The Forbidden Universe (60 page)
Read The Forbidden Universe Online
Authors: Lynn Picknett,Clive Prince
Tags: #Non-Fiction, #Gnostic Dementia, #Fringe Science, #Science History, #Occult History, #Amazon.com, #Retail, #History
Still standing tall in Rome, these ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in the 1650s by the remarkable Hermetic Jesuit Athanasius Kircher and the famous sculptor Bernini are replete with Hermetic symbolism. Their monument
(above left),
erected outside the church where Bruno and Galileo were condemned, draws its symbolism from the extraordinary esoteric work
Hypnoerotomachia
Poliphili (above right).
(both images: Bridgeman)
Similarly the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome’s Piazza Navona, encodes Hermetic secrets, as does Kircher’s book on the subject,
Obeliscus
Pawphilius (its frontispiece,
opposite
)
.
(opposite bottom: Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: A: 13.1 Eth, 2°; above: Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenb
ü
ttel: A: 66.1 Quod. 2
°
)
Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), whose work on gravity and the laws of motion was set out in the
Principia rnathernatica,
effectively created the modern technological world. Although the most famous scientist in history he was utterly dedicated to the magical Hermetic tradition, whose principles actually drove his masterpiece.
(Science Photo Library)
Although long doubted, recent research has shown that the Hermetic texts do indeed have their roots in ancient Egypt. Not only is Hermes Trismegistus the Egyptian god Thoth
(above left)
but the books encapsulate the wisdom of Heliopolis, magical city of the sun. This was the religion that inspired the building of the pyramids of Giza
(above right)
and the world’s oldest religious writings, the Pyramid Texts
(below).
(top left: Bridgeman; other images: author’s collection)
(top-left)
The early universe as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The understanding emerging from modern physics is rapidly converging with the ancient Hermetic vision of the cosmos as the mind of God – and, to the Hermeticists, therefore also the mind of humankind. The notion of the ‘participatory universe’ developed by the eminent American physicist John Archibald Wheeler
(below)
intimately links human consciousness to the creation and growth of the universe, as depicted in his famous ‘U and eye’ diagram
(top-right).
In the act of observing the universe, intelligent life is in some way actually creating it.
(top-left: NASA;
top-right
: Keith Prince; bottom: Science Photo Library)
Turin Shroud: How Leonardo da Vinci Fooled History
The Templar Revelation
The Stargate Conspiracy
The Sion Revelation
The Masks of Christ
Also by Lynn Picknett
Mary Magdalene: Christianity’s Hidden Goddess
The Secret History of Lucifer
By Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince and Stephen Prior
Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-Up
War of the Windsors
Friendly Fire: The Secret War Between the Allies
Constable & Robinson Ltd 3 The Lanchesters 162 Fulham Palace Road London W6 9ER www.constablerobinson.com
First published in the UK by Constable, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd., 2011
Extracts from
Hermetica:
The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius
(New
English Translation)
translated by Brian P. Copenhaver © Cambridge University Press 1992, reproduced with permission.Copyright © Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince 2011
The right of Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978–1–84901–881–4
