Solar History, Chapter 21: Aurorae, War and Solar Maximum, p. 224:

In Chapter 20, we already looked at some of the contemporary terrestrial weather phenomena known to cause changes in human behavior. These described atmospheric events – such as the notorious falling winds, Foehn, Santa Ana Wind, etc. – are relatively frequent and without extreme consequences for human behavior, given Earth and its energetic environment is in its currently relatively quiet state. For extreme and widespread effects on the human psyche, the contributing factors would have to be multiplied accordingly.

In extreme disturbances of the solar output and Earth’s magnetic field, solar wind speeds and density can increase, and aurorae may be seen in low latitudes, mostly during solar storms in solar maximum. Examples of aurorae being seen over battle fields abound, even in recent centuries. Above, I have already alluded to the aurora displays at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1862, during the US Civil War, when intense northern lights appeared. Northern lights at such low latitudes are extremely rare. Many soldiers noted it in their diaries. The battle was fought not only at the peak of the Minor Grand Maximum, it was also just two years after the peak of the corresponding Schwabe cycle (Solar Cycle 10, which had peaked in 1860). We find numerous accounts of extreme Northern Lights during conflicts in Grand Solar Maxima throughout history.

Many historians are still musing on why our allegedly naïve ancestors were so anxious about imaginary connections between out-of-place aurorae and wars/ revolution. We can see now that the connection is very real and tangible. In northern latitudes where aurorae are frequent, legends of the people do not connect aurora with violence and war.

Throughout the time of at least the last millennium, Grand Solar Minima correlated very closely with low aurora activity frequency (See Fig. 25). The high intensity aurora periods tend to concentrate at the peaks of Grand Maxima, as is also corroborated by countless historical examples.

“During the Maunder Minimum (MM) period extremely few auroras were recorded (Chapman, 1967), suggesting that atmospheric/ magnetospheric processes were significantly affected.” This went along with reduced solar irradiance during the MM and Dalton Minimum. [i]

In summary, during Grand Maximum we see: high sunspot numbers (almost all the naked-eye sunspot observations were made in Grand Maxima) – low cosmic rays – high aurora activity, and more of those solar storms that left direct, observable effects on Earth — and even a larger corona is visible during solar eclipse. But there is overall low lightning activity. Apart from the cosmic rays, all of these parameters can be observed with rudimentary methods i.e. direct visual observation and they were documented with various degrees of consistency for the past two millennia.

A study of the Northern Lights at middle latitudes below 55°N from the 13^thto mid-18^thcenturies provided proof of a phase-dependent frequency of aurorae boreales for parts of this period. For example, the auroral maxima in the Maunder and Spoerer minima coincide with the lag in auroral frequency discovered by Fritz (1864) [ii]

Aurora Solar Activity 1000-2000AD

Fig. 25: Aurora activity is strongly correlated with solar modulation and inversely correlated with cosmic rays. Top ¹⁴C data collection of Muscheler et al 2007, below: aurora frequency data: Hood L.L. and J. L. Jirikowic; 1990: A Probable — 2400 Year Solar Quasi-Cycle In Atmospheric A14c; Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona USA p. 102

Aurora and sunspot numbers

The frequency of auroral occurrences (Harang, 1951) and the size of the solar corona observable during total solar eclipses are correlated with sunspot numbers, and Eddy (1976) relied partly on this type of data in extending sunspot cycle history back to 1100 AD. [iii]

So, solar modulation as extrapolated from cosmogenic isotopes agrees well with aurora activity, as do the sunspot numbers, which are known since the telescope age. For the time before 1610, we don’t have access to exact sunspot records, only the mentioned incomplete records of naked eye observations as seen in Fig. 9. Very large sunspots or sunspot groups can be seen for instance in a hazy sunset or through the smoke of forest fires and they were recorded for many centuries. Thus, we can compare key dates of very large sunspots with the state of the sun in the solar cycle and aurora events.

