Fig. 11.3. The Lugh panel as drawn by Martin Brennan. The major elements of the panel include the long-armed figure, the double-sun petroglyph to the left, and the tripartite symbol below.
Fig. 11.4. The petroglyph named “Lugh” by Rod Schmidt.
However, our preparation and anticipation were rewarded when we observed and photographed a display not witnessed for perhaps thousands of years. Unlike the gradual equinox Light Serpent animation that had transpired for more than thirty minutes, the August cross-quarter day sun/shadow line abruptly appeared the instant the sun emerged above the horizon. As the light struck the petroglyphs, the sun/shadow line traversed the entire panel, intersecting both the petroglyph figure and the pecked upper-sun portion of the double-sun petroglyph. But the conjunction with the manlike image was not random: the sun/shadow alignment line precisely divided the triangular head from the rectangular body of the anthropomorphic image. When finally comprehended, the May/August cross-quarter day alignment was dramatic: the head/spirit was “enlightened” or reborn, while the body that remained in shadow was dying (see figure 11.6 ).
On a following February cross-quarter day Taddei and I returned to the site to observe the same petroglyph panel again. The previously described May/ August alignment had occurred six months earlier, and the sun’s position on the horizon was now significantly different, and this altered the light interplay on the rock panel considerably.
A different rock above and to the east of the petroglyph now cast the sunrise shadow on the rock wall. Unlike the horizontal and straight sun/ shadow line in August, the February/November line was irregular as it traversed the panel (see figure 11.7). In February, the sun/shadow line missed the top of the pecked figure that was observed in August, and while the triangular head remained in light, the sun/shadow line divided the tip of the phallus, leaving the triangular top in light and the rectangular shaft in shadow.
At the time it was too difficult to confirm an alignment because of the significant glare and direct sunlight that blighted the nearly hidden petroglyph on the rock wall. In earlier times, the alignment would have been visible, but the buildup of patina in the peck marks and the glare disguised the figure at sunrise. However, by examining our photographs, we were able to clearly see the alignment showing the shadow splitting the phallus. The February/ November cross-quarter day alignment celebrating the female principle mimicked the August/May alignment, but instead of the masculine figure’s triangular head being illuminated, his triangular penis tip became enlightened.
Fig. 11.5. The August/May cross-quarter day sunrise. The shadow divides the petroglyph’s rectangle (the body) from the triangle (the head) at dawn. (Photo and graphic by Dorian Taddei)
Fig. 11.6. Detail of the August 2005 cross-quarter day sunrise. (Photo and graphic by Dorian Taddei)
Fig. 11.7. The February/November cross-quarter day sunrise shadow line. The sun’s position on the horizon at dawn on the February and the November cross-quarter days is the same.
Fig. 11.8. Detail of the February 2006 cross-quarter day sunrise. (Photo and graphic by Dorian Taddei)
To summarize our findings, the four cross-quarter day alignments on this single petroglyph first of all indicate artistic abilities and a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy. The creators of this heliolithic story used triangles, circles, and rectangles carved into the god figure to convey profound and underlying cosmological principles that are now understood by using the methods of archaeoastronomy. Thus, Taddei suggested that the bisecting of the solar deity image by the rising sun/shadow was, symbolically, a “rising into the light.” This alchemical “return to spirit” was a universal phenomenon I recognized from my former studies as similar to the rising of Christ from the dead and the resurrection of Osiris in ancient Egypt. On the other hand, the rising sun/shadow line bisecting the large phallus on February/ November cross-quarter days suggests a theme of fertility consistent with the feminine principle.
Moreover, Taddei suggested that the larger triangle (the head) represents godhood and the creation of life as celebrated on the May/August cross-quarter days. These cross-quarter days are devoted to the sun god or gods, while the “little triangle” forming the tip of the phallus represents the masculine co-creative ability, celebrated on the cross-quarter days that honor the feminine.
In this way, the Lugh cross-quarter day panel alignments can provide significant clues regarding the use of the Mojave North site as a ceremonial platform by acknowledging the importance of both the female and male aspects of creation.
