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Emerald Tablet, Alchemy and Stellar Nucleosynthesis

Free episodes:

Michael Allen

Paranormal Adept
Most of the translations of the Emerald Tablet contain two essential keys of interpretation for the tablet. These two statements occur at the first and last lines
Verum, sine Mendacio, certum et verissimum…​
…Completum est quod dixi de Operatione Solis.​

The first statement usually rendered

“True, without error, certain and most true…”

And the last statement says:

“What I have said concerning the operation of the Sun has been completed.”

I have read the first statement as a clue to the entire work, as something that has objective reality—i.e. the tablet is outlining something that is true in the most literal sense. The reiteration verum…certum et verissimum, should be an indication that though the Emerald Tablet is true in a literal sense, it can also be as true in the figurative sense—due to the very unity of the nature described. So that it cannot be true if either facets of meaning (literal and figurative) are false.

That which is verum, sine mendacio, certum et verissimum is the creation of all matter ex sol solis. That is that all elements found on all terrestrial bodies (including the earth) are made of matter fused in a star (sun). All matter is the prima material (proton-neutron isolates) which have “three parts of the philosophy” existed prior to nucleosynthesis or have been “transmuted” by the “operatio solis.” So all matter in the universe is made of the same electron-proton-neutron triad of which “by adaptation” are modified to different elements in the periodic table. The “fire of the philosophers” or “fire of the sages” being that field which binds together the “three-parts-one” atom.

Which brings the third hermetic key:

Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit.

“This is the whole of the strength of the strong force, because it overcomes all fine things, and penetrates all the complete.” A bit redundant in Latin, however Arabic texts have used “force of forces.” The third hermetic key basically provides an ancient description of a unified field theory. Perhaps it is only a coincidence that the force that binds nuclei is called the “strong” force.

The Fourth key: provided by the ancient statement alluding to the separation of the nuclei formed by the operation of the Sun (nucleosynthesis) – “its power is perfected if turned into earth” “Separate the earth from the fire, the fine from the dense, delicately [also rendered ‘carefully], by [means of/to] the great [together] with capacity.” The separation of fissionable materials must be taken with great care, because the practitioner is literally unlocking the energy in matter (dark sun) that was stored by fusion in another star. Einstein’s famous equation sums up this key:

Energy (Fire) = Mass (Earth) * Speed of Light2

Fifth Key:

“And as all things were from [the] one, by [means of] the meditation of [the] one, thus all things of the daughter from [the] one, by [means of] adaptation.”

All things occur in one substance or field—and the translation seems to indicate that this field comes from an active goal-seeking agent or intelligence. Mass and energy, being “interchangeable” – i.e. energy can transmute to mass and vice versa. This is the fundamental transmutation that accounts for all processes in the cosmos. The fifth key provides use with a way of thinking—a thinking that there must be some kind of unity in diverse things. Maxwell’s contribution unified electricity and magnetism; Relativity asserted facts that must be true if the laws of nature were universal. The current 20th century paradigm of physicalism (the unification of all physical laws into one framework) most likely has its roots in this key.

Sixth Key:

“It ascends by [means of] earth into heaven and again it descends into the earth, and retakes the power of the superior and of the inferior.”

Stellar evolution. All matter is reintegrated into the stellar evolution process—older stars and star fragments contribute to the matter which accumulates in newer stellar nurseries (which the earth--terrestrial solids-- nourishes the “dark sun” or in modern terms the trapped energy in matter). So the superior (the stellar agora) and the inferior (the clumps of matter) are created over and over again, the power and energy of nuclear fusion and fission exists in the superior and inferior. “Retaking” has the notion of “reversing” what has occurred—one instance:

n0 → p+ + e− + νe

energy + p+ → n0 + e+ + νe

Convection, plays a role on many levels of interpretation, both the stellar convection for mixing elements in a star fusing elements, or in the overall convection of matter between terrestrial and stellar forms. As in when one star explodes and creates additional “seed” core fragments for the next solar system that evolves elsewhere in another nebula. One can see how large fragments of an exploded supernova can seed a nearby nebula—as in when an aircraft “seeds” a cloud to create rain, which gives us our next and final key

Quod est Inferius est sicut quod est Superius,
et quod est Superius est sicut quod est Inferius,
ad perpetranda Miracula Rei Unius.

“That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing.”

But of course, the “miracle” we are talking about is demonstrable by nature—and has been demonstrated for many millennia. Here’s where the analogic intuition can take us back to the moments when many scientists (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Einstein, etc) looked up at the stars and “beheld their hereditary skies (Ovid, “Metamorphoses”)

Emerald Tablet

1. True, without error, certain and most true

2. That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing.

3. And as all things were from [the] one, by [means of] the meditation of [the] one, thus all things of the daughter from [the] one, by [means of] adaptation.

4. Its father is the sun, its mother[,]the moon, the wind carried it in its belly, its nurse is the earth.

5. The father of all the initiates of the whole world is here.

6. Its power is integrating if it be turned into earth.

7. Separate the earth from the fire, the fine from the dense, delicately, by [means of/to] the great [together] with capacity.

8. It ascends by [means of] earth into heaven and again it descends into the earth, and retakes the power of the superior and of the inferior.

