James Swagger Interview Part 3

In segment 3 of our discussion, we discuss the Big Saucepan and Little Saucepan rock images and their mirror constellations, The Big Dipper and The Little Dipper. We also discuss the cruciform of some of the passage graves and how they were used for acoustics to enter altered states of consciousness. Did megalithic people get high? We discuss other theories and his future plans as well. 

Melinda: Can you explain the Big Saucepan and Little Saucepan at Fourknocks?

James Swagger: That’s actually in Ardmore, yes?

Melinda: Yes, sorry. 

James Swagger: Typically the Big Saucepan, the Little Saucepan that’s the Big Dipper, Little Dipper. Ersa Major, Ersa Minor. Big Plough, Little Plough…its got many names. It’s one of the most famous constellations, and the Big Saucepan has been used for sea navigation for many years because it points to the North Star, which is good for navigation. As you look at the face of the rock, it has a central marker at the very top, a notch. And it’s basically got an image on the right hand side and an image on the left hand side. The image on the right hand side is the Big Dipper and the image on the left is the Little Dipper.  So these two constellations are typically like each other and it looks like a sauce pan on its side. The Big Saucepan has the handle kicking down and the Little Saucepan has the handle kicking up. But that’s the only difference. 

These two images were created in 3200 B.C. When the stone was erected basically the image flips each other in the sky each and every Autumn and Spring Equinox. So, if you look at the sky in the spring, the image in the sky looks like the stone on one side and the in the autumn, the image in the sky looks like the stone on the other side.

Melinda: Can you explain the heliacal rising in the Pleiades for the readers?

James Swagger: Yeah, sure. At Dowth, there is a stone called 351. I call it the Dowth-Pleiades kerbstone. The imagery on the stone looks like the constellation the Pleiades. Some art is open to interpretation whether or not it is a constellation. This image looks like the Pleiades...it really can’t be anything else. Not only that, it looks like its own image of the constellation the Pleiades in the horizon, at the time the Dowth was built. The Pleiades at that time in Dowth did something special- it rose due East, or almost due East, on the horizon around the Summer Solstice. And it did so just before the sun would come up, and then it would drown it out. Heliacal rising is a fancy name for the sun drowning out the stars as soon as it came out. The Pleiades would do this, and then it would align due west and then it would drown out east. And it would do that very quickly. So ,effectively, it does something very, very special. And the heliacal rising was revered among many cultures.

Melinda: Why were they interested in the heliacal rising?

James Swagger: They were star gazers. It was a very important event because you could basically take measurements at that time, because not only are you looking at that same day of the year in the Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice, you were looking at the same time of day. Because you know the sun is coming up, you have a lock on the horizon on that date. 

Melinda: So does that takes care of the Lunar-Pleiades theory?

James Swagger: On top of that, not only do you have the heliacal rising, you have the moon coming up. The moon sets up around the equator due east and due west. The moon sets there every 19 years as well as the heliacal rising.  Now, it looks like they had calculations and markings on this heliacal rising, which is what these dashes on that rock are as well, and it looks like they were trying to calculate the moon cycles as well as the heliacal rising as a measurement. So, again we have evidence that these guys were trying to use the heliacal rising to do something. And you have two astronomical events at one local too. 

Melinda: Can you describe the art at Fourknocks?

James Swagger: Yeah sure, the art at Fourknocks is perhaps a bit more abstract. There’s the human form, there’s the zigzag wavy lines which I think is very indicative of a psychedelic or acoustic induced altered state of consciousness.  But, largely, there’s nothing there really astronomical. As for the art, it wouldn’t be astronomically significant. 

Melinda: You say in the book that the cruciform of the passage grave at Fourknocks is attributed to the star Cygnus. Why is that?

James Swagger: Picture a pendulum inside the cruciform passage grave and imagine the pendulum swinging to Venus. They were able to mark a trajectory swinging to Venus, and then make up a unit measurement called a megalithic yard. The device that they use was a circle and a cross with a pendulum swinging in it. It looks like the Celtic cross, but it isn’t. The megalithic guys did use the cruciform, and that’s just basically to say that it was cross shaped. I mean, I should say that, I think that the cross shape is an acoustic design; it’s a byproduct of an acoustic design. 

Melinda: Why do they need the cruciform shape to make sounds?

