ciiriice
Adept
The following is an interesting excerpt of my favourite book - Mysteries of the Unexplained (Readers Digest, 1982). It can be found stretching from page 49 to 52. It details the legend of alien visitors to the Dogon people in Southern Mali.
Regarding a possible third Sirius, "a tiny star has been observed about twenty times between 1920 and 1930." in the Sirius system, according to D. Benest and J.L. Duvent in "Is Sirius a triple star?"
It seems as though there may be a Sirius C, although it is likely to be a brown dwarf.
How did the Dogon people know so many details about Sirius before anyone else? What are your thoughts?
"The greatest mysteries are sometimes hidden in circumstances so unexpected that their discovery is always by chance or incidental to some other search. In southern Mali, where the Niger River makes a great bend, live the Dogon people, poor farmers who still live, many of them in caves, in the Hombori Mountains. The nearest cities are Timbuktu, to the north, and Ougadougou, to the south, in Upper Volta.
In outward appearance there is little to distinguish the Dogon from other West African peoples; and yet they, along with three related tribes, may have preserved, in religious secrecy for many hundreds of years, information about a phenomenon of the greatest rarity. For preserved at the core of their deepest religious teachings is detailed knowledge about a star that is quite invisible to the naked eye and so difficult to observe - even through a telescope - that no photographs of it were obtained until 1970. The Dogon say that this knowledge (which they disclosed to French anthropologists in the 1930's and 1940's) was given to them by visitors to the earth from another star system.
The star they describe is known to astronomers as Sirius B and to the Dogon people as Põ Tolo. Its existence was first suspected by Western astronomers in 1844, when certain irregularities were noticed in the movements of the star Sirius - the brilliant "Dog Star" in the constellation Canis Major. To account for these perturbations, it was supposed that Sirius must be affected by the gravitational pull of an as-yet-unseen second star, and in 1862, after much observation, a faint companion star was finally detected. It seemed, however, far too small to exercise any noticeable influence on Sirius, which is twice as large as our own sun and 20 times as radiant. Today we know that Sirius B is a white dwarf that, although small and faint (white dwarfs are the smallest class of visible star), is extremely dense and quite heavy enough to exercise a gravitational influence on Sirius A.
The Dogon name for Sirius B consists of the word for star, tolo, and põ, the name of the smallest seed known to them (the seed of Digitaria exilis, a variety of crabgrass). By this name they describe the star's smallness - it is, they say, "the smallest thing there is." They also claim that it is "the heaviest star" (since in it the element earth is replaced by an immensely heavy metal called sagala), so heavy "that all earthly beings combined cannot lift it." And the color of the star is white. The Dogon thus attribute Sirius B (which is, remember, quite invisible to the naked eye) its three principal qualities as a white dwarf: its smallness, heaviness, and whiteness. They go on to say that the star's orbit is elliptical, with Sirius A at one focus of the ellipse (as it is), that the orbital period is 50 years (the actual figure os 50.04 + .09 years), and that the star rotates on its own axis (it does). The Dogon also describe a third star in the Sirius system, called Emme Ya ("sorghum female"). In orbit around this star, they say, is a single sattelite. To date Emme Ya has not been detected by Westerm astronomers.
The significance of Sirius B to the Dogon is that it was the first star made by God and is the axis of the universe. From it, all matter and all souls are produced by a complex spiral movement that the Dogon symbolize in woven baskets. All souls, whatever their final destination, first gravitate from Põ Tolo to Emme Ya.
In addition to their knowledge of Sirius B, Dogon astronomical lore includes the fact that Saturn has rings and that Jupiter has four moons. They have four calendars, for the Sun, Moon, Sirius, and Venus, and have long known that planets orbit the Sun.
The Dogon say that their astronomical knowledge was given to them by Nommos, amphibious beings sent to earth from the Sirius star system for the benefit of humankind. The name comes from a Dogon word meaning "to make one drink," and the Nommos are also called Masters of the Water, The Monitors, and The Instructors. They came to earth somewhere to the northeast of the Dogon's present homeland. When their vessel landed (after a "spinning or whirling" descent and with a great noise and wind), it skidded to a stop, scoring the ground and "spurting blood" (perhaps a reference to a rocket's fiery exhaust). At that time a new star (perhaps a mother ship) was seen in the sky. After the landing, something with four legs appeared and dragged the vessel to a hollow, which filled with water until the vessel floated in it.