9. Thus[,] you have the glory of the whole world.

10. Therefore[,] may it drive-out by [means of] you of all the obscurity.

11. This is the whole of the strength of the strong force, because it overcomes all fine things, and penetrates all the complete.

12. Thus[,] the world has been created.

13. Hence they were wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner.

14. Therefore[,] I am Hermes the Thrice Great, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.

15. What I have said concerning the operation of the Sun has been completed.





Was this an extra-terrestrial attempt to raise the consciousness of humanity? Certainly, any interstellar species with the technology to travel to other star systems would know this much detail concerning the “alchemy of the heavens.” This line of thinking is heaviest in assumptions and should be approached with caution to avoid the "Eric van Daniken fallacy"

Additional Notes/Questions:

Akhenaten cult of “aten” – was this an example of a pharaoh with a hermetic agenda? It stands to reason that the incubation of the unity in science would be preceded by a unification and abstraction of the pantheon. In like manner, as Hesiod’s “theogony,” provides us with evidence that the pre-socratic Greek mind was working on determining natural causes through the categories of the divine, perhaps this was an alarm bell—in order to work out the categories of existence in science and thus be open to data and observation. Monotheism appears to be a psychological pre-requisite for preparing the human mind for the 20th century programme of unification in science.

Interestingly enough, one finds strange (if not almost ridiculously coincidental) references to my interpretation of the Emerald Tablet. Here are some quick quotes.

“All corporeal things are an excrement or coagulated smoke…from the invisible stars...” Valentine Weigel (1533-1588)
(Source: Quoted in Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee, Cornell University Press: 2001. p35)

“And all the powers of the stars are the fountain veins of the natural body of God in this world” – Jakob Bohme (1575-1624)
(Source: Quoted in Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee, Cornell University Press: 2001. p39)[/B][/I]

Additional Notes in Thread

From Isaac Newton's translation (source: "Newton's Commentary on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus" in Merkel, I. and Debus, A. G., Hermeticism and the Renaissance. Folger, Washington 1988.)

Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
Separate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.

Beato:
Its power is perfected.
If it is turned into earth,
Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle and thin from the crude and coarse, prudently, with modesty and wisdom.

Ruska (from Arabic)

whose powers are perfect, and whose lights are confirmed (?),
a fire that becomes earth.
Separate the earth from the fire, so you will attain the subtle as more inherent than the gross, with care and sagacity.

Jabir ibn Hayyan:
as Earth which shall become Fire.
Feed the Earth from that which is subtle, with the greatest power.

Sigismund Bacstrom (probably spurious)
6a) Its power is perfect,
7) after it has been united with a spirituous earth.
7a) Separate that spirituous earth from the dense or crude by means of a gentle heat, with much attention [vegetative analogy--metals growing in veins in the earth from gentle heat--some alchemists realized this analogy was taken too far. E.g. "The Golden Tract" found in Waite's "The Hermetic Museum p20 and p28, 2nd paragraph].

Fulcanelli
6a) the eternal Will is contained in it.
7) Here, on earth, its strength, its power remain one and undivded.
7a) Earth must be separated from fire, the subtle from the dense, gently with unremitting care.

Fulcanelli (new translation)
Its force, or power, remains entire,
7) if it is converted into earth.
7a) You separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently with great industry.

Idres Shah
6a) and its power is complete.
7) Throw it upon earth,
7a) and earth will separate from fire. The impalpable separated from the palpable.

Wordnet: 1. intangible, impalpable -- (incapable of being perceived by the senses especially the sense of touch; "the intangible constituent of energy"- James Jeans)
3. impalpable -- (not perceptible to the touch; "an impalpable pulse")

Hortulanus [commentary on #7]: The stone is perfect and complete if it is turned into earth "that is if the soul of the stone itself.... is turned into earth, namely of the stone and is fixed so that the whole substance of the stone becomes one with its nurse, namely the earth, and the whole stone is converted to ferment"

source of translation snippets: http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/ontablet.pdf

Remember, however that we are really talking about one thing in adaptation

"And as all things were from [the] one, by [means of] the meditation of [the] one, thus all things of the daughter from [the] one, by [means of] adaptation."

We cannot assume that the alchemists completely understood all of the statements in the Emerald Tablet, we must remember that we are dealing with 14-16 century interpretations of a text that has sources prior to 1200 (and arabic sources back to 600-800). So I am currently trying to piece together the different "memes" that were propagated among alchemists (and mystics) after 1200.

Ruska's translation explicitly states "a fire that becomes earth" (another says "as Earth which shall become Fire."), which of course is literally true coupled with the operatio solis -- or the nuclear transmutation of elements via fusion, releasing massive amounts of energy in clumps of matter (a star will fuse elements from Hydrogen all the way to Iron--the rest of the elements are generated from s and p neutron capture processes which synthesize the heavier elements up to and past Uranium) which after the death of the sun either in the formation of a planetary nebula after helium ignition or (in the case of heavier stars) a supernova explosion, scatters the remnant stellar fragments into a nebula (read more about this in Allegre's excellent work "From Stone to Star: A View of Modern Geology" Harvard, 1992).

