The To-Mera Grid and the Zodiac of Europe
The Mandala Palace
On the lower levels of the five elements, at the centre of the world on Mount Meru, sits the Mandala Palace. This precious palace is divided, analagous to man as the measure of all things, into the three levels of body, language, and spirits, to which, in this Mandala of the Time-Wheel, precisely 722 Tibetan dieties are assigned.
- Kalachakra Mandala, gouache, Tibet, 18th Century
Recovering the Map of Mt Meru:
The archetypal form of Mt Meru, the sacred world mountain of Tibetan tradition which unites heaven and earth, may be found in every culture and nation of the ancient world. Whilst in some cases it did actually take the form of a suitably shaped and positioned mountain1, it is by no means only under this guise that the image of Mt Meru may be recognised. In some mythologies it takes the form of the sacred world tree, such as the Ygddrasil of the Norse stories, with its branches in the skies and its roots buried deep in the underworld. In others it is the cosmic axis, the symbolic mill and grindstone upon which the universe turns, or the umbilicus or navel or omphalos2 of the world.
Mt Meru, or Mandara as it was known in the earliest times, can be understood as a template for the creation of sacred space. In its simplest format, it may be depicted geometrically as a square with an inscribed circle, divided four-fold by vertical and horizontal axes through the centre. This basic sign may be developed and embellished and expanded to dizzying heights of complexity, but will always be found to contain core references to the elements of the crossed square and circle united around the central organising point.
The origin of this symbolism points to astronomical references: it may be interpreted to display the observer st the centre of the circle of the horizon with the four cardinal axes of north, south, east and west. Under another reading, the centre may be taken to represent the sun, with the circle standing for the orbit of the earth, and the axes the solstice and equinox lines.
This is the universal glyph which may be found displayed in innumerable Temple architectures from every religious tradition in every age. It is the form of the Garden of Eden, the Great Pyramid, and Stonehenge, as will be shown in detail later in these pages. It is represented by the pyramid, the pillar, the maypole and the obelisk, and may be found ubiquitously in the layout of countries, cities, fairs, games and mazes.
In many traditions, specific numbers and dimensions are also ascribed to the geometry and its various layers and extensions. A knowledge of this canon of sacred dimensions allows the geometer to translate freely back and forth between apparently incommensurate values, such as between circular and square areas, or between diameters and circumferences. The establishment of the meeting point ofheaven and earth, or the Meru condition, can be attained through the knowledge and application of these specific numbers by which the circle measures may be reconciled with those of the square. If then the circle be taken to denote the the heavens, and the square, the earth, it then becomes possible to accurately and usefully map one onto the other.
The task of locating or fixing Mt Meru falls to the geomancers, or sacred geometers, or meresman3 of every age. He or she who understands the geometry of Mt Meru thereby is able to grasp the linkage between heaven and earth, and becomes enabled to move or translate freely between them. To gain access to the zone in which they intersect is to make available the fruits of the harmony which prevails there. Within this space, the siting and erection of the Temple, correctly aligned, measured and dedicated, and the manipulation of earth and earth energies were designed to bring about the harmonious conditions required for the peaceful existence of all living things.
The Hermetic axiom, "as above, so below," may be understood therefore in terms of a specific geometrical display, the Mt Meru form, which is capable of functioning simultaneously as Temple-plan, star-chart and earth-map. Once the local Mt Meru had been established, it functioned symbolically as a local sun-centre. The natural extension of this idea was for the country surrounding it to be inscribed with a zodiac, thus exactly reflecting the situation in the skies above. This was achieved by dividing the land into twelve zones or districts, under some convenient arrangement, and allocating a zodiac sign to each.
