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Part 6: Arcadia
3. . . A Place 'Before' and 'Out of Time'
'The concept of Arcadia as a Hermetic ideal seems to have been implicit, symbolizing the hope for a new order based on cosmic principles of divine order, the kind of world of which the Rosicrucians spoke. It is always associated with a mysterious ancient tomb of unknown import, as if the world for which they hoped was in fact a rebirth of a world that had once existed in the far-distant past, the “Golden Age” of which the ancients spoke'.
Tracy R. Twyman. See here:
Although the name or term, ‘Arcadia’ is quite popularly used today, its origin remains confusing and indecisive. The word ‘Arcadia’ is often used to encapsulate our quixotic vision of a pastoral earthly paradise; a utopian Eden, which exists partly in the collective imagination. Arcadia has been described as a place of ‘perfection’ and a place where happiness reigns – a stark contrast to the complicated life in today’s urban societies. This idealised version of Arcadia is based mostly on the writings of the Roman poet Virgil.
It is said that the physical and historical Arcadia was once a district of the Greek Peloponnesus – a land of numerous valleys surrounded by high impassable mountains. Renowned for its high fertility and peaceful way of life, it is said that the people of Arcadia were pagans – simple rustic-folk consisting of shepherds and herdsmen. Here we have our first connection, as again, the ancient Egyptian gods like Osiris for instance, were seen as “shepherds of men”.
However, like the city of Troy, the literal existence of a Greek ‘Arcadia’ – especially during recorded history – remains unconfirmed and really makes no sense. This leaves us to consider that the reference to Arcadia in the inscription included in two of Poussin’s paintings, is ‘allegorical’ – in that the name given to this rural ‘shepherd’s delight’ believed to have once been a peaceful land amidst the evils associated with the Greek City States – is being used as an analogy to bring to mind the paradise once enjoyed during the “Golden Age”.
This would mean that this simplistic Arcadian utopia was universal – in that the term applies to other places around the globe – possibly the belt areas which begin 30 degrees north and south of the equator and at a certain time in man’s history.
As for the enigmatic inscription ET IN ARCADIA EGO – many have tried to interpret the meaning behind the inscription. The most direct translation is, “And in Arcadia I . . .” but this incomplete sentence just adds to the mystery. Poussin’s first biographer, Giovanni Pietro Bellori, interpreted “Et In Arcadia Ego” as quoted: “ . . . the grave is to be found even in Arcady and that death occurs in the very midst of delight”. [1]
Another interpretation is “And I Am In Arcadia”. A popular interpretation is that it is an anagram of TEGO ARCANA DEI (“Begone! I conceal the secrets of God”). Writer and Rosicrucian, Anneke told us that the term ‘Ego’ (also meaning ‘I’ or ‘the One’) was used by mystics in the Renaissance to address the ‘Divine Self’ and so the phrase Et in Arcadia Ego should be read as: Et-in-Arc-a-Dia-Ego: “And in the Arc is the Divine Self” – the divine soul in each of us. Dia is derived from Deus – meaning ‘God’. This is interesting, as it has been said that the Arc or Ark – and its not clear if this means Noah’s Ark or the Ark of the Covenant – is the Great Pyramid, and/or that the Ark of the Covenant was once placed inside it.
Furthermore, we are also reminded by author Tracey R. Twyman that the first four letters in the phrase – ET IN – was once an alternate spelling of EDEN – “the Judeo-Christian notion of Paradise and the Golden Age”. [2] This too is interesting as Arcadia to the Greeks meant ‘Paradise’ and the ‘Golden Age’.
Quoting statements made by microbiologist Michio Kushi in his book based on his own research into ancient Japanese documents, Barabara Hand Clow writes that,
‘ . . . the prediluvial world had a system of global transportation – boats as well as airplanes – and natural agriculture based on the idea that Earth would produce all that was needed if it was “untouched”. He [Kushi] says, “People in Paradise had freedom without the concept of freedom, health without any idea what health was, happiness without the need to speak of happiness”. [3]
If all the above has some truth to it – and I would emphasise that this was perhaps the time of the Shining Ones or Elders; what I would propose to be a scientifically-advanced, shamanic-based culture – then Poussin’s painting is showing us that the ‘spectre of death’ had once visited Arcadia. The theme of ‘death’ as symbolised by the tomb and the eulogy in the inscription, goes far beyond the natural death of the individual – which would have been commonplace, even in paradise – but to the sudden death of many . . . as in a worldwide catastrophe bordering on ‘Biblical’ proportions.
But having said this, the tomb in the paintings may indeed belong to a shaman-priest-king – a 'Shining One' who in later years was portrayed as a “god” and who now personifies the Golden Age – his death symbolising the death of many which ended the Golden Age and so it is he who also personifies the 'Divine Self' or source-centre of the collective from which we have become "tilted", and which in general, we have become unconscious of.
