Arcadia Discussion Zone

In this post I will present the solution to one of the puzzles in Poussin’s painting. The focal points are the letter R pointed to by the shepherd in blue robes (Hercules) and “Acadia”, the old name for Nova Scotia, where we find Oak Island. The main reason why Hercules is pointing to the R in “ARCADIA” is to point out that this letter does not belong in the name “ACADIA”. But the R should not just be removed from “ARCADIA”. To solve the puzzles in the painting we are supposed to move the R to several other places in the phrase “ET IN ARCADIA”. Doing that will create new words with specific functions in the puzzles. The R, the letters R in this way is placed next to, and the new words made in “ET IN ARCADIA EGO” represent stars in Hercules, Gemini and Cygnus which analogously should be connected by lines. It is these lines which guide us to Oak Island. The large X I have drawn in previous posts plays a major role in guiding us in these puzzles.

Let us start with this X. One of the lines in the X passes through a lock in a chest (and also separates “ARCADIA” into “ARCA” and “DIA” = ‘chest’ and ‘through’). My interpretation of this is that this X is the key to unlock the secrets of the painting.



The line diagonally downwards towards the left passes through the X Castor is making with his legs. But it also passes through the E in “ET”, and we can see that the folds in the clothes of the shepherd in blue robes (Hercules) are all directed to a specific point on this line. (The line also passes through the T in “ET”, but while the E is lit up, the T is so dark that we can hardly see it).


If we now take a look at what Wikipedia calls “the traditional view of the Hercules constellation” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_constellation), we see that the point marked by the line and the folds in Hercules robes corresponds well with the star called ε Herculis (Epsilon Herculis).



The Greek letters naming the stars in the image above are the ones Bayer introduced in his Uranometria. Bayer also applied Latin letters when he labeled the stars, but he has labeled them from the most luminous to the less luminous using the letters in the Greek alphabet first, and then letters from the Latin alphabet only if there are more stars in a constellation than letters in the Greek alphabet. Thus, only faint and insignificant stars are given a letter from the Latin alphabet as their label.

If the E in “ET” passed through by the diagonal line refers to a star in Bayer’s atlas, we should therefore expect it to refer to a star with the Greek epsilon as its name, since the epsilon is the Greek equivalent of the Latin E (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon). I therefore think we have good reasons to believe that the diagonal line, the folds in Hercules robes and the E passed through is pointing out the star ε Herculis. Below I have marked ε Herculis with a red circle in Bayer’s star chart for Hercules:



If I am right in this, the question is what we are supposed to do with ε Herculis. A first hint can be found by drawing a smaller circle around the center of the X, passing through the point now identified as pointing out ε Herculis.



On the opposite side of the center of the X, the circle intersects the line at the tail end of the swan I have argued for in a previous post. (I have emphasized it with stippled lines). I think the point is that we should connect ε Herculis with a star in Cygnus. But which star? In my previous post we saw that Hercules’ finger is pointing to the tail of both birds found in the painting. I think Hercules’ pointing hand and finger also tell us which star we should connect with ε Herculis.



We see above that the hand touches the E in “EGO” while it is pointing to the R in “ARCADIA”. “ARCADIA” is written “Αρκαδία” in Greek, since the Greek equivalent of the Latin R is the Greek letter ρ, called “rho” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rho. I take this pointing from the E to the R (ε and ρ in Greek), together with the connection I have argued for between ε Herculis and the tail of the swan, as inciting us to draw a line between ε Herculis and ρ Cygni.

The idea that the Latin R should be interpreted as a Greek ρ is also supported by the shadow made by the arm and hand pointing at the R



I will later present two other instances of a reasoning which is precisely analogue to what I am presenting here. In all these three instances the reasoning is confirmed semantically by connecting the letters in “ET IN ARCADIA EGO” which represent the stars which should be connected in the celestial sky. In this instance, where stars referred to by E and R should be connected, we get the semantic confirmation by moving the R in ARCADIA down and place it before the E in EGO. Doing this, “ARCADIA” is changed to “ACADIA” and “EGO” is changed to “REGO”. “ACADIA” is the place we are guided to by connecting ε Herculis and ρ Cygni, while “REGO” is a Latin verb meaning “I guide”.



