We warmly welcome Hugh Evans, author of The Origins of the Zodiac, as our featured author this month. Hugh’s book is a detailed investigation of the Star Maps of Gwynedd, which rediscovers the origins of the constellations in North Wales. Hugh argues that the features on the ground in North Wales are thousands of years older than the Babylonian and Egyptian zodiacs, perhaps even older than Gobekli Tepe and that these features actually determined the choice of stars for the constellations in the heavens above. Hugh believes that his rediscovery of the constellation is the ‘cipher‘ connecting the history of the world we know and understand to the pre-history world of myth and mystery and may change everything we believe about our history.
In his article here, Hugh gives us an overview of his rediscovery of the origins of the constellations, which was a journey that also led him on the path towards investigating the origins of numbers and time.
Interact with Hugh on our AoM Forum here.
Evidence for the Lost Advanced Ancient Civilisation.
The existence of extraordinary ancient knowledge of the cosmos, Earth’s place in the solar system, and understanding of the precession of the equinoxes tens of thousands of years before the Greeks, Egyptians, and Babylonians seems a reasonable deduction, but one mainstream academia appears unable to make. If only we could listen to the advanced ancient knowledge of a lost civilisation and hear what they had to say. Now we can.
As Below so Above
The origins of the 88 constellations is a story that connects us to the lost ancient advanced civilisation that mapped the heavens in their language perhaps 25,000, 50,000, 75,000, or perhaps even many more years ago. Through explaining the origins we can, for the first time, listen to our intelligent ancestors of the Mesolithic and more recent Palaeolithic eras.
I believe the origin of the constellations is evidence of the great, lost ancient civilisation, our ancestors.
Precession was not discovered by the Greeks. The Greek Empire lasted roughly 1200 years, which is a woefully insufficient time to understand and name the grand movement of the cosmos. Understanding precession is much older, understood by the ancient people who named the constellations in their language.
Precession means ‘the original course of the constellations’ in Welsh / Cymraeg. I contend that this is proof that Welsh is as old as the constellations, as old as the time needed to be sure that precession is a repeating cycle of 25,000 years.
All the constellations, the stars, planets, times of the day, months, and years, our numbers, symbols, longitude, and latitude, the Arctic and much more were determined in this ancient language by this lost ancient civilisation. My books The Origin of Time, The Origin of the Zodiac, and The Origin of Numbers explain this lost ancient knowledge. All my work is repeatable, and references are provided so that it can be scrutinised.
In the Book of Enoch, we are told the exact location where Enoch received instruction to chart the heavens from Urieli —: this location it is in North West Wales, in an ancient land called Gwynedd [pronounced gwin-eth], centred on the sacred mountain Cadair Idris. We also have an approximate date of c.5000 BCE, as Enoch was the great- grandfather of the biblical Noahii. In Ancient British mythology, Enoch was known as the giant Idrisiii, who charted the heavens from atop Cadair Idris, at the exact latitude we are told in the Book of Enoch.
A cadair is a chair, but it is also a controller, from the Welsh root word ‘ca’ meaning ‘to keep, to hold’.
The Star Maps of Gwynedd, North Wales
Map data: Google, Maxar Technologies
In my first book, The Origin of the Zodiac, I discovered that the ancient constellations of the Zodiac and northern circumpolar constellations are set out on the ground in Gwynedd. As shown aboveiv, the Star Maps of Gwynedd cover over a million acres, 2,000 square miles, a quarter of all Wales and all of Ancient Gwynedd. The ground features are mountains, rivers, valleys, stone circles, standing stones, ancient springs, churches on sacred sites, and even field names that haven’t changed for thousands of years. The ground features actually determined the constellations and what stars were chosen for each constellation, not the other way around. That is why I claim that ‘The Star Maps of Gwynedd is the most important ancient artefact on Earth’. There are many beautiful, important ancient artefacts all over the Earth, but, in my view, none that connect us with the ‘lost ancient civilisation’ by language, except the Star Maps of Gwynedd.
The constellations set out on the Mesolithic to Neolithic ground of Gwynedd can be considered into three groups:
1. The constellations above match the ground features below
(top) Ursa Major constellation; (bottom) Ursa Major atop Cadair Idris.
Map data: Google, Maxar Technologies
The Plough (Ursa Major) is mapped on the ground atop Cadair Idris. The bright stars above have a very distinct shape, and they fit well onto the peaks of Cadair Idris.
2. The constellations above have distinct shapes, but the ground features are not a good match below.
(top) Corona Borealis constellation; (bottom) Corona Borealis constellation at Llynau Cregennin.
