By no means do I identify as a historian or a subject matter expert on the stories I am about to share but I am fascinated about where we have all come from and what have we learned over the tens, well hundreds of thousands of years that we, humanity, has been on this Earth. I will be writing a book in the coming months that at this stage will be about how we can ensure we all share a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future together. But before we look ahead it is important that we gain an appreciation for where we have come from so the lessons of history can inform our future.

To that end, part of my research for the book is to look back and see where we have come from. This is the first of what may be a series of blogs that will go under the title of ‘My Plotted History of Humanity’. These blogs will be my attempt to try to get my head around what is our humanity’s story thus far, and more importantly, what I can learn from it.

I am forever grateful to the many subject matter experts that I am learning from including, but not limited to, experts in the fields of archaeology, geology, paleontology, anthropology, physics and history. Hopefully, this series of blogs will go some way to answering the questions, where did we come from and how did we come to exist? These blogs are not meant to be a comprehensive history of humanity, I will leave that to the experts, but they will reflect some of the stories that inspire, as well as challenge me.

I am also currently working on a family history project which is motivating me to investigate my family’s stories of current generations as well as those of my ancestors. This project has really made it clear to me that we are interconnected in a myriad of ways and the connections we share far outweigh any differences. In our current era where we have allowed our difference, ego and individualism to be used to divide and exploit us through a focus on greed, competition and conquest, it is important to reflect that our common humanity and shared history also tells us that adaptation, compassion, love and cooperation are much more positive and inclusive paradigms to strive for.

Please read this blog in the spirit it was shared; with love, compassion and a desire to learn. I wish to state that in no way am I wanting to impose myself on others with my writing but I feel a deep desire to share my thoughts and inspirations with whoever may be reading this and I am very grateful that you are, I warmheartedly wish you all the very best.

My aim is to improve myself and strive to be better each day. Writing is one way I am trying to meet this aim and it is one way I can contribute towards my wish to live in a society that sustainably exists within our planetary limits and that has a loving heart at its core. Hopefully my writing will go some way to showing why this is important and how we can achieve this.

I hope my words provide greater understanding on our common humanity, our shared past and shared future and inspires some reflection on the amazingness that is the story of our humanity.

In the beginning…

The intent of this series of blogs is to focus on us, humanity and our story since we evolved to become Homo Sapiens back in Africa some 200-300,000 years ago. But before that I think it is best to set the scene somewhat and turn our minds for a moment on where our entire story began, which was some 13.8 billion years ago with the ‘Big Bang’, which is the moment the observable universe went boom and expanded into being.

“No matter where you are in the universe, if you trace yourself back 14 billion years, you come to this point where it was extremely hot, dense and rapidly expanding“[1]

At this stage no one knows what was happening in the universe until one second after the Big Bang however many scientists think that the universe went through a process of exponential expansion called inflation during that first second. Apparently, this would have smoothed out the fabric of space-time and could explain why matter is so evenly distributed in the universe today.[2]

The Big Bang caused huge masses of dust and gas to be spewed throughout space and the energy of the explosion made everything very hot. However, as the pieces of dust and gas swirled about, they started to compress to form small clusters which in turn joined other clusters to make bigger lumps of matter. As the lumps got larger they began to pull together under the force of their own gravity. The largest of these lumps became so dense and hot they began to generate their own energy, this is how the sun was born.

In our solar system the rest of the lumps formed a disc around the sun and as it cooled over millions of years the lumps of dust again began to form into larger chunks of rock called planetesimals which became large enough to have their own gravity pull. The largest of these became the planets of the solar system and they slowly organized themselves into orbit around the sun.

Hence, the Earth formed in this way about 4.54 billion years ago making it around 1/3 the age of the universe. Early in the process a planetesimal the size of Mars hit Earth knocking a big chunk of Earth into space, that chunk then started its own orbit around the Earth and became our moon. Back then, Earth didn’t look anything like it does today, it was just a big ball of rock without oceans, continents or an atmosphere. Over millions of years the Earth evolved into the core, mantle and crust we know of today with the atmosphere and oceans forming around 4 billion years ago as a result of volcanic activity and meteors colliding with the Earth.

