Along the 33rd Parallel —The Global Mystery Circle* Gary A. David What’s In a Number? The number 33 enigmatically stretches as a latitude line across many diverse cultures in many different times. Known in numerology as the Master Teacher, 33 is the most influential of all numbers, indicating selfless devotion to the spiritual progress of humankind. The other two master numbers, 11 (vision) and 22 (vision with action) form the base of a twodimensional pyramid, and added together equal 33 (guidance to the world), the apex of the pyramid. On the reverse of the Masonically inspired Great Seal of the United States is the pyramid with the all-seeing eye of divine Reason at its apex. According to ritual Freemasonry, XXXIII is considered sacred because in most cases there is no higher degree or level to which a Mason may aspire. In a Biblical context we note that King David ruled in Jerusalem for thirty-three years, Jacob had thirty-three sons and daughters, and Jesus Christ was crucified at age thirty-three. Two interpenetrating triangles whose apexes point in opposite directions form the hexagram of the Star of David (3 + 3 = 6). On the other hand, 3 X 3 = 9, or the Ennead, the nine primal gods of Egyptian mythology. The late thirteenth/early fourteenth century Italian poet Dante ended Canto XXXIII of the Purgatorio, or the second section of his Divine Comedy: “...perfect, pure, and ready for the Stars.” Canto XXXIII of the Paradiso, or the third section, concludes with lines about the poet being turned “as in a wheel whose motion nothing jars-- / by the Love that moves the Sun and the other stars.” It is more than a coincidence that the 33rd canto of each section concludes with parallel lines regarding the celestial; it may instead be the code from a lost ancient tradition. This number even permeates the biological realm studied by science: thirty-three is the number of turns in a complete sequence of DNA. A more ominous connotation appears in the 33rd element of the periodic table. Arsenic is a brittle, steel-gray substance that is actively poisonous. The Greek root arsen means “male, strong” or “virile,” which suggests the active reach of this potent and potentially deadly number across the globe. Indeed, when we consider the northern latitude of 33 degrees, some intriguing synchronicities, or “meaningful coincidences,” are found. You Say Phoenix and and I Say Phoenicia The first stop on our tour along the 33rd parallel is the metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona at 33½° North latitude. (Phoenix Masonic Lodge is at 33° 27' 00.12” N, 112° 04' 42.90” W.) Gleaming like a steel and glass mirage surrounded by ironwood, palo verde, and saguaro cactus, this modern American city lies in a brown cloud of auto exhaust at the northern end of the Sonoran Desert. Its imported palm trees and omnipresent swimming pools shimmer 1 when seen from high in the air like turquoise and silver jewelry on a jet-setter’s tanned breast. In essence, Phoenix is pervaded with the aura of the foreign and the bizarre. Few casual tourists realize, however, that this was once the center of the ancient Hohokam culture. Figure 1: Phoenix, Arizona skyline. The largest Hohokam site known as Snaketown was located about five miles north of the exact 33 degrees line, while the ruins of the astronomical observatory called Casa Grande still rest about five miles south of the line. The Hohokam inhabited the Valley of the Sun perhaps as early as 300 B.C. (about the time of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Dynasties in Egypt) and built one of the world’s most extensive irrigation systems. These ancient American Indians created an estimated total of 500 miles of canals to irrigate over 25,000 acres in the Phoenix Basin—all constructed with mere digging sticks, stone implements, and woven carrying baskets. In fact, no wheelbarrows or draft animals were ever used. The main canals leading from the Salt and Gila rivers measured up to 75 feet across at the top and 50 feet wide at the bottom. As Southwestern archaeologist H. M. Wormington observes in Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest, “The scope of the canal project suggests comparisons with the erection of the huge pyramids of Egypt or the great temples of the Maya.” Clearly this monumental technology was the key factor that allowed the desert dwelling people to inhabit their extremely harsh region for well over a thousand years. 