Andrew Gough's Arcadia

By John Harper

Part 1

Synopsis

This work reveals the physical reality of three ancient miracles
12,000 years ago the sacrificial inducement of these phenomena ignited a spiritual revolution that triggered the Neolithic revolution and gave rise to civilisation
The Jewish Historian Josephus omitted certain Biblical passages from his “Antiquities of the Jew’s” because they exposed a (now disturbing) religious philosophy that had evolved about these ritual phenomenon
In light of these ritual phenomena it is now possible to identify “Solomon’s Key” and the ritual “wisdom” that is encoded within the Bible
The evidence indicates that knowledge of these phenomena forms the basis of a hierarchical conspiracy both within and without the Church
The Biblical allegory appertaining to these ritual phenomena permeates the Rennes-le-Château and Holy Grail mysteries

Contents

Introduction
Wrath of God – ancient testimony to the first of these ritual phenomenon
Ritual Revolution – historical, cultural, and archaeological evidence of this phenomenon
Josephus’ Omissions – a Biblical metaphor that exposes a secret ritual knowledge
Solomon’s Key – the Grail and its Keeper, i.e. the second and third of these ritual phenomena
Conspiracy – evidence of this “ritual trinity” being secretly venerated within the Church
Conclusion

Introduction

This enquiry takes the unprecedented step of examining an area of antiquity that has been off limits to most modern academics… the analysis of ancient miracles! The miracles in question are quite distinct from those religious revelations that Marx and Freud categorised as psychosomatic. Although undeniably odd, these ancient wonders did affect material objects, and with their occurrence still being reported today, one cannot but acknowledge their reality! The evidence indicates that in the distant past these strange phenomena were deliberately induced using the most barbaric activity, blood sacrifice. Despite the mass of evidence left behind by this curious practice, blood sacrifice remains one of antiquities greatest unexplained mysteries.

Whilst the written testimony to these ritual phenomena is veiled in layers of religious interpretation, it is possible to strip this away and observe the events that took place. Even where this testimony is hostile, like the Churches vilification of these sacrificial events as “demonic manifestations”, one is forced to ask why the same events are deemed acceptable, just because they were manifested by the patriarchs of the Bible! This in turn prompts us to ask why the Jew’s described these same so-called miracles as “false revelations”… just because their neighbours produced them! If like me, you find this evidence convincing, then you too will find yourself asking why, despite the readily available evidence, anthropology insist on describing this universal ancient testimony as myth!

Ritual Trinity

The Churches of the Rennes-le-Chateau region abound with this symbol of the trinity, a symbol that clearly represents the three miracles under scrutiny here. At its centre is the triangular fire sign of Solomon, itself indicative of the trinity. This is always depicted surrounded by billowing smoke and a light burst. I have yet to determine how widespread this particular symbol is, and so I would ask the readers of Arcadia for any information they may have on this symbol.

Trinity from Church of St Andrews in Alet les Bains

The first of these so-called miracles is a horrific sacrificial-fire that ignited spontaneously within the bodies of both sacrificed animals and some priests. Previously assumed to be an event confined to the Old Testaments, I am now able to reveal the universal nature of this ancient sacrificial phenomenon; i.e. that it was a product of blood sacrifice! Incredibly, the wealth of written testimony to this fiery phenomenon is actually supported by a surprising large amount of historical and scientific data. When combined with reports of its continued occurrence today in the form of Spontaneous Human Combustion, one is forced to conclude that our ancient ancestors were once capable of ritually inducing this horrific event.

The second of these supposed wonders is a bodily-radiance whose surprisingly long history stretches back to the ancient kings of Persia. Moses and Jesus are amongst those who have exuded this bodily-radiance, as have many Christian saints, including a few modern individuals. Whilst the ritual inducement of this supposed miracle is surrounded in the deepest religious secrecy, I do believe it is possible to distinguish its cause.

The third of these sacrificial miracles is a sanctuary-radiance; a phenomenon that I believe is related to the above bodily-radiance. This phenomenon does not have a known modern counterpart as its appearance was ritually contrived in antiquity. This sanctuary-radiance consists of a mysterious light or glory that once illuminated religious icons housed within especially darkened sanctuaries, sepulchres, and caves. This light was perceived to be a spiritual or a divine radiance. It was this mysteriously manifested glory that provided the impetus for the construction of temples and tombs with especially darkened sanctuaries.