As far as life on Earth is concerned this may have started 3.8 billion years ago with single celled micro-organisms such as bacteria and archaea. Nowadays, bacteria are found almost everywhere on Earth, in the air, soil, water, plants and animals, and are vital to the planet’s ecosystems. Even our own body has some 39 trillion bacteria cells living alongside 30 trillion human cells. To further highlight this infiniteness of life and in keeping with the current pandemic, I was stunned to learn that there is believed to be an estimated 10 nonillion (10 to the 31st power) individual viruses on Earth, meaning there are more individual viruses than all the estimated stars in the universe which are considered more numerous than all the grains of beach sand on Earth. Head spinning yet? Mine is. But don’t be too alarmed, only about 200 virus types are known to cause diseases in humans. I digress, but I guess the point is the microscopic nature of life is fundamental to our existence and contrasts exquisitely with the infinite enormity of the cosmos.  

More recently …

“The Earth has undergone a general cooling trend for the past 50 million years, culminating in the development of permanent ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere about 2.75 million years ago. These ice sheets expanded and contracted in a regular rhythm, with each glacial maximum separated from adjacent ones by 41,000 years (based on the cycle of axial tilt). As the ice sheets waxed and waned, global climate drifted steadily toward cooler conditions characterized by increasingly severe glaciations and increasingly cool interglacial phases. Beginning around 900,000 years ago, the glacial-interglacial cycles shifted frequency. Ever since, the glacial peaks have been 100,000 years apart, and the Earth system has spent more time in cool phases than before. The 41,000-year periodicity has continued, with smaller fluctuations superimposed on the 100,000-year cycle. In addition, a smaller, 23,000-year cycle has occurred through both the 41,000-year and 100,000-year cycles.”[3]

We have fast forwarded a few billion years to find ourselves in the Cenozoic, which is the Earths current geological era, representing the last 66 million years of Earth’s history. Since the evolution of complex life, we have categorised Earths history into three geological eras, with the Cenozoic preceded by the Mesozoic (252 million to 66 million years ago) and Paleozoic (541 million to 252 million years ago). The Cenozoic started with a massive extinction event which is attributed to the impact of a large asteroid, this is the event that ended the reign of the dinosaurs. The Cenozoic is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate and the current configuration of the continents. We have divided the Cenozoic into three periods: the Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary, as well as seven Epochs; the Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene. The creation of the Epochs helps paleontologists organise and group the many significant events that occurred during this comparatively short interval of time.

Humanity first appeared during the Pleistocene, and it is this period that is the focus of this blog although it is noted that the Holocene (11,700 years ago to the present) corresponds with a period of humanity’s exponential impact worldwide.

The Pleistocene is a geological epoch that lasted from about 2.58 million years ago to 11,700 years ago and spans the world’s most recent period of glaciations. It was during this period that the most recent episodes of global cooling, or ice ages, took place. It was also during this period that the initial appearance of the genus ‘Homo’ occurred around 2 million years ago as well as the advent and expansion of us, the modern human species, Homo Sapiens some 200-300,000 years ago. Since then, we have experienced nearly two full glacial-interglacial cycles making our history intrinsically linked to climate variation and change. According to Stephen Jackson, “…it can be said that climate variation has been the midwife of humanity and its various cultures and civilizations.”[4]

Whatever was the catalyst, be it climate change, cooking meat with fire or using psychedelic plants and mushrooms, or a combination of all the above as well as other factors, what is amazing about the evolution to Homo Sapien was the increase in the size of our brain in a relatively short period of time. We are the outcome of electrical activity occurring in a 1.5-kilogram blob of matter found in our noggin. But not just any blob of matter, it contains some 80 billion neurons, forming a complex circuitry that creates the human condition. As highlighted by Brian Cox in his documentary, ‘Human Universe’, the brain that has enabled us to live in space is the same brain that fashioned a spear from a rock, there is no reason why a child born in the rift valley 100,000 years ago couldn’t be an astronaut if given today’s upbringing.[5]

What fascinates me when considering the vast time scale of our story has been the apparent rhythms and fluctuations of the Earth and our Cosmos and how this has influenced our being. I will explore these rhythms and fluctuations when I delve into ancient wisdom that arose during the Pleistocene. But for now I’d like to give an overview of how humanity colonised the Earth.

