PRECESSION

[GeneticBlend]

The Precession of the Equinoxes is the 4th subject in the book.

THE TEXT

In this section of the story, the kids land in Ancient Egypt. Richard, the older boy, explains to Jorden, the younger boy, what a paradox is. They leave their spaceship to explore the Giza Plateau. Richard recalls a theory that his dad told him that the Sphinx was much older than people believed due to precipitation. Jorden went for a ride on a camel. They return to the ship and are off...

THE POEM

The poem mentions three pyramids in a line; Orion's vest; the Nile, the Milky Way; a Dhow; Sphinx; Precession; Aquarius...

THE ILLUSTRATION

This picture is also the cover art for front of the book. It shows the three pyramids and the sphinx, the Nile River, what appears to be mounds of earth/sand, a fish on a plateau, a car in the distance, Orion in the sky, and some numbers and letters drawn into the dirt in a 3x3 square

THE BORDER WORDS
Land of the Pharaohs
Blue Nile White Nile
Where does it all end?
The sun set over the empire


Image and Poem



The Sun set over the Empire
The land was laid to rest
Three Pyramids in a line
Below Orion’s vest

The Nile is flowing by
Just like the Milky Way
Upon it sails a Dhow
As does the Sun each day

The Sphinx is looking East
Toward the Sun arising
Precession tells the tale
Unfolding on the Horizon

Aquarius has risen
It is the new age dawn
Twenty six thousand years will pass
Before it is reborn

And in between and in betwixt
The stars sail like a fleet
East is East and West is West
And ne’er the twain shall meet

Copyright © 2004 Pete Wilder
All rights reserved (Permission Granted to MW to post here)

[GeneticBlend]

I think this illustration is important because it was chosen for the cover art.

I don't know what those mounds of earth are supposed to be.

Why is there a car in Ancient Egypt?

Why is Orion backwards?

Could either the car or backwards Orion be "the lie"?

I don't know what to do with that 3x3 with the letters and numbers. The letters remind me of the Periodic Table of Elements. Reading from left to right, top to bottom, I get:

Sb Ni 102
- ( ) 99
9 49 53

The ( ) is for a blank space.

If I change the numbers to letters using the Periodic Table, I then get:

Sb Ni No
- ( ) Es
F In I

SbNiNo- EsFInI

If I just use the letters: SBNINOESFINI, I can anagram that and get Benin Fission. Benin is a city in Africa, but it once was an ancient city too, one that was very advanced. They do not know what happened to the ancient city, and can not find any trace of it. Also, the current city is close to where both the latitude and longitude are zero. But what about the word, "Fission"?

What if I change all of those to numbers and use the - sign? I haven't tried that yet...

Ideas?

[zupzel]

If you use the numbers it gives coordinate to Russia. Don't know if that's helpful or not

[Marc]

I also think the answer may well generate a set of co-ordinates but the location has to be "...somewhere in the United Kingdom. In an area accessible to the general public".
Having said that maybe you have found a stepping stone. There is thought that we have to navigate our way to the solution which would suggest finding other locations that lead us step by step to the final hiding place of the token.

[Karen]

What has always troubled me the most about this picture is that fish on the cliff in the background. Pete confirmed that there were red herrings in the book, and here, very clearly, we have a red fish. Why would that be there except to alert us to a red herring? I'm sure that the numbers in the field are a red herring (he even mentions in one of his interviews how excited he was to solve the numbers in the field in Masquerade only to find that they were just a tease), but is the entire page a herring or just that bit?

[Marc]

Yes it's always bothered me too!
There has also been suggestions that it represents the age of Pisces finishing before the age of Aquarius begins. Others have suggested it could also be Itchus. the fish symbol that Christians use...who knows! That's the trouble.

[Neil]

Greetings!

My interpration of the grid involves swapping numbers for symbols, and symbols for numbers. The result is

51 28 No(rth)
es (is)
fini (the finish)

This, taken as a latitude and combined with the meridian places us in the heart of Greenwich Park.

The issues with it are: its a bit obvious, the red fish nearby, and the fact that we need a start point not a finish.

I do like any theory involving Greenwich Park though as, not only is near Pete's house and probably where he took his kids, but the features of the park tick all the boxes (maritime museum, observatory, meridian, roman ruins, site of olympic events

[Marc]

Hi Neil,
Thanks for sharing.
I like your idea but my first impression is that you are making a lot of assumptions to get that message. BUT none the less it's interesting that the location is in Greenwich Park. Everyone who joins this hunt does at some point gravitate toward Greenwich Park as you say it ticks some many boxes. Hmmm much to think about.
Thanks again for this great interpretation of the grid.

[Neil]

How does it make a lot of assumptions?

The original grid contains atomic symbols and numbers. All I have done is reverse them. It is similar to what GeneticBlend didup there.

Also, its not really "sharing", like you I am just reposting stuff I posted to the official forum yonks ago

[Jenny]

Jun 21, 2018 9:27:27 GMT -5 Neil said:

Also, its not really "sharing", like you I am just reposting stuff I posted to the official forum yonks ago

I for one very much appreciate the sharing here.... as it seems easier to follow. Currently, I'm playing catch up and once there, I hope to offer what I can. As of now, I wanted to say thanks for helping in providing what is known or has been thought about already.


This is to all doing so... thanks...

[GeneticBlend]

Neil, I like your idea very much. However, with its proximity to the fish, I feel like Pete is telling us that this is not the answer to the location of the token. I also feel that it is a bit too obvious, which is also something you pointed out. BUT, Pete might be telling us that Greenwich Park is important, meaning its history is important, there is a museum there, the observatory is there and the Prime Meridian Line is there too.

I think that the Meridian Line might play a role in the solution because it has to do with both time and place. It could be Pete's way of drawing attention to it.

[Marc]

Hi Neil
Apologies I didn't quite understand how you got there...I do now! Yes makes a lot of sense.
I must have missed it when you posted it on the original forum...I was probably having a bad day : )
Thanks for giving me something to think about.

[zupzel]

Personally this is an idea I can really relate to. Thank you for posting Neil. I would find a solution north along the prime meridian a logical place to start. There is such a sense of time/space in this story. I can't help but feel the constellations will somehow play a big part and the PM would help to ground these. Interestingly, I was doing some research and found the southern cross (only seen mainly in the southern hemisphere, used to be viewable from the northern hemisphere and was last visible (coincidentally) on the horizon at the time of the crucifixion.

[Marc]

I've also played with turning the book upside-down. Some of the border words convert to numbers. For example NILE could be 371 N. Also we are told LESS IS MORE, the word LESS upside down could be 5537.

[Marc]

Guestess, the quote was...

23rd Feb 2018
This morning I've decided to approach things a different way to try and shake up my own preconceptions. Within minutes I'm confronted with an ambiguity that I have known about for a longtime and I just don't see how we are mean't to know how to interpret it...

Pete,
The fish ideogram that appears on the escarpment in the Egypt picture. Is that ichthus and relates to Jesus and therefore might be of help OR is it a red-herring. How do we tell?
All the best
Marc
Posted by MP, 3616 days later
....SIGH...I think it's going to be another very frustrating day!
Posted by MP, 3616 days later
23rd February,2018

Dear readers

Thank you for your recent submissions. There are no correct solutions posted so far.

I am humbled by your persistence, yes it's been a long time but I do not intend to spoil the fun yet! You are all over thinking things, when you find out it will be a kick yourself moment.

Best wishes and happy hunting
Posted by Pete Wilder, 3617 days later



As you can see it was after I was having a hard time with understanding the fish BUT it sounds like he's talking more generally to all of us.