2 Figure 2: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Arizona, with protective structure overhead. (32° 59' 45.75 N, 111° 32' 13.00” W) Skipping across the Atlantic on the same parallel, we find a number of intriguing sites in the Old World. For instance, at the coordinates of 33° 16' 20.35” N, 35° 12' 12.50” E was located the primary Phoenician seaport of Tyre (now called Sûr), almost 46 miles south of Beirut. Dating back as early as 5000 B.C., Tyre was renowned for a purple-red dye obtained from the snails of the genus Murex. The color is one of the meanings of the word “phoenix,” which the ancient Egyptians sometimes associated with the purple heron. Back in North America the “place of the heron” refers to Aztlan, the Nahuatl word for the mythical land that the Aztecs inhabited after emerging from Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caves located in the bowels of the earth. Chicano folklore identifies Aztlan as that portion of Mexico taken over by the U.S. after the Mexican-American War of 1846—in part, the Arizona Territory, where the settlement of Phoenix arose. The Masonic author Albert Pike states in his classic book Morals and Dogma that Tyre was the seat of the Osirian Mysteries after they had been imported from Egypt. Pike asserts that the two massive columns situated at the entrance of the Tyrian Temple of Malkarth were consecrated to the Winds and to Fire. This pair is thought to be the prototype of Jachin and Boaz, the two pillars found on the eastern wall of every Masonic temple in the world. On the right, or to the south, is Jachin, which means “He shall establish” and signifies an active, vivifying force. On the left, or to the north, is Boaz, which means “In it is strength” and connotes passive stability and permanence. Freemasons Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas suggest in their book Uriel’s Machine that the former represents the winter solstice sunrise, while the latter the summer solstice sunrise. Although this is possible, I propose that Jachin represents the southern stargate 3 between Sagittarius and Scorpius while Boaz signifies the northern stargate between Gemini and Taurus. [See my essay “The Dual Stargates of Egyptian Cosmology,” http://www.theorionzone.com/egyptian_stargates.htm.] My assumption is based on the fact that in the York Rite of Freemasonry a celestial globe symbolizing post-carnation (i.e., a spirit leaving its present body) is found atop Jachin while a terrestrial globe representing incarnation is positioned atop Boaz. Figures 3 and 4: Boaz (left) and Jachin (right). During the tenth century B.C., King Hiram of Tyre supplied King Solomon with craftsmen, metallurgists, cedar wood, architectural design, and presumably the esoteric symbolism of these two columns for the construction of his temple at Jerusalem. (1 Kings 7: 13-22) In addition to being besieged at various times by Nebuchadrezzar, Alexander the Great, the Romans and others, the trade capital city-state of Tyre was conquered in the twelfth century A.D. by the Crusaders, who built a Knights Templar church there. Some speculate that the orientation of the two pillars imitates obelisks placed before the pylons of Egyptian temples, especially those of the Heliopolitan temple of Thothmes (Tuthmosis) III, who reigned in the fifteenth century B.C. as the militarily expansionist pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. He is also thought to be founder of the Order of the Rosy Cross, or the Rosicrucians. According to William Bramley in The Gods of Eden, the archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie even found records in the Libyan desert that describe a secret Masonic guild meeting held circa 2000 B.C. “The guild met to discuss working hours, wages, and rules for daily labor. It convened in a chapel and provided relief to widows, orphans, and 4 workers in distress. The organizational duties described in the papyri are very similar to those of ‘Warden’ and ‘Master’ in a modern branch of the Brotherhood which evolved from those guilds: Freemasonry.” It seems that all roads lead to... Egypt. Also of interest near the 33rd parallel is Byblos (34° 07' 13.35” N, 35° 38' 53.30” E), about 18 miles north of Beirut. The name of this city state is derived from the Greek ta b blia, which means “the book,” or “bible.” Indeed, the invention of a Phoenician alphabetic phonetic script occurred here and eventually spread to the Greek world, although I am sure this notion is controversial in some quarters. 