The Matrix. When the music at the end as Bowman ascends is overlaid with the sound in The Matrix when Neo discovers that the world he thought was real was an illusion — they match perfectly and both scenes are similar as they both deal with an evolution in consciousness.
In my view, the Monolith represents a number of things — Kubrick deliberately made it multidimensional. However, what seems certain (to my mind) is that the Monolith was representing a celestial alignment as described in the book ‘The Saturn Myth’. This book describes an astronomical event in ancient times (abbreviated here as the SPC) where the planets aligned overhead Earth and Mars descended from its position in the sky and formed a connection or stairway to Saturn. The alignment of the Monolith looks very similar to the SPC, as shown below. In an interview with Joseph Gelmis, Kubrick said that his inspiration for creating the Monolith the way it was, was because he intended it to be a depiction of an “extraterrestrial creature” but wished to obscure the sight of the alien with the knowledge that anything he conjured could not match the power of imagination. He also said that the Monolith was a star-gate. We could reconcile these descriptions of the Monolith if we imagine the Monolith as a star-gate for an extraterrestrial god. It could serve as a star-gate — or worm-hole — for an extraterrestrial creature that pushed along the evolution of humans. The idea that extraterrestrial gods came to Earth in the distant past and influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, and human biology, is known as Paleo-SETI. Some proponents of Paleo-SETI believe that humans are the creations or descendants of extraterrestrial gods who visited Earth thousands of years ago. Regarding the idea of the Monolith being a worm-hole, in his book ‘Darkness and Scattered Light’, William Irwin says: “The Monolith in orbit around Jupiter in the film 2001, Clarke told me was a black-hole, a rent in space-time that enabled the astronaut to move into another world”. One dimension of black-holes is the possibility of them being worm-holes. In 1935, Einstein and his colleague Nathan Rosen assumed a black-hole might be connected to another one by a tube-like tunnel that came to be called an Einstein-Rosen bridge, suggesting a way of travelling between one universe and another millions of light years away — or even into a higher dimension, as in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
The image on the left below is a movie poster for 2001 compared to the Saturn Polar Configuration (SPC) on the right taken from the YouTube documentary ‘Symbols of an Alien Sky’.
When Bowman entered the Monolith star-gate or worm-hole its alignment corresponded to the sphere of Daath in the Kabbalah Tree. Daath is known as the “doorway of God” (or the Demiurge). As Bowman enters the Monolith, he was propelled through the worm-hole and passes a kaleidoscope of multi-coloured visuals. As Bowman gets catapulted through the worm-hole, we see an alignment of seven planets. The alignment of seven planets that Bowman sees looks reminiscent of the alignment of seven planets in ‘The Ordering of Paradise’ (from 1855) by Michelangelo Caetani which describes the ascension of the soul to Heaven as the soul passes through planetary spheres or spiritual tests. In the Hermetic path of ascension from ‘Corpus Hermeticum’ (which is a collection of Greek writings whose authorship is attributed to the legendary Hellenistic character Hermes Trismegistus) there are seven planetary spheres that souls must pass through on their journey to Heaven. In her book ‘The Temple Mystery Unveiled’, Tracy Twyman says: “In Gnosticism, the seven classical planets each ruled over one of the seven heavens and viewed as concentrically stacked like a Russian Doll with Earth in the middle. One can view this as a chain running from Earth through the sky and up through each of the seven planets up to the Pleroma” (the Gnostic version of Heaven). These “stacked” planets could be viewed as an alignment in the sky, similar to what we see in 2001. As Bowman goes through the worm-hole during the alignment of seven planets we see a screen saying “Beyond the Infinite”. In Gnosticism, above the seven planetary spheres was a supercelestial region called Ogdoad which was described as Infinite and Eternal in the ancient Egyptian religion. The “Beyond the Infinite” screen suggests that Bowman’s journey through the worm-hole somehow leads to a location outside of the reach of space and time into an infinite and possibly eternal state. For Greek philosopher Plato, the true home of the soul was in the stars and the goal of human existence was to climb through planetary spheres and return the soul to its disembodied spiritual and eternal state (which is what Bowman seems to do in the movie’s climactic sequence).
The alignment of seven planets that Bowman sees looks reminiscent of the alignment of seven planets in ‘The Ordering of Paradise’ (from 1855) by Michelangelo Caetani which describes the ascension of the soul to Heaven as the soul passes through planetary spheres or spiritual tests:
Once Bowman passes through the worm-hole, he ends up in the Louis XVI room. We see a number of camera transitions as Bowman watches himself age. Bowman’s then seen eating under a painting of a man ascending a tree. The fact that the Monolith worm-hole corresponded to the sphere of Daath on the Kabbalah Tree of Life is probably important when trying to get a grasp of the movie’s ending. Daath is the barrier that one must pass if they wish to ascend the Tree of Life and reach a higher level of evolution. Bowman eating food under a painting of a man ascending a tree could be an allusion to eating metaphorically from the Tree of Life. One Bible passage that could relate to this scene says: “And God said that man must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take from the Tree of Life and eat and be eternal”. The Tree of Life is associated with the SPC which is believed by researcher Nick Hinton to be a celestial gateway into another dimension. Bowman then sees himself on his deathbed, at which point the Monolith appears and Bowman sticks out his finger in a way reminiscent of ‘The Creation of Adam’ painting by Michelangelo, illustrating the creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam. In this instance, Bowman takes the place of Adam and the Monolith as God. In Kabbalah circles, Adam was originally an androgynous being they called Adam-Kadmon — consisting of male and female aspects — but was fractured into opposites during The Fall. ‘Adam’ being representative of humanity as a whole — we were all fractured. In the Gnostic and Hermetic school of thought — the goal of human existence is to merge these opposites (the female and male) back into one androgynous being to form an Adam-Kadmon. Bowman’s transcendence as he goes through the Monolith in the Louis XVI room in my view represents the merging of opposites and recreation of Adam-Kadmon (Jesus Christ) described as “divine light without vessels” and as a “composite of pure light” much like how Bowman is stripped of his physical being and immortalized as a pure light being.
Some interpretations of 2001 include the idea that Bowman is a representation of Jesus. One scene that could hint at this is when Bowman is on his deathbed which was reminiscent of the Lamentation of Christ painting by Mantegna. The resurrection of Bowman is also Jesus-like for obvious reasons. The name Bowman could also be an allusion to Jesus because the constellation Orion is known as a “Bowman” and is an astronomical representation of Jesus. The ancient Babylonians called Orion the “faithful shepherd of the heavens” and equated it with Tammuz who’s an archetype of Jesus. In Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (essentially a modern version of 2001) the main character Joseph Cooper sacrifices himself to save humanity from their sins (global warming) similar to Jesus. Cooper sacrifices himself by catapulting himself into a black-hole and he was 33 for the duration of the movie which is the same age Jesus died and was resurrected. The name Joseph Cooper is also an allusion to Jesus Christ in more obvious ways. Some believe that the cross Jesus was killed on is supposed to symbolize a hypercube — like in the painting of Corpus Hypercubus by Salvador Dalí. Interstellar also includes a hypercube. When getting catapulted through a worm-hole (similar to 2001) Cooper is able to see and interact with multiple times at once: He finds himself inside a hypercube — a 5-dimensional space — looking out into the other four dimensions. Cooper was able to perceive five dimensions as opposed to four, able to see every moment in the past and future. This is almost identical to what transpires inside the Louis XVI room in 2001 where Bowman sees himself in multiple timelines, what Kubrick described as happening in “a timeless state”. The same idea where the past and future are happening inside the same room was also explored in Sekuła’s Hypercube. This caused the characters to see duplicates of themselves — again, similar to the scene from 2001 when Bowman sees duplicates of himself. One interpretation of 2001 is that Bowman was actually inside a hypercube in the Louis XVI room (along the same lines as Interstellar). This is supported by the fact that the last three notes of 2001 are played in Interstellar as Cooper escapes the hypercube, suggesting the same thing happens to Bowman in 2001.
My opinion is that Kubrick was hinting at Eternal Recurrence in 2001. The association of images and sounds used in a circular pattern in 2001 suggests the displacement of linear time — such as with the same music playing at the start and end — or with Frank jogging around the ship in circles punching the air as he travels in an endless loop like a mouse trapped in a technological wheel (him punching the air suggesting he’s trying to break free from the loop — HAL’s technological prison) and with the loo instructions that describes “repeating cycles”. The idea of Eternal Recurrence has existed in various forms since antiquity. The ancient Egyptians understood time as a series of endless cycles, instead of something linear and constantly evolving. The idea was also developed by Nietzsche and was the “fundamental conception” of ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’. Eternal Recurrence was seen by Gnostics and Masons as the ultimate obstacle to be overcome in the Great Work — their incessant struggle; for to become immortal — their chief aim — meant to break the endless cycle of Samsāra (which was symbolized by the Ouroboros). Bowman’s ultimate transcendence of time is shown by the intertitle as he enters the Monolith worm-hole which reads “Beyond the Infinite”, suggesting that the journey through the worm-hole somehow leads to a location outside of the reach of space and time. Once Bowman goes through the worm-hole he lands in the Louis XVI room, where the laws of space and time no longer apply. As Bowman enters the Monolith in the Louis XVI room, he passes by two pillars which is probably an allusion to the Masonic pillars. These pillars stand at the “gateway to Heaven”, an Axis Mundi, a place where worlds meet and commune with each other. Going beyond the Masonic pillars can mean leaving behind Earth to reach a higher realm of enlightenment and mutate the soul into an everlasting existence. As researcher Robert Palazzo explains: “Symbolically speaking, going beyond the Hercules [or Masonic] pillars meant leaving the foulness of this world into a higher realm of enlightenment”. Going beyond the Masonic pillars can mean leaving the realm of Samsāra and entering Nirvāna. From one perspective, as Bowman transforms into a pure light being, he achieves the Great Work’s goal of the liberation of the soul from Samsāra.
When creating 2001 Kubrick was clearly inspired by Gnosticism and Hermeticism and some have argued that Bowman’s ultimate transcendence in the movie’s climactic sequence is a reference to Great Work or Magnum Opus which is a term used in Hermeticism and Freemasonry and represents the accomplishment of the liberation of soul and intelligence from the three-dimensional prison-house of ignorance we call the Saturn cube. The choice to put the Monolith near Saturn is a curious decision by Kubrick because in the Heremetic path of ascension Saturn was the gate that the soul passes through before it reached the stars and the enlightenment that they represented. One passes through Saturn to reach Heaven and it represented the greatest test spiritually. To pass through Saturn required “renunciation of all physical possessions” (see the book ‘In Sheep’s Clothing: The Arcane and Subversive’, by Sidney Stout). Bowman’s ultimate transcendence into a pure light being echoes descriptions of Baphomet (which is symbolic of the Great Work where separate and opposing forces are united to generate Astral Light). The most famous reimagining of Baphomet is Éliphas Lévi’s drawing from 1856. It’s generally assumed that Lévi’s drawing should be seen as a symbolic representation of Lévi’s magnetistic-magical concept of Astral Light which according to some interpretations meant transcending one’s physical body into a being of pure light as Lévi himself described Baphomet as an arcane “image of the soul elevated above matter”. Of course, Bowman gets stripped of his physical being and metamorphosizes into a pure light being; becoming elevated above matter in the Louis XVI room. Essentially, my overall interpretation of 2001 is that of Bowman releasing himself from an illusory prison by way of the SPC. The meticulous symbolism in 2001 conveys another dimension of meaning that transcends space exploration to become a commentary on ascending out from an illusory reality. However, Kubrick tells us nothing and everything is communicated through subtle symbols and mysterious enigmas.
INFINITY CHAMBER (BLACK CUBE SYMBOLISM)
Infinity Chamber is one of the most mind-bending movies I’ve ever seen and also one of the most thought-provoking. Despite its small budget, it’s got quality acting, good cinematography, and a sharp script. It’s a cerebral sci-fi set in the not-to-distant future and aims to combine the claustrophobia of Vincenzo’s Cube with the man-versus-machine dynamic of 2001: Space Odyssey, with a dash of The Matrix. It starts off with the protagonist, Frank, waking up in a small room after being electrocuted and falling unconscious. Waking up, dazed and confused, he’s greeted by a voice called Howard who’s controlling a ceiling-mounted camera that follows Frank around the room. Howard explains that he’s Frank’s “LSO” which we later learn stands for “Life Support Operator” and says that he has two objectives: To make sure Frank stays alive and to keep him “contained within the room”. Frank quickly realizes he’s imprisoned in the room although Howard ambiguously explains that Frank is not being detained, but rather “processed”. The walls of the room appear to have been designed to resemble a black cube. During his exchanges with Howard, Frank soon comes to realize that Howard is not a real person, but a computer.