According to Dogon art, the Nommos were more fishlike than human, and they had to live in water. They were saviors and spiritual guardians:
If the Dogon accounts record something as momentous as a landing on this earth by beings from another star system, one would expect to find comparable descriptions elsewhere. Do such descriptions exist? They do, in Babylonian accounts of the Oannes, amphibious beings who came to this plannet for the welfare of the human race. Their vehicle was egg shaped, and they landed in the Red Sea. The following descriptions are taken from a history of Mesopotamia written in the third century B.C. by Berossus, a Babylonian priest whose work survives only in fragments recorded by later Greek historians.
The Oannes "had the shape of a fish blended with that of a man," a "complicated form between a fish and a man"; they were "semi-demons-halfway between men and gods." Their appearance was repulsive:
If the Dogon did indeed come to Mali from the northeast, they may originally have been close enough to the Red Sea for a connection between the Nommo and Oannes to be geographically feasible. If so, however, it is curious that the Dogon alone should preserve the Sirius B information, while the Egyptians, who were certainly in contact with Babylonian culture, should preserve only a high regard for Sirius A, and that largely because it helped them to predict the Nile floods.
On these grounds, then, it seems likely that Dogon and Babylonian history record separate but similar events. (Robert Temple, The Sirius Mystery, passim)"
The Dogon people seem to believe that alien beings from Sirius came to earth and told them information about Sirius B that even the most advanced Western scientists did not know at the time. In outward appearance there is little to distinguish the Dogon from other West African peoples; and yet they, along with three related tribes, may have preserved, in religious secrecy for many hundreds of years, information about a phenomenon of the greatest rarity. For preserved at the core of their deepest religious teachings is detailed knowledge about a star that is quite invisible to the naked eye and so difficult to observe - even through a telescope - that no photographs of it were obtained until 1970. The Dogon say that this knowledge (which they disclosed to French anthropologists in the 1930's and 1940's) was given to them by visitors to the earth from another star system.
The star they describe is known to astronomers as Sirius B and to the Dogon people as Põ Tolo. Its existence was first suspected by Western astronomers in 1844, when certain irregularities were noticed in the movements of the star Sirius - the brilliant "Dog Star" in the constellation Canis Major. To account for these perturbations, it was supposed that Sirius must be affected by the gravitational pull of an as-yet-unseen second star, and in 1862, after much observation, a faint companion star was finally detected. It seemed, however, far too small to exercise any noticeable influence on Sirius, which is twice as large as our own sun and 20 times as radiant. Today we know that Sirius B is a white dwarf that, although small and faint (white dwarfs are the smallest class of visible star), is extremely dense and quite heavy enough to exercise a gravitational influence on Sirius A.
The Dogon name for Sirius B consists of the word for star, tolo, and põ, the name of the smallest seed known to them (the seed of Digitaria exilis, a variety of crabgrass). By this name they describe the star's smallness - it is, they say, "the smallest thing there is." They also claim that it is "the heaviest star" (since in it the element earth is replaced by an immensely heavy metal called sagala), so heavy "that all earthly beings combined cannot lift it." And the color of the star is white. The Dogon thus attribute Sirius B (which is, remember, quite invisible to the naked eye) its three principal qualities as a white dwarf: its smallness, heaviness, and whiteness. They go on to say that the star's orbit is elliptical, with Sirius A at one focus of the ellipse (as it is), that the orbital period is 50 years (the actual figure os 50.04 + .09 years), and that the star rotates on its own axis (it does). The Dogon also describe a third star in the Sirius system, called Emme Ya ("sorghum female"). In orbit around this star, they say, is a single sattelite. To date Emme Ya has not been detected by Westerm astronomers.
The significance of Sirius B to the Dogon is that it was the first star made by God and is the axis of the universe. From it, all matter and all souls are produced by a complex spiral movement that the Dogon symbolize in woven baskets. All souls, whatever their final destination, first gravitate from Põ Tolo to Emme Ya.