33 miles east at nearly the same latitude is Baalbeck (34° 00' 21.40” N, 36° 12' 26.60” E), an ancient megalithic temple constructed with some of the largest stone blocks ever cut in the world. Extracted and hauled from a quarry many miles away, these megaliths include one block measuring 80 feet long and weighing 1,100 tons. In this section we have seen how Phoenix and Phoenicia are linked by latitude. We shall continue eastward to encounter other significant ancient sites along the same parallel. Figure 5: Author Ralph Ellis atop largest stone at Baalbeck, Lebanon. Copyright © Ralph Ellis. (34° 00' 21.40” N, 36° 12' 22.00” E) A Passage To China A little over 500 miles east of these Phoenician cities is modern-day Bagdad in Iraq at 33° 20' 00.00” N, 44° 25' 00.00” E, with Babylon located about 55 miles to the south. This ancient capital of Mesopotamia on the banks of the Euphrates River was once the largest city in the world, encompassing over 2,500 acres. The construction of Babylon began during the twentythird century B.C. and included the Temple of Marduk (known as Esagila) as well as the 5 legendary Tower of Babel (identified as Etemenanki, 32° 31' 20.00” N, 44° 25' 36.50” E). The latter structure was a seven-tiered ziggurat rising to a height of 300 feet with a base on each side measuring the same distance. This measurement, incidentally, equals the length of the Hohokam platform mound at Pueblo Grande in Phoenix, Arizona. On the eastern side of Babylon was an outer rampart of triple wall construction extending for 11 miles. A network of irrigation canals reminiscent of the Hohokam also once served the city. In addition, the terraced Hanging Gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This “city and a tower” (Genesis 11:4) was known as Ba-bel, the legendary site of the linguistic confounding. Henri-Paul Eydoux states in The World’s Last Mysteries that “The biblical interpretation of the name is fanciful. The Bible connects Babel with the Hebrew verb Bâlal, ‘to confuse’, whereas it really comes from Bâb-ili, which in Babylonian means ‘Gate of God’.” This terrestrial correlation to another sort of stargate is perhaps a reference to the Processional Way leading to Ishtar Gate, both of which were adorned with glazed blue enameled figures of lions, bulls, and dragons. Pike maintains that the temple contained a representation in silver of two large serpents. “The Greeks called Bel Beliar; and Hesychius interprets that word to mean dragon or great serpent. We learn from the book of Bel and the Dragon, that in Babylon was kept a great, live serpent, which the people worshipped.” This reminds us of the Place of the Snakes, or the Hohokam site of Snaketown, as well as of the Hopi biennial Snake Dance ceremony still performed with live rattlesnakes on the high desert of Arizona. Figure 6: Ruins of Babylon, Iraq, 1932. In more recent times Babylon played a significant role in the rituals of Freemasonry and continues to do so. For instance, in their book The Hiram Key, authors Knight and Lomas discovered that the ceremony for the Royal Arch of Solomon Degree (13°) entails the 6 candidate and two others playing the roles of the three Master Masons of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. According to the narrative told in the ritual, these children of the Babylonian captivity desire to assist in the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon. Thus, Babylon’s symbolic importance, which the co-authors believe extends back to at least Knights Templar times and probably before, is reemphasized inside every Masonic lodge to the present day. Traveling along the 33rd parallel from the Middle East to the Far East, we encounter the fabulous White Pyramid located about 22 miles west of X’ian (Sian or Hsian) in China’s Shensi Province. This city was made famous for the nearby discovery of the army of Terra Cota Warriors. The region also contains up to one hundred more pyramids, at least one estimated to be as large as 1,000 feet high and 1500 feet at the base—twice the size of the Great Pyramid in Egypt! The current politics of the country have thusfar prevented any detailed study of the White Pyramid (possibly 34° 20' 18.30” N, 108° 34' 10.75 E), but it is thought to be 4,500-5,000 year old—the approximate age of the pyramids at Giza. The structure was built supposedly after the old emperors, known as “the sons of heaven,” descended to Earth in their “fiery metallic dragons” and began to rule China. Its interior is rumored to be a model of this empire with a jeweled roof depicting the constellations and rivers of flowing mercury. Figure 7: Pyramid near X'ian, China. Highway 33 Revisited Back on the North American continent, if we journey somewhat over 1,500 miles east of Phoenix along latitude 33 North, we find the Moundville site lying exactly on the line (33° 00' 21.65”, 87° 37' 52.00 W). This city constructed by the Mississippian culture along the Black Warrior River in central Alabama from 1000 through 1450 A.D. had a population of over one thousand—second in size and complexity to ancient Cahokia in Illinois. The 26 earthen platform mounds arranged in a circular pattern are similar in structure to those in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun, with temples and residences for the elite priesthood likewise built on top. 7 One of the larger mounds is a ramped pyramid that rises to a height of 58 feet. In addition, the town was protected on three sides by wooden palisades, much like the Hohokam villages along