The activity at the altar was essentially a prelude to the manifestation of either this bodily-radiance or the sanctuary-radiance; in most sophisticated cultures this altar-fire was very much an unwanted side effect of the sacrificial process. The evidence would suggest that the manifestation of these ritual phenomena was once prolific, but that they slowly subsided until in the last millennia BC they reached a level comparable with today’s occurrence, i.e. they became extremely rare. Once you recognise the ritual inducement of these phenomena it becomes possible to analyse their repetitive circumstances and analyse their cause. My findings suggest a single biochemical cause for all three events which was triggered by certain environmental factors. This paper is but a brief synopsis of my findings and ideas, their cause is a subject I shall return to when I publish my hypothesis in full.

The Rennes-le-Château Connection

The readers of Arcadia will be interested to know that this work may help explain the Holy Grail and Rennes-le-Chateau mysteries. I made my first visit to Rennes-le-Château last summer expecting to find evidence of these so-called miracles being secretly venerated there, and I wasn’t disappointed. On full view within the churches of this region is iconography containing secret symbols relating to these ritual phenomena. There are also indications of this secret symbolism in some of the other regions once controlled by the Templar’s. Unfortunately, a computer crash has meant the loss of many of the photographs taken during that trip. However, I have managed to retrieve some, and the attached photograph is one of these. It shows the lower portion of a large painting of the crucifixion hung in the Church of St Polycarpe, a small hamlet north of Rennes-le-Château. Below the cross is a bible with a sword lying across an open page. As you read through the evidence below see if you can work out the significance of these symbols?

Open Bible and Sword – St Polycarpe

Wrath of God

I first came across this strange altar-fire in the Old Testaments of the Bible, where I found accounts of horrific flames spontaneously igniting during the sacrificial rites of Moses etc. I was not only intrigued by the consistent relationship between this supposed supernatural fire and the physical act of blood sacrifice, but also its unique resemblance to the modern phenomenon Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC). My first job was to determine whether this strange sacrificial fire was not simply a myth unique the Jew’s. Space limits the amount of ancient testimony that I can present here, so please excuse the brevity. I shall start by examining some of the Old Testament accounts of this fiery phenomenon then briefly explore its corroborating cultural and scientific data.

James Tissot’s painting: Fire from Heaven consumes the sacrifice

In the “Talmud” translated by Frederick Warne, P13; we find a version of the Cain and Abel story that explains how Cain’s “offering was unheaded, while the fire of acceptance fell from heaven, consuming the gracious gifts” of Abel. This is the first of many allusions to this strange fire, some obscure, others more explicit, which illustrate how ancient people were provided with seemingly supernatural evidence of their communion with god.

Leviticus 9:23, When Moses establishes the Ark in its tented temple, a seven day sacrificial binge ensued, and on the eight day: “… the glory of Yahweh appeared to the entire people” then “a flame leapt out from Yahweh’s presence and consumed the burnt offering and fat on the altar”.

When I came to examine Josephus’ rendition of this account in his “Antiquities of the Jew’s”, [1] I was surprised to find no mention of the flames leaping “out from Yahweh’s presence”, but this more specific statement, “as the sacrifices lay upon the altar, a sudden fire was kindled from among them of its own accord”?

Leviticus 10:1 “And Nadab and Abidu, the sons of Aaron, took either of his censor, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the lord, which he commanded them not to”… “And there went out a fire from the lord, and devoured them, and they died before the lord”… “So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp as Moses had said”.

Once again Josephus’ rendition did not match the original. Instead of stating that the brothers had offered “strange fire [in their censors] before the lord”, he wrote that “they did not bring those sacrifices which Moses had bade them bring, but which they used to offer formerly”?

Once more he is keen to stress the horrific appetite that these flames had for flesh; “Now when the fire rushed upon them, and began to burn them, nobody could quench it”.

