Did Noah's Flood start in the Carmel?

A deluge that swept the Land of Israel more than 7,000 years ago, submerging six Neolithic villages opposite the Carmel Mountains, is the origin of the biblical flood of Noah, a British marine archeologist said Tuesday.

The new theory about the source of the great flood detailed in the Book of Genesis comes amid continuing controversy among scholars over whether the inundation of the Black Sea more than seven millennia ago was the biblical flood.

In the theory posited by British marine archeologist Dr. Sean Kingsley and published in the Bulletin of the Anglo-Israeli Archaeological Society, the drowning of the Carmel Mountains villages - which include houses, temples, graves, water wells, workshops and stone tools - is by far "the most compelling" archeological evidence exposed to date for Noah's flood.

"What's more convincing scientifically, a flood in the Black Sea, so far away from Israel and the fantasy of a supposed ark marooned on the slopes of Mount Ararat, or six submerged Neolithic villages smack-bang in the middle of the Bible Land?" Kingsley said in a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post.

He added that the site, which has been excavated by Israeli archeologist Dr. Ehud Galili over the last quarter-century, offers a "pretty convincing cocktail of coincidences," including submerged layers of villages in a critical location, and one that was known for its nautical revolution.

But Galili rejected Kingsley's theory, saying Tuesday that it could not be true.

"Based on our archeological finds, the village was not abandoned due to a catastrophic event, but due to the slow rise of sea levels which occurred all over the world," he said. "The pace of the increase in the sea level was very slow, so that it would not be significant enough for people to remember it in the course of their lifetime."

Galili noted that, following the major tsunami that hit Asia, there was a scientific trend in the world to hunt for mega-disasters that happened in the past.

"We did not find any proofs which indicate that a tsunami or other such catastrophe flooded the villages, even though there are proofs that a tsunami did occur in the Mediterranean Sea," he said.

Kingsley, a self-declared atheist, said he had begun studying the origins of Noah's flood five years ago as a result of his interest into "how mythologies came into existence," as well as a desire to connect the biblical story with global warming.

The alternate theory that the inundation of the Black Sea around 5,600 BCE was the source of the biblical flood is called into question by the fact that no villages, houses, cemeteries or graves have ever been found under its waves, Kingsley said.

Scholars agree the Black Sea flooded when rising world sea levels caused the Mediterranean to burst over land, turning the freshwater lake into a saltwater sea. The flood was so monstrous that it raised water levels by 155 meters and submerged up to 150,000 square kilometers of land.

But scholars are divided on when the flood occurred, and how rapidly. Most believe it took place about 9,000 years ago and was gradual.

The date of the massive flooding on the Carmel Coast, which Kingsley estimates to have taken place between the sixth and fifth millennia BCE, is another unknown.

"The precise timing of this localized flooding is still being worked out, but there is no doubt that the villages of the Carmel were lost not to earthquakes or tectonic movements but to killer waves," Kingsley said.

The lost villages cluster opposite the Carmel Mountains in depths of 12 meters. Atlit-Yam, 10 meters south of Haifa, is the largest submerged Neolithic village in the Mediterranean Sea.

Kingsley's theory about the origin of Noah's flood, an independent archeologist said, is interesting but dubious.

"Whether or not one can make a direct link between the biblical story and the submerged Neolithic sites is doubtful," said Prof. Shimon Gibson, an archeologist with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "But it does show that episodes of substantial flooding did occur in these parts of the world and that that kind of fear would have existed within the cultural conscientiousness [sic] of ancient peoples.

"The bottom line," he concluded, "is that overall evidence of [a] world submerged in flood does not exist."

Mystery Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture?

Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the region, archaeologists say.

Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley of Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into Mexico's Gulf Coast.

Most of the 41 artifacts "do not fit into any of the known cultures of the Valley of Tulancingo, or the highlands of central Mexico," said Carlos Hernández, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History in the central state of Hidalgo.

Many of the figures are depicted in a sitting position, with their hands placed on their knees.

Some have headdresses or conical hats with snakes at the base, which could represent Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the Aztec god of the wind. One figure shows a man emerging from the jaws of a jaguar.

The sculptures are also made of flat stucco—a combination of fine sand, lime, and water—and painted blue or green to the give the appearance of jade.

All of the artifacts date to the Epiclassic period between A.D. 600 to 900. Some Mexican and foreign archaeologists have said the sculptures weren't ancient and thus false, Hernández said.

"But by linking all the characteristics that make them different, [such as their location in Tulancingo and time period], allows us to say that they should be considered as a product of a different culture [called Huajomulco]."