The great migration …

It appears we first ventured out of Africa some 125,000 years ago . It is thought that the Earths climate had changed in this time which would have resulted in the greening of deserts such as the Sahara as well as lowering ocean levels. This is collaborated by the oldest human remains found outside Africa being found in Israel and dated 100,000 years old. What is equally fascinating is the remains found were buried deliberately with objects which is evidence of modern thinking and behaviour as well as spirituality and belief in an afterlife.

Alas, the remains found in Israel are not our ancestors so it appears the people who made it to Israel at that time had subsequently died out. Possibly due to further climate change leaving this region as a desert once again.

Geneticists have found that all human beings from outside Africa are related to a small group, maybe just a few 100 people who ventured out of Africa some 70-80,000 years ago. This time we took advantage of lower ocean levels, crossing at the Red Sea and then following the coast across to India and down into Southeast Asia, arriving in Australia some 60,000 years ago. The climate at the time must have enabled the perfect conditions to enable population growth and migration across the world.

Mount Toba in Sumatra erupted 74,000 years ago resulting in a layer of ash falling on India. Excavations have found evidence that we were living in India at the time. Furthermore, it has been found that by comparing the Australian Aboriginal genomes to other groups it is apparent that Aborigines diverged from Eurasians between 50,000-70,000 years ago, after the whole group already split from Africa. This means that Aborigines and all non-African people descend from the same group and that Australia was only settled once. Patterns in the Aboriginal DNA also indicate a genetic bottleneck about 50,000 years ago indicating the legacy of that small group that first colonised this ancient continent.[6]

It has also been found that pigments of ochre used in art found in Australia dates to 60,000 years ago indicating that fossils, stones and genes all provide evidence of this migration.

I must declare my bias as I was born in Australia, so I have a natural affection towards them, but I think there is something so special and unique about Indigenous Australians, they are one of the longest surviving people and cultures on Earth and their longevity is testament to the success and sophistication of their culture. Their Dreaming is comprehensive and has two basic rules; obey the Law and leave the world as you found it. Together this let place dominate time and translated well understood ecological associations into social relations. It taught why the world must be maintained and the land taught how; making land care compulsory and rewarding and thus fusing theology and ecology.[7]

Here is an excerpt from my blog titled ‘The Importance of our Indigenous Heritage’ that provides a very small insight into the Indigenous Australian story.

They lived alongside the mega fauna for at least 25,000 years until the last Ice Age caused their extinction 25,000 years ago. The Ice Age lasted 10,000 years. This period caused the longest and most severe drought in human history. Conditions at the height of the Ice Age, 20,000 years ago, were harsh with the continent being 90% desert and temperatures at night getting as low as -250C. To survive these harsh and extreme conditions the First Peoples developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of country, its plants, animals and sources of water. The people had to be innovative and learned new methods of preparing food; grindstones were abundant in this time to unlock the energy found in grains. People moved and communicated over vast distances to share knowledge and survive. The social glue for survival during this harsh time was the law, also referred to as the Dreaming. The Dreaming included song lines that contained the knowledge of the land. Following the Ice Age the earth warmed again resulting in sea level rises of 130 metres, cutting off Papua New Guinea and Tasmania from the mainland. This great flood accelerated cultural change as the First People had to adapt again to the changing climate and environment.[8]

The migration from Africa to Australia makes sense when considering for the most part of the migration we stayed on the coast, heading east taking advantage of warm coastal waters and possibly finding similar food to eat. However, we also made our way into East Asia around 40,000 years ago and made it all the way to the edge of the Arctic Ocean 30,000 years ago, marking our first sojourn into cooler climates.[9]