Considerable effort and care was devoted to assuring the most exact correspondences between the symbolic content of the zodiacal signs and the landscape to which they applied. These might sometimes take the form of stones placed in carefully determined locations, or minor modifications to ridgetops, cliffs and other features to enhance conformity with the desired metaphor. Natural features which were found to support the scheme without alteration were held in special esteem and great reverence, as indicating its underlying validity and reality. In other wards, the earth really was found to be the reflection of the heavens in these instances. Such local mappings of the zodiac into landscape have indeed been found surrounding oracular centres and and other ancient sacred places in Greece and Britain, and are to be found described in various published works.4
In this work, we shall present evidence of the importance which the ancients attached to this task of establishing the Mt Meru conditions in landscape. This will not be found from contemporary written records however, precisely because it is comprised of the remnants of an oral tradition. Instead, we will find the clues we seek in a study of landscape itself; in observations of the shapes it forms, in the place-names which time and tradition have retained, in the stars which pass above it and in its relationship to other places.
The aim of this study, the conclusion to which the trail of clues will inevitably lead us, is the recovery of the Mt Meru map of Europe, as it was once known and used by the ancients, and by beginning to explore its depths and dimensions, to gain a glimpse of the power and subtlety of a great, forgotten technology. This work of reconstruction proceeds on equal parts of mathematics and mythology, cartography and imagination, rigorous geometry and whimsical word-games. To reconstruct the modes of thinking which enabled this map to come into being, we must discard some of the boundaries between disciplines which modem scholarship has erected. We will find it necessary to enter into a mobile and fluid realm of thought if we wish to penetrate to the heart of these matters. The nature of the uncovered artifacts of paleo-geometry which will soon be presented here demand nothing less.
The Hieroglyph "mer"
Egyptian hieroglyphics fell into two types, as Champollion demonstrated in his decoding of the Rosetta Stone. The first comprised an alphabet of phonetic signs, comparable to such written languages as English and Greek, while the second used pictograms and symbols to convey the meaning of whole words or phrases, as the Chinese language is written.
A pictogram hieroglyph may often have more than one meaning. However, its use to denote a particular concept should not be understood as necessarily fixing or limiting the intended meaning. There is a sense in which "punning" is not only permissible, but essential to extracting the deep layers of meaning which hieroglyphic text is capable of supporting. It is as though the hieroglyph functions not so much as a box in which to store and hold a particular meaning, but as a gateway through which the reader is free to associate and translate between the various concepts commonly denoted.
These hieroglyphs may be thought of then as representing a chain of related potential interpretations, and as indicating that a common and underlying form is shared by all of the meanings which may be accessed.
In ancient Egypt, the word mer, together with its variations and equivalents, was denoted by the hoe, or tilling instrument. It stands for the activity of ploughing the earth. In itself this task was full of symbolic importance, as the many references to hoeing in the Book of the Dead testify’. Some of the other meanings of the mer hieroglyph include the concepts of water, love, measurement, and pyramids.
The Hieroglyph mer
The Dimensions of To-Mera
As Professor Livio Stecchini5 points out, the original name which was used by the ancient Egyptians for their country was To-Mera, which translates as The Land that was Measured. The hieroglyph for the mer phonetic used in this name is the picture of the hoe, or tilling instrument. In this example, the mer sign supports the intended reading of "measured".
Indeed, the Egyptians were extremely concerned with determining exact boundaries and areas of land surface. One practical reason for this was the annual inundation of the Nile, which erased all boundary lines between fields. In "The Ancient Egyptians: Their Life and Customs" (1854) , Sir J. Gardiner Wilkinson wrote:
"Herodotus, Plato, Diodorus, Strabo, Clemens of Alexandria, Iamblichus, and others, ascribe the origin of geometry to changes which annually took place from the inundation, and to the consequent necessity of adjusting the claims of each person respecting the limits of the lands."
We see then an explicit link in the cyclic phenomenon of the flooding of the Nile between water, the tilling of the soil, and geometry and measure, all of which are represented by the mr hieroglyphic. That this nexus represents an underlying reality and not a mere pun will be a central tenet of this work-in-progress. In seeking to understand the nature of the connections at work, it is necessary to first understand the importance of geometry to the Egyptians. In particular, the entire country and its relationship to surrounding lands was minutely and accurately understood, in terms of specific geometrical co-ordinates. Details of such mapping schemes are to be found in the Stecchini essay.