The culture is named after an area in Hidalgo.

Baffling Pyramid

Some of the artifacts were also found near the mysterious Huapalcalco pyramid in Hidalgo, whose origin has been a source of debate among archaeologists.

The pyramid's proportions, along with smaller structures that were painted black and white, do not correspond to the Toltec or Teotihuacan cultures of the same area and time period.

The Teotihuacan people, who lived from 400 B.C. to A.D. 700, constructed one of the largest pyramid complexes in the pre-Hispanic Americas, which refers to cultures that lived on the continent before the Spanish conquest of the Western Hemipshere.

The Toltecs, who came afterward, were made up of several groups of South Americans that together formed an empire famous for its artists and builders in the Teotihuacan capital of Tula from A.D. 900 until the 1100s.

The pottery found at the site—rough, cylindrical vessels that are gray and reddish-brown in color—is also not familiar to experts.

Based on the artifacts' discovery near the pyramid,"it is likely that the Huapalcalco pyramid has been built by people from this new culture," Hernández said. Thomas Charlton, an archaeologist at University of Iowa, has worked in the state of Hidalgo.

He said that ample evidence—including the new artifacts—links a new pre-Hispanic culture to the Huapalcalco pyramid. "It's a reasonable hypothesis [that] near the Valley of Tulancingo, there is a site that looks like it existed between the fall of the Teotihuacan and the beginning of the Tula [Toltec]," Charlton added.

"We know that there's an occupation [from this time] near Tulancingo.

"After the Teotihuacan, there were all sorts of smaller states throughout Mexico. It's part of the cycle after the fall of an empire."

Creative Era

Michael Smith, an archaeologist at Arizona State University, agreed.

"The notion that there would be an independent culture in [the Epiclassic] period is not surprising at all," he said.

"It was a very creative period, with rich development."

Future excavations of Huapalcalco should solidify the link to a new pre-Hispanic culture, and help archaeologists glean clues about this lost time, Hernández said.

"The [Epiclassic] period is considered a time of dynamic development—new trade, cities, and development," said Arizona State's Smith, "but one we don't know much about."

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A different psychic vampire

I am sure most if not all of the readers of this blog have heard of the term ‘psychic vampires’.

Like the vampires of old these parasitic beings live upon the life force of others. Unlike the blood sucking freaks of old the new age psychic vampire drains the very life force of its victim either willingly or unwillingly.

Just do a google of the word ‘psychic vampire’ and you will come upon a cornucopia of various explanations, tales and beings who claim to be able to drain the vital energies from another fellow traveler on this great marble in space.

Even in a recent History Channel program profiling ‘real’ vampires they touched upon the subject highlighting the life and psychic needs of Michele Belanger. Michele is an author, performer and self proclaimed psychic vampire. She has a circle of willing victims on whom she feeds. The History Channel’s program “Monsterquest” produced evidence that there is an actual physiological component to the abilities of the psychic vampire.

However I believe there is a different kind of psychic vampire that just does not hinge on the singular characteristic of life draining. True that is the dominant and trademark quality of these creatures of the night. But there are other characteristics of the vampire that also have been popularized by both literature and cinema over the past two centuries that are mere secondary afterthoughts to many examination of the psychic vampire. These are the mesmerized followers, controlled and unconditional obedience of these followers, violent fear of the revelation of their true nature and ungodly minions.

Now these characteristics are not historical but they are imbedded in the modern fictional narratives of the creature and when you get right down to it the figure of the vampire is shrouded in myth and story telling from the dawn of time. Be they the Vetalas of ancient India or the Middle Eastern legend of Lilitu (from which we derive the non Biblical but archaic rabbinical traditions of Adam’s first wife Lilith) stories of demonic entities that thrive off the life blood of the living are found in every culture across the globe. The encounters with these life draining entities have evolved and their characteristics have developed into the familiar figures that are now in many variations, popular culture icons in our 21st century. And these characteristics are minor but yet quintessential aspects of the beings which we call vampire as we know it in our modern world. Again these are:

The Mesmerized Followers
The classic vampire of literature has a supernatural ability to have their victims become enraptured so they are under the creature’s complete control. They ignore the clear warning signs of danger that surround this relationship and willingly give themselves to their controller.

Unconditional and Controlled Obedience
The mesmerized followers of the vampire give the master complete and unconditional obedience. Every aspect of their existence is focused on the continuing support and nurture of the master. Their innate desire for self preservation is muted by the overwhelming compulsion to obey the master’s every whim.