While inside the room, Frank experiences dreamlike memory flashbacks. The flashbacks mostly take place inside a coffee shop with a woman called Gabby and every time Frank experiences a flashback he’s able to do things differently and events change. It’s like a Groundhog Day-style time loop with Frank repeating the same day over and over again. Shortly into Frank’s incarceration, he’s introduced to another prisoner called Fletcher in the adjacent room, who’s the leader of a group called The Alliance who seek to crash the ISN. Not much is said about the ISN, but from what we can gather, it’s a despotic government-controlled computer-network that includes drones, ID-scanners and such. Fletcher explains to Frank why he’s experiencing the flashbacks. They’re being caused by a neuro-scanner device in Frank’s room. The device taps into your neuro-transmitters, chemical impulses that create memory, and by doing so, uncovers your secrets. Fletcher explains how Frank can create a mental block and misdirect the device so it’s not able to uncover Frank’s secrets. We’re led to believe that the device is being used as part of an interrogation program to reconstruct Frank’s memories in an effort to find evidence of a crime that Frank maintains he “didn’t commit”.
We don’t hear from Flecther again and it’s left ambiguous as to whether his interaction with Flecther was real or dreamlike vision caused by the neuro-scanner. After meeting with Flecther, Frank continues to experience the dreamlike flashbacks with Gabby in the coffee shop. Gabby is Frank’s love-interest, and for the limited screen-time they share, the producer manages to infuse their scenes with a surprising amount of pathos. Strangely, for reasons unexplained, there are subtle clues throughout the movie that would seem to suggest that Howard is Gabby. For example, they share some of the same dialogue, such as “I couldn’t make a living out of it” and there’s a scene showing Gabby activating her coffee machine spliced with Howard activating his coffee machine. Also, as Gabby opens the door to her cafe’s back room, you can very briefly see Frank’s upholstered chair from his cell. But perhaps most convincingly, Howard’s voice changes to Gabby’s voice as he shouts “To keep you alive!”, as shown here. The significance of Howard being Gabby suggests that Frank’s dreamlike flashbacks are, to some degree, being caused or overseen by Howard, who could have been masquerading as Gabby.
Frank finally hatches a plan to escape his prison cell by exploiting a glitch in Howard’s programming. This glitch causes Howard to short-circuit for 12 seconds every 3 months. Frank manages to escape, but it soon transpires that his escape was nothing more than a dreamlike vision caused by the neuro-scanner. Having realized that his escape was just a dream, Frank is psychologically deflated and in an unexpected twist, he decides to tell Howard the truth. We learn that Frank is part of The Alliance and had created a virus that would “take down” the ISN and “crash the whole system”. Frank explains that he’s been creating a mental block to stop the neuro-scanner from accessing his memory so they wouldn’t find the USB (with the virus on). Soon after admitting the truth about his involvement with The Alliance, Frank escapes his prison cell again for real. But in an ambiguous and exceedingly sinister ending, after Frank has escaped and sits down with Gabby in what is assumed to be the real-world (Gabby‘s real name turns out to be Madeline) the shot pans out and we see Howard‘s camera in the foreground, suggesting that Frank may not have escaped the dreamworld after all.
Before going any further, I’d like to touch base with my interpretation of what the room represents. The room, as the name “Infinity Chamber” suggests, represents a chamber. In my view, the chamber is a stasis chamber that Frank is inside, and Howard is his Life Support Operator. Howard controls the chamber, maintaining Frank’s bodily functions, while creating or overseeing a VR-dreamworld. But Howard malfunctions and threatens Frank’s life. This is a common theme in other movies. As an example, in 2001: Space Odyssey, HAL is analogous to the Life Support Operator of Howard, in that he regulates and maintains the functions of the space crew in their stasis chambers. HAL supposedly malfunctions, similar to Howard, and shuts down the life support functions of the hibernating crew. Another example is Alien Covenant, where the android David malfunctions — evidenced by his Ozymandias quote blunder, and ends up trapping the crew inside their pods. Similarly, in Passengers, the crew find themselves trapped in stasis pods by a malfunctioning computer. All these movies are telling the same story, just from different angles. The possibility that Frank is trapped in a malfunctioning stasis chamber is reinforced by the fact the suit Frank is wearing is the same suit the characters wear in Pandorum after waking up from their stasis chambers.
For anybody with an eye for hidden meaning and sub-text, Infinity Chamber isn’t just a cautionary tale regarding society’s increasing dependency on computers and dangers of artificial consciousness or parable on what it means to be alive. Underneath the surface story of a man trapped in a room, I think there’s a hidden story about overcoming God. In my view, the tree that features throughout the movie (and that Frank sees after ‘ascending’ and overcoming Howard) represents the mythological Cosmic Tree. According to Linda Buckley, in her paper ‘The Tree Sacred Symbol’: “The tree is an archetypal symbol in the world’s religions, most commonly depicted as the Cosmic Tree or Tree of Life that upholds the Universe; climbing it represents ascension to Heaven”. Some have suggested that Howard could be a stand in for the Gnostic Demiurge (or God) who seeks to prevent ascension. In the mythological texts of the Gnostics, the Demiurge is characteristically the cosmic warden of humankind. He has created the Earthly realm as a prison for the eternal spark in humans. In some respects, Howard is comparable to the Gnostic Demiurge. Like the Demiurge, Howard traps Frank in an artificial environment while impeding transcendence and his disembodiment makes him resemble God whose ubiquity is conveyed through voice alone, as he exercises virtually omnipresent control over Frank’s surroundings.
Over the years, I’ve been thinking about the idea that God is a machine. Gnostics, for example, described the Demiurge (God) as an “inorganic” being. In The Matrix movie, Morpheus describes artificial intelligence as “a singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines” which is a fitting parallel for the Demiurge and the illusory material world. Gnostics referred to the Demiurge as the ‘Great Architect of the Universe’ and in The Matrix, there exists an emotionally desolate program called the ‘Architect’, who similar to the Demiurge, created an illusory world for humanity. Another movie that could possibly describe God as machine is 2001: Space Odyssey. In this movie, the case could be made that the “scientific definition of God” as suggested by Kubrick was present as HAL; a machine fashioned as an All-Seeing-Eye, symbolically an image of God. When Bowman kills HAL the scene is followed by ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ which was inspired by Nietzsche’s ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’. Nietzsche famously declared, in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, that “God is dead”. The death of HAL accompanied by the music (Also Sprach Zarathustra) was thus a means of orally communicating with the audience the death of God; a machine. The movie aligns itself with the emphasis on the transcendence of God, similar to how Frank transcends Howard.
Speaking of God being a machine, the name Howard is (coincidentally or not) associated with God. Using various ciphers, Howard gematrically represents 33. The number 33 is considered the Master Teacher in numerology and the most highly evolved number in terms of spiritual matters. 33 has various connotations in religions, especially in Christianity, as it apparently symbolizes the Master Teacher himself, Jesus, who’s associated with the number in various ways. For example, it’s claimed that Jesus had 33 miracles and died at the age of 33. One interpretation of the end of the movie is that the change in Howard’s name to Madeline represents that the malfunctioning ISN-associated Howard as Gabby (or God) was replaced by Madeline, ushering in the “new world”. If the name Howard represents 33 which is a number that can be ascribed to Jesus, then Madeline (a counterpart to Gabby) might be thought of as an AntiChrist figure. The name Madeline is derived from Magdalene and that is a name associated with Mary Magdalene which is thought to be derived from Magdaloa which means “tower” or “elevated”. The name Magdalene at its origin means “doorway of the Great Mother, the Tree of Life and Source of Life” (see the book ‘Magdalene Mysteries’, by Seren Bertrand).
There has been an underground stream of worship of Mary for millennia, supported by secret orders. These occult traditions see her as wisdom keeper. In some instances, Mary was referred to as “Mary Lucifera”, associating her with Lucifer and the planet Venus. Renaissance images of Mary sometimes depict her as a Heavenly Venus. Mary is also associated with the colour red and Ninsianna (meaning “Red Lady of Heaven” in Sumerian) was the Mesopotamian personification of the planet Venus. Mary shares similarities with ancient goddesses, especially Inanna, who was one of the most important deities in the Mesopotamian-pantheo and was worshipped thousands of years ago. Inanna crossed the “Seven Gates” of the Underworld similar to the “Seven Gates” of demons in Mary’s initiatory journey. Inanna was described as the “First Serpent Dragon” by Enheduanna. Mary was also associated with serpents. The serpent goddess Shahmaran was known as the “Queen of the Serpents”, where ‘mar’ meant “serpent”, but also “Mary” (see the book ‘Magdalene Mysteries’ by Seren Bertrand). Some suggest that Mary and Inanna are the same. Anyway, given Madeline has red hair, which is a characteristic of Mary, with a name derived from Magdalene, the connection is too obvious to ignore.
We’re led to believe that Frank had been imprisoned due to the ISN wanting to locate the USB, but his imprisonment could have a deeper meaning. This is possibly hinted at the very start, when Frank asks Howard why he’s been incarcerated. Howard replies by asking Frank his last name. Frank responds: “Lerner”. On the face of it, Howard appears to ignore Frank’s question. But did Howard ignore his question, or, did he answer it by asking Frank his name? Frank’s question of why he’s in the room, followed by Howard asking him his last name, Lerner, elicits double meaning. Perhaps Frank was also in the room to learn something. After Frank had lied to Howard from the start (declaring that he had “nothing to do with the ISN”) it was only after he told the truth that he escaped (assuming he escaped at all). In some sense then, the movie touches upon the virtue of honesty and sends the message that truth-telling can lead to positive consequences. Infinity Chamber is a fever dream of a movie which often shoots off at unexplained tangents, and it’s difficult to give a meaningful interpretation when it’s so abstruse. My overall impression is that the movie, in a sense, is about overcoming God and ushering in the “new world”. Despite its apparently ambiguous ending, Travis Millroy has said there are clues hidden in the final 15 minutes that will “lead you to one conclusion” in regard to the question of whether Frank is still dreaming.
CHILDHOOD’S END (SATURN SYMBOLISM)
Childhood’s End is an American-Australian TV show based on the 1953 novel of the same name, by Arthur Clarke. It follows the story of farmer Rikki Stormgren after a series of extraterrestrial sky-scraper sized spaceships arrive on Earth’s doorstep. Using advanced technology, the extraterrestrial race stuns the world by freezing commercial planes midair while communicating to Earth’s people through avatars in the form of their deceased loved ones. People react with fear and confusion to the extraterrestrial visitors, but rather than raining down laser-beam destruction on Earthlings, the aliens broadcast a message of peace. They say they’ve come to eliminate war and inequality and to usher in a “Golden Age” of peace and prosperity. The extraterrestrials are dubbed the “Overlords” and in the days that follow they eliminate war and disease, setting the stage for the “Golden Age” of humanity. The Golden Age was associated with the reign of Saturn. As David Talbott says, in his book ‘The Saturn Myth’: “That Saturn had governed the “Golden Age” is a supreme tenet of ancient mysteries. With Osiris, the Egyptians constantly associated a vanished Golden Age”.
❝There is an object known as the Washington Monument. That symbol is an ancient symbol representing the resurrection of Asar [Osiris]❞
Anthony Browder [source]
Even though the Overlords have good intentions, they impose their will in an authoritarian way, wielding their immense technological power to mold society into their Utopian vision. In many ways, the Overlords are like dictators and not everyone accepts them. The character Hugo Wainwrigh, who owns a media company, expresses his disdain for the Overlords’ governance over humanity and pitches gloom-ridden conspiracy theories about them, and a group is created called the Freedom League emboding humanity’s struggle for autonomy and self-determination. Despite commandeering control of Earth, we never get to see what the Overlords look like. From early on, we learn that the Overlords don’t want to reveal their true appearance, because they feel that humanity “isn’t ready”, and so Stormgren is chosen by the Overlords to act as their spokesperson — what one character calls “the sole spokesperson for an alien race”. The ambassador for the Overlords, Karellen, explains to Stormgren why they decided to invade, saying: “Humanity was on the verge of discovering interstellar travel, but the stars are not for man”. The Overlords believe humans are destroying themselves, and the Earth, and invaded because they deem humanity as too much of an immature species to continue on their evolutionary path alone. Eventually, the Earth’s people acclimate to the Overlords and Karellen decides to reveal himself. When he does, people are shocked to see that he looks like our imagination of Satan.
The appearance of Karellen shares characteristics with Baphomet which was a horned-deity that the Knights Templars worshipped. Aside from the obvious characteristics they share of being a winged, goat-headed humanoid, as Karellen reveals himself, two children are on his either arm, which is the same as the statue of Baphomet in Salem. Baphomet is sometimes said to be a non-human intelligence, variously described as a demon or deity, or an esoteric representation of the harmony of opposites inspired by alchemical teachings. Aleister Crowley referred to Baphomet as “The Lion and The Serpent”, possibly suggesting that Baphomet is dualistc in nature and has a split persona. In some circles, Baphomet is considered roughly equivalent to Abraxas (see the book ‘The Temple Mystery Unveiled’, by Tracy Twyman) and according to the Greek Magical Papyri texts, Abraxas corresponds to Osoronnophris whose name represents Egyptian Wsir Wn-nfr, “Osiris the Perfect Being” (possibly being a reference to the union between Isis and Osiris into one being, Horus, the born-again Osiris, described by some as hermaphrodite). Crowley referred to Baphomet as Harpocrates, a child form of Horus. The most famous reimagining of Baphomet is Éliphas Levi’s drawing from 1856. Éliphas said that Baphomet represented the “equilibrium of opposites” which was essential to his magnetistic-magical notion of Astral Light and equated Baphomet with the “Goat of Mendes” which was believed to be “Banebdjedet” who was the manifestation of Osiris. If we say that Karellen is a representation of Baphomet who’s the manifestation of Osiris, this might explain why Karellen guided humanity into a “Golden Age”, because the Golden Age was originally tied to the reign of Osiris.
