2009
Hour of the Time Conference: Eagar,
Arizona
On September 20,
I flew from LA to Albuquerque, New Mexico. From there I went by car
to Eagar, Arizona, which is in a very isolated part of the state. Outside
Eagar there is the X Diamond Ranch, which was the site of a seminar
held by Doyle Shamley and Rob Houghton, hosts
of the Hour of the Time radio talk show. I have been a guest on this
show a couple of times, and they invited me to be a speaker at their annual
seminar held at the ranch. I spoke about my book Forbidden Archeology
to a receptive audience.
I was given a comfortable cabin to stay
in. It was good to be out in this sparsely populated part of the country.
I guess you would call it high plains. The elevation was about seven thousand
feet. Nearby there were Apache and Navajo
Indian reservations. On the ranch there was the Little Bear archeological
site, an excavation of an ancient Pueblo Indian settlement,
a project administered by Charles Rand
http://www.xdiamondranch.com/archaeological_site.html.
Sacred
portals to Native spiritual realms at the Little Bear Ruins
The nights were quite different than
the nights in LA. Stars were brilliantly present in the sky, and instead
of traffic noise, there was the bugling of elk in the nearby hills. After
a couple of days at the ranch, I went by car back to Albuquerque airport
and flew back to LA.
Decoding
the Lost Symbol Conference
Simon Cox hosted the Decoding
the Lost Symbol Conference
On November 8, 2009
I spoke about my book Human Devolution:
A Vedic Alternative to Darwin’s Theory at a conference called
Decoding the Lost Symbol. The conference, held in
the Glendale Hilton in the LA area, was organized by Simon
Cox and some of his associates. The Lost Symbol is the
name of Dan Brown’s latest novel. In his novels, Dan Brown makes use
of the work of alternative science and alternative history researchers. For
example, in his novel The DaVinci Code, Brown made use of
the work of researchers into the idea that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalen
and had children with her. In The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown has made
use of research of the same kind I have used in my book Human Devolution:
out of body experiences and past life memories, which provide evidence for
a conscious self that can exist apart from the body; random number generator
experiements that demonstrate mind over matter effects; remote viewing, etc.
I had a good time at the conference, meeting people interested in my work
and meeting with the other speakers, including William Henry (who
spoke on the symbolism of the US Capitol building), Simon Cox (author
of the book Decoding The Lost Symbol), and John Major Jenkins
(author of books on 2012 and Mayan cosmology). At the conference there was
a musical interlude, provided by John Payne, singer for the rock
group Asia, and
friends. Videos of the conference will be available after some time. Information
will be available on this website.
2010
Journey to India
On January 10, 2010 I started
my flight to India. I was flying on Asiana airlines. The first leg of the
flight went from Los Angeles to the Seoul/Inchon airport in Korea. I spent
a night in a hotel near the airport. I had some Korean vegetarian things for
breakfast (rice, seaweed, different vegetables). Then I flew to Delhi, India.
Asiana has good planes and service. I arrived in Delhi at night and
went to a hotel near the airport. The next morning I went to the Delhi airport
domestic terminal for a flight to Allahabad. The main reason I was
in India was to attend a conference called Science and the Spiritual Quest,
organized by the Kolkata branch of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. The
flight out of Delhi was delayed because of fog. Fog is a definite hazard
in north India in the winter months of December and January. Flights, trains,
and buses can be delayed or cancelled. In the end, the Air India flight
was rerouted to Varanasi (Benares). And from the Benares airport,
Air India arranged for a bus to transport the passengers to Allahabad. It
took a few hours. All of this was causing some problems for the organizers
of the conference, who had been waiting to pick me up at the Allahabad airport.
Eventually, the bus dropped us off in the middle of Allahabad at night, but
the driver from the conference somehow found me standing in the middle of
a circle of rickshaw and taxi drivers eager to take me. I was taken to a
guesthouse at a local engineering college (Motilal Nehru National Institute
of Technology).