SHIVA’S LINGA?
Returning to the subject of India, Taddei’s research proposed many heretofore unrecognized aspects of Mojave North. Making a direct connection between the Mojave North site and ancient Armenia and later India, he identified a large and prominent boulder at the center of the California site as a Shiva lingam, a “mark of Shiva.” In India, Shiva lingas are fashioned in different shapes, usually a phallus, in both large stone monuments and smaller icons. The phallus is often accompanied by a basin or bowl, a symbol of femininity and the yoni, or vulva. Together, they embody the blending of the universal masculine and feminine forces of creation, encompassing more than physical sexuality.
Followers of Shaivism, called Shaivas or Shaivites, believe that Shiva, meaning the “Auspicious One,” is “All in All”—the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer, and concealer of all that is. Shaivism is at least four thousand years old, making it the most ancient sect of Hinduism, and today it is still widespread throughout India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.
Fig. 11.9. A Shiva stone in front of the Elephanta Caves in Mumbai (Bombay), India. Seeing the Shiva linga simply as a phallus undermines the sacred premise of the universal creative forces of masculinity. (Photo by Shuri)
The Mojave North rock outcropping has an extended stone shaft at least seven feet high facing to the west with a shallow basin on the eastern side. Previous researchers ignored this prominent fixture of Mojave North, perhaps because the natural features disguise the importance of this central stone and also because the remaining petroglyphs on it are nearly unreadable, although in early 2012 Schmidt and I observed a pecked grid toward the top, facing west. Of these natural features, two large natural stones in front of the main Shiva linga rock give the appearance of being testicals.
Fig. 11.10. Mojave North Shiva linga. This unique and centrally placed Shiva rock includes a triangular stone with a basin.
Fig. 11.11. Detail of the Mojave North Shiva linga from another angle, showing pecked grid marks.
In the meantime, the phallus-testicular stone complex had been photographed by Taddei, and he sent the information to the Armenian anthropologist and esotericist Gevork Nazaryan, who hosts a popular Armenian Highland website.6 Nazaryan suggested that the “lingam” could have been a creation of the priests of ancient Armenia. The Armenian practices preceded those in ancient northern India by perhaps five thousand to seven thousand years or more, according to Taddei.
THE EPIGRAPHY OF MOJAVE NORTH
To continue in the examination of the background and possible sources of the Mojave North artwork and epigraphy, as discussed in chapter 10, Barry Fell suggested that at least some inscriptions were written in Kufic, the earliest calligraphic form of the Arabic languages, which was discussed in chapter 10.7 Roderick Schmidt pointed to the Lugh figure and what he claimed to be Celtic Ogham script.8
Dorian Taddei, on the other hand, thinks many of the inscriptions are alchemical and astrological in nature. This is because of the cross symbol found above the main Inscription Panel, which he interprets as the symbol of the prima materia, the first matter, which incorporates the four elements of air, fire, earth, and water. The entire symbol then represents alchemical mercury, or the quintessence, a mark of the elixir of life, as well as the original magical symbol that influenced the structure of the ancient drinking chalices associated with the story of the Holy Grail.
Fig. 11.12. Petroglyphs on the Mojave North Insc
ription Panel with sidelighting.
Fig. 11.13. Petroglyph identified by Dorian Taddei as the prima materia symbol. See fig. 10.12 for view of complete inscription. (Enhancement on glyphs by author)
Taddei also presented the case that the script on the Mojave North Inscription Panel that Fell interpreted as Kufic is actually ancient Samaritan, a proto-Hebrew script used exclusively by the northern tribes of Israel (ca. 930– 720 B.C.). Ancient Samaritan is known to have preceded the cursive scripts by as many as six hundred years and was the language of the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, outside of Fell and Taddei, the inscription has yet to receive much attention by epigraphers, despite the fact that the pecked glyphs are so distinctive, offering one of the best opportunities to identify a culture and time frame at this part of the site.
Fig. 11.14. Enhancement of a serpentlike glyph, smaller Lugh sun god, and anthropomorphic figure below the inscriptions.
