double helix noun
The coiled structure of
double-stranded DNA in which strands linked by hydrogen bonds form a
spiral configuration.
My investigation had led me to formulate the following working hypothesis:
In their visions, shamans
take their
consciousness down to the molecular level
and gain access to information related to DNA, which they call
"animate essences" or "spirits." This is where they see double
helixes, twisted ladders, and chromosome shapes. This is how shamanic
cultures have known for millennia that the vital principle is the same
for all living beings and is shaped like two entwined serpents (or a
vine, a rope, a ladder ... ). DNA is the source of their astonishing
botanical and medicinal knowledge, which can be attained only in
defocalized and "nonrational" states of consciousness, though its
results are empirically verifiable. The myths of these cultures are
filled with biological imagery. And the shamans metaphoric
explanations correspond quite precisely to the descriptions that
biologists are starting to provide.
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Like the axis mundi of
shamanic traditions, DNA has the form of a
twisted
ladder (or a vine ... ); according to my hypothesis, DNA was, like
the axis mundi, the source of shamanic knowledge and visions. To be sure
of this I needed to understand how DNA could transmit visual
information.
I knew that it emitted
photons, which
are
electromagnetic
waves, and I remembered what Carlos Perez Shuma
had told me when he compared the spirits to "radio waves": "Once you
turn on the radio, you can pick them up. Its like that with souls; with
ayahuasca ... you can see them and hear them." So I looked into the
literature on
photons of biological origin,
or "biophotons."
Jeremy Narby - _The Cosmic
Serpent: DNA And The Origins Of Knowledge_
Purines | Pyrimidines | Possible Base Pairs | Number of Hydrogen Bonds |
Adenine (A) | Thymine (T) | A-T | 2 |
Guanine (G) | Cytosine (C) | G-C | 3 |
All the cells in the world
contain DNA - be they animal, vegetal, or bacterial -- and they are
all filled with salt water, in which the
concentration of salt is similar to that of the worldwide ocean.
We cry and sweat what is essentially sea water. DNA bathes in
water, which in turn plays a crucial role in establishing the double
helix's shape. As DNA's four bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine,
and thymine) are insoluble in water, they tuck themselves into the
center of the molecule where they associate in pairs to form the rungs
of the ladder; then they twist up into a spiraled stack to avoid
contact
with the surrounding water molecules. DNA's
twisted
ladder shape is a direct consequence of the cell's water
environment. DNA goes together with water, just like mythical
serpents do.
Jeremy Narby - _The
Cosmic Serpent: DNA And The Origins Of Knowledge_
cover art for releases:
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The Sumerian Connection
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The Double Helix Crop
Circle
On June 17, 1996 a spectacular crop circle was
discovered in England. The formation looked strikingly similar to the
blueprint for human DNA. The circle measured
648 feet long, with a double-helix type design, and appeared in a field
of barley..
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The Tzolk'in
is the Sacred calendar of the
Maya and is based on
the cycles of the
Pleiadies. The cycle of the
Pleiadies uses 26,000 years, but is reflected in the calendar we are
using by encompassing 260 days. It uses the sacred numbers 13
and 20. The 13 represents the numbers and 20 represents the
sun/glyphs.
The Tzolk'in has four smaller cycles called seasons of 65 days each
guarded by the four suns of Chicchan, Oc, Men and Ahau. There are also
Portal days within the Tzolk'in that create a double helix pattern
using 52 days and the mathematics of 28. This sacred calendar is still
being used for divination by the traditional Maya all over the
Yucatan, Guatemala, and Belize, and Honduras.
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