The next day, the conference began. The
following day, I gave my talk, on my book Forbidden Archeology.
The day after that, I gave a workshop on the topic. The conference was well
organized, attended by over five hundred science professors and students
from all over India. At the end of the conference, some of the speakers and
attendees went on an excursion to “the Sangam.” Sangam means “joining
together.” It reference to the place where the sacred rivers Ganges
and Yamuna come together at Allahabad. The Sangam is considered one
of the most sacred places in India. Every twelve years, a huge festival
is held there in January. It is called the Kumbha Mela. It is perhaps
the largest such gathering of humans on earth. Millions of people converge
there to bathe in the Sangam at an astrologically auspicious time. This
particular year was not the Kumbha Mela time, but still there were about
a million people camped out in well organized tent cities on the banks of
the rivers. Our group went out to the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges
rivers in a boat. It was too cold for me to jump in the water, so I just
took some on my head.
The
south water reservoirs at Dolavira
After the conference in Allahabad, I
went on a research trip. My main research interest is archeological evidence
for extreme human antiquity. But I am also interested in the history of Vedic
civilization in India. Many scholars say that Vedic culture entered India
from outside, from the northwest, about 3,500 years ago. Others say that Vedic
culture is native to India, and was there 3,500 years ago and earlier. There
are some archeological sites in north India that are judged to be four or
five thousand years old. Many scientists and scholars say they are not Vedic.
On the basis of their urban design pattern, which conforms to the Vedic system
of architecture and town planning called Vastu, I think these sites are Vedic.
I visited two such sites, Dholavira in Gujarat and Kalibanga
in Rajasthan. To get to Dholavira, I flew from Delhi to the town of
Bhuj in Gujarat. Using Bhuj as a base, I went to the isolated site of Dholarvira.
At
the Rann of Kutch
To get there one has to go across the Rann of Kutch, vast salt plains
that look like ice fields. Seasonally, these salt flats are covered by water,
but when I went they were dry. After visiting Dholavira, I visited an interesting
place called Mandvi. This is a town on the coast of Gujarat
where people build sea-going ships from wood just as they did hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of years ago. From Gujarat, I returned to Delhi, and from
Delhi I journeyed to Hanumangarh in the north. From Hanumangarh, I
visited the site of Kalibangan. Along the way, I saw the dried up channel
of the ancient Sarasvati River, which is mentioned in the
Rg Veda. The fact that the Rg Veda mentions this river helps
locate the place where the Rg Veda was composed and also the time it was
composed. The Sarasvati River began to dry up about five thousand years ago,
so the Rg Veda, which describes the Sarasvati as a huge flowing river,
must be at least that old and must have been composed in northern India.
The cities it describes along the bank of that river are arguably Vedic.
Michael
Cremo and Guide at Kalibangam
After visiting Kalibangan and the old river channel, I went back to Delhi.
And from there I flew back to LA by way of Seoul. At the Inchon/Seoul airport
I had about a ten hour layover. Asina gave me a food voucher, so I tried some
Korean vegetarian food (not easy to find in the airport). Then I rested a
bit in the airport hotel before heading back to LA.
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Arizona Lectures
On February 4, 2010 I flew from
Los Angeles to Phoenix. From there I went by car to Sedona,
Arizona, where I gave a lecture on my book Human Devolution
at the Sedona Center of Vedic Culture. The director, a longtime friend,
took me around to some of the natural wonders of the Sedona area. In new age
circles, Sedona has a reputation for being a spiritual center, a place of
“vortexes” and it lived up to its reputation. I had not been to Sedona in
a long time. I had visited there briefly in the late 1960s. Although it has
changed some since then, the place has not lost its charm. In Sedona, I also
gave a couple of radio interviews. From Sedona I was taken by car, over the
mountains (it was snowing at the higher elevations), to Prescott, where
I gave another lecture on Human Devolution. . Finally I went to Tucson
and gave a lecture on Human Devolution there at the Tucson Chaitanya
Cultural Center, with its justifiably famous Govinda’s Restaurant.