Taddei’s detailed pursuit of interpreting the Inscription Panel yielded yet another Mojave North discovery: there are images below the inscription. Two previously unnoted petroglyphs suggest a mini-serpent and a smaller version of the Lugh sun god image located on the cross-quarter day panel.
There are other unidentified scripts and possible writing systems that appear at Mojave North. The most predominate of these, with at least a dozen examples, includes images employing circles and straight or wavy lines (see figure 11.15 below). They are called abstract images because we don’t know what they say or mean. Some may even be maps. Other symbols in Mojave North resemble those in Vinca, an ancient system of more than five thousand ritualistic symbols used in southeastern Europe that predated the development of writing by more than one thousand years. A second, altogether different style includes lozenge-shaped petroglyphs that are found throughout North America, including many variations found in the Purgatoire River canyons of Colorado and throughout the Great Basin (see figure 11.16 below).
An open-minded academic effort is required to read the ancient writing left at Mojave North. Perhaps with renewed interest by epigraphers and scholars, more light will be shed on the meaning of the many inscriptions.
Fig. 11.15. The “abstract” designs at Mojave North represent one of several styles of epigraphy-like petroglyphs at the site.
Fig. 11.16. A “lozenge” glyph from Mojave North. Similar styles are common throughout the Great Basin and along Colorado’s Purgatoire River.
LUNAR ALIGNMENT DISCOVERIES
The broad view of some of the complexities of discerning the origins, meanings, and mysteries of the Mojave North art and epigraphy have been presented in the manner in which I came upon them. Next to come was another aspect of Mojave North that I thought could unite the site with other civilizations from over the seas. While many hundreds of solar alignments have been identified throughout the world, less research has been directed at lunar phenomena.
After discerning the solar aspects of the Lugh panel, Taddei and I discussed by phone the possibility of lunar alignments, so once again with his urging, I decided to coordinate my next journey to the site with a full moon. But this was not just any full moon. Over the next several months the moon would reach its highest position in the sky, the time known as a lunar standstill, a term first used in 1971 by archaeologist Alexander Thom in his book Megalithic Lunar Observatories.9
A lunar standstill happens at the southernmost and northernmost extreme positions of the moon over a cycle of 18.6 years. It is the time it takes for the moon to return to the same rising position on the horizon before it speeds up to its regular pace. The term standstill refers, in the case of the sun’s horizon position on the solstices, to a period of ten days twice each year when the sun’s extreme northerly and southerly positions on the horizon remain essentially the same. The extreme positions of the moon occur every 9.3 years, known as a major and a minor lunar standstill, when the moon reaches the extreme azimuth position on the horizon.
The lunar standstill phenomenon was noted by Bronze Age cultures and was celebrated in ancient pagan and neopagan religions. Precise alignments that were integrated into megalithic architecture and monuments throughout Britain and Ireland indicated the southernmost moonrise and northernmost moonset. In addition, lunar standstills were tracked at Chimney Rock in southwestern Colorado, the Hopewell sites in Ohio, and at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, where spiral petroglyphs that mark the equinoxes and solstices have been shown to also mark the major and minor standstills of the moon.10
There are clues throughout Mojave North that the site contained lunar alignments. The phases of the moon are presented on one panel as small petroglyphs. Other lunar-related indications included numerous small and obscured “horseshoe” marks. At Newgrange, Martin Brennan had identified these shapes as having an association with the moon. In North America, petroglyphs with these marks can be associated with the womb and/or lunar counts, with each glyph representing a lunar month. (Refer to the previous discussion in chapter 6 related to hoofprint glyphs).
Taddei predicted that ancient alchemist-astrologer-priests marked the lunar/ solar oppositions that occurred at intervals of 19 years and 11 days, which is the “Metonic cycle,” not to be confused with the lunar standstill cycle of 18.6 years. The Metonic cycle was used to predict eclipses and to align ancient lunar and solar calendars and is addressed in more detail in chapter 12.
