Thursday, March 20, 2008

Happy Vernal Equinox



Mayan Temple of the Seven Dolls
Dzibilchaltun, Yucatan

Mayan Pyramid Kukulkan
Shadow cast on the stairs at noon on the equinox represents a serpent

Inside Cairn T at Knowth in Ireland
Sunrise on the equinox illuminates this stone at the end of the passage inside the mound

Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

"Sun Dagger" appears on the spiral at various times during the year marking the Sun AND the moon

This is from the Anasazi culture and is around 2,000 years old if not older.

This is during the Summer solstice (I couldn't find a picture of the equinox but you get the idea)

Maybe it's me but that spiral reminds me an awful lot of this one:


I took this picture myself. It's the curbstone at the entrance to the mound at Newgrange. In Ireland. As the mound at Knowth (just over the hill from Newgrange) functions as a marker for the equinox, the mound at Newgrange marks the Winter Solstice. I've been inside the one at Newgrange and it's an amazing piece of engineering thats estimated to be older than the pyramids in Egypt.

9 comments:

Forrest Proper said...

If it's Spring, why is my yard still covered with %$##&*(&%$ SNOW??

Bruce, a work in progress said...

Col obviously you need to go out right now and get started building a stone temple dedicated to the sun. One that will mark the exact moment of the equinox. Then the snow will know when to melt.

Tequila Mockingbird said...

'temple of the 7 dolls' would be a good porno name. id watch it. they could equinox boots all night long!

ok, that was cheesy, happy vernal equinox anyway!

Bruce, a work in progress said...

TM, I hadn't thought of that but now that you mention it it is a good title. In fact I may have seen that movie.

meggie said...

This is a fascinating post. I always think there are so many things we modern man are ignorant about.
I don't have a religion, & I feel that the so called religions have hijacked the pagan beliefs & festivals, times of the seasons, & used them as markers for their control teachings-( as I regard them).

Malach the Merciless said...

Awesome stuff, and to beging our spring were getting a nor'easter

Bruce, a work in progress said...

Thanks Meggie. The mysterious aspects of ancient history fascinates me. There are a lot of theroies ranging from ancient astronauts to lost civilizations, some way out there and some that sound plausable. I'm not saying I believe any of them are correct but I do know that we just don't know and can't say that we do. There are two many unanswered questions and unexplainable commonalities around the world that our traditional historical perspective and mainstream "experts" just can't or won't address.
We are definitely on the same page with regard to religion. At lesat the Pagan religions were tied to nature and the natural functioning of the Universe around them. The big players today are just revised myths, twisted to serve their own ends. As Jefferson said, "And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

I just can't get enough of this stuff Mal. The more I read, the more I want to know.
Looks like you better batten down the hatches.

Kitty said...

There will have been loads of folks heading for Stonehenge for the Vernal Equinox here in the UK. I've never been there for an equinox or solstice, but I have been there a few times.

It was obviously incredibly important to the peoples of ancient times and lands as they obviously went to extreme efforts to mark the occasion.

Of course for us astrologists it marks the beginning of the zodiacal year, with 0 degrees of Aries. I love spring - it's my favourite time of year: you can feel the energy.

Cool post Bruce - I enjoyed it. x

Bruce, a work in progress said...

Thanks Kitty. I hope to see Stonehenge firsthand someday. And I an definitely ready for some spring.
Are you an actual practicing Astrologist or do you do it for your own personal uses?