James Swagger: That’s a good question! Do they need it, do they not, eh? Some people don’t even accept that they had advance acoustics. Some people think they never had acoustics, but the art that they left tells us that they were going into altered states of consciousness. The art tells us this, make no mistake, they were in altered states of consciousness in and around the megalithic tombs. Whether they did that with psychedelics or acoustics is another question. Basically, if you were beating a drum inside these sound chambers, they resonate and echo sound inside. If you seal the door, you would effectively be in a sound chamber. You could also do psychedelics and get to the same place. And people long thought that it was psychedelics only, but I believe they had psychedelics and acoustics to get to their altered states of consciousness. Why would they do that, is many reasons. Some think they were seeking the hemispheres of their brain because these actual frequencies are in the male vocal range of chanting. You can also beat the drums five times a second, that is five hertz, that will also affect the brain waves.  Zeta frequencies these are called, ummm, those are the altered states of consciousness. Basically your body temperature would rise, you would feel like someone was standing on your chest. You’re hair would stand on your arms. And you would drop to the floor and go into an altered state of consciousness.

Melinda: Do the sundial stones have something to do with constellations? 

James Swagger: No, not particularly, I think the sundial is a mapping out the solar year. It’s not all constellations, Melinda. You’re looking at mapping out the sun, splitting it into the four major days of the year.  Spring, autumn, summer winter…eh, and the half way points in between. So, you’re breaking the four points of the year into 8, and then you’re breaking those 8 points of the year into 16. Seems that they were mapping out the solar year. Perhaps making a month and we reckon that they had a megalithic month which was 22 to 23 days like we have 30, 31 days. They just had smaller months. They were well aware of the lunar month too which was 29 ½ days, approximately. So, they probably could have run through a system, they could have had lunar months and solar months, and they were just trying to map it out and build calendars. That’s why they probably called it a sundial-they were probably trying to map out the solar year. It’s open to interpretation towards the end of the argument, but I like it! Exactly, specifically, it’s looking in that direction.   

Melinda: Ok, speaking of artwork, and this regarding the Knowth Lunar-Mapping Theory, how did you count the squiggles at Northrup differently than other astronomers?

James Swagger: Yeah, sure, eh…I actually used the Babylonian system. It’s not just the Babylonians, other people did it to. Basically, you would count both ends of the lines as well as the curbs of the lines.  Basically, you would write a squiggly line, and rather than just counting the squiggles, you calculate the both ends of one line as well and that counts as one count. When you do it like that, I mean we can’t say we know exactly how they counted, but there’s evidence of lines, and dashes, and calculations. We know it actually looks like a calculation.  It looks like you’re calculating 5s and 7s and 19s. But it’s open to interpretation. My interpretation actually makes sense because the numbers actually jump out at you when you calculate using my method. When you calculate both ends of the lines, instead of strange new numbers coming at you, you’ve got 19s and stuff like that. They’re not abstract either. The numbers are actually lining up with the north lunar temple. I mean it actually has alignments to the moon as well. 

Melinda: What is the overarching goal of these sites?

James Swagger: Good question, each individual site seems to be a research project. For example, Knowth targeted the moon-it actually targeted two different lunar months. One is synodic and the other is sidereal. And, ummm, that’s really just a point of reference which way you want to calculate the movement of the moon.  For all intents and purposes, they were calculating the complex movements of the moon. Newgrange is a bit harder to read. We know that it has very advanced solar phenomena there. I have at theory call it the Newgrange Processional Calculator Theory. I think they targeted the star Sirius and tried to calculate the rate of procession. At Dowth, ummm, they were using the Pleiades, the Dowth-Pleides phenomena there. Carrowkeel, they were targeting the Cassiopeia constellation and trying to do some specific research there. So, they usually have two functions-one is that it aligns with something and the second is that it’s using an alignment to figure something out. Each monument seems to be targeting a specific area of research. Sun-moon-stars, if you want to call it that. Loughcrew was mapping out the solar year into sequential parts. 

Melinda: James, what’s next for you. We already discussed your book. Can you gives us more details. 

James Swagger: Yeah, sure, eh. Predominantly I actually wrote, I actually researched some of the acoustics the same time as the astronomy book. I decided to split the two up, because it was already a convoluted approach to astronomy. It’s quite hard to deliver, the astronomy package about what these megalithic guys were doing, without confusing people and pumping them full of acoustics knowledge too. So I wanted to simplify them somewhat. But I did go around these megalithic tombs all across Ireland, and elsewhere, at the same time. I didn’t want to double up on my travels, though, and have to go around Ireland again, and do the acoustics research separately. So, being the efficient engineer, I doubled up on the research. I took my acoustic measurements as well as my astronomy measurements, which was quite laborious at the time, and it really drew out. But it made sense then to do it all again. So, yeah, the aim now is to finish the acoustics book. And I looked at acoustics from various cultures too…the Mayans, the Egyptians, the South American culture, the Incas, and stuff like that, you know. So I have a little worldwide acoustics of civilizations. It seems to me that ancient civilizations had acoustics! So, that’s kind of dear to me. So, yeah, the aim is to finish off my acoustics book, bring the research to the table about the megaliths in Europe. 