We will introduce now the layout of To-Mera, or Ancient Egypt, and its overall dimensions as given by Prof Stecchini. The country was laid out around a primary or central north-south line, the Prime Meridian, which was located at 31º14’ East. This was considered to be not only the major meridian of Egypt but also of the earth. It is a well-known and remarkable fact that this happens to be the meridian which crosses the greatest distance of land on the Europe/Africa/Asia landmass. In Part Four of the current study, we will introduce material to begin to understand why this might be so. The Nile River also runs precisely due north centering its meander on this Prime Meridian. It flows as a single stream for 4,000 miles, with no other rivers or streams joining it or splitting off, until it reaches the location of present day Cairo, on the 30º parallel of latitude, and here at the apex of the Nile Delta, the river begins to branch out into several tributaries.
Egypt was laid out as a long rectangular strip centred on the Prime Meridian. The country was divided horizontally into two kingdoms; the Upper Kingdom, in the South, and the Lower Kingdom, in the North. The east and west boundaries were defined by two meridians, located 1º24’ east and west of the Prime Meridian (that is, at longitudes 29º50’E and 32º38’E).
The Dimensions of To-Mera, "The Land That Was Measured"
The southern boundary of To-Mera was positioned at 24ºN. This was the location of the city of Syene, or Aswan as it is known today, at the First Cataract of the Nile. In ancient times, it was also the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer. The northern boundary was the 31ºN parallel of latitude. This line passes through the limits of the apex of the Delta of the Nile, which on the western side is the location of the city of Alexandria.
The border between the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt was situated at 30ºN. Hence the total vertical dimension of Egypt was 7º, consisting of a section of 6º (the Upper Kingdom, in the south) and a section of 1º (the Lower Kingdom, in the north). This then is the basic form of To-Mera: a thin strip of land extending 7 north of the Tropic of Cancer, centred on the Prime Meridian of the earth, along which its longest river flows.
It happens that the planets, which travel closely along the ecliptic, or path of the sun in the sky, wander in their orbits within a strip of the sky which extends 7º north and south of this imaginary line. This then is the sense in which, Egypt, or To-Mera, may truly be said to be a reflection of the heavens on earth. It reflects the ecliptic band of the planets path in a most exact manner, both numerically and geographically. (Incidentally, the planet which departs furthest from the sun, and is responsible for setting the +/- 7º limit, is Mercury).
In practise, the Tropic of Cancer was considered to be located in the times of the earliest dynasties at latitude 23º51’N’. Therefore, the centre of the disc of the sun appeared overhead at this latitude at midday on the summer solstice. As the apparent width of the disc of the sun is 30 minutes of arc, its northern edge was overhead a further 15 minutes of arc north of the Tropic. This was the position used to measure the width of the sun, by observing its shadow cast in a well, located at Syene at 24º06’N.
As a result, the southern boundary of To-Mera, at 24ºN, was considered to be made up of three related lines, specifically 23º51’N, 24ºN and 24º06’N, as shown in the above diagram. Similarly, the upper border was also comprised of three lines, at 30º51’N,31ºN and 31º06’. In the case of the boundary between the kingdoms, this region was constituted as a separate nome, or district, which was not considered to be part of the Upper or Lower Kingdom. It was the site of the ancient capital Heliopolis, and of Memphis, and of the Giza complex including the pyramids and the sphinx, and the site of present day Cairo, which name means City of Mars. The Giza nome therefore was the region either side of the 30ºN parallel, bounded by 29º51’N and 30º06’N.
The To-Mera Grid Map of Europe
Stecchini discusses at length how certain key sites of religious and other significance were located across the Near and Middle East by reference to a grid map which extended outward from the meridians of To-Mera. This grid-map consisted of a matrix of geodetic squares. The squares are six degrees of latitude in height, and are built upwards from the southern boundary of Egypt at 24ºN. Hence, considered north-south, the grid lines are at latitudes 30ºN, 36ºN, 42ºN, 48ºN and so on.