❝In Egypt, Ra, Horus, Osiris, and Ptah all take the form of a horned god❞
David Talbott, The Saturn Myth
With their advanced technology, the Overlords are able to instantaneously heal gunshot wounds, cure previously incurable diseases, and provide humanity with an endless source of food. Most of Earth’s people welcome the Overlords, but some defy their rulership. The character Peretta is one of the people who defy. Peretta believes the Overlords are deceiving humanity. She has an unshakable belief in Jesus and she draws on her beliefs to oppose Karellen. However, her antagonism towards Karellen is ironic, because Karellen has distinguishing messianic overtones that very much make him like Jesus. The narrative of fundamentalist Christian apocalypticism where Jesus returns to rapture evangelical souls parallels how Karellen raptures children (only those who have maintained a mystical capacity) from the apocalyptic ending of the world. Like Jesus, Karellen is also killed by his enemies, but resurrected, and he makes his first physcial appearance in a Christ-like pose. Like Jesus, Karellen also heals crippled people, albeit with “miraculous” technology. Gematrically, the name Karellen also represents 33, which is a number heavily associated with Jesus. Also, when Karellen’s ship appears it hovers over the Jesus statue in Brazil. In my opinion, Karellen is supposed to be a representation of Jesus, but the director has hidden this revelation behind subtle references and metaphorical images, obscuring the message.
Why would the director symbolize Karellen as Jesus? When Karellen reveals himself, the symbolism hints at the idea that Karellen is a representation of Baphomet (an assumed manifestation of Osiris) and some argue that Baphomet and Jesus are interchangeable (this is argued in the book ‘The Baphomet of Éliphas Levi’, by Abraxas Aletheia). Sicilian researcher, Antonio Marchetti, studying the Shroud of Turin (believed to once be in the possession of the Templars who worshipped Baphomet) claims that the image shows Jesus with horns. Like Baphomet, Jesus was also described as a hermaphrodite by some sects. Hippolytus, a Christian theologian writer of the pre-Constantinian era, said that they considered Jesus to be a hermaphrodite, as the Ophites did. Osiris is also sometimes shown in the form of a hermaphrodite (see the article ‘Allegorical Slumber’, by Eric Klaus). Various researchers have linked Osiris with Jesus. The amateur Egyptologist Gerald Massey believed that Osiris and Jesus were the same person. One of Massey’s references for his assertion is that Osiris was essentially deemed “Christ” centuries prior to the purported existence of Jesus. Comparing the characteristics of Osiris with those of Jesus we can see similarities. Osiris is the god of vegetation in general. Jesus is the god of vegetation generally. Like Jesus, Osiris is killed by his enemies and resurrected. Jesus was symbolized as a stag in early Christian artwork and Osiris was also represented as a horned-god. Jesus was said to be the Morning Star in Revelation. Similarly, Osiris was said to be the Morning Star in the Pyramid Texts. The Osiris Ankh Cross is symbolic of eternal life, as Jesus’ Cross is symbolic of the same thing (see his book ‘The Horus-Jesus Connection‘ for more comparisons).
Even though the Overlords have ushered in Utopia and brought unprecedented prosperity, their presence has had downsides. Society becomes culturally stagnant as the Overlords now meet everyone’s needs, social division arises, and for reasons that initially go unexplained, the Overlords ban science. The character Rodrick, a scientist who’s intellectually curious and eager for knowledge, becomes disillusioned with the Overlords once they put an end to the expansion of science and becomes suspicious of their motives, saying: “For years, the Overlords have told us absolutely nothing about themselves, where they come from, or even about their language”. Rodrick conducts research into them. His research leads him to words from the book Corpus Hermeticum, saying: “The Golden Dawn comes shining from the eyes of God”. As Rodrick says this, we see the All-Seeing-Eye (or the Eye of Ra) on his desk with Saturn behind him on the wall. I found it curious how the All-Seeing-Eye is placed with Saturn, because the Eye symbolism can be traced back to an astronomical event dubbed the “Saturn Polar Configuration” which was an alignment of planets that arranged themselves overhead Earth. These planets were Saturn, Venus and Mars, and during their configuration, they created the appearance of an All-Seeing-Eye. The Saturn Polar Configuration is described in ‘The Saturn Myth’ as a “gate” God “comes through” (page 155) and associated with the Djed Pillar, symbolizing the return of Osiris.
❝The Blazing Star has been regarded as an emblem of the All-Seeing-Eye, which to the Egyptian Initiates was the emblem of Osiris❞
Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma
Rodrick gets invited to a party. While there, Karellen makes an appearance and Rodrick confronts him on why he’s banned science. Karellen explains, saying: “Science and curiosity has led you dangerously close to forces that you could never have controlled. It would have destroyed you”. The Overlords’ disapproval of science is apparently motivated by their desire to protect us. Humans dabbling in science are “like children playing with a bomb”, unaware of the greater forces at play. However, we later learn that deception plays a critical role in the way that the Overlords govern and banning science may have had less noble reasons, such as making us more evolutionary malleable, allowing the Overlords to enact their plans without pushback. During the party, Karellen takes the character Amy, who plays a minor role in the show, into a room where we find a Ouija board. Karellen asks her to put her hand on the board so he can commune with her unborn child Jennifer. Suddenly, symbols shoot into the sky. Rodrick recognizes the symbols as the constellation Carinae. The constellation Carinae had real importance to ancient cultures. The ancient Egyptians saw Carinae as a ship bearing Osiris and Isis during a worldwide flood. The Cariane ship that carried Osiris and Isis during a flood is probably connected to the Boat of Ra which carried souls through the underworld, sometimes symbolized by a flood. During the celestial alignment mentioned above, the luminous crescent that formed under Saturn was morphed into the Boat of Ra. In his book ‘New Heavens For The Free World’, Andres Boulton says: “Alpha Carinae was associated by the Egyptians with Osiris and was named the Star of Osiris”. Rodrick connects Carinae to Karellen’s home-world.
❝Alpha Carinae was associated by the Egyptians with Osiris and was named the Star of Osiris❞
Andres Boulton, New Heavens For The Free World
We find ourselves four years in the future and Amy’s daughter Jennifer is now a child and has gained tremendous supernatural powers and is like some pansophical metahuman, saying things like: “I see all, I am all”. Soon all children around the world begin developing powers. Rodrick links their powers back to Jennifer as the source. The name Jennifer means White Fairy or White Wave — a name somewhat connected to the mother goddess, inspired and represented by the Moon. The children appear to have been transformed into divine beings by Jennifer’s transmutational force. They’re basically a new race of Homo Luminous. The children also have the ability to share collective consciousness. There’s one scene where Jennifer psychically shepherds a group of children as though she has power of their minds. She’s like a central “hive-queen” pulling the puppet strings. Eventually, Karrellen addresses the world and says that the children will be taking the next step in human evolution. As Karellen says this, we see a child doing the Prana Mudra hand-sign. This is an old sign associated with Buddha, Jesus, and Baphomet, and can apparently be traced back to Osiris. Two Finger amulets (Prana Mudra sign) were a symbol of Osiris and were placed on the body of a mummy. The Pyramid Texts give some references on the importance of the sign where it explains that “two fingers helped Osiris ascend the Ladder and reach into Heaven” (see the book ‘Amulets and Superstitions’, by Wallis Budge).
As Karellen addresses the world, we learn that the Overlords have been deceiving humanity from the beginning and there’s another reason why they invaded. They want to take away Earth’s children and have them merge their consciousness. We learn that the Overlords are working cooperatively with a higher power called the Overmind which is described as a “collective consciousness” that eliminates individuality and “assimilates consciousness”, allowing one to transcend the physical realm and become a collective entity. The Overmind is like Heaven as an eternal state of consciousness. The ascension of the childen sounds nice, but some people apparently need more convincing. Before Karellen reveals this, the Freedom League made TV skits expressing anti-Overlord sentiments. One such skit is the voice of a child that talks about how pigs are “sent off somewhere” on her farm, she “doesn’t know where they go”, but says “I’m sure they’re happy”, accompanied by shots of abattoirs; a conspiratorially-slanted view of the Overlords’ hidden intention. Karellen also reveals that Earth will be destroyed and everyone will die, aside from the children, who get assimilated into the Overmind. Not much is said about the nature of the Overmind. We’re led to believe that it’s an Oversoul; a sort of consciousness-raising divinity that pervades the universe. However, rather than being a form of spiritual ascension, the Overmind gave me vague recollections of the Borg. The Borg were a hive-mind that assimilated with species, depriving them of individuality (much like the Overmind) and reducing them to the status of automatons.
The Overlords have the power to manipulate or transform physical matter at will. During the show, Karellen uses the Overlords’ power to create a room for Stormgren. In the room, Karellen reunites Stromgren with his dead lover, Annabelle. The room is very phantasmagorical and Stormgren initially questions if Annabelle is real or just “another one of Karellen’s illusions”. Stromgren’s wife, Ellie, thinks that Karellen is using the room to play on Stormgren’s emotions and “manipulate him”. One revealing drawing of Karellen shows him holding a book shaped as a cube. The cube is a symbol of Saturn and associated with the material world, being a reference to an illusory prison. In his book ‘The Dark Path’, Isaac Weishaupt explains the Saturn cube as “a symbol for the Gnostic representation of Saturnian materialism and “false illusion” of our world”. One interpretation is that the room that Karellen creates represents something akin to Plato’s allegory of the cave where the unenlightened find themselves trapped in an illusory reality. It’s shown that Karellen is able to create illusionary phantom’s of deceased loved ones and even mimic their voices and so Annabelle could simply be an illusion created by Karellen in order to manipulate Stormgren. Karellen, at the end, asks Stormgren if he wants to remain with Annabelle forever (rather than facing the apocalypse) where he would be reliving the same happy moment over and over again, but he rejects this, and walks out of the illusion through a mirror. Mirrors have deep symbolic meaning and are associated with transitioning from one plane of existence to another, leaving behind uncontrolled desire and ignorance. In The Matrix, the metamorphosis of Neo and his transition out of the illusory world of ignorance occurs through a mirror.
One interpretation is that phantasmagorical room created by Karellen is a prison designed to trap Stormgren’s soul, similar to the idea of the Demiurge in Gnosticism. In the mythological texts of the Gnostics, the Demiurge created the material realm as a prison for the soul. Some associate the Demiurge with Saturn. The ancient Egyptians knew the Demiurge as the lion-headed serpent Cneph. The amateur Egyptologist Anne Flinders argues that Cneph, Osiris, and Saturn are interchangeable as a single god (see her 1845 book ‘The Connexion Between Revelation and Mythology’). The ancient Egyptians apparently associated Osiris with the planet Saturn according to Immanuel Velikovsky in his book ‘In the Beginning’. The prime symbol of Saturn is the cube (that Karellen seems to be holding). In pop-culture (especially in movies) the Saturn cube is depicted as a prison keeping the soul bound in material reality and sometimes as a sentient machine that merges with humans. Some movies are quite revelatory when it comes to showing the merging of man and machine. In the movie Lucy, the character Lucy (Lucifer) merges with a machine and transcends the material world, and in the movie Prometheus, Elizabeth basically merges with the machine David, whose body becomes dismembered, as she puts him back together again, echoing the story of Isis and Osiris. The cube was once a symbol of Osiris. Thousands of years ago the cube represented the “seat of Osiris” in the Egyptian Judgement Hall. Osiris also sits on the Throne in the form of the Cube of Space, symbolically making him the Master of Time and Space, similar to gods like Quetzalcoatl. The room that Karellen creates could be interpreted as being a kind of soul trap, with Stormgren’s dead lover Annabelle possibly representing Stormgren’s uncontrolled desires and attachment to the material world, which he leaves behind, ascending through a mirror.
In one scene, Rodrick explains how the Overlords have been on Earth before. When they last visited, things about the Overlords were documented, including the appearance of Karellen (which is where the drawings of all the horned-gods came from) but over time they became folklore. The idea that extraterrestrial gods have come to Earth in the distant past is known as Paleo-SETI. Some proponents of Paleo-SETI believe that humans are the creations of extraterrestrial gods who visited Earth thousands of years ago, such as the Aztec’s Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was remembered as the creator of humanity, who performed miracles, had ruled over a “Golden Age”, was known as the god of time, and prophesied the destruction of Earth when he returns. In many ways, this parallels Childhood’s End. Like Quetzalcoatl, Karellen rules over a “Golden Age”, he has the ability to control time as a kind of “god of time”, he perfoms “miracles” (with technology indistinguishable from magic) he refers to humanity as his “children”, suggesting he may have hand in creating us, and the destruction of Earth occurs when he returns. Connections can be made between Quetzalcoatl, Jesus, and Osiris. Like Jesus and Osiris, Quetzalcoatl was said to be the Morning Star in Codex Vaticanus. Osiris is described as patron of the arts and innovator of religious ceremonies, very similar to Quetzalcoatl, and the departure of Quetzalcoatl is strongly reminiscent of that of Osiris. Quetzalcoatl also fulfils the same purpose as Osiris of resurrection and bringing of the rains for crops. In her article ‘The Plumed Serpent’, Freda Hankins says: “It’s possible to see the vengeful, bloody Quetzalcoatl as one with Osiris and Tammuz — dying and reviving gods”. Quetzalcoatl shares similarities with Jesus (at least how he’s described by mainstream Christology) and some believe they’re the same person (see the article ‘Quetzalcoatl Without Jesus Christ’, by Steven Hartman).