the Salt and Gila Rivers. Did the earlier Hohokam culture of the American Southwest somehow influence the later development of this Mound Builder culture in the American Southeast? The many similarities between the two seem to point in that direction. Figure 8: Moundville Archaeological Park, Alabama. A few other Mound Builders cities were settled quite near the 33rd parallel. Approximately 18 miles southwest of the town of Lake Providence on the Mississippi River floodplain in northeastern Louisiana is Poverty Point State Historic Site (32° 38' 06.75 N, 91° 24' 39.50” W). Constructed in 1800 B.C. (much earlier than even the Hohokam settlements), a C-shaped or perhaps a partial octagon-shaped earthwork three-quarters of a mile across was formed by six concentric ridges that are 140 to 200 feet apart and four to six feet high. To the west of this earthwork, Bird Mound rises 72 feet high and extends 600 to 800 feet at its base. Resembling some sort of fowl flying toward the sunset, this mound was constructed using 300,000 cubic yards of clay, or the equivalent to 10 million 50-pound baskets. To truly realize the shape of the bird, one needs to be at least a thousand feet or so in the air. Poverty Point was almost entirely abandoned circa 1350 B.C., indicating over five centuries of cultural development, though minor construction on the earthworks continued until 700 A.D. 8 Figure 9: Overhead View of Povert Point, Louisiana. Even closer to the magic number 33 though not as impressive or as old are the Winterville Mounds, located four miles due east of the Mississippi River in west-central Mississippi (33° 29' 08.50” N, 91° 03' 36.00” W). Inhabited between 1000 and 1450 A.D., the site includes 23 flat-topped mounds, with the main Temple Mound rising 55 feet. Figure 10: Map of Winterville Mounds, Mississippi. Copyright © Heironymous Rowe. 9 About three miles south of Cartersville in northwestern Georgia is Etowah Indian Mound State Park (34° 07' 30.30” N, 84° 48' 27.75” W). Creek and Cherokee Indians called this site Itawa or Italwa, which means “high tower.” It is interesting to note that the Hopi word for the sun deity is Tawa. Etowah was first inhabited in 950 A.D. and contains three major mounds. One is a ceremonial mound 63 feet in height and another is a burial mound in which were found numerous artifacts including copper ear ornaments, stone effigies, and sea shells along with obsidian and grizzly bear teeth from the Rocky Mountains. Figure 11: Etowah Mound State Park, Georgia. Perhaps the oldest location on this parallel is the Topper Archaeological Site near Allendale, South Carolina (33° 00' 19.40” N, 81° 29' 26.50” W). This is another site exactly on the 33rd parallel. Dr. Albert Goodyear from the University of South Carolina believes that humans were living on an alluvial terrace along the Savannah River 40,000 to 50,000 years ago. He found numerous stone tools of worked chert and a layer of charcoal that served as a hearth. The charred plant remains were radiocarbon-dated to the staggering age of 50,000 years BP. In addition to the pre-Clovis (and pre-Ice Age) artifacts, he also discovered myriad Clovis points, which suggests human occupation of the site for many thousands of years. Some even claim that these lithic tools, some of which were bifacially flaked, had been shaped in the likeness of human faces or animals. Perhaps even the extremely old “Ancient Ones” felt the mystery of 33 as well. 10 Way Out West Continuing our journey upon Latitude 33° North, we find many intriguing mysteries. Along the Arizona-California border on both sides of the Colorado River, for instance, a number of figures called geoglyphs are scattered across the remote landscape. Sometimes extending for hundreds of feet, these patterns also known as intaglios were made by removing the “desert-varnished” pebbles in order to reveal the lighter-colored surface underneath. In addition to human and animal figures, an assortment of snakes, spirals, stars, circles, and other geometric forms can be found. Like the Nazca lines in Peru, these earth forms are best appreciated from the air and were probably intended to be an homage to the sky gods. The so-called Blythe complex is positioned about 13 miles north of Blythe, California, whereas the Ripley complex is located about 12 miles southwest of this town. At the latter complex a medieval Knights Templar-like cross 10 feet in diameter lies adjacent to a humanoid figure. On the Arizona side of the river near the town of Bouse is yet another complex. It includes representations of a sun, a snake, and a man spear-fishing (33° 47' 26.45” N, 114° 05' 40.02” W). Figure 12a: Blythe Geoglyph, human figure, 210 ft. long, surrounded by fence. This figure's head points southwest (33° 48' 01.25” N, 114° 32' 17.30” W). 