Violent Fear of the Revelation of their True Nature
The vampire lives a life of a lie. The creature strives to appear normal in the society in which it preys, so it may acquire its victims and blend into the masses. Any threat to this charade is met with quickly and violently.

Ungodly Minions
In addition to the mind controlled followers of the master vampire, the master also has distasteful fellows who follow them around to do the ‘dirty work’. They too are under the complete control of the master but lives on the edge of the community. They are deemed too ‘unclean’ for full integration in the brood but still are necessary for the brood’s existence.

I would posit that modern day broods of psychic vampires litter our world today. They are not pale and wear the neo-goth clothing that many self proclaimed vampires use as a cultural banner. No, these broods live among us and are virtually undetectable. But they still have a psychic master who controls and drains the followers in an unnatural way. Is it supernatural or psychological? In my experience it is both. The psychological issues fuel a spiritual bondage that can produce paranormal events.

Julie was a baby boomer child. Her father did not serve in the war, instead he was one of the fortunate few who had a medical condition that allowed him to escape the draft. All of his friends had gone off to the various fields of battle leaving behind their wives and girlfriend’s alone and vulnerable. This was a dream come true for Julie’s father since he was a notorious lady’s man. The problem came when Julie was born to one of his buddies wives. Not only did it destroy a marriage, it devastated a soldier on the front lines who thereafter volunteered for more and more dangerous missions. Missions that eventually ended his life. And it brought to a screeching halt the flagrant womanizing of Julie’s father. In the small coal mining town in Pennsylvania in which they lived the community might look the other way at wanton fraternizing, but leaving a single mother and neglecting parental responsibility was not just frowned upon it was punished socially…and sometimes with vigilante justice.

So Julie’s father was forced to marry her mother. Julie was stuck in the middle. Her father hated her for imprisoning him to a monogamous marriage and her mother saw her as the child that had killed her true love in Germany. She grew up unloved and both physically and emotionally abused. And it was shortly after her 7th birthday that she became the sexual focus of her degenerate father.

Read complete article at http://theparanormalpastor.blogspot.com/2008/12/different-pyschic-vampire.html

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Black Hope Curse

Homes built on top of a cemetery may be cursed

Just outside of Houston, Texas, is a neighborhood filled with upscale homes and manicured lawns. In the early 1980s, Sam and Judith Haney settled in at the far western edge of the development. Sam described it as their dream home:

“When we bought the house in Newport, it was the house that we had always been looking for. So, it was the house that we intended to stay at for a long period of time.”

But there was a morbid secret about the Haney’s perfect home, one that soon turned their lives into a never-ending nightmare. Sam said it all began when a mysterious old man showed up at their door with an ominous warning:

“This elderly man told me that he had noticed that we were putting a swimming pool in our backyard and that there was something about our backyard that I needed to know about. So I followed him around to my backyard and he pointed at the ground and said that there are some graves right here. And he marked a spot on the ground where they were. And I really didn’t know how to react to that. I didn’t know if he was just joking. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to joke about something like that.”

Using a backhoe, Sam decided to see if the man’s alarming claims were true. Sam says it wasn’t long before he hit something:

“And at that point, we stopped with the backhoe and we got down into the hole and continued digging by hand. There were pine boards. When we lifted up the first board, we could see an indentation of a skeleton form. It didn’t take long to figure out that it was actual human remains.”

Sam immediately called the Sheriff and county coroner who conducted an official exhumation. Most of the bones had turned to powder. But 25 fragments were found, some so brittle that they disintegrated when touched.

A second coffin, located alongside the first, hadn’t been disturbed. Inside, two wedding rings were discovered on the frail index finger of the exposed skeleton. Judith Haney was mortified by the discovery: “They handed me the rings and it was sickening to think that I had desecrated somebody’s grave.”

Wanting desperately to do the right thing, the Haneys decided to find out whose remains were buried in their backyard. The search led them to a longtime resident named Jasper Norton.

Years earlier, Norton had dug several graves in the area. He told the Haneys that their home and a dozen others were built on top of an old African American cemetery called Black Hope. The deceased were mainly former slaves. The last burial was in 1939, and as many as 60 people were interred there in paupers’ graves.

Read complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/black-hope-curse.html

Scientists 'create body-swapping illusion'

Neuroscientists in Sweden have succeeded in making subjects perceive the body of another person as their own, the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institute said on Wednesday.

"In one of the experiments, subjects swapped bodies with other people and shook hands with themselves without the illusion being broken," the institute said in a statement.

"This shows how easy it is to change the brain's perception of the physical self," Henrik Ehrsson who led the project said.

"By manipulating sensory impressions, it's possible to fool the self not only out of its body but into other bodies too," he said.