Map data: Google, Maxar Technologies
A good example is the constellation Corona Borealis. It has a very distinct ‘C’ shape in the heavens, and as you can see in the previous image, it is very close to The Plough (Ursa Major). The constellation was mirrored in the correct location on the ground in Gwynedd by making two artificial thresholds to form two lakes.
The major stars were represented by standing stones, stone circles and cairns, as can be seen in the Google Earth image with megalithic.co.uk sites overlayed.
This important site in British mythology represents Arianrhod’s wheel of fate and time: part of the wheel’s circular rim is in the mortal world, represented by the C of stars, and part is in the Underworld. The rim of the wheel dips into the Underworld through the two lakes, joining underneath. From this location, Arianrhod controlled the tides and moon. Caer Arianrhod is also a name of the Milky Way, caer meaning circle or enclosure, also from the root word ca.
3. The constellations above that are not distinct but have been determined by the ground features.
I argue that the origin of the Zodiac and other constellations occurred in North Wales, and this is proved as the ground features are unique to this area. Two good examples of such constellations are Virgo and Pisces. Both these constellations of the zodiac are on the ecliptic, above and below the Milky Way. Consequently, there are not many bright stars in that area of the night sky to make the constellations distinct. In Pisces, some brighter stars in the constellation have been left out of the final shape to better fit with the features on the ground. The two prominent ‘ribbons’ of Pisces, joining the two fish, are represented by two rivers. The constellation on the ground is also identified by ancient sites, as shown below.
(top) Pisces constellation; (bottom) Pisces ground map along the Dee and Ceirw+Alwen valleys, joining at Corwen
Map data: Google, Maxar Technologies
The Pathless Path
The Origin of the Zodiac explains the Star Maps of Gwynedd: the what, the where and the how. Having described this discovery, I realised I had to complete the explanation of the who, the when and the why. Why make a Neolithic star map covering a million acres? Why were thousands of ancient sites constructed to one grand plan, out of stone, a long time ago? Why undertake such an immense task involving all that design, construction, and maintenance for thousands of years? What sort of community creates such a project and then sustains it: why would they do that?
I embarked upon the ‘why’ with no discernible path and only the notion that this companion work to The Origin of the Zodiac would be the conclusion and be called The Origin of Time. The no-path problem soon became a no-measurement problem. It became apparent that our ancient astronomer ancestors must have had the same challenge and that a measurement system in time and space first requires a suitable and adequate number system before the heavens could be substantially charted. Measuring precession with notches on a stick would not be sufficient for the task. Nothing short of an advanced numeric system simultaneously built into a modular ancient verbal language protected by a global population would be sufficient. At about the same time, I had an astro-numerical revelation, and I realised that the number 4 was a representation of the heavens. The origin of our other numbers then became apparent. So, I wrote The Origin of Numbers.
The number four represented by the four fixed stars on the ecliptic and the polestar
Online encyclopaedias state that our numbers have evolved from Brahmi numeralsv, arriving in Europe with the Moors in the 10th century, hence their present name, ‘Arabic Numerals’. But this is incorrect and is clearly an inadequate explanation when charting the heavens over precession cycles tens of thousands of years ago. There is a more ancient and complete explanation of our numbers, supremely adequate for monitoring and measuring precession over seventy thousand years or more—approximately three precession cycles, perhaps the minimum number of cycles needed to understand precession.
This ancient explanation of our numbers is presented in The Origin of Numbers. The number 4 represents the observation of the four fixed stars on the ecliptic from the observer’s position on Earth at the centre of the cross. The sloping line to the top reaches the polestar above, creating a fixed, three-dimensional framework within which all other stars could be referred. The heavens could not be charted without having established this fixed three-dimensional framework. The four fixed stars on the ecliptic are the ‘Royal’ stars, Regulus, Aldebaran, Fomalhaut and Antares. Rhi-ol means ‘chief-ly’. Al-de-bar-an means the ‘great-southern-summit’ (on the ecliptic), and An-tares means ‘opposite-Taurus’. Their names describe their functions and locations. All the stars were named in the language of the lost ancient civilisation. How long do you have to watch these four fixed stars to conclude that while every other star moves randomly or in precession cycles, these stars are fixed? Perhaps 100,000 years. All our numbers were derived from the heavens, and they were named by this ancient civilisation, together with the stars, planets, and constellations: all are explained in my work.
The Welsh word for 4 is pedwar; it is made up of two smaller words, ped and chwar. Ped is a foot, a step, an onward movement; from this, we get pedal, pedestrian, etc., et en la belle Français, le pied. Chwar is the root word meaning to turn, and a full turn in four is a quarter, hence quattro, cuatro, quart et un quatre. Not Latin, not Moorish and not Brami.
