Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Spring Equinox

This article brings together ancient sacred sites from around the world which align to the spring equinox (also known as the vernal equinox). Even though they are separated by vast distances and time, they share a knowledge of the symbolic spiritual significance of the spring equinox as a time of resurrection and attainment of eternal life. They were built by people in ancient times who had a knowledge of the spiritual process that leads to enlightenment, and who created places to carry out initiations and rites, as well as bring the cosmic eternal forces that are found in this process to earth and into the individual.

The time of the spiritual equinox is still celebrated here today, according to its ancient and universal meaning. It is linked to a special stage in the universal process of spiritual awakening, which you can read more about in The Spiritual Meaning of the Spring Equinox.

To discover the spiritual meaning of the spring equinox, this article firstly looks at the original traces of its celebrations as set it stone (which are not so altered by time and degeneration as myths and traditions are). The following sacred sites from around the world reveal an incredible knowledge of the spiritual significance of the spring equinox and its relationship to the internal spirituality of humankind.

The Sphinx and Great Pyramid of Giza ~ Egypt

One of the most dominant alignments (as there are many both solar and stellar) of the Giza plateau, home to the sphinx, and the Great Pyramids, is the spring equinox.

The sphinx gazes due east to where the sun rises on the morning of the spring equinox. It is estimated that during the era of 10,970 to 8,810 BC (although earlier dates have also been given) it also gazed directly toward the rising of its own celestial image (known today as the constellation of Leo in the form of a recumbent lion), which would have preceded the sun at dawn on the spring equinox. Due to what is called “the procession of the equinoxes” the sun rises in a different constellation on the spring equinox approximately every 2,150 years. This reveals, along with archeological evidence of weathering and esoteric evidence of what the sphinx was originally intended to symbolize, that the sphinx is much older than mainstream Egyptologists say – who date it to around 2,500 BC.

Furthermore, the causeway connecting the sphinx to the second of the three Great Pyramids is slightly offset. Again, mainstream Egyptologists argue that this was a design flaw to accommodate the sphinx into the layout of the Giza pyramids. But it was actually done for a specific esoteric reason – as everything was in the original design of the ancient Giza plateau.

Standing on the causeway facing the rising sun on the spring equinox during this era, one could have witnessed the constellation of Leo rising over the horizon just before dawn with its head appearing first before being followed by its recumbent body. Looking across at the sphinx from the same point on the causeway, this same image is mirrored by the sphinx itself with only its head visible above the plateau and its recumbent body set down inside a carved out enclosure.

The design of the sphinx interwoven into the spring equinox and the constellations has an important esoteric meaning. It pinpoints the celestial parts whilst integrating them into an earthly design, which symbolically re-enact the process of the resurrection of Osiris as found in the ancient Pyramid Texts – the oldest surviving sacred texts of Egypt.

Close by, the Great Pyramid is designed in such a way that at noon on the spring equinox it casts no shadow.

The sphinx and great pyramid are giant symbols, and both are part of a plan on the ground that forms a greater symbol, which is explained further in The Spiritual Meaning of the Spring Equinox.

The pyramids were never built as tombs for pharaohs and evidence has come to light that sphinx was not originally built as a man-headed lion, and possibly not even a lion at all, but as the deity Anubis in his form as recumbent pariah dog/jackal who resurrected Osiris (which is written about at length in the article Decoding the Ancient Meaning of the Sphinx and its Origin as Anubis). Going back into the most ancient accounts, the sphinx was a spiritual symbol of incredible significance, which was successively restored, re-carved, and vandalized over thousands of years. It symbolizes the resurrection of Osiris at the dawning of the sun on the spring equinox.

Angkor Wat ~ Cambodia

Angkor is a massive complex of ancient stone temples in the jungle of Cambodia. The temple of Angkor Wat is its most famous and aligns to the rising sun of the spring equinox. The temple is said to be a representation of Mount Meru, the ancient Hindu home of the gods. The five central towers symbolize the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean.

The axis of the temple is offset to give a 3 day anticipation of the coming spring equinox alignment. On the morning of the spring equinox, the sun rises up the side of the central tower (mountain peak) of the temple and crowns its pinnacle.