It is Hercules' who connects the R in "ARCADIA" and the E in "EGO". Taken together, “ACADIA” and “REGO” can therefore be interpreted as Hercules telling us that he is guiding us to Acadia.

Locating ρ Cygni in the celestial sky, we find it at the tail of Cygnus. Here I have marked it with a red circle in Bayer’s star chart for Cygnus.



Let us now place ε Herculis and ρ Cygni in Google Earth. I am using the 1601 positions, like Bayer did in his Uranometria. Later in this post I will discuss the coordinates we find in Kepler’s Rudolphine Tables. Here are the coordinates for the two stars:



The 2000 coordinates can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Herculis and here: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rho_Cygni.

To convert 2000 coordinates to 1601 coordinates use one of these applications:

http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/toolbox/tb_coordconv.cfm
http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/AZT22/ENG/cgi-bin/c_prec4.htm
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/forms/calculator.html
http://www.ilanga.com/epochsy/index.shtml

When placing the stars on the globe I have used the Ferro Meridian, in accord with the official French decision from 1634. As the custom was, I have defined the meridian as 20⁰ west of the Paris, where I have picked the Paris Observatory at 2.34⁰ east as the reference point.

To place ε Herculis with the 1601 coordinates 251.26°, + 31.57° correctly on Google Earth with a meridian at 20⁰ - 2.34⁰ = 17.66⁰ west as prime meridian, we also have to take into account that Google Earth measures longitudes westward on the western hemisphere in negative numbers.



The Google Earth longitude for ε Herculis is therefore

-((360° - 251.26°) + 17.66°) = -(108.74° + 17.66°) = -126,40°

With a similar calculation for ρ Cygni we find that the Google coordinates corresponding to the 1601 positions for the two stars are:

ε Herculis: -126,40°, + 31.57°
ρ Cygni: -57.90°, + 43.85°

Below I have drawn a line from the 1601 position of ε Herculis to the 1601 position of ρ Cygni, first with the 1792 celestial globe as background and then with a 1790 terrestrial globe as background (Both made by the Italian Cassini).





In the image above we can see that Nova Scotia is labeled “Acadia”. Poussin is directing us to Acadia, but my hypothesis is that this has to do with Oak Island. In the image above I have marked the position of Oak Island with a red pin. As we shall see, if the intention here is to bring us to Oak Island, the accuracy is quite extraordinary. I would therefore like to emphasize that Poussin and his collaborators may just have used the celestial sky to point out a position they knew corresponded to an unspecified position in Acadia. Since irregularities were not discovered on Oak Island until 1795, later collaborators could have picked out Oak Island any time between 1638 and 1795, when the necessary positional knowledge was acquired.

Using the application found at http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html to calculate bearings on the globe, we find that the bearing from ε Herculis to ρ Cygni is 56.05⁰ while the bearing from ε Herculis to Oak Island is 56.15⁰, a difference of just 0,1⁰. One gets the same result by using the ruler on Google Earth to measure the bearing.

Below I have drawn a red line representing the 56.05⁰ bearing from ε Herculis through Oak Island below the yellow line representing the 56.15⁰ bearing from ε Herculis to ρ Cygni.



The image below gives a closer look at the line from ε Herculis to ρ Cygni compared to the position of Oak Island. The line passes by approximately 9 km north of Oak Island.



I emphasize that I don’t think Poussin and his collaborators were able to find a specific place on earth this close to the line from ε Herculis to ρ Cygni, only that they knew that the line passed through Acadia. I believe someone at a later time picked out Oak Island.

Let us now take a look at what we find in Kepler’s Rudolphine Tables. The main source for the star catalog in this book is the measurements made by Tycho Brahe, which Johann Bayer used in his Uranometria. On Wikipedia we can read this about the Rudolphine Tables:

“For most stars these tables were accurate to within one arc minute, and were the first to include corrective factors for atmospheric refraction. The tables were sufficiently accurate to predict a transit of Mercury observed by Pierre Gassendi in 1631 and a transit of Venus observed by Jeremiah Horrox in 1639.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolphine_Tables)

Although the book was published in 1627 it uses the same epoch as Brahe had used, giving the positions of stars for January 1, 1601. The coordinates for stars found in the Rudolphine Tables can therefore be used to solve the puzzles in “Et in Arcadia Ego”, but not all the stars plotted by Bayer in Uranometria are found in the Rudolphine Tables. We do find ε Herculis, but we don’t find ρ Cygni.

