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From: "Misty" <misty3@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Our Truly Strange Sphere - "geo-oddities"
Thanks to Rich Hansen
A Guide to our Mysterious Earth
Our Truly Strange Sphere
It is well known that in the past many interesting theories were held about
the nature of the Earth. There have been those who have proposed that it is:
flat and resting on pillars; held on a turtle's back; hollow; inverted and
hollow (so that we live in the inside); pear-shaped; and shaped like a
mountain. Various sites of habitation have competed for being the omphalos or
Navel of the World, where the World Tree connects heaven and earth. However,
by Colombus' day, the majority of educated persons, having read their Greek
philosophers, concluded it was a solid sphere. By the 18th
century, another change had taken place as well. With the pagan religions
having been crushed by Catholicism and then pulled up by their roots by
Puritanism, few Gaian worshippers remained. The ancient belief that the world
was alive had been extirpated, and many of the new "natural
philosophers" concluded that it was a lifeless ball of rock
"covered with a thin green film of scum." It was held to be a
rather unchanging, undynamic place, with geological processes taking long,
slow epochs to alter its face (the doctrine of uniformitarianism.) But new
scientific discoveries suggest our world is a far stranger place than some
dead stone in space. They may even hint that in some ways, it is quite alive.
There are numerous "geo-oddities" that reveal our planet to be
quite a curious and changing body.
 Many have been catalogued by the ever-indefatigable William Corliss.
These anomalies include: the
ever-shifting crop circles; disappearing islands (such as the Lost
Elizabethan Isles); ever-expanding "sinkholes" that refuse to be
filled; gravitational and magnetic anomaly zones; "cookie cutters"
(where vast zones of earth appear to have been ripped out and tossed yards
away); fiery or "burning" hills; "walking" or moving
rocks; bizarre weather and aerial displays; and all the damned things from
the sky that have been catalogued by Forteans. And there are many other
examples from the Journal – singing sands, ringing rocks, Mima mounds,
Michigan "garden beds," "dead zones" where no vegetation
will grow, so-called 'vortexes,' and petrified forests with exotic
formations. Anyone who thinks the Earth is a pretty dull and unchanging place
doesn't really have a clue. In fact, the geologic doctrine of
uniformitarianism is giving way to a new catastrophism. Life may not have
evolved under conditions of slow, gradual geologic processes, after all – it
may have experienced multiple periods of "punctuated equilibrium"
where genetic variation was rapid and prolific.
Catastrophic World
The "Nemesis" hypothesis suggests that a 'dark planet' out in the
Oort Cluster may periodically send forth a rain of comets into the solar
system, at 65,000 year intervals, one of those impacts having done in the
dinosaurs. Some scientists feel that there may have been massive climactic
changes in the past which resulted from a celestial body passing close to
Earth and disturbing its orbit. One scientist has even advanced the
hypothesis that most of the Earth's water has come from infinitesmally small
'minicomets' which pass rapidly through its orbit. Geologists have now found
much evidence to indicate that land and sea have indeed changed places. We
know many examples of volcanic landmasses emerging from the sea, only to blow
to pieces or crash back down into the depths again. Where the Sahara Desert
is now, there was apparently a very fertile, well-watered plain some 10,000
years ago. Apparently, following the end of the last Ice Age around that
period, sea levels rose an incredible amount, and the Mediterranean basin was
formed. There are many odd geological formations around the world – some were
noted by Velikovsky in his books - which suggest some rapid, powerful force
or impact, much like that seen in the wake of the Tunguska Incident of 1908,
which flattened trees for miles. The Earth does appear on occasion to be have
been the site of explosive change in its 4 1/2 billion year history - but
scientists are still trying to puzzle out whether or not that
may be the cause of periodic, regular extinctions. The evidence is there:
magnetic field reversals; pole shifts; sudden climactic changes; worldwide
flooding; vast craters; apparent orbital variations. Forteans should be
interested in the way in which many geological anomalies may fit within a
catastrophist framework. Catastrophism also may help to explain some of the
weird teleological and anomalous events in natural history, such as neoteny,
where organisms regress to an infantile state in order to move forward
evolutionarily. Mostly, catastrophism is an important part of the Fortean
worldview. The doctrine of uniformitarianism was part and parcel of the
deterministic Laplacean framework,
which offered scientific prediction an air of omnipotence, and a
reinforcement for the Victorian feeling of being at the pinnacle of
'progress,' at the apex of life on Earth. But in these days of mathematical
"catastrophe theory," we know that normal systems can be subject to
rapid fluctuations - including,
one might point out, any multiple-body system such as our own solar system.