In one experiment, the head of a mannequin was equipped with two cameras connected to two small screens placed in front of the subjects' eyes so they saw what the dummy "saw".

"When the dummy's camera eyes and the subject's head were directed downwards, the subject saw the dummy's body where he or she would normally have seen his or her own body," the institute explained.

The illusion of body-swapping was created when a scientist touched the stomach of both with two sticks. The subject could then see that the mannequin's stomach was being touched while feeling, but not seeing, a similar sensation on his or her own stomach.

"As a result, the subject developed a powerful sensation that the mannequin's body was his or her own," it said.

In another experiment the camera was mounted onto the head of another person.

When this person and the subject, who was wearing glasses that showed what the camera was showing, turned toward each other to shake hands, the subject perceived the camera-wearer's body as his or her own.

The illusion worked even if the people were of opposite genders, but it was not possible to fool a person into believing he or she was an object such as a chair.

The research could be of practical use in virtual reality applications and robot technology, the institute said, as well as other fields.

"We can raise questions about how we perceive ourselves and how we think about belonging to a certain group. Maybe we can try to combat prejudice. The technology could also be used within the fields of education, medicine and for games," Ehrsson said.

Source : http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/swedenhealthresearch
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THE SCIENCE OF PRECOGNITION

The ability to see into the future is one of the most enigmatic areas of paranormality. To accept that it occurs we have to abandon our sense of ‘now’, and to accept a merging of all time, including the future, which rationally has not yet happened.
This, however, has not stopped a whole host of theories regarding the subject. From pseudoscholars, to philosophers, to scientists, the existence of a ‘future’ has fascinated some of our cleverest minds.

PHILOSOPHISING TIME

To French philosopher Henri Bergson time is not in the world. Rather, it is a subjective quality, needed for us to place order upon the world. English author J B Priestley went further, arguing that we had to be taught to appreciate time; and once taught, we were imprisoned by it. But these ideas actually tell us little of the mechanics of time.
One theory to explain precognition is the ‘bow wave’ effects. As a boat ploughs through water, it leaves ripples which dissipate with the passing of time. Could time be similar, causing ripples that go back to the past from the future? Ripples of knowledge that we can intuit?

THE TIME SCIENTISTS

Prof Paul Davies suggests there are an infinite number of universes. Could we cross into other universes? And if so, could we re-enter the same universe at a different point in time? Cosmologist Thomas Gold suggested that the direction of time is a product of the universe expanding. But what if it is really contracting? If so, it is an illusion that time goes forward. It is really going backwards. Hence, we experience things that haven’t yet happened.
A further idea is the block-universe hypothesis. Here, the four dimensions, including time, are really static. Movement is really consciousness moving through it, rather like a beam of light, illuminating and making it real. But if the unconscious is more like a searchlight, it will pierce deeper and wider, the unconscious appreciating events before they happen.

AN EXPERIMENT WITH TIME

British engineer J W Dunne was fascinated by the subject, keeping a ‘dream diary’ for many years. Once, in South Africa during the Boer War, he dreamt he was stood on a hill watching a volcano erupt. The number 4,000 was connected with the image.
Later he heard of the eruption on Martinique which killed 40,000. On another occasion he saw a train disappear over an embankment in his dream. A couple of months later the Flying Scotsman plunged over an embankment not far from the Forth Bridge.
Writing about his experiences in his 1927 book, ‘An Experiment With Time,’ Dunne argued time existed in layers, each slightly more advanced in time than the others. Alongside these layers were various selves, or states of consciousness, in the person. At times we can move into higher layers, thus appreciating the future.

CAUSALITY AND FREE WILL

There is, of course, a problem with these ideas. None of them can be proved. Indeed, the idea that we can see the future flies in the face of logic, particularly concerning the law of causality.
This simple law states that a cause must come before an effect. For instance, if you are shot, a gun must first be fired. It is ridiculous to surmise that you could experience the wounding (the effect) before the gun firing (the cause). Events simply must happen in order for the world to make sense. But if a definite future exists, then this order is blown.
Philosophically, we also have a problem with free will. Fundamental to who we are is the idea that we can make choices. Such choices lead to actions, and it is those actions that will go on to form the future.
However, if a definite future already exists, then those choices become irrelevant, and our free will is a fallacy. Such an acceptance of a future negates our ability to think and act. Rather, we would simply be mindless players of a universal tune.

