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Copyright 2006 by Gary David.
Presented with permission of the author.
Articles by Gary A. David
Along the 33rd Parallel: A Global Mystery Circle
by Gary A. David
What’s In a Number?
The number 33 enigmatically stretches as a latitude line across many diverse
cultures in many different times. Known in numerology as the Master Teacher, 33
is the most influential of all numbers, indicating selfless devotion to the
spiritual progress of humankind. The other two master numbers, 11 (vision) and
22 (vision with action) form the base of a two-dimensional pyramid, and added
together equal 33 (guidance to the world), the apex of the pyramid. [1] On the
reverse of the Masonically inspired Great Seal of the United States is the
pyramid with the all-seeing eye of divine Reason at its apex. According to
ritual Freemasonry, XXXIII is considered sacred because in most cases there is
no higher degree or level to which a Mason may aspire.
In a Biblical context we note that King David ruled in Jerusalem for
thirty-three years, Jacob had thirty-three sons and daughters, and Jesus Christ
was crucified at age thirty-three. Two interpenetrating triangles whose apexes
point in opposite directions form the hexagram of the Star of David (3 + 3 = 6).
On the other hand, 3 X 3 = 9, or the Ennead, the nine primal gods of Egyptian
mythology.
The late thirteenth/early fourteenth century Italian poet Dante ended Canto
XXXIII of the Purgatorio, or the second section of his Divine Comedy:
“...perfect, pure, and ready for the Stars.” [2] Canto XXXIII of the Paradiso,
or the third section, concludes with lines about the poet being turned “as in a
wheel whose motion nothing jars-- / by the Love that moves the Sun and the other
stars.” [3] It is more than a coincidence that the 33rd canto of each section
concludes with parallel lines regarding the celestial; it may instead be the
code from a lost ancient tradition.
This number even permeates the biological realm studied by science:
thirty-three is the number of turns in a complete sequence of DNA. [4] A more
ominous connotation appears in the 33rd element of the periodic table. Arsenic
is a brittle, steel-gray substance that is actively poisonous. The Greek root
arsen means “male, strong” or “virile,” which suggests the active reach of this
potent and potentially deadly number across the globe. Indeed, when we consider
the northern latitude of 33 degrees, some intriguing synchronicities, or
“meaningful coincidences,” are found. [5]
You Say Phoenix and I Say Phoenicia
The first stop on our tour along the 33rd parallel is the metropolis of
Phoenix, Arizona, located at 33 degrees 30 minutes latitude. Gleaming like a
steel and glass mirage surrounded by ironwood, palo verde, and saguaro cactus,
this modern American city lies in a brown cloud of auto exhaust at the northern
end of the Sonoran Desert. Its imported palm trees and omnipresent swimming
pools shimmer when seen from high in the air like turquoise and silver jewelry
on a jet-setter’s tanned breast. In essence, Phoenix is pervaded with the aura
of the foreign and the bizarre. Few casual tourists realize, however, that this
was once the center of the ancient Hohokam culture.
The largest Hohokam site known as Snaketown was located about five miles
north of the exact 33 degrees line, while the ruins of the astronomical
observatory called Casa Grande still rest about five miles south of the line.
The Hohokam inhabited the Valley of the Sun perhaps as early as 300 B.C. (about
the time of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Dynasties in Egypt) and built
one of the world’s most extensive irrigation systems. These ancient American
Indians created an estimated total of 500 miles of canals to irrigate over
25,000 acres in the Phoenix Basin-- all constructed with mere digging sticks,
stone implements, and woven carrying baskets. In fact, no wheelbarrows or draft
animals were ever used. The main canals leading from the Salt and Gila rivers
measured up to 75 feet across at the top and 50 feet wide at the bottom. [6] As
Southwestern archaeologist H. M. Wormington observes, “The scope of the canal
project suggests comparisons with the erection of the huge pyramids of Egypt or
the great temples of the Maya.” [7] Clearly this monumental technology was the
key factor that allowed the desert dwelling people to inhabit their extremely
harsh region for well over a thousand years.
Skipping across the Atlantic on the same parallel, we find a number of
intriguing sites in the Old World. For instance, at a latitude of 33 degrees 19
minutes was located the primary Phoenician seaport of Tyre (now called Sûr),
almost 50 miles south of Beirut. Dating back as early as 5000 B.C., Tyre was
renowned for a purple-red dye obtained from the snails of the genus Murex. [8]
The color is one of the meanings of the word “phoenix,” which the ancient
Egyptians sometimes associated with the purple heron.
Back in North America the “place of the heron” refers to Aztlan, the Nahuatl
word for the mythical land that the Aztecs inhabited after emerging from
Chicomostoc, the Seven Caves located in the bowels of the earth. [9] Chicano
folklore identifies Aztlan as that portion of Mexico taken over by the U.S.
after the Mexican-American War of 1846-- in part, the Arizona Territory, where
the settlement of Phoenix arose.