Journey to the Who Question
Once I had finished The Origin of Numbers which defines the origin of our numbers, shapes, vowels, mathematics and constants, the non-measurement problem was solved and despite the no-path problem, I was able to complete the journey of explaining the who, the when, and the why, in my third book The Origin of Time.
The ancient people who charted the heavens and created the constellations conceptualised time in all its forms and scales. And if you think about it, you can only understand the heavens when you understand time.
All the constellations are named to reflect their function and are placed perfectly in relation to their neighbours on the three Great Rings of Time:
1 The Ecliptic, the Zodiac
2 The Ring of Creation
3 The Milky Way
The Three Great Rings of Time establishing the Celestial Sphere
Three rings create the celestial sphere. In Welsh Se-llestr means ‘star matrix, vessel’: a perfect explanation for the fabric and motion of the starry heavens.
Llestr is made of lle (where, place) and ystre (dwelling, throng, course): this is an intrinsically modular, self-sustaining linguistic system. It is impossible to make up words in Welsh as that would change the meaning of other words. It is a beautiful and extremely robust ancient language, and it has survived intact to the present day. Notably, the word ‘celestial’ is not of Latin origin; the Romans inherited it from the Welsh. Celestial has no intrinsic explanation in Latin or is shared with other Latin words.
1 The Ring of the Ecliptic is the path of the great luminaries of heaven, the sun, the moon, and the planets, as seen from Earth. The twelve signs of the Zodiac reside on the Ring of the Ecliptic, equally spaced between the four fixed Royal Stars. The motion of the great luminaries on this fixed scale is the tick-tock metronomic measurement of time; it enables the accurate recall of the past, and when conjoined with the present, it bestows the supreme authority to plan the future.
2 The Ring of Creation. Once the temporal, scaled structure of the ecliptic had been defined, an anthropological interpretation of this structure was possible. How else would the creation of humankind be considered from its prime origins to the multitude of civilisation without first understanding the mechanism to measure time? The Ring of Creation tells the story of the emergence of humankind from a prime progenitor couple after a great cataclysm into civilisation and, in the second part, as the resurgence of society after a great flood again into civilisation. This was the next most important concept to establish in time.
3 The Milky Way, the Ring of Souls. Only after the first two Great Rings are established can the third and final ring be created, which is crucial to the stability of the sphere. Only after the tick-tock of time and the journey of humanity has been represented in the heavens can the spiritual journey be considered and completed. Our ancient ancestors must have felt there was a great spiritual scheme, as we do today. It is encoded in the heavens to this day. The Milky Way is a vast, moving ‘travelator’ of spirit – Awen, it is the journey of the soul as an individual, and as a collective, it is the repository of goodness from the multitude of our ancestors’ passed souls and it is the nourishment of souls present in the mortal plane able to read this article. It is also the last great journey of the soul on passing to join the ancestors and continue this benevolent cycle perpetually. The third ring completes the celestial heavens and conceptualisation of time in all its forms. Nothing is omitted.
All 88 constellations and their origins are explained in The Origin of Time, as well as the reasons for their locations on the three Great Rings of Time, the individual constellation’s attributes adjacencies and much of the subsequent re-interpretation of the constellations from their historic origin by successive cultures that came afterwards such as the Greeks and Romans.
The constellations were initially created on the Three Great Rings of Time by an ancient civilisation to control time. A detailed understanding of time in the mechanical, evolutional, and spiritual concepts is essential to control time across a wide society for all purposes. Those who control time control everything. It is something we take for granted today that time is access-free, accurate and ubiquitous: it was not as such in antiquity. Imagine if your only access to a sense of time was to look at the sun each day and that someone else controlled the technology or knowledge needed to measure time accurately.
To answer the question of when, we must go back to Enoch, great-grandfather of Noah, who took instruction from Uriel in Gwynedd charting the heavens c.5000BCE. This does not explain how the constellations were named in an ancient language that had experienced several cycles of precession totalling, say, 75,000 years. The severe reduction of the human DNA gene pool 70,000 years ago suggests the adult population was reduced to less than 15,000vi. An unknown event or catastrophe caused this almost human extinction, perhaps linked to the eruption of the Mt Toba super-volcano in Indonesia. A small group of surviving humans speaking the same language would explain how one language might become the origin of the constellations and the source of all other languages. Seventy thousand years is long enough to name the constellations as a result of experiencing precession over three cycles.