The Chinese believed for a long time that they evolved separately and that they descended from Homo Erectus. The reasoning for this was sound as there was fossil evidence of Homo Erectus living in China and it was thought the unique facial features of Asians was due to the different shaped skull of Homo Erectus. However genetic research has now confirmed that the Chinese are also related to the rest of us through that small group of people who ventured out of Africa some 70,000 years ago.[10] I think this is important and reinforces that we really are all one humanity. Hmmm, I probably should have mentioned Homo Erectus earlier as they are an extinct species from the Pleistocene that first appeared about 2 million years ago and were around until 117-108,000 years ago. They were the first human ancestor to spread throughout Eurasia, from Spain to Indonesia.

Anyway, around the same time as we were migrating into East Asia, we were also finding our way into Europe, with the oldest human remains from Europe being found in Romania dating to 40,000 years ago. It is believed the route our ancestors took into Europe was following the Danube River. However, our European ancestors came across something none of the rest of us did, the Neanderthals.

The Neandethals (Homo neanderthalensis) were around from about 400,000 years ago to 40,000 years ago. Fossil and genetic evidence indicates that Neanderthals and ourselves (Homo Sapiens) evolved from a common ancestor between 700,000 to 300,000 years ago. Over just a few thousand years after modern humans moved into Europe, Neanderthal numbers dwindled to the point of extinction. It may be that our presence in Europe prevented Neanderthals from expanding back into areas they once favoured and this served as a catalyst for the Neanderthal’s extinction. Or maybe we just hunted and ate them … I hope not.

Some of the fascinating finds in Europe include the first archaeological discovery of making music. An ancient flute made from Mammoth Ivory has been found in Germany. Another fascinating find is that the same figurines have been found across Europe indicating a shared culture. Possibly the thing about the European settlers that most fascinates me is the idea that during the last ice age, Europeans developed lighter coloured skin in response to the cooler climate and the ice age that occurred 25,000 years ago. During the ice age, glaciers would have covered the whole of Scandinavia and northern Europe making those places inhabitable. Interestingly light skin is also found in Mongolia as well as Afghanistan so this adaptation to the climate also occurred in North-East Asia.

The people who ventured into East Asia then proceeded towards the Americas. The prevailing story of how we first came to the Americas was that a small band of people walked across a land bridge between eastern Siberia and Western Alaska some 13,000 years ago and eventually made their way through an ice-free corridor into the heart of North America. Those people were probably chasing bison, mammoths and other large mammals and were the ancestors of today’s native Americas who went on to establish thriving cultures all the way down to the tip of South America.  However, there have been archaeological discoveries along the west coast that date back 14-15,000 years and more recently evolutionary geneticists studying DNA from some of the oldest human remains in the Americas and comparing them to older DNA samples from Asia indicate that we may have arrived in North America some 20,000 years ago. The current thinking is that as the massive ice sheets covering western Northern America retreated, the first humans travelled by foot and by boat down the Pacific Coast surviving on coastal resources.[11]

So, there you have it, in the space of some 50-60,000 years, we left Africa and colonised the rest of world, apart from Antarctica of course. It’s amazing to think that this occurred and is testament to our adaptability, curiosity and resilience that we were able to do this. Our migration story highlights to me that our differences are superficial and that we share a common humanity and story. We are also a young species in the scheme of things being around only for the last 200,000 years or so and it amazes me to think that for maybe half of our story we only lived in Africa.

The migration story is a key part of our history from the Pleistocene but I am also fascinated by the wisdom we developed in this period and that is what I wish to explore now.

Ancient Wisdom …

As mentioned previously, I am fascinated by the rhythms and fluctuations of the Earth and our Cosmos and how this has influenced our being. I believe we can learn much from our ancient ancestors and their ability to live within the cycles and flow of nature. This starts with our perception of time, at present we think of time as linear, always going forward and that we are currently at the pinnacle of civilisation. This perception has been very much influenced in recent centuries by Darwinian theories of evolution and over recent millennia by a patriarchal worldview.  But our ancient ancestors believed time and life was cyclical and that much of the cycles on Earth are determined by our place in the cosmos.