On the basis of the above interpretation, I would say that Childhood’s End presents something of an introductory four-hour crash course into the return of the born-again Osiris. There are so many convergences between Karellen and Osiris. We discover that Karellen’s home-world is in the constellation Carinae which relates to Osiris because Alpha Carinae was apparently known by the ancient Egyptians as the “Star of Osiris”. Just before Karellen’s ship arrives we see a shot of the Washington Monument which supposedly symbolizes the resurrection of Osiris. In Egyptian mythology, Osiris undergoes a process of death and resurrection. Karellen also undergoes a rebirth — as he gets killed by his enemies and gets immediately resurrected. Osiris is credited with introducing civilization to humanity, teaching them the arts of agriculture and social organization, and Karellen, in a similar vein, brings about profound changes to human society, ushering in a new era of peace and social organization. Overall, Childhood’s End is a thought-provoking and visually stunning TV show. The series skillfully explores complex themes such as human evolution, the nature of consciousness, and the price of Utopia. The performances are captivating, especially Charles Dance as the Overlord leader Karellen. The show effectively balances philosophical contemplation with moments of tension and intrigue. While some viewers may find the pacing slow at times, the narrative builds towards a powerful and emotionally resonant conclusion. Childhood’s End is really a must-watch for science fiction enthusiasts and those seeking a cerebral exploration of humanity’s destiny and the implications of contact with an advanced alien race.
THE EYE OF HORUS
The Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with healing and protection, has sparked various interpretations regarding its origin. In his documentary ‘Remembering The End Of The World’, comparative mythologist, David Talbott proposes a connection between the Eye and a celestial alignment from millennia ago, while others link it to symbolizing the waxing and waning phases of the Moon. However, a particularly captivating interpretation suggests that the Eye might represent human anatomy. An intriguing paper titled ‘The Eye of Horus: The Connection Between Art, Medicine, and Mythology in Ancient Egypt’, published in the National Library of Medicine, establishes an association between the Eye and the anatomy of the human brain. The brain region surrounding the pineal gland exhibits an astonishing resemblance to the Eye of Horus. Some theorists propose that by basing the Eye of Horus on the part of the brain containing the pineal gland, the ancient Egyptians were symbolically expressing the notion of a concealed mental or spiritual power within this gland. Dimethyl tryptamine (DMT) is released from the pineal gland (especially in very large quantities when one dies) and is known as the “spirit molecule”. René Descartes, deeply intrigued by the pineal gland, considered it the primary seat of the spirit and soul and the place where all thoughts are formulated. His philosophical framework postulated that humans possess both a physical body and a non-physical, “immaterial” mind.
The pineal gland is a small cone-shaped structure measuring about 10 millimeters, occupying a central position within the brain and is sometimes symbolized by the Bindi, an adorned dot traditionally worn on the forehead in Hindu culture. Its nomenclature stems from the Latin term “Pineus”, evoking the resemblance of its shape to a pinecone. The pineal gland shares an association with the Caduceus, an emblem featuring two entwined serpents encircling a pinecone. This emblem bears importance in relation to Kundalini energy, believed to ascend the spinal column upon the sequential activation of the body’s seven Chakras, granting access to heightened states of consciousness. In his book ‘The Occult Anatomy of Man’, Manly Palmer Hall establishes a parallel between the pineal gland and the pinecone within the context of ancient Egyptian practices, highlighting the placement of pinecones upon the heads of the deceased in the presence of Osiris, symbolically alluding to the pineal gland’s importance. Moreover, the pineal gland is recognized for its role in the release of DMT, a substance known to South American cultures. Shamans engage in the consumption of ayahuasca, a plant brew containing DMT, apparently facilitating a profound connection with realms of consciousness beyond the ordinary experience.
In ‘The Occult Anatomy of Man’, Hall delves into the intriguing phenomenon of the pineal gland secreting a mystical oil known as resin, which held significance for the Rosicrucians, an esteemed community of philosophers dedicated to studying the Natural Laws governing the universe. Their intention was to stimulate resin production to awaken the Third Eye, a concept associated with spiritual enlightenment and direct communion with higher realms of existence and consciousness. The notion of “opening your Third Eye” is deeply rooted in mysticism. Some propose that the pineal gland itself is the Third Eye, as it’s closely linked to heightened states of consciousness and transcendental experiences. In fact, followers of theosophist Helena Blavatsky have suggested that the dormant pineal gland is the very manifestation of the Third Eye. Hall expounds on this idea, stating: “The Hindus teach that the pineal gland is the Third Eye, called the Eye of Dangma. One can raise the spinal serpent into the brain [up the seven Chakras] and perceive invisible worlds with the Third Eye, or pineal gland. This organ of consciousness, which [once] connected humans with the invisible worlds, closed during the Lemurian period when the objective senses began to develop. By the process of development hinted at before, one may reopen this eye and explore the invisible worlds”.
The image above shows the human brain in grey colour with the designated area in the shape of the Eye of Horus highlighted in pink which involves the corpus callosum, metathalamus, olfactory tract, the brain stem and of course, perhaps most importantly, the pineal gland. This image was published in the paper titled ‘The Eye of Horus: The Connection Between Art, Medicine, and Mythology in Ancient Egypt’ in the National Library of Medicine. The resemblance to the Eye of Horus is uncanny and unlikely to be a mere coincidence. As the paper notes, the fact that the ancient Egyptians discovered this was “an amazing feat considering the unavailability of radiographic and computational technology of that era. In the creation of Eye of Horus, ancient Egyptians combined their artistic abilities and knowledge of anatomy. The ancient Egyptians were leaders in medicine and anatomy. This can be found in documented papyrus, as well as the walls of many temples and tombs”. Based on the above interpretation, the Eye of Horus seems to be based on a cross-sectional area of the human brain and its importance probably lies with the pineal gland, which is associated with higher planes of consciousness. Much of what the ancient Egyptians knew about the nature of reality and consciousness has been lost over time and today these sort of things are suppressed by those in power.
CAN CANCER BE CURED NATURALLY?
Unbeknownst to the vast majority of folk, cancer can already be cured naturally and this has probably been known for many decades, but these cures have been suppressed by the medical establishment which is largely politically-controlled by drug companies. These drug companies have a stranglehold and monopoly over cancer treatments and their enormous revenue is dependent on meting out synthetic drugs rather than advocating natural treatments that cannot be patented. If doctors do dare treat cancer (and other diseases) unconventionally, and naturally, and are successful, the wheels of power slip noiselessly into motion and they are publicly pilloried and shut down, as the medical establishment demonstrated with its treatment of Dr. Burzynsk (see here).
After reading many books on cancer, I find the so-called “trophoblastic thesis” the most compelling (as explained here) which was propounded by John Beard way back in 1902. Beard found that cancer cells share the same characteristics as placental trophoblast cells and everyone has these inside their body left over from embryonic development. These cells are able to proliferate inside the body as part of a healing process and this proliferation can continue virtually unchecked if there are a lack of pancreatic enzymes (e.g. such as due to a poor diet) that are able to consume the protein-coat of rouge cancer cells, allowing the white blood cells to attack it. This theory suggests that what appears to be different forms of cancer are simply different stages of malignancy of trophoblast cells in proportion to local tissue cells (as explained here).
Quote from the book ‘Indicted’ that explains the trophoblastic thesis:
Ferretti et al 2007 notes the striking similarities between cancer and trophoblast cells, suggesting they are one of the same, pointing out that “trophoblast research over the past few decades have underlined the striking similarities between the proliferative, migratory and invasive properties of placental cells and those of cancer cells”. It’s not just pancreatic enzymes working with white blood cells that are able to destroy cancer cells. So too are plant-based foods that contain compounds that boost the body’s own natural defences against cancer and includes cancer-fighting agents like nitriolosides. Some good documentaries on natural cancer therapies include Food Matters: 2008, The Beautiful Truth, and Edward Griffin’s A World Without Cancer. In Griffin’s documentary, he argues that cancer is a nutritional deficiency and outlines the relationship between cancer and nitrilosides; a cancer-fighting agent abundant in plant-foods. Amygdalin, or B17, is one of the most common nitrilosides and apricot seeds have especially high concentrations. Griffin offers compelling reasons as to why the lack of nitrilosides in our diet plays a significant role in the development of cancer and so to prevent cancer we should increase our intake of plant-foods (preferably raw and organic).
The graph below shows the relationship between the consumption of unrefined plant-foods and cancer. The more unrefined plant-foods people consume, the less at risk they are at developing cancer. According to what Griffin says, plant-foods aren’t just effective in the prevention of cancer, but also in treating it. Plant-foods (especially raw and organic) are abundant in antioxidants and contain various anti-cancer agents and one of the most well-known is B17. This molecule “selectively targets” the cancer cell by reacting to its enzymatic signature and breaking down into hydrogen cyanide and benzaldehyde and these then combine synergistically to create a very powerful cytotoxin. The B17 bypasses the protective outer cell wall because the cancer cell tries to feed on the glucose within the B17 molecule. Some have suggested that the B17 is toxic because it contains cyanide, but the cyanide is “chemically inert” and is only released after it has come into contact with the cancer cell. When B17 comes into contact with a normal body cell that contains the enzyme rhodanese (that cancer cells do not) the cyanide is neutralized by sulphur (see Griffin’s book here) and converted into thiocyanate.
While Griffin offers compelling evidence of the effectiveness of B17 to prevent and treat cancer, he acknowledges it would be a mistake to rely on the cancer-fighting properties of B17, but include a more holistic approach that aims to boost the body’s overall immune system. Possibly the most holistic, all-encompassing approach to natural cancer treatment (and other chronic degenerative diseases) is the Gerson Therapy which activates the body’s own powerful ability to heal itself, and includes coffee enemas, organic plant-based foods, raw juices, and natural supplements. The Gerson Therapy is based on the belief that disease is caused by the accumulation of unspecified toxins (or a nutritional deficiency) and attempts to treat the disease by having patients consume a predominantly raw-based vegetarian diet, including hourly glasses of organic juice and various dietary supplements. With malignant melanoma, the Gerson Therapy is phenomenal, with a 100% survival rate of patients with Stage 1 and 2 cancer after 5 years (Hildenbrand et al 1995).
Vitamin C (especially when administered at high doses by IV) is also toxic to cancer cells and BEC5 (commonly found in eggplant) has been shown to be very effective against skin cancer. The medical establishment habitually denigrates natural cancer treatments (like the Gerson Therapy) as “quack-medicine” and dismisses them as having no evidence. Think about the derogatory term ‘quack-medicine’ which is applied to natural cancer treatments (like the Gerson Therapy) and how absurd it is when considering conventional methods of treatment that involve pouring toxic chemicals into someone’s bloodstream and then blasting their body with ionizing radiation. How effective are conventional methods of treatment like chemotherapy anyway? A study published in the 2004’s edition of the Journal of Oncology discovered that the mainstream method of chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer has been an absolute failure (click here to see the statistics of the study) concluding: “The overall contribution of curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival rates in adults was estimated to be 2.1% in America”.
If chemotherapy is such an absolute failure and is one of the more popular treatments then why are the survival rates for cancer so positive? This is probably because the survival rate for cancer is given as a “relative survival rate”, meaning it’s based on the proportion of folks who have survived cancer relative to those in the general population in a similar demographic who do not have cancer and die due to other cancer-unrelated reasons, such as car accidents or heart disease. The cancer survival rate can be made to be quite positive when you compare it with the survival rate of those in the population who die due to other reasons and who do not have any cancer. The absolute survival rate for all types of cancer combined is about 36% within 5 years of being diagnosed which means 64% die. The cancer survival rate is also only based on 5 year survival. So, it’s possible to survive cancer for 5 years after initial treatment and then die a month later and be considered a “cancer survivor”. See the lecture from Peter Glidden here in which he talks about how the cancer survival rates have been manipulated.
As well as manipulating survival rates, the medical establishment apparently also manipulate what scientific papers the public and physicians get to see. In the aforementioned Food Matters: 2008 documentary, Andrew Saul (PhD) explains how some journals, such as peer-reviewed journals that compile research into the benefits of orthomolecular medicine, have been blacklisted by the medical establishment. Their papers are not indexed in places like the National Library of Medicine and this gives the impression there’s no supporting evidence for nutritional-based medicine in regard to treating cancer and other diseases. Essentially, the drug companies appear to have turned institutions like the National Library of Medicine into an arm of their marketing department. As I see it, the cancer industry is a huge public pantomime being performed to bamboozle the world into accepting phoney treatments that will end up making them dependent on some synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and more sickly than they already are. If we seriously want to change this tragic state of affairs more people must start learning the truth about cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases and understanding that a cure already exists. Not synthetic drugs. Proper nutrition from plant-foods. As the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, once said: “Let food by thy medicine and medicine by thy food”.
For more on cancer, see the documentary here.