The Masonic author Albert Pike states that Tyre was the seat of the Osirian
Mysteries after they had been imported from Egypt. [10] Pike asserts that the
two massive columns situated at the entrance of the Tyrian Temple of Malkarth
were consecrated to the Winds and to Fire. This pair is thought to be the
prototype of Jachin and Boaz, the two pillars found on the eastern wall of every
Masonic temple in the world. On the right, or to the south, is Jachin, which
means “He shall establish” and signifies an active, vivifying force. On the
left, or to the north, is Boaz, which means “In it is strength” and connotes
passive stability and permanence. [11] Freemasons Christopher Knight and Robert
Lomas suggest that the former represents the winter solstice sunrise, while the
latter the summer solstice sunrise. [12] Although this is possible, we propose
that Jachin represents the southern stargate between Sagittarius and Scorpius
while Boaz signifies the northern stargate between Gemini and Taurus. [13] Our
assumption is based on the fact that in the York Rite of Freemasonry a celestial
globe symbolizing ex-carnation (i.e., a spirit leaving its present body) is
found atop Jachin while a terrestrial globe representing incarnation is
positioned atop Boaz. [14]
During the tenth century B.C. King Hiram of Tyre supplied King Solomon with
craftsmen, metallurgists, cedar wood, architectural design, and presumably the
esoteric symbolism of these two columns for the construction of his temple at
Jerusalem. (1 Kings 7: 13-22) [15] In addition to being besieged at various
times by Nebuchadrezzar, Alexander the Great, the Romans and others, the trade
capital city-state of Tyre was conquered in the twelfth century A.D. by the
Crusaders, who built a Knights Templar church there.
Some speculate that the orientation of the two pillars imitates obelisks
placed before the pylons of Egyptian temples, especially those of the
Heliopolitan temple of Thothmes (Tuthmosis) III, who reigned in the fifteenth
century B.C. as the militarily expansionist pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
He is also thought to be founder of the Order of the Rosy Cross, or the
Rosicrucians. [16] The archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie even found records in
the Libyan desert that describe a secret Masonic guild meeting held circa 2000
B.C. “The guild met to discuss working hours, wages, and rules for daily labor.
It convened in a chapel and provided relief to widows, orphans, and workers in
distress. The organizational duties described in the papyri are very similar to
those of ‘Warden’ and ‘Master’ in a modern branch of the Brotherhood which
evolved from those guilds: Freemasonry.” [17] It seems that all roads lead to...
Egypt.
Also of interest near the 33rd parallel is Byblos, a bit farther north of
Tyre at a latitude of 34 degrees 08 minutes. The name of this city state is
derived from the Greek ta b blia, which means “the book,” or “bible.” Indeed,
the invention of a Phoenician alphabetic phonetic script occurred here and
eventually spread to the Greek world. [18] A bit farther east at nearly the same
latitude is Baalbeck, an ancient megalithic temple constructed with some of the
largest stone blocks ever cut in the world. Extracted and hauled from a quarry
many miles away, these megaliths include one block measuring 80 feet long and
weighing 1,100 tons. [19] In this section we have seen how Phoenix and Phoenicia
are linked by latitude. We shall continue eastward to encounter other
significant ancient sites along the same parallel.
A Passage To China
A little over 500 miles east of these Phoenician cities at 33 degrees 20
minutes is modern-day Bagdad in Iraq, with Babylon located about 55 miles to the
south. This ancient capital of Mesopotamia on the banks of the Euphrates River
was once the largest city in the world, encompassing over 2,500 acres. The
construction of Babylon began during the twenty-third century B.C. and included
the Temple of Marduk (known as Esagila) as well as the legendary Tower of Babel
(identified as Etemenanki). The latter structure was a seven-tiered ziggurat
rising to a height of 300 feet with a base on each side measuring the same
distance. This measurement, incidentally, equals the length of the Hohokam
platform mound at Pueblo Grande in Phoenix, Arizona. On the eastern side of
Babylon was an outer rampart of triple wall construction extending for 11 miles.
A network of irrigation canals reminiscent of the Hohokam also once served the
city. In addition, the terraced Hanging Gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World. [20]
This “city and a tower” (Genesis 11:4) was known as Ba-bel, the legendary
site of the linguistic confounding. “The biblical interpretation of the name is
fanciful. The Bible connects Babel with the Hebrew verb Bâlal, ‘to confuse’,
whereas it really comes from Bâb-ili, which in Babylonian means ‘Gate of God’.”
