{"id":94,"date":"2019-01-02T03:01:30","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T03:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesynchromystic.com\/?p=94"},"modified":"2026-04-11T17:17:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T17:17:02","slug":"sirius_rising_downards_synchromysticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thesynchromystic.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/02\/sirius_rising_downards_synchromysticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Sirius Rising: Jim Brandon, J.S. Downard & Synchromysticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Something frightful has been going on for a long time.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2013 James Shelby Downard, Sirius Rising<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

Introduction to Sirius<\/h1>\n

The heliacal rising (i.e., rising along with the sun) of the star Sirius is an annual celestial event bristling with symbolic import. In terms of literal astronomy, this is the time when the Sirius \u2013 otherwise known as Canis Major<\/em>, or the \u201cDog Star\u201d \u2013 is first visible in the night sky.[1]<\/a> However, this is merely the exoteric<\/em> level of the Sirius story. There is a veritable cauldron of symbolism bubbling just beneath the surface. S<\/p>\n

For Sirius has a rich and layered history in mythology and mystery religion. And it is at this deeper, often hidden \u2013 or esoteric<\/em> \u2013 level that has likely brought you to this page.<\/p>\n

According to some commentators, Sirius was known, in priestly circles during ancient Egyptian times, as the \u201cpower behind the sun.\u201d[2]<\/a> Sirius is, thus, a sort of emblem for the notion of there being a \u201csecret-sun.\u201d (Put a pin in this idea.) This was quite a distinction at a time when the sun god (Ra, in the case of Egypt) was widely regarded as sitting at the pinnacle of the pantheon.<\/p>\n

According to author John West: \u201cAncient sources declared that the Egyptians regarded Sirius as another and greater sun. Modern astronomy reveals that Sirius is a double star\u2026 [I]t may relate to the \u2018central fire\u2019 of Pythagoras. \u2026It is possible that Egypt knew what some modern scholars suspect: that Sirius is the greater sun about which our sun and solar system orbits.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Numerous directions suggest themselves for further study.<\/p>\n

Freemasonry<\/h2>\n

Allegedly, there is a freemasonic connexion in that Sirius is sometimes identified with the \u201cBlazing Star\u201d of the Blue Lodge (i.e., the basic three degrees of Craft Masonry).[4]<\/a> Or, so writes masonic authority Albert Pike.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo find in the BLAZING STAR of five points an allusion to the Divine Providence \u2026is \u2026fanciful; and to make it commemorative of the Star that is said to have guided the Magi \u2026is to give it a meaning comparatively modern. Originally it represented SIRIUS, or the Dog-Star, the forerunner of the inundation of the Nile; the God ANUBIS, companion of ISIS in her search for the body of OSIRIS, her brother and husband. \u2026The Ancient Astronomers saw all the great Symbols of Masonry in the Stars. Sirius still glitters in our Lodge as the Blazing Star (l\u2019Etole Flamboyante<\/em>).\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

The association of Sirius with the male god Anubis is interesting, especially since \u201cSothis[6]<\/a> is the female form, deified as a goddess, of the dog star, Sirius. \u2026Sothis is depicted as a woman with a star on her head and is also portrayed as a large dog. Shown riding side-saddle on the dog, she is known as Isis-Sothis.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Transsexualism\u2019?<\/h2>\n

That Sirius should exhibit this sort of \u2013 dare I say \u2013 bisexuality<\/em> may appear passing strange to us from our vantage point in the age of transsexualism.<\/p>\n

The July 2015 edition of Vanity Fair<\/em> magazine had Jenner publicly declare: \u201cCall me Caitlyn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note the date. And then observe the following regarding our titular star. \u201cVisible just before sunrise about the time of the summer solstice, Sirius signified the beginning of the sacred Egyptian year.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2015, the Summer Solstice occurred on Sunday, June 21. For those keeping track, that\u2019s roughly nine days before the relevant issue of Vanity Fair would have hit newsstands. This is just the tip of the Synchromystical iceberg.<\/p>\n

According to the late \u201cDiscordian\u201d guru Robert Anton Wilson: \u201cCelebrations of the Dog Star, Sirius, beginning on July 23, as the origins of the expression \u2018dog days,\u2019 meaning the days from July 23 to September 8, when the last rituals to Sirius were performed [in Egyptian culture].\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

Was Jenner\u2019s announcement only coincidentally delivered in conjunction with the Dog Days? Was it made \u201cdoggy style\u201d? By the way: What is the modern slang term for a female dog? Oh, never mind.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/h2>\n

I recall reading somewhere that \u201cSaturn\u201d is sometimes used as a code name for Sirius, but I\u2019m too lazy to look it up. There are numerous interesting Saturn-star links.<\/p>\n

Dennis Hauck, in his popular-level introduction to alchemy, states: \u201cThe shimmering triple ring of rocks and 10 moons \u2026are remnants of [Saturn\u2019s] greedy attempt to attract more mass with its powerful gravity. \u2026Had Saturn been able to attract more mass, it would have transformed into a star, and our galaxy would have had two suns. But now ancient Saturn sleeps in darkness\u2026\u201d.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