(oh no... not Velikovsky again?) In a world where the impossible can and does
happen, it is not surprising to find the processes of geological and
biological change operating under forces that are not just slow, steady,
continuous, linear, and constant, but... Fortean.
Heavens and Earth
Besides having probably shook and kicked around our planet on one or more
occasions, there is increasing evidence that cosmic phenomena may play a
great role in changing the conditions on it. Having rid ourselves of the
pseudoscience of astrology, we can concentrate on real and empirical cosmic
influences on the Earth and its biota. The Earth is distant from its cosmic
neighbors, but they still influence it in many ways. As Umberto Eco has
lampooned, but not explained away, Foucault's pendulum seems to accentuate
this fact. Without the Earth's rotation having ceased, the pendulum has been
noted to stop. According to Mach's principle, the position of the pendulum in
some strange way is relative to the position of the fixed stars. Those
"fixed stars" are, of course, moving themselves, but somehow they
do influence the pendulum. This is not so surprising to some scientists.
According to the Naval Meterological Department, they can predict barometric
conditions to a remarkable degree also according to the positions of the
stars. Joseph F. Goodavage and other "astro-meterologists" believe
that celestial changes play a great role in our planetary climactic patterns.
There are other examples. An Eastern European doctor can, using the positions
of sun and moon at time of conception, calculate almost to the moment when a
woman will give birth. A CBS technician found out that sunspots can and do
interfere with TV broadcasts, and that planetary conjunctions often
correlated with the signal-destroying solar "storms." The researcher
Frank A. Brown found that the opening of oysters and other
biological rhythms were influenced by the phases of the moon, and lunar
variations can be correlated with various other phenomena - crime outbreaks,
madness (e.g. 'lunacy'), animal migration, and the hemorraging factor of the
blood. John Gribbin has noted how planetary alignments exert a pull on solar
plasma, although his "Jupiter Effect" has been overrated; Persinger
notes a strong correspondence between the positions of Mars and Venus and geomagnetic
variation. How does all this happen? Michael Gaquelin provides the key. The
sun-moon-Earth system is a complex interweaving magnetic nexus, and
perturbations on that system cause geomagnetic changes, which in turn can
influence everything from chemical catabolysis rates to radio propagation.
Other celestial bodies may impinge on this system to varying degrees: EM,
unlike gravitation, is mediated by forces which do not decrease
as rapidly over distance.
The Earth Shall Shake
In recent years, earthquake prediction has moved from being a guessing game
to more of a science. The primary obstacle to understanding earthquakes was
geologists' refusal to accept tectonic plate movement (continental drift.)
Today we know that the crust of the Earth does float on a "sea" of
magma, and that earthquakes and vulcanism occur primarily in those zones
where one plate is rubbing against another - "fault lines." This
model is not perfect, because there are often "rogue" quakes which
strike in unexpected areas, but it works extraordinarily well. Nonetheless,
there are certain aspects of
earthquakes which lend themselves to predicting their incidence – but
geologists refuse to pay attention. One factor is that oscillations in the
planet's magnetic field often occur right before quakes; these oscillations,
as noted above, often correlate strongly with astronomical and solar events.
