A Critique of David Ovason's Book
|
|---|
November 2006 - This set of pages represents my first attempt at a unified critique of Ovason's book. Up to this point I have critiqued the book in a piece-meal fashion, some of which can be found in the Mis-Information section of my DC Map Symbolisms web site. This critique will examine the assumptions and conclusions of the book, just as I do throughout the MI section. The main point of the MI section is that a lot of people pass on information, or use factoids in arguements that simply aren't factually true. The other less critical people cut and paste that all over different media. The corrolary of that is that people can write things in books, that others will cut and paste, regardless of how true it is. My critique is of the reading public as well as the author or book. My critique of David Ovason, in its simplest terms, is that he is intellectually dis-honest and can't seem to get his facts straight. That however has not kept the 'uncritical' masses, who don't know any different, from singing the praises of his work. I wish to look at the book from a critical point of view. You will please note that this will be a lot easier to understand if you have read the book and have a copy of that close at hand.
Individuals Interested in Astrology
The Alignment ArguementSince astrology is all about alignments, Ovason takes the aligment approach to the subject. The other main approach is the symbolic approach. Both of these assume magical intent. The symbologists say that the DC map contains magical symbols designed to secure power for certain secret persons, while Ovason invokes the ancient notion of symbolically uniting the heavens and the earth via some 'alignment' of a celestial object. Ancient temples were often aligned to a certain sunrise or set, or the the rising of a certain star.
Pennsylvania AvenueIf you look at the DC planning maps, you will see that there are three avenues that extend from the SE to the NW side of the city. These are Mass Ave Penn Ave and Virginia Ave, neither of which was 'planned' to be straight. In L'Enfant's words,"The first of these avenues, and the most direct one, begins at the Eastern Branch and ends over Rock Creek at the wharves at Georgetown". Note that Penn Ave, of which he speaks, is composed of three sections.
 Ovason asserts that PA was designed in such a way as to produce a particular alignment on a certain day of the year. He suggests that the middle section of PA was meant to align with one sunset on one day. By hanging out at the back of the Capitol Building Ovason determined that the sunset in question was on or about August 10th. So, on August 10, the sun sets, as seen from the CB, on the NW end of PA over the White House. I know what your thinking ... the lion's paw. The sun rules Leo, the sun is in Leo in early August, the lion and the sun are both symbols of leadership, and the sun sets over the White House, the president's home, and Hiram was raised by the grip of the lion's paw, the sun in leo. But that is not the direction in which Ovason goes. Ovason claims that they aligned PA with a sunset in Leo over the White House, because after the sunsets, the Virgo constellation can be seen in the southwest sky there; in keeping with the notion that the city was 'dedicated' to the Virgo (the divine femine?). The question that arises is "if the intention is to connect to the Virgo, why focus on a solar event that occurs in Leo on the WH?" Ovason's answer is that the focus is the Virgo constellation seen in the sky at that time, and the fact that a triangle of stars in that region of the sky imitates shapes in the DC map. its not far from what you read in the "Orion Mystery", where they claim that the three stars in Orion's Belt are the three pyramids at Gizah and other monuments in the area correspond to other stars in the constellation. Try it. Get a map of Egypt and monuments, overlay the image of Orion on it so that the three stars are at the exact spot as the three pyramids and see what turns up. Unfortunately the scale does not work so as to match much, and stars that are brightest in the constellation are not even close to anything monumental. Plus, when you think about it, when you lay the constellation on the map you face north, but when you want to place that in the sky, you have to turn around and face south!! The image on the map is opposite to the one in the sky, and does not project directly on it. The same is true in Ovason's story. The triangle of stars around Virgo that he shows in his illustrations has the right angle in the left hand corner, which would be SSW at that time, but for which you would have to look north in the map.
One SunsetMore about the triangle later, right now I would like to address the idea of one sunset on one day. If you have never made a personal stonehenge, I recommend that you take a year and place two markers as many paces apart as you need to be able to site a straight line. Begin on an equinox by placing one marker on the ground, then aligning the other one over it to the rising sun. This is due east. At that sunset you can reverse your postition to see the alignment with that. Throughout the year mark the periphera of your 'area' with something that tells you the extreme positions of the sun, the solstices; these are north and south of due east. If we look to the west we see the sunset due west in the spring, then it sets in the northwest in the summer, due west again in the fall and to the southwest in the winter (in the northern hemisphere). We call this cycle the 'solar arc'. Ovason tells us that the total solar arc at DC is 62 degrees. This means that the sun is 31 degrees north of west in June. PA runs at 19.5 degrees from the horizontal.
You will note that these errors were reviewed by a proof reader and illustrator and others besides the author, and no one noticed.