ε Herculis is the star described as “Hac orientalior, in femore sinistro”, having the coordinates 2.45 and 53.21.



Kepler is using a coordinate system which is different from the ones most common today. The first column gives the longitude, but measured along the ecliptic and not the celestial equator. The right pointing arrow following after 2.45 is the astrological symbol for Sagittarius. Sagittarius is the 9th sign of the Zodiac, starting with Aries. To translate the longitude to a number between 0 and 360 we therefore have to add 8 x 30⁰ = 240⁰ to 2.45, which gives us 242.45. With the coordinates (242.45, 53.21) we can go to http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/toolbox/tb_coordconv.cfm and translate the ecliptic coordinates to celestial coordinates (Use the same year as input and output Coordinate Epoch). This gives the following result:

Rudolphine Tables.......................251.28°, + 31.62°(16h 45m 7s, +31° 37m 9s)
Calculated from epoch 2000...........251.26°, + 31.57°(16h 45m 2s, +31° 34m 12s)

We see that the coordinates found in the star catalog from the Rudolphine Tables agrees rather well with the coordinates calculated from the 2000 epoch (which we can consider as the true coordinates), although ε Herculis is not among the most accurately measured stars in the catalog. The two points on an Earth Globe corresponding to the two pairs of coordinates are located approximately 8 km apart.

As I said, we don’t find the coordinates for ρ Cygni in the Rudolphine Tables. But let us assume that the error of the coordinates used by Bayer in Uranometria for ρ Cygni is not greater than the error for ε Herculis. If that’s the case, the line from ε Herculis to ρ Cygni using the coordinates available to Bayer will be located between the yellow and the blue line in the image below, and the distance to Oak Island will be between 4 and 15 km. The red line connects the position of ε Herculis found in the Rudolphine Tables with the correct 1601 position of ρ Cygni. The yellow and blue lines connect the position of ε Herculis found in the Rudolphine Tables with positions 0,05⁰ above and below the correct 1601 position of ρ Cygni.



To find Oak Island, we also need to know where on the line from ε Herculis to ρ Cygni we should look. This will be the subject for my next post, but I will present the first step in this puzzle here.

We start again with the center of the large X, and notice the finger pointing at the R and that the lines pass through an E and a D.



In my first example the R should be placed at the beginning of “EGO”, to get “REGO” and “ACADIA”. I will argue that the lines pointing at E and D point at two other locations where we should place the R. To the left of the R we have “ET IN A” and to the right we have “CADIA”.



Placing the R in front of the E in “ET IN A” we get “RETINA”, while placing it in front of the D in “CADIA” gives us “CARDIA”.



“Retina” is a Latin word referring to one of the most important constituents of the eye (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina). Cardia (Greek: καρδίᾳ) is the Greek word meaning ‘heart’ (http://tinyurl.com/cphcuje), the etymological origin of English words like “cardial” and “cardiology”. Thus, both words refer to parts of the human body. In my next post I will show that RETINA and CARDIA refer to two stars in the constellation Gemini, and that also here the purpose is to guide us to Oak Island.

What is it that you think is (or was) placed at Oak Island, FR?

btw, the reason for the 45th line of latitude passing through the Digby Gut in the early maps was because of Champlains inaccuracy in taking latitude readings during the 1604 exploration. When he sailed into the Digby Gut he wrote in his log that he was at 45 degrees of latitude, some 19 minutes off. Of course, for all intents and purposes this became the 45th parallel for the next several years.

I believe that a group of European scientists hid documents on Oak Island with a content that was a threat to Christianity, relating to the pagan origins of Christianity. I think they wanted this to become public sometime in the future, but that the European societies were not ready for it at the beginning of the 17th century.

Frank,
Regarding your theory which I find very interesting,one thing took my notice and that was the bearing you gave for Herculis to Cygni at 56d 09m.Would that be the exact figure or is there a margin for error.The reason I ask is that through my own research regarding Nolan's Cross and the Welling Triangle on Oak Island, the bearing of 56d 16m is encrypted into both, along with the name of a certain person and the fraternity he belonged to.If you were to plot the bearing from Oak Island to Cygni at a distance of 2880 Statute miles,where would the destination point be and what would be the associated star or stars.

