At page three we can read: “ ….By virtue of a certain amount of inspired guesswork, and by dint of casting a number of horoscopes from the year 1207 ( which year is mentioned in an inscription alongside the zodiac), I was able to show that in this year there was a unique stellar event which was recorded within the symbolism of the zodiac, and within the church as a whole. This was a “satellitium in Taurus” a gathering of planets in the constellation Taurus, which was reflected in the Taurian symbolism of the zodiac and the basilican church……..As if all this were not enough, I was able to show that the orientation of the zodiac was also linked in a most important way with this year of 1207. The axis of Taurus had been directed precisely towards a specific point of sunrise over Florence, a point which, because of certain astrological considerations relating to 1207, may be said to be the anagogic direction of Taurus………it is suggested that if I wish to gain support for my notion that the San Miniato zodiac represents a hermetic foundation chart, linked with annual, diurnal and epochal rhythms, I will have to find something akin to the thirteenth century horoscope which I claim was used for laying down the zodiac in 1207…………..the inscription is not very clear. After some initial difficulties, I have succeeded in translating this latin and in so doing I have discovered to my surprise that it incorporate a remarkable mediaeval code. When translated and decoded, this inscription reveals the exact time and date on which the zodiac was laid down, and mentions the names of the planets involved in the satellitium in Taurus. The date contained within this coded latin corresponds precisely to the date I had arrived at independently, and published in 1978, over nine years ago. It is, of course, the date on which the unique gathering of planets took place, on 28 May 1207……….in examing this inscription with regard to its encoded message, I naturally paid some attention to the numerological significance of its structure, in the knowledge that this would have played a most important part in any system of code or esoteric structure of the medieval period. The curious form of the inscription arises from the fact that it is a seven sentence inscription presented in three lines. It is partly this structure, and the relationship of the hermetic numbers 7 and 3….”
I cannot but start from the irrationality involved in the author’s decoding practice. It means nothing that the lines are three and the words seven for line ( anyway it is not true, you can check from the picture below). I spare you the inscription’s translation, because the latin is so full packed with syntax errors that only a literal conversion could be possible. We are before a usual mediaeval colorful and imaginative dedication to a donor (dante) who made possible the building, “may he live in the same”. Of course we also have the date after the word “dante”, MCCVII. Exactly 1207. At least a phrase without error. I can assure from the bottom of my modest knowledge that alchemists, or hermeticists, did hate literature and any written word. They did not write anything, but by means of figurative arts. Their stone books, were never inscriptions of words or numbers. But figures and symbols. And whenever they played with words meaning, it was by means of riddles and tales. They always expressed themselves in terms of allegories and analogies. Anyway what eventually they ( I don’t understand why it is always presumed an organization behind) would have hidden in their message? The date of nave pavement lay down? 1207, it is clearly written. Or better some formidable event occurred on 28 of May 1207.
The author reveals: “….. the axis of Taurus had been directed precisely towards a specific point of sunrise over Florence…….” he talks of a spiritual truth which could with certain rhythms of time be revealed or radiated on spectators. But you can attend at every equinox you want in every place you want, and never will happen. Since rising solar light has not the power to enlighten more than the inner of a dark basilica. If you do not know what to do with it.
When mentioning the importance of Taurus in San Miniato, the author probably intends the bull being strangely detached from the other evangelists animal signs. In fact it is not sculptured in the pulpit together with an eagle, a man and a lion (see image at the top of the page). But it could not, and we will see why in a next article. As well as to see why the bull is on its own.
Let’s admit there is a hidden date to point at in the nave pavement calendar, let’s admit this date is an important date. But an important date for who? What, in fact, if the San Miniato planner would have intended to point at a particularly important event? For the monastery? For the official monastery or the hidden hermetic one? And what could this event have possibly been? Since the date appears to be 28 of May, we may suggest a successful “ Week of the Week” or Hebdomas Hebdomadum (4) which may take place in about these days indeed. Or simply he would have point at the possibility of that week. Or even at an event tied with something above and beyond the Hebdomas Hebdomadum. In this case it would be absolutely and positively kept in silence. Alchemists are not showing off people.
In this case this was not a date for all humankind, but a “handle with care” date for alchemical use in hidden environments (5).
- See also Friedrick Grick: did Rosicrucians use Ephemerides? ;
- See also Trisulti Carthusian Monastery and the Yearbook Wheel , Santi Pupieni and the Raising Black-New Moon , Thesaurus Hermeticum & Dry Pythagorean River , Nuisement and the Sun Resisting Capture , Voynich Manuscript and the Unknown Part of the Rhythm , Pietro Perugino and the Lady of the Wind ;
- See also Two Stars in a Venetian Geocentric Sky and Voynich Manuscript and the Unknown Part of the Rhythm ;
- Both pictures are taken from Nasa Picture of the Day ;
- See also Canseliet, the Art of Music and Weight ;
- See also Rennes le Chateau, Alchemy & Counter Initiation .