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The Poussin Code:
Part 2: Precessional Cycle
2: The Giza Meridian and Precession
Today the Prime Meridian runs through Greenwhich, London and it has been theorised by many researchers and authors and with good reason, that the original 0º Prime Meridian ran through Giza and was marked by the Great Pyramid.
Let’s imagine we are standing at the centre of the Giza Plateau (see figure 5) At the centre of the southern sky, dividing east and west, the imaginary vertical line of the Giza Meridian begins from its 0º nadir point on the horizon (where land meets sky) and continues upward and overhead to the 90º zenith point. From the zenith point we then trace the line north and downwards through another 90º to the centre of the northern horizon. We shall come back to the deeper significance of the Giza Meridian in a moment, as we first need to understand the movement of the sun throughout the year and from the perspective of an observer in the northern hemisphere – especially at Giza.
5. The Giza Meridian and the Celestial Equator with the Equinoctial Points both East and West
Due to the tilt of the earth’s axis, throughout the year the rising and setting points of the sun will be seen to move slowly back and forth on the eastern and western horizons – moving from south to north and back to south again, crossing the central equinoctial point twice.
For example, on the day of the Summer Solstice – June 21 – the sun will have reached its furthest point north of the equinoctial point. At Giza the declination (rising point) of the sun will be just over 26º north of the two equinoctial points (see figure 6). On the day of the Winter Solstice – December 21 – the sun will have reached its furthest point south of the equinoctial point. Again at Giza the declination of the sun would be over 26º south of the two equinoctial points.
However, during the days of the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes the sun will rise and set on a point ‘dead centre’ (equinoctial point) between these two extreme points reached during the summer and winter solstices. We will see the sun rise on the equinoctial point in the east, traverse the sky on the celestial equator and transit the Giza Meridian at midday. The sun will then set on the equinoctial point in the west.
Of course the rising and setting positions of the sun on the eastern and western horizons during the summer and winter solstices will change depending on our location on earth. For example, at Stonehenge in Salisbury, England, the declination of the sun during these times will be just over 51º north and south of the equinoctial point on the eastern and western horizons. This is interesting because 51.84º is the angle of the sides of the Great Pyramid. Furthermore, we have only been describing the sun’s movement for an observer in the northern hemisphere.
In the southern hemisphere and on the day of June 21, the sun would rise south of the equinoctial point instead of north and instead of marking the onset of summer as it does for those of us north of the equator, this day would mark the onset of winter. And again on the day of December 21, the sun would rise north of the equinoctial point instead of south and this day would mark the onset of summer.
Now that we have understood this we will go back to the Giza Meridian.
It’s possible that in Egypt, the Giza Meridian was used – perhaps by the predynastic Akhu or ‘Shining Ones’, who were also astronomers – not only to measure the passage of the sun each day and at different months of the year, but also to chart the position of the star constellation of Orion and which like the sun, had risen in the east, crossed this ‘midpoint’ line, and then set in the west. By charting Orion’s position on the Giza meridian as Orion crossed it, they could calculate ‘where’ and ‘when’ we are in terms of the “Great Year” – the 26,000-year Precessional Cycle, and for some very good reasons. However, before we can begin to understand why they felt the need to do this and how Orion (which represented the archetypal ‘resurrection god’ Osiris) was used as a gauge marker for Precession we should first understand what Precession is.
Precession
‘Precession’ is a rarely understood phenomenon resulting from the fact that the earth wobbles as it rotates on its axis. This wobble effect is caused by the torque forces exerted by the sun and the moon on the earth at the equator causing the earth to flatten and bulge.
The present 23.43º obliquity (incline) of the earth’s axis causes the sun and moon (at separate times) to be either above the earth’s equatorial plane or below it and so the gravitational forces of the sun and moon are constantly pulling upward or downward on the earth’s bulge at the equator. It’s the pull of the sun and moon that keeps the angle of the earth’s axis steady and within a restricted limit. If the moon suddenly disappeared the obliquity (angle) of the axis would change drastically.
6. The three paths of the sun in the annual cycle. Summer half (peak positive), winter half (dip negative) and the ‘neutral point’ – the central path of the sun on the Celestial Equator during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes
Think of a child’s spinning top. As the top begins to slow down and lose momentum, the weight of the top begins to displace itself and it then begins to wobble.
The earth – being an oblate sphere (slightly-flattened) – is like the spinning top; the only difference being that this wobble is moving at a constant speed and over long periods of time – always altering the direction of the earth’s polar axis. In other words, the slow wobble causes the axis to regress or precess – in that like a gyroscope, the axis wobbles slowly in a clockwise direction as the earth turns anticlockwise – causing the axis to trace a large abstract circle in the heavens, which by today’s agreed estimate takes 25,776 years to complete. My own estimate is that it takes 25,758 years - see here.
This revolution in the north sky is the precessional cycle, and the theory is that the ancients used the roughly accurate Platonic figure of 25,920 years to reference the precessional cycle, and we say because this number is comprised of multiples of 9 and was therefore easier to encode.
As shown in figure 7, Like the ancient Egyptian ‘Sun symbol’ – a simple circle with a dot in the centre – the central axis of this precessional revolution is called the ‘pole of the ecliptic’ and the central and unmoving still point in the heavens, which the abstract pole of the ecliptic is pointing to, is called the ecliptic centre.
Why is this geophysical phenomenon called the ‘Precession of the Equinoxes’?
Well first of all, like every circle, the cycle around this still point is divided into 360 degrees. As most of us will know, from our perspective on earth the zodiac is seen to move behind the sun in a clockwise direction – each sign being completed in a month and the whole zodiac completed in a year. This is really due to the earth’s anticlockwise orbit around the sun, which again, takes a year to complete.
But again, the precessional axis is also moving forward (clockwise) and slowly – at a rate of 71.6 years every degree going by today’s calculations. Because the earth turns anticlockwise on its axis, this means that the sun is seen to move backward very slowly through the 12 constellations of the Zodiac.
The measurement of this movement is determined by observing the rising position of the sun on the Spring Equinox every year, which is seen to move slowly backwards through the zodiac and again at a rate of one degree every 71.6 years – or 72 years as the rough estimate used by the ancients.
At present, we are living in the ‘Age of Pisces’, which began around 1 A.D. And so every year on the Spring Equinox – the sun is seen to rise against the zodiacal constellation of Pisces. In other words, the sun is moving backwards slowly and in a clockwise direction from Pisces towards the ‘Age of Aquarius’ – but won’t reach the constellation of Aquarius for another 170 years. See here.
7. The 25,758-year cycle of precession traced in the heavens by the earth’s axis. The axis takes 71.6 years to complete one degree. At present the axis is pointing to the star Polaris – the present Polestar. Around 2,800 B.C. the Polestar was Thuban.
More than 2000 years ago, the sun would have been seen to rise against the stars of the constellation of Aries, and well over 2000 years before that, the sun would have been seen to rise against the stars of the constellation of Taurus.
During the epoch of 10,450 BC when Bauval says that the orientation of the three pyramids matched the orientation of the three belt stars of Orion, the sun would have been seen to rise against the constellation of Leo “the lion”. Bauval says that this would explain the presence and position of the Sphinx, which would have been gazing at the sun rising in the east and against an image of itself.
10,450 BC is considered the cusp point between the ‘Age of Virgo’ and the ‘Age of Leo’ and therefore the end of Virgo and the beginning of Leo. Researcher, John Anthony West, by reason of the conclusions made by geologist Robert Schoch, says he has evidence that the Sphinx was possibly around at this time, and according to Bauval, perhaps for this very reason.