So all matter created (typed archaically as "earth") can then undergo "fission" depending on the stability of the nuclei, which releases the energies locked in the atom by some long dead star. A scientist has investigated the possibility that our own sun has a core fragment from an earlier dead star that exploded billions of years ago (read this article: "Scientist: Sun composed mostly of iron" - CNN.com - Scientist: Sun composed mostly of iron - July 23, 2002).

A quick note: the link to the cnn article probably overemphasizes the role of Iron in our sun. Obviously it does not "contradict" the view that layers of hydrogen plasma still accounts for our suns current energy output as a G type star. Probably the hypothetical "iron core" acted as a "seed" in a nebula where the first accretions occurred prior to proton-proton chain ignitions.

I think Emme has the right idea--the whole point of the 7th statement being a quick picture illustration of the mass-energy relationship. The role of "light" in this equation might be alluded in additional readings (and even in some of the later alchemist's commentaries) , but at this time I am still trying to search for evidence that the early alchemists inadvertently passed down memes alluding to nuclear transmutation in stars--a knowledge which wasn't necessarily understood.

Adam McLean (The Alchemy Web Site) was quick to point out my overzealous attempts to "infuse my own 20th century understanding in the texts." I have tried to temper my enthusiasm a bit and look for hard evidence. Most of what I am discussing right now is very tenuous--so I have responded by questioning certain assumptions regarding textual interpretation (see my last two posts).

Perhaps this is a better way to phrase the meaning of the Emerald Tablet:

Of everything you touch on this planet--all of its elements (after Hydrogen)--was created by a star. So the true meaning of "as above so below" becomes literally true .

The problem with light is simply due to the fact that it mediates the forces in our world. Without light, an atom would not appear "solid" to our touch. Electrons themselves can be thought of as clouds of interacting virtual photons--without which we wouldn't even have the derivative experiences of "electron." Our own perspective of the world is mediated by light--not only as a medium of sight--but of touch, hearing, everything. Without light, compression waves would not occur, because the actual collision between the atoms and molecules, mediated by the interaction and repulsion of the respective electron clouds (which are only known to us by the virtual photonic interactions--EM is the force between charged particles). Neither would the electro-chemical interactions exist in our brain to record these events.

So light plays an important part of the mediation between consciousness and the "other" in the world--a reality of force that permeate all things.

Remember that the double-slit experiment was repeated with matter particles like the electron, neutron and even small atoms--the same particle-wave duality paradox was found.

I think the "hermetic insight" currently driving current grand unified theory to its next level is the realization that the "particle" and "wave" phenomenon are really moments (facets) of one unified entity in time and space.

I am actually trying to show that every major advancement in the history of science has come about from the application of hermetic insight to a particular paradox or issue of the day.

I suspect that there is a direct causal reality link between the emergence of the hermetic tradition and the 2000 or so past years of accelerated scientific development.

In the end all I want to know is the truth--and if the Emerald Tablet and hermetic tradition plays an even larger role in the exopolitical affairs of our planet, I think this would represent an important development in our knowledge.

Here's something else I discovered recently:

Here's your recipe for a "wow" moment:

Go read Agrippa's (1486-1536) "The Occult Philosophy"
Note the divisions of his "Celestial Magic" - write them down.
Then go to the "astronomical spectroscopy" entry at wikipedia.


Parallax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Correlate this to one of Agrippa's categories in his Celestial Magic section of "The Occult Philosophy"

I.e. optics correspondence to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy



Then go to

Stellar evolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and

Stellar nucleosynthesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Answers to Objections:

Some of the people I have talked to about this have made a number of points regarding my observations.

(1) I am injecting 20th century presuppositions into an older text. That is I am "reading into" the text certain elements of 20th century understanding (correct or otherwise) into the alchemists, ascribing notions that were incongruous to the time.

(2) I have not read "enough" alchemical literature, and do not understand the historical context.

(3) I am following the lazy path--meaning that it is far easier to inject one's own views into a text than it is to simply allow the text and historical context to "speak for itself."

(4) I have committed a "van Daniken" error--which is a natural product of my incorrect modern assumptions coupled with a refusal to fully examine the texts within their historical context.

(5) I am merely backing my claims with pure rhetoric--not logic, reason or science.

Some have said that my model doesn't quite fit with the interpretations and commentaries of the alchemists. But I think it would be naive to assume that the medieval alchemists understood the traditions that were passed to them. More likely, a subset of phrases, memes, images and concepts would be passed down from one generation to the next, with each generation trying as best they can to understand and resolve the mystery. Certain "treasure hunters" may have some desire for a real "physical alchemy" that gives the practitioner longevity and riches. Others may opt for a "spiritual alchemy" that gives empowerment to one assurance and direction in their own self-actualization. While I don't disagree with these facets of understanding in this tradition, neither should I ignore the most obvious and true interpretation.

In fact, I don't even believe that Agrippa completely understood the implications of his categories in the "Celestial Magic" (see homework). To say that we should ignore our own 20th century understanding (bias) is to assume that, for instance, a 12th century or 14th century understanding, is a better "bias" to internalize toward a proper interpretation.

We cannot assume that all memetic forms in writing and communication are properly known only in the illocutionary domain as restricted by the meta-communicative "historical context." If the element of locution is a reconfigured fragment of an earlier illocutive moment, then we must inquire as to the possibility of an overarching perlocutionary goal. Religious texts are proof that human beings understood the technology of memetics (in a rudimentary form). Writing provided a transport over time and space for the vast domain of performative (and informative) locutionary moments. So if human beings can do this to themselves, why not the same from an earlier more evolved race? Or perhaps even from Extraterrestrials in our local neighborhood of 1000 or so stars that are within 100 light-years away?