 “Many ancient cultures viewed time as a circle without beginning or end. Nature’s cycles guided every aspect of life. People lived by the rise and set of the sun. Time was defined by Nature’s cycles of day, night, moon phases and seasons. Our ancestors marked the years by celebrating solstice and equinox, dates that mark the four seasons and the New Year.

 The sun and phases of the moon guide our energy levels, moods and sleep. When our body rhythms are in sync with Nature, life flows easily. Knowing your personal cycle allows you to cultivate the best hours for your own bio-rhythms. The result is balanced, stable energy, a serene mind and deep sleep. This timeless and intimate contact with the Earth nourishes our health and natural harmony.”[12]

 Earlier in this blog I inserted a quote from Stephen Jackson that identified some of the cosmic fluctuations that have influenced the Earth. One of those fluctuations, or cycles, is the Precession of the Equinoxes, or The Great Year, a period of approximately 26,000 years. It’s the motion of the equinoxes along the ecliptic (the plane of Earth’s orbit) caused by the cyclic precession of Earth’s axis of rotation.

Isaac Newton believed that The Great Year is caused by a wobble in the Earth’s axis as it rotates, and this is still the current belief. However, ancient calendars observed that our Sun and solar system move through the galaxy in an orbit with other stars including Alcyone in the Pleiades. They noticed that as we move closer to or farther from the magnetic centre of the galaxy, energy and light bring changes in culture and consciousness on Earth. This is a fascinating interpretation of what we know from the ancient world, and I will try to unpack a bit of it now as I think it provides us with much food for thought when contemplating our own lives and era.

I love looking at the stars, and I do it often, but I have no idea about constellations and how to interpret what I can see, other than to be in awe of it. But I am thankful many people are much more knowledgeable of the cosmos, including our ancient ancestors. What they observed was that the Great Year moves backwards through 12 zodiac ages. This was found by observing sunrise at the spring equinox each year in March. On the horizon appears one of 12 zodiac constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. They observed a new zodiac sign on the horizon every 2,150 years resulting in a complete Great Year cycle being 12 zodiac ages of 2,150 years, or a total of 25,800 years.

The Greek, Inca, Chinese, Hindu, Egyptian, Mayan and Hopi cultures all use the ‘Great Year’ cycle. The Hindu calendar has Yugas or ages: The Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron Ages that total 25,714 years. The Yugas define the rise and fall of civilisations in a never-ending cycle.

The people who I want to home in on is the ancient Egyptians and in particular the pyramids, as I am captivated by an alternative history of Egypt that inspires me and fills me with great hope.

One of the uses of the Egyptian Pyramids was as a calendar based on the stars. The Pyramids marked the solar year by indicating the solstice. They were also constructed to form an exact pattern of the constellation Orion. The Egyptian year began at the rising of the star Sirius on the horizon. Sirius was visible at dawn all year except for 72 days in the winter. When Sirius returned in the spring it was a celebration as it coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile, irrigating fields and heralding the planting season.

Aboriginal astronomy has similar examples. The Pitjantjatjara of central Australia recognised the rising of the Pleiades at dawn marks the start of winter. The Boorong people in Victoria know when the Malleefowl (constellation of Lyra) disappears in October to ‘sit with the sun’ it is time to start gathering her eggs on Earth. When Scorpius appears, the Yolŋu know that the Macassan fisherman would soon arrive. The rising or setting of stars and constellations indicated times to move to a new place and/or look for a new food source.

The Wurda Youang stone arrangement near Little River in Victoria, could date back as far as 11,000 to 20,000 years. The arrangement is aligned with the setting sun at the solstices and equinox. Furthermore, there are rock engravings by the Nganguraku people at Ngaut Ngaut (not far from where I live), which represents the lunar cycle. Unfortunately, most of their culture and language has been lost because such things were banned by Christian Missionaries.