The following history report from the NASA Chandra mission compares European sunspot observations to corresponding sunspot and aurora sightings in East Asia. The year 1128 was at the extreme peak of the Beryllium 10 measurement during the Grand Maximum of the late Medieval Warm Period. Dr. David Willis of the Space and Astrophysics Group at the University of Warwick made the connection. [iv]A description of sunspots with the earliest known drawing of sunspots appears in John of Worcester’s Chronicle recorded in 1128:

“In the third year of Lothar, emperor of the Romans, in the twenty-eighth year of King Henry of the English. […] on Saturday, 8^thDecember, there appeared from the morning right up to the evening two black spheres against the sun.” [v]

Just 5 days later, on the night of December 13^th, 1128, astronomers in Songdo, Korea, witnessed a red vapor that “soared and filled the sky” from the northwest to the southwest,” of course unbeknownst to the astronomers on the other side of the world. This was almost certainly a red aurora that can be expected about five days after a large sunspot (group) and a solar flare associated with it.

Four months later, Chinese astronomers reported “there was a black spot within the Sun”on March 22^nd, 1129, which “died away” on April 14^th.

Aurorae and other wonder signs in the 1500s, Reformation

In the context of the reformation, we mentioned the obsession by Luther and others of apocalyptic portents and signs in the sky.

Ken Kurihara identified numerous historical sources of anomalous aurora sightings in the mid and later 1500s, roughly on the eve of the 1600 minor Grand Maximum. His book Celestial Wonders in Reformation Germanylists many chroniclers of the time who associated accounts of these ‘fire signs’ with omens of war, pestilence and the like, the most noted sightings were recorded from the 1550’s onwards, so that’s mostly afterLuther’s death, as social and political tensions ramped up. No direct entry is found for 1517, the beginning of the Reformation. The timing of such written testimonies is consistent with the reconstructed aurora frequencies of the Grand Maxima (See graph above).

There was some confusion over the individual distinction of aurorae, sun halos, comets fireballs and supernovae, the latter was unknown at the time and was likely described as ‘new star’ or ‘comet’.

Below I will list more examples of fire signs and ‘wonder signs’ in this period, with the focus on those that can be explained with aurorae and related apparitions such as pillars of light, likely electric displays similar to the recent phenomena of ‘Steve’.

As for comet frequency, the case is more complicated, no absolute proof exists for a definite increase in near earth objects in the late 1500s but recurring comets may have been more visible in Grand Maxima. (see page 197).

Many cases of ‘Feuerzeichen’ (fire signs) in the sky were reported throughout the latter half of the sixteenth century. Nicolas Orphanus’s pamphlet describes the celestial lights he witnessed in November 1574 (the year marks the end of the French Wars of Religions):

“At ten o’clock at night, the sky suddenly became bright as if the moon was shining. A black cloud like a huge mountain appeared, and three rays of clear light “like flames of fire” emanated from the top of it. Soon ‘a big fiery column’ stood on the mountain-cloud and brightened the sky.” [vi]

[…] “Hebenstreit noted that Feuerzeichen generally meant future war or the death of rulers and reminded readers that similar phenomena had appeared shortly before the Turks’ Siege of Vienna in 1529.” [vii]

Meanwhile in Portugal, from “The Book of Miracles”:

“In the year 1531, on the twenty-sixth and the twenty-eighth of January, bloody and fiery signs were seen at night in the sky in Lisbon in Portugal on the twenty-sixth day and then on the twenty-eighth a great whale was seen in the sky. This was followed by great earthquakes, so that about two hundred houses collapsed and more than a thousand people were killed.”[viii]

The Book of Miracles,written ca. 1552 in Augsburg is a manuscript listing and illustrating numerous portents in Europe, such as bizarre floods, golden spheres, dragons, armies and swards in the sky, fiery skies raining hailstones and blood. Editor and author of the newly published facsimile, Till-Holger Borchert: “The 16^thCentury’s obsession with miraculous signs has its primary origin in religion, specifically in the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation.”

As we have seen in the context of the Reformation and the French Wars of Religion, also on 28^th of December (1561), extraordinary aurorae were seen and documented in the Spangenberg’s Mansfeld Chronicles.