In fact, if you look at the language of the Bible, it is an unapologetic narration of human beings on this planet with respect to beings that are not from this world. In fact, all religions are a narration of ancient extra-terrestrial (in the strictest sense of the word) apocalyptic (revelation) events to humanity.

"Wars in the heavens" (Biblical, Vedic, etc)
"Angels"
"Demons"
"Gods"
"Demigods"
"Flying cities" - i.e. in the Vedas and in the Bible (Revelations).
"Cities landing on the earth"
"Heavenly beings"
"Fire bolts from cities in the sky" -- Vedic and Biblical

Now what if a certain race of interstellar beings wanted to help push human understanding forward. Well, the first thing I would want to explain to a lesser evolved species is the role of the star in the development of the cosmos. Perhaps it might take a few thousand years (i.e. compared to the 50,000-100,000 years of the existence of humans).

[notes are adapted from my julius.gather.com pages--this is a work in progress]
 
Alot to digest here. I will have to get out my own dogeared copy of Agrippa's masterpiece.

I always thought the idea of the creative 'spirit of the world' had alot in common with the mysterious dark energy which is creating the universe as we speak. In fact physicists have postulated this dark energy as the 'quintessence'. Dark energy is something like 74% of the mass-energy of the universe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy
 
Hmm. Quite a long bit to read there. Took me a while, but I was very interested to see something concerning the Emerald Tablet as a Subject. You have utterly ignored the Spiritual Alchemy involved in the tablets in lieu of the rudimentary physics concerning the physical emanation of existence. Yet this is not to say there is not an importance TO such things. However, the very Emerald Tablet itself is VERY much more important a Spiritual Alchemical device than for physics. I will have to take a closer look at your thoughts and see if they hold true to the foundational Truths of the Tablet itself. If they do, then Bravo! If not, they may just need some "tweaking" a bit.
 
I think I would agree, however this piece is not the whole story. I have narrowed my focus on the connections to things of a stellar nature (pardon the pun) making it easier to see the connection between the Emerald Tablet and our current understanding of nuclear physics, stellar evolution (of which occurs by nuclear fusion) and components of human science that have allowed us to work out these details. Now the main premise of the Tablet is that everything is "One thing" -- which will have spiritual implications as a refutation to Cartesian Mind/Body Dualism. Another interesting note: theories regarding the human psyche seem to fall into place when this dualism is overturned (c.f. Daniel Dennett's discussion concerning the "Cartesian Theater" in the mind in Consciousness Explained) Likewise a Strong AI position seems to be foundational in our own understanding of machine consciousness (well...it could be argued that we ourselves are examples of "machine consciousness")

Strong links between known nuclear processes in stars (i.e. the Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen cycle of nucleosythesis) point toward our increased understanding of celestial objects (predominately stars) and a uniformity in the natural processes on other terrestrial worlds that may contain sentient life. Again, the hermetic insight "as above, so below" stands as a constant in human cognitive development, both in the scientific (i.e. the unification/universalization theories as Maxwell's Electro-Magnetism, unifying the electric and magnetic fields into one object, Relativity, and other Grand Unified Theories of the 20th century) and spiritual domains.

A good resource to look into if you are interested in the Hegelian connection to all of this is the excellent work Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition, by Glenn Alexander Magee (Cornell University Press, 2001).

So the short answer is--yes, I have woefully neglected the spiritual component of this study. This will be rectified once I have established the main thesis.
 
Excerpt from Agrippa's Celestial Magic

The Second Book of Occult Philosophy, or Magick; written byHenry Cornelius Agrippa.


BOOK II.


Chapter i. Of the necessity of Mathematicall learning, and of the many wonderfull works which are done by Mathematicall Arts only.