Angkor Wat is decorated with a massive stone mural that depict the ancient Hindu story of “the churning of the milky ocean” (along with scenes from the sacred texts the Mahabharata and Ramayana) in which the asuras (demons) and devas (angels) are in a giant tug of war using a serpent wrapped around a mountain, which churns the great milky ocean as they pull back and forth. This churning produces Amrita, the nectar of immortality, eventually consumed by the devas and which allows Indra to return to his abode as the King of Heaven. The churning of the milky ocean reveals a fundamental spiritual principle found in the universe – the role of darkness and light in creation, within ourselves, and in the process of enlightenment. The struggle against darkness and its ultimate defeat, which is found in all resurrection accounts, is what leads to eternal life.

This giant relief is found carved into an Eastern wall, and is associated with the spring equinox, whilst other reliefs are associated with the other four points of the year. Researcher Graham Hancock discovered that Angkor Wat and a number of surrounding temples (around 15), mirror the constellation of Draco as it would have appeared in the sky at the time of the spring equinox in the year 10,500 BC, many thousands of years before it is said to have been built. With the combination of the constellation of Draco, which is shaped like a giant serpent, and the tower of the temple said to represent Mount Meru, all aligned at the spring equinox, Angkor Wat brings together the counterparts of the churning of the milky ocean in combination with the earth and the sky.

In the mural depicting this scene, there are 91 demons on the left, representing the number of days between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and on the right are 88 devas, representing the number of days from the spring equinox to the summer solstice, minus 3. Each side measures 54 cubits – together which adds to 108, a number sacred in Buddhism and Hinduism, representing the number of human incarnations one has to awaken in a cycle of the wheel of samsara.

The numbers 108, 54, along with 72 and 36 (which when taken as individual digits all add to 9), have been incorporated into the design of Angkor Wat and surrounding temples. These numbers are part of the sacred mathematics of the phenomena known as “the precession of the equinoxes”, a cosmic cycle of the earth related to the spring equinox, which the churning of the milky ocean is also said to symbolize.

The temple of Phnom Bakheng is surrounded by 108 towers. 108 is the sum of 72 and 36 (and 72 is twice times 36). The number of temples built around Angkor is 72. Our earth moves one degree in its processional cycle throughout the constellations every 72 years (which is roughly the span of one human lifetime). Incredibly, Angkor Wat is situated 72 degrees of longitude east of the Pyramids of Giza (which also features stellar alignments around 10,500 BC).

Even the causeway of Angkor Wat incorporates cosmic symbolism and numbers encoding the cycles of time. The axial lengths along the causeway of Angkor Wat were designed to represent the great world ages of Hindu cosmology called Yugas.

Additionally, the temples of Bakong, Prah Ko and Prei Monli at Roluos, south of the main Angkor complex, mirror the three stars in the Corona Borealis as they appeared at dawn on the spring equinox in 10,500 BC. Interestingly, Corona Borealis would not have been visible from these temples during the 10th and 11th centuries when they were said to have been constructed.

Chichen Itza ~ the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico

At this ancient site there is a pyramid known as El Castillo dedicated to Kukulcán, the feathered serpent, which is a complex annual astronomical calendar. Its four sides each have 91 steps (the number of days between each of the four points of the year). On the spring equinox the sun creates a pattern of 7 scales of light on the terraces of the pyramid that connect to the head of the feathered serpent carved at its base. As the sun moves, the scales undulate and eventually disappear, giving the visual effect of the serpent ascending the 9 terraces of the pyramid (at the autumn equinox the effect is of the serpent descending). (ref Andrew Collins Gods of Eden).

The feathered serpent is a symbol of an enlightened person (with the serpent symbolizing the higher feminine aspect of the person, and the feathers the eagle of the higher male aspect), which is also found in Egypt. The 9 terraces depict the 9 layers of the underworld, which the Mayans were also aware of. The ascent and descent of the feathered serpent enacts the symbolic descent into the underworld and ascent out of it in the process of enlightenment. The ascent of the feathered serpent at the spring equinox parallels the symbols of resurrection and the triumph of light over darkness found throughout the world at this time, revealing that the builders were aware of the universal sacred knowledge also illustrated at the sites of Giza and Angkor Wat, amongst many others.