[21] This terrestrial correlation to another sort of stargate is perhaps a
reference to the Processional Way leading to Ishtar Gate, both of which were
adorned with glazed blue enameled figures of lions, bulls, and dragons. Pike
maintains that the temple contained a representation in silver of two large
serpents. “The Greeks called Bel Beliar; and Hesychius interprets that word to
mean dragon or great serpent. We learn from the book of Bel and the Dragon, that
in Babylon was kept a great, live serpent, which the people worshipped.” [22]
This reminds us of the Place of the Snakes, or the Hohokam site of Snaketown, as
well as of the Hopi biennial Snake Dance ceremony still performed with live
rattlesnakes on the high desert of Arizona.
In more recent times Babylon played a significant role in the rituals of
Freemasonry and continues to do so. For instance, Knight and Lomas discovered
that the ceremony for the Royal Arch of Solomon Degree (13 degrees) entails the
candidate and two others playing the roles of the three Master Masons of
Babylon: Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. According to the narrative told in the
ritual, these children of the Babylonian captivity desire to assist in the
rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon. Thus, Babylon’s symbolic importance, which
the co-authors believe extends back to at least Knights Templar times and
probably before, is reemphasized inside every Masonic lodge to the present day.
[23]
Traveling along the 33rd parallel from the Middle East to the Far East, we
encounter the fabulous White Pyramid located about 60 miles southwest of X’ian (Sian
or Hsian) in the Qin Ling Shan Mountains of China’s Shensi Province. This city
was made famous for the nearby discovery of the Terra Cota Warriors. Resting at
almost the same latitude as Phoenix’s 33½ degrees, this massive stepped pyramid
constructed of clay is estimated to be 1,000 feet high and 1500 feet at the
base! The current politics of the country have thus far prevented any detailed
study of the structure, but it is thought to be 4,500-5,000 year old-- the
approximate age of the pyramids at Giza. The White Pyramid was built supposedly
after the old emperors, known as “the sons of heaven,” descended to Earth in
their “fiery metallic dragons” and began to rule China. Its interior is rumored
to be a model of this empire with a jeweled roof depicting the constellations
and rivers of flowing mercury. The region also contains up to one hundred more
pyramids. [24]
Highway 33 Revisited
Back on the North American continent, if we journey somewhat over 1,500 miles
east of Phoenix along latitude 33 North, we find the Moundville site lying
exactly on the line. This city constructed by the Mississippian culture along
the Black Warrior River in central Alabama from 1000 through 1450 A.D. had a
population of over one thousand-- second in size and complexity to ancient
Cahokia in Illinois. The 26 earthen platform mounds arranged in a circular
pattern are similar in structure to those in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun, with
temples and residences for the elite priesthood likewise built on top. One of
the larger mounds is a ramped pyramid that rises to a height of 58 feet. In
addition, the town was protected on three sides by wooden palisades, much like
the Hohokam villages along the Salt and Gila Rivers. [25] Did the earlier
Hohokam culture of the American Southwest somehow influence the later
development of this Mound Builder culture in the American Southeast? The many
similarities between the two seem to point in that direction.
A few other Mound Builders cities were settled quite near the 33rd parallel.
Approximately 10 miles southwest of the town of Lake Providence (32 degrees 49
minutes) on the Mississippi River floodplain in northeastern Louisiana is
Poverty Point State Historic Site. Constructed in 1800 B.C. (much earlier than
even the Hohokam settlements), a C-shaped or perhaps a partial octagon-shaped
earthwork three-quarters of a mile across was formed by six concentric ridges
that are 140 to 200 feet apart and four to six feet high. To the west of this
earthwork, Bird Mound rises 72 feet high and extends 600 to 800 feet at its
base. Resembling some sort of fowl flying toward the sunset, this mound was
constructed using 300,000 cubic yards of clay, or the equivalent to 10 million
50-pound baskets. To truly realize the shape of the bird, one needs to be at
least a thousand feet or so in the air. Poverty Point was almost entirely
abandoned circa 1350 B.C., indicating over five centuries of cultural
development, though minor construction on the earthworks continued until 700
A.D. [26]
Even closer to the magic number 33 though not as impressive or as old are the
Winterville Mounds, located six miles north of the town of Greenville in
west-central Mississippi (33 degrees 25 minutes). Inhabited between 1000 and
1450 A.D., the site includes 23 flat-topped mounds, with the main Temple Mound
rising 55 feet. [27]
About four miles south of Cartersville in northwestern Georgia (34 degrees 11
minutes) is Etowah Indian Mound State Park. “White settlers understood the Creek
and the later Cherokee to call this site “Hightower,” possibly for Itawa or
Italwa (city?). The name Etowah may also be a corruption of this word.” [28] It
is interesting to note that the Hopi word for the sun deity is Tawa. Etowah was
first inhabited in 950 A.D. and contains three major mounds. One is a ceremonial
mound 63 feet in height and another is a burial mound in which were found
numerous artifacts including copper ear ornaments, stone effigies, and sea
shells along with obsidian and grizzly bear teeth from the Rocky Mountains. [29]
Closer to the home of the Hohokam on the western side of the Colorado River
are located a number of geoglyphs (also called “intaglios”). These figures
formed in the desert by removal of darker pebbles to reveal a lighter
undersurface are sometimes hundreds of feet in length. One group (the Blythe
complex) is positioned about 16 miles north of Blythe, California (33 degrees 40
minutes), while another group (the Ripley complex) is located about 12 miles
south of Blythe. In addition to human and animal figures, snakes, spirals,
stars, circles, and other geometric figures, a Knights Templar-like Maltese
cross nearly 10 feet in diameter has been found adjacent to a humanoid figure at
the Ripley complex. [30] One anthropoid geoglyph in the area has been associated
with the Hopi Fire Clan deity Masau’u. [31] Hence, we find that many different
tribes were apparently involved in these rituals dating from between 1,100 and
3,000 years ago. [32] Because these earth forms, like the Nazca lines in Peru or
Bird Mound at Poverty Point, are best appreciated from the air, they were
probably intended to be an homage to the sky gods.