The Doctrines of Mathematicks are so necessary to, and have such an affinity with Magick, that they that do profess it without them, are quite out of the way, and labour in vain, and shall in no wise obtain their desired effect. For whatsoever things are, and are done in these inferior naturall vertues, are all done, and governed by number, weight, measure, harmony, motion, and light. And all things which we see in these inferiours, have root, and foundation in them: yet nevertheless without naturall vertues, of Mathematicall Doctrines only works like to naturals can be produced, as Plato saith, a thing not paataking of truth or divinity, but certain Images kin to them, as bodies going, or speaking, which yet want the Animall faculty, such as were those which amongst the Ancients were called Dedalus his Images, and automata, of which Aristotle makes mention, viz. the threefooted Images of Vulcan, and Dedalus, moving themselves, which Homer saith came out of their own accord to exercise, and which we read, moved themselves at the feast of Hiarba the Philosophicall Exerciser: As also that golden Statues performed the offices of Cup bearers, and Carvers to the guests. Also we read of the Statues of Mercury, which did speak, and the wooden Dove of Arthita, which did fly, and the miracles of Boethius, which Cassiodorus made mention of, viz. Diomedes in Brass, sounding a Trumpet, and a brazen Snake hissing, and pictures of birds singing most sweetly. Of this kind are those miracles of Images which proceed from Geometry, and Opticks, of which we made some mention in the first book, where we spoke of the Element of Aire, So there are made glasses, some Concave, others of the form of a Columne, making the representations of things in the Aire seem like shadows at a distance: of which sort Apollonius, and Vitellius in their Books De Perspectiva, and Speculis, taught the making, and the use. And we read that Magnus Pompeius brought a certain glass amongst the spoils from the East, to Rome, in which were seen Armies of Armed men. And there are made certain transparent glasses, which being dipped in some certain juices of Hearbs [herbs], and irradiated with an artificiall light, fill the whole Aire round about with visions. And I know how to make reciprocall glasses, in which the Sun shining, all things which were illustrated by the raies [rays] thereof are apparently seen many miles off. Hence a Magician, expert in naturall Philosophy, and Mathematicks, and knowing the middle sciences consisting of both these, Arithmatick, Musick, Geometry, Opticks, Astronomie [astronomy], and such sciences that are of weights, measures, propertions, articles, and joynts, knowing also Mechanicall Arts resulting from these, may without any wonder, if he excell other men in Art, and wit, do many wonderfull things, which the most prudent, and wise men may much admire. Are there not some reliques extant of the Ancients works, viz. Hercules, and Alexanders pillars, the gate of Caspia made of brass, and shut with Iron beams, that it could by no Wit or Art, be broken? And the Pyramis of Julius Caesar erected at Rome neer the hill Vaticanus, and Mountains built by Art in the middle of the Sea, and Towers, and heaps of Stones, such as I saw in England put together by an incredible Art. And we read in faithfull Historians, that in former times Rocks have been cut off, and Vallies [valleys] made, and Mountains made into a Plain, Rocks have been digged through, Promontories have been opened in the Sea, the bowels of the Earth made hollow, Rivers divided, Seas joyned to Seas, the Seas restrained, the bottome of the Sea been searched, Pools exhausted, Fens dryed up, new Islands made, and again restored to the continent, all which, although they my seem to be against nature, yet we read have been done, and we see some reliques of them remaining till this day, which the vulgar say were the works of the divell [Devil], seeing the Arts, and Artificers thereof have been dead out of all memory, neither are there any that care to understand, or search into them. Therefore they seeing any wonderfull sight, do impute it to the divell, as his work, or think it is a miracle, which indeed is a work of naturall, or Mathematicall Philosophy. As if anyone should be ignorant of the vertue of the Loadstone, and should see heavy Iron drawn upwards, or hanged in the Aire (as we read the Iron Image of Mercury did long since at Treveris hang up in the middle of the Temple by Loadstones, this verse attesting the same.


Wikipedia s.v. "Astronomical Spectroscopy"
The absorption lines in stellar spectra can be used to determine the chemical composition of the star. Each element is responsible for a different set of absorption lines in the spectrum, at wavelengths which can be measured extremely accurately by laboratory experiments. Then, an absorption line at the given wavelength in a stellar spectrum shows that the element must be present. Of particular importance are the absorption lines of hydrogen (which is found in the atmosphere of nearly every star); the hydrogen lines within the visual spectrum are known asBalmer lines.
In 1868, Sir Norman Lockyer observed strong yellow lines in the solar spectrum which had never been seen in laboratory experiments. He deduced that they must be due to an unknown element, which he called helium, from the Greek helios (sun). Helium wasn't conclusively detected on earth until 25 years later.
Also in the 1860s, emission lines (particularly a green line) were observed in the coronal spectrum during solar eclipses that did not correspond to any known spectral lines. Again it was proposed that these were due to an unknown element, provisionally named coronium. It was not until the 1930s that it was discovered that these lines were due to highly ionised iron and nickel, the high ionisation being due to the extreme temperature of the solar corona.
In conjunction with atomic physics and models of stellar evolution, stellar spectroscopy is today used to determine a multitude of properties of stars: their distance, age, luminosity and rate of mass loss can all be estimated from spectral studies, and Doppler shift studies can uncover the presence of hidden companions such as black holes and exoplanets.


Also important to note that our own Sun peaks at the green wavelength.

Ten things you may not know about stars | Space | EarthSky

5) The Sun is an Green star
That being said, the Sun is a “green” star, or more specifically, a green-blue star (Emerald?!) , whose peak wavelength lies clearly in the transition area on the spectrum between blue and green. This is not just an idle fact, but is important because the temperature of a star is related to the color of its most predominate wavelength of emission. (Whew!) In the Sun’s case, the surface temperature is about 5,800 K, or 500 nanometers, a green-blue. However, as indicated above, when the human eye factors in the other colors around it, the Sun’s apparent color comes out a white or even a yellowish white.
 
Now I need to throw in the Beryllium-Emerald-Zeta Reticuli connection (make of it what you will...it cannot be ignored) :

For reasons that remain uncertain, they have an anomalously low abundance of beryllium.[7] Both stars are considered unusual because they have a lower luminosity than is normal for main sequencestars of their age and surface temperature.
source: Wikipedia sv. Zeta Reticuli

Beryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. Because any beryllium synthesized in stars is short-lived, it is a relatively rare element in both the universe and in the crust of the Earth. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl (aquamarine, emerald) and chrysoberyl. As a free element it is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal.