In any case, it’s obvious that the tombs depicted in Poussin’s two versions of the Arcadian Shepherds are symbolic of a tomb or bloodline that belongs to someone who once lived in Arcadia – and more importantly someone who personifies Arcadia as well as the earth’s axis – which, as we are being told – was once upright. As I reveal in my book, Osiris was indeed associated with Djed – which was symbolic not only of his backbone, which represented strength and stability, but also represented the axis mundi – the “axis of the world”. I have revealed the first part of the code hidden in Les Bergers d'Acardie version II on this website. See here - a code which begins with a reference to Orion - the constellation that represented the soul of Osiris. (The code is revealed in full In my book Axis).
So Arcadia was/is obviously a place. But does 'Arcadia' mean a place in time, or perhaps ‘out of time’? . . A period before the tilt of the earth’s axis? . . A period before the symbolic death of Osiris, and a time “before time” associated with God’s paradise – the Garden of Eden?
On the subject of Poussin’s painting, Professor of French and Classics, Marc Wiesmann, has this to say:
‘From Poussin’s painting, Arcadia now takes on the tinges of a melancholic contemplation about death itself, about the fact that our happiness in this world is very transitory and evanescent. Even when we feel that we have discovered a place where peace and gentle joy reign, we must remember that it will end, and that all will vanish’. [4]
As everything happens in cycles, it’s possible that whatever ended the “Golden Age”, is something that could happen again, and if true, then why would important information about it be encoded? – Especially if our own survival depended on it. Perhaps this is another reason for the inclusion of the hour-glass in the vanitas paintings. I am also intruiged by author Crichton Miller's idea that the angle of 23.4 is significant. The obliquity of the earth's axis is slowly decreasing - meaning that it is shifts back and forth within a very short bandwidth according to the Milankovitch Cycle. At the moment the axis is 23.43 degrees and is moving towards 23.4.
But its interesting to note - as Crichton Miller points out in his book The Golden Thread of Time - that once the axis reaches the angle of 23.4, that the angular distance between the North Pole and the Ecliptic Plane will be 66.6.
90 - 23.4 = 66.6 - the "number of the Beast " 666.
In any case, the answer to all this is complex, but a simple explanation would be that the last major catastrophe was encoded in mythical stories by those who survived it and that this information has been preserved by certain mystery schools to be divulged in full when the time is right. However, this is an idealistic idea spouted often by many of today’s ‘new-age’ writers, and its possible that only fragments of this information is known; that the mystery schools each possess a piece of the “jig-saw puzzle” and that only a handful of people know the whole story – if true.
Arcadia and Pan
'Arcadia’ was a theme adopted by Elizabethan writers for whom the word was synonymous with the mythical “Golden Age”. Based on what we have discovered, its not surprising that it appears in the literary works of Edmund Spenser, Sir Phillip Sidney, Shakespeare and Francis Bacon.
In Sir Philip Sidney’s poem Arcadia [5] – published in 1590 – Arcadia is described as a pagan Eden, where shepherd lovers dance, sing and lay together under the sun accompanied by their god Pan – like Osiris, an ‘earth god’ – and whose consort was the moon goddess Selene. Here we have a male fertility god associated with the feminine Moon Cult. Could it be that the Moon Cult associated with the ‘world mother’ and the ‘sacred feminine’ was the time of the upright axis – when man was directly reliant on the cycles and phases of the moon which corresponded with the female menstrual cycle?
‘Pan’ is a Greek word meaning ‘All’, and in Greek myth, Pan is an archetype for the forces of nature. Without wanting to immerse ourselves in the confusing world of Greek myth, it can be said that ultimately, Pan is the archetypal shaman – and although the horns on his head and his goat’s legs give rise to all manner of ‘diabolical’ connotations associated with the “devil” and “evil”, his image really encapsulates the harmonious existence which man once enjoyed, especially in regard to the natural world around him. This stamp of “evil” is really a legacy of the Roman Church who saw fit to eliminate paganism wherever they found it, and which had its origin in certain ‘shamanic practices’ and conceptions, which were truly dynamic and therefore considered a threat to its rising power. This is highly ironic – especially in light of the fact that the established beliefs and tenets of the Church were mainly taken from the shamanic/pagan traditions so as to help it achieve a lasting power and influence.
There are also paintings and drawings with only the angle of 52 or 38 degrees referenced. Remember that 38 is also the inverse of 52 as 90 - 38 = 52. This reference to the angle of 52 degrees can only point to the Great Pyramid as the source of the '23.5 code' associated with the earth's axis, and this is what we will look at next.
Notes and References
1 Papers of Paul Smith. ET IN ARCADIA EGO.
2. Twyman, R., Tracey, Hidden Secrets of the Blanchefort Tombstone and the Sauniere Parchments, 2004
3. Hand, Clow, Barbara, Catastrophobia: The Truth behind Earth Changes in the Coming Age of Light, Bear & Co, 2001, p. 45, where she quotes Kushi, Michio, Forgotten Worlds: Guide to Lost Civilizations and the Coming One World, One Peaceful World Press, 1992
4. Wiesmann, Marc, Professor of French and Classics, Classical Arcadia,
5. Apparently Sir Phillip Sydney did not claim the authorship of Arcadia – stating that it was published anonymously and entitled, ‘The Countess of Sidney's Arcadia’.