The geoglyphs together with other cairns, stone circles, and cleared dance
paths may be ritually associated with the huge network of interconnected trails
found in the low desert upon which the ancients made pilgrimages. One such
pilgrimage called the keruk is performed even today by the Yuman speaking tribes
(viz., the Yuma, Mohave, Cocopa, and Maricopa) in a four-day trek to Avikwa’ame,
the sacred mountain to the north, in order to celebrate the cosmogony. [33] “The
route ran from Pilot Knob, or Avikwal [near Yuma, Arizona], the spirit house
where the dead dwell at the southern end of the river, to Avikwa’ame, or Spirit
Mountain, where the Earth was created, in the north. This pilgrimage was
intended to honor the creation, and ritually retrace the path of Mastamho [the
creator-deity, whose name echoes the Hopi god Masau’u mentioned above] in his
mythic adventures.” [34] Here we find a north-south dichotomy similar to that
found along the Nile, with the “Mound of Creation” (i.e., Heliopolis) located to
the north. Atop Avikwa’ame, legends say, was a great house name Aha-avulypo, or
literally “Dark Round House.” [35] The north-south road itself was named Kwatcan,
the “first trail to the homeland.” The Hopi word for “track” is kuku’at, but the
word for “grandfather” is the near homophone kwa’at. [36] Perhaps the suffix
-can is a variant of “ka,” part of the word kachina. [37] Either “spirits of the
track” or “spirits of the grandfathers” may be the intended meaning. Midway on
this spirit road between the sacred mountain of the North and the mouth of the
Colorado River are the aforementioned geoglyphs at the 33rd degree of latitude.
Also on this line is the Three Rivers Petroglyphs site, located on the
western base of the Sacramento Mountains 18 miles west of Ruidoso, New Mexico
(33 degrees 19 minutes). One of the largest rock art sites in the Southwest,
this park contains over 20,000 glyphs scattered over 50 acres. Carved atop a
ridge by the Mogollon culture between 900 and 1400 A.D. (contemporary with the
late Hohokam period) [38], these figures include anthropomorphs, zoomorphs,
kachina masks, star symbols, and various abstract or geometric designs,
including a Maltese cross within a circle surrounded by a ring of seventeen
dots. [39] “Distinctive at Three Rivers is the circle-dot motif; one
investigator who took the trouble to count found it to be the single most common
element at this site. Interestedly enough, its presence elsewhere is negligible,
and its symbolic content has not been determined, although it occurs in various
contexts in Mesoamerica. Possibly it refers to Quetzalcoatl.” [40] This deity,
of course, is known as the Plumed Serpent. Three Rivers Site is also unique
because it is one of only a few places in the Southwest that were used primarily
for rock art rather than it being merely an adjunct to the village. [41]
However, another site lying exactly on the 33rd parallel was also used expressly
for this purpose. Near Gila Bend, Arizona about 62 miles west of Snaketown
(mentioned above) is Painted Rocks [sic] State Park, which has thousands of
petroglyphs of similar designs-- not “painted” but pecked into the boulders.
[42]
A fascinating site also in the general vicinity of Phoenix is called the
Circlestone Observatory (33 degrees 28 minutes). High in the Superstition
Mountains about 54 miles east of the metropolis lies an elliptical “medicine
wheel” constructed of a stone wall three feet thick with a circumference of 427
feet. On his extensive and thoroughly detailed web site, New Zealand researcher
Martin Doutré claims that this structure incorporates various navigational
codes, including phi, or the Golden Ratio (1.618...). “Ancient astronomers
mathematicians built sites like Circlestone as repositories of codes and places
where initiates could be taught age-old principles.” Doutré further suggests
that Circlestone was used by colonists from the eastern Mediterranean or Europe
who may have operated a gold mine-- perhaps the famous Lost Dutchman’s Mine
itself! [43] Although American Indians may instead have constructed this site
for an astronomical observatory similar to the one at Casa Malpais near
Springerville, Arizona (34 degrees 10 minutes), Doutré’s theory is nonetheless
an intriguing one.