I also do guide books too, Melinda. I have books in the mystery genre, but I also have guidebooks, and I want to get them back out there. I actually have three there and two on the way. And basically, when I went around to research these places, Melinda, I didn’t have a dedicated book for research! I didn’t have it all in one place! It was all in web forms, and you know, you had to look up the GPS coordinates. I didn’t have all the data in one place and that kind of impeded me. So to have a guidebook with the astronomy, the GPS data, the maps, the plans, the images, and a lot of information in one place-you just don’t have it for a lot of these monuments, and it’s sad in a way. So I have a series of guidebooks that I’d like to get out there. Not particularly for every place, the individual places that I mention…Newgrange, Loughcrew, Carrowkeel, Ardmore, Knowth. Dowth. I’m also probably going to do one on Brittany as well, so. 

Melinda:  Well, I can’t wait to see those books! I’ll keep my eyes peeled and I’m sure the readers will as well. Thanks so much! It’s been an awesome interview.

James Swagger: No worries, anytime. 

Melinda: And I’d love to have you back!  We’d love to have you back for another interview!

James Swagger: Yeah, absolutely! Speak to you later, Melinda.

A new passage grave is discovered at New Grange! Read below!

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Archaeologists-discover-new-tomb-and-passage-at-Newgrange--223443161.html

Did you ever wonder what acoustics sound like inside a passage grave? Listen to Santos Bonacci play the guitar inside one!

James Swagger Interview Part 2

In this segment, James Swagger and I discuss some of the theories regarding passage graves and their constellations such as the Knowth lunar mapping theory. We also discuss how some of the images can be attributed to altered states of consciousness as well as astronomical phenomena, the sundials the megalithic people created to map out their year, the Pleiades star system at Dowth, as well as other theories. 

Yes, some of the terms are difficult to understand, but do not fear! I will discuss those in another blog. In his book, The Newgrange-Sirius Mystery, James has thoughtfully included a glossary at the end of the book, so you can look there as well. What an interesting book! His book does not merely expand on someone else ideas, he’s a discoverer, an inventor. He examines neglected yet important artifacts at passage graves, and discovered a new way to calculate the squiggles at Ardmore. He scoured Ireland for passage graves and compiled his findings into one book-a rarity for their neglected passage graves. He is certainly someone to look out for in the field of astronomy.

Melinda: Thanks for joining us again, James!

James Swagger: Yeah, sure. 

Melinda: Can you explain the Carrowkeel-Cassiopeia theory for the readers?

James Swagger: Well, you have five megalithic cairns at Carrowkeel complex, and each one points to the Cassiopeia constellation. The theory holds, that it’s not just that they point to the constellation, which point to the constellation in the exact time frame that Carrowkeel complex was built in 3500 B.C. And they point to each star with an extreme accuracy, as the star sets on the horizon. Which has the implication that the Carrowkeel cairns are tracking the Cassiopeia Constellations for scientific reasons. And my scientific reason is to investigate the procession of the equinox.

Melinda: Why is it surprising that the cairns line up so closely together?

James Swagger.: Because you don’t always see a group of cairns target something on the horizon. It’s pretty much unique. You usually see a cairn with a passage grave aligned to the sun or to the moon, possibly to one star. But you don’t see five cairns tackle a constellation like that.

Melinda: Why do they do that?

James Swagger: That is the Carrowkeel-Cassiopeia theory that they were tracking the procession of the equinox. The procession of the equinox is very understood in our own time, basically, in terms of its cut off. But in 3500 B.C…very big thermometer. Perhaps I just wanted to know what it was.  Investigate it. 

Melinda: Why isn’t there any depictions of humanoid creatures or animals at these sites?

James Swagger:  There is actually one, I don’t think I go into it in the book. I actually have it in my sequel. 

Melinda: I didn’t know that you were writing a sequel. What specifically is it about? Where does it take place?

James Swagger: It’s in a place called Fourknocks, and it’s rather strange, because they say it’s the oldest representation of a human face anywhere in Europe. I would like to call it humanoid because it’s got a narrow cheek and diamond eyes in it.

Melinda: It’s actually mentioned briefly in the book. 

James Swagger. Yeah, but I haven’t concentrated on the human form. It’s bazaar! It’s clearly a human form, if you want to call it that. There is one such representation in 3000 B.C and it’s in Fourknocks passage grave. There is megalithic art in Brittany which shows a whale but, for the large part, it’s usually serpents and serpentine squiggles. And stuff like that. 