The evidence would suggest that this incident where Corah challenged for the priesthood was preceded by an earthquake. Numbers 16:4, Corah and his followers are “offering burnt incense” and that “the glory of the lord appeared” and that “there came a fire out of the lord, and consumed the two hundred fifty men that offered incense”. Once again, we find Josephus account at variance with these O/T stories as he stresses the abnormality of these flames,

“…and they all offered incense, in these censers of theirs which they brought with them, before the tabernacle. Hereupon so great a fire shone out as no one ever saw in any that is made by the hand of man, neither in those eruptions out of the earth… nor in such fires as arise of their own accord in wood… all the company, and Corah himself, were destroyed, and this so entirely that their bodies left no remains behind”.

Nor does Josephus mention the next passage 17:1, where Moses tells Aaron to collect their censors from their “smouldering remains” and hammer them into sheets for the altar. I recall being puzzled by Josephus’ treatment of these events, but it going to be a few years before I managed to sit down and examine anew Josephus’ rendering of this sacrificial miracle. See “Josephus Omissions” below.

2 Chronicles 7:1, recounts how during the dedication of his temple, Solomon was finishing his lengthy prayer to Yahweh when suddenly, “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices; and the glory of the lord filled the house”.

1 Kings 18:31, by far the most telling of these incident is where Elijah challenges to the priests of Baal to see whose respective god can spontaneously ignite a sacrificed bull. As expected, Elijah wins the contest when the, “fire of the lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice”. The most significant aspect of this story is the confidence that both Elijah and Baal’s priests had in their ritual ability to cause their respective bulls to spontaneously burst into flames!

Elsewhere in Antiquity

The Greek historian Pausanias in his “Descriptions of Greece” 1.16.1, informs us that the future prosperity of Seleucus (he became King of Babylonia in 306BC)

“was foreshadowed by unmistakable signs. When he was about to set forth from Macedonia with Alexander, and was sacrificing at Pella to Zeus, the wood that lay on the altar advanced of its own accord to the image and caught fire without the application of a light”.

I cannot explain the prior movement of the wood, but the key feature of a sacrificial offering spontaneous bursting into flames is recorded in this historical document!

In her book “Dying for the Gods”, P141, the anthropologist Miranda Aldhouse Green, recounts another such story regarding the Greek King Themistocles who was sacrificing after a great victory against the Persians, when “a great bright flame shot up from the [animal] victims awaiting sacrifice at the altar”. The fact that the animals were “awaiting sacrifice” implies that were alive when the flames shot up from their bodies; which probably explains why Miranda resorts to questioning whether this incident was “not simply a figment of the author’s fertile imagination”. Many anthropologists cite the fact that the ancient Greeks believed it auspicious when an altar-fire suddenly flared up, because they associated it with a god’s presence at the sacrifice. The evidence presented here would suggest that they had good cause to believe that this was so.

Celtic writing did not appear until the 6th century and so the search for any references to this sacrificial fire is confined to the verbal myths that were later recorded for posterity in extremely obscure tones. Never-the-less, it is possible to recognise the features of this spontaneous sacrificial fire in the few references to “Druid’s fire” and “Mystic fire”.

One such legend that displays the necessary sacrificial ingredients concerns the legendary Irish Druid, Mogh Ruith at the “Siege of Drom Damhghaire”. Mogh Ruith is asked to make a “Druids fire” against the enemy. His pupil then creates a “seven doored heap of faggots” and states that “the fire is read, all but to light”. Taking a shaving from the men’s spears Mogh Ruith mixes it with butter and begins to chant. He then throws the ball into the fire where it explodes? He then “blew his Druids breath up into the sky whereupon it became a threatening black cloud which came down in a shower of blood”. The number seven, the spear, the blood, and the supernatural lighting of the fire, are all indicative of sacrificial activity and this spontaneous fire.

In the Persian Bundahishn, chapter 17, we find an explanation of the five sacred fires, one being the fire “Vohu-Fryan” which is “in the bodies of men and animals”. Another fire called “Adar Gushnasp” aided king Khosraw when he “was extirpating the idol-temples of lake Chechast it settled upon the mane of his horse, and drove away the darkness and gloom, and made it quite light, so that they might extirpate the idol-temples”.

It would appear that Kay (King) Khosraw (a contemporary of Zoarostra?) had ridden his horse into the temple whereupon its mane had suddenly burst into flames! The custom of smearing the neck of a horse with the blood of your foes might be significant here, but more of this in a subsequent paper.

