Hermetic maxim: As above, so below

The Lost Star of Myth And Time, by Walter Cruttenden, discusses the relationship between the cosmos and human consciousness. Cruttenden makes the argument that our Sun orbits in a binary system, with a companion Sun, Sirius. This binary orbit takes 24,000 years to complete one rotation, during which, the distance between the two suns has a direct effect on human consciousness.

The 24,000 year cycle (known as the Great Year or the Yuga Cycle, amongst others) is made up of 4 different Ages that some refer to as the: Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Golden Ages. The Ages are similar to seasons, where each has a different characteristic, but in this instance, feature varying levels of human consciousness that consequently reflect different trends in human society.

When the two suns are at their closest point, human consciousness is at its highest peak and experiences a “Golden Age.” During the Golden Age, “people have complete mastery over time and space and comprehend … the very structure and ‘texture’ of the physical universe.”

Conversely, when the two suns are at their furthest points, human consciousness is in its lowest period and experiences a “Dark Age.” During the Dark Age, “man believes he is supreme, the only life in the universe, and exploits the resources of the Earth for personal gain.”

Cruttenden explains his book this way:

In this book I present evidence for an alternative theory of history, but it is not my own invention. It is really a modern take on an ancient science that posits that the solar system is revolving in a vast 24,000-year cycle around a companion star. As it does, the Earth is carried through a magnetic or electromagnetic (EM) field of another star, similar to but different from the EM spectrum of our own Sun, causing subtle changes in human consciousness over long sweeps of time. Just as night and day and the changing seasons are caused by the dance of our Earth and Sun, so too is all life gradually affected by a larger celestial motion: the dance of our solar system with another star, interacting with subtle forces in local space. At times in this cycle human development and consciousness are positively affected, achieving an almost enlightened state; at other times they are in decline, growing dense and barbaric – but inevitably awakening again with the next arc of celestial motion. No doubt evolution does eventually spur life on to some distant perfection as Darwin believed, but cycles and subtle influences, of which we are just becoming aware, also play a role. The heavens are an active participant in the evolution of our consciousness.

The Rise And Fall of Ages

Descending Yuga

Satya / Golden Age – 4800 years: 11,501 BC to 6701 BC

Treta / Silver Age – 3600 years: 6701 BC to 3101 BC

Dwapara / Bronze Age – 2400 years: 3101 BC to 701 BC

Kali / Iron Age – 1200 years: 701 BC to AD 499

Ascending Yuga

Kali / Iron Age – 1200 years: AD 499 to AD 1699

Dwapara / Bronze Age – 2400 years: AD 1699 to AD 4099

Treta / Silver Age – 3600 years: AD 4099 to AD 7699

Satya / Golden Age – 4800 years: 7699 to AD 12,499

The reason the years are of different lengths is because objects in elliptical orbits, like the two suns, accelerate and decelerate as they get closer together and further apart.

For characteristics of the different ages, click here: Characteristics of The Ages

Cruttenden helped me realize how many cycles exist in our lives: the cycle of day and night, the different phases of the moon that make up the months, and the relationship between the Sun and the Earth that cause seasons. Since the manifestations of these cycles change the environment we live in, it consequently changes how we perceive and interact with the world. To me, it seems entirely plausible that an even larger cycle could exist with a similar influence.

Cruttendan writes:

Most of life’s major cycles are driven by celestial motion. The spinning Earth causes night and day, activity and rest, and directly or indirectly regulates the daily drama of virtually every living creature. Consciously or not, we pace our daily lives to this first, or diurnal, motion of the Earth. The second, longer motion of the Earth orbiting around the Sun causes a commensurately longer cycle and produces the seasons of the year. Plants spring forth, bloom, reach maturity and decay; fish spawn, bird migrate, animals hibernate; weather patterns and activities change, matching the effects of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The motion of the Moon also produces cyclical effects, seen in the tides as well as in the behavior of certain plants and animals. It is worth reflecting on the fact that all these cycles are the result of celestial mechanics, although contemporary man rarely associates the cycles with their respective cosmic cause: heavenly bodies in motion.

Another argument put forth by Cruttenden is that we must rethink how we view history. History is generally viewed in a linear manner, where society begins primitive, but over time, evolves becoming more and more complex and advanced. Similar to Darwin’s theory of evolution.

To this point Cruttenden writes:

The leap was made: If Darwin had evidence that physical organisms adapt to fit their environment (evolve), then society, even over short periods, must evolve in the same linear fashion. In other words, if evolution existed in physical development, it must also play a role in societal and cultural development within humanity. This was very appealing to the intellectuals of post-Renaissance Europe as it justified a superior attitude toward less complex societies.

However, Cruttenden writes this line of thought needs reconsidering. He argues this because, “everywhere in the world, it seems, archaeological digs are reshaping our view of the distant past. Not only are these findings revealing that civilizations were older than once thought, but they are showing that man was smarter and more progressive.” [Some articles Cruttenden shares to this point are: Human Origins/Human Evolution, Blombos Cave, Phoenix Ancient Art, and Chinese Stone Polishing Technology.]

Cruttenden warns:

When pieces of our past are put together under the assumption that older civilizations “had to be” less sophisticated and therefore were inferior in almost every way, how many holes will there be in our jigsaw puzzle of history? If we discount prior knowledge out of hand and assume that the ancient reverence for prior structures, the stars and all things spiritual was pagan or backward, then we run the risk of losing track of our history – all in the name of rationalism.

