© 2021 John B. Parkinson
© 2021 Urantia Association of Spain
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¶ Background
The following article is a brief introduction to my main research and writing project, which has to do with the astronomical search and identification of those stars, asterisms and constellations associated with the celestial worlds of our local universe of Nebadon, as revealed in the 1955 publication known as The Urantia Book. Specifically, those clusters of divinely created architectural spheres known in The Urantia Book as Jerusem, Edentia and Salvington.
Since The Urantia Book does not explicitly reveal the location of these places, we must turn to other sources of information both ancient and modern to try to unlock these secrets. After years of studying The Urantia Book I have identified at least one key passage that gives us an indispensable clue that greatly narrows the search for Edentia, the constellation sky. Here’s the story.
¶ Preface
The search for these heavenly places is truly a multidisciplinary program that overlaps with humanity’s three great fields of study, which I broadly define as the humanities, religion, and science, and with the dozens of disciplines and fields of specialization that fall under these general headings.
It will go back tens of thousands of years, to the Upper Paleolithic (late Stone Age) and well before the dawn of recorded history, and yet it also relies heavily on recently generated complex astrophysical data, to from the year 2000 A.D. Meanwhile we will delve into archaeoastronomy, astrology, biblical passages of interest, thousands of years of cult to bulls and their many facets through time and nations, Mithraic studies, myths and general transcultural wisdom. about stars and constellations, and much more.
For me, it actually started much longer ago than I realized at the time, in my youth and adolescence. At the age of fourteen I was given my first telescope, a refractor that I still have and use. It was also the time when I started collecting star charts, astronomy books, and even complex works on celestial mechanics. I did it automatically, having no idea where it was all going to lead me, and most of it was beyond my comprehension at the time. And there were still other curious “signposts” along the way that foreshadowed what awaited me. It was only decades later that I came across The Urantia Book and realized that perhaps it was possible to locate those celestial locations precisely, or at least by their equatorial coordinates, which is as close as we can get.
But I can say one thing for sure about this search: there is no source on earth that says explicitly where those heavenly worlds are, not even The Urantia Book. That’s why these locations have been hidden for a long time and I don’t know of anyone else who can confidently say where they are. It is true that it could never have arisen without the Urantia Revelation, but nevertheless all the other numerous sources that I have briefly mentioned above play a key role in this search. I believe I have been able to decipher this coded knowledge of the heavens due to the unusual breadth of relevant material in my collection, which has many classics in the field, and my reading of the most recent astronomical and astrophysical data in the form of technical papers. . But we often hear or talk about having a “key” to open something, and I can say that it is truly true as far as my identification of Edentia’s starting location is concerned.
¶ The key
The passage in The Urantia Book that is that key is from Paper 41, “The Physical Aspects of the Local Universe”:
Ten Supreme Power Centers of the fifth order are assigned to each of Nebadon’s primary subdivisions, the one hundred constellations. In Norlatiadek, your constellation, they are not stationed on the headquarters sphere but are situated at the center of the enormous stellar system which constitutes the physical core of the constellation. On Edentia there are ten associated mechanical controllers and ten frandalanks who are in perfect and constant liaison with the near-by power centers. (UB 41:1.4)
When we think of the dozens, if not hundreds, of potential passages that would unlock these mysteries, you naturally wonder why this one? The three keywords above are “huge star system,” which tells us that the sky of the constellation Edentia is in a cluster of stars. The next questions are: what type of star cluster and which?
¶ Globular and open star clusters
In general, astronomy recognizes two major types of star clusters: globular and open. A globular cluster is a dense spherical collection of gravitationally tightly bound stars orbiting a galactic nucleus. The name of this category of star clusters derives from the Latin globulus, which means small sphere. Globular clusters are found in the halo of a galaxy and contain many more stars than the less dense open clusters found in the disk of a galaxy.
Of the two types, globular star clusters are a special variety found mostly in the halo of the Milky Way and are found at enormous distances. They are nearly discrete and separate from the Milky Way, unlike embedded and integrated types, such as the open star cluster, found in the disk. The best known and most important open star cluster to us on Earth is the Pleiades, although it is not the location of Edentia. Due to the relative proximity, brightness and beauty of the Pleiades it has garnered much attention throughout history, often to the exclusion of other major star clusters such as the Hyades. But there is a regular distribution of open star clusters, and the closest ones are the Hyades, the Pleiades, the Hive, the Coma star cluster, the Jewel Box, etc.
¶ The Local Astrophysics Bubble and Clouds
At the time The Urantia Book was published, in 1955, there were no known astronomical locations or astrophysical structures that could be correlated with the knowledge imparted about the basic administrative units known as the “system” or the “Constellation,” as described. defines in the following passages:
The system. The basic unit of the supergovernment is composed of about a thousand inhabited or habitable worlds. Bright suns, cold worlds, planets too close to hot suns, and other spheres unsuitable as creature dwellings are not included in this group. These thousand worlds adapted to support life are called a system, but in the youngest systems, only a relatively small number of these worlds can be inhabited. Each inhabited planet is headed by a Planetary Prince, and each local system has an architectural sphere as its headquarters, being governed by a System Sovereign. UB 15:2.3
The constellation. One hundred systems (about 100,000 habitable planets) form a constellation. Each constellation has an architectural headquarters sphere and is presided over by three Vorondadek Sons, the Most Highs. Each constellation also has as its observer a Faithful of Days, the ambassador of the Paradise Trinity. UB 15:2.4
The local universe. One hundred constellations (about 10,000,000 habitable planets) constitute a local universe. Each local universe has a magnificent architectural headquarters world and is governed by one of the co-ordinate Creator Sons of God of the Michael order. Each universe is blessed by the presence of a Union of Days, the representative of the Paradise Trinity. UB 15:2.5
Aside from our solar system and then going up to much larger structures like Gould’s belt and Orion’s arm on a galactic scale, much of the intermediate level of astronomical detail that we might identify as part of a “system” or “constellation” according to the revelation was missing until about twenty years ago when the details of the Local Astrophysical Bubble and the network of interstellar clouds that populate this huge bubble were discovered.