Melinda: Do you know whether or not the human face has an astronomical significance?

James Swagger:  No, it’s just inside one of the, eh…there is other art that doesn’t have any astronomical significance, Melinda. It’s just inside this astronomically aligned megalithic cairn called Fourknocks.  It’s inside the door on the left hand side. There are other art work that indicates states of consciousness too. Hallucinogens, they show psilocybin mushrooms were taken because the cave has a lot of interesting images. They’ve seen images like zig-zag wavy lines, chevrons, spirals, semi-spirals, semi-circles, concentric circles. It’s called  entoptic  phenomena. 

Melinda: In the book you mentioned that the government prevents people from looking at the passage graves at Patrickhill. How did you get access to the other monuments?

James Swagger: It’s wide and varied. You can actually go to someone’s house to get the key for Fourknocks. The other ones are locked up and forgotten about. Ireland is a friendly, strange, and wonderful place, but some of the monuments the people nearby are the custodians too.  Take for example Fourknocks. It’s easy to get to, it’s on low-level land, it’s relatively easy for parking. It’s a short walk from the road. You can actually get the keys from the house of somebody that lives nearby. People think it’s strange that you can get the key to a 5000 B.C. monument, but people here largely respect the monuments. 

Melinda: Yes, the U.S. government wouldn’t be giving the key to any 5000 B.C year old site. What about Newgrange?

James Swagger: In the case of Newgrange, you can go by visit only. It is the oldest prominent monument in the whole country. It’s by visit only, you have to go by tour bus.  So you have to go through the reception center. Then you got ones in the West of Ireland like Carrowkeel. There are no doors on them so you can just walk in any time of the day, which is wildly weird. They are literally on hilltops and cliff basins. 

Melinda: What about the Sundials? They're studying a constellation, right?

James Swagger: No, not particularly, I think the sundial is mapping out the solar year. It’s not all constellations, Melinda. You’re looking at mapping out the sun, splitting it into the four major days of the year.  Spring, autumn, summer winter…eh, and the half way points in between. So, you’re breaking the four points of the year into 8, and then you’re breaking those 8 points of the year into 16. Seems that they were mapping out the solar year. Perhaps making a month and we reckon that they had a megalithic month which was 22 to 23 days like we have 30, 31 days. They just had smaller months. They were well aware of the lunar month too which was 29 ½ days, approximately. So, they probably could have run through a system, they could have had lunar months and solar months, and they were just trying to map it out and build calendars. That’s why they probably called it a sundial-they were probably trying to map out the solar year. It’s open to interpretation towards the end of the argument, but I like it! Exactly, specifically, it’s looking in that direction.   

Melinda: Ok, speaking of artwork, and this regarding the Knowth Lunar-Mapping Theory, how did you count the squiggles at Northrup differently than other astronomers?

James Swagger: Yeah, sure, eh…I actually used the Babylonian system. It’s not just the Babylonians, other people did it to. Basically, you would count both ends of the lines as well as the curbs of the lines.  Basically, you would write a squiggly line, and rather than just counting the squiggles, you calculate the both ends of one line as well and that counts as one count. When you do it like that, I mean we can’t say we know exactly how they counted, but there’s evidence of lines, and dashes, and calculations. We know it actually looks like a calculation.  It looks like you’re calculating 5s and 7s and 19s. But it’s open to interpretation. My interpretation actually makes sense because the numbers actually jump out at you when you calculate using my method. When you calculate both ends of the lines, instead of strange new numbers coming at you, you’ve got 19s and stuff like that. They’re not abstract either. The numbers are actually lining up with the north lunar temple. I mean it actually has alignments to the moon as well. 

Melinda: What is the overarching goal of these sites?


James Swagger: Good question, each individual site seems to be a research project. For example, Knowth targeted the moon-it actually targeted two different lunar months. One is synodic and the other is sidereal. And, ummm, that’s really just a point of reference which way you want to calculate the movement of the moon. For all intents and purposes, they were calculating the complex movements of the moon. Newgrange is a bit harder read. We know that it has very advanced solar phenomena there. I have a theory called the "Newgrange processional calculator theory." I think they targeted the star Sirius and tried to calculate the rate of procession. At Dowth, ummm, they were using the Pleiades, the Dowth-Pleiades phenomena there. Carrowkeel, they were targeting the Cassiopeia constellation and trying to do some specific research there. So, they usually have two functions-one is that it aligns with something and the second is that it’s using an alignment to figure something out. Each monument seems to be targeting a specific area of research. Sun-moon-stars, if you want to call it that. Loughcrew was mapping out the solar year into sequential parts. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR-Tk2A6pho