The who question is the last to be answered. Who were these people who named the constellations? There are no Roman gods in the constellations. The Romans attributed their gods to the planets and borrowed Hercules from the Greeks. Going back in time to the Greeks, there are no Greek gods in the constellations: Perseus and Herakles (Hercules) were demigods. Where is Zeus and the twelve Olympian gods? They are not in the heavens. Going back further in time to the Egyptians, we see Osiris depicted as Orion, but where are the other nine Enneadvii, creator gods, including Amun? They are not in the heavens. Going even further back in time to the oldest written records from Mesopotamian, again the creator god Anu is not present, but his sons Enlil and Enkiviii are represented by the constellations Boötes and Aquarius respectively and are associated with the two separate human resurgences on the Ring of Creation; catastrophe, and flood. This is a tenuous vestige of the ancient culture that named the heavens.
Ancient British mythology explains the entire creation of the constellations: There are no omissions or vestiges. All the prime Ancient British gods who created the universe are represented in the heavens correctly; their names and individual myths explain their roles and the constellations which they occupy.
The ancient British gods occupy all the most critical locations, the poles. In contrast to other cultures’ mythology, Ancient British mythology is complete and comprehensive. The language of Ancient Britain was Welsh. I believe these ancient people found their way to Gwynedd from some unknown place in time and space and brought their celestial knowledge and beliefs with them, charting the heavens from Gwynedd. They were a global culture that understood the whole world profoundly and must have navigated the continents, bringing that understanding with them. Their knowledge and language have remained intact because of the remoteness of island Britain, the mountainous landscape of Gwynedd, and the tenacity and dedication of the people who have maintained the land, culture, and language. No subsequent authority or religion pervaded Gwynedd and the people to the extent that it changed their conception of the origins of the heavens or the language.
Main line of Welsh / Ancient British gods
In ancient British myth, the universe was created by Mynogen. Myn means will, desire, geni is ‘to bring forth, generate’, gên also means ‘intellect, soul-life’. The universe, understanding and life were created from pure will. Min means edge, brink or boundary; in this sense, the furthest point is the south celestial pole, the repository of spirit or ‘gwydd’.
Mynogen also created Beli Mawr ( mawr meaning great, outside perimeter—the heavens), and his consort Dôn (meaning that which overspreads, the tides – time and goodness). Beli Mawr and Dôn are side by side at the extreme north celestial pole, now known as the constellations Cepheus and Cassiopeia, respectively. Thus, the gods that created the universe occupy the north and south celestial poles. This occurs in no other cultural mythology. Caswallawn was born to Beli Mawr: Caswallawn’s name means ca- to keep, hold, gwaell is a spindle or axis, and awn is the flow of time. Caswallawn holds the spindle of time; from the stories of these gods, we can deduce that Caswallawn’s role was to occupy the pole of the ecliptic and the turning time of precession.
Arianrhod and Gwydion are children of Beli Mawr and Dôn. Caer Arianrhod and Caer Gwydion are two names of the Milky Way. Caer is an enclosure, again from ca- to hold or keep. Arianrhod and Gwydion are the progenitors of humankind and, therefore, occupy the constellations Virgo and Boötes, which is also the northern pole of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Ancient people knew where the galactic pole was located. According to their mythical stories, Gwydion’s twin brother Gilfaethwy is represented by the constellation Cetus; this constellation holds the south galactic pole.
The most important gods in ancient British tradition occupy all three celestial poles. This is not a coincidence, but by design, and it is not found in any other culture’s mythology. All their and the other gods’ stories are represented in ancient stones on the ground in Gwynedd. The people who created these myths are the answer to the who question.
Main Welsh / Ancient British gods and their locations at the prime poles of the Celestial Sphere
All is explained in more detail together with the origin of the other constellations, our numbers and all concepts of our time in The Origin of the Zodiac, The Origin of Numbers and The Origin of Time books, available as paperbacks at originofthezodiac.com also available on Kindle.
See Hugh’s latest presentation – The Origin of Time and the Great Sirius Observatory | Hugh Evans | Megalithomania Conference 2024
References
iThe Origin of Time by Hugh Evans, Chapter 3.1, pages 33 to 40.
iiGenesis Ch5: 24-32
iiiThe Giants of Stonehenge and Ancient Britain, by Hugh Newman and Jim Vieira, Ch7
ivAll images in this article are by Google Earth or by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license
vhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numerals
vihttps://www.science.org/content/article/human-ancestors-were-endangered-species
viiEgyptian Mythology by Geraldine Pinch, p228 and Ch.1
viiiThe Origin of Time by Hugh Evans Ch.7
Hello Graham Hancock,
Thank you for this wonderful article.
It is very important that I can get hold of Hugh Evans. Please can you get a message to him that l am trying to contact him?
I think you maybe have my email address that l leave with this message. If not, please can you give me one?
It’s VERY important. I have information that Mr Evans will be delighted to receive.
Kind regards
Vivian Lake
Hello Mr Lake
You can email me [email protected]
Kind regards
Hugh