Before this more recent and quite detailed knowledge of the astrophysical bubble and clouds, there was an understanding of the interstellar medium, which goes back centuries, originally in a different form called “light ether” before electromagnetic theory etc.
Simply put, the interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the space between the star systems of a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular forms, as well as dust and cosmic rays, and it fills interstellar space and blends smoothly with surrounding intergalactic space. The energy that occupies the same volume, in the form of electromagnetic radiation, is the interstellar radiation field.
The interstellar medium is made up of multiple phases depending on whether the matter is ionic, atomic, or molecular, and the temperature and density of the matter. The interstellar medium consists mainly of hydrogen, followed by helium, with traces of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. The thermal pressures of these phases are in approximate equilibrium with each other. Magnetic fields and turbulent motions also provide pressure in the ISM, and are usually more important dynamically than thermal pressure. The ISM plays a crucial role in astrophysics due to its intermediate role between the stellar and galactic scales.
The further development of the understanding of the interstellar medium is the assignment of actual dimensions, boundaries, and contours to these wispy electromagnetic plasma-filled “structures” that are the aforementioned bubbles and clouds. The way in which this has been achieved has been facilitated by a growing ultraviolet and optical database of high spectral resolution observations of interstellar absorption towards nearby stars. Such observations provide insight into the physical properties (eg, temperature, turbulent velocity, and depletion in dust grains) of the warm cloud population (eg, 7000 K) residing within the Local Bubble.
It is my opinion that these bubbles and clouds are the same as the constellations and systems of The Urantia Book.
Let’s look in detail at a particular passage from The Urantia Book that can only be understood from the perspective of our greater understanding of the Local Bubble and interstellar clouds.
Here is the quote:
Urantia is comparatively isolated on the outskirts of Satania, your solar system, with one exception, being the farthest removed from Jerusem, while Satania itself is next to the outermost system of Norlatiadek, and this constellation is now traversing the outer fringe of Nebadon. You were truly among the least of all creation until Michael’s bestowal elevated your planet to a position of honor and great universe interest. Sometimes the last is first, while truly the least becomes greatest. (UB 41:10.5)
We attach two images: one represents the Local Astrophysical Bubble (the Norlatiadek constellation) from a northern perspective in yellow and blue, and the other shows part of the Local Interstellar Cloud (the Satania system). The interstellar cloud image illustrates the well-established fact that our solar system is indeed at the very edge of our local cloud. In fact, we are so close to the edge of this cloud that the closest star system to us, which is the Alpha Centauri binary star system and its third distant companion, Proxima Centauri, just 4 light-years away, are in a neighboring cloud. nicknamed the G Cloud. The G Cloud lies between our local cloud and the galactic center for which it is named.
Alpha Centauri’s declination is minus 60 degrees below the celestial equator. Both the skies of the system and the constellation are in the north, that is, above the celestial equator, especially Algol (Jerusem) which is at the midpoint of the celestial vault with a declination of almost plus 41 degrees. Our world and the Monmatia solar system are in the extreme south of Satania, as the above passage relates.
Also, the diagram of the Local Astrophysical Bubble shows that our solar system is quite far from the Hyades, towards the outer part of the Local Bubble (constellation) with only one more distant system, which is Cloud G, in the image the zone above our solar system. Can you see in this image of the Bubble how far apart the Hyades and Algol are? Those are the locations of Edentia and Jerusem respectively. The Hyades are the only open star cluster in our Local Bubble, and our solar system and local cloud are in a direct kinematic and gravitational relationship with this “huge star system.” Thus, the most recent astronomy and astrophysics uphold the veracity and accuracy of the statements of The Urantia Book mentioned above about the Satania system and the constellation of Norlatiadek.
¶ Conclusion
Based on what I have stated above, our best working hypothesis is as follows: “The headquarters of the constellation Norlatiadek, known as Edentia in The Urantia Book, lies in the Hyades open star cluster.”
In later installments we will examine the other extensive evidence that supports my hypothesis that Edentia is the constellation of Taurus, and is more specifically in the Hyades. In time, when you have examined the evidence I will present, I am sure you will agree that this is practically indisputable.
After examining the Hyades, we will move on to my discovery of Jerusem, whose nearest star system is the important eclipsing binary star Algol, or Beta Persei, the second brightest star in the constellation of Perseus and the Eye of Medusa.
¶ References
- Article of the Magazine Light and Life Online: https://aue.urantia-association.org/2021/03/27/los-secretos-astronomicos-del-cielo/
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