11 Figure 12b: A third of a mile due east is another human figure oriented exactly north-south (33° 48' 02.25” N, 114° 31' 55.38” W). 200 feet to the southeast is a quadruped (mountain lion?) and 50 feet farther southeast is a double spiral. Photo courtesy of Ron Kilber. Many different tribes ritually used these desert anomalies dating back 3,000 years. The geoglyphs together with cairns, stone circles, and cleared dance paths may have been associated with the huge network of interconnected trails found in the low desert. These straight paths were used for pilgrimages, somewhat like the ley lines of Britain. Even today the Yuma, Mohave, Cocopa, and Maricopa tribes perform a pilgrimage called the keruk. During the four-day trek to Avikwa’ame, the sacred mountain in the north, they celebrate a reenactment of the cosmogony. Today we call this Newberry Peak, resting at the southern tip of Nevada near the casino town of Laughlin. According to David S. Whitley, Ph. D, in his book A Guide to Rock Art Sites: Southern California and Southern Nevada, “The route ran from Pilot Knob, or Avikwal [near Yuma, Arizona], the spirit house where the dead dwell at the southern end of the river, to Avikwa’ame, or Spirit Mountain, where the Earth was created, in the north. This pilgrimage was intended to honor the creation, and ritually retrace the path of Mastamho in his mythic adventures.” The name of the creator-deity Mastamho echoes that of the Hopi god Masau’u, sometimes identified as the Creator but who is paradoxically identified with fire, death, and the underworld as well as the earth plane. This sole nocturnal deity in the Hopi pantheon is associated with the constellation Orion, the celestial giant who frequently carries a club or a spear. Legends say that on top of Avikwa’ame was located a great house named Aha-avulypo, or literally “Dark Round House.” The north-south road itself was called Kwatcan, the “first trail to the homeland.” The Hopi word for “track” is kuku’at, but the homophone kwa’at means 12 “grandfather” or “ancestor.” Either “spirits of the path” or “spirits of the grandfathers” may be the intended meaning of Kwatcan. In this ritual we find the same north-south dichotomy that once occurred along the Nile in Egypt. The legendary Mound of Creation at Heliopolis was located to the north, and the royal city of the dead at Abydos was located to the south. In the American Southwest a similar cosmology occurs: the Land of Origin or the Place of Emergence is to the north, and the Land of the Dead is to the south. Midway on this spirit road between the northern sacred mountain and the southern mouth of the Colorado River (the “Nile of Arizona”) are the enigmatic geoglyphs located at 33° of latitude. Let's continue. On this same line is the Three Rivers Petroglyphs site (33° 20' 40.00” N, 106° 00' 38.25 W), nestled on the western base of the Sacramento Mountains 20 miles west of Ruidoso, New Mexico. One of the largest rock art sites in the Southwest, this park contains over 21,000 glyphs scattered over 50 acres. Carved atop a ridge by the Mogollon culture between 900 and 1400 A.D., these figures include anthropomorphs, zoomorphs, katsina (Hopi spirit messenger) masks, star symbols, and various abstract or geometric designs, including (again) a Maltese cross inside a circle surrounded by a ring of seventeen dots. This circle-dot motif may possibly symbolize Quetzalcoatl. The Aztecs, of course, knew this deity as the Feathered Serpent. Called Kukulkan by the Maya and Awanyu by the Tewa of New Mexico, the avianophidian hybrid is supposed to return at the end of the world-age, which most indigenous people feel is imminent. Figure 13: Petroglyph of Maltese Cross Inside Circle, Three Rivers, New Mexico. 13 Located high in the Superstition Mountains about 55 miles east of Phoenix is a fascinating construction called the Circlestone Observatory (33° 28' 39.00” N, 111° 08' 03.75” W). This elliptical “medicine wheel” consists of a stone wall three feet thick and 427 feet in circumference. New Zealand researcher Martin Doutré claims that this structure incorporates various navigational codes, including phi (1.618), or the Golden Mean ratio. “Ancient astronomer mathematicians may have built sites like Circlestone as repositories of codes and places where initiates could be taught age-old principles.” Doutré further suggests that Circlestone was used by colonists from the eastern Mediterranean or Europe who possibly operated a gold mine—perhaps the famous Lost Dutchman’s Mine itself! On the other hand, American Indians may have constructed this site for an astronomical observatory. (http://www.celticnz.co.nz/Circlestone/Circlestone1.htm) Four other ancient sites along latitude 33° North warrant brief mentions. Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (33° 13' 36.35” N, 108° 16” 16.00” W) is located in the rugged Mogollon Mountains of southwestern New Mexico. Reminiscent of the seven Aztec caves (referenced in Part 1 of this essay), the five caves contain 40 masonry and adobe rooms built about 1280 A.D. Figure 14: Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico. In saguaro cactus country about 55 miles northeast of Phoenix is another site on the global mystery circle called Tonto National Monument (33° 38' 42.00” N, 111° 06' 47.00” W), which also contains cliff dwellings within shallow caves. Constructed of unshaped quartzite and adobe mortar, these ruins inhabited in the mid-fourteenth century contained 70 rooms within three caves. 14 Figure 15: Tonto National Monument. About 40 miles due east of the small town of San Carlos, Arizona is Point of Pines Ruin (33° 19' 40.00 N, 109° 47' 00.00” W). Occupied between 1200 and 1500 A.D., this huge masonry pueblo contained 800 rooms, a central plaza, a surrounding wall, and a great kiva (subterranean communal prayer chamber). The site is also one of the few in the Southwest where three different cultures lived together: the Hohokam from the Phoenix Basin, the Mogollon from southwestern New Mexico, and the Anasazi from the Hopi country to the north. The estimated population was between 2,000 and 3,000. Incidentally, five or so miles south of this site are hot springs called Arsenic Tubs, number 33 on the periodic table. And finally, Besh-ba-gowah Archaeological Park (33° 22' 53.75 N, 110° 46' 22.00” W), located one mile south of downtown Globe, Arizona, was a granite cobble pueblo of more than 250 rooms inhabited between 1225 and 1450 A.D. The artifacts found include copper bells and macaw feathers from Mesoamerica as well as shells from the Gulf of Mexico and the California coast. Besh-ba-gowah is an Apache phrase meaning “place of the metal,” referring to the copious silver and copper deposits in the area. In fact, the town of Globe was so named because of the 1875 discovery of a globe-shaped mass nine inches in diameter made of 99% pure silver and valued at $12,000. Curiously, reports also stated that the continents of the Earth were etched upon its surface. The whereabouts of this artifact are currently unknown. A Brief History of 33 Entering the historical period, we find hovering near the 33rd parallel a number of provocative locales. For instance, the first Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Freemasonry was established in 1801 at Charleston, South Carolina. This charming antebellum port city and hub of southern culture is located less than 15 miles south of the 33rd parallel. Called the 15 Solomon Lodge No. 1, the Masonic meeting place chartered in 1735 was known as the Mother Lodge of the world (32° 46' 36.75” N, 79° 55' 44.65” W). Shortly before the end of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt suddenly died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Georgia, which is less than 10 miles south of 33°. It is noteworthy (no pun intended) that FDR, a 32nd degree Mason and 32nd U.S. President, in the mid-30s issued the order that the pyramid-eye emblem (mentioned at the beginning of Part 1 of this essay) should be printed on back of the dollar bill. Roosevelt was succeeded in April, 1945 by 33rd-degree Mason Harry S. Truman. (The “S.” supposedly stood for Solomon.) On July 16th of the same year, the first atomic device was detonated at Trinity Site, New Mexico (33° 40' 38.25” N, 106° 28' 31.40” W). Spanish explorers originally called this area La Jornada del Muerto, or “The Journey of the Dead.” Now the site is marked by a small stone obelisk erected about twenty years after the explosion. Was this monument Masonically inspired? Figure 16: Trinity Site Obelisk. A few weeks after the test at Trinity Site the 33rd president of the United States ordered the annihilation of two Japanese cities by nuclear bombs dropped from B-29 bombers. The 33 rd parallel runs exactly between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this context it is interesting to note that the Sabian symbol for 33° is the following: “Natural steps lead to a lawn of clover in bloom.” Clover’s trefoil (“triple leaf”) suggests the Trinity, while its flowering suggests new life or even resurrection. Sabian symbols are basically a series of 360 brief vignettes —one for each degree of the zodiacal circle— received in 1925 by San Diego clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler and recorded by astrologist Marc Edmund 16 Jones. According to J. E. Ciriot's Dictionary of Symbols, “When [clover] is located upon a mountain it comes to signify knowledge of the divine essence gained by hard endeavor [‘Natural steps...’], through sacrifice or study (equivalent to ascension)...” The discovery and development of atomic energy, like no other symbol in our age, combines the destructive wrath of God and the