The Indigenous Australians have been referred to as the original astronomers and it is amazing to reflect that they developed a culture and society that has been able to survive at least two Great Years and the inherent cycles that entails, as well as the climate change events they have witnessed.

Anyway, back to the Egyptians and their pyramids. It could be that the pyramids were built in a Golden Age when humans had higher levels of spirituality, intelligence and technology. They required sophisticated engineering, advanced technology and monumental architecture.

Inside the great pyramid are huge stones, 2.3 million of them, cut to precision, that seamlessly fit together and could not have been built by hand. The Pyramid’s dimensions reveal hundreds of synchronicities that encode all the Earth’s geometry including details about the Earth’s size and orbit, to an accuracy only recently achieved with satellite data. Isaac Newton concluded the pyramids were built by masters who understood geometry of the Earth. He had studied the pyramids extensively and thought they held knowledge that had been lost to humanity. In fact, notes by Newton that were recently sold, reveal that even though he formulated the three laws of motion that form the basis of modern physics he felt they were secondary to his greater studies in alchemy and theology and it was these studies that motivated his research into ancient metrology. If Newtons notes were to be made public during his lifetime he would have been disowned by the Church for heresy.[13]

Despite what we were taught at school, the pyramids were not tombs, nor built by slaves for some egotistical Pharoah. They were antennas that used advanced geometry to connect the power of the Earth’s magnetic field or energy grid. Evidence of burns in highly conductive stones such as granite and dolomite indicate high internal temperatures within the pyramids. Apparently, they radiated an electromagnetic energy field to invigorate the body and uplift consciousness. How cool is that! It also appears that Nicolas Tesla was onto this energy source. He invented the Tesla Tower in 1891 to transmit high-voltage wireless electricity using Earth energy. Unfortunately, his work lost funding as the intent was to provide a free source of energy and a metered source of energy that could be charged was preferred.

Our ancient ancestors knew of an electromagnetic network or grid, it was believed that the power of the grid comes from the interaction of Water Lines from the Earth and Ley Lines from a cosmic source. These lines are the pathways where life force, spiritual and electric magnetic energies travel, and together they create a fusion of the universal ‘Yin and Yang’ that is the source of all matter and consciousness.  These lines are called Reshel by Hebrews, Pathways of Min by Egyptians, Fairy Paths by the Irish, Dragon Lines by the Chinese, Spirit Lines by the Inca and Song Lines by Indigenous Australians.

Energy vortices have been found where grid lines cross. These are often sites of ancient temples and stone circles. Over 4,000 of Earth’s major sacred sites are located at node points on the planetary grid, including The Great Pyramid at Giza, Teotihuacan in Mexico, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Machu Picchu in Peru, Stonehenge in the UK, the ruins of great Zimbabwe and Wurda Youang. One of the most intriguing sites is the stone circles found in South Africa, called Adams Calendar.

Known by African elders as the ‘Birthplace of the Sun’ or ‘Inzalo y’Langa’, Adams Calendar is in Mpumalanga South Africa. It could be the oldest man-made structure in the world, its age estimated to be at least 75,000 years old. Various astronomical alignments have been identified at the site and amazingly, there are also some 20,000 other stone circle ruins scattered throughout the mountains of South Africa. The latest and most interesting discovery is the sound frequencies of the rock formations from the earth below them.  Scientists have been able to detect and measure sound frequencies with acoustic properties made from the earth inside the circles which conduct electricity.  These sound frequencies of the earth under the stones are shaped as flowers of sacred geometry as they surface to the ground.[14]

I don’t know about you, but these discoveries and stories just fill me with such awe and amazement, its breathtaking.

Anyway, back to Egypt again. The alternative story of ancient Egypt also suggests a new chronology for Egypt indicating the Sphinx and Pyramids may be 12,000 to 35,000 years old, putting us right at the end of the Pleistocene. Analysis of water and weather marks show that these monuments have endured catastrophic floods and climate changes for thousands of years.

