AEON

IN THIS ISSUE.

Front Cover

Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun (replica), shown wearing the head-dress of the radiant goddess. Photograph by Dwardu Cardona.

Editorial

By Dwardu Cardona

Vox Popvli

Our readers sound off. PAGE 5

Forvm

Debate between Keith H. Rhodes and Wallace Thornhill on Donald Patten and Samuel Windsor's hypothesis concerning the recent organization of the Solar System. PAGE 9

Second SIS Cambridge Conference: Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilisations

A report by Birgit C. Liesching. PAGE 15

Circling the Rings -- by Henry Zemel

A new hypothesis which proposes the one-time existence of rings composed of asteroidal debris surrounding the Sun in concentric bands, the slow shrinkage of which would have swept the ecliptic clear of such remnants. PAGE 23

Quantalism: The Big Picture -- by Roger W. Wescott

An essay on the etymological origins behind cenocatastrophism which attempts to shed light on animal and human behavior as well as the vocabulary and metaphors of violence. PAGE 33

The Saturn Thesis -- (Part 4)

The conclusion of AEON's interview with DavidTalbott, who continues to clarify the role of the Radiant Venus in its physical association as a planetary member of the Saturnian configuration. PAGE 57

Stairway to Heaven -- by Ev Cochrane

In his drive to dispel one of the main objections against the identification of the ancient deities as representations of the planets, Cochrane zeroes in on one particular theme, the stairway or ladder of heaven. Arguing that this bizarre notion, which the peoples of both hemispheres associated with the Martian hero, could hardly have been spread by cultural diffusion, he reaches the conclusion that the motif must have resulted from an actual celestial appearance which all of mankind would have witnessed. PAGE 69

The Mixtec Tree of Origin -- by Ken Moss

A monograph in which Moss focuses on one of the most interesting motifs that has come to us from Mesoamerica. The author's investigation uncovers a significant connection between this motif and the Saturnian configuration, including the role played in it by the planet Mars. PAGE 79

Testing Rohl's Test of Time -- by Dale F. Murphie

David Rohl's reconstruction of ancient history, as presented in his book, A Test of Time, is the subject of this study. While the article itself is mainly critical of Rohl's work, Murphie also manages to impart a few insights of his own. PAGE 88

The Book Shelf

Book reviews by Ev Cochrane. PAGE 105

• The Sunken Kingdom: The Atlantis Mystery Solved by Peter J. James
• Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer

New Flashes -- by Tania ta Maria

• Earth's Twin Moons
• Fireballs North of Bangkok
• Phallic Worship in the Modern World
• Did the Amazons Exist After All?
• Cleopatra's Palcee Found
• Neanderthal Symphony

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Aeon
Volume V, Number 1

CONTRIBUTORS

Henry Zemel has acted as the writer and director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television program Velikovsky: The Bonds of the Past. He presently employs himself as a ghost writer in the arts field while maintaining an internet Web Site devoted to catastrophism and other sundry matters at www.users@interport.net

Roger W. Wescott received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from Princeton University. Following a Rhodes Scholarship in Anthropology at Oxford University, he served as President of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States, and as President of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations. He is currently one of the co-editors for the Encyclopedia of Cultures for teen-agers and is in the process of completing a book to be titled Predicting the Past.

David Talbott, the inaugurator of AEON, was also the founder and publisher of Pensée, which produced the series "Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered." He is, additionally, the author of The Saturn Myth and various articles which have appeared in KRONOS and AEON. He and his work are also featured in the video documentary, Remembering the End of the World, produced by Kronia Communications Inc., and distributed by Palemesa Ltd. He has more recently published a Notebook titled Symbols of an Alien Sky.

Ev Cochrane is the author of numerous articles on comparative mythology and archaeoastronomy. He previously served as an Associate Editor of KRONOS and is currently the publisher of AEON. He has also just published his first book, titled Martian Metamorphoses: The Planet Mars in Ancient Myth and Religion.

Ken Moss studied psychology and sociology at the University of British Columbia. It was, however, his early exposure to ancient history and world mythology, together with the works of Immanuel Velikovsky and Dwardu Cardona, that led to his compelling lifelong interest in cosmogony and other origins. Describing himself as "a student of humanity in general and a fan of the specifically weird and wonderful polar configuration scenario," his works have been published by The Ubyssey, KRONOS, and AEON.

Dale F. Murphie was educated at Newcastle Technical High School but chose a career focused on accounting and commerce. He has traveled extensively throughout the world, particularly into and around the Middle East, on commercial assignments. Now retired, he remains a noted research consultant for one of Australia's leading genealogical service organizations who is regularly sought as regional guest lecturer on the technical aspects of the discipline in its worldwide application. Having sustained a consuming interest in historical subjects since childhood, particularly in matters of historical chronology, Murphie has spent most of his life researching a wide range of subjects related to the ancient history of Egypt. He is presently fine-tuning a 1500-page study on the chronology of Egypt and contemporary civilizations which, despite critical amendments, he describes as "unabashedly based on Velikovsky's Ages in Chaos concept," a work which has now occupied him for the last 25 years.

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