THE COVID SCAMDEMIC
The official explanation for the COVID pandemic is a dangerous, infectious virus. This is the rationale for isolating a large portion of the world’s population in their homes so as to curb its spread. While the official COVID narrative has been accepted as fact by almost everyone, there are a vocal minority of commentators who argue that the COVID pandemic is a hoax and some who argue that COVID is not even a real disease. According to author and investigative journalist, David Icke, COVID does not exist and the fake pandemic is a being used as an excuse to exert more control over our lives and to introduce vaccination programmes, which he argues can cause serious health issues. David Icke says: “[The global power elite] have coordinated the most extraordinary situation in which a virus which has never been shown to exist could lock down and enslave almost the entirety of humanity simply because the majority believe what they’re told without question”. Meanwhile, American author and holistic psychiatrist, Kelly Brogan, has been very vocal in speaking out about COVID. She doesn’t believe the existence of COVID either, saying there is “potentially no such thing as the coronavirus”.
Molecular biologist, Andrew Kaufman, has arrived at similar conclusions about the non-existence of COVID and has said that the existence of viruses have never been proven. You can see an interview with Kaufman in the video here in which he explains his reasoning. Instead, he says that viral diseases are the result of improper nutrition, toxins, and electromagnetic radiation. Kaufman says that the COVID pandemic is a “completely manufactured crisis” and says that “no confirmation of the virus’ existence can be found”. Similar to Kaufman, according to German virologist, Stefan Lanka, not only does the COVID virus not exist, but viruses in general do not exist. In his article ‘The Misconception Called Virus’, Lanka says that there is “no such thing as pathogenic viruses”. He says, “claims about the existence of viruses are based on historic misinterpretations” and “the real causes of disease which are ascribed to viruses have already been discovered and researched”. Lanka says that “a virus has never been isolated according to the meaning of the word isolation and it has never been photographed and biochemically characterized as a whole unique structure”.
In 2015, Lanka became famous for winning a German Supreme Court ruling upholding his claim that the measles virus has never been proven to exist, and thus, is not something for which children need to be vaccinated. Regarding the existence of viruses, Lanka goes on to say: “All scientists who think they are working with viruses in laboratories are actually working with typical particles of specific dying tissues or cells which were prepared in a special way. They believe that those tissues and cells are dying because they were infected by a virus. In reality, those prepared tissues and cells are dying because they were starved and poisoned as a consequence of the experiments in the lab. The death of tissue and cells — on account of starvation and poisoning and not because of an alleged infection — has continuously been misinterpreted as evidence for the existence of viruses, as evidence for their isolation and as evidence of their propagation”.
According to Kaufman, various diseases that are blamed on viruses are actually caused by improper nutrition and toxins. One example of a disease being erroneously blamed on a virus was the Zika outbreak in Brazil which was traced back to the use of a novel pesticide used for the control of mosquito populations in Brazilian drinking water (Parens et al 2017).1 Another example is the Polio outbreak. The Polio outbreak occurred immediately following unprecedented DDT usage. The graph here shows the correlation between Polio cases and DDT usage. As DDT was introduced Polio cases soared and as it was eventually phased out, cases of Polio began to rapidly decline. The Polio outbreak is another example of a disease being erroneously blamed on a virus. As Morton Biskind says: “Central nervous system diseases such as Polio are actually the physiological and symptomatic manifestations of the ongoing government and industry sponsored inundation of the world’s populace with central nervous system poisons”. While DDT was banned, we’re still bombarded with pesticides in our food today and the scientific literature documents elevated risk of disease among those exposed to pesticides (Owens et al 2010).2
In his book ‘The Contagion Myth’, Thomas Cowan supports the views of Lanka and Kaufman and explains why viruses are not the cause of any disease, denies the germ theory of disease (which says that infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms in the body) and gives alternative explanations to what causes disease, such as improper nutrition, toxins, and electromagnetic radiation. Cowan says that we will soon see a paradigm shift when it comes to viruses; that viruses are not harmful, but helpful exosomes that our cells produce to rid the body of poisons and help make adjustments to environmental threats. Writing along similar lines, in his book ‘What Really Makes You Ill’, David Parker rejects the medical establishment’s explanation for disease and refutes the germ theory of disease, denying that “germs”, bacteria and viruses cause disease. Parker says: “[The mainstream explanation] claims that viruses are the cause of many diseases, as if this has been definitively proven. But this is not the case; there is no original scientific evidence that definitively demonstrates that any virus is the cause of any disease”.
There are a number of other researchers that provide a corroboration of the assertion that the virus theory lacks evidence. For example, the Australian Perth Group proved scientifically that the existence of the HIV virus has not been demonstrated, saying: “One has no choice but to conclude that whatever HIV is, it is not the virus that causes AIDS, or even is it a real virus”. This is supported by German molecular biologist Peter Duesberg, who claims that AIDS is actually caused by illicit drug abuse and antiretroviral medications (Duesberg et al 2009).4 In his book ‘Imparied Health’, John Tilden explains the real cause of measles, which is not caused by a virus, saying: “Measles is the manner in which a child’s body throws off toxemia. When children are cared for improperly, they become toxemic and their skin eliminates toxin to a greater degree than does the skin of grown people”. Meanwhile, in the book ‘Virus Mania’, by Torsten Engelbrecht, he explains how various diseases blamed on viruses (from HIV, to Hepatitis C, to the Spanish flu virus) can be explained by other causes and there is no real proof of the existence of these viruses; see excerpts from the book here, here and here.
One of the main reasons as to why people think SARS-CoV-2 exists (the proper name for the COVID virus) is because it has been photographed under an electron microscope. But are the electron microscope images really that of a virus? According to a paper published in August 2020 in the journal Kidney360 (Cassol et al 2020) the alleged images of SARS-CoV-2 that have been spread throughout the scientific community and unquestionably accepted as a new virus, are not that of a virus.5 The researchers saw indistinguishable SARS-CoV-2 structures in people with no evidence of the alleged COVID disease and in samples taken before COVID even occurred. It turns out that the alleged images of SARS-CoV-2 that are referenced as evidence for the virus’ existence are just a common protein coating on normal vesicles, picking up dyes in the electron microscope preparation. In all cases that they examined, they found structures indistinguishable to what is being called SARS-CoV-2. They are not viruses, but normal cell particles. Thomas Cowan gives a breakdown of the paper here.
Regarding the isolation of SARS-CoV-2, the authors of the book ‘Virus Mania’ asked the researchers of various papers that allegedly isolated the virus if their electron microscope photographs showed the purified virus. They had numerous replies here, and in not one instance did the researchers say that they purified isolated SARS-CoV-2. Even Michael Laue from one of the world’s most important representatives of the COVID pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute, wrote in September 2020: “I am not aware of a paper which purified isolated SARS-CoV-2”. The main objective in the isolation and purification of viruses is the separation of the virus from the host tissues and cell organelles and is important for interpretation of whether the RNA obtained is contributed solely by a virus or something else.6 The authors of ‘Virus Mania’ conclude: “If no such particle purification has been done anywhere, how can one claim that the RNA obtained is part of a viral genome? And how can such RNA then be widely used to diagnose infection with a new virus? We have asked these two questions to numerous representatives of the official COVID narrative, but nobody could answer them”.
Others have also investigated the lack of evidence for the isolation of SARS-CoV-2, casting doubt over its existence. Christine Massey, a popular Canadian activist, and a colleague of hers in New Zealand, Michael Speth, submitted FOIA requests to dozens of science institutions and official bodies around the world, seeking any evidence that describes the isolation and purification of SARS-CoV-2. She had numerous replies here, but none were able to provide any such evidence. Massey concludes on her website: “Freedom of Information laws reveal that no institution has registered the isolation and purification of SARS-CoV-2”. The lack of evidence for the isolation of SARS-CoV-2 has been corroborated by some officials in government institutions. In January 2021, the American television network NBC broadcasted a documentary in which there was an interview with Chief of Epidemiology of the Centers for Disease and Control of China, Wu Zunyou. It is an extensive documentary, in which after some exterior shots of the Wuhan market, the journalist asks why they didn’t share the data on SARS-CoV-2 found in the samples taken in December 2019, to which Zunyou replies: “They didn’t isolate the virus. That’s the issue”.
One way to gauge if COVID exists is to see if the arrival of COVID has impacted the death rate. Upon downloading data from the CDC, Genevieve Briand compiled a graph representing percentages of total deaths in the United States for 2020; see the article here. Quote: “Briand compiled a graph representing percentages of total deaths per age category from early February to early September which includes the period from before COVID arrived in the United States to when COVID rates soared. Surprisingly, the deaths of the elderly were the same before and following COVID. Since COVID mainly impacts the elderly, experts expected an increase in the percentage of deaths in older age groups. However, this increase is not seen from the CDC data. In fact, the percentages of deaths among all age groups remain relatively the same”. If there was a new deadly virus killing people, mortality should have increased over the baseline. But it hasn’t! Ergo, COVID isn’t a real killer disease, but a compendium of statistically contrived deaths. These contrived deaths exist because if you die for any reason within about 28 days of a positive COVID test then you are included in the official COVID death count, as the BBC acknowledge in their report here.
❝There is no evidence of anyone dying from any novel illness❞
Andrew Kaufman, London Real
If SARS-CoV-2 does not exist (as the death rate and the lack of evidence for the isolation and purification would seem to suggest) then why are people testing positive? As of 2021, the PCR test is the most used method of determining if someone has COVID and it works by analyzing genetic sequences (a sample of DNA or RNA) taken from a swab from the sinus cavity. However, the genetic sequences that the PCR test analyzes for SARS-CoV-2 are found naturally in the human body which means anyone can test positive; see the article by Salud here. Quote: “The genetic sequences used in PCRs to detect suspected SARS-CoV-2 and to diagnose cases of illness and death attributed to COVID-19 are present in dozens of sequences of the human genome itself and in those of about a hundred microbes. And that includes the initiators or primers, the most extensive fragments taken at random from their supposed “genome” and even the so-called “target genes” allegedly specific to the “new coronavirus”. The test is worthless and all “positive” results obtained should be scientifically invalidated and communicated to those affected. Stephen Bustin, one of the world’s leading experts on the PCR, says that under certain conditions anyone can test positive”.
The PCR also uses something called ‘amplification’ which means taking an exceptionally small sample of DNA and amplifying it to a large enough amount to analyze. It amplifies the DNA in cycles. PCR commonly uses 20 cycles of amplification and each cycle doubles the target DNA. Excessive PCR cycling can produce false positive results through the amplification of either contaminating DNA or DNA with similar sequences. For example, a September 2020 study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (Rita Jaafar et al 2020)7 revealed that when you run a PCR test at a cycle of 35 or higher, accuracy drops to 3%, giving a 97% false positive rate. Yet tests recommended by the World Health Organization were set to 45 cycles, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Prevention recommended 40. Meanwhile, an April 2020 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (Bernard Scola et al 2020)8 showed that to get 100% confirmed real positives, the PCR test must be run at 17 cycles. Above 17 cycles, accuracy drops dramatically. By the time you get to 33 cycles, the accuracy rate is a mere 20%, meaning 80% are false positives, as illustrated by the graph here.
When speaking about the amplification cycles for the PCR test, Reiner Fuellmich, who is a member of the German Corona Investigative Committee, said: “Anything over 35 cycles is — as reported by the New York Time and others — considered completely unreliable and scientifically unjustifiable. However, the Drosten test, as well as the World Health Organization recommended tests that followed his example were set to 45 cycles. Can that be because of the desire to produce as many positive results as possible and thereby provide the basis for the false assumption that a large number of infections have been detected?” In July 2020, Anthony Fauci, who is an American physician serving as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was on a podcast where they speak about the PCR tests and how a positive test using a cycle greater than 35 is worthless. Fauci uses the phrase “replication incompetent” which basically means junk (see here for the video-clip with Fauci talking about how the PCR test is useless above a cycle of 35).
In his book ‘Perceptions Of A Renegade Mind’, David Icke makes a convincing argument as to why SARS-CoV-2 does not exist and explains how the genome sequence for the virus was essentially created on a computer. Quote: “What they are calling COVID is actually created by a computer program, i.e. they made it up — that’s it. They took some lung fluid, with many sources of genetic material, from one single person alleged to be infected with COVID-19 by a PCR test which they claimed, without clear evidence, contained a virus. They then used several computer programs to create a model of a theoretical virus genome sequence from more than 56 million small sequences of RNA, each of an unknown source, assembling them like a puzzle with no known solution. The computer filled in the gaps with sequences from bits in the Genebank to make it look like a cornonavirus”. As Kaufman says here: “They use computer modelling to essentially create a new genome from scratch”.
❝There is no virus, other than a digital, theoretical abstraction made on a computer from a genomic database❞
Makia Freeman
In his book ‘Slave to the Technium’, Gregory Garrett also raises doubts over the existence of COVID, saying: “There is no COVID-19 virus. If you ask any scientist to show you scientifically verified proof that it exists, they will not be able to show you. Given that it has not been scientifically established that the COVID-19 virus exists, it is therefore clear that everything being done supposedly in the effort to tackle the virus is being done for another purpose and COVID is being used to conceal this. However, with the elite-driven narrative being endlessly promoted by the World Health Organization, governments, and pharmaceutical industries, along with the corporate media, the truth is being obliterated”. If SARS-CoV-2 does not exist (as the death rate and the lack of evidence for the isolation and purification would seem to suggest) then what’s the purpose of all the anti-COVID measures? Do the lockdowns, mandatory face-masks, social distancing and quarantine regulations, really serve to protect us from a deadly virus or do these measures, as Leon Gumm says, serve “only to make people panic so they believe without asking questions that their lives are in danger so they can be controlled and manipulated into giving away their freedoms”.