But geologists are afraid to say something ridiculous along the lines of
"sunspots cause earthquakes," despite the fact that, in a certain
sense, they do... radio wave propagation (e.g. ionsospheric
"whistlers") does appear to play a role in earthquakes, and it can
be studied by closely monitoring the impact of the solar wind on the
ionosphere. The geomagnetic changes prior to earthquakes may disturb both
animals and human "sensitives," which can be seen in the
'precognitive' dreams and weird animal behavior which immediately precede the
quakes. Gravitational changes may be involved as well, with the "dips"
and "hills" in the field shifting with the wobble of the planet's
axis or tidal forces from the moon and planets. Other geophysical factors
appear to be involved in earthquake incidence - water table level, release of
specific gasses & chemicals, ground electrical resistivity, weather
patterns, and telluric current shifts. One of those factors, the mysterious
EQLs (earthquake lights), appear to occur from piezoelectric effects
resulting from crushing quartz rock located deep in the crust. Most
ominously, though the Pentagon refuses to admit it (as it did with the
dangers of radioactive fallout in the 50s), underground nuclear testing and
the onset of earthquakes within a few days can be almost perfectly
correlated. Other human activities may increase the tectonic force built up
in the crust - such as blasting open mines - but not to the degree that
nuclear tests do. These are all matters that need to be
examined closely if we're going to predict the next "Big One."
The Underworld: Folklore and Fact
In the old shamanic cosmology of the Paleolithic, there was thought to be
three worlds linked by the World Tree - ours, the heavens, and the
underworld. In historical times, the underworld often became the land of the
dead - Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, the land of Anubis, or, in Christian times,
Hell. This pervasive belief in a subterranean world beneath our own survives
in science fiction (Edgar Rice Burroughs), fringe religion (Koreshanity and
Shaverism), and myth and legend (Shamballah, Agharta, the Kingdom of the
Master of the World). Legend has it that there exists some subterranean race
deep within the bowels of the Earth - in Richard Shaver's cosmology, like
that of the Cathars, there were demons ("tyros") who controlled the
actions of us on the surface with sinister "rays." Other
mythologies hold that the Underworld is the place of the enlightened Hidden
Masters, not a sinister
hell. Exploration beneath the Earth's crust has demonstrated that the Earth
is definitely not hollow (sorry, the evidence here is too strong...) However,
it is in many ways like a ball of swiss cheese - there are vast underground
spaces, whole "New Lands" yet to be discovered, largely because
they are so hot as to be uninhabitable to life. The curious "tunnel
complexes" and "weird caverns" found in many places, such as
the Matto Grosso in Brazil or the Devil's Hole Cave near Death Valley, often
lead one to wonder. Are they natural in origin, or artificial constructs of
some powerful race of engineers? In H.P Lovecraft's fictional universe, they
were dug by immense worm-lie creatures (Chthonians and Dholes) and inhabited
by ghouls and serpent folk. Numerous treasure legends and abandoned mine
stories lead treasure seekers to dig deep into the Earth in search of gold -
but here may be a forgotten memory of other, more powerful
"treasures" which originate from inside of the Earth. For the
mysteries of mineral formation still remain - there are many geologic
deposits of natural gas and oil which appear to be abiogenic in origin, and
veins of metallic ore in unlikely places. Dowsers hint that there are veins
of "primary water" within the Earth, which is in a different
(plasmic) state of matter and drives the movement of the telluric currents.
Is there a mysterious underground civilization deep within these tunnel complexes?
Are fabulous treasure and foul monsters to be found down there? No one knows,
but the underworld has plenty of curious, if somewhat more prosaic, mysteries
to be explored.
Geomancy and the World Grid
Numerous writers have suggested that the ancients may have mapped (Hapgood),
measured and surveyed (Stecchini), and divided up (Pennick) the Earth. We do
not know why they had to do so with such accuracy. But almost all ancient
societies utilized exact, numerically harmonic Earth-commensurate units of
measure for building their structures, perhaps recognizing that this was the
key to tap the Earth energy. Alexander Thom found that almost all the
megaliths of Britain were built according to a standard unit of measure he
dubbed the Megalithic Yard. Further, most of the stone circles are ovals
which appear to be based on right-angle triangles and some knowledge of the
Pythagorean theorem. Many of the "ley lines" they mark lead
directly to the rising of a particular star (or key sunrise/moonrise point)
on a particular day. The siting of many of their structures suggests they
clearly surveyed large amounts of territory and may even have known the exact
dimensions of
the Earth. But beyond even this, utilizing geomancy, they may also have
studied the movement of planetary telluric energy and discovered (and
utilized) the 'ley lines' which made up the 'World Grid.'