Mesoamerican cultures periodically built larger temples and pyramids over the top of smaller ones. In the 1930s excavations revealed an earlier temple inside the pyramid of Kukulcán, which had been built over, revealing that this site has more ancient roots. Inside this earlier temple they found a chamber which contained a statue of Chac Mool, which in Mayan means “red jaguar.”

Unfortunately, this site became known for the practice of human sacrifice and bloodletting (along with other South American sites) – thousands of people were sacrificed at this site, with the statue of Chac Mool and his cup turned up to receive the rays of the sun to his solar plexus chakra, instead used as a platter for human hearts.

As always, the culture there degenerated and was taken over by a savage people. Thus the esoteric knowledge became overlaid and overtaken by black magic (as has happened to ancient sites and spiritual teachings continuously throughout the world), giving it a terrible name. It is even recorded in myth that the great teacher Quezalcoatl, who was symbolized as the feathered serpent, was opposed to human sacrifice. Tragically, his real message was turned away from and distorted as has happened with the message of true love and compassion of so many other great spiritual teachers throughout history.

Dzibilchaltun ~ the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico

At the ancient Mayan site of Dzibilchaltún, “The Temple of Seven Dolls” so called because 7 small clay human figures were found buried there, aligns to the equinox sunrise. Sitting atop staircases in a pyramid style, the temple has openings in the form of a Mayan arch toward the four cardinal points. The rising sun on the spring and autumn equinox shines through central doorway of the temple in a beautiful display of light toward a single erect stone.

Tikal ~ Guatemala

Tikal is an ancient series of temples located deep in the jungle of Guatemala. Like many ancient sites in South America, the temples here were successively built over, which means that their origins are actually much older. Here, tall pyramid style temples rise out of the canopy of the rainforest.

On the spring equinox, the sun rises up the middle of The Temple of the Grand Jaguar with its 9 terraces, to crown its pinnacle. In doing so, it causes the temple to cast a perfect shadow over the much smaller Temple of the Moon, which has three terraces and was decorated with a wooden lintel showing the image of a royal woman (the original stone mantle of the temple is too dilapidated to make out whether there was anything originally carved into it).

The Temple of the Grand Jaguar was decorated with a wooden lintel depicting a jaguar with water lilies sprouting from its head, protecting the King (again the stone mantle is worn away).

The jaguar is an ancient Mayan and Olmec symbol dating back to the earliest Mesoamerican cultures, with depictions of it found that date from around 1500 BC. The water-lily jaguar was considered a transformer, and could also be depicted amidst flames. The meaning of the water-lily jaguar remains obscure in Mayan culture, however the jaguar itself has parallels in many esoteric teachings as the tiger the Hindu warrior goddess Durga rides upon, and the lion-headed warrior goddess of Egypt Sekhmet, and of Buddhist lion-headed goddess Senge Dongma – each also associated with fire.

The jaguar of South America (like the lion and tiger) is the equivalent symbol of the fierce war against darkness and evil within the initiate. Known as the god of terrestrial fire in South America, it is symbolically related to the inner alchemical fire which transforms someone spiritually. The jaguar was considered the night sun – the form the sun takes in its journey through the underworld. At the time of the spring equinox the sun rises from out of the underworld to defeat the darkness (often symbolized by the moon, which this temple symbolically overshadows at this time). The rising of the sun was very much associated with resurrection to the Mayans, and again resurrection is symbolized at this site at the spring equinox as in many other ancient esoteric sites around the world. At Tikal was also found a plate illustrating the resurrection of the Mayan maize god of resurrection.

The complex at Tikal includes many other solar and stellar alignments, including to the solstices and to the constellation Pleiades.

Like other South American sites, Tikal descended into human sacrifice and bloodletting. Graffiti inside the temples depicts scenes of sacrificial victims. Again, this was a horrific distortion of the original spiritual teaching as it has happened so many times in the past, and why spiritual knowledge is continually given anew.

