In a time when reports of appearances by the Virgin Mary are multiplying, it should not be surprising to learn that one of her most celebrated appearances almost half a millennium ago would now be the theme of a web site on the internet. While daily accounts pour in from around the world of images in bank windows, weeping statues, the aroma of roses and other manifestation too numerous to mention, the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe remains as provocative as ever and now computer-literate devotees or the simply curious will be able to find out more at the Interlupe.
According to the story, a dark-skinned version of the Madonna first appeared to a peasant Juan Diego just outside Mexico City in 1531. When Juan Diego later opened his cloak before skeptical priests, roses that had been made to bloom in winter fell out and revealed a perfect image of the Virgin stamped on the cloth. The cloak hangs today in Mexico City's Guadalupe Basilica and continues to evoke much awe and curiosity, if not skepticism. But doubts by some, notwithstanding, the image remains the country's most enduring religious symbol.
Now surfers on the World Wide Web can see diagrams of Juan Diego's cloak and read the history of the Virgins apparition, as well as historical and scientific documents which authenticate the story.
May 23 - 26 new-energy aficionados will have an opportunity to learn of the latest developments in the field. The Academy for New Energy will be sponsoring its fourth symposium on New Energy at the Marriott Hotel in Denver's Tech Center.
The Memorial Day weekend get-together will cover Cold Fusion, Hydro Power, Scalar Energies, Aerodynamics, Brown's Gas, Zero point Energy and much more. At press time the speakers roster has not been finalized, but invitations have gone to Dr. Eugene Mallove, Dr. Stanley Pons and many others at the forefront of the new energy revolution.
For additional information, contact The Academy for New Energy at 970-482-3731 (fax: 970-482-3120.
In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the modern UFO era, author John White's organization Omega Communication will present what it calls The UFO Event of the Year during the weekend of June 21-22. Two world-renowned authorities on the subject of UFOlogy, nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman and Harvard psychiatrist John Mack will present their findings about crashed flying saucers, alien abductions and government cover-up. (For recent comments from Friedman see the following article.)
The conference site is the Holiday Inn, North Haven Connecticut. For further information write to Omega Communications, P.O. box 2051, Cheshire, CT 06410-5051.
When the Mars Global Surveyor begins to send its high- resolution pictures home later this year, a very sizable constituency of Earthlings on the internet will be watching closely for the first close-ups of Cidonia. From orbit 234 miles overhead, the satellite will be able to see objects as small as 6-1/2 feet across. The camera, it is hoped, will produce a definitive answer to the question: is the Ôface on MarsÕ a natural feature of rock and sand, or is it an artifact of an advanced, but long-dead civilization?
Believers in the latter thesis have been assured by the cameraÕs designer and controller Michael Malin that if his camera is over the face, it will be turned on, and the resultant pictures will be posted on the internet; providing, that is, that no higher-priority science preempts the project. Richard Hoagland, author of The Monuments of Mars, reads this as NASA Òdoing everything they can to leave themselves a legal loopholeÓ to withhold the images if they show any signs of alien handiwork.
Consequently Malin and NASA have been under some pressure from the Mars Face devotees to make sure and follow through on their promise. On November 6 simultaneous public demonstrations at Kennedy Space Center and the Jet Propulsion Lab in California made the point. Global Surveyor was originally scheduled to launch on that day but was postponed by weather until the next day.
At Kennedy, Hoagland and former NASA engineer Ken Johnson held official press passes to attend the launch, while nearby about 50 of their supporters waved signs and called for NASA to produce the needed photographic evidence to resolve questions about the ÒFace.Ó While the official response in Florida was generally tolerant, that at JPL was less so. There NASA made its displeasure at the presence of over 50 demonstrators clear. To make attendance at the rally more difficult, sheriffÕs deputies were summoned to enforce seldom-used parking regulations.
POSSIBLE NEW DICOVERIES AT GIZA STILL AWAIT OFFICIAL GREEN LIGHT
As Atlantis Rising goes to press the situation on the Giza plateau in Egypt remains murky, at best.
The current investigation of underground anomalies near the Sphinx, reported in the last two issues of AR goes on but has encountered delays. After several unexplained postponements, Dr. Joseph Schor and colleagues, accompanied by representatives from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, Florida State University and Fox television plan to be on the site in late February in an attempt to learn more about the nature of possible chambers beneath the Sphinx. Little is being said about what investigative strategy might be employed, but unconfirmed reports of a passageway apparently running between the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx would seem an appropriate starting point. Speculation concerning possible core drilling with a camera into the so-called ÒchamberÓ also continues. However, officials with the Schor team deny that permission has been granted for any such probes. At present the license to the Schor group from the Egyptian antiquities department, which was renewed for another year in November, is for survey purposes only. Any actual penetration of underground sites will require another license. So far there is little indication that the Egyptian antiquities authorities are in any hurry to proceed. Nevertheless, the presence of Fox TV indicates that the possibility of a live broadcast of some kind of a chamber opening event has not been ruled out. And, by all accounts, Fox is interested in such a broadcast, only if it can be assured in advance of the significance of whatever discovery might await its cameras.
As for the running feud between SchorÕs group, including Antiquities officials (i.e., Zahi Hawass), and the faction led by Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval and John Anthony West: any reports of an Òuneasy truceÓ appear to have been premature. Charges and countercharges over cover-ups and secret dealings, as well as outright name-calling, seem to be escalating and, sources say, tempers on both sides are flaring. At this point it is difficult to estimate what effect the controversy may have on the ultimate outcome of the current investigation, but it seems fair to say that anything less than complete public disclosure of any discoveries made will be subject to a fire storm of criticism beyond anything in the volatile history of Egyptian archeology.
In the meantime, at the Great Pyramid, developments are reported on the GantenbrinkÕs Door story. John Van Auken with the Edgar Cayce group (the Association for Research and Enlightenment) is reporting that an unnamed group of French archeologists is making plans to send another robot camera up the passageway from the QueenÕs chamber. The new probe, it is said, will attempt to insert a medical-style camera on a cable beneath the door originally revealed by Rudolf GantenbrinkÕs robot. Other sources report that Egyptian Antiquities authorities have offered Egyptian archeologist Farouk El Bas the opportunity to do his own investigation of GantenbrinkÕs door.
One thing, at least, seems clear: 1997 should not be a dull year.
Dr. Louis Kaufman, a Mathematician at the University of Illinois in Chicago is among a number of researchers now investigating the mysterious pattern shown here as reconstructed from memory by near-death survivor Lynnclaire Dennis. As with the mobius strip, scientists have yet to be able to write a formula which will enable a computer to generate it. Many authorities have speculated that it may have unique archetypal qualities, making it of special value to the planet.
Design and marketing professional Dennis has written a book about her near-death experience and the enigmatic symbol she brought back with her. The Pattern from Integral publishing, due out in April, tells how a hot air balloon race over the Austrian Alps in 1987 nearly took the author's life but left her with an intense vision of the pattern which has come to intrigue investigators.
The Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny, is back in Scotland after a 700-year sojourn in England. It is not quite clear why the British finally decided to return the stone which traditionally had been kept beneath the Scottish throne. After all, they have had it since Edward I stole it in 1296. But in November, return it they did. It will now be on public view in Edinburgh Castle.
According to legend the stone was originally brought to Scotland by refugees from the Babylonian captivity of the ancient Israelites and is in fact the stone on which Jacob rested his head when he dreamed of the ladder to heaven. It is said that when a king of the royal blood sat on the stone, it would cry out. If, on the other hand, an impostor sat on it, it would be silent. It has been silent for some time.
