november / december 2014 - atlantis rising · november / december 2014 ancient mysteries future...
TRANSCRIPT
Order BOOKS, DVDs & MORE: See Our Catalog on Page 74
6 Letters
10 AlternativeNews
16 JerryDeckerFree Energy...Gravity Control...Alternative Science
18 Michael CremoEarly Man inCalico, California?
22 CivilizationBefore theDelugeStrange Findings inSyria’s Tell Qaramel
25 Tracking OrphicMysteries inBulgaria
42Giant Remainsin America?The Startling Casefor a Giant-SizedScience Coverup
44The Lost Art ofResurrectionWhat Were theAncients ReallySaying about LifeAfter Death?
46Mystery of thePlacebo EffectDoesn’t ScienceKnow WhereHealing ComesFrom?
48 Astrology
51 DVD
57 Puzzle
4
4
4
4
5
5
28 The Realityof HighStrangeness
32 The Troublewith TimelinesQuestioning theApproved Schedulesof Human Progress
35 Simone Weil—the Last Cathar?
39 The Domes ofthe ProphetsThe Strange Birth ofSacred Architecture
41 Templars inSwitzerland?What Was WilliamReally Up To?
November / December 2014
ANCIENTMYSTERIES
FUTURE SCIENCE
UNEXPLAINEDANOMALIES
PUBLISHER & EDITORJ. Douglas Kenyon
CONTRIBUTORSJohn ChambersMichael Cremo
Jerry DeckerFrank Joseph
Greg Little, Ed.D.Julie Loar
Rita Louise, Ph.D.Susan Martinez, Ph.D.
Patrick MarsolekMarsha Oaks
Robert Schoch, Ph.D.Freddy SilvaSteven Sora
William B. StoeckerCarly Svamvour
COVER DESIGNRyan Hammer
(apologies to Gustav Doré)
GRAPHICSRandy HaraganDenis OuelletteRyan Hammer
ATLANTIS RISING®(ISSN #1541-5031)
published bi-monthly(6 times a year)
by Atlantis Rising, LLC521 S. 8th St., Ste. A
P.O. Box 441Livingston, MT 59047
Copyright 2014ATLANTIS RISING
No part of this publicationmay be reproduced withoutwritten permission from the
publisher.
Periodicals Postage Paid atLivingston, MT and
at additional post offices.USPS Number: 024-631
U.S. Subscription priceis $24.95 (6 issues)
POSTMASTER:Send Address Changes to
Atlantis RisingPO Box 441
Livingston, MT 59047
®®
41
4410
42
28
#108
November / December 2014cember 2014
#####108CONTENTS
25
46
18
Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More!
Hearing voicesdoes not neces-
sarily mean you arecrazy, concede the‘experts’—somethingwhich might reassureMahatma Gandhi,Sigmund Freud, Will-iam Blake, Socrates,and other celebratedindividuals who re-ported hearing suchvoices.
According to arecent study pub-lished in The Schizo-phrenia Bulletin of Oxford University inEngland, what are called auditory hallucina-tions or ‘hearing voices’ is not limited to psy-chotics. Even though such hearing may bedistressing to some and can lead to criminalbehavior, there are many who hear voices asa regular part of their lives and who don’tmind. In fact, say researchers at Utrecht Uni-versity in the Netherlands, they take consid-erable support and guidance from thosevoices.
One of the principal arguments for Intel-ligent Design theory of nature is some-
thing called “Irreducible Complexity.” Theidea is that many natural systems are depend-ent on the intricate cooperation of numerousparts which could not exist without the oth-ers, and with no plausible evolutionary path.Flight, for example, would have required thedevelopment of features like wings which, atearly stages of development, would not havefacilitated survival but, in actuality, wouldhave made survival impossible. Consider thedisadvantages of being bird-like with none ofthe advantages, such as the ability to f ly.
