The Pyramid of the Sun which faces the equinox sunsets (photo copyright Nateirma)
To discover the real spiritual meaning of the autumn equinox, we will explore the first ever traces of its celebration. To discover the esoteric meaning by looking at rituals and traditions is not easy. There are many traditions which have been passed down today, but these have strayed from the root meaning. Most are to do with the harvest, and while there are grains of truth in that, different civilizations and cultures have added their own veneer, altering and losing much of the meaning. Even looking as far back as neolithic monuments such as Stonehenge yields few clues about the deeper spiritual purpose. So you have to start with a knowledge of the esoteric work, to have a basis upon which you can search and piece together the jigsaw. What you find is that this search goes back to still older civilizations with advanced technology and knowledge with roots that pre-date even Neolithic structures.
The esoteric knowledge is taught through these sites, which the ancients left as markers for future humanities. They link to celestial bodies and events, which then tie in with events in the lives of spiritual figures such as Osiris and Jesus, whose lives show the stages a person passes through to reach awakening.
Messages Encoded in Ancient Sites
There are hundreds and hundreds of ancient sites all over the world that align to the solstices and equinoxes (and many more that have been destroyed and lost). Incredibly, many of these even align with each other, with some of the most ancient and advanced positioned on the same straight line running around the earth at special mathematical distances from one another.
Many of the sites were taken over by ancient people’s who were not the original builders and who expanded on them and gave them their own names and myths. The technology necessary to build some of them exceeds that of the supposed builders. So how did unknown people from a time unmeasured have access to highly advanced astronomy, mathematics, and feats of engineering and architecture we have not replicated today? The most advanced of these ancient monuments are much older than many archeologists dare suppose, however, how many archeologists would entertain the thought that they were built by people of Atlantis, or that there could be clues to extra-terrestrial input?
A careful study of mathematics, astronomy, and sacred symbolism reveals that these sites encode within them very ancient, timeless, and universal messages. Intended to stand the test of time, they have delivered their messages to people searching for truth ever since. Among them include messages about the future of the world, about our planet, and about the purpose of life. This is why studying how and why these ancient monuments mark certain celebrated astrological events, and the symbols they used, can reveal hidden information about their greater significance and meaning. Here are a few of the most extraordinary cases in relation to the meaning of the autumn equinox (however, any site which aligns to the autumn equinox also aligns to the spring equinox, so you can find more sites aligned to the equinox in the article Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Spring Equinox).
The Great Pyramids ~ Egypt
Looking down the descending passage of the Great Pyramid
At midnight on the autumn equinox in 2,170 BC, the pole star Alpha Draconis, the chief star of the Dragon constellation, a symbol of sin and Satan, shone down the central axis of the descending passage of the Great Pyramid. This was the North Star at the time. It is calculated that at precisely the same instant in 2,170 BC, Alcyone, the star in the Pleiades group which our sun and solar system revolves around, stood exactly on the meridian of the Great Pyramid at that point in the heavens which is at right angles to the downward inclination of the descending passage.
Alpha Draconis also aligned with the descending passage in 3,350 BC. The next alignment was much more recently in 2004 AD with the North Star Polaris, in which its light was said to shine all the way down to the subterranean pit inside the pyramid on the autumn equinox. Polaris in Greek means Satan, which in this case is another name for Lucifer, the light-bringer, who is the tempter that must be overcome in order to attain light.
The Great Pyramid itself functioned as an enormous sundial. Its shadow to the north, and its reflected sunlight to the south, accurately marked the annual dates of both the solstices and the equinoxes. Two of its faces are orientated precisely due East and West, which are the exact points of the rising and setting sun, only on the spring and autumnal equinoxes.
A photo taken at the spring equinox that revealed for the first time that the Great Pyramid was eight-sided
The four sides of the Great Pyramid are concave, which gives the pyramid 8 faces instead of 4. This is only perceptible from the air at dawn and sunset on the spring and autumn equinoxes.
Professor Robert Temple believes that just before and after these dates the western vertical halves of the north and south faces would have flashed with the sunlight at dawn, when the Great Pyramid still had its white limestone outer casing. The eastern vertical halves of the same faces would have flashed at sunset. The ceasing of the flash would prove that the equinox had arrived as the sun was briefly absolutely dead-on. This flash of light would have been visible for miles around, and is believed to have even been visible from the moon – from which the pyramid would appear to light up like a star.