It is estimated that most beryllium is used for military applications, so information is not readily available.[53]

Thin plates or foils of beryllium are sometimes used in nuclear weapon designs as the very outer layer of the plutonium pits in the primary stages of thermonuclear bombs, placed to surround the fissile material. These layers of beryllium are good "pushers" for the implosion of the plutonium-239, and they are also good neutron reflectors, just as they are in beryllium-moderated nuclear reactors.[69]

Beryllium is also commonly used in some neutron sources in laboratory devices in which relatively few neutrons are needed (rather than having to use a nuclear reactor, or a particle accelerator-powered neutron generator). For this purpose, a target of beryllium-9 is bombarded with energetic alpha particles from a radioisotope such as polonium-210, radium-226, plutonium-239, or americium-241. In the nuclear reaction that occurs, a beryllium nucleus is transmuted into carbon-12, and one free neutron is emitted, traveling in about the same direction as the alpha particle was heading. Such alpha decay driven beryllium neutron sources, named "urchin" neutron initiators, were used some in early atomic bombs.[69] Neutron sources in which beryllium is bombarded with gamma rays from a gamma decay radioisotope, are also used to produce laboratory neutrons. [70]


Caption: "Emerald is a naturally occurring compound of Beryllium."

What's the connection? Go back to trade routes indicated in the Betty and Barney Hill star map and now plug in the Emerald Tablet (now a pun in so many ways: our own "greenish-blue" star, the hints at an ancient theory on metal transmutation: nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, s-p neutron capture processes in supernova events, (all apparently indicated in the "Emerald Tablet"), the fact that two neighbors suspected to have ET civilization exhibit an anomalous deficiency in beryllium--most useful element in studying the very phenomenon in question.

Can these connections be ignored? I have to confess feeling utterly stupified in throwing this information together--and I think it utterly ridiculous.
Where's the champion skeptic who will show this to be irrelevant.
This is not a challenge...it is a plea.
 
Now I need to throw in the Beryllium-Emerald-Zeta Reticuli connection (make of it what you will...it cannot be ignored) :


source: Wikipedia sv. Zeta Reticuli
Caption: "Emerald is a naturally occurring compound of Beryllium."

What's the connection? Go back to trade routes indicated in the Betty and Barney Hill star map and now plug in the Emerald Tablet (now a pun in so many ways: our own "greenish-blue" star, the hints at an ancient theory on metal transmutation: nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, s-p neutron capture processes in supernova events, (all apparently indicated in the "Emerald Tablet"), the fact that two neighbors suspected to have ET civilization exhibit an anomalous deficiency in beryllium--most useful element in studying the very phenomenon in question.

Can these connections be ignored? I have to confess feeling utterly stupified in throwing this information together--and I think it utterly ridiculous.
Where's the champion skeptic who will show this to be irrelevant.
This is not a challenge...it is a plea.

Well, I don't know about irrelevant, but it's certainly problematic, mainly because the "Hill Star Map" has, at least to my knowledge, 6 different interpretations and only one of them supposedly points to Zeta Reticuli, and even that is still debated, because the updated star data shows Marjorie Fish's interpretation to be incorrect and based on outdated data ie the Gliese Catalog of Nearby Stars from 1969.

Based on obsolete data, Marjorie Fish’s interpretation of Betty Hill’s map has been shown to be wrong. In the early 1990s the European Hipparcos (“High precision parallax collecting satellite) mission measured the distances to more than a hundred thousand stars around the Sun more accurately than ever before. Some turned out to be much further away than previously thought. Other research has looked at stars included in Fish’s research. Two, 54 and 107 Piscium, have been revealed to be variable stars, while Gliese 67 and Tau 1 Eridani are in fact close binaries. Then some stars discounted by Fish have turned out to be potential abodes for life after all, for example Epsilon Eridani is not after all a binary star. Using Fish’s own assumptions and more up to date data, six of the fifteen stars chosen by her must be excluded. The Fish interpretation falls to pieces at this point, and at some point Fish herself confirmed this (see update section at the end). As far as I know, this was first pointed out in an article Goodbye Zeta Reticuli by Brett Holman published in the November 2008 Fortean Times and the silence which has followed from supporters of the Hill’s account has been telling. Using more up-to- date details of nearby stars, one could probably come up with a reasonable match with completely different stars (no UFOlogist appears to want to do this), but that is beside the point, the whole idea that Betty Hill was accurately reproducing something she really saw is flawed.

From: Betty and Barney Hill's UFO Star Map and Their Alien Abductions: | Astronotes

This also lists some major problems with the supposed star map, the most glaring of which is that it would be basically useless for actual navigation in space and I believe it also links to all 6 of the interpretations of the map, which I will list here for your convenience:

  1. Betty Hill's Pegasus Map, in The Interrupted Journey
  2. Fish Map
  3. Atterberg Map (nearby stars, see my book UFO Sightings)
  4. Koch-Kyborg Map (planets and asteroids)
  5. Yari Danjo Map (nearby stars)
  6. Hill-Wilson Star Map (stars seen from earth-based view).