Recognizing that the ancients considered the two cross-quarter days of Samhain (November) and Imbolc (February) as lying in opposition and balanced against the spring and summer cross-quarter days of Beltane (May) and Lughnasa (August), he predicted lunar alignments could occur on full moons near the cross-quarter days in November 2006 (Samhain) and early February 2007 (Imbolc). It was a propitious time during 2007, with two full lunar eclipses (March and August) and full moons that fell on these cross-quarter days and new moons on the equinox days.
Thus, the timing of everything was just right to test his hypothesis of a potential lunar alignment, so I traveled to meet Dorian at the Mojave North in coordination with Samhain (November), which also fell during the extreme lunar standstill period. I arrived at 6:30 p.m. on November 6, 2006, and the high desert night sky was perfectly clear. This remote location, far from city lights, was made for a perfect viewing of the rising full moon.
It was obvious at the outset that the equinox Light Serpent animation rock described in chapter 10 was the target for this cross-quarter day lunar alignment, and I observed a double conjunction. First, a shadow dagger (a pointed moonlight/shadow line) interacted rather precisely with the concentric circle from another angle as the equinox Light Serpent penetrated the same inner-circle target about forty-seven days earlier. The second and simultaneous lunar alignment occurred on a star-shaped petroglyph located about six feet from the concentric circles that Taddei called a “conjunction index marker,” or calculator. This was split by the moonlight/shadow line.
For the November alignment this proved to be an inverted shadow triangle (literally a dark dagger), which pierced the central circle of the target. Additionally, a shadow line was verified to fit one of the four wavy lines intersecting the conjunction index marker, and was precisely aligned only at the moment that the shadow dagger pierced the center of the conjunction index marker target glyph. The shape of the lunar alignment, intentionally or unintentionally, was a profile of an enlarged testicle and a penis.
Fig. 11.17. The Mojave North Samhain lunar alignment, November 8, 2006, with a shadow dagger piercing the luni-solar target just as the full moon rises and as the moon shadow/light line aligns to the 6-rayed conjunction index marker. (Photograph and rendition by Dorian Taddei)
Fig. 11.18. The Mojave North lunar alignment, February 1, 2007, with a light dagger piercing the luni-solar azimuth target petroglyph. (Photograph and rendition by Dorian Taddei)
Remarkably, on the following Imbolc/February, 2007, cross-quarter evening when Taddei joined me, the lunar alignment proved to be a moon Light Dagger, with a corresponding shadow aligning with an
other of the four conjunction index marker’s grooves! The complexity of Mojave North’s lunar alignments falling on the two petroglyphs along with an alternating lunar light dagger and shadow dagger phenomena on the different full moons is perplexing but can be explained by the moon’s position intersecting differently with the cracks in the rocks or in the different time of observing the phenomena on the two days. Dorian postulates that the moon’s light/shadow line aligns to the six-rayed conjunction index marker, but only on the cross-quarter days dividing lunar and solar eclipses of a new Saros eclipse cycle.
Taddei also noticed a second potential lunar alignment, a “sighting” alignment, as the full moon rose above the edge of the distant Inyo Mountain range on the February 2007 full moon described above. In the spot where the Shiva linga stone seemed to touch the visible edge of the Inyo range, the moon rose into position.
Fig. 11.19. The full moon rising over Mojave North’s Shiva linga stone on the February cross-quarter day in 2007. (Photo by Dorian Taddei)
Taddei claims that these conjunction index markers are devices that allowed for the critical isolation of two elements of the lunar alignment on a single stone, making them accurate calculators. He pointed out that similar petroglyphs are found at rock art sites in other countries, including Egypt, Switzerland, and Mexico, as well as at other sites on the eastern seaboard of the United States. For example, an ancient glyph at Carschenna, Switzerland, is similar to the Mojave North image and has been observed to be an astronomical target. Unfortunately, since this lunar/solar conjunction marker was moved to a museum, it is no longer correctly positioned.
Secrets of Ancient America: Archaeoastronomy and the Legacy of the Phoenicians, Celts, and Other Forgotten Explorers Page 19