Another example is the vertebrate eyewhich depends upon the cooperative pres-ence of many complex systems which couldnot exist independently of each other. Notlong ago, however, some orthodox scientists,in defense of their belief that only random
ALTERNATIVE NEWS
earing voicesdoes not neces-
Hearing Voices Can Be Okay, Say Shrinks
ne off tthhe priinciipall argumentts ffoff r IInttell-
Eye Design Is Declared Optimal, After All
Such an acknow-ledgment, of course,is another blow to or-thodox thinking.While many of theworld’s great achieve-ments may be cred-ited to the inf luenceof voices from an-other world, the stan-dard materialisticassumption is thatsuch voices must re-sult from an overac-tive imagination, orhallucination, and are
the product of superstition, if not worse. The more metaphysically inclined,
though, believe the important questionshould be: where do the voices originate—above or below? While the demonic influencebehind destructive behavior seems obvious,the benign and inspirational nature of gen-uinely spiritual voices is, clearly, one of themore valuable resources available to human-ity. Joan of Arc, we think, would concur.
llistWwmitoodassth
causes could be at work, asserted that thehuman eye had inappropriate features andwas, thus, not optimized, as Intelligent Designtheory would require. The eye, they argued,is “poorly designed” because the optic nerveextends over the retina instead of going outthe back of the eye. Now, new research isshowing that, on the contrary, nature’s designreally is the best.
As Casey Luskin of the Discovery Insti-tute pointed out on the Phys.org website inAugust, several recently published papers, (i.e.,“Retinal Glial Cells Enhance Human VisionAcuity,” Physical Review Letters) have now es-tablished that optic nerve cells, reaching overthe retina, actually allow the eye to see muchmore sharply than would be the case if theyemerged from only the back of the eye. Onceagain, the original designer has been vindi-cated.
, the o.
manr.
10 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 108
Number 108 • ATLANTIS RISING 11See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74
Is ET finally calling Earth? While most sci-entists won’t go there yet, they are acknowl-
edging that they have a major puzzle on theirhands. It seems that an intense burst of un-explained radio activity has now been pickedup by two major radio telescopes on oppositesides of the globe.
The signal was first detected in 2007 byastronomer Duncan Lorimer and his team atthe Parkes Observatory in New South Wales,Australia. Though very distinct, the mysterysignal appeared to be emanating from beyondthe Milky Way. Later, when similar signalscame in from much closer but were not con-firmed by any other receivers, they were writ-ten off as some kind of f luke, and so thematter has rested. Now, though, a new paper
Add another world-class cos-mologist to the list of those
who question the truth of BigBang theory. Influential Germanastrophysicist Hans-Jörg Fahr isnow arguing that the dominantexplanation for the origins of theuniverse is wrong. Backgroundmicrowave radiation, says Fahr, isnot, as commonly believed, anecho of the Big Bang. Physicists,who say that minute f luctuationsin the temperature of this back-ground point to a “clumpiness”in the earlier universe, are wrong.They are using one unproven the-ory to prove another, which, heargues, works something like aRorschach test. In other words,cosmologists are projecting theirown preconceptions onto theuniverse.
Considered one of the pri-mary experts on the solar wind,Fahr has argued that unpredictedhot and cold spots detected byspacecraft are caused by interac-tions between photons, and notby the afterglow of any Big Bang,an explanation which contradicts
s ET fiff nally calling Earth? WhWW ile most sci
MYSTERY SIGNALSFROM DEEP SPACE
PuertoRico’sAreciboRadio Telescope
from the giant Arecibo radio tele-scope in Puerto Rico is reportingdetection of the same signal re-ceived in Australia. Mainstreamscience is starting to pay atten-tion.
The big question now is,what is it? So far there are severalschools of thought. Some think itmay be caused by pulses from thecollapse of super massive stars.Others believe it may be generated by solarf lares from nearby stars. Recently argumentshave been made that it could be some kindof signature for the long lost Dark Matter.And yes, some scientists have even begun tospeculate about extraterrestrial civilizations.
That kind of talk clearly causes heartburnamong the scientific elite, but nobody has yetruled it out.
In August 1977 an unexplained signalwhich appeared to have an intelligent originwas picked up by Jerry R. Ehman working ona SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelli-gence) project for Ohio State University.Ehman famously wrote “Wow!” on the com-puter printout, and ever since it has beencalled the “Wow! signal.” The event never re-curred and was also ultimately written off asa fluke, but it has never been explained in anyway acceptable to orthodox science. Unde-terred, physicist Dr. Paul Laviolette, has spec-ulated that the “Wow! Signal” was, indeed,the work of an extraterrestrial civilization. In
his book, Decoding the Mes-sage of the Pulsars, (StarlanePublications, 2006), Lavioletteargues that since 1967 as-tronomers have been analyzingvery precisely timed signalscoming from radio-emittingbeacons termed “pulsars.” Pul-sars, believes LaViolette, areimmense navigational beaconscreated by an ancient spacefar-ing civilization. (See “The Pul-sar Mystery,” in A.R. #24.)