Ovason proclaims that the middle section of PA was aligned to the sunset on one day in the first week in August which highlights the Virgo constellation which is tied to the city, and which features a triangle that matches the dc layout. So what are we to make of the fact that the sun sets in the same place every May, in Taurus, which would feature Gemini after sunset? Ovason does not mention this.In other words it is not true that Pennsylvania Avenue aligns with one sunset one day, it aligns with two different sun sets, once in May following the spring equinox, then in August after the Solstice. Astronomers and pagans will note that the first week in May and August correspond to two of the four cross-quarter days, the half way points between the solstices and equinoxes. If you look at the DC map you will see that Maryland Avenue mirrors Penn Ave, with the result that the sun sets over Maryland Ave as seen from the CB in early February and November, which is the times of the other two cross-quarter days. Maryland and Penn Ave's are the ones depicted as a compass by symbologists.
Cardinal, FixedThe solstice and equinoxes occur in what are called the cardinal zodiac signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. We know that PA is aligned to sunsets in Taurus and Leo, and looking at Maryland Ave (mirrors PA toward the Jeff Mml) we see it aligned to sunsets in Feb and November, Aquarius and Scorpio. These are the fixed signs associated with the 4 living creatures in Ezekiel and Revelations. At any rate, I'd have to say that I believe that PA points us to 4 not 1 sunset.
Penn Ave RevisitedLooking at the path of Pennsylvannia Avenue, we see three distinct segments, 1) one running from northwest DC (Georgetown) to the White House (WH), 2) another from there to the Capitol Building (CB), and 3) a third from there to the Eastern Branch. As David Ovason points out ("Secret Architecture" page 331) "Pennsylvania Avenue has been built (in accordance with L'Enfant's map) as three sections which run at different angles to one another".
 If we overlay a straight line from the northwest to the river, we notice that it agrees with the original until it reaches the WH, but that the two diverge until they meet again at the same point on the river's edge. Had the Capitol Building been located a few hundred feet to the south, Pennsylvannia Avenue would have been a "straight shot" all the way to the river.
 You will recall that Ovason attempts to characterize the middle segement, between the WH and the CB, as the main or straight alignment, but as you can see, it would appear that segment 1, formed by connecting two corners of the pentagon, is the straight segment.
Why the Bend?The question that arises is why is there a bend in Pennsylvannia Avenue? That is, why did the planners not lay it out as a straight line? Ovason's basic assumption is that the "aligment" of middle segment of PA was intentional. On page 331 he states that, "It appears that L'Enfant, and Ellicott (who adjusted the Frenchman's maps slightly - even in regard to this angle of Pennsylvannia Avenue), wanted this stretch of the avenue ... to orient differently from the rest". And, "Why did Andrew Ellicott measure the length of Pennsylvania Avenue in such a way that its central portion, between the Capitol and the White House, ran at an angle different from the rest?... he did this in order to orient this stretch to a particular sunset". (page 332) The thesis of his book is that this segment of the avenue aligns to the sunset around August 10th, and while he continues to point to this "one day or sunset", he fails to remind us that the sun also sets there in early May. The offset in PA at the CB is about 3 degrees. Ovason says specifically that the planners deviated from a straight line in order to make the section between the CB and WH align with the Aug 10 sunset. Once again, that is because you can see the Virgo constellation there after the sun sets (in Leo). As you probably already know, a zodiac sign is 30 degrees wide, and the Virgo is the second largest named constellation in the sky. The largest is the Hydra (the multi headed serpent that goes before the woman in Rev 12). The Hydra and Virgo are side by side in the sky. The point that I am trying to make is that if the avenue had been made straight, the sunset that it aligned with would have been 3 days later, and that would not make much difference in the viewing of one of the largest constellations. Ie, this does not make for a good reason to put a bend in PA.
TopographyOvason mentions repeatedly that the topography of the area played a large part in the planning of the federal district, noting that "L'E clearly gave the impression that his plan had been determined after a close study of the terrain" (p 91), yet he never examines the "lay of the land" in his analysis, except to mention that L'Enfant was enamored with Jenkins Heights. The image below is a topographic map of the area around the Capitol. The red line is the same red line in the illustration above, and the red dot is the current location of the CB. The blue square is due south of that location on the red line, a point that would have resulted in a straight avenue. As you can see that location lies on the side of a steep hill (each line equals 10 feet).
 I suggest that the planners would have liked to have put the CB where the blue square is, but that it would have required too much work to prepare the site. The positioning was due to topographic reasons and was not due to an attempt to align it per se. Suggestions that PA aligns with the sunrise of the star Sirius are also a stretch of the truth.
The Analogy ArguementThe arguement about the triangle and the Virgo is a bit more complicated. It is the analogy arguement used earlier, by others, to tie the stars in Orion's belt to the placement of the three pyramids at Giza. The short version of this arguement is that the L'Enfant Triangle, formed by the Capitol Building, the White House, and the original proposed position for the Washington Monument (due south of the WH and due west of the CB), as well as the Federal Triangle (contained with in the L'E. Triangle) are analagous to the triangle formed in the sky by Spica (in Virgo), Regulus (in Leo) and Arcturus (in Bootes). On page 262 he plainly states, "My assumption is that the earthly triangle... was intended as a reflection of the stars around the constellation Virgo". Supposedly, this mapping of the skies onto the ground "was designed to unite the celestial realm of the stars with the Earth". This, of course, recalls the old hermetic notion of "As above, so below"; the idea being that the upper, ideal or spiritual realm is reflected in the lower, material realm. [Note that this comparison fails initially because 1) spatial metaphors do not apply to the spiritual realm- the spiritual is not above the material in a spatial sense, and 2) the celestial sphere is not the spiritual realm, but only another physical realm.]