Regards
Dave

Thanks, Dave.
There is a margin of error, but that margin is quite small when we talk about bearings between stars, since the observations early in the 17th century were very accurate. The bearing from Epsilon Herculis to Rho Cygnis is a bit special since I have not been able to find Tycho Brahe's measurements for Rho Cygnis. But I doubt that they were so inaccurate that the bearing from Epsilon Herculis to Rho Cygnis, as measured by Brahe, is 56d 16m. That would imply that Rho Cygnis was misplaced by a distance corresponding to at least 20 km on a terrestrial globe. Very few of the stars in the Rudolphine Tables deviate that much from the true position.

But a question regarding the bearing from Epsilon Herculis to Oak Island is quite another mather. Early in the 17th century believing that bearing to be 56d 16m would be wrong, but quite impressive.

But if a bearing of 56d 16m is involved here, I would think it is more promising to take that bearing from Oak Island.

2880 miles with a bearing of 56d 16m from Oak Island would end up in Cassiopeia. Now, compare the traditional representation of Cassiopeia with the monument upon the tomb of the person I think you are referring to above. The most significant stars in Cassiopeia are known to make the shape of a letter. Do you see any connection between this letter and the person?

Frank
I love the star charts very cool and great work!

I agree that Poussin is referring to Arcadia or Acadia if you take that R out
and this is a historical place on the maps of history during which Poussin lives

Arcadia was that Garden of Eden or path to China
Verrazano name it in 1524 Arcadia
in 1603 Champlain kept the name Arcadia which encompassed the Washington DC area
It sounds like in 1603 Champlain starts referring to the Nova Scotia area La Cadie or Acadia
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZnE0tjj9MbgC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=Champlain+Arcadia&source=bl&ots=UJ61SUkfPy&sig=5pJjiejKfQZce6K8gbsYupLcdkY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2Cv-T6ysC6mq2gXpi93tDw&ved=0CEwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Champlain%20Arcadia&f=false


Poussin had great interest in Ovid

Ovid focuses on the gods and their interactions with mortals
the words on the tomb is written in Latin ....not French
the language of Rome

It is interesting the story of Washington DC ...the original Arcadia turned have Monuments like in Poussin's paintings

Washington DC was an example that a country didn't need a King to rule
Now Acadia retained the French language French history and Catholicism ....
I think Acadia held a great secret which Poussin is trying to show the viewer who is interested

Franck,
If you are referring to the letter W,then I'm afraid not as the person in question is Francis Bacon.The bearing given by the Cross and Triangle on OI at a distance of 2880miles gives a destination point 20miles NE of his home at Old Gorhambury House near St.Albans and considering their inability to accurately determine longitude during the period of 1626(Bacons death)-1651,which I've determined they had at 63d 31m,I think they came damn close.
I noticed that you determined the star positions for 1601,would they change for the period between 1626-1651?.
Cassiopeia does raise possibilities for Bacon in regard to the two supernovas of 1572 and 1604 but I was hoping for a connection between what you have and mine.

Dave

Near Gorhambury there is a statue of Bacon sitting in his chair and the inscription "sic sedebat" - 'thus he sat'. Is he impersnonating Cassiopeia, the woman in the chair? There are those who think Bacon also used the name William. I'm on a vacation, and have only my mobile phone. Will write more later.

Hi Franck,

I do not know a lot about stars, so I cannot give a comment.

But I can see, that you did a big job with a lot of work.

Did you buy any shares of the Oak Island Treasure Co. ? I hope not.

If it is there, it will be lost and we can close the thread.

Not lost Hans,they have been looking in the wrong place.

Dave, take a look at this:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwPj4u7AMgwSWU9kVEFieTlWUE0/preview
http://shakespeareandoakisland.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/petter-amundsen-shakespeare-and-oak-island/

I think Nate, who I have been collaborating with, has found the same connection between the Oak Island cross and Gorhambury that you have found.

Franck

They triggerd the trap already in the beginning. And then its lost.

The only chance is to close all pits and holes and wait.
But nobody knows where all the holes are.

regards to the other side of the world.