Everybody agrees, themysterious signals will cer-
tainly need more study, but other radio tele-scopes are expected to make similar pickupssoon. In the meantime the sky is beingwatched with unusual care for what could bean earth-shaking discovery—irrefutable scien-tific proof that we are not alone.
hsPatvcbsicis
mby solar tainly
Dr. PaulLaViolette
conventional theory.Fahr joins a long line of dis-
tinguished scientists who havechallenged orthodoxy about theBig Bang. Halton Arp, Sir FredHoyle, and Nobel Prize winnerHannes Alfvén are among thosewho have offered alternative ex-
planations for the celebrated cos-mic background which serves asthe basis of the Big Bang theory.
Scientists, who despise anysuggestion that a supreme beingcould have played a role in theorigins of the universe, are,nonetheless, willing to accept the
notion that everything emergedfrom an immense and completelyunexplained “singularity.” Somethinkers like the late TerrenceMcKenna have joked that this islike saying, “just give us one freemiracle and we will explain therest.”
rgedcconventional theory.yyFahr joins a long line of dis
planations foff r the celebrated cos-mic background hich ser es as
notion that everything emerfrff om an immense and comple
conventional theory planations foff r the celebrated cos- notion that everything emer
Shooting DownBig Bang Theory
The Universe Theoretically Unfolding in the Wake of the Big Bang (NASAimage)
cle and”
.
Image ofDionysus oncoin minted inPhilippopolis (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) under Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (ruled AD 138 – 161)
Number 108 • ATLANTIS RISING 25See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74
ANCIENT WISDOM
Continued on Page 27
• BY ROBERT M. SCHOCH, Ph.D.
Imust be a bit taller than Orpheus.As I attempted to lie down in his re-puted tomb, I just could not quitefit. Even if I had taken off my shoes
and pressed my bare soles against the endof the cutout rock, my head would still notfit f lat in the cavity. At the time, the earlyevening of July 29, 2014, I was filled withexuberant excitement as we were on thequest for new (and rediscovered) knowl-edge. And besides, why not have some funalong the way? Only later did the potentialimportance of this somewhat nondescriptstone crypt sink in. Could it really be thefinal resting place of the legendary, well-nigh mythical, Orpheus—the musician andpoet, prophet and seer, founder of the Or-
phic Mysteries, reformer of the teach-ings of Dionysus—as some, including theBulgarian archaeologist and researcherNikolay Ovcharov (see his book, Chronicleof the Holy City of Perperikon, Sofia,2005, p. 44), have suggested?
I was in southern Bulgaria (a regionthat was a part of ancient Thrace), in theRhodope Mountains, spending a week un-dertaking a reconnaissance exploration ofvarious ancient sites with my colleaguesRobert Bauval and Thomas Brophy in con-junction with Maria Salabasheva and Dim-itar Moskovsky from Bulgaria and aBulgarian National Television (BNT) two-person film crew. In particular we wereworking in the region southeast of Plovdiv,which, with a population of over 340,000,is the second largest city in Bulgaria (thelargest is the capital, Sofia).
Plovdiv is a very ancient city in-deed; its origins have been traced backsome 6,000 years, and could be much ear-lier. Known in Greco-Roman times asPhilippopolis, in honor of Philip II ofMacedon who conquered the city in 342-341 BC, this was the cosmopolitan centerof an important religious cult celebratingand venerating Dionysus and Orpheus. Oncoins of the city issued during the reign ofthe Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (ruledAD 138 – 161), Dionysus is depicted withhis customary attributes. In his right handhe holds a kantharos—a two-handled vesselused for drinking—as Dionysus was the godof the grape harvest, wine, and the religiousecstasy that could be induced by ritualdrinking. With his left hand he supports athyrsus (thyrsos), a staff or long wand tiedwith ribbons and topped with a pinecone.Carried by celebrants and followers ofDionysus-Bacchus, particularly the femalemembers of his retinue known as the Mae-nads (who, in an intoxicated frenzy woulddance ecstatically), one interpretation of thethyrsus is that of a phallic symbol. Thepinecone represents the head from whichthe seed issues forth; thus it is a potent fer-tility symbol signifying life and rebirth.From this primordial meaning, the thyrsusmore generally came to stand for prosper-ity, pleasure, enjoyment of life, and evendownright hedonism—all attributes associ-ated with the classical Dionysus-Bacchus.