Almost the Same As"The L'Enfant triangle, with its three primal buildings at its corners, is almost the same as a right-angled triangle which may be traced in the skies, around the constellation Virgo." (p 255) In that statement we have three assertions: 1) that the earthly triangle is almost the same as the celestial one, 2) that these are right triangles, and 3) that the stellar triangle is traced around the Virgo constellation. "This same triangulation is reflected in the stars gathered within and around the constellation Virgo", "the triad of stars surrounding the constellation Virgo", "Virgo is encased in a stellar triangle", and "a stellar triangle enclosing Virgo". All of this makes it sound as if the Virgo constellation lies completely within a right triangle outlined by the three stars Spica, Regulus and Arcturus; and that idea is encouraged by the illustation on page 256 of the book. As you can see, the triangle being depicted is a 90 degree right triangle, and the Virgo constellation appears to lie within that triangle.
 Now compare the image above with the one from page 347, which clearly shows the Virgo constellation cut in half by the triangle; meaning that the location of the Virgo can be located by means of the figure, and not that it encases it, as stated in the book. This is just the beginning of Ovason's deceptions.
More or Less"The fundamental triangle visualized by L'Enfant ... may still be traced between the three most important architectural structures on his plan - the Capitol, the White House and the Washington Monument... The three structures... have been erected in more or less the same position which he suggested in 1791." (p 253) This implies that lines connecting the three structures still produce a right triangle, more or less; meaning that their positions remain analagous to the positions of the three stars above. "The stars of the Virgoan Triangle correspond with the L'Enfant triad", with Arcturus falling on the White House, Regulus on the Capitol and Spica on the Washington Monument. (p 257) This statement implies a one-to-one correlation, a literal mapping of one to the other. But on page 261 he reveals that the three earthly elements "are not united by a perfect triangle at all", because the monument was displaced 371.6 feet east and 123.17 feet south of its original planned position; a lot more than less it seems. "The original right-angled triangle designed by L'Enfant is no longer a perfect right angle". Hmm.
Almost ExactHaving first stated that the L'Enfant triangle was a right triangle, and that it was almost the same as the Virgo Triangle which he also characterized as right-angled, then telling us that the earthly triangle no longer features a right angle, he next reveals that, "the truth is that the stars that I have used to symbolize this triangle - Arcturus, Spica and Regulus - are not themselves arranged in a perfect right-angled triangle". According to Ovason, "the deviation from the right angle made by the siting of the monument is consistent with that found in the stellar triangle round Virgo", and "When the triangle is measured against the Earth triangle, the correspondence between the two is almost exact". (p 262-3) OK, let's review. The team of L'Enfant, the designer, Ellicott, the surveyor, and Banneker, the astronomer, in their combined genius, came up with a plan of the city, who's grand mystery was that it reflected the layout of stars around the Virgo constellation, in order to higlight that in the sky on one evening in August, by the alignment of Pennsylvania Avenue. The original plan featured a right triangle, in spite of the fact that the stars that they were supposedly mapping do not form one in the sky. But at a later date, when the actual place for the Washington Monument was selected, it was correctly placed so that "the correspondence between the two is almost exact"; as if L'Enfant, Ellicott and Banneker had been mistaken originally.
The FactsThe next image compares the actual star distribution with the illustration taken from Ovason's book; and as you can see the numbers of the angles do not match. He has mis-represented the distance between Regulus and Arcturus in order to increase the size of the angle located at Spica to nearly 90 degrees. This, of course, reduces the apparent size of the other two angles.
 As you can see, none of Ovasons angles in his illustration (I have added the numberical values) agree with what goes on in the sky; that is he has fudged his drawing. But he has done a lot more than that. You will please note that the acute angle formed by Pennsylvania Avenue and the original monument location at the Capitol is 19.5 degrees, and nowhere near the 30 degrees of Ovason's illustration; and about half of the magnitude of the real triangle in the sky. The displacement of the Wash. Mmt. makes that angle 20 degrees. As to the asssertion that "the siting of the monument is consistent with that found in the stellar triangle round Virgo", I would like to point out that the change in position resulted in a larger angle at the monument (about 97 degrees), not a smaller one. Ovason's comment makes no sense, and the correspondence is anything but exact.
A Direct Projection of Stars to EarthImagine that it is March, and the Virgo constellation can be see on the meridian during the night time. If we stand south of the L'Enfant triangle with a map in our hands, we see that the layout on the ground ahead of us corresponds to the map; now if we turn around and look at the sky, we see that the stellar triangle is oriented the same as on the map in our hands; that is a mirror image of that on the ground behind us. In other words, a direct projection of stars to earth does not produce the pattern of buildings encountered on the ground in Washington, D.C.; just as the stars in Orion do not project directly onto the pyramids at Giza.
|