There is one further set of horizontal lines in this basic grid form. Recalling that the northern border of To-Mera is one degree north of the 30ºparallel, i.e. at 31º North, squares of 6ºextension in latitude also may be drawn from this line, giving additional grid lines at latitudes 37º, 43º, 49º, 55º and so on.
In regard to the vertical grid lines, the situation is only slightly more complicated. These are found at regular spacing east and west from the Prime Meridian at 31º14’E. As we have seen, there are six squares per 36º counting north-south. Counting east-west however, there are five squares per 36º. Due to the curvature of the (nearly) spherical earth, the squares can be chosen to have a width equal to the height at one particular latitude only. Stecchini shows that the latitude chosen by the Egyptians was 33ºN, the horizontal line bisecting the 30ºN to 36ºN squares.
At this latitude, the distance on the earth between 30º and 36º is equal to a width corresponding to 7º12’ of longitude, which is the one-fifth portion of 36º. If such a grid is extended to cover the entire globe. this implies that there will be 15 squares, north-south, couting from the equator to the north pole, and 50 squares counting around the equator , for a total of 750 covering the northern hemisphere, or 1, 500 to tile the entire globe.
While Stecchini shows that places including Nimrod, Mecca, Persepolis and Jerusalem, are located on grid intersection points or grid-lines, and even cites examples as far afield as present day Russia. He appears however to have limited his application of the grid system primarily to the regions in the ancient Near and Middle East immediately surrounding Egypt. When the squares he has described are extended to the west and the north from Egypt to fully cover Europe, it is found that several significant sites, including the cities of Paris and Rome, also happen to be situated on grid lines or intersections.
The Grid Map of Europe , derived from Professor Livio Stecchini’s reconstruction of the dimensions of the ancient grid map of To-Mera and surrounding nations. Note the positions of Giza, Persepolis, Paris and Rennes-le-Chateau.
The Square Form of the Zodiac
Before we test in detail for the validity of the grid obtained to the landscape and the mythological geography of Europe, we introduce a particular square zodiac form which found in artefacts and images from ancient times. The basic form may be derived from the Mt Meru glyph, or circle-square geometry. By dividing each of the four quarter squares of the Meru geometry described above, a sixteen square division of the original square is created. Using the twelve squares around the outside, this form conveniently supports a mapping of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
These are disposed around the squares in a particular arrangement; that is, with the centre horizontal line, passing between Aries (below) and Taurus(above) on the right, and between Libra (above) and Scorpio (below) on the left. This horizontal line represents the equinoxes, with the spring, or east, to the right, and the autumn, ir west, on the right. The solstice, or vertical line, thereby passes between Capricorn and Aquarius in the south, and Cancer and Leo in the north.
This arrangement corresponds to the image of the heavens at spring equinox sunrise at the beginning of the precessional age of Aries, or roughly 2,000BC. This same configuration is frequently encountered in other zodiac representations from the pre-Christian era, for example in depictions of the god Mithras as the solar archetype surrounded by the circuit of the heavens6.
Laying this zodiac over the squares of the To-Mera grid, with the Prime Meridan at the right hand edge of the zodiac square, and the bottom at the Tropic of Cancer grid line, produces the following result:
Superimposing the Square Zodiac and the Grid Map of Europe
The scheme is comprised of just two superimposed elements, both extensively documented by previous authors, but existing in wholly separate contexts and circumstances; namely the Stecchini grid of To-Mera7, and the square form of the zodiac. The result is a map of Europe which associates the configuration of the heavens 4,000 years ago with the geography of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. As both elements making up this map were evidently known to the ancients, the possibility suggests itself that such a map may in fact have been understood. We shall test for this possibility by looking for positive evidence which might support such an assertion.