Four other ancient sites along latitude 33 N warrant brief mentions. Gila
Cliff Dwellings National Monument (33 degrees 22 minutes) is located in a rugged
and isolated region about 60 miles west of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
Reminiscent of the seven Aztecan caves mentioned above, five caves in the
Mogollon Mountains of southwestern New Mexico contain about 40 masonry and adobe
rooms built circa 1280 A.D., although semi-subterranean pit houses have been
found nearby dating back to circa 100 A.D. [44]
In saguaro cactus country about 56 miles northeast of Phoenix is another site
on the global mystery circle called Tonto National Monument (33 degrees 44
minutes), which also contains cliff dwellings within shallow caves. Constructed
of unshaped quartzite and adobe mortar, these ruins inhabited in the
mid-fourteenth century contained 70 rooms within three caves. [45]
About 40 miles due east of the small town of San Carlos, Arizona (33 degrees
24 minutes) is Point of Pines Ruin. Occupied between 1200 and 1500 A.D., this
huge masonry pueblo contained 800 rooms, a central plaza, a surrounding wall,
and a great kiva. [46] The site is also one of the few in the Southwest that
shows evidence of three different cultures living together: the Hohokam, the
Mogollon, and the Anasazi-- the last group named migrating from the Hopi country
to the north. [47] The population is estimated to have been between 2,000 and
3,000. [48] Incidentally, five or so miles to the south is a hot springs called
Arsenic Tubs, number 33 on the periodic table.
And finally, Besh-ba-gowah Archaeological Park located one-and-a-half miles
south of downtown Globe, Arizona (33 degrees 25 minutes) was a granite cobble
pueblo of 250-plus rooms inhabited between 1225 and 1450 A.D. The artifacts
found include copper bells and macaw feathers from Mesoamerica as well as shells
from the Gulf of Mexico and the California coast. [49] Besh-ba-gowah is an
Apache phrase meaning “place of the metal,” referring to the copious silver and
copper deposits in the area. In fact, the town of Globe was so named because of
the 1875 discovery of a globe-shaped mass nine inches in diameter made of 99%
pure silver and valued at $12,000. Curiously, reports also stated that the
continents of the Earth were etched upon its surface. The whereabouts of this
artifact are currently unknown. [50]
A Brief History of 33
Entering the historical period, we find hovering near the 33rd parallel a
number of provocative synchronicities. For instance, the first Supreme Council
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction
of the United States, was established in 1801 at Charleston, South Carolina.
This charming antebellum port city and hub of southern culture is located less
than 15 miles south of the 33rd parallel. Called the Solomon Lodge No. 1, the
Masonic meeting place was known as the Mother Lodge of the world. [51]
Shortly before the end of World War II Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly of
a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Georgia, which is less than 10 miles
south of 33 degrees latitude. (This town, incidentally, is located about 35
miles northeast of Phenix City, Alabama.) It is noteworthy (no pun intended)
that in the mid-30s FDR, a 32nd degree Mason and 32nd President of the U.S.,
initiated the printing of the reverse side of the Great Seal (the pyramidal eye
mentioned at the beginning of this essay) on the legal tender. Roosevelt was
succeeded in April of 1945 by 33rd degree Mason Harry S. Truman. (The “S.”
supposedly stood for Solomon.) On July 16th of the same year, the first atomic
device --the Gadget, as it was called-- was detonated at Trinity Site, New
Mexico: 33 degrees 41 minutes North latitude. Spanish explorers originally
called this area La Jornada del Muerto, or “The Journey of the Dead,” but now
the site is marked by a small stone obelisk erected twenty years or so after the
explosion. [52] (Was this monument Masonically inspired?) [53] A few weeks after
the explosion at Trinity Site the 33rd president of the United States ordered
the annihilation of two Japanese cities by nuclear bombs dropped from B-29
bombers. The 33rd parallel runs exactly between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Two
years after the war ended, the modern “flying saucer” age began in earnest when
something crashed near Roswell, New Mexico-- 33 degrees 26 minutes North
latitude.
Bringing us up to the present day, the so-called Phoenix Lights were
witnessed by hundreds or perhaps thousands of people. On the evening of March
13th, 1997 an immense triangular UFO perhaps a mile wide flew over the American
Southwest. First sighted over Henderson, Nevada at 6:55 p.m. (Pacific Standard
Time) traveling southeast, this virtually silent craft (for lack of a better
term) had a number of lights evenly spaced on its leading edge. It was next seen
22 minutes later over the village of Paulden, Arizona (nearly 25 miles north of
the town of Prescott). It was then observed 10 miles to the south in Chino
Valley, where it apparently streaked over the present author’s house, who missed
seeing the event by a matter of minutes. Just one minute after the Paulden
sighting, it was reported over Prescott Valley, which is 23 miles
south-southeast of the former.
