Arcadia Discussion Zone

Let me summarize what we have seen so far.



I have drawn a large X in Poussin’s painting, where the line diagonally downwards to the left passes through an X Castor is making with his legs. This line makes an angle with the vertical line Pollux is pointing to which is equal to the longitude of the star x Geminorum (114.7⁰). The line also passes through the upper arm (and the pollex) of the shepherd in red robes, which is where x Geminorum is located on Pollux in the chart for Gemini found in Bayer’s Uranometria. The upper arm is also associated with Gemini in the “Zodiac Man”. The line in the large X going downward to the right separates “ARCADIA” into “ARCA” = ‘chest’ and “DIA” = ‘through’, and passes through the lock on a chest down in the right corner of the painting. I have interpreted this as telling us that the large X is the key to unlock the secrets hid in the painting. Drawn on a celestial globe with the vertical line aligned with the prime meridian, the X points out the constellations Gemini, Hercules and Cygnus.

In my last post we saw how the line downwards to the left points out ε Herculis, and that the painting contains clues inciting us to connect ε Herculis and ρ Cygni. When these stars are projected onto an earth globe, the line connecting them passes through Acadia, and close by Oak Island. If we correspondingly connect the E (the Latin equivalent to ε) and the R (the Latin equivalent to ρ) in the inscription in the painting by placing the R in “ARCADIA” in front of the E in “EGO” we get “ACADIA” and “REGO” which is Latin meaning ‘I guide’.

I ended my last post by arguing that the large X, by pointing to E and D, points to two other places where the R should be placed. Putting the R in front of the E gives us “RETINA”. Putting it in front of the D 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 “cardiac” and “cardiology”.

Thus, both words refer to parts of the human body. In this post I will argue that “CARDIA” and “RETINA” refer to two specific stars in Gemini, and that the point also here is to direct us to Acadia and Oak Island.

We can first notice that the large X which pointed out where to put the R to get “CARDIA”, passes through the heart of three of the figures in the painting.



Notice next that the line pointing diagonally downwards to the left passes through the center of a heart shaped by Hercules’ clothes.





We have seen that the line diagonally upwards towards the right from the heart shape passes through the heart of Pollux (the shepherd in red). Taking a look at Bayer’s star chart for Gemini we can see that Pollux’ heart is covered by Castor’s upper arm.



Returning to the painting we see that the line directed upwards towards the left passes through Castor’s upper arm.



Now, if Castor is making an X with his legs, which letter is he making with his bent arm? I would say it has to be the letter U or V.



Going back to Bayer’s chart for Gemini we can see that no star is located exactly at Pollux’ heart, but that the star labeled u (u Geminorum) is the star that is closest. I therefore think that “CARDIA” refers to the star u Geminorum.



I will now present two more clues found in the painting confirming that “CARDIA” refers to u Geminorum.
According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, “Καρδία” is “used of the middle or central or inmost part of anything” (http://concordances.org/greek/2588.htm). Notice now that while Pollux is pointing to the center of the circle I have drawn, he is touching the first letter of what has become “CARDIA”.



I think this is telling us that the center of the circle is representing the heart, and that this point is meant to correspond with the heart of Pollux in Gemini. (In my first post we saw that this point also represents one of the two centers of the earth, the North Pole)

“Pollux” and “Castor” refer both to a set of stars making up the twins called Gemini in the celestial sky, and to two specific stars in Gemini. These two stars represent the heads of “Castor” and “Pollux” in the first sense of these names. We can now notice that the relative position of the center of the circle in the painting, to the heads of Castor and Pollux is similar to the relative position of υ Geminorum to Castor and Pollux in Bayer’s chart for Gemini. Bayer’s chart represents Gemini as seen in the sky from earth, while the positions of Castor and Pollux in the painting represents how they appear when projected onto a globe, and is seen from outside, so we have to mirror the star chart from Uranometria to see the similarity.





The next clue bringing us close to υ Geminorum takes as its starting point that Pollux (in red robes), while he is pointing to the center of the circle I have drawn, simultaneously is pointing at a vertical line on the tomb.