In India, the most important sacrificial offering was the horse. Once chosen, it was left to wander the land for a year. In Donald A Mackenzie’s book “Indian Myth and Legend”, he recounts how Bhima was given a scimitar with which he severed the horses head,

“which immediately ascended into heaven and vanished from before the eyes of all. Great was the wonder and joy of the assembled multitude. Krishna and other Rajahs and sages then cut open the horses body, from which a bright light issued forth”.

In the epic saga “The Ramayana” we find that the Jewish “angel in a sacrificial fire” has been replaced by “Vishnu in a sacrificial fire

Much of Chinese history has been lost to us but I did discover this intriguing story that mirrors the surviving extremities of SHC victims. It concerns the god Tsao Jun who was previously a mortal who cheated on his wife. He was so ashamed that he jumped into a stove and was burnt to death. His wife managed to grab one of his legs, the only portion of his body to survive the flames. He was later deified, and tellingly became the god of sacrifice!

This Roman reference comes from Suetonius’ “The Twelve Caesars” P122, where he recounts how when Tiberius was marching through Macedonia, “the altars consecrated by the victorious Caesarians at Philippa, twenty-two years previously, were suddenly crowned with spontaneous fires”.

A Ritual Revolution

Let us pause for a moment to consider the impact that this extraordinary ritual fire would have had upon the lives of ancient people. Is it simply a coincidence that we find the first clear evidence of blood sacrifice and ritual cremation together amidst the first settlements of the Neolithic revolution! Anthropologists have long insisted that this momentous social revolution was triggered by agricultural developments, but archaeological evidence now indicates that its actual trigger was a ritual-revolution! The following quotation is from a 1999 publication compiled by 29 eminent historians and archaeologists –

“The earliest changes visible in the archaeological records relate not to food production, but to social relations, indicated not only in the tendency to reside in one location over longer periods and in the investment in labour in more substantial and more permanent structures, but also in the growth of ritual, an important factor in social cohesion. Indeed, it is possible that this “symbolic revolution” was of greater immediate significance than the economic changes we associate with the origins of agriculture. [2]

Unfortunately, the anthropological term “ritual activity” is used profusely to describe any act they deem to be symbolic. Whereas I see much of this ancient ritual activity as having been peripheral to the act of blood sacrifice which I claim produced these strange phenomena. Based upon the evidence I have, I would suggest that the Neolithic revolution was triggered and sustained by a “sacrificial revolution”.

Historians and anthropologists are right to err on the side of caution when considering new evidence, but I do believe they need to review again the work of anthropologist Charles Keith Maisels, [3] who in 1993 presented a similar argument against the agricultural origins of the first cities in Mesopotamia. Whilst not exactly stating that “ritual activity” was responsible for these city-states, he does argue that these conurbations crystallised about the temple complexes found in their midst!

In addition to this, historians need to address the problem of anthropologies inability to explain the origins and universal spreads of sacrifice, [4] something that makes their assertion that the act of sacrifice was purely symbolic, rather presumptuous! They also need to review the work of the German geographer Eduard Hahn, whose findings indicate that animal husbandry resulted from a need to supply sacrificial victims. And intriguingly, they need to review the work of archaeologists Richard Bradley and Julian Thomas who have suggested that the initial imports of grain into Neolithic Britain, were for ritual purposes only!

Temple Conflagrations

Further evidence of this sacrificial fire may also be found in some of the stories told about odd temple conflagrations. Pausanias in his “Descriptions of Greece” was keen to record such events. One such account concerns a temple built for Zeus, 2.5.5 “… that suddenly fire from some quarter fell on it and destroyed it”. Archaeologists are puzzled by the strange conflagrations that the Woodhenges of Europe were subjected to as soon as they were built, which has prompted one archaeologist to suggest that they were ritually torched as part of some inauguration ceremony? Archaeologists have recently discovered evidence of similar ritual conflagrations atop the huge pyramids of the Lambeyque civilisation in Central America. The Erechtheum on the Acropolis in Athens was also subjected to a conflagration that badly damaged its wooden ceiling. In Lebanon the great temple at Baalbek was mysteriously burnt down during the reign of the emperor Justinian in 866 AD; a sudden “fire from heaven” flamed up in the temple and consumed it, destroying its beams, bronze, and lead, and the idols inside”.