There never was a trap Hans.

Yes Dave, I think, that the money pit was the trap. The pit is a part of the security system of Oak Island.

I remember that you follow my postings about the air locked vaults, and so you know what I mean.

But let us wait until Franck has told the whole story.
I am shure, that he has something more in his hand.

Very interesting posts FR, Dave and Hans, and also very complicated. IM own HO, I believe the (or I guess I should say an) object of our attention is on the other side of the island in Annapolis Basin. Oak Island was, in my opinion, where the Knights Templars first located a port in 1308, which was moved into the Chester Basin area a little later on. A small fortress, or castle was built about 15 miles north, along the Gold River, from Mahone bay. This site was abandoned when French Catholic fisherman began to show up off the coast of Nova Scotia. The object (a religous object), was then taken by canoe (with a couple of minor portages) over Blue Mountain to Annapolis Basin, where it was hidden on a Mountain near Digby. Some of those remaining were assimilated into the local first nations tribes, and others went on there own way to other discoveries.
Well, its at least a Theory, isn't it?

The MicMac Indians intermarried with the French Settlers and had formed blood alliances
The Acadians in the Great Expulsion moved to Louisiana and other French settlements
The MicMac and the Acadians were allies
The MicMac's have their own legends of Glooscap

So its not surprising that a monument to the Indians is at Martinville LA right in front of the church Saint Martins

and one of the Saints in the church is an Indian woman

here is Genealogy that attests to the intermarriage
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/l/l/Sue--A-Allen/GENE6-0006.html

Just a quick reply for the moment,I feel like all my birthdays have come at once,finally someone who agrees with me.
The actual bearing used from Gorhambury house to OI is 286d 37m and is written in to the stem of the Cross in conjunction with the Triangle.Bacon was not interred in St.Michaels church as popularly thought,but buried within the grounds of Gorhambury estate and I think later removed between 1626-1651 and maybe re-buried on OI at a location I have in a 7 sided vault.

Dave

Franck,
After a quick read from the links you provided,a snippet of information to entice your friend Nate regarding Nolan's Cross.The total of the distances between each of the boulders is 5100ft and the stem of the cross is set at 60d from True North.Use the Great circle route at a bearing of 60d@5100miles and see where it takes you.
Also I would really like to talk to you both in private.

Dave

As you have seen, it is my theory that "Et in Arcadia Ego" guides us to the area where we find Oak Island, but we need some clues in the local geography to point directly to the island. I will try to check out your suggestions.

You believe that it is your theory that leads to Oak Island and Nova Scotia from Poussin? Sorry to disappoint, but there are many who have traveled that road.

By "my theory" I just meant that this is what I believe. I am particularly influenced by Petter Amundsen's similar ideas.

Well it really is nice to find a group that have theories about Poussins Arcadia meaning Nova Scotia

So who is in our group
Wayward Lovuian Frank ,Dave are you in and Hans are you in

because the fact is and I belivee we all agree there was an Arcadia turned Acadia during Poussin's time
right guys

and this Arcadia was a beautiful country of trees and mountains and untamed
there was no Christianity there but the Indian gods

and I like Franks star idea he did lots of work on it

Now I can tell you there is documentation by archeologists that there was a highway or road that relics were brought from
France to America
and why would they do this
because the French Revolution was destroying all the Holy places.....and like Wayward points out the Crusaders/Templars were escaping from the
Inquisition and the Kings who bowed to the POPE

The Acadians brought their legends and myths with them

Iovuian,
I've concentrated more on the geometry of Oak Island and it's connection to Bacon rather than where Arcadia is,so on that subject I'm open to suggestions and keep an open mind to various theories.

Dave

Well in my research Dave and I have found in the land of the Acadians which were people who were expelled from Nova Scotia by the British
that the symbol of the Oak leaf held a very spiritual meaning for them and they had a very intimate connection with the Indians
as I showed above with the Indian statue at Martinville LA

Freemasonry thrived and flourished in the land of the Acadians .....Albert Pike belonged to the New Orleans Lodges
I don't know if you guys know this but Albert Pike was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery


It is located on the 77 Meridian near Washington DC

Now Pike really wanted to be cremated but he was buried at Oak Hill and then moved to the Temple

this place