In addition to their knowledge of Sirius B, Dogon astronomical lore includes the fact that Saturn has rings and that Jupiter has four moons. They have four calendars, for the Sun, Moon, Sirius, and Venus, and have long known that planets orbit the Sun.
The Dogon say that their astronomical knowledge was given to them by Nommos, amphibious beings sent to earth from the Sirius star system for the benefit of humankind. The name comes from a Dogon word meaning "to make one drink," and the Nommos are also called Masters of the Water, The Monitors, and The Instructors. They came to earth somewhere to the northeast of the Dogon's present homeland. When their vessel landed (after a "spinning or whirling" descent and with a great noise and wind), it skidded to a stop, scoring the ground and "spurting blood" (perhaps a reference to a rocket's fiery exhaust). At that time a new star (perhaps a mother ship) was seen in the sky. After the landing, something with four legs appeared and dragged the vessel to a hollow, which filled with water until the vessel floated in it.
According to Dogon art, the Nommos were more fishlike than human, and they had to live in water. They were saviors and spiritual guardians:
The Nommo divided his body among men to feed them; that is why it is also said that as the universe "had drunk of his body," the Nommo also made men drink. He gave all his life principles to human beings.
The Nommo was crucified and resurrected and in the future will again visit the earth, this time in human form. Later he will assume his amphibious form and will rule the world from the waters.
If the Dogon accounts record something as momentous as a landing on this earth by beings from another star system, one would expect to find comparable descriptions elsewhere. Do such descriptions exist? They do, in Babylonian accounts of the Oannes, amphibious beings who came to this plannet for the welfare of the human race. Their vehicle was egg shaped, and they landed in the Red Sea. The following descriptions are taken from a history of Mesopotamia written in the third century B.C. by Berossus, a Babylonian priest whose work survives only in fragments recorded by later Greek historians.
The Oannes "had the shape of a fish blended with that of a man," a "complicated form between a fish and a man"; they were "semi-demons-halfway between men and gods." Their appearance was repulsive:
The whole body of the animal was like that of a fish: and had under a fish's head, another head and also feet below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail. His voice too, and language, was articulate and human.
This Being in the daytime used to converse with men, but took no food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters and sciences, and every kind of art. He taught them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge... In short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften manners and humanize mankind.... When the sun set, it was the custom of this Being to plunge again into the sea, and abide all night in the deep, for he was amphibious.
One further account of the Oannes is preserved, in summary form, by Saint Photius (c. A.D. 820-892), patriarch of Constantinople. In his Myriobiblon he says that the historian HelladiusThis Being in the daytime used to converse with men, but took no food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters and sciences, and every kind of art. He taught them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge... In short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften manners and humanize mankind.... When the sun set, it was the custom of this Being to plunge again into the sea, and abide all night in the deep, for he was amphibious.
recounts the story of a man named Oe who came out of the Red Sea having a fish-like body but the head, feet and arms of a man, and who taught astronomy and letters. Some accounts say that he came out of a great egg, whence is name, and that because he was clothed in "the skin of a sea-creature."
Is it possible that the Dogon Nommo and the Babylonian Oanned are different representations of the same event? The Dogon themselves insist that their people did not always live in their present homeland, and evidence suggests that they are descendants of Berbers who began a southward migration from Libya in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. and who, having intermarried with local blacks, were fully established in the Mali area by the 11th century.
If the Dogon did indeed come to Mali from the northeast, they may originally have been close enough to the Red Sea for a connection between the Nommo and Oannes to be geographically feasible. If so, however, it is curious that the Dogon alone should preserve the Sirius B information, while the Egyptians, who were certainly in contact with Babylonian culture, should preserve only a high regard for Sirius A, and that largely because it helped them to predict the Nile floods.
On these grounds, then, it seems likely that Dogon and Babylonian history record separate but similar events. (Robert Temple, The Sirius Mystery, passim)"
Regarding a possible third Sirius, "a tiny star has been observed about twenty times between 1920 and 1930." in the Sirius system, according to D. Benest and J.L. Duvent in "Is Sirius a triple star?"
It seems as though there may be a Sirius C, although it is likely to be a brown dwarf.
How did the Dogon people know so many details about Sirius before anyone else? What are your thoughts?