Nicolas Flamel in Le Livre des Figures Hiéroglyphiques, the book of the hieroglyphic figures, writes: “… So the first time I made the projection, it was on mercury, which I converted half a pound or so in pure silver, better than the one extracted from mine as the evidence proved several times. It was January 17, a Monday around noon, in my house, in the only presence of Perrenelle, the year 1382 … I did it then with the red stone, similar with mercury again in the presence of Perrenelle alone, in the same house, on April 25 of that year, about five o’clock in the evening … “. Why Flamel doesn’t communicate us the date of the achievement of the Mercurius, and the fixation of the volatile Mercurius? And the victorious coming out of the white Sulphur, days way much more important to mark than the date of two projections? In fact the operations I have mentioned necessarily need the right astronomical code, that’s to say the right Moon, Sun, Stars and hour of the day (the dawn). He also incorrectly writes the name of his wife, Perrenelle instead of Pernelle. Not an ingenuous mistake. Was he really only interested in getting rich?
January 17 is also the date carved on Marie de Nègre d’Ables de Blanchefort funeral stele. The specimen kept in Rennes le Chateau museum is a restoration of the original stele broken up by Berènger Saunier after having desecrated her grave in 1895. In 1905 Elie Tisseyre in an account of a trip to Rennes-le- Chateau, amazed by the neglected state of the tomb of the illustrious personage, made a drawing of it. A second rendering was made by Eugène Stublein (Pierres gravées de Languedoc, supposed re-edition of 1884 work, deposited 1966). The reader probably is already acquainted with the fact that very likely the tomb of the marquise was found empty, and the weird circumstances of the funeral documents as well as the absent funeral ceremony lead to suggestion that the whole operation was conceived to hide something very unusual (see The Last Lady of Rennes).
We can say beyond any doubt that the moon is not involved, in fact the moon phases last about 28 days and never fit exactly to the solar calendar. Concerning the Sun, on January 17 it is slowly rising from the lowest solstice point. A modern astrological theory states that on January 17, approximately, it may vary slightly from year to year, the sun enters the actual stars of Capricorn (sidereal constellation). In earlier times this constellation was known as the Gate of the Death. But, in my opinion, this is just a curiosity, in fact, the precession of the equinoxes shifts the entrances of the zodiacal signs practically every few years, so it can not be considered for entire century span. Ovid in his Fasti, book one, seems instead not to consider the precession and reports that on January 17 the Sun moves from Capricorn into Aquarius on or about this date.
Among Greeks and Latins the first days of January were marked by the birth of Apollo, the new Sun. On January 6 Romans celebrated the birth of a new divine child. Virgil in his sixth Eclogue says that a divine child will be born “iam regnat Apollo” or Apollo already ruling, but he doesn’t indicate the exact day. We know that January has been called after the god Ianus. Some stated that Ianus too was the Sun and he is portrayed as double because he ruled both the doors of the sky, that’s to say he opened the sky in the sunrise and closed it in the sunset. He was also said to be the god of the celestial axis. Furthermore his statues often were holding in the right hand the number CCC and in the other the number LXV to indicate the measuring of the year, the main effect of the Sun. Others wanted that Ianus, or Eanus, was the world, or sky, from the Latin ab eundo, Phoenicians represented this deity with a dragon, who twists and bites itself, meaning that the world feeds and sustains itself.
In his “Georgics” Virgil narrates that in the Greek Island of Andros, in a Dionysus temple, there was a fountain throwing wine on the first day of January. So In January waters were falling from the sky, and this nomenclature often meant that particular stars did appear. In fact, when we have an exact day of the year, if it is not a solstice or an equinox, we can be quite sure it is a stars affair. So we should have a look at the January sky, in the Paris meridian ( which affected both the Parisian Flamel and the village of Rennes le Chateau). But yet we don’t know what quadrant to analyze, if the face of the north, south, east or west. Polaris as we all know shows North; having it in front, then behind we have the south, on the left the West, and the East on the right. I would suggest to draw our attention to the axis north-south, as it seems involved in many ancient rituals of death and birth. But the constellations revolve apparently from East to West. What does this mean? That our constellation, which in the evening we see in the East, at night can be high above the horizon in the direction of the South, and can be identified in the West between 5 and 6 in the morning. So we should know what time we have to look at the sky.
The January sky appears dominated by the large figure of Orion, Sirius star and the asterism of the Winter Triangle. Orion is the absolute protagonist of the sky: its characteristic hourglass shape, the three stars aligned of the belt and its position at the turn of the celestial equator make it the benchmark for worldwide stargazers. The line, drawn by the three stars of the belt, if extended towards the south-east, leads to Sirius, the brightest star in the entire sky; this star, together with Betelgeuse (α Orionis) and Procyon (α Canis Minoris) is the Winter Triangle. To the south of Sirius, the body of the Canis Maior is marked by a chain of stars that continues south-east, ending in a triangle.
In the beginning of the second half of January, Sirius tends to twinkle in the south quadrant and move from east to west. Sirius shines brightly after dinnertime below Orion in the southeast. Around 8 or 9 p.m., depending on your location, Sirius shines precisely below fiery Betelgeuse in Orion’s shoulder and leads Betelgeuse early in the evening. Betelgeuse leads later.
In conclusion we will see that in classical mythology the celestial axis north-south ruled the world of births and deaths. And one might think of a precise and ritual orientation.
- See also The Throne Hieroglyph and the Nightly Power of Isis ;
- See also Elias Ashmole and the Prophetic Red Stone ;
- See also Dionysus, Universal Dissolvent and Kykeon, Demeter, Anima Mundi & House of Bread ;
- See also The Last Lady of Rennes ;
- See also The Dangerous Journey into the Gundestrup Cauldron ;