Cairn T ~ Ireland

Thousands of years ago, Ireland was inhabited by the Tuatha Dé Danann – a mysterious god-like people most closely connected with the ancient megalithic sites of Ireland. They were said to be preceded by the Fir Bolg, another mythical ancient peoples. Whilst the ancient history of Ireland turned into legends and myth passed on verbally through thousands of years, what is known as set in stone is that Ireland was once inhabited by a highly astronomically advanced people who had knowledge of esoteric principles, which they incorporated into the design of their megalithic temples.

Cairn T is the name give to an ancient Neolithic mound with an inner chamber that aligns to the equinoxes, and is believed to have been built around 3,500 BC. It is the main and central mound in a group of Neolithic sites at a place called Loughcrew. It is 35 meters in diameter and was once covered in a thick mantle of quartz. The rising sun on the spring equinox enters the mound and travels into its inner chamber which is in the shape of a cross/cruciform, to alight the back stone, called the Sliabh na Caillí or Equinox Stone, which is covered in astronomical symbols.

The equinox sunrise viewed from Cairn T rises over the Hill of Slane, which is a sacred hill that is framed by the view looking back out from the chamber of Cairn T. The Hill of Slane formed part of a larger equinox alignment in ancient Ireland as described in the Millmount-Croagh Patrick alignment further below.

Knowth ~ Ireland

Nearby Cairn T at Loughrew is another ancient Neolithic site called Knowth also thought to have been built around 3,500 BC, which is the largest ancient monument in Ireland and contains the largest collection of megalithic artwork in all of Europe. Some believe it could have served as an ancient repository of wisdom that was carved symbolically into its stone (much like the temples of Egypt).

It is a giant man-made mound one acre in size with two inner chambers – one aligned to the East, and the other the West. These chambers are 18 days off aligning to the spring and autumn equinoxes, so that the sunrise enters the East chamber and is funneled along its passage near the spring equinox, whilst the West chamber captures the sunset near the autumn equinox. The reason for this is still unknown, and further investigation is currently trying to determine whether these passages used lunar alignments to foretell the equinoxes instead. What seems clear is that this mound is connected to the equinox in its alignments in some way.

The East chamber (the direction of East typically associated with the spring equinox) is in a cruciform shape – it is the biggest in Ireland and houses the Dagda Cauldron. The Dagda Cauldron is a large stone basin with a symbolic design carved into it, thought to be placed inside Knowth before the temple mound was built, as it is too large to have been brought into it later. It is shaped like a cauldron – an important motif in Irish mythology. The most well known cauldron in Irish myth belonged to Dagda, a chieftan of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His cauldron was one of the four chief treasures that the Dé Dananns are said to have brought to Ireland – the others being the Stone of Destiny at Tara, the Sword of Light, and Spear of Lugh.

Cauldrons later became associated with witches, as the esoteric culture of Ireland degenerated and was taken over by black magic, with the druids falling into dark practices such as animal sacrifice and worshiping demons. However, the cauldron was originally a spiritual symbol.

In Irish myth the cauldron was believed to be a vessel of plenty – and it is said that no one ever left it hungry, and it never ran out. It is also said to have had the power to regenerate life so that dead bodies could be placed into the cauldron and drawn out alive and whole again. This is symbolic of resurrection, in which the initiate dies internally to live again eternally. The mound and cauldron are symbols of the womb, from which all life comes forth, it represents the receptacle in which sexual activity takes place, and can therefore symbolize sexual activity itself, and activity in the alchemical mixing process. The symbol of the cross in the East chamber connects this part of the mound with the spring equinox, the time of Easter, thousands of years before it was symbolized again by Jesus.

Another sexual symbol is present at Knowth, again revealing the knowledge of the forces of creation and life in spirituality – there is a pair of large standing stones outside its west entrance. One is tall and thin, a phallic symbol representing the male force, and the other is squat and round, representing the female.

The Millmount-Croagh Patrick alignment ~ Ireland

The Millmount-Croagh Patrick alignment to the spring equinox is not just to one particular site, but is created from the alignment of a number of sites in relation to each other, which were built from the East to the West coast of Ireland stretching over 135 miles.

The ancient people’s were aware of how the natural land formations aligned at certain times of the year, and incorporated them into the design of their sacred sites – again bringing the earthly and celestial together on the ground like was done in Egypt and Angkor. These alignments of sites which stretch for miles are found around Britain.