I think this vertical line represents a meridian going straight north, and that the meridian should be drawn from Pollux’ heart, represented by the center of the circle. If we do that on a celestial globe or in Google earth, we find that the point on the other side of the North Pole, with equal distance from the North Pole is located very close to Albireo, the beak of Cygnus. The image below is from Google earth (epoch 2000). The line through the North Pole connects Albireo and the point in Gemini with the same distance as Albireo from the North Pole, that is, with the same latitude as Albireo. (That Pollux is pointing to a line directing us to Albireo I have from Petter Amundsen).



The idea that the point Pollux is pointing to is connected to Albireo is strongly supported by the fact that Pollux is looking over his shoulder at the woman to the right, while he is pointing. Albireo is perhaps the most well-known double star in the celestial sky (See here: http://tinyurl.com/cx7yhk5), and the colors of the woman’s robes correspond perfectly to the colors of the two stars making up Albireo, which are blue and yellow/orange. This is from http://astronomycentral.co.uk/:



Given this match of colors, we can also notice that the colors of Castor’s and Pollux’ robes in the painting match the stars they represent: Castor is dressed in white and represents a white star while Pollux is dressed in red and represents an orange star: “While Castor is a white quadruple star with fairly close hot white components, Pollux is an orange-colored (spectral type K0IIIb) cool (4770° Kelvin) giant.” (http://astropixels.com/stars/Castor-01.html)

So, what Pollux (the shepherd in red) is pointing to in Poussin’s painting, is the point corresponding to Albireo on the other side of the North Pole. The vertical line is the meridian we have to follow through the North Pole to reach Albireo, and Pollux is looking at the woman with the same colors as the double star Albireo to confirm this. We have already seen indications that the center of the x, where Pollux is pointing, represents υ Geminorum. We shall now see that υ Geminorum is the star in Gemini closest to the point corresponding to Albireo on the other side of the North Pole.

The table below gives the coordinates for Pollux, Castor, υ Geminorum, Albireo and the point opposite to Albireo.



How to get the Google coordinates is described in an earlier post. The second pair of coordinates in the column called “Rudolphine” are the coordinates found in the Rudolphine Tables. Here are the ones for Gemini:



Below I have plotted the 1601 positions for Pollux, Castor, υ Geminorum and the point opposite to Albireo in Google Earth. The correct positions are marked with a red pin, and the position given in the Rudolphine Tables are marked with a green pin. It is only for Pollux that the difference between these two is great enough to be visible here.



Below I have placed the point opposite to Albireo in Bayer’s chart based on the position relative to Castor and Pollux. We see that the point is close to Pollux’ heart, and that the star it is located closest to is υ Geminorum.



So far, I have established that Poussin by “CARDIA” is referring to the star υ Geminorum.

I will now argue that we are supposed to draw a line from υ Geminorum, which I have shown is the star referred to by “CARDIA”, to the star called ε Cygni. A first indication of this is given by the line diagonally downwards towards the left in the large X.



We see that the line passes through three details in the painting referring to υ Geminorum, situated near Pollux’ heart in Bayer’s star chart. The three details are 1) the shape of a heart down to the left, 2) the center of the X, which I have argued represents υ Geminorum and 3) Pollux’ heart. But the line also passes through two details which could be connected to ε Cygni and that is the E in “ET” and the swan upside down on the woman’s stomach (emphasized with stippled lines).

The most important evidence for the idea that a line should be drawn between υ Geminorum and ε Cygni is the staff Hercules is holding. The staff will also explain the significance of “RETINA”. We have seen that Hercules can be interpreted as communicating that he is guiding us to Acadia. Now, while his arm and finger is pointing to the tail of two birds in the painting, his staff is pointing towards Oak Island and ε Cygni. Here are the coordinates for υ Geminorum and ε Cygni.