Perhaps as a counterbalance to thethemes advertised on the coins depictingDionysus, which are rather frenetic andchaotic by nature, Philippopolis simultane-
mage ofDionysus oncoin minted inPhilippopolis (Plovdiv,vv Bulgaria) under RomanEmperor Antoninus Pius (ruled AD 138 – 161)
The Secrets May Be Forgottenbut Intriguing Clues Remain
Robert Schoch in thereputed tomb ofOrpheus at Tatul
N b 108 ATLAL NTIS RISING 25
The altar of Dionysus at Perperikon
mDThTT e Secrc err tst MaMM ya Be FoFF rgr ogg ttett ne ImDThTT e Secrc err tst MaM ya Be FoFF rgr og ttett ne
OOn theTrailof OrphicMysteries
in Bulgaria
On theTrailof OrphicMysteries
in Bulgaria
Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More!32 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 108
ALTERNATIVE HISTORY BookExcerpt
Questioning the Approved Schedules of Human Development
• BY RITA LOUISE, Ph.D.
In 1650 CE, a bishop named JamesUssher tried to identify when the worldwas created. He used the dates given inthe Bible of the pre-f lood people
(Adam, Enoch, Noah, etc.) to establish whenAdam and Eve lived.
Counting back so many years, plus sixdays, he discovered the date God had createdthe earth. He determined it was sometime in4004 BCE. The vice-chancellor of the Univer-sity of Cambridge, also looking to determinethe date of creation, went one step further.He fine-tuned the date and stated that theearth was created on October 23, 4004 BCE,at 9:00 a.m.. It was a Sunday.
For hundreds of years people believedthat creation happened in 4004 BCE. Discov-eries in science tell us a different story. Today,most Westerners have let go of the 4004 BCEdate. They reason, “How could such a recentdate account for things such as trilobites, thedinosaurs, and the action of plate tectonics?”It only took one hundred years for our soci-etal viewpoint to change. If we want to un-derstand where we came from we must bewilling to look outside the box, or should Isay, “the Book.”
We continue to live entrenched in a cul-tural timeline that is incorrect—even with allof the recent discoveries in the sciences. Thecurrently accepted timeline tells us that civi-lization began in Sumer around 4000 BCE.Supporters of this notion state that the pyra-mids in Egypt were built shortly thereafter.Archaeologists, historians, and researchersinto our distant past want us to believe thathumanity moved from living in caves andhuts into a full-blown society nearlyovernight.
Alternative historians, such as BradSteiger, Michael Cremo, Graham Hancock,John Anthony West, Klaus Dona, ZechariaSitchin, and Erich von Däniken, believe thatevidence of our past is being hidden from us.At worst, new discoveries are not being dis-cussed, and mainstream researchers are over-looking important finds. The suppression ofevidence keeps our history nice, neat, ordered,and controlled. The exposure of newly ac-quired facts and information that do not con-form to the norm would force us to lookoutside the box. For some, this is a very un-comfortable idea.
Recent archaeological discoveries in Syriaand Turkey are challenging contemporarymainstream archaeologists. In Bosnia, a seriesof pyramid structures have been found.Called the Bosnian Pyramids, they have beendated, conservatively speaking, to 7000 BCE.In Turkey, a presumed religious structurefilled with monolithic columns and detailedcarvings, called Göbekli Tepe, has been datedto have been built around 10,000 BCE. Haveyou heard about either of these sites in themedia? Have there been any shows on theDiscovery Channel or History Channel talk-ing about these incredible finds? Thanks tothe Internet, information about these amaz-ing discoveries is slowly being revealed. Theresult of these discoveries could revolutionizeour thoughts about history.
Our myths, legends, and oral traditionprovide us with an image of our ancient past.These tales tell of the lives and experiences ofour ancestors. Dating the events, chronicledin these ancient tales, is difficult if not im-possible. The date of Noah’s f lood, for exam-ple, is lost to posterity. Stone carvings, whichdescribe the f lood, have been found inSumer. The carvings by themselves do nothelp us determine the date of the f lood. Sci-
entists are obliged to date the evidence inhand: the carved tablet, the rock, and otherstrata in which the carving was found. If, onthe other hand, there was a reference to aknown (dated) person, a place, or a thingfound within the writing itself, a reasonablyclose, if not exact, date could be determined.This, in most instances, is not the case. Thewritings, stories, and myths we have inheritednever sound like a modern newspaper. Thetales never begin with “On Friday, December21, 2012 . . .” (If only they did!)
Many historians are quick to dismiss in-formation that comes to us from ancient cul-tures. They state that primitive people, inorder to explain their surroundings, inventedthese creative stories. Pedro Sarmiento deGamboa’s History of the Incas, written in1572 CE, uses this line of reasoning:
“This absurd fable of their creation is heldby these barbarians and they affirm and be-lieve it as if they had really seen it happen andcome to pass.”
