Athanasius Kircher's Magnets, Numbers and IslandsI was working on a freelance article dealing with medieval mystics, when I came across a fellow who may be of interest to Lost fans. His name is Athanasius Kircher, and he was a Jesuit scholar in the 1600s. So what's the connection to Lost?
 For one thing, he wrote an epic study on magnetism, and as we know, there are some strange magnetic features on the island. The frontspiece appears to be a double-headed phoenix, an image which will be familiar to those of you who have invested too much of your lives in this ABC TV show (a very similar image was on Jack's vodka bottle and on Desmond's shirt in the stadium flashback). The image here is actually a "magnetic eagle" modeled on the insignia of the Hapsburg dynasty of Austria. (Maybe Alvar Hanso is a descendant of the Hapsburgs...) Click the image for a larger version.
 There's more, however. Kircher was an orientalist, and as such, he was exposed to many aspects of Asian spirituality that were little known by his peers. One such example is tucked away in the corner of a large numerological design, the frontspiece of a text called Arithmologia. You can click the cherub for the full picture. The large 9-pointed star to which the little cherub's magic square points may itself contain a magic square. Nine x 12 is 108, of course, but what's more significant is that the magic square held by the cherub is the numerical expression of the eight i-Ching trigrams -- the ba gua -- featured in the DHARMA logo in Desmond's hatch. (See previous posts here and here.)
In addition to designing strange musical instruments, recording massive charts loaded with all sorts of occult numbers and designing mirror-based imaging systems (!), Kircher was a major inspiration for the Illuminati, and he also claimed to have mapped out the location of Atlantis. His version is located in the Atlantic Ocean, and some students of his work say it may actually be a representation of Antarctica. What interests me is the mountain peak in the center of the continent which Kircher claims still protrudes from the ocean. That image is below. The inset is from the "French Chick's Map" that Sayyid took from Danielle Rousseau. Any resemblance is strictly in your head, or mine.
You may commence Googling...
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10 Comments:
I wanted to say thanks -- as a big LOST fan, I find your site to be amazing. I was drawn here while researching the I Ching numbers myself. I totally enjoy your other articles also. I wish you the best in your endeavors
i have a question... did you add that small picture of the map or was that part of the orginal picture?
I put the small inset of the Island in there. The one at the tip of the arrow is the one that was on the original. I did note that it looks more like a mirror image than a one-to-one correspondence...
ah.. ty. I admit I was kind of hoping it was part of theoriginal picture. ;) Would have made it even MORE interesting. But, great post none the less. thanks for the information.
You know, a lot of the time, I find the history and "mythology" that might have influenced to the show to be far more interesting than the show itself. Thank you for a very interesting read. :)
Where do you come up with the 12 to get to 108? I understand the 9 and the math but what reference points to twelve?
^ There is a 12-hexagrams i-Ching cycle which might be able to be cross-referenced to the 9-square Tai Hsuan Ching chart. I will post on this later -- I might order a copy of a relevant book to get a little more information first...
^^ I like the show itself plenty, but the related material is my bread and butter (literally and figuratively), so I agree with doomcrayon's sentiment entirely...
All I have to say is: awesome. I just came across your blog when I was looking for info and feel like I've hit a goldmine. This post in particular really grabbed me. Now I'm going to have to sit down and find all the Lost tidbits you've noted.
I hope you don't mind, but I mentioned your website on the Lost forum I frequent: www.4815162342.com
Check out www.kirchersociety.org
does someone have a sceencap of Jack's vodka bottle?
http://synchromysticism.blogspot.com/
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