The Google coordinates are calculated from the coordinates found in the Rudolphine Tables. Calculating the bearing (at http://www.taygeta.com/misc/gcircle.jsp ) we find that it is 18.64⁰ counter clockwise from North using the correct coordinates, and 18.59⁰ counter clockwise from North using the coordinates found in the Rudolphine Tables. (This accords with what is found using the ruler in Google Earth). If we now let the vertical line Pollux is pointing to define North ( 0⁰), the slope of the left edge of the staff fits perfect with the bearing from υ Geminorum to ε Cygni.



We see above that the line I have drawn hits Castor’s eye. This is the point of “RETINA” which I got by placing the R in front of the E in “ETINA”. If we take a look at Castor in Uranometria, we find a star located in his eye, and the name of this star is ρ Geminorum (rho Geminorum).



I think this Greek ρ is what R refers to when it is placed in front of the E to get “RETINA”. This idea is confirmed by looking at the line connecting υ Geminorum and ε Cygni, and is simultaneously confirming that we should draw this line. What we find is that the line from υ Geminorum to ε Cygni passes by very close to ρ Geminorum. The coordinates for ρ Geminorum are:



Below I have marked the 1601 positions (according to the Rudolphine Tables) of υ Geminorum and ρ Geminorum on a celestial globe from 1792. The red line is the line connecting υ Geminorum and ε Cygni. (The little yellow pin marks where υ Geminorum is placed on the 1792 globe. The 1792 position of ρ Geminorum is hid behind the large star representing Castor).



We see above that the line from υ Geminorum to ε Cygni passes by very close to ρ Geminorum. The distance between ρ Geminorum and the line is approximately 9 km when measured on the globe.

If the E in “ET” is referring to ε Cygni, as I have argued, placing the R in front of this E to get “RETINA” should, according to the logic in these puzzles, imply that we also should draw a line connecting ρ Geminorum (referred to by the R) and ε Cygni. The bearing from ρ Geminorum to ε Cygni is 19.63⁰ counter clockwise from North using the correct coordinates, and 19.64⁰ counter clockwise from North using the coordinates from the Rudolphine Tables. The staff Hercules is holding is wider at the bottom than at the top. The angle of the slope is therefore not the same along the right edge and the left edge of the staff. We can now see that while the angle of the bearing from υ Geminorum to ε Cygni (18.59⁰) accords well with the slope of the left edge, the slope along the right edge of Hercules’ staff fits perfectly with the angle of the bearing from ρ Geminorum to ε Cygni (19.64⁰). Here are the two lines in the painting.



We shall later see that the purpose of all the staffs in the painting is to direct us from stars in Gemini to stars in Cygnus.

The conclusion of my argument here is that RETINA refers to ρ Geminorum, that CARDIA refers to υ Geminorum and that we should draw two lines connecting these two stars with ε Cygni. Doing that we get two more lines passing through Acadia, close by Oak Island. Below I have drawn the two lines first with the 1792 celestial globe as background, and then with the 1790 terrestrial globe as background. The line from ρ Geminorum is yellow and the line from υ Geminorum is red, but the lines are so close that they are hardly distinguishable.





We can see that the two lines pass through Acadia, very close by Oak Island. The image below shows how close the lines are to Oak Island. The distance is approximately 11 km and 13 km.



Using the Google coordinates (90.15°, 27.68°) for υ Geminorum, (88.14°, 32.45°) for ρ Geminorum, (-70.14°, 32.52°) for ε Cygni (all based on the Rudolphine Tables) and (44.514°, -64.296°) which is a point in the middle of Oak Island, we can calculate the bearings here: http://www.taygeta.com/misc/gcircle.jsp. We have seen that the bearings from υ Geminorum and ρ Geminorum to ε Cygni are 18.60° and 19.64° counterclockwise from north. The bearings from υ Geminorum and ρ Geminorum to Oak Island are 18.49° and 19.52°. The differences are just 0.11° and 0.12°.

In the image below I have drawn both the line from ε Herculis to ρ Cygni (treated of in part 4) and the lines from υ Geminorum and ρ Geminorum to ε Cygni.