“Indeed, when Johann Schuetz, a Wittenberg professor of theology, describes the movement of Feuerzeichen in his book on Wunderzeichen (1582), he states that ‘the sky looks fiery and blood-red. In clouds people see as if light beams are engaging in a skirmish like two armies moving together. “[ix]

Already in June of the same year, a writer named Fincel reported an apparition of lights in the sky interpreted as ‘a warrior with a sword’ over the sky of Jena.

In all of this, let’s keep in mind that we now know that unusual gleans on the horizon can also have other causes than aurora. The Tunguska, Russia explosion of 1908, most likely an atmospheric meteor explosion of a Taurid meteor stream object, did leave a bright glow in the night sky for two nights, strong enough for people in Europe to read at night without additional lighting.

In most instances of aurorae in low latitudes, people saw in the dancing lights in the skies figures and armies battling as if the sky had turned into a giant movie screen of war. Other displays were seen as dark funeral processions caring biers across the sky. It was not only the red color of the aurorae that reminded observers of war, but also the ‘sword and spears’ -symbolism is frequently noted. Singular ‘swards’ might be compared to pillars of light, of the helix-like streak of light that was observed in an aurora display in 2016 and named ‘Steve’ by astronomers. already in 1346, a ‘pillar of fire’ was reported over the pope’s palace in Avignon. [x]

Why the negative? Why did people see in these displays swords, warriors and lances? Aurora in northern latitudes do often show vertical streaks of light. But why not flowers and unicorns? Needless to say, there is no evidence that any one really saw any recognizable human figures or objects. Aurora watching is, and presumably was, more like watching clouds and seeing figures, but then they did so with a gloomy attitude. In polar regions aurorae are normal and locals are not concerned about them. Here we are talking about extraordinary events in low latitudes (Central Europe or Australia) that are more prevalent in Grand Maxima.

Well, as high solar activity/ high aurora frequency and human excitability/ violence are closely correlated, apparently in Grand Maximum, people tend to also ‘feel like war’ so it is no wonder that they produce sinister interpretations in such a “celestial Rorschach test”. Educated and /or well-aware witnesses at the time could have known then empirically that ‘fire signs’ in the skies are correlated with war and thus it is only logical to expect conflict in times of extreme aurorae.

Here are additional incidents of Wunderzeichen, strange signs in the sky, including strange solar phenomena in the late 16^thcentury, as collected by Kurihara:[xi]

-1551, March in Wittenberg (Germany) reports of the appearance of “three suns” and a mysterious rainbow (This seems to be what today are called sundogs and halos).

-1578: in Wuerttemberg there appeared strange eclipses and apparitions of a large army in the sky.

-1554: a strange celestial fire in France. (p.14)

– 1584 April 19: City of Hof: fire suddenly sprang from the sun and fell onto the earth, followed by bread falling from heaven. (p.15)

– 1583 a three days long eclipse over Rome. (p. 19)

-various dates: halo phenomena, where three suns or moons were frequently seen with strange cycles and mysterious rainbows, (p.19)

-1568, Dec. 22 shortly after sunrise, it was seen that a long stream of light with a sharp point emanated from the sun. Thereafter two bright ‘Nebensonnen’ (additional suns).

-November 1574 November Nicolas Orphanunus: fire signs, sulphur-like fire on the horizon.

-1553-1555 repeated celestial battles according to Fincel’s account in Danzig and Nuremberg.

-1556 an apparition of the last judgement with Christ sitting on a thrown, holding a sword.

Aurora and war in Australia

Additional examples of extreme relationships between human affairs and aurorae (including geo-electric disturbances) are found in Australian legends. I must say first, since these are prehistoric undated accounts, we don’t know whether the dramatic aurora events occurred in Grand Maximum. To the indigenous peoples, aurorae are said to have a causal connection to human fate, here a legend from Lake Victoria, Australia:

“Upon the Aurora’s appearance, the Kurnai, of the Gippsland region, would be shouting such words as ‘Send it away; do not let it burn us up.”