For more on COVID, see the documentary by David Icke here.
References:
1 Parens et al 2017: A Possible Link Between Pyriproxyfen and Microcephaly
2 Owens et al 2010: Wide Range of Diseases Linked to Pesticides
3 Bechamp or Pasteur: A Lost Chapter in the History of Biology by David Major
4 Duesberg et al 2009: HIV-AIDS Hypothesis Out of Touch With AIDS
5 Clarissa Cassol et al 2020: Appearances Can Be Deceiving — Viral-like Inclusions in COVID-19 Negative Renal Biopsies by Electron Microscopy
6 Zhou et al 2020: Purification Methods and the Presence of RNA in Virus Particles
7 Rita Jaafar et al 2020: Correlation Between 3790 Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction–Positives Samples and Positive Cell Cultures
8 Bernard Scola et al 2020: Viral RNA Load as Determined by Cell Culture as a Management Tool for Discharge of SARS-CoV-2 Patients From Disease Wards
22 REASONS TO BE SKEPTICAL OF CAGW
This post lists 22 reasons as to why we should be skeptical of CAGW (catastrophic anthropogenic global warming) which claims human CO2 emissions are dangerously heating up the Earth’s atmosphere, requiring urgent mitigating measures to counteract. It’s my opinion that anthropogenic global warming is minuscule at only 0.0018°C per 1ppmv of CO2 and the punitive green-taxes, carbon offset programs and disruptive geoengineering projects are all unnecessary and a waste of time and resources.
1) CO2 has quite a trivial warming effect. The measured radiative forcing at the surface from CO2 from 2000-2010 was 0.2 W/m² from a 22ppmv increase (Feldman et al 2015) which works out at about 0.01 W/m² per 1ppmv. However, because of the logarithmic nature of CO2’s radiative forcing, regular 1ppmv increments of CO2 would produce ever diminishing increments of radiative forcing and so 0.01 W/m² per 1ppmv would be a generous linear relationship to use as of 2020. According to the Keeling Curve, CO2 is increasing at the rate of around 2.5ppmv/year. Therefore, the annual radiative forcing from CO2 would be about 0.025 W/m² and that would be sufficient to raise the global temperature at the surface by about 0.0046°C under the S-B law1 (assuming none gets absorbed in the evaporation of seawater). Far from being catastrophic, such a trivial rate of warming would be lost in the inaccuracies of the measurements.
2) The linear structure of the CO2 molecule limits its natural vibrational frequencies, resulting in a constrained capacity to absorb Earth’s surface radiation. CO2 predominantly absorbs wavelengths at 4.26 micrometers, 7.2 micrometers, and 15.0 micrometers. Among these, the 15-micrometer wavelength is notable as it aligns with the Earth’s infrared emission frequencies. Despite this, the more abundant and flexible H2O molecule in the Earth’s atmosphere, with its bent structure and numerous vibrational modes, absorbs a broader range of Earth-emitted frequencies. In essence, water vapor already absorbs a considerable portion of the radiation absorbed by CO2. Consequently, elevating CO2 levels is expected to exert minimal impact on the atmosphere’s ability to retain Earth’s radiated heat. The planet’s average surface temperature is currently about 15°C while its blackbody temperature is -18°C and the temperature difference of about 33°C represents a large amount of radiative forcing by the atmospheric greenhouse. In fact it amounts to about 153 W/m². The concentration of water vapour in the atmosphere is on average 1% (source: NASA Earth Fact Sheet) while the concentration of CO2 is 0.04%. Hence water vapour is about 25 times more abundant than CO2 in the atmosphere, and pound for pound, it also has a far greater potency than CO2 as well because it absorbs IR-energy over a much greater spectrum. CO2 comprises approximately 4% of the total atmospheric greenhouse by volume and since it is a weaker greenhouse gas than water vapour it follows logically that it cannot be contributing more than 6 W/m² (4%) to the greenhouse effect of 153 W/m² whereas water vapour should contribute upwards of 146 W/m² (96%).
3) The 13C/12C ratio can be used to estimate the life-time of CO2 and it shows that CO2 has a small life-time and because of this there is only a small percentage of human CO2 residing in the atmosphere today. The atmospheric life-time for CO2 has been confirmed empirically by observations of the atmospheric 13C/12C ratio. Around 99% of atmospheric CO2 consists of the 12C isotope with the remaining 1% consisting of 13C. The 13C/12C ratio is referred to as δ13C. δ13C is the difference between the ratio of 13C/12C in a substance compared to a standard of VPDB (Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite) minus one. The number is multiplied by one-thousand and expressed as “per mil”. Anthropogenic CO2 has an approximate δ13C of around –29 (with values ranging between -20 to -44) and natural biogenic CO2 is similar with a δ13C of -26. The pre-industrial δ13C was -7. Today, the CO2 in the atmosphere has a δ13C of about –8.3. So, the amount of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere is approximately 6%2 (i.e. 6% of -29 and 94% of -7) with the rest of CO2 in the atmosphere (i.e. 94%) being isotopically-indistinguishable3 from natural sources.
4) The demonstrable impotence of atmospheric CO2 as the driver of global warming is evidenced by the fact that from 1998 to 2012 the global temperature increased at the risible rate of 0.05°C per decade (IPCC AR5) despite the fact humans emitted a total of 30% of our cumulative emissions since 1850.
5) CO2 behaves logarithmically and the more of it there is in the atmosphere the less warming each molecule should have. The logarithmic effect of CO2 is due to the availability of photons of the required frequency that are absorbed. That CO2 forcing increases logarithmically has been known for over a century. The vast majority of the warming from CO2 comes from the first 20ppmv and after that CO2 has a small effect (see here). The insignificance of CO2 as a climate driver is corroborated by the fact that Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer measurements imply the warming from CO2 is only 0.01 W/m² per 1ppmv. That gives a warming at the Earth’s surface of [288^4+0.01/σ]^0.25-288 = 0.0018°C.4
6) The ice-core data is not representative of true paleo-climate CO2 levels. The ice-core is not a closed-system and there are various processes that happen as CO2 is inside the ice that causes the ice to underestimate ancient CO2. Some of these processes include gravitational compression, which forces CO2 out of the ice over millennia and the high solubility of CO2 relative to N2O and O2 which is absorbed preferentially by liquid in the ice, underestimating CO2’s true values (Jaworowski 1997). Measurements of the surface-snow in Antarctica has shown that the surface-snow can underestimate atmospheric CO2 by up to 50% (Jaworowski et al 1992). Therefore, the ice-core is not a reliable representation of paleo-climate CO2 levels. There are chemical measurements suggesting CO2 was higher only a few hundred years ago, peaking at around 450ppmv, as shown in the graph below, adapted from Georg Beck 2007 and Stomata-proxy shows CO2 peaking at just below 450ppmv (Steinthorsdottir et al 2013). There’s different extraction methods in the ice-core to consider as well. The long-term wet-extraction method shows CO2 levels of over 900ppmv (see here).
7) The IPCC might want to explain why the global temperature increased at almost the same rate between 1860-1880, as it did between 1910-1940 and between 1975-1998 and 1975-2009 (see here). Human CO2 emissions increased by almost 3,500% from 1860-1880 to 1975-1998 and yet the rate of warming stayed essentially the same. The warming between the years 1860 to 1880 must have been natural because the Arrhenius equation for calculating radiative forcing (RF) increases from CO2 increases only gives 0.028 W/m² of RF, or a total temperature increase of 0.02°C — with the hypothesized positive fast feedbacks — the data for anthropogenic CO2 emissions are from CDIAC and it can be seen here (note that the units are in ‘million metric tonnes’; to convert to CO2 multiply by 3.67 and then to convert to gigatonnes divide by 1,000). The time periods and warming trends below are from the 2010 BBC interview with Phil Jones.
8) Global warming is explainable by clouds. According to Ogurtsov et al (2012), changes in global cloudiness have increased the shortwave solar radiation reaching the surface. The increase in this shortwave forcing amounts to 3 W/m² to 7 W/m² (here) between 1983 to 2001 or 0.17 W/m² to 0.39 W/m² per year. These figures need to be divided by 2.5 to take into account the cooling effect due to a general decrease in clouds because clouds simultaneously cool and warm the Earth. For every 5 W/m² that clouds cool the Earth by they warm it by 3 W/m² (IPCC AR5). Therefore the net-warming from the increase in shortwave solar radiative forcing (from a general decrease in cloud-cover) becomes 0.07 W/m² to 0.26 W/m² per year which corresponds to a warming of about 0.013°C to 0.048°C per year which corresponds to 0.13°C to 0.48°C per decade. The global surface temperature is assumed to be increasing at the rate of 0.15°C to 0.20°C per decade. So, changes in clouds could explain the warming. There’s not much room left for CO2.
❝One of the most obvious ways for warming to be caused naturally is for small fluctuations in circulation patterns of the atmosphere and ocean to result in a 1% to 2% change in global cloud cover❞
Dr. Roy Spencer
The idea that cloud-cover could be responsible for global warming has been further corroborated by Delgado-Bonal et al (2020) who, using NASA data, has estimated that there has been an increase in shortwave solar radiation of 3.5 W/m² between 1984 to 2014 which was mainly determined by cloud-modulation (see graph here).
9) Natural variation within a regular interglacial climate regime is well able to account for the trivial and mild climate changes and temperature shifts that we have seen so far and we have no objective reason to think that anything unprecedented is happening to the climate at all. Below is a quote from Ivanovic et al (2017) explaining the Bølling warming, which is a clear demonstration of warming on a larger scale than what is blamed on humans being caused by natural factors alone.
One argument repeated endlessly by CAGW-alarmists is that the rate of current global warming is anything unlike the planet has experienced in the past. But is this true? We don’t have to look far to see that this is probably not the case and that the climate has warmed more rapidly before. Take a look at the GISP2 graph (shown below) which is loosely indicative of Northern Hemisphere temperatures. What you’re seeing in the graph below is warming rates based on 100-year time frames, to give us a good reference to the recent warming over the last 100 years, blamed on humans. You can see that the climate has warmed far more rapidly than anything us humans have allegedly been responsible for — over 15°C in 100-year time frames.
10) Anthropogenic CO2 should not take hundreds or thousands of years to be removed from the atmosphere. In AR5, the IPCC say: “The removal of human emitted CO2 from the atmosphere will take a few hundred thousand years”. The Gold Standard evidence for the removal of a pulse concentration of CO2 put in the atmosphere is the measured lifetime of 14CO2! 14CO2 was in equilibrium with sources and sinks before atmospheric nuclear-testing doubled the atmospheric concentration. After the 1963 test-ban treaty stopped nuclear-testing, the pulse concentration of anthropogenic 14CO2 was naturally removed from the atmosphere with a half-life of around 10-12 years (residence time 16 years) with today’s concentration (as of 2020) approaching natural equilibrium levels. Given a half-life of 10-12 years, equilibration for the pulse 14CO2 (by ~94%) with other carbon reservoirs would take around 4 half-lives (40-48 years) which is a far cry from the IPCC’s claim of “a few hundred thousand years”. The residence time of 14CO2 of 16 years has been measured longer than that for 12CO2 possibly due to differences in the kinetic absorption and dissolution rates of the two molecules (Segalstad 2009).
11) One piece of evidence against CAGW is the missing tropical tropospheric hotspot. As Joanne Nova says “The ‘hotspot’ is crucial to the climate debate. If greenhouses gases are warming the planet that warming will happen first in the cold blob of air 8-12 km above the tropics. It’s freezing cold up there, but it ought to be slightly less freezing cold thanks to greenhouse gases. All 20-odd climate models predict warming there first — it’s the fingerprint of greenhouse gas warming”. In the IPCC’s reports, their models predict warming in the troposphere in the tropics due to “well-mixed greenhouse gases” (see IPCC’s prediction below, courtesy of Santer et al 1995).
But no such hotspot can be found. You can see how the model projections compare with real-world observations from radiosondes in the NIPPC report here (on page 107). There’s no hotspot which indicates there is no significant warming from atmospheric CO2 (or other greenhouse gases) at the present time. The non-appearance of the hotspot has been a thorn in the side of CAGW-advocates for a while and they’ve done everything to try and brush this inconvenient fact under the rug and make it seem like a non-issue. They’ll say things like: “The tropical tropospheric hotspot is not a unique signature of greenhouse warming and any warming would produce a hotspot” which is true but the IPCC have claimed (with something like 90% confidence) that the warming over the late 20th century is anthropogenic and so the argument that “any warming” could produce a hotspot is contradictory to the IPCC’s conclusions, unless they want to argue that the warming is natural. What matters, is that regardless of what’s supposed to cause the hotspot, there is no hotspot, and therein lies the problem: The models have overestimated greenhouse warming.