We turn first to the distribution of the sign of Pisces to the region of Egypt, to seek for evidence which might support such a symbolic connection. Recalling that To-Mera was constituted as Two Kingdoms separated by the nome of Memphis, it is relevant that the hieroglyph for the Memphis/Sokar nome includes the sign for the Square of Pegasus8, which is a rectangle ulled with water. This constellation is depicted, using this same sign, in the famous zodiac in the Temple of Hathor at Denderah9, between the two Fishes of Pisces. If the nome between the Kingdoms is the Square of Pegasus between Pisces, then the Two Kingdoms are the Two Fishes. We shall require stronger evidence than this to make a conclusive case, but it would seem a promising start.
Both the names which have become associated with particular locations, and the physical shape and appearance which these places present should be taken into consideration. In the case of Pisces, the depiction since earliest times of this sign is of a pair of Fish joined by two cords tied to their tails. This is shown on the Denderah Zodiac. A protractor placed against the lines will show that they are drawn at a 45º angle. If we now look at the map of Europe, in the region assigned to Pisces, the dominant feature is the twin waterways at the head of the Red Sea. These are the Gulf of Suez, and the Gulf of Aqaba, which connect further north to the Murrat, or Bitter Lakes, and the Dead Sea, respectively. A protractor laid on an atlas will show that an angle of 45º neatly bisects the two Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba. I suggest therefore that the twin cords of Pisces represent these twin waterways, further emphasizing the appropriateness of the Egypt/Pisces link.
The sign of Taurus is allocated to Turkey. The principal mountain chain in this square is the Taurus Range. The ancient city of Tarsus is on the south coast of Turkey. Herodotus calls this the land of the Tauri10. Even the shape of Turkey is reminiscent of a bull, with it’s horns pushing across the Sea of Marmara. We shall take Taurus/Turkey as a very satisfying match, and entirely confirmatory of the hypotheses.
The sign of Leo is matched to Italy. Leo is ruled by the Sun, and Italy is where the great solar empire of the Rome was founded. That the Royal power of Leo was also a Priesthood, denoting the Catholic Church and the Vatican, is emphasized in a curious manner by the siting of Rome on the 42º N parallel of latitude, on the grid line between the Leo square and one of the four inner squares of the zodiac form. In the Camp of the Israelites, these first of these squares was given to Moses and Aaron were with the remaining three allocated to heads of the Levites; namely, Kobath, Gershon and Merari. In other words, the inner squares were the domain of the priestly caste. Rome is situated therefore on the border of the Royal Leo Square and the Priestly Inner Squares, the unique legitimate position it could occupy to fulfill the typology of a Holy Empire11.In this case, the shape of Italy corresponds neatly with the glyph for Leo, usually interpreted as representing the head and mane of a lion.
Now we arrive at the allocation of Virgo to France. As shown by various authors12, Virgo is the same as Isis. The cult of Isis, or the Black Madonna, has been present in these regions since pre-Christian times. It has been noted by many authors that this tradition was transferred with little alteration to the adoration of Mary Magdalene, or by equivalence of name, the Virgin Mary, known as Notre Dame. Charpentier has noted13 that the cathedrals named Notre Dame (or dedicated to the Virgn/Mary/Magdalene/Black Madonnna/Isis/Virgo) in the region around Paris, form an image of the constellation of Virgo, spread out and marked in the landscape by the positions of these ancient holy sites.
The sign of Libra falls mostly over water off the coast of Spain. However, the Balearic Islands fall within this square, and offer a faint echo perhaps of the word Balance. It needs little imagination to see in the distribution of the islands in the chain the form of the Scales or the Balance.
In its archetypal form, the map is the ground plan of Mt Meru, sacred world mountain, and central geomantic organizing point for any city, tribe or nation. The plan in its simplest form is the crossed square with inscribed circle. Understood in its details, it is a grid with dimensions which convert circular to square measure and back again. Such a scheme was employed by the Egyptians to construct a grid map which could be extended across Europe. It was also used as the preferred form of depicting the zodiac. When such a zodiac is overlaid on the grid map of Europe, as seems natural, numerous close correlations are found between the signs of the zodiac and the names of the countries and physical features to which they correspond. We conclude that the grid of the Egyptians included as a component the square zodiac form described.