Geomancers like the feng shui practicioners of China were able to divine the
composition of ch'i (orgone, "earth energy," or geomagnetism) in a
particular area and discover whether it was propitious or not to place things
there. Neolithic dowsers may have identified the 'blind springs' and other
spots where the Earth energies influenced fertility, vitality, and health,
and built their megaliths to mark (and direct or concentrate) those energies,
"needling" the Earth like a dowser. Clearly, these
"primitive"
savages altered the landscape in the past - vast landscape effigies, mounds,
and zodiacs having been created, and hills altered so that the "Old
Straight Track" could continue unimpeded. These ancient geomancers may
have recognized what we know today - that there are certain "window
areas" where
geomagnetic activity is particularly high, and where strange Fortean events
tend to cluster. In some places, the Earth force may have been blocked up and
"soured" (become DOR - Deadly Orgone) and caused what are known as
Geopathic Stress sites which correlate with cancer epidemics. We may not
know how to tap the Earth force as those shamans once did, but it still has
residual effects on our consciousness and may even open gates to other realms
of existence...
Gaia's Children: The Rebirth of Pan?
The Earth may be more than just weird, dynamic, and complex. In some strange
way, it may be alive. This theory has gained ground particularly due to James
Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis, which is based on evidence which suggests the
organisms of the planet "cooperate" to a certain degree to keep
certain
climactic and biotic conditions within critical boundaries, and that our
planet might be a lot more like Venus or Mars were it not for the self-regulating
presence of life. Lovelock has never suggested the planet itself is alive,
though its biota enable it to function like a living organism. But others
have pointed to such a notion. In their study of Simulacra (natural rock
formations that seem much like living organisms), Michell and Rickard
speculate that the "inspiration" of life may pre-exist it. Peter
Tompkins and Chris Bird have marshalled a great deal of evidence that even
the simplest of organisms (plants) may possess a rudimentary nervous system,
'consciousness' and the means of communication with oneother (e.g.,
language). Paul Kammerer observed that there almost seems to be a
"storehouse" of
morphologies in nature which are endlessly repeated, and other Forteans have
noted the almost curious precision with which the migration and population
expansion of species seems to be regulated and controlled, almost as if the
planet frequenly exiles or summons species as needed to or from elsewhere.
Louis Kervan observed how many organisms performed "life alchemy"
by literally doing the impossible - transmutation of elements. The
now-debunked "Hundredth Monkey" phenomenon does seem to appear in
other species besides spud-washing Pacific monkeys - there have been numerous
observations of species learning new behaviors without direct transmission of
the skill.
Sheldrake's theory of formative causation leads new lines of inquiry into the
study of the origins of instinct. If there is not some sort of anima mundi or
"group mind" linking all the life on the planet together with the
planet itself, certainly one is being erected, with the vast
"noosphere" of communications wrapping itself around the globe due
to the activities of man, as Teilhard de Chardin observed.
But all these new discoveries seem to bring us back to an old idea. That the
Earth is a living entity. That the Mother Goddess religions may have known
this fact, and that the sweeping onslaught of patriarchal sky-god-worshipping
nomads may have crushed this knowledge and caused it to
be forgottten. It is not surprising that with our rediscovery of Gaia, we are
also experiencing a Rebirth of Pan, where strange events seem to be linked by
some magical web of correspondence connected to the old pre-Christian faiths.
Or that it corresponds with a massive reevaluation of the role of women in
patriarchal societies and the feminine principle itself. Gaia may be trying
to contact us once more, to remind us of the urgency which confronts us. Our
environmental destructiveness is no threat to Gaia - she has withstood worse
before - but it may be a threat to us, her children, as we slowly change her
into an inhospitable place for hairless anthropoids. Most importantly, we may
be on the verge of rediscovering the mysterious "earth force"
itself, whose origins and effects we are now only coming to understand as our
ancestors once did.
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