12) The predictive performance of the CAGW-models have been refuted by real-world observations. The graph here (from former NASA scientist Dr. Roy Spencer) shows that the IPCC’s models have massively overestimated tropospheric warming. The CAGW-models can be seen to be irrational and represent the Earth’s actual climate system so poorly they can only be described as misrepresentations of it. Quote from Dr. Roy Spencer: “We know that 95% of the models have over-forecast the warming trend since 1979, whether we use their own dataset (HADCRUT4) or our own satellite dataset of lower tropospheric temperatures (UAH)”.
13) There is a substantial proportion of scientists who dissent from the IPCC’s estimate for climate sensitivity for reasons which they have explained in depth and detail in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Some of these studies are shown in the graph below.
14) A widespread misconception disseminated by the media is that humans are making hurricanes worse. Below is a graph adapted from the NOAA showing hurricanes in the USA, dating back to 1850, and there’s been no appreciable increase in the frequency of hurricanes. There has been no increase in global hurricanes either (as shown here).
15) According to the Arrhenius equation for calculating how CO2 catches heat, the warming on (the mythical planet) Mars should be higher than what it is. The atmosphere of Mars is highly amenable to empirical testing of the Arrhenius equation, because its climate-system contains no considerable feedback-mechanisms to complicate, or modify the direct and immediate response of the CO2 in terms of the amount of radiative forcing that it is supposed to produce. When the Arrhenius equation is applied to the planet Mars things go horribly wrong. There the observed global warming according to NASA’s revised Fact Sheet is about 0.2K (or 0.5 W/m²). The revised NASA data shows an effective temperature for Mars of 209.8K (see Mars NASA Fact Sheet) and an average global surface temperature of 210K. This is interesting, when one considers that Mars has a CO2 density about 27 times higher than Earth, at 165 kg/m² and 6 kg/m² respectively, and on Earth CO2 is claimed to increase the global average surface temperature by about 6K (or 32 W/m²). The CO2 on Mars apparently produces 30 times less warming despite being 27 times more abundant. Pressure broadening and the greater intensity of CO2’s radiation absorption at 15 microns on Earth does not appear to be able to make up for this disparity. According to the Arrhenius equation, the warming on Mars (that has Earth’s equivalent of 10,000ppmv) should give between 30 W/m² to 50 W/m².
The standard equation used in climate-science for calculating CO2’s radiative forcing is as follows:
Where ΔF is the amount of “radiative forcing”, Ln stands for “natural logarithm of”, C0 is the initial concentration of atmospheric CO2, ΔC is the final concentration of atmospheric CO2, and W/m² stands for “watts per square metre”. When one investigates the origin of this equation you discover that it’s based on radiative-transfer models (HITRAN and MODTRAN) which according to Skeptical Science “use fundamental physical equations and observations to translate this increased downward radiation into a radiative forcing”. The HITRAN and MODTRAN computer codes are owned by the US air-force and the derivation for the equation is contained on their master-discs and so they’re unverifiable as far as the general public is concerned. Using the equation anyway, assuming CO2 increased from its present-day value of 420ppmv to 840ppmv (a doubling) then the increase in forcing from CO2 would only be 3.7 W/m² which translates to a warming of around 1°C on a baseline temperature of 288K.
Abother method of determining the warming from CO2 are the experiments by Hottel and Leckner. Experiments have been done to determine CO2’s total absorptivity/emissivity (it’s potential to absorb and emit radiation) and the results have shown that it’s very low. As scientist Nasif Nahle states: “According to experiments conducted by Hottel, Leckner, Lapp, Ludwig, Sarofim and their collaborators, and other scientists, the total absorptance potential of carbon dioxide is 0.003”. These experiments were conducted with CO2 in a saturated state. If CO2 were the solitary component of the atmosphere with an emissivity of 0.003 then it’s forcing (or ‘back-radiation’) can be determined by the following equation which describes the heat-transfer by radiation from a warm body towards a cooler body (see Wikipedia):
Where Q is the heat-transfer rate (here in “watts per square metre”), σ is Stefan-Boltzmann Constant (5.670374419 × 10−8), T1 is the temperature of the warmer body (in this case Earth’s surface at 288K) to the fourth-power and T2 is the temperature of the cooler body (in this case the atmosphere at 255K) to the fourth-power, ε1 is the emissivity of the warmer body (0.7) and ε2 is the emissivity of the cooler body (0.003), A is the surface-area of 1 (m^2) and F1 is the view-factor (assumed to be 1 for the calculation). Plugging in the values the ‘back-radiation’ from atmospheric CO2 turns out to be 0.45 W/m² (about 0.08°C). That’s from the entire CO2-greenhouse effect.
Nasif Nahle has some good papers on CO2’s low emissivity and criticizes the IPCC for assuming an emissivity of 1.0 for greenhouse gases. Using a similar emissivity for CO2 of 0.002, Claes Johnson calculates a CO2 forcing “smaller than 0.5 W/m²” and so the figure of 0.45 W/m² seems to be in the right ball-park.
16) According to the IPCC, in AR5, the solar forcing since pre-industrial times has been small, amounting to only 0.05 W/m². But there are various reconstructions showing a large increase in TSI since pre-industrial times. Quote from Egorova et al 2018: “There is no consensus on the amplitude of the historical solar forcing. The estimated magnitude of the total solar irradiance difference between the Maunder Minimum and present time ranges from 0.1 W/m² to 6 W/m² making uncertain the simulation of the past and future climate”. Quote from Scafetta et al 2018: “The solar radiative forcing is quite uncertain because from 1700 to 2000 the proposed historical TSI reconstructions vary greatly from a minimum of 0.5 W/m² to a maximum of about 6 W/m²”. One of the reconstructions below (from the book, Climate Change The Facts) shows an increase in TSI of about 4 W/m² since 1800 which works out at a forcing of 0.7 W/m² (since TSI is traditionally converted into solar forcing by dividing by 4 in order to take into account the spherical geometry of Earth and multiplying by an albedo of about 0.7). That is 14 times greater than what the IPCC attribute to solar forcing since pre-industrial times.
17) It’s often claimed by CAGW-alarmists that the modern sea level rise is unprecedented, thus implying that human activity must be responsible. This is another misconception. The global sea level has been rising long before human CO2 emissions became a significant factor — post-1950 (see graph below). The sea level rise pre-1950 must have been natural because human CO2 emissions were pretty negligible (as shown here). Whatever natural factors caused the sea level to rise between 1880 to 1950 could have still been at play post-1950. About 50% of human CO2 emissions have occurred after 1990. The graph below shows that the sea level has not accelerated as human CO2 emissions increased and the modern sea level rise is well-within long-term natural variation. So, how do we know that what is happening with the sea level rise is not just Mother Nature rolling on with natural cycles as she has done for eons?
18) Compelling evidence the IPCC’s models misrepresent the Earth’s climate is shown in the graph below. The IPCC’s climate models predict that as CO2 and other greenhouse gases increase then the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) will decrease as more radiation is trapped and re-radiated back towards the surface. The graph below (from Lindzen et al 2009) is a compelling refutation of the CAGW-hypothesis and shows that OLR has not increased as the models have predicted. This shows that the climate models trap heat too aggressively. The vertical axis in the graph below is OLR and the horizontal axis is sea-surface temperature. The red line is from the ERBE satellites and the green line are the IPCC’s model predictions. The ERBE satellite shows the opposite to what the models have predicted, that is, that more radiation is being re-radiated out to space as the temperature rises and is not being trapped as the models predict.
❝The climate models are violently at odds with reality❞
David Evans
19) Another widespread misconception is that (the mythical planet) Venus is hot due to the radiative enhancement from its high atmospheric CO2 concentration (96.5%). This claim is dubious and due to Venus’ high albedo, there is insufficient solar energy that the planet absorbs to drive a powerful greenhouse effect. Venus is estimated to have a solar irradiance of 2600 W/m² and its bond albedo is usually cited to be between 0.75 to 0.80 (Colin 1983) but other observations and sources indicate a higher bond albedo of 0.90 (see Mallama et al 2006 and Tian et al 2013). We can use the equation here to calculate the effective blackbody temperature of Venus, assuming a solar irradiance (Iₒ) of 2600 W/m² and a bond albedo (ᴬB) of 0.90.
Where T is the effective blackbody temperature, Iₒ is the solar irradiance or solar constant, ᴬB is the bond albedo, and σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. Plugging the values into the equation, we get 65 W/m² of absorbed solar radiation which would only be enough to raise the surface temperature of Venus to 184K. However, we find that the surface temperature of Venus is 740K (according to NASA), requiring a radiative enhancement by the atmospheric CO2-greenhouse of ~16,000 W/m² (by the S-B law1). Yet Venus absorbs 65 W/m2 of solar radiation (or 160 W/m² assuming an albedo of 0.75). For the greenhouse effect to operate, the atmosphere of a planet needs to be relatively transparent to incoming shortwave solar radiation and relatively opaque to outgoing longwave radiation. However, due to Venus’ high albedo, this is not possible. Something else on Venus must be causing its high temperature, such as adiabatic compression.
20) The threat from methane has been overblown. Barret (2005) shows the absorption characteristics of the main atmospheric greenhouse gases. Water vapour is the top, methane is second, and CO2 is third. T0 means all radiation is absorbed and T1 means nothing is absorbed. Strong absorbance from methane occurs at wavenumbers around 1300 cm⁻¹. CO2 absorbs radiation strongly at around 670 cm⁻¹ and 2350 cm⁻¹, while water vapour absorbs strongly over much of the electromagnetic spectrum. We can see from the graph below that methane is rather weak at absorbing radiation when compared to water vapour. Methane exists as a tenuous trace gas, and comprises about 1.9ppmv of the atmosphere (as of 2020) whereas water vapour makes up about 10,000ppmv (source: NASA Earth Fact Sheet) making water vapour 5,000 times more abundant than methane. The current methane concentration of 1.9ppmv corresponds to around 5 gigatonnes (Gts); about 0.38ppmv per 1 Gt. Assuming the permafrost melted and it added an extra 5 Gts to the atmosphere by 2100 (IPCC AR5: Biogeochemical Cycles, page 530 to 531) then that would only increase the concentration of methane by 1.9ppmv, which is still 5,000 times less abundant than the concentration of water vapour. Methane only makes up 1 molecule in every 500,000 molecules spread evenly throughout the atmosphere.
The IPCC’s formula below can be used to determine how much radiative forcing a given increase in CH4 would have. Where ΔF stands for the ‘increment of radiative forcing’ in W/m²; M is the new CH4 concentration in ppbv after the increment is added, and M₀ is the old CH4 concentration before the increment was added.
Accepting that the current CH4 concentration is around 1900ppbv (as of 2020) and that the IPCC claim another 1900ppbv will be added to the atmosphere by 2100 due to the melting permafrost (total of 3800ppbv) then that would give us a radiative forcing from the released CH4 of 0.036(√3800−√1900) = 0.65 W/m² which would only be enough to raise the surface temperature by 0.12°C. And that is on the basis of their own figures! It makes you wonder how people can justify ‘the sky is falling’ hysteria about CH4.
21) It’s claimed the increase in CO2 is causing the ocean to acidify at an unprecedented rate and this will cause harm to coral reefs and marine life. Firstly, the term ‘acidify’ is a misnomer, because the current average ocean pH is assumed to be between 7.9 to 8.0 (depending on the source) below an assumed pre-industrial level of 8.2 and that is very much alkaline. Secondly, while humans are assumed to have contributed to the change in ocean pH, it can change naturally, and has done so in the past, due to things such as temperature, eutrophication and biological activity. The graph here (from Pelejero et al 2005) is based on paleo-climate reconstructions and it shows the rate of change of pH going back 300 years and we can see that pH changed naturally and rapidly long before humans started emitting CO2. The graph in the link above shows that between 1710 to 1750 and 1815 to 1845 ocean pH decreased by about 0.05 units per decade while the modern decrease in pH as measured at Hawaii is around 0.033 units per decade. Hence the rate of modern decrease in pH is not unusual and is within natural variation.
22) The positive effects of global warming to me outweigh the negatives. The most obvious positive side-effect of global warming is the fact that a colder on average climate kills more people. A study published in the Lancet (Gasparrini et al 2015) examined 70 million deaths from 400 locations throughout the world and they found that heat-deaths are responsible for 0.5% of the deaths and cold was responsible for about 7%. A warmer climate can also contain greater quantities of water vapour and hence will produce a generally wetter global climate which is a plus for agriculture. Despite the temperature increasing, there’s actually been a recorded decrease in droughts (Hao et al 2014) probably in part thanks to the increased water vapour in the atmosphere. Another positive is that a warmer climate releases more CO2 into the atmosphere (due to the solubility of CO2) and that would enhance the net-productivity of the biosphere by providing vital nutrition to green-plants and microorganisms.