transformative resurrection of matter. The patient scientific progress that lead to it may ultimately result in either a hopeful new world or our total devastation. Two years after the war ended, the modern “flying saucer” age began in earnest when something unearthly crashed about 57 miles northwest of Roswell, New Mexico. Whether or not you believe UFOs and alien bodies were recovered, the site is a significant meme that can be added to the list of 33rd°-parallel sites (33° 58' 06.00” N, 105° 14' 37.00” W). The Georgia Guidestones (34° 13' 55.30” N, 82° 53' 39.60” W) have produced both mystery and controversy. Rising from a hill in northeastern part of the state, the modern monument is comprised of five polished granite slabs measuring 16 feet tall, 6½ feet wide, and 1½ feet thick, with four of the stones weighing 20 tons each. The megaliths are engraved with various directives in eight different languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili). Four vertical slabs point to the lunar standstill points on the horizon. Other astronomical markers include: solstice and equinox sightings, a Polaris alignment, and a solar calendar indicating noon on each day. The capstone, which alone weighs 25,000 pounds, is inscribed with Babylonian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sanskrit, and classical Greek. Who commissioned the project, no one really knows, but a pseudonymous R. C. (Rosicrucian?) Christian hired a local company to construct it. This 20th century Stonehenge has been both praised as a rational way of living and attacked as the eugenic edicts of the New World Order or even the satanic commandments of the Anti-Christ. The 10 prescriptions carved on the monument are as follows: 1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. 2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity. 3. Unite humanity with a living new language. 4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason. 5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. 6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court. 7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. 8. Balance personal rights with social duties. 9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite. 10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature. 17 Figure 17: Georgia Guidestones. Bringing us up to the present, the so-called Phoenix Lights were witnessed by perhaps thousands of people. On the evening of March 13th, 1997 an immense triangular UFO a mile wide flew over the American Southwest. First sighted over Henderson, Nevada at 6:55 p.m. PST (7:55 Arizona time), this virtually silent craft had a number of lights evenly spaced on its leading edge. Traveling southeast, it was next seen 22 minutes later over Paulden, Arizona, about 165 miles southeast of Henderson. It was then observed 10 miles to the south in Chino Valley, where it apparently streaked right over my own house. (Unlucky at sighting UFOs, I missed seeing the event by only a few moments.) Just one minute after the Paulden sighting, it was reported over Prescott Valley, which is a bit over 20 miles south-southeast of the former town. By 8:23 the object had reached the Phoenix metro area—just 28 minutes and over 240 miles from the first Nevada sighting. Here it hovered for four or five minutes over the intersection of Indian School Road and 7th Avenue. Next the UFO entered Sky Harbor Airport’s air space, where controllers in the tower and the flight crew from at least one commercial airliner viewed it, although radar failed detection. The craft continued southeast above Interstate 10 and was sighted over Tucson about 8:45. This series of sightings that occurred within a nearly 400-mile stretch took just 50 minutes. 18 Figure 18: Triangular UFO, Artist's Conception. At approximately 9:50 p.m. an arc of amber “orbs” measuring one mile across appeared above the Estrella (“Star”) Mountains about 15 miles southwest of Phoenix. Spanish explorers originally named the range after the pattern of deep canyons radiating star-like from the summit. This display of lights videotaped by scores of people in the Phoenix area was possibly related to the earlier sightings. At the time of this later UFO sighting the constellation Orion would have been seen hovering over the southwestern horizon, were it not for urban smog and light pollution. In fact, at 9:49 p.m. when the final phase of the event was beginning, Alnilam, the middle star of the belt, was 33° above the horizon at an azimuth of 242°. (Azimuth is an angle measured in degrees from True North; North = 0º, East = 90º, South = 180º, and West = 270º.) A winter solstice line of 242° azimuth runs from an ancient astronomical observatory located in Phoenix's Papago Park to the Estrella Range nearly 25 miles away, over which the suns sets on the first day of