The Forbidden Arvheologist exploring
Sedona
Michael
Cremo dines with Dubai Conference speakers
Dubai International Conference for
Ancient Studies
On February 10, 2010 I flew from
Los Angeles to Dubai on an Emirates Airlines flight. The nonstop flight
lasted sixteen hours, going over the Arctic region from LA. I arrived the
next evening in Dubai’s regal international airport. I went to the conference
hotel, and the next morning attended the opening of the International Conference
for Ancient Studies at Zayed University. The ICAS is an alternative history
conference. I spoke about my book Forbidden Archeology. Some of the other
speakers were Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Robert Schoch, John Major
Jenkins, and Andrew Collins. I have met all of them before, and
it was nice seeing them again. We had some good conversations at the conference
lunches and dinners, including an evening dinner cruise on the Dubai
Creek, an inlet from the Persian Gulf. We also wandered through one of Dubai’s
super-malls, and had a look at the world’s tallest building. It was a quick
trip. On February 15, I was on a nonstop Emirates flight backc to
Los Angeles.
Spring 2010 Conferences
On March
21, 2010 I spoke on my book Human Devolution at the Alienshift
Conference in Los Angeles. On April 11, I spoke about my
book Forbidden Archeology at the Las Vegas Public Library.
Some of my Facebook friends showed up for the event.
View of the Parapsychological and Bioenergetic
Research Conference
On April 14, I flew from the Los Angeles International Airport to
Bologna, Italy. I was going to Italy to speak at
the 16th Annual Conference of the Association for Parapsychological and
Bioenergetic Research in Bellaria, Italy. I was met at the Bologna
airport by a driver from the conference, who took me to my hotel in Bellaria,
a resort town on the Adriatic coast. On April 16, I spoke at the conference
about my book Human Devolution. The conference was well attended,
with about 1,200 people in the audience. My books Human Devolution
and Forbidden Archeology have both been published in the Italian language.
Giorgio Cerquetti, the Italian author who translated
Human Devolution into Italian, was also a speaker
at the conference. Many people bought copies of the Italian editions of my
books. Also speaking at the conference was Dr. Raymond Moody, one
of the original researchers in the field of out of body experiences. It was
a pleasure to meet him and speak with him. I was scheduled to fly back to
LA from Bologna on April 18, but I learned that my flight had been cancelled
because of the volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Back in the early 1970s, I
had witnessed a volcanic eruption at Hekla, one of the big Icelandic
volcanos. I went to the Bologna airport and rebooked my ticket. My airline,
Air France, gave me a flight for five days later, on April 23. Giorgio Cerquetti
arranged for me to stay with a friend of his in Bologna, who had a nice apartment
in the hills overlooking the old city. So my delay was not unpleasant. On
April 23, I returned to LA as scheduled.
Zayed
Mosque in Abu Dhabi
On April 28, I flew from LA to Dubai, in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), my second trip there this year. This time I went to speak
at the BOLD conference, which was held in the Dubai Community Theater
and Arts Center in the Mall of the Emirates. I enjoyed the chance to
converse with some of the other speakers at the conference, such as Dr.
John Ellis, a senior theoretical physicist at CERN (the big atom
smasher in Europe). After the conference I stayed a few days in Abu
Dhabi (capital of the UAE) with my friend Jean-Paul Tarud-Kuborn,
ambassador from Chile to the UAE. While in Abu Dhabi, I visited the recently
constructed and very beautiful Zayed Mosque. It has marble walls and
columns inlaid with semiprecious stone. There are massive Swarovski crystal
chandeliers, and the floor of the mosque is covered by the world’s largest
carpet, handmade in Iran. On May 4, I flew from Dubai to LA.
As luck would have it, the flight was overbooked and I was given an upgrade
from economy to business class.
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