When anthropologists investigated thecosmology of the Dogon people, their peersquickly dismissed their findings. The Dogon
kcerpt
QuQQ estitt oninii g thtt e ApA ppp rorr vevv d Schcc edules of Human Devevv lee opo menee tThe Trouble with TimelinesThe Trouble with Timelines
ANCIENT WISDOM
Continued on Page 65
• BY SUSAN B. MARTINEZ, Ph.D.
It seems a given that dome-like buildingsof the ancient day were consistently ded-icated to otherworldly matters—temples,mosques, tombs, observatories, ceremo-
nial chambers, spirit huts, council rooms—likeLebanon’s Domes of the Prophets or Sume-ria’s Sacred Hut or the iwans of the MiddleEast or the vaulted roof at Ctesiphon (oncethe Persian capital) or Egypt’s sealed anddomed serdab, which, in the Old Kingdom,housed the Ka statue of the pharaohs.
Although the majestic dome later be-came the signature of Islamic architecture—asseen in the beautiful madrassas and masjids—like the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the TempleMount, and even the Taj Mahal—the “oniondome” goes back many centuries, even mil-lennia, before the time of the Prophet Mo-hammed. The iwan, for example, originatedwith the Parthians at Seleucia and Ashur inMesopotamia (today’s Iraq). Earlier, still, arethe Elamite vaulted roofs at Susa, Uruk III,and Assyria’s Nineveh. Even earlier, Assyria’sTepe Gawra, a “Halaf” (pre-Sumerian) townnear Nineveh, sported adobe buildings (notreed huts) at its lowest level. These were cir-
cular, domed structures, 15 feet across—andentirely windowless. It is this unusual feature—no windows—that will allow us to trace its ori-gins.
The Halafians, who founded UmmQseir in northeast Syria, left their mark:today around Aleppo in northern Syria, onecan still see beehive-shaped houses. But theirprototype is very old: as much as 10,000 yearsago, the people of Jordan built houses of thistype. As old as Jericho, Catal Huyuk, a well-known Anatolian site, with the world’s earliestlandscape paintings and finely woven cloth,had as many as 63 of these odd windowlessbuildings—and only 103 dwellings, whichmight suggest a center of worship. OtherTurkish domes of that time (8,000 years ago)were at the Hittite settlement of Hattusa, andthey were also windowless. What purpose didthese darkened cult buildings serve?
Across the Aegean Sea—in a hop, skipand jump from Old Turkey—these curious ro-tundas reached the Balkan States, and it ishere that their Greek name tholos (tholoi,plural) took hold. But many thousands ofyears before crossing to southeast Europe,Iraqis built Yarim Tepe, a 9,000-year-old townwith copper, impressive pottery, agriculture—and a few buildings small and round, the roofdomed.
The “Tepe” in both Gawra Tepe andYarim Tepe is key. Tepe, in all cases, designatessacred heights, eminences upon which the an-cients chose to build sanctuaries, monasticenclaves, and centers of learning.Afghanistan’s very old Tillya Tepe, for exam-ple, was the site of a fire temple; Turkey’sGobekli Tepe was, as Robert Schoch saw it,“the locus for a variety of rituals … [and] acenter of knowledge … the area held in rever-ence” (Forgotten Civilization, 45, 51-2). It wasto find the source of that “knowledge”—andthat holiness—that I pursued the origin ofthese singular lightless domes of the early Ne-olithic.
I began with those 9,000-year-old farmersat Yarim Tepe, noting in particular that theseHalafians were the principal obsidian tradersof their time. This led to Tell Arpachiyah, a
Domesof the
Prophets
The Oracular Beginnings of Sacred Architecture?
The large oratory atIreland’s Skellig Michael
(Praca własna)
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTThhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss’’ SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłłaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
The large oratory atIreland’s Skellig Michael
(Praca własna)
“Close both eyes to see with the other eye.”Rumi
Traditional bee-hive structure
in Syria (JamesGordon)
See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74 Number 108 • ATLANTIS RISING 39
Number 108 • ATLANTIS RISING 41See Our Great 8-page Catalog Beginning on Page 74
SECRET GOVERNMENT
• BY STEVEN SORA
Continued on Page 67
The history of Switzerland is, at best,elusive. It is that way seemingly onpurpose, with its origins murky. Itsorigin as a confederacy, we are told,
originated with a man named William Tellwho supplied the spark for independence. Yetmost scholars say his story is a myth. TheSwiss have their own version of a Declarationof Independence. It was said to be lost butwas actually hidden for centuries. There is areason the story of the origins of Switzerlandas a country has been kept secret. It has every-thing to do with the Knights Templar resur-rection.