By 8:23 (Mountain Standard Time) the object had reached the Phoenix metro
area roughly 75 miles away, where it hovered for about four or five minutes over
the vicinity of the Indian School Rd. and 7th Avenue intersection. Next the UFO
entered Sky Harbor Airport’s air space, where air controllers in the tower and
the flight crew from at least one commercial airliner viewed it, although radar
failed to detect it. The craft continued southeast above Interstate 10 and was
sighted in the Tucson area about 8:45. [54] This series of sightings that
occurred within a 400-mile stretch took just 50 minutes. The average speed of
the craft was 480 m.p.h.
At approximately 9:50 p.m. an arc of amber “orbs” measuring one mile across
appeared above the Estrella Mountains about 20 miles southwest of Phoenix.
“Spanish explorers named the range Estrella (‘star’) after the pattern of deeply
carved canyons radiating from the summit.” [55] This display of lights
videotaped by scores of people in the Phoenix area was possibly related to the
earlier sightings. At the time of this latter UFO sighting the constellation
Orion would have been seen hovering over the southwestern horizon, were it not
for urban light pollution. In fact, at 9:49 p.m. when the final phase of the
event was beginning, Alnilam, the middle star of the Belt, was 33 degrees above
the horizon at an azimuth of 242 degrees. If a line is drawn from the State
Capitol to the Estrella range’s Monument Hill (the initial point for surveying
of property in Arizona), the azimuth is also 242 degrees. At the latitude of
Phoenix this is the exact point of the winter solstice sunset as well. Thus,
these orbs appeared at a significant archaeo-astronomical position in the sky
and also in the precise region where Orion happened to be at that particular
time. Above the right hand of Orion between the constellations Gemini and Auriga
is the northern stargate previously mentioned, located at a declination
(celestial latitude) of 33 degrees.
One odd aspect to the Phoenix Lights story is that, other than a few minor
write-ups in local newspapers, they were not reported in any national media
until June 18th, over three months later, when USA Today ran a front-page
article picked up by the other media. [56] In any event, one of the most
intriguing UFO sightings in decades was focused upon the 33rd parallel-- a
paramount Masonic number.
Why are so many significant ancient and historic sites located along the 33rd
parallel? Perhaps the ancients discovered a ley line sort of dragon energy
corresponding to this latitude, and constructed temples and sacred cities in
order to utilize this terrestrial chi. Or perhaps the numerological and Masonic
significance of 33 dictated that monuments to this sacred number be erected as a
signal to future generations. Whatever the rationale, the 33rd parallel is a
path of power across the globe, a circuit that links both time and space in
order to vitalize the dynamo of a mystery we are just now beginning to realize.
End Notes
1. “About Master Numbers in numerology,” Ducoz Numerology Software
[web site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.decoz.com/Masternumbers.htm;
accessed 9 July 2002.
2. Dante Alighieri, The Purgatorio: a Verse Translation For the
Modern Reader, translated by John Ciardi (New York: New American Library, 1961,
1957), p. 334.
3. Dante Alighieri, The Paradiso: a Verse Rendering For the Modern
Reader, translated by John Ciardi (New York: New American Library, 1970,1961),
p. 365.
4. Day Williams, “Masons and Mystery at the 33rd Parallel,” [web
site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.daywilliams.com/masons_mystery_33rd_parallel.html;
accessed 7 January 2002.
5. Most of the sites discussed in this essay are less than one
degree (60 nautical miles) from latitude 33 degrees North. There are two
exceptions: one site in Lebanon is 68 nautical miles from the 33rd parallel and
another site in Georgia is 71 nautical miles (nearly 82 English miles) from this
latitude line. (One international nautical mile = one arc minute of latitude or
longitude = 6080.2 ft.)
6. David Grant Noble, Ancient Ruins of the Southwest: An
Archaeological Guide (Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Publishing, 1991, 1981), p.
15.
7. H. M. Wormington, Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest (Denver,
Colorado: The Denver Museum of Natural History, 1973, 1947), p. 125.
8. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. X (Chicago: Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Inc., 1979), p. 223.
9. “What is the meaning of the word Aztlan?” The Azteca Web Page
[web site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.azteca.net/aztec/aztlan.html;
accessed 10 January 2002.
10. Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Prepared for the Supreme Council of the
Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States and
Published by Its Authority (Charleston, South Carolina: A. .M. . 5632, 1928,
1906, 1871), p. 363.