Bad UFOs: Skepticism, UFOs, and The Universe - by Robert Sheaffer: R.I.P., Marjorie Fish and her Star Map
 
I've seen the problems with the map, as well as the intriguing (almost contrived) omissions asserted to make the map "fit" the other alternatives -- but I've also checked out the various (alternative) interpretations in a star map program (Celestia) and wasn't easily dissuaded from the original understanding. It helps to have your own model to play around with and draw your own conclusions, rather than muck around with the endless noise of the detractors and opponents trying to make a name for themselves or spin the facts one way or another. It also helps to corroborate the interpretation from a topological point of view, which, if added into the metric of probabilities for understanding the plausibility of Fish's interpretation (or something near it) allow the construction of a model that can fit under the distortions of memory with a high degree of falsifiability. This helps dismiss the common "Rorschach blot" stilted rebuttal of which I am afraid, infects all of the articles you have posted--each one of them seems too eager to throw in as much confusion and noise into something rather straightforward.

It has been a long time since I tried reproducing the star map in my own star map programs (I saw the pattern emerge in Starry Night Pro as well as the open source Celestia program), but consider it as an exercise to the reader to check it out yourself. However I don't want to turn this thread into a discussion of the validity of the star map or the Hill incident.

At any rate, this is only a side tangent in the overall perspective of the Emerald Tablet interpretation under investigation. The importance of the (widely separated) binary system cannot be underrated or dismissed in our search for worlds where other sentient lifeforms may exist--regardless of the outcome of the Betty and Barney Hill event.

In short, I wasn't convinced at all--too cavalier...to disingenous...and above all, too wrong.
 
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I've seen the problems with the map, as well as the intriguing (almost contrived) omissions asserted to make the map "fit" the other alternatives -- but I've also checked out the various (alternative) interpretations in a star map program (Celestia) and wasn't easily dissuaded from the original understanding. It helps to have your own model to play around with and draw your own conclusions, rather than muck around with the endless noise of the detractors and opponents trying to make a name for themselves or spin the facts one way or another. It also helps to corroborate the interpretation from a topological point of view, which, if added into the metric of probabilities for understanding the plausibility of Fish's interpretation (or something near it) allow the construction of a model that can fit under the distortions of memory with a high degree of falsifiability. This helps dismiss the common "Rorschach blot" stilted rebuttal of which I am afraid, infects all of the articles you have posted--each one of them seems too eager to throw in as much confusion and noise into something rather straightforward.

It has been a long time since I tried reproducing the star map in my own star map programs (I saw the pattern emerge in Starry Night Pro as well as the open source Celestia program), but consider it as an exercise to the reader to check it out yourself. However I don't want to turn this thread into a discussion of the validity of the star map or the Hill incident.

At any rate, this is only a side tangent in the overall perspective of the Emerald Tablet interpretation under investigation. The importance of the (widely separated) binary system cannot be underrated or dismissed in our search for worlds where other sentient lifeforms may exist--regardless of the outcome of the Betty and Barney Hill event.

In short, I wasn't convinced at all--too cavalier...to disingenous...and above all, too wrong.

I absolutely have to disagree with your interpretation, but I can agree that it really doesn't matter, if we're going to look for intelligent life then certainly the Reticulai system should be examined, along with many others, but not because of a Star Map that was drawn under hypnosis and that Betty herself said wasn't accurate, in fact she said she may have added as many as 8 stars to the map that weren't present in her memory of the original, if that doesn't invalidate the entire thing I don't know what would. On top of that, the idea of aliens navigating using a 2-D star map that would only be valid from one solitary point of view in their multi-light year journey, is preposterous, as one of the comments in the Robert Shaeffer article stated, it's a child's view of how one would navigate through space, nothing more. Furthermore, I don't see where you've proven their (and many others, I might add) assertions wrong, all you've been able to do is reproduce it to your own satisfaction, in a Star Map computer program, forgive me if I'm rather unimpressed.

The best part of the whole Betty Hill thing is how it has evolved over the years and all of the laughable, silly details present in the original are glossed over or discarded. This is typical of UFO stories, which seem to take on a life of their own, just look at the recent episode of the show with the Aztec nonsense for proof of that fact.
 
the idea of aliens navigating using a 2-D star map that would only be valid from one solitary point of view in their multi-light year journey

The original phenomena witnessed by Betty Hill was not a 2-D representation -- it was a "3-D hologram"

"Dr. Simon gave Betty the post hypnotic suggestion that she could sketch a copy of the "star map" that she later described as a three dimensional projection similar to a hologram." - Wikipedia

This tells me that Shaeffer's comprehension of the event was surface at best--I repeat my previous comment wrong.

Adding 8 stars to the map after the fact doesn't dismiss the initial spread and fitness of that 2-dimensional representation to Betty's point of view-- in fact it reinforces the idea that perhaps she saw the map from several slightly different vantage points and may be confabulating the perspectives into one (the mind condenses many views into one--and certainly this effect is magnified via hypnosis).

The match of the positions are actually better in today's software with updated information than that of Fish's original work -- I have to say. Now you are forcing me to get the damn thing out again and reproduce what I did 3-4 years ago.

Anyhow, open another thread on this topic if you wish to continue--I have no qualms with reproducing my original work and posting it in a thread for everyone to see.
 