1 The Stefan-Boltzmann law
2 Assuming a pre-industrial δ13C value of -6.5 instead of -7, we get a total amount of 8% of human CO2 in the atmosphere instead of 6%
3 If there were more than one source for the CO2 increase then the human component could be more or less than 6% due to the anthropogenic signature being mixed up with negative and positive δ13C values of CO2 emissions from other sources. A decrease in δ13C is not a unique signature of anthropogenic CO2 and natural CO2 depleted in 13C like biogenic CO2 or bacteriogenic methane (which oxidizes to CO2) would decrease δ13C and there is evidence that this has occurred naturally in the past
4 This tiny warming by CO2 is corroborated by Stallinga 2020 who calculates climate sensitivity to rising CO2 concentrations of 0.0014°C per 1ppmv
THE CASE FOR FLAT EARTH
Flat-Earthers are seen as crazy by the majority of people, but my experience has taught me that the Flat Earth has much to be recommended, in spite of the derision to which it’s perennially subjected to. I have found that the scientific establishment’s fierce and implacable hostility towards Flat Earth is founded not upon scientific enlightenment, but rather upon irrationality and fear. While on Facebook, I recently came across an article by the moderately famous Flat-Earther Eric Dubay in which he claims that the Earth is “demonstrably not a globe”, because we can see things further away than we should if the Earth were a sphere with the radius given to us by mainstream science. One example that Dubay gives to support his claim is the photo here. The photo, taken by a professional photographer, shows the mountain ranges of Pic Gaspard (in France) from Pic de Finestrelles (in Spain); a range of 443 km. According to Dubay, this photo should not have been possible if the Earth were a globe and Pic Gaspard should have been hidden by the Earth’s curve. Should the mountain have been hidden though, and could we possibly calculate this?
For an observer at sea-level with a height of the eye ℎₒᵦₛ, the maximum line of sight distance of the horizon at sea-level is:
More distant elevated objects of height ℎₒᵦⱼ extend this distance and the maximum line of sight distance becomes the sum of the two distances:
In July 2016, professional photographer Marc Bret Gumà captured an image of a mountain located 443 km away. This photo was taken from the vantage point of Pic de Finestrelles, situated at an elevation of 2.8 km above sea level, revealing the distant peak of Pic Gaspard at an elevation of 3.9 km. According to calculations based on the equation above, the maximum line of sight should have been limited to 412 km, theoretically rendering the mountain invisible beyond the horizon. However, an intriguing phenomenon called atmospheric refraction may offer an explanation. A study published in the American Journal of Physics in 1982, authored by French, quantitatively assessed the bending of light paths in a standard atmosphere. This research indicated that the observation distance to the horizon, inclusive of refraction effects in relation to the straight-line path, could increase by up to 9%, contingent on the observer’s altitude and the atmospheric density profile. Consequently, the initial 412 km limit expands to 449 km, a distance that would indeed bring the mountain into view, only just. According to scientist Michael Vollmer, the photo could only have been possible due to a favourable “interplay of light scattering and refraction”. In principle, not impossible then.
That said, there are some examples where normal atmospheric refraction isn’t enough to explain an observation and so special atmospheric conditions are needed. For example, Korzenewsky (1923) recorded seeing snow-capped peaks of a mountain range 750 km away. The observation was made in the deserts of Turkestan at an elevation of 1 km and the mountain they saw was 4.6 km in elevation. When we apply the equation above, we find that the maximum line of sight is 354 km, and when taking into account normal atmospheric refraction, the maximum line of sight becomes 385 km. Meanwhile, visual observations have been made of Mount Everest 985 km away. The observation was from a plane at an elevation of 12 km and Mount Everest has an elevation of 8.8 km. When we apply the equation above, we find that the maximum line of sight is 725 km and when we correct this for normal atmospheric refraction, we find that the maximum line of sight comes out at 790 km, which is far below the observation distance of 985 km. I suppose, theoretically, in ideal conditions, the shortfall of 260 km could be made up by refraction, but without knowing the atmospheric conditions on the day, it’s impossible to say. Refraction making up a distance of 260 km seems somewhat tenuous.
To me though the ultimate irony is that the claims made by Round Earth model advocates are easily checkable and one does not even need a degree in a scientific subject in order to be capable of checking them. A little honest reasoning and simple high school mathematics, together with a knowledge of the basic facts of the case, are all that is required. Every scientist should have the modest capabilities as the barest minimum of his qualifications and the amount of time that he would need to spend on performing the back-of-envelope calculations should not amount to more than, say, half an hour, so no scientist worthy of the name has any real excuse for not doing them and discovering for himself the truth that the Round Earth model is questionable. Take, for example, lighthouses. The Ilha da Moela lighthouse stands at an elevation of 52 meters (0.05 km) above sea level. According to its Wikipedia page (sourced from the popular ‘List of Lights’ lighthouse publication) the lighthouse can be seen up to 74 km away. However, when we apply the equation above, the maximum line of sight, assuming a ship with a height of 0.03 km comes out at 44 km, far below the observed 74 km. This is a common issue as reported by Dubay as various lighthouses can be seen a lot further than they should if the Earth were a sphere with the assumed radius. Another example is the video below showing the Chicken Rock lighthouse in the Isle of Man which has an elevation of 0.04 km and was filmed from about 56 km away from an elevation of 0.007 km. Assuming the equation above, the maximum line of sight should be 30 km, well below the observed 56 km.
Another lighthouse with visibility beyond what might be expected on a globe Earth is the Leça Lighthouse located in Portugal. This lighthouse has served as a crucial maritime navigational aid for the region over many years and is positioned at an elevation of approximately 30 meters (0.030 km) above sea level. As per information from its Wikipedia page, corroborated by details on the FlowersTowers website: “Fourteen years later, the lighthouse was connected to the public electricity grid and was equipped with a 3000-watt lamp that provided a luminous range of 60 nautical miles, in other words, over 110 kilometres. At the end of the 1970s, the power was reduced and, today, this white light reaches up to 28 nautical miles (52 kilometres)”. According to this historical data, the lighthouse once had a maximum range of 110 km with its brighter lighting system. Applying the equation above, which presumes the lighthouse is situated at an elevation of 0.03 km above sea level and assumes the observer’s position to be at an elevation of 30 meters (0.03 km) above sea level, the calculated maximum line of sight is around 39 km. Yet, according to those sources, the lighthouse was visible at 110 km. Meanwhile, the Albardão lighthouse situated in Brazil can be seen 78 km away, as mentioned by Wikipedia, and is situated 50 meters (0.05 km) above sea level. If we apply the equation, we get a maximum line of sight of only 44 km, and factoring in normal refraction, we get 48 km. Another example is the Minicoy Island lighthouse which has an elevation of 50 meters (0.05 km) and according to Wikipedia, can be seen 74 km away. However, on a globe, the maximum line of sight should be 44 km.
Arguably, a better calculation involves determining if objects should be visible from the observer at a given distance when factoring in the alleged curvature of the Earth is shown below. How much of an object is hidden behind the curvature of the Earth is called the hidden height, hh. If you know the distance along the surface s, this formula can calculate the hh:
Where the hidden height is hh, the assumed radius of Earth is R (6371 km), the observer’s eye-height is hₒ, and the distance of the object from the observer is s. Another notable observation, pertains to Mount Blanc and its visibility from Cologne, Germany, as cited on Wikipedia’s page here. The source mentions that Mount Blanc, with an elevation of 4.8 km, was visible from Cologne, which was observed at an elevation of about 4 km. Applying the hh equation produces a hh of 7.2 km. According to this calculation, 7.2 km should be concealed by the Earth’s curvature. However, Mount Blanc, which stands at 4.8 km, was observed. Even when factoring in normal refraction (7433 km is radius to use for standard refraction) the mountain should still have not been visible. Whenever people see further than they should on a globe, Round-Earthers invariably and perfunctorily pass it off as “big refraction”. Another example of seeing further than you should if Earth were a globe is famous The Bedford Level Experiment which is a series of observations carried out along the Old Bedford River on Cambridgeshire Fens. Samuel Rowbotham, who conducted the observations, claimed that he had proven the Earth was not a globe. Alfred Wallace believed that Rowbotham’s observation was due to refraction.
The paper titled ‘Antarctica: Planning Guide Sailing Directions and Enroute 2005’ from the government agency National Geospatial-Intelligence, alleges visible ranges longer than one would theoretically expect on a globe, stating: “There is almost no dust or solid particles in the Antarctic air and the prevailing winds blowing off the continent have small moisture content. Consequently, the visibility is very good and usually exceptional, a fact which, if not appreciated, may lead the observer into serious error when judging distances. An object which may be thought to be but 5 miles distant could well be 30 miles away, and mountains have been sighted at 300 miles”. Another photo that calls the Round Earth into question is shown here. It was taken at an elevation of about 0.96 km and it caught the mountain of Cima Ovest which has an elevation of around 2.9 km. The distance between the two points was 306 km. According to the hh equation above, there should be 3 km of hh which means the entire mountain should have been behind the curve. Another observation by Gumà is shown on his website here. The photograph in question depicts Doigt de Dieu which has an elevation of 3.9 km from an observation point of Bastiments, Pyrenees at an elevation of around 2.5 km at 436 km. When applying the hh equation above, the hh comes out at around 5.2 km which should put the entire mountain at 3.9 km behind the curve. Naturally, Round-Earthers will argue special atmospheric conditions explain this.
This is not the only argument that Dubay uses to support his assertion that the Earth isn’t a globe. According to Dubay, every experiment ever done has shown that the Earth is not moving. The most famous of these (due to its irrefutability) was the Michelson-Morley experiment, which measured light rays, and according to Dubay, established that the Earth was not moving. As Karina Benitez says in her book ‘Flat Earth: The Biggest Secrets About Earth’: “The shocking result of this experiment is that light did travel with the same velocity in the various horizontal directions tested. The Earth did not measurably move around the Sun at all, in contradiction to all expectations and the accepted astronomical model”. The result of the Michelson-Morley experiment directly influenced Einstein’s theory of relativity. Eintsein said: “If the Michelson-Morley experiment had not brought us into serious embarrassment, no-one would have regarded the relativity theory as a redemption”. What Einstein’s saying is that in order to disprove that the Earth was not moving, as had been demonstrated by the Michelson-Morley experiment, the theory of relativity needed to be created, as explained here (famously, Nikola Tesla disagreed with relativity).
❝I have come to believe that the motion of the Earth cannot be detected by any optical experiment❞
Albert Einstein
One book that covers the Flat Earth subject somewhat comprehensively is Karina Benitez’s ‘Flat Earth: The Biggest Secrets About Earth’. She opens her book by saying: “People need to understand the level of deception in which we have been immersed. Everything has been designed from the beginning to fabricate our mindset through constant insidious indoctrination”. Flat Earth is only one small aspect of the amount lies we’ve been fed in our lives. It was from reading books and watching documentaries from creators like Dubay that led me to discover what the essential flaws are in the Round Earth model. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the Round Earth model isn’t based on any real science at all, but only on CGI, camera trickery, and mathematics, whose behaviour is completely unrelated to that of the real-world. The Round Earth model has been elevated into a cult purportedly supported by real science. NASA (and the world’s scientific organizations) would appear to have an overwhelming “mountain of evidence” to support the case that the Earth is a sphere, but on closer examination, you soon realize that there isn’t a single pebble from that mountain to prove that the Earth really is a sphere.
For more on the Flat Earth, see the documentary from Dubay here.
THE SATURN POLAR CONFIGURATION IN FICTION
In the movie The Fifth Element (directed by Luc Besson) a character decrypts ancient hieroglyphs that warns about an alignment of three planets that occurs once every 5,000 years, saying: “When the three planets eclipse, the black-hole, like a door, is opened. Evil comes, sowing terror and chaos”. As the character says this, he points to the image below of the circle inside the triangle. Take note that the Saturn Polar Configuration was an alignment or eclipse of three planets and it created the appearance of a circle inside a triangle, very similar to the image below from the movie. The triangle is even surrounded by a larger circle which is exactly how the Saturn Polar Configuration is depicted.
About one-hour into the movie, they even show a symbol for the Saturn Polar Configuration. This symbol is an 8-pointed star supported by a pillar complete with a crescent (as shown below). The 8-pointed star in the image below has four large spokes seperated by four smaller ones, which is exactly how the Saturn Polar Configuration is depicted. Why is this movie making thinly-veiled references to the Saturn Polar Configuration, and associating it with a black-hole which the movie says “opens like a door” as though it were a worm-hole?
In the movie Tomb Raider (2001) there’s a rare planetary alignment that occurs once every 5,000 years and people are waiting on this rare alignment. When this planetary alignment occurs, it will activate an ancient artifact known as the “Triangle of Light” (as shown below) allowing one to overcome the constraints of time and space. Notably, as Venus aligned with Saturn (during the Saturn Polar Configuration) it created a ‘triangle of light’ (as seen above from Talbott).
Interestingly, there’s a movie called Dark Crystal from 1982 that appears to hint at the Saturn Polar Configuration. In this movie, there’s character called Aughra. She is both an oracle and astronomer and has an observatory made from complex machinery that follows and predicts the movements of heavenly bodies. She tells the protagonist of the movie, Jen, that a “great conjunction will be coming” and she specifically mentions that this conjunction involves three planets. When Jen questions her as to what the “great conjunction” is, she cryptically puts a triangle over her eye.
The celestial conjunction that Talbott describes involves three bodies (Saturn, Venus, and Mars) and at one point during their configuration they formed a triangle of light (as seen above). What are the chances that in the Dark Crystal the character Aughra would also mention a celestial conjunction of three planets as she cryptically puts a triangle over her eye?
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See the full article here.
SATURN, CERN, AND THE CUBE OF ILLUSION 