I love the idea of an advanced Egyptian civilisation that built the pyramids to fulfill a range of purposes including as energy machines that sent out good vibes. They are also recognised as a civilisation that valued consciousness over material wealth, that had deep respect for the feminine and the balance of masculine and feminine, that served the highest good for humanity, healing with sound and light and were connected to a larger cosmos. They may have been a civilisation of fully empowered humans using the full capacity of their brains and senses to achieve expanded states of being and higher levels of awareness. This is starting to sound like utopia to me and how inspiring is it that this may be part of our story … so much more inspiring than thinking they were tombs built by slaves for egotistical pharaohs.

I guess my final thought to ponder when reflecting on the wisdom of our ancient ancestors is, how would it be if consciousness, not material items, was given the highest value? And what sort of society would that foster? My heart tells me it would foster something magical and these thoughts have captivated my imagination.

So, what does that mean for us today?

The calendars and wisdom of many ancient cultures identify that we are in a time of change. We are transitioning from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. The Hindu Yugas indicate we entered the Dwapura Yuga, or Bronze Age, around 1700. Thus we are transitioning from the Iron Age, which is signified by greed, war and disease and have moved into an expansionary age as we head towards the next Golden Age which is due to commence in 7700. The documentary, “Time of the Sixth Sun”, explores the opportunities before us as we move into the Time of the Sixth Sun, identified by the Mayan Calendar, which is also based on the Great Year and influenced by the Presession of the Equinox, that the Mayans called the Pleiadian Cycle. According to the Mayans, our ancestors lived through five epochs, five suns, each one lasting 5,200 years. We are now living in the Time of the Sixth Sun which is an opportunity to bring ancient wisdom to the fore and get back in tune with spirit.

For those of us in Western Civilisation, we have lost our connection to this spirit, this love, allowing our current distorted values to lead us towards self-destruction. We have programmed ourselves to be competitive and to win at all costs which is completely against nature. Our absence of spirit is why we create so much pain in the world and why we are willing to inflict so much suffering on others. We presume we are at the pinnacle of civilisation but I am not sure, when I look at the world around us, our politics, culture, values and society I think surely we could imagine something better. The more I ponder this the more I feel a primordial need within myself to devote my energies to this idea. To imagine something better.

 The ancient calendars tell us our human heritage is much older and more diverse than we have been taught and a vast body of knowledge is coming into our awareness. We give it names like new age and quantum physics, but it is actually very old, and has been lost, forgotten or hidden for a long time. Right now energetic forces in the galaxy and our sun are heating things up in our entire solar system, including Earth. There is growing awareness, excitement and polarization on the planet. This period could be a shift that will determine in an important way the future of the Earth and humanity.[15]

It’s all well and good pondering the extent that our wisdom could take us and recognising the possibilities may be endless but the other reality we face is catastrophe and calamity that Earth or the Cosmos could throw at us, it doesn’t matter how high a consciousness we have we can still be affected by a natural catastrophic event. It is heartening to realise we have survived countless climatic changes and calamities in the past, we are a very adaptable and resilient species. There will always be a chance of a catastrophic event that may bring rapid changes and could put our cultures and societies at considerable risk. Such changes may well be within our capacity to adapt, but not without paying severe penalties in the form of economic, ecological, agricultural, health, and other disruptions. Knowledge of past climate variability provides insight into the natural variability and sensitivity of the Earth and this knowledge also helps identify the current risks associated with altering the Earth’s climate with greenhouse gas emissions.[16]

Perhaps we need to look towards our scientists as well as our spiritual leaders, shamen and mystics to bring together our technological and scientific knowledge with ancient wisdom and spirituality. Perhaps we will learn that our perception of the world though our five senses are a small reflection of an infinite world we cannot yet see, the universe is both infinitely small and big and these infinites are connected within us.