Cairn T at Loughcrew ~ Ireland
Loughcrew in Ireland is an ancient site believed to date to 3,000 – 4,000 BC (and was even possibly built on an older sacred site), which originally had around 40 monuments. It is one of many sacred sites in Ireland, another of which nearby is Newgrange that captures a shaft of sunlight to its central chamber on the winter solstice. Cairn T at Loughcrew is a giant mound with an inner chamber in a cruciform shape (the shape of a cross). Inside is the equinox stone, which is decorated with astronomical symbols. At the rising sun on the mornings around the equinoxes, the equinox stone is illuminated inside the chamber.
You can explore Loughcrew and its beautiful art through videos and photo at these websites:
http://www.knowth.com/loughcrew.htm
http://www.carrowkeel.com/index.html
Chichen Itza ~ Mexico
The feathered serpent at Chichen Itza descending down the steps at the equinox
At an ancient Mayan sacred site called Chichen Itza, there is a pyramid dedicated to Kukulcán, the feathered serpent. At spring and autumn equinoxes the sun creates an undulating pattern of light on the nine terraces of the pyramid to display seven triangles of light which link up with a stone serpent head at its base. As the sun sets at the autumn equinox, the moving pattern appears to be of a snake descending down the pyramid steps. Additionally, when one looks at the western face during the winter solstice, the sun appears to climb up the edge of the staircase until it rests momentarily directly above the temple before beginning its descent down the other side. To read more about the incredible celestial alignments of this site see http://www.world-mysteries.com/chichen_kukulcan.htm
Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan ~ Mexico
The ancient Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico, whose builders are unknown, faces the exact point on the horizon where the sun sets at spring and autumn equinoxes. 70 meters high and originally painted red, it was built on top of a cave with four chambers in the shape of a four-leaf clover. In ancient Mexico, caves were seen as passageways to the underworld. Here also, the feathered serpent was worshiped.
Intihuatana Stone ~ Peru
The Intihuatana Stone at the city of Machu Picchu. (photo copyright Jordan Klein 2005)
At the ancient city of Machu Picchu in Peru there is a stone called the Intihuatana stone (meaning ‘Hitching Post of the Sun’), which has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of both the spring and autumn equinoxes and other significant celestial periods. At midday on the equinoxes, the sun stands almost directly above the pillar, creating no shadow at all. It is said that the Incas held ceremonies at the stone at these times. There is also an Intihuatana alignment with the summer solstice (which is in December in the southern hemisphere), when at sunset the sun sinks behind Pumasillo (the Puma’s claw), the most sacred mountain of the western Vilcabamba range. Intihuatana stones were the supremely sacred objects of the Inca people.
Easter Island
The Maoi facing the equinox sunset at Ahu Akivi (photo copyright Ian Sewell)
On Easter Island, the most remote inhabited island in the world, there are numerous markers of astronomical alignments. Seven giant statues called Moai at the site called Ahu Akivi are the only ones on the island that look out to the ocean. They face the sunset during the spring and autumn equinox.
What Does it All Mean?
Descending passages into subterranean pits lit by the star of Satan at midnight. Feathered serpents of light descending giant pyramids. A giant pyramid aligned to the equinoxes built on a cave symbolizing the underworld. Seven giant statues facing the sunset that leads to growing darkness. What were these ancient sites, many of which align with each other, trying to tell us about the autumn equinox?
While these sites had their astrological significance, that significance doesn’t outweigh their esoteric one. They are markers in the teaching of esoteric wisdom; the wisdom is written in creation and these sites reveal it. Their message goes hand in hand with message of the spiritual sun, which was represented many times in history by the life of Osiris, Jesus, Krishna, Attis, Mithra and others. That message heralds the way to enlightenment; it is universal and is written in the heavens themselves.
~ Copyright 2011 Belsebuub and Angela Pritchard
More on the Autumn Equinox
The Spiritual Meaning of the Autumn Equinox
A Ceremony to Celebrate the Autumn Equinox