11. Ibid., p. 9.
12. Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Uriel’s Machine:
Uncovering the Secrets of Stonehenge, Noah’s Flood, and the Dawn of Civilization
(Gloucester, Massachusetts: Fair Winds Press, 2001, 1999), p. 319.
13. See Gary A. David’s essay entitled “The Dual Stargates of
Egyptian Cosmology, Duat CD ROM magazine, Issue 1, Sept. 2002.
14. Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 9.
15. Smith, Smith’s Bible Dictionary, p. 714.
16. Michael Howard, The Occult Conspiracy: Secret Societies-- Their
Influence and Power in World History (Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1989),
pp. 10-11, p. 47.
17. William Bramley, The Gods of Eden (New York: Avon
Books/Harper-Collins Publishers, 1990, 1989), p. 90.
18. “Byblos (Jbeil),” Embassy of Lebanon, Washington, DC [web site
online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.lebanonembassy.org/tourism/jbeil.html;
accessed 8 February 2002.
19. Graham Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of
Earth’s Lost Civilization (New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995), p. 262.
20. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 2 (Chicago: Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Inc., 1979), pp. 554-556.
21. Henri-Paul Eydoux, “The men who built the Tower of Babel,” The
World’s Last Mysteries (Pleasantville, New York: The Reader’s Digest
Association, Inc., 1979, 1976), p. 176.
22. Pike, Morals and Dogma, pp. 499-500.
23. Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, The Hiram Key: Pharaohs,
Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus (Shaftesbury,
Dorset, England: 1998, 1997, 1996), pp. 260-265.
24. a. “Ancient Pyramids In China,” Laura Lee Online [web site
online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.lauralee.com/chi_pyr.htm;
accessed 8 February 2002; b. “Chinese Pyramids,” David B. Kelley [web site
online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://hawk.hama-med.ac.jp/dbk/chnpyramid.html;
accessed 8 February 2002; c. “Chinese Pyramids,” Earthquest [web site online];
available from the World Wide Web, http://www.earthquest.co.uk/china/china.html;
accessed 14 August 2002; d. Daryl Whitaker, Chinese Pyramids and Burial Mounds,
[web site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.webmongrel.com/dzone/chinapyramids;
accessed 14 August 2002; e. John Winston, “History Channel: Hartwig Hausdorf and
the mystery of the Chinese Pyramids,” The Light Party [web site online];
available from the World Wide Web, http://www.lightparty.com/Spirituality/ChinesePyramids.html;
accessed 14 August 2002.
25. “An Archaeological Sketch of Moundville,” Dr. Vernon James
Knight, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Museum’s
Curator of Southeastern Archaeology, Moundville Archaeological Park [web site
online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.ua.edu/academic/museums/moundville/sketch.html;
accessed 8 February 2002.
26. a. Franklin Folsom and Mary Elting Folsom, America’s Ancient
Treasures: A Guide to Archaeological Sites and Museums in the United States and
Canada (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983, 1974, 1971), pp.
232-234; b. Poverty Point Earthworks: Evolutionary Milestones of the Americas,
Louisiana Office of State Parks [web site online]; available from the World Wide
Web, http://www.lpb.org/programs/povertypoint/pp_transcript.html; accessed 4
July 2002; c. “A Rich Culture Flourished 12 Centuries Before Christ,” Poverty
Point State Historic Site, Louisiana State Parks [web site online]; available
from the World Wide Web, http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/poverty/pvertypt.htm;
accessed 4 July 2002.
27. “Winterville Mounds,” Mississippi Department of Archives and
History [web site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/hprop/winterville.html;
accessed 4 July 2002.
28. “Etowah Mounds Historic Site,” About North Georgia [web site
online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://ngeorgia.com/parks/etowah.html;
accessed 4 July 2002.
29. a. Folsom and Folsom, America’s Ancient Treasures, p. 224; b.
Etowah Indian Mounds, State Historic Site, Georgia Department of Natural
Resources [web site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.dnr.state.ga.us/dnr/parks/ppage2.cgi;
accessed 4 July 2002.
30. Boma Johnson, Earth Figures of the Lower Colorado and Gila
River Deserts: A Functional Analysis (Phoenix, Arizona: Arizona Archaeological
Society, 1986), p. 107.
31. Ibid., p. 64.
32. David S. Whitley, A Guide to Rock Art Sites: Southern
California and Southern Nevada (Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing
Company, 1996), p. 127.
33. Jefferson Reid and Stephanie Whittlesey, The Archaeology of
Ancient Arizona (Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press, 1997), pp.
126-130. This mountain known as Newberry Peak lies at the most southern tip of
Nevada about 35 miles north of Needles, California.
34. Whitley, A Guide to Rock Art Sites, pp. 124-125.
35. Johnson, Earth Figures, pp. 24-25.
36. P. David Seaman, Hopi Dictionary (Flagstaff, Arizona: Northern
Arizona University Anthropological Paper No. 2, 1996, reprinted 1985.