The original phenomena witnessed by Betty Hill was not a 2-D representation -- it was a "3-D hologram"

"Dr. Simon gave Betty the post hypnotic suggestion that she could sketch a copy of the "star map" that she later described as a three dimensional projection similar to a hologram." - Wikipedia

This tells me that Shaeffer's comprehension of the event was surface at best--I repeat my previous comment wrong.

Adding 8 stars to the map after the fact doesn't dismiss the initial spread and fitness of that 2-dimensional representation to Betty's point of view-- in fact it reinforces the idea that perhaps she saw the map from several slightly different vantage points and may be confabulating the perspectives into one (the mind condenses many views into one--and certainly this effect is magnified via hypnosis).

The match of the positions are actually better in today's software with updated information than that of Fish's original work -- I have to say. Now you are forcing me to get the damn thing out again and reproduce what I did 3-4 years ago.

Anyhow, open another thread on this topic if you wish to continue--I have no qualms with reproducing my original work and posting it in a thread for everyone to see.

Actually, in the original account, it was a 2-D map that was on some kind of screen (its been awhile, so I may have the details wrong), it's only in later years that it has become a three dimensional image/hologram, just like the giant noses that Betty described on the aliens have disappeared and been replaced by the traditional Grey meme. I do find your assertion that she may have seen the map from several slightly different vantage points interesting. I'm going to have to go back over this thing at some point and see her description of the event again to make any kind of judgement on that, but I do find it interesting.
 
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:) Great thread - thanks for pointing to this, Michael Allen. :)

Unfortunately (it's at times like these I wish for an alien abduction for an excuse) I have a pile of 6th graders' compositions on the origins of Geometry to wade through this holiday weekend :eek: :p - so can't give this the careful read it deserves. Thrilled to know that it's here, though. Is there anything this site has not discussed?
grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
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Anyone wish to tear this thesis apart? Its been a side obsession of mine for too long and I'd like to have an excuse to dismiss it altogether and move my focus to other pursuits.

Perhaps I have not demonstrated a thesis...that's a possibility. If so, feel free to break it apart at any rate. Erroneous obsessions (of mine) must be terminated with extreme prejudice.
 
To put it bluntly, it seems rather coincidental that alchemy has its roots in a heretical document (attesting unity and non-uniqueness of our place and purpose ["as above so below"] ) that stood against many of the anthro/geocentrist models of being propounded in the day (circa 15th century AD...perhaps earlier. Cf. Steele and Singer link -> The Emerald Table The most striking statement in the tablet is the last line; i.e. (trans- Issac Newton.) "
  1. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.
Returning to the meditations and commentary on the subject produced by Cornelius Aggripa "The Library of Hidden Philosophy" (my translation) (De occulta philosophia libri tres. Ed. Vittoria Perrone Compagni. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 1992: ISBN 90-04-09421-0.) another 15th century work, we have the 6 categories of "celestial magic" enumerated

Optics
Geometry
Arithmetic
Music
Astronomy
Mechanics


"Hence a Magician, expert in naturall Philosophy, and Mathematicks, and knowing the middle sciences consisting of both these, Arithmatick, Musick, Geometry, Opticks, Astronomie [astronomy], and such sciences that are of weights, measures, propertions, articles, and joynts, knowing also Mechanicall Arts resulting from these, may without any wonder, if he excell other men in Art, and wit, do many wonderfull things, which the most prudent, and wise men may much admire. Are there not some reliques extant of the Ancients works, viz. Hercules, and Alexanders pillars, the gate of Caspia made of brass, and shut with Iron beams, that it could by no Wit or Art, be broken? "

Optics is the field that led to spectroscopy
Geometry was the insight that led to parallax
Astronomy (evident)
Mechanics (physics)
Music (Kepler and other insights -- look up resonance as a factor in solar chromospheric temperations)

One should be reminded that the Agrippa text was an exposition of the principles of alchemy (the arcana)--these categories are based on the insights.

The sun transmutes elements...all elements come from stellar processes from birth to death.

Coincidence? Perhaps. What are the "three parts" in the lines of the Emerald Tablet? What is the "strongest of strong forces" mentioned (strong nuclear force?)...what is the insight brought by the first statement (that all of the universe is made out of the same stuff...not the Aristotelian model which divides a 5th essence from the earth-bound four elements...but a statement that flies in the face of medieval and renaissance...cosmology.
 
You did good work but as Adam told you - you want easy answers and have followed the road of religions which sought to use knowledge as power against people (or to manage them for their own good - Greater Good). Needless to say it is hard to make much of a case for any historical large population which had such beneficience in leadership for the last 3200 years and even more. That is when Temples started t have walls to hide what really goes on in priestly rituals.
 
You did good work but as Adam told you - you want easy answers and have followed the road of religions which sought to use knowledge as power against people (or to manage them for their own good - Greater Good). Needless to say it is hard to make much of a case for any historical large population which had such beneficience in leadership for the last 3200 years and even more. That is when Temples started t have walls to hide what really goes on in priestly rituals.
Easy answers don't always come easy...but they may look easy after the fact. I'd be interested if you have a formula which can determine a priori effort.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Easy answers don't always come easy...but they may look easy after the fact. I'd be interested if you have a formula which can determine a priori effort.
Mr Baird is long-gone. Not sure if his absence is voluntary. He had a lot of nasty stuff to say about posters on the forums.
 
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