The map thus derived embodied and disclosed a wealth of relationships between heaven and earth, mythology and landscape, precision geometry and the shape of the earth, Its form could be easily drawn as required, as, if necessary, any grid would suffice. However, the true value of the map is as an internal mental construct, as a matrix of meaning and metaphor.
The map may be inferred to exist therefore, as an artefact of memory/meditation/initiation. It is a separate issue as to its physical presence in landscape. We learn however from Stecchini14 that the foundation lines of the grid were laid out and carefully marked in Ancient Egypt, and in other civilisations of the Near East. The location of Persepolis, capital of ancient Persia, situated precisely on a grid point in an otherwise unlikely position for such a city, is sufficient to prove the point. If it is known then that Egyptian and Persian landscape was inscribed with the grid geometry, we should ask whether grid points at other locations in Europe on the zodiac may also have received attention from the ancient grid engineers.
If we turn our attention to that part of ancient Europe occupied by modern-day France, we cannot but be struck by its allocation to Virgo. In the original amphictyony of Europe, this is the territory of Isis, the earthly reflection of her domain in the circuit of the heavens. This simple truth explains the origin of the cult of the Black Madonna, who is identified as Isis/Virgo as well as Mary, which has flourished in France, particularly in the south, from times that predate Christianity by many centuries15.
If this suggests that from early times, the influence of Egyptian religion has been felt in France, due in part to the metaphor of the Mt Meru zodiac grid-map of Europe, then we shall be justified in looking for evidence of landscape engineering at significant geometric positions. The main feature of the grid-map in this part of Europe, is the north-south line, or meridian, which marks the western edge of the large zodiac square. The longitude of this line is easily calculated: it is four squares west of the Prime Meridian of To-Mera. As the squares are of width 7º12’, and the Prime Meridian was located at 31º14’E, this gives a value for the "Isis" meridian of 2º26’E.
This value corresponds within several minutes of are to the position of the Paris Zero Meridian, which is used today in France as the primary national geodetic reference, and marked on French maps as the 0º meridian. The history of this line has caused considerable controversy16, but it clearly appears publicly for the first time as a result of Cassini’s mapping project17 on behalf of King Louis XIV, completed in 1718. There can be little room for doubt however that the Cassini line refers to the original To-Mera "Isis" grid line in some way. It would appear likely that the Kings men knew of it’s existence. Whether or not they found traces of it still remaining in the landscape we cannot yet know. We can conclude however from this episode that fragments at least of the original knowledge were preserved esoterically into at least the eighteenth century. Later we shall find much more recent references to this body of lore.
We have already noted that Paris lies on a grid intersection point, where latitude 49ºN, (three squares of 6º north of the northern border of To-Mera at 31ºN) intersects the "Isis" meridian of 2º26’E. Turning our attention to other points of potential interest lying on this meridian, we locate on a map of France the position one 6º square below Paris (or two 6º squares north of To-Mera northern border). Here we find ourselves in a valley at the foot of the Pyrennees Mountains, in the Languedoc region of southern France. There are a number of small villages very close by, one of which is a, a tiny ancient hilltop settlement which dates to pre-Visigoth times. It is called Rennes-le-Chateau.
That such a map should exist, and that its symbolism should have been preserved is perhaps not altogether surprising; however, we will also discover that the specific geometry of the map corresponds in a very remarkable manner to the physical geography of the European land-mass itself.
That is to say: the map scheme which will be presented in the pages which follow is not merely a curiosity of human invention, an arbitary imposition of a cartographic ingenuity which happens to give the desired results, but rather, it is in some sense inherent in the landscape itself. We will be astonished to find that "as above, so below" holds true at a wholly unexpected and deeply satisfying level of both geometric and symbolic detail.
Tema anterior
Primer 
“For quite some time researchers have been documenting the astronomical alignments of ancient archaeological and megalithic stone sites all over the world. But discovery of their geodesic alignment has been more recent.