Far from being overly imaginative fantasies arising from the red hue of the Aurora Australis, such visceral reactions rooted in traumatic memories of a time when the aurora “filled the whole space between the earth and the sky”, precipitating floods, collective madnessand the final departure of the creator from the Earth.’[xii]

Even today, many aborigine tribes are terrified when aurorae appear over Australia. As you may guess, anthropologists have a simple explanation for this: they conclude that aurorae Australis are often red in color, thus the illiterate, naive people think “blood” and therefore death. But in fact, the southern lights have the same color spectrum as their northern counterparts and native peoples are not ignorant at all, rather they often carry on vivid ancestral memories of important events. Red colored aurorae are at the lower end of the energy spectrum, whereas blue, white or purple displays are indicators of much more powerful high energy particles and therefore more liable to be seen at times of changes in the atmosphere, in weather and in human health. Red aurorae are also higher up in the atmosphere, they are seen from farther away, which means, when aurorae appear in unusual places, they are more often red. Recently, in 2016, a new phenomenon in the form of a curved streak of light rising up from the ground, named Steve, was seen for the second time in May, only a month after its first appearance.[xiii]No direct significant consequences for human health or behavior were reported.

Hitler’s “omen” and the beginning of WWII

The aurorae of January 25^th, 1938, an extremely rare appearance, sparked fears in Zurich, Switzerland, of invasion by Germany. It was reported in many newspapers. The great aurora was seen over the whole of Europe and as far south as Sicily, Portugal and across the Atlantic to Bermuda and Southern California, in the southern hemisphere it reached well north into Southern Australia.[xiv]The New York Times titled: “Aurora borealis startles Europe. People flee, call fireman”. [xv]Different interpretations were circulated, some took it for a bad omen, while others were afraid the red glow over the horizon was from fires of actual warfare or burning cities in Germany, they thought war had broken out.

According to the late Vatican insider Father Malachi Martin, Hitler’s architect Albert Speer recounts in his second book, how Hitler saw the intense red hue over the night sky in the east in August, 1938 from his mountain retreat near Berchtersgarden in the German Alps. He took it as a sign, exclaiming “now it’s time to shed blood”.Father Martin claims Hitler interpreted the natural display as the fulfilment of the Second Secret of Fatima.[xvi]We’ll clean up the minute error in the timeline in a minute.

The Second Secret prophesied in 1917, that WWI will end soon, (which it did one year later, in November 11^th, 1918) but another war would break out:

“When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions against the Church and against the Holy Father.”

On the 1^stof Sept 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, just days after another unusual aurora sighting. (The corresponding strong Schwabe cycle, solar cycle 17, had peaked in 1937). Here is an unabridged excerpt from Albert Speers biography Inside the third Reich, I leave in an extended portion with the attempt to provide some context to the evening of the celestial display, the behavior of mad psychopaths and the devastating aftermath (however they are related). [xvii]

“About the beginning of August 1939, we, and untroubled group, drove with Hitler up to the eagle’s Nest. The long motorcade wound along the road which Bormann had blasted into the rock. Through a high bronze portal, we entered a marble hall, damp from the moisture in the heart of the mountain and stepped into the elevator of polished brass. As we rode up the hundred and sixty- five feet of shaft, Hitler said abruptly, as if he were talking to himself: „Perhaps something enormously important will happen soon. Even if I should have to send Goering … But if need be, I would even go myself. I am staking everything on this card.“ There was no more beyond  this hint.