Here we have another secret-sun symbol. Hauck invites us to compare this astronomical lore against Saturn\u2019s mythological tale, where he \u201cwas imprisoned by his father \u2026while still a child. The child conspired with his mother to overthrow his father and ended up castrating him with a sickle.\u201d[11]<\/a> When Saturn himself was later deposed by Jupiter, the former was relegated \u201cto the darkness of the underworld.\u201d[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

Just in case this Saturnian \u201cChrist-complex\u201d wasn\u2019t yet plain enough, Hauck finishes by adding that \u201c\u2026Saturn was the most important planet to the alchemists. They equated in with the First Matter and considered it both the beginning and end of the Great Work.\u201d So, the alchemical Saturn is regarded to be \u201calpha and omega\u201d[13]<\/a> of the arcane practice of transformation.<\/p>\n

In his book, The Sirius Mystery<\/em>, writer Robert K. G. Temple says of Saturn that it \u201cis known as \u2018the star of limiting the place\u2019 \u2026\u201d[14]<\/a> to the Dogon peoples of Africa, which group is one of the main subjects of his book.<\/p>\n

Downard suggested that the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory in California might sometimes have been pointed at Saturn. The details are a little murky, but Downard’s story has it that a person (or persons) unknown would actually climb into the telescope’s built-in viewing area and then allow themselves to be “irradiated” by the celestial “rays” that would stream through the massive optical device.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What these individuals may have been doing while in this energy-bathed state is anybody’s guess. But the whole thing has a palpable sexual aura to it.<\/p>\n

And it is this just this elaborate and variegated tapestry of symbolism that has been hinted at and showcased by Fortean journalist and writer Jim Brandon in his Sirius Rising<\/em>\u00a0redux.<\/p>\n

Introduction to Downard<\/h1>\n

Jim Brandon is the pen name of the author of the hard-to-find and much-pirated Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States<\/em>[15]<\/a> and The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit<\/em>.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

The original Sirius Rising<\/em> (SR) recording has attained something of a buzz among Synchromystics and aficionados. Originally, recorded in the 1970s on reel to reel, SR is based upon a series of interviews with Synchromystic chieftain James Shelby Downard.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

Downard, who died in 1998 at the age of 85,[18]<\/a> is as enigmatic as he is inimitable. The broad contours of his life have been somewhat unriddled by Richard Spence, professor of military (and other) history at the University of Idaho. Spence\u2019s serious research draws upon his wealth of academic and research experience tracking down individuals who are trained to obscure their personal histories.<\/p>\n

As Spence puts it: \u201c\u2026I spend an unhealthy amount of time delving through passenger lists, census records, investigative files and similar databases trying to piece together the movements and associations of spies and kindred shady types. \u2026Using the same techniques, I decided to see what I could turn up on Downard.\u201d<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t spoil for you the experience of following along with Spence as he recounts his investigative journey. And I won\u2019t reproduce much of the good doctor\u2019s work, here \u2013 save for this.<\/p>\n

In a paragraph summarizing his tentative conclusions, Spence opines: \u201cShelby James Downard was unequivocally real. However delusional or exaggerated his adventures may have been, they are woven around a framework of real places, people and events. \u2026There is \u2026a multitude of puzzling coincidences, perhaps signifying some larger reality we cannot see or understand, perhaps signifying nothing.\u201d[19]<\/a><\/p>\n

I highly encourage interested readers to search for \u201cSearching for James Shelby Downard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sirius Rising<\/em> (SR) recording<\/h2>\n

Brandon\u2019s newly revamped SR has two foci.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, there is the centerpiece symbol: Sirius. As I already noted, Sirius\u2019s various layers of meaning and interconnections with other areas of research are endless fascinating.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, though, Downard himself is magnetic and captivating. Shelby, as his friends apparently knew him, is something of a hidden \u201cpower\u201d behind the work of multiple, contemporary researchers and theorists. In this way, Downard himself is a Sirius symbol. He\u2019s the hidden sun behind the brighter lights of Forteans and Synchronmystics including Michael Hoffman, Loren Coleman, and the SR interviewer himself, Jim Brandon.<\/p>\n

For more on Downard and his unique \u0153uvre<\/em>, see HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A rough outline of the SR presentation \u2013 which is actually part 1 of a series \u2013 is as follows.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Introduction: There is a secret society in America<\/li>\n
  2. Three assassinations (Two Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr.)<\/li>\n
  3. The \u2018Killing of the King\u2019 (Alchemical Rite and the trail leading to it: The \u2018Journey of Death\u2019)<\/li>\n
  4. Destruction of \u2018primordial matter\u2019 \u2013 The \u2018Trinity Site\u2019<\/li>\n
  5. The moon trip \u2013 Jules Verne & Cape Canaveral<\/li>\n
  6. The Palomar telescope (Saturn, \u2018mystic rays,\u2019 and the folks who \u2018tune-in\u2019 on them)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Along the way, Brandon and Downard explore such themes and topics as:<\/p>\n