The more I ponder the essence of life I always seem to come back to energy and that sitting under all of this, at the basest level, we are all just balls of energy made by vibrations and frequencies. There is a theory that the Egyptians may have used vibrations and frequencies, something like music, to build the pyramids. It seems a hard concept to comprehend but it’s a notion that inspires me. There is something essential about music, all cultures have it, and it can affect us in many ways. I am a firm believer that music is the bread that feeds my soul and that at its foundation, music is a fusion of mathematics and tones and vibrations. Mathematics is also the language of the universe so why can’t music be something other than just something we listen to.

I am aware that some of the ideas included in my story are not supported by the conventional view of the world. I am in no position to be able to refute or confirm some of the ideas as I don’t have the depth of knowledge required. But the essence of it all is choice. We are at a crossroads and it appears the cosmos is providing an opportunity to open ourselves to transformational energy and choose a new paradigm. We can choose to approach our lives with love or fear, we can choose to open our minds or close them, we can choose we or me.

I believe there is a much more positive, enlightening and loving way of being than our current paradigm envisages and that the wisdom to achieve it may already be within us.

Thank you for reading this blog.

If some of the stories in this blog have captured your imagination as they have mine and you wish to explore further here are a bunch of DVDs that I have that you may enjoy:

Brian Cox – Human Universe. Brian is an Astro physicist and I love his documentaries. He has released several documentaries including:

  • Human Universe
  • Forces of Nature
  • Life of a Universe
  • Wonders of the Universe
  • Wonders of the Solar System
  • Wonders of Life

Iain Stewart – How the Earth Made Us. Iain is a geologist and his were the first documentaries I started to watch which peaked my fascination of the Earth and its influence on us. His other documentaries include:

  • How the Earth Made Us
  • How to Grow a Planet
  • Earth – The Power of the Planet
  • Rise of the Continents

Andrew Marr – History of the World. I just love this documentary series. Andrew has also released a documentary called Mega Cities which is also brilliant.

Alice Roberts – The Incredible Human Journey

Richard Smith – Australia – The Time Traveller’s Guide

Human Planet which is a three-disc series released by the BBC.

Mankind – The History of All of Us

Time of the Sixth Sun which is the latest documentary to be added to my collection and is providing much inspiration.

You can also find the documentary ‘The Pyramid Code’ on YouTube.

The GAIA Channel/Network also contains a myriad of documentaries about ancient civilisations as well as many other related topics that I have only scratched the surface of.

[1] Quote attributed to Theoretical Physicist, Sean Carroll in article by Pappas, S., 2019, ‘What Happened before the Big Bang’, www.livescience.com, here is a link

[2] Pappas, S., 2019, ‘What Happened Before the Big Bang’, here is a link

[3] Jackson, S.T., n.d., ‘Climate Change within a Human Lifespan’, Here is a link

[4] Jackson, S.T., n.d., ‘Climate Change within a Human Lifespan’, Here is a link

[5] Cox, B., 2014, ‘Human Universe’ documentary series from BBC

[6] Culotta, E. & Gibbons, A., 2016, ‘Almost all living people outside of Africa trace back to a single migration more than 50,000 years ago’, here is a link

[7] Gammage, B., 2012, ‘The Biggest Estate on Earth, page 133, 139

[8] First Footprints, 2013, Episode 3.

[9] Roberts, A., 2010, ‘The Incredible Human Journey’, BBC DVD.

[10] Roberts, A., 2010, ‘The Incredible Human Journey’, BBC DVD

[11] Montaigne, F, 2020, ‘The Fertile Shore, Smithsonian Magazine, here is a link

[12] Schiavone, C, 2010, ‘The Secret Calendar Codes: 2012 in the Cosmic Cycles of Time’, here is a link

[13] Girshon, L., 2020, ‘Isaac Newton Thought the Great Pyramid Held the Key to the Apocalypse’, here is a link

[14] Hilliard, B, 2015, ‘Adam’s Calendar: Oldest Megalithic Site in the World?’, here is a link.

[15] Schiavone, C, 2010, ‘The Secret Calendar Codes: 2012 in the Cosmic Cycles of Time’, here is a link

[16] Jackson, S.T., n.d., ‘Climate Change within a Human Lifespan’, Here is a link