Ritual Cremation

In the same vein, one has to explain the sudden appearance of human cremation alongside the practice of sacrifice during the Neolithic revolution? Of course, the full picture is somewhat distorted by the fact that burnt animal deposits are always treated as the remains of ritual meals, not ritual cremations. Of the 390 stone circles described in Audrey Burl’s “A guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany”, some 110 of these have been found to contain human cremations!

Mike Pitts informs us in his book “Hengeworld” P121, of the re-evaluated archaeological evidence that now reveals some “sixty cremation burials” found within the excavated portions of Stonehenge. The forensic archaeologist Jackie Mckinley P120, stresses the degree of burning to these and other cremated burials; “these features, a high degree of cremation, and a lot of bone collected – are typical of burials found in the centre of round barrows”. How these cremated individuals died will never be known, but some have been found with arrowheads in their burnt remains which suggests the practice of human sacrifice at a safe distance. Confirmation perhaps of Strabo’s claim that the Druids practiced human sacrifice by shooting arrows into their victims… and burning them wicker-man style!

Just before we leave Mike Pitts “Hengeworld”, P251, we find this tantalising bit of information from Papua New Guinea recounted by the anthropologist Miriam Kahn. She tells of a legendary figure called Tauaribariba who is represented by “one of several stones in a circle about 5m across. He watches over the taro gardens and walks about at night. Whenever you see a column of smoke rising into the air, there goes Tauaribariba, for he can make fire from nothing”! The association of a stone circle with spontaneous fires acquires new significant in light of the above evidence; as does the association of these standing stones with deceased ancestors, but more of this in another paper.

Christianity

Awareness of this spontaneous sacrificial fire enables one to examine afresh the conversion myths of the Church in order to identify the ritual activity they wished to overthrow. Most of these legends involve fiery dragons and demons; beasts that I would argue encapsulate the qualities of these ritual phenomena, their guardianship features especially important as you will see.

One such legend tells of the apostle John, who after Christ’s crucifixion, went to live out his life in Ephesus. After going to pray in the nearby pagan temple of Artemis, a fire from heaven killed 200 men who worshipped before the idol there. He is then said to have raised them from the dead and baptised them into the faith. He is also said to have driven out a demon from the temple that had lived there for 249 years.

George and the Dragon

The later legend of St George and the Dragon tells of a knight embarking upon a missionary quest. Inevitably, he comes across a village under constant threat from a fiery dragon who demands a regular supply of sacrificed maidens. The villagers have to draw lots in order to choose the next victim, and one year the inevitable princess is chosen; cue St George, who appears on the scene to slay the fiery dragon and convert the villagers from paganism to Christianity.

St Patrick is another missionary who converts the pagans. During the spring New Year fire festival of Beltane when all fires were extinguished and the High King’s fire was ceremonially lit so that every other fire in the land might be ignited anew. St Patrick countered this rite by lighting an Easter fire on a nearby hill. The High King sent chariots to vanquish Patrick and put out his fire, but they failed to prevail against the holy fire, and so St Patrick converted Ireland. The legend also informs us that he used a three leafed clover to teach them about the Christian version of the trinity – their pagan trinity being these three ritual miracles discussed here!

Fire Festivals

I cannot leave this section without briefly mentioning the sacrificial origins of the many festivities that we celebrate today, and principal amongst these is the New Year fire-festival. This seeming innocuous and surprisingly universal festival involved the fires of whole nations being extinguished whilst they awaited the lighting of a sacred flame. Once lit, this sacred flame would then be disseminated throughout the land. To understanding the roots of this festival one has to be familiar with the existence of this spontaneous altar-fire. How else do you explain the ignition of these divine flames via an act of sacrifice!

A gruesome example of this comes from the ancient Aztec’s who during their New Year festival would tear the heart out of a man chest and ignite a fire in the blood filled cavity? Frazer’s classic book the “Golden Bough” documents many of Europe’s pre-Christian festivals including the Bonfires (bone-fires) of our ancient ancestors.