Mark Vidler - Sacred Geometry of the Earth: The Ancient Matrix of Monuments and Mountains

For Isla and Katy
and
Laura and Emma and Will

SACRED GEOMETRY OF THE EARTH

The intriguing theories of Catherine Young and Mark Vidler concerning the coincidence of prominent landscape features shown in their juxtapositions to express mathematical ratios in terms of nautical miles should not be dismissed.

JOHN NEAL, AUTHOR OF MEASURING THE MEGALITHS AND THE STRUCTURE OF METROLOGY

An astonishing piece of work and utterly compelling.

ALLAN BROWN, ILLUSTRATOR AND CONTRIBUTOR TO HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to Rand Flem-Ath for his insight and enthusiasm. We would also like to thank Rose Flem-Ath, Lizzie Hutchins, Oliver Bentham, Allan Brown, Paul Cooper, Sheila Knight, Tessa Rawcliffe, Laurence Glazier, Andrew Pickersgill, Emma Young, Gary Heidt, and Jon Graham. We are indebted to cartographers through the ages and all the people who have contributed to the creation of Google Earth.

FOREWORD

KEYS TO EARTHS SACRED GEOMETRY

My adventure exploring the ancient matrix of monuments and mountains described in this book began in June 2010, when, no longer able to put off searching the attic for something Ive long since forgotten I wanted, I stumbled over that most enticing of treasures for a librariana box of books. Brushing off the dust and squinting through a tangle of spiderwebs, I saw the blue and silver cover of The Star Mirror by Mark Vidler. It had been on my must-do reading list ever since an editor at the London offices of HarperCollins had given it to me when Colin Wilson and I were making presentations for The Atlantis Blueprint. I brought Marks book home to Canada, but before I had a chance to delve into it, my own book deal was signed, and writing, researching, and editing pushed the luxury of reading for pleasure to the bottom of the list.

After I finally pulled The Star Mirror into the light of day, I was astonished at what I found and regretted that I hadnt read it sooner. Within its pages Mark had judiciously challenged common assumptions about our planets place in the universe. We soon began a lively and fascinating e-mail conversation. His work was the most exciting Id found since I began corresponding with Charles Hapgood.

After repeated investigation Mark had discovered that 3,000 kilometers was the length of a straight line drawn between many notable sites (both natural and manmade) around the Earth. For instance, 3,000 kilometers separate Mexicos Pyramid of the Sun from the northern peninsula of South America. He had also discerned the critical importance of the cardinal points (extreme north, south, east, or west) of the continents.

Fascinated by the material I dug deeper into Marks 3,000 kilometer figure. I knew that the kilometera measurement created in relatively recent historic times in Napoleonic Francewas unlikely to have been used by the architects of ancient Egypt and Mexico whose sites Mark was exploring.

Living on an island where were dependent on ferry service for everything from cameras to coffeepots and where boats are almost as common as cars, I was curious to translate 3,000 kilometers into nautical miles. (I had made extensive use of the nautical mile in countless calculations for the writing of The Atlantis Blueprint.) Although the nautical mile is thought to be a modern invention, determined in 1929, I had concluded as early as 1976 that our planets true dimensions were known in very ancient times. And since the nautical mile is a precise subdivision of the actual dimensions of the Earth, its use in ancient times would indicate a greater knowledge of geography than is normally granted to any ancient civilization. When I converted Marks 3,000 kilometers into nautical miles, I was amazed at the results and immediately wrote to him, pointing out how close 3,000 km is to 1,618 nautical miles (or the universal constant phi multiplied by 1,000).

The realization that 1,618 nautical miles is intimately related to the universal geometric constant phi was compelling evidence that the common distances linking sacred sites, mountains, and cardinal points that Mark had found all over the globe were far beyond coincidence.

I wrote to Mark: I cant help but wonder if there isnt a equivalent. It might be interesting to draw 3,142 nautical mile circles around the various mountains and sacred sites and see what they connect with. It wasnt long before Mark demonstrated conclusively that pi (3.142) multiplied by 1,000 and measured in nautical miles yielded a second key for unlocking the sacred geometry of the Earth. For example, it is 3,142 nautical miles from Mexicos Pyramid of the Sun to the most northerly peninsula of North America's landmass.

Sacred Geometry of the Earth reveals that pi and phi numbers (3,142 and 1,618) are embedded into the body of the Earth like an ancient scar. These iconic numbers trace nautical miles that link some of the most mysterious places on the planet. They set compass bearings between sites with incredible accuracy and relentless consistency. The very existence of such sophisticated knowledge signifies that our concepts of the past are more than flawed, they are wrong. The time is overdue for the exciting new understanding that can be found on every page of Mark and Catherines book.

RAND FLEM-ATH

RAND FLEM-ATH is a librarian and coauthor of The Atlantis Blueprint. He has appeared on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, NBC, CBC, and the BBC as well as on numerous radio shows. He lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Le Menec stone rows at Carnac.
Postcard photo by Jos Le Doar.

SIGNPOSTS IN THE LANDSCAPE

LINES FROM THE PAST

The stone rows shown in figure1.1 are called Le Menec; they are part of the largest Neolithic monument in Europe at Carnac, in the Brittany region of France. A series of lines like these spans over three kilometers, yet these alignments have remained an enduring mystery: why would anyone do this?

The people who labored to create Le Menec left no written record to explain their motivation; today we can only guess at what they were trying to achieve. Our guesses have been imaginative; the stones form meeting places, temples, or astronomical observatories. They are fertility symbols, geometric diagrams, sources of magic, and so on.

But at Carnac there is a possible clue. Although the dilapidated rows at the beginning of Le Menec do not follow precisely straight lines, they do indicate a general direction. Are they a signpost? Do these lines indicate a direction to follow?

The straight lines A, B, and C in figure 1.2 diverge slightly as they are extended eastward. If continued they would reach the following destinations:

Figure 1.1. The beginning of Le Menec at Carnac, in the Brittanyregion of France; the standing stones were probably erectedbetween 4000 and 3000 BCE. Photo by OliBac.

Figure 1.2. The stone rows at Le Menec; each standing stone isplotted as a circle. The image covers the first five hundred metersof the alignments. Many of the stones have been re-erected. Thelinear clusters to the east have certainly been re-erected.