We should notice that both the line from ρ Geminorum and ε Cygni and the line drawn in a previous post connecting ε Herculis and ρ Cygni involve two stars with ε and ρ as labels, corresponding to the Roman letters E and R. We can therefore interpret Hercules’ hand and finger pointing from E to R as hinting towards both these lines.

I now want to point out a rather curious finding in Poussin’s painting. We have seen that the center of the large X represents υ Geminorum, near the heart of Pollux, and that Castor’s eye corresponds to ρ Geminorum. We have also seen that the line from υ Geminorum to ε Cygni passes by very close to ρ Geminorum. A line drawn from the center of the large X (υ Geminorum) to Castor’s eye (ρ Geminorum) separates “ET IN ARCADIA” into “ET IN AR” and “CADIA”, the two parts which should be transformed into “RETINA” and “CARDIA”. The line makes an angle of approximately 46⁰ with the vertical line in the middle of the painting. Below I have drawn a line with an angle of exactly 46⁰.



The curious fact is that this 46⁰ line hits the number “46” written with very small letters in the sky. The number is found inside the red circle I have drawn by the line up to the left. Here is a detailed image:



What could be the point of accentuating the number 46 in this way? Since this is found by drawing a line through points representing υ Geminorum and ρ Geminorum in the painting, I think the point here is that by using the Ferro Meridian (defined as 20⁰ west of Paris), we find that the line from υ Geminorum to ε Cygni through ρ Geminorum intersects with the line from ε Herculis to ρ Herculis between 46⁰ and 47⁰ west. Below I have drawn the 46th and 47th meridian west of Ferro and the intersecting lines.

I have said that I don’t believe Poussin and his collaborators knew exactly where in Acadia the celestial lines would cross, but they could rather easily calculate that this would happen between 46⁰ and 47⁰ west of Ferro.

In my next post I will give further evidence that the first E in “ET IN ARCADIA” refers to ε Cygni as well as to ε Herculis.

Hi Franck,

it seems that the forumers took the short way to Arcadia. Leaded by James2011.

Please go ahead, I will follow.

Thank you so much, Hans. As long as one person is reading this I will continue.

I have found an edition of Tycho Brahe's star catalog, were the calculations I have done, converting from ecliptic to equatorial coordinates are done by the editor. All the stars are also identified by their common Bayer-names.

http://www.dioi.org/vols/w30.pdf

I'm reading too Frank continue

Franck, I found out, that the painters used several paintings to tell us a story, which could not be told in one pic.

Did you check other Poussin paintings to find out, what to do, when you arrived at Oak Island.

What about the two paintings from gasc ? (if they are genuine)
The topic of the paintings are a ship on the ocean. (a journey to Oak Island ?)

David Tenier, the younger used special symbols in the painting.
It shows us what images belong together.

Thanks. I'm working on my next posts.

No, I haven't. But in my next posts I will show that Poussin is guiding us to the Northern Cross, which is an asterism in Cygnus consisting of the five most luminous stars in the constellation. (http://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/the-northern-cross-backbone-of-the-milky-way). The stars in the Northern Cross guide us to to Oak Island. My guess is that the stones in the megalithic cross on Oak Island are supposed to guide us to the correct location on the island in a similar way; that the location of "point X" relative to the megalithic cross in some way corresponds to Oak Island's location relative to the Northern Cross.

IMO, according to a survey of the old stone cross, it pointed to the mouth of the Gold River. About 15 miles up the Gold River, or an ancient road next to it was the small fortress discovered by Joan Hope in 1972 which was the temporary (some 250 years) resting place of an important religious object.

the Gold river winds along in MicMaq country
I always thought the MicMaq flag

very symbolic
it has the Crusader cross and the cross which Frank is connecting with the Megalithic cross on Oak Island

the star has tremendous symbolism and the crescent moon

Its a play on the light and shadow worlds
I think the MicMaqs are a part of the equation

Franck, please go on.

I will. These things have turned out to be more precise and consistent than I was aware of when I started this series. I'm just figuring out a few details, and then I will continue.