37. In the Hopi belief system a kachina (or katsina) is a type of
intercessory spirit --not a deity per se-- which can assume the form of any
manifold physical object, phenomenon, or creature in the world.
38. Norman T. Oppelt, Guide to Prehistoric Ruins of the Southwest
(Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Publishing Company, 1989, reprint, 1981), p. 47.
39. Polly Schaafsma, Rock Art In New Mexico (Santa Fe: Museum of
New Mexico Press, 1992), p. 77.
40. Polly Schaafsma, Indian Rock Art of the Southwest (Albuquerque:
University of new Mexico Press, 1995, 1980), p. 235.
41. Noble, Ancient Ruins, p. 7.
42. a. “Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site,” Virtual Guidebook to Cactus
Country [web site online]; available from the World Wide Web,;
accessed 11 August 2002; b. Adventures and Photography of a Fledgling Explorer
[web site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://westerntreks.com/index.htm?PaintedRock.htm;
accessed 11 August 2002.
43. Martin Doutré, “Circlestone: an ancient Medicine Wheel in the
Superstition Mountains,” Ancient Celtic New Zealand [web site online]; available
from the World Wide Web, http://www.celticnz.co.nz/Circlestone/Circlestone1.htm;
accessed 4 August 2002.
44. Oppelt, Guide to Prehistoric Ruins, pp. 52-54.
45. Ibid., pp. 64-65.
46. A kiva is essentially an underground prayer chamber used for
communal religious ceremonies.
47. Oppelt, Guide to Prehistoric Ruins, pp. 67-68.
48. Emil W. Haury, Prehistory of the American Southwest, edited by
J. Jefferson Reid and David E. Doyel (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press,
1992, 1986), p. 45.
49. a. Noble, Ancient Ruins, pp. 165-167; b. Franklin Folsom and
Mary Elting Folsom, Ancient Treasures of the Southwest: A Guide to
Archaeological Sites and Museums in Arizona, Southern Colorado, New Mexico, and
Utah (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994), p. 16.
50. a. Will C. Barnes, Arizona Place Names (Tucson: The University
of Arizona Press, 1997, 1988), pp. 180-181; b. Madeline Ferrin Paré, Bert M.
Fireman, Arizona Pageant: A Short History of the 48th State (Tempe: Arizona
Historical Foundation, 1970), p. 148.
51. Williams, “Masons and Mystery” [web site online], op. cit.
52. “The first ‘ground zero’: a visit to the Trinity test site,
where the deer and the antelope play,” Andy Walton, CNN Interactive [web site
online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/the.bomb/route/03.trinity;
accessed 9 February 2002.
53. In this context it is interesting to note that the Sabian
symbol for 33 degrees is the following: “Natural steps lead to a lawn of clover
in bloom.” Clover’s trefoil suggests the Trinity, while its flowering suggests
new life or even resurrection. Sabian symbols are a series of 360 brief
vignettes --one for each degree of the zodiacal circle-- received in 1925 by San
Diego clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler and recorded by astrologist Marc Edmund Jones.
Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and Its 360
Symbolic Phases (New York: Random House, 1973), p. 72, pp. 25-27. “When [clover]
is located upon a mountain it comes to signify knowledge of the divine essence
gained by hard endeavor [‘Natural steps...’], through sacrifice or study
(equivalent to ascension)...” J.E. Ciriot, translated from the Spanish by Jack
Sage, A Dictionary of Symbols (New York: Philosophical Library, 1962), p. 48.
54. “The Amazing ‘Phoenix Lights’ Event Sequence Of 3-17-97,” Bill
Hamilton, Sightings/Jeff Rense [web site online]; available from the World Wide
Web, http://www.rense.com/ufo6/phoe.htm; accessed 10 February 2002.
55. Bill Weir, Arizona Traveler’s Handbook (Chico, California: Moon
Publications, Inc., 1992, 1986), p. 295.
56. a. “The Mysterious Phoenix Lights,” Jim Dilettoso, Exotic
Research [web site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.exoticresearch.com/store/conftape/1998jul/600117.htm;
accessed 10 February 2002; b. “2nd Anniversary of 'Phoenix Lights’ Incident,”
Peter B. Davenport, Director, National UFO Reporting Center, Far Shores [web
site online]; available from the World Wide Web, http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/phoenix.htm;
accessed 10 February 2002.
Copyright © 2006 by Gary A. David
Presented with permission of the author
islandhillsbooks@msn.com
Article originally published in Underground! The Disinformation
Guide to Ancient Civilizations, Astonishing Archaeology and Hidden History,
edited by Preston Peet, Disinformation Books, New York, 2005. Web site:
http://www.disinfo.com/site/displayarticle13861.html
Articles by Gary A. David
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