This alignment starts at a place called Millmount (near the East coast of Ireland), which is an ancient temple mound that later became used as a fort and has been built over and left unexcavated. In Irish myth, it is identified as the burial place of Amergin mac Míled, an ancient druid, warrior, and chief.

Standing at Millmount, one can watch the sunset around two days after the spring equinox (around March 23^rd), set directly over the Hill of Slane, which stands 158 meters tall. The name of Slane was given to the hill after Sláine, the king of the Fir Bolg (a mythological race that used to inhabit Ireland), who is said to have been buried there. Slane was also supposed to have been the location of a mythical healing well, which was used by the Tuatha Dé Danann to heal their wounds during battle. Later, it is believed to be the place where Saint Patrick lit the Easter fire on March 23^rd (coinciding with the setting sun on this date). There is an artificial mound on the western end of the hilltop, and there may be the remains of an ancient sacred site due to the presence of two Neolithic standing stones in the burial yard of the Christian abbey that stands there today. This is clearly an ancient site that acted as an astronomical marker which was taken on by the Christians as they did with so many other sites like Glastonbury Tor.

The near spring equinox sunset continues its alignment West, skirting the hills of Loughcrew (home of Cairn T which aligns to the equinox sunrises) on its way, and traveling directly through Rathcroghaun (or Cruachan Aí), one of the largest archaeological complexes in the world, with 200 monuments located in a 10-mile radius. These include Oweynagat (Cave of the Cats) the entrance to the Celtic Otherworld and home to the Goddess Morrigan; Daithi’s Mound with its standing stone; and the main site called Rathcroghan mound – a manmande mound 90 meters wide at its base on which once stood buildings. Electric scans have now detected further enclosures beneath the ground which surround this mound. It is believed by many that queen Medb was the local earth goddess, and that becoming king meant marrying the earth, with the inauguration more than likely taking place on Rathcroghan mound itself.

The alignment ends on the West Coast of Ireland at Croagh Patrick, one of Ireland’s sacred mountains, intersecting the Christian church built on its summit exactly. Again, this was an ancient sacred site that was taken over by the Christians. The mountains top is shaped like a pyramid, which can be seen from miles around. The old name for the mountain is Croghan Aigle, which might be translated as “the Eagle’s Peak”. The mountain is ringed by old sites, monuments, and standing stones – revealing that it was a place held sacred from ancient times.

Cairnpapple and Arthur’s Seat alignment ~ Scotland

This alignment to the spring equinox is another created by natural formations that became sacred sites and observation points of the spring equinox sunrise.

Cairnpapple is an ancient megalithic complex set on top of a hill in Scotland, which is said to have been used as a sacred site for around 4000 years, starting around 3,500 BC and includes a standing stone circle. Here, evidence was found that this site had been used by the beaker people, who are believed to have built some of Stonehenge.

From the site of Cairnpapple, the spring equinox sun rises over Arthur’s Seat, associated with King Arthur, and also Huly Hill, which is another site of an ancient cairn and standing stones.

What Does It All Mean?

Although these sites incorporated different symbols, an understanding of the symbols reveals that they were representing the same spiritual process and around the same cosmic event – the attainment of eternal life symbolized at the spring equinox.

Over time, their knowledge and sites became distorted and lost. However, looking back today with the same shared knowledge as the original esoteric builders, one can recognize the knowledge of universal spirituality in different sites around the world – allowing an esotericist to understand ancient mysteries where archeologists and academics remain baffled.

People often wonder why the ancient builders went to such lengths to create such incredible structures. What many fail to recognize is how they understood that spirituality and the attainment of eternal life was the most important thing in life, and why esoteric cultures centered around this rather than the pursuit of pleasure, wars, material wealth, etc.

This knowledge is never truly lost, as it is palpitating throughout the whole of the universe for those who choose to search for it. Today, the spring equinox remains an important time for those wishing to achieve eternal life in these times.

~ Copyright 2012 Belsebuub and Angela Pritchard

More on the Spring Equinox
The Spiritual Meaning of the Spring Equinox
A Ceremony to Celebrate the Spring Equinox