TOWARDS OTHER DIMENSIONS

As we can see, there seems to be severe problems concerning the possbility of the future already existing. Scientific theories are unproveable, and philosophically it is ridiculous. So should we forget the idea that a definite future is already there to intuit?
The easy answer is yes. But there is the possibility that we haven’t grasped the concept yet because of our knowledge is not up to the job. Basically, it is us who let ourselves down.
Maybe, in the future, this will change. But if so, where would the most likely theory come from? I’d put my bet on the possibility of other dimensions. At present, eleven dimensions are theorised to exist in the universe.
Similarly, many theorists are beginning to argue that consciousness extends into the fundamental construction of the universe. If we thus see a possibility of a deeper form of consciousness existing in other dimensions, we can change our appreciation of what ‘time’ is.

THE ETERNAL NOW

To us, time flows in an orderly fashion. It may slow down or speed up, dependent upon Relativity Theory, but it does not go backwards - at least not in the universe we experience. But there is nothing to say that other dimensions have to exist in time. Indeed, ‘time’ is a dimension in itself.
It is the fourth dimension, and length, breadth and height exist within it, as we experience the three-dimensaional world in time. Other dimensions are beyond our experience, so are likely, also, to be beyond time. But what does it mean to be ‘beyond’ time?
If time does not exist, then everything can logically be said to exist at once. There would be no past, present or future, but simply an eternal now. Perhaps we are cut off, in normal consciousness, from this eternal now.
But at times when our consciousness changes, such as in an altered state, maybe we catch a glimpse of an eternal now, and perceive just a modicum of knowing of what will happen then.

Source : http://beyondtheblog.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/the-science-of-precognition/

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Monster curse threat after Nessie snub

THE High Priest of the UK's White Witches has threatened to cast a spell which could jeopardise attempts to secure World Heritage status for Loch Ness.

An expert from the United Nations maintains the Loch Ness Monster had never been taken seriously and Nessie could scupper chances of securing the much coveted award.

But paranormal researcher Kevin Carlyon, who is the self-styled protector of the monster, is amused by the claims that mention of Nessie could bring ridicule to such a bid.

"Loch Ness without Nessie is like having a cheese sandwich without the cheese," Kevin declared.

And he is being backed by another Nessie fan, Loch Ness webcam operator Mikko Takala, who claims disowning Nessie in the bid would be like Lapland declaring Santa Claus doesn't exist.

Mr Carlyon in the past has cast spells on the loch to prevent Nessie hunters tracking down the elusive monster.

He told the Highland News Group: "This time I don't have to protect Nessie as the fools are doing the damage themselves.

"In fact if they had their way there would be no monster myth left. Rather than bring more people to the area it would detract from it."

Mr Carlyon was responding to comments by United Nations consultant Chris Pound who has completed an initial report on the area's bid to be included on the UK government's shortlist of World Heritage Status nominations for 2012.

It is 75 years since the first media reports of a monster in the loch and local tourist operators believe recognition by the UN of the Great Glen's geographical heritage could be the catalyst for an all year-round tourist industry and not just summer tourists on Nessie-hunting missions.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation decides which countries and landmarks are given the prestigious award.

And it is up to the UK Government's department of media culture and sport (DMCS) to make its nominations in four years time.

Mr Pound visited the loch earlier this month and said he believes the area's geology and topography, the loch's deepness, landscape and the engineering behind the Caledonian Canal were factors which would find favour with politicians.

But of the Nessie story he commented: "It's an issue which is going to have to be managed carefully. The subject of Nessie is world famous but has never been taken quite seriously. When I spoke to a woman in the DMCS about the report I was doing for the area she fell about laughing. A lot of people have heard of the beastie and it's an image presentation issue which has to be addressed."

But Mr Carlyon believes without the legend of Nessie the loch is no different from others in Scotland which are far more suited to tourism.

"This story will send ripples around the world of a negative nature and I honestly think that these so called experts are biting at their own rear ends and will do more harm than good for the area.

"If it comes to it and people support it I will perform a spell to blow this ludicrous plan out of the water.

"I am sure that people will choose Nessie rather than a pompous title, which in the long run will not benefit Scotland at all."

Mr Takala agrees it would be crazy to make the bid without mention of Nessie.

"I'm half Finnish and it would be as daft as Lapland saying Santa Claus doesn't exist. Go anywhere in the world ask what they know about Scotland and they will say whisky and Nessie – they won't ever tell you about the topography of Loch Ness," he said.

"I find it hard to understand why tourist operators are willing to support this bid at the exclusion of Nessie when they know full well it is the monster that brings the visitors here. It could easily backfire on them."

Read more at http://www.highland-news.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4765/Monster_curse_threat_after_Nessie_snub.html

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