On May 18, 1291, the last stronghold ofthe Templars in the Holy Lands fell to Al-ashraf Khalil. This was the fortress at Acre.The entire reason for the existence of theTemplars was lost in that last battle. Insteadof a fighting force defending the Holy Landsfrom Islamic control, the Knights Templarwere now just a bloated business. The prover-bial writing was on the wall.
With no sacred mission, the Templarswere now simply a corporation free fromtaxes and answering to no one. They suc-ceeded only in incurring the wrath of every-one with whom they dealt. Many ports,objecting to the monopoly of Templar f leets,refused their ships. Their vast banking system,stretching from London to Jerusalem, heldthe jewels of the royals and the promissorynotes of kings. Having introduced the con-
cept of branch banking, this institutionwould be the world’s first international bank.The order, the beneficiary of so much landfrom so many donors, paid no property taxes.Their “haughtiness” annoyed their neighborswho did pay taxes on their own properties. Ithad a competitive advantage in any businesswhich it pursued. The greatest mistake theTemplars made, however, was to refuse theFrench king as a member and to believe theyhad him under their thumb. King Phillipowed the order a great sum of money, andhis inability to tax Templar properties forcedhim to raise taxes on the populace. He oftenhad to f lee his own people and at least oncethe mob chased him into the Paris Temple.The Templars, however, were not his friend.The king decided if you can’t join them, beatthem. He enlisted the Pope by claiming theywere heretics.
Having made enemies of the Pope andKing Philip IV, the Templars had the Frencharmy to contend with, but even so they hadmuch going for them. As the largest intelli-gence operation in the world, they weretipped off that the French King was planningto arrest the Templars and steal their wealth.They also had an exit strategy. This becameobvious years later when Templar treasure wasloaded on their f leet before it sailed from LaRochelle to Scotland, and when their cavalryunits simply moved to Spain and Portugalwhere they were restructured as “new” ordersincluding the Knights of Santiago and theKnights of Christ, still f lying the same Tem-
plar f lag. Columbus had married into aKnights of Christ family and continued to flythe Templar f lag nearly 200 years after theirperceived demise. In all, eighty per cent of theTemplars avoided arrest when King Phillipwent on the attack.
Even before that, though, the Templar’sexit strategy called for an independent coun-try of their own making. On August 1, 1291,ten weeks after Acre fell, three, small regionsof the future Switzerland signed a unificationpact. These were the cantons of Uri, Schwyzand Unterwalden. It would be Schwyz thatwould later give its name to the country ofSwitzerland.
The f lag of the Swiss canton of Schwyzthat gave its name to the country is basicallyan inversion of the Templar f lag. It is a whitecross on a red field. This was a smaller crossthan the Templar cross, but when the countryunited it became a large white cross on a redfield. Much later battle f lags would have a redfield with a white cross. Within the whitecross was a sword. Other symbols and em-blems, such as keys and lambs, were used bythe Templars and are incorporated into thef lags of Switzerland.
Before 1291 the future country was notat all unified. Switzerland had no shared reli-gion, no shared language, or even a commondynasty. In Roman times they were consid-ered part of the Roman Empire and some-what Christian, but Germanic hordes from
WWilliam Tell And The Templar NationWhat Was the Real Origin of the Swiss Banking Empire?