Cruttenden points out that previous civilizations held a closer relationship to the cosmos than we do today, and knowledge of celestial motions were studied and written about extensively. Structures, such as Stonehenge, the Pyramids at Giza, and the depiction of the Pleiades in the ancient cave paintings at Lascaux, all illustrate this point. This knowledge was conveyed and passed down through books, myth, and folklore. Although modern society looks at myth and folklore with skepticism, Cruttenden argues there are underlying truths to the stories, and our passage through the Dark Ages has caused us to lose their meanings.

Hamlet’s Mill is the much- acclaimed work by Giorgio de Santillana, Professor of History and Science at MIT, and Hertha von Dechend, of the University of Frankfurt. When these highly respected scholars completed Hamlet’s Mill in 1969 the worlds of archaeology and anthropology were forever changed.

The revelation of this book was that myth and folklore represent the scientific language of the ancients, designed to record and transmit complex astronomical observations, particularly those connected with the Precession of the Equinox. This exhaustive study – so complete compared to any other work before or since – has helped to enlighten many historians who previously believed that the ancient myths were the product of primitive imaginations. Giorgio and Hertha would argue that it is modern man who is the muddled thinker, failing to recognize the brilliance of our ancestors. As one scholar recently noted “The beauty of using myth to transmit complex truth is that you can depend on uneducated people to accurately transmit the information.”

Santillana spoke at a University of London conference on his work, saying: “In ancient times, the memory of all sacred knowledge of an astronomical and metaphysical nature was retained in the general consciousness of human society in the form of allegorical myth, and there existed a rigorous code of accuracy in repetition and transmissions. Thus the most advanced experiential and perceptual knowledge could move easily between different cultures and languages and be safely handed down in reliable and constantly vital pictorial form from generation to generation. Over the millennia, however – particularly in the West – the background and sacred nature of these ancient mythic metaphors and allegories degenerated into mere folk tales, often with an overlay of ignorant superstition and ‘local colour’ – a degeneracy which began with the onset of purely ‘rational’ thought in late Greek culture.”

Knowledge of the 24,000 year Great Cycle was acquired and passed to future generations by tracking the Precession of the Equinox:

Equinox: that day of the year – the first day of spring or the first day of fall – when the Earth’s axis is neither leaning toward the Sun nor away, so that night and day are of equal length, 12 hours each. The exact point of equinox is that split second when a line drawn from the Sun to the Earth intersects the Earth’s axis at exactly a 90 degree angle. At that moment, the Sun is overhead on the equator, and both poles are half light and half dark.

Precession: a backward procession or movement.

Zodiac: the twelve ancient constellations that lie along the elliptic (the Sun’s apparent path through the sky).

The Precession of the Equinox, then, is the slow backward movement of the equinox against the background of the constellations of the zodiac.

Here’s an example of how precession time works: At the time of Christ, if we looked up in the eastern sky before sunrise on the day of the spring equinox, we would have seen the constellation Pisces at the spot where the Sun was about to rise. Today, if we look up at the same time we see that the constellation Pisces is receding and Aquarius is coming into view. This is the meaning of the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” It takes about 2000 years for the equinox to move through each constellation. Over a period of about 24,000 years the equinox precesses, or moves backwards, through all twelve constellations of the zodiac, returning to its starting point. This is one cycle of the Precession of the Equinox.

To explain how celestial objects can affect human consciousness, Cruttendan explains the influence the magnetosphere and ionosphere have on our minds:

This of course implies that we as human beings are not independent of the invisible forces in the cosmos that constantly surround us. We already know that things as subtle as weak magnetic fields and ionic charges in the air affect the way we think, interact with and perceive the world around us. And as we still discuss, there is much evidence to show that known EM fields here on Earth can dramatically affect life. But can a distant star produce electromagnetic waves, or a field or forces that are strong enough to affect life on Earth? Cutting edge science says “yes.” […]

Of particular interest is Dr. Hunt’s research that was performed in a shielded room in the department of physics at UCLA. This room, called the Mu Room, is designed to allow researchers to adjust the levels of electromagnetic energy, magnetism and particle charges within its walls. Also known as a Faraday cage, the Mu Room can create the unique situation of essentially nullifying the influence of most of the EM and other fields that our bodies are designed to handle. In one series of experiments, Dr. Hunt placed subjects in the room, gave them certain tasks to perform and depleted virtually all electromagnetism from the space. The results were anything but expected. The subjects “burst into tears and sobbed, an experience unlike these people had ever endured. Although they reported they were not sad, their bodies responded as though they were threatened, as they might be if the electromagnetic environment which nourished them was gone.” Conversely, when the field was increased beyond normal levels, “the subjects’ thinking became clear and they reported an expansion of consciousness.” […]

So what is it about the human brain that could allow us to be affected in such a dramatic way? New research is showing that the way we cognate (process thought) may be much more ethereal than the old idea of rudimentary chemical connections between neurons. The human brain produces its own very weak but very organized magnetic field, one that resonates at a similar frequency to that of the Earth. It is here that a connection may exist, one more profound than we realize.

So what does it all mean? I think that’s open for your own interpretation. For me, it validates a desire to create a shared utopia, and that another world is possible.