winter. Hole-in-the-Rock (33° 27' 23.50” N, 111° 56' 43.50” W) is a naturally formed shelter on a red sandstone hill from which sky watchers could observe solstice and equinox points on the horizon. The movement of spots of sunlight inside the formation indicates that it was also a precise seasonal calender. In his book Mysterious Ancient America, Paul Devereux describes the astronomical complexities as a ray of sunlight streams through a hole in the roof. “...on the winter solstice the sunbeam breaks up into small slivers of light, owing to the sun's angle and the irregularities in the rock. As they move, one sliver 'jumps' to the floor of the shelter, almost instantly filling a natural cup-like hollow with light. As the midwinter sun rolls westwards, the light spot continues to move across the shelter floor and down the side of the butte, striking a group of boulders that becomes bathed in sunlight — where it is possible that a sun priest sat.” 19 Figure 19: Constellations over the Estrella Mountains southwest of the city during second phase of the Phoenix Lights sighting, 9:49 p.m., March 13, 1997. Figure 20: Hole-in-the-Rock, Papago Park, Phoenix, Arizona, ancient astronomical observatory. 20 In addition, the winter solstice line starting at the Hole-in-the-Rock bisects a 500-A.D. Hohokam adobe pueblo just over two miles to the southwest. The structure housed over a thousand people and contained ballcourts, irrigation canals up to 75 feet wide, and a 20-foothigh platform mound covering three acres. Another oddity connected with Hole-in-the-Rock is located (coincidentally) .33 miles to the south. The first governor of Arizona, George W. P. Hunt, who was also a Freemason, is buried in a small Egyptian-style pyramid finished with gleaming white tiles. We have seen how the unexplained orbs of March 13, 1997 appeared at a significant archaeo-astronomical position in the sky and also in the precise region where Orion happened to be at that particular time. At any rate, one of the most intriguing UFO sightings in decades was focused upon the 33° north latitude—a paramount Masonic number. Why are so many significant ancient and historic sites located along the 33rd parallel? Perhaps the ancients discovered a ley line sort of dragon energy corresponding to this latitude, and constructed temples and sacred cities in order to utilize this terrestrial chi. Or perhaps the numerological and Masonic significance of 33 dictated that monuments to this sacred number be erected as a signal to future generations. Whatever the rationale, the 33 rd parallel is a path of power across the globe, a circuit that links both time and space in order to vitalize the dynamo of a mystery we are just now beginning to realize. ☼ *Most of the sites discussed in this essay are less than one degree (60 nautical miles) from latitude 33 degrees North. There are four exceptions: 1. Byblos, Lebanon (67 nautical miles north of the 33rd parallel, 2. Etowah Indian Mound State Park in Georgia (also 67 nautical miles north of the latitude line), 3. the Georgia Guidestones (74 nautical miles north of this line), and 3. the Shensi, China pyramid field (between 70 and 80 nautical miles north of the line). One international nautical mile = one arc minute of latitude or longitude = 6080.2 ft. Copyright © 2011 by Gary A. David. All rights reserved. 21 Brief Bio Gary A. David has been an independent researcher of Southwestern archaeological ruins and rock art for nearly twenty-five years. His nonfiction books about the ancestral Pueblo cultures of Arizona and New Mexico include: The Orion Zone—Ancient Star Cities of the American Southwest, Eye of the Phoenix—Mysterious Visions and Secrets of the American Southwest, and his new book The Kivas of Heaven—Ancient Hopi Starlore. These are all available from Adventures Unlimited Press. Mr. David earned a master's degree in English literature from the University of Colorado and is a former college professor. He is also a poet, with numerous volumes published, and a professional lead guitarist/vocalist. His articles or interviews have appeared in many magazines, including Ancient American, Atlantis Rising, Fate, Fenix, Sagenhafte Zeiten (Erich von Däniken's “Legendary Times”), UFO, and World Explorer, as well as in anthologies such as Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: A Graham Hancock Reader and Underground: The Disinformation Guide to Ancient Civilizations. Gary continues to give lectures and international radio interviews. He recently appeared on the History Channel's show “Decoded.” His website is: www.theorionzone.com. Gary, his wife, and an aging cat live together in rural northern Arizona, where the skies are still relatively pristine. “The correlation Mr. David makes between the Hopi and Egyptian 'sky view' is most interesting. -Robert Bauval 22