A mosaic at the SwissNational Museum in
Zurich celebratesWilliam Tell
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
A mosaic at the SwissNational Museum in
Zurich celebratesWilliam Tell
erection of severalhundred thousand
earthworks, tombs, and an-cient mounds was not only di-
rected and ordered by theseelite members of the society, but
it was an accepted duty of the pop-ulation to follow their orders becausethey believed in the literal truth ofthe death journey. Most surprisingly,we discovered that the rulers of the
mound building cultures were exceed-ingly tall people—far taller than the gen-
eral population.Most of the death journey symbols
were found on artifacts excavated in elabo-rate burials from Mississippian era mounds
In February 2014 British author AndrewCollins arrived in Memphis for athree-week project. We visited nu-merous mound sites in the southeast
gathering information on what archaeol-ogists call Mississippian Iconography.The main purpose was to completea book on Native American moundbuilders’ beliefs about the journeyof the soul after death. It has onlybeen in recent years that archae-ologists have revealed ideasabout the death journey, and weexplained this complex belief ina book entitled, Path of Souls(Little, G. & Collins, A. (2014),Memphis: Archetype Books). Itinvolves the soul traveling toa nebula below Orion’s Belt,then to the Milky Way, andthen journeying to theCygnus Constellation. Ittook more than a decadeof work for more than 20mainstream archaeologiststo reach these conclusions.One more assertion madeby the archaeologists wasthat the priests and chiefsof the mound-buildingcultures controlled thisdeath journey. The
From Zecharia Sitchin (ThereWere Giants Upon the Earth)
to Susan Martinez (The Mysteri-ous Origins of Hybrid Man);from Dante’s Divine Comedy toJack and the Beanstalk; from theHebrew Scriptures to the Book ofEnoch; western culture is repletewith references to ancient giants,
who were said to have left deepmarks on our psyche, if not onthe archaeological record. Thesuggestion that such accountscould be based on fact has longbeen ridiculed by orthodox ar-chaeology, but such reactions areuninformed by the actual evi-dence. Consider the North Amer-ican mound builders. In thefollowing article, Gregory Little,Ed.D., author of The IllustratedEncyclopedia of Native AmericanMounds and Earthworks, joinswith colleague researcher AndrewCollins (Gobekli Tepe—Genesis ofthe Gods) in a new examinationof irrefutable evidence that therewere many true physical giantsamong the builders of some ofour most enigmatic ancient mon-uments.
—ED
42 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 108
ALTERNATIVE ARCHAEOLOGY
• BY GREGORY LITTLE, Ed.D.
who were said to have leftffmarks on our psyche, if nthe archaeological record
i h h
Gustav Doré’s1868 engravingof the GiantAntaeus—Descentto the LastCircle in Dante’sDivine Comedy—appears on the currentA.R. cover. Color,courtesy of the A.R. art department.
A CONTINUINGand GROWINGCONUNDRUM
New Evidence ofa Giant-Sized
Coverup
in America?
GIANTPREDECESSORS
ofzed
Covevv ree upu
NeNN w Evivv dedd nee cea GiGG ant-SiSS zii
GIANTPREDECESSORS
(AD 800-1700).Mounds at thesesites are often largepyramid-shapedplatforms arrangedaround a centralplaza area. Therewere thousands ofM i s s i s s i p p i a nmound sites, whichwere often madeinto fortresses withtall, palisade wallssurrounding thevillage and moundarea. When thefirst Europeans en-tered America inthe 1540s, the Mis-sissippians were al-ready in decline,
but it is accepted that the population ofNorth America was at least 10 million.Within two generations, the population de-clined by over 90% due to diseases broughtin by the Spanish. In part, this explainswhy there are so many mysteries in an-cient American history. However, thereis one element consistently found inthe most elaborate burials at many ofthe Mississippian, Hopewell (500 BCto AD 1200), and even earlier,Adena mound and earthwork sites(1000 BC to 200 BC): the skeletalremains in the most importanttombs often were of exceedinglytall individuals ranging in heightfrom 6.5 to 8 feet.
Number 108 • ATLANTIS RISING 43
Continued on Page 68
Chickasawba’s GiantsAndrew and I were aware of the swirling
reports of giant skeletons, but one report wasmost intriguing to me. I first learned of itfrom Jim Vieira. An 1870 article in the Mem-phis Daily Appeal related that the paper’s ed-itor had seen several skeletons at ChickasawbaMound, which is located in Blytheville,Arkansas. The article reported that an eightto nine-foot skeleton was excavated at the site,and the editor had viewed several large skele-tons, over seven feet, that had been excavatednear the mound.
Neither Andrew Collins nor I intendedto enter the controversy regarding giant skele-tons in our book project. But after visitingmounds in Alabama and Mississippi, weplanned to head north to Cahokia and de-cided to stop at the 25 foot high Chicka-sawba platform mound for pictures. The daybefore, we had found a 2009 journal articleon Chickasawba in the Arkansas Archaeolo-gist. The article cited many, huge skeletal re-mains, ranging from seven to ten feet, fromChickasawba (Childs, H. & McNutt, C.(2009) Chickasawba, Arkansas Archaeologist,48, 15-56).
