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