February 23, 2011

Philosopher's Stone

Legends of a single substance able to transform base metals into pure gold date back to the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, written about on several occasions with the most prominent being a ninth century translation of the Kitab Sirr al-Asar.

Emerald Tablet
Although there are quite a few different translations of the alchemy process, the true seven steps to achieving the Philosopher's Stone are Calcification, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, and Coagulation. The first four steps are known to take place below in the physical realm of matter while the remaining three are above the physical realm, in the mind and imagination. It is theorized that Isaac Newton reached the sixth step in the process successfully while risking his life to practice dark arts.

A recent discovery uncovered another Newton manuscript on alchemy processes of the middle ages, this time encoded with astrological symbols in reference to materials used during each step. The symbols were absolutely necessary for Newton to disguise his work from the laws of the land at the time. He even spent many years as the official in charge of the British Royal Mint where he secretly obtained the works of other alchemy Philosopher Stone researchers.

Each of the astrological symbols are not entirely understood by modern scientific translation but enough data was retrieved to replicate Newton's experiments in the lab where attempts at the sixth step revealed proof as it nearly happened for modern chemists. The potential of this process brings to light a key question, what if gold could be created from any metal, would it not alter the value of gold. Suffice to say the rare value would diminish, but the value of the process would rise possibly beyond comprehension or even be destroyed for possible implications.

February 18, 2011

Devil's Bible Codex Gigas

Known as the world's largest manuscript, the Codex Gigas, or Devil's Bible is believed to be the work of a single scribe from the early twelfth century. Weighing nearly 165 lbs with roughly 320 bound parchments, or 624 pages in the original state, the Latin codex does not deviate at all from page to page and does not show any signs the scribe has aged or even altered mood throughout.

Codex Gigas contains a full version of both the Old and New Testaments excluding Acts and Revelations, Antiquities of the Jews, and The Jewish Wars.

Theories suggest such a monumental feat would take over twenty years of dedication to complete. Something that may have been considered at the time is a monk's vow of purification, to live in isolation by recluse for a long period of time allowing the spirit to speak through the scribe.

In fact, the surrounding legend of the Codex Gigas is about a monk who broke his vows and was sentenced to a slow painful death being walled up. The monk of course did not want this to happen so he promised the monastery a book of glorification in a single night, and he is said to have offered his soul to the devil knowing such a book could not be completed in one night.

The giant book is attributed to pain and suffering to those who attain it, further bolstering along with several dark illustrations, the proclaimed title of the Devil's Bible. By owner's accounts, the book is said to have caused plague, mental illness, destruction and pain. This might be a reason why eight of the 320 pages have vanished over the years.

Since there is no evidence to where the pages went or why they were removed at all, it's truly anyone's answer. Though studies have shown the Codex Gigas quite likely was a form of life-punishment to a monk who broke monastery vows, many believe that by the illustrations and legends, the giant book is physically existing evidence of a greater power.

A digitized version of the Codex Gigas is available for online browsing and examination direct from the National Library in Stockholm, which also highlights of commentaries and images associated with the translation process. 

February 12, 2011

Betelguese and Polar Shifts

Betelgeuse, a red super-giant star located in the constellation Orion between 490-780 light years from Earth, is losing mass at a rapid rate indicating it's on the brink of type II supernova. Scientific estimates place the time of supernova within the next million years, but there remains one significant issue.

Betelgeuse - Hubble
Due to the distance there is a possibility that Betelgeuse may have already went supernova centuries ago and the light has yet to reach Earth. This is coupled with other prophetic 2012 apocalyptic doomsday scenarios as another sign to the world's end, as claimed the world would have two suns for a period of time, causing up to 2 weeks of intense light 24 hours of those days then fading back to  normal day and night cycle over several months as the supernova light dwindles.

According to scientific research the only known Betelgeuse emissions, other than high levels of photons, is a high concentration of neutrinos which may be of great research value to the recent endeavors like the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.

A similar event to Betelgeuse supernova in terms of apocalyptic prophecy scope is potential of a polar shift event. Some researchers contend that such an event could theoretically be triggered by a distant supernova or similar cosmic energy such as the cycle of Betelgeuse.

As the Earth's magnetic field shifts, it's theorized that gaps may evolve in the magnetosphere as the process becomes chaotic before settling into its new position. According to geologists and other scientific research, the estimation for the last apocalyptic pole-flip, south to north, happened over 780,000 years ago.

Evidence suggests a cycle of pole flips nearly every 50,000 years incidentally claiming Earth is getting closer to the 16th known polar flip since the last world devastating event. A very important note here is that a polar-shift does not happen over night. It is a gradual process over a period of 4,500 to 5,000 years by some calculations.

This does not in anyway mean that one day it's beautiful and the next day is an apocalyptic storm. References to associative 2012 polar shifts often neglect to include those significant details as it tends to remove the punch from the apocalyptic theory.

One common phenomena related to polar flips as suggested by Earth weather and climate models does however include super storms with winds reaching the 300-400 mile per hour range. Recent weather changes over Europe have given rise to the super storm scenario though a change in weather patterns doesn't necessarily mean the Earth's poles must be swapping.