In 1877 the newspaper editor wrote tothe Smithsonian detailing his finds at Chick-asawba. In 1881, the Smithsonian sent EdwardPalmer to the site. Palmer visited for a day,and in his journal he wrote that the site hadbeen looted, adding that it would be toocostly to excavate the mound. However, the2009 article related that “hundreds” of exqui-site pots had been dug from the site well intothe 1980s. The mound and adjacent field,where a Mississippian village once stood, wassaid to look “like a bombed battlefield.” Thearticle also related, without a hint of skepti-cism, that in 1976 a 7-foot skeleton was exca-vated from the site.
When we arrived at Chickasawba in Feb-ruary a severe ice storm hit, and we decidedthat going to Cahokia was too risky. We re-turned to Blytheville where a bookstoreowner contacted the Arkansas ArchaeologyField Station located near the mound. The ar-chaeologists were delighted to have us visittheir station. When we arrived, the two ar-chaeologists at the site were busy copying anarticle for us, which they said contains,“everything known about the site.” I askedthe head archaeologist about the large skele-tons found there. The question was met by alook of bewilderment and the answer, “I havenever heard anything about that.” The articlehanded to me was the same 2009 paper wehad found the day before. I opened or copyto the pages where the large skeletons werediscussed. The archaeologist looked at it andstated, “I’ve never read this before.” The odd-ity of the situation was striking. After a tourof the facility I asked if any of the skeletal re-mains had been studied and was told that noskeletons were kept. All were reburied afterthey were sent to tribes years earlier. It was atthat point that Andrew and I decided to re-
((((MMMsssppapwMmwitsvafttsrr
Photo of skele-tons as theywere once dis-played inMoundville,Alabama, mu-seum. Since1990 such dis-plays havebeen removedat all museumsites.
Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More!46 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 108
HOLISTIC HEALTH
• BY PATRICK MARSOLEK
Does Science Have Any IdeaWhere Healing Comes From?
“Placebo effect: Also called the placeboresponse. A remarkable phenomenon inwhich a placebo—a fake treatment, an inactivesubstance like sugar, distilled water, or salinesolution—can sometimes improve a patient’scondition simply because the person has theexpectation that it will be helpful. Expecta-tion plays a potent role in the placebo effect.The more a person believes they are going tobenefit from a treatment, the more likely it isthat they will experience a benefit.”
MedicineNet.com
Skeptics of complementary therapieshave often claimed that alternativemodes of healing are effective only be-cause of the placebo response and are
thus shams and shouldn’t be accepted as le-gitimate. Recent studies, however, are suggest-ing much of standard medicine might also beplacebo, and we need to give more weight tothe validity of the placebo response. TheBritish Medical Journal recently did an analy-sis of 2,500 common medical treatmentswhich showed that only 36 percent of theseprocedures could be shown to be “beneficialor likely to be beneficial,” and another 46 per-cent had “unknown” effectiveness. This is es-pecially sobering when compared to the
placebo response which has been shown tobe effective between 30 to 50 percent of thetime.
There are also studies suggesting that evenwell-accepted and beneficial medical proce-dures may also be effective mostly because ofplacebo. Consider one surprising study wherea widely used joint surgery was comparedwith a sham placebo surgery in the treatmentof osteoarthritis. In this study, one group re-ceived arthroscopic joint surgery while an-other group was given the same anestheticpreparation, three stab wounds in the skinwith a scalpel, and no other invasive proce-dure. Both groups showed similar levels ofimprovement with respect to knee pain at sixmonths following their “surgeries,” suggestingthe effectiveness of this procedure may be aplacebo response.
At the core of the debate with placebosis the growing understanding that our beliefin what works affects the outcome of what-ever treatment we’re given. Even the patientswho received the “sham” knee surgery be-lieved they would get better and did. Foryears, many proponents of western medicineclaimed that placebo was a superstitious left-over of primitive forms of healing and thatwith enough rational understanding, we couldexcise belief from the practice of medicine.Yet the placebo response has persisted andwon’t go away. Richard Kradin M.D., in writ-
ing about the psychology of healing suggeststhat the placebo response is on the thresholdof entering a new phase in its history, whereit will be recognized as a scientifically defin-able natural form of healing that is rooted inthe mind/body connection.
More and more scientists and doctors arerecognizing that biology and healing are non-linear, complex phenomena where the mindof the patient, the expectations they have,and the meaning they give a doctor’s actionplays as strong a role in healing as chemicalcompounds that are given or the proceduresthat are done. The placebo seems to be level-ing the playing field of different modalitiesof healing and reminding us that our faith ina particular system of healing can have atremendous impact in our own healing.
RichardKradin,M.D.
Now Optimizedfor IOS 8,
iPhone 6, &iPhone 6 Plus