Barely three weeks later, on August 21, 1939, we heard that the German Foreign Minister was in Moscow for some negotiations. During supper a note was handed to Hitler. He scanned it, stared into space for a moment, flushed deeply, then banged on the table so hard that the glasses rattled, and exclaimed in a voice breaking with excitement: „I have them! I have them!“ Seconds later he had already regained control of himself. No one dared to question, and the meal continued. After supper Hitler called his entourage together. „We are going to conclude a nonaggression pact with Russia. Here, read this. A telegram from Stalin.“ It briefly acknowledged the agreement that had been reached. To see the names of Hitler and Stalin linked in friendship on a piece of paper was the most staggering, the most exciting turn of events I could possibly have imagined. Immediately afterward we were shown a movie depicting Stalin watching a Red Army parade; a tremendous number of troops marched past him. Hitler expressed his gratification that this military might was now neutralized. He turned to his military adjutants, evidently wanting to hear their estimate of the mass display of weapons and troops. The ladies were still excluded, but of course they soon heard the news from us, and shortly afterward it was announced on the radio. Goebbels held an evening press conference on August 23^rdin which he offered commentary on the pact. Hitler telephoned him immediately afterward. He wanted to know how the foreign correspondents had reacted. With eyes glistening feverishly, he told us what Goebbels had said. „The sensation was fantastic. And when the church bells simultaneously began ringing outside, a British correspondent fatalistically remarked: ‚That is the death knell of the British Empire.’ These words made the strongest impression upon Hitler in the euphoria that night. He thought he now stood so high as to be out of the reach of fate. In the course of the night we stood on the terrace of the Berghof with Hitler and marveled at a rare natural spectacle. Northern lights of unusual intensity threw red light on the legend-haunted Unterberg across the valley, while the sky above shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow. The last act of Goetterdaemmerung could not have been more effectively staged. The same red light bathed our faces and our hands. The display produced a curiously pensive mood among us. Abruptly turning to one of his military adjutants, Hitler said:

„Looks like a great deal of blood. This time we won’t bring it off without violence “.

Weeks before, the center of Hitler’s interests had already shifted to the military area. […]

By “this time” Hitler obviously referred to the bloodless takeovers of Austria and Czechoslovakia that preceded his grab for Poland. To Hitler, a non-aggression treaty with Russia didn’t mean peace, but rather green light from Stalin to invade Poland. The Soviet later attacked Poland from the East to the advantage of the Nazis and Poland was divided between the two.

So, a slight correction is made to the late Father Malachi’s timeline. The first and most notable aurora sightings that were reported in Switzerland on January 25^th, 1938, were followed by several additional episodes (see below). According to Speer, Hitler witnessed the displays of the Northern Lights not in 1938 but on August 23^rd, 1939 and the invasion of Poland followed one week later, beginning Sept 1^st, 1939, the official start of WWII.

Not only did the thirst for blood around the world again go hand in hand with extraordinary aurorae and high solar activity but the dramatic visual effect must have raised particularly strong satanic sentiments of occultist Hitler and his cronies. It is disputed whether Hitler himself was a member of the racist, anti-Semitic Thule Society, who’s members founded the precursor of the NSDAP. Eric Kurlander of Yale University explains:

“The Thule adopted an elaborate array of esoteric traditions, including Ariosophic racism and esoteric symbols like the Indo-Aryan Swastika. But its main purpose was to unite all ‘social-national’ elements in creating a Greater Germany devoid of Jews, freemasons, and communists. Within weeks of Germany’s defeat in November 1918 the Thule Society members Anton Drexler and Karl Harrer created the German Workers Party (DAP), which Hitler joined nine months later, changing its name to the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP).” [xviii]

The Thule Society identified Ultima Thule as a lost ancient landmass in the extreme north, near Greenland or Iceland, said by Nazi mystics to be the capital of ancient Hyperborea. According to Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans were a mythical race of giants who lived “beyond the North Wind”. [xix]As Nazi occultists combined a wide maze of esoteric believes, they also believed the Arian race were offspring of the lost continent of Plato’s Atlantis. The “Haus Atlantis” in the city of Bremen was built in 1931, designed by Herman Wirth, the Nazi ethnographer specializing in German ancestral heritage, the building was dedicated to the study of Atlantis and the Arian “super race”. Eric Kurlander relates that leading Nazi stormtroopers allied with the popular clairvoyant, Erik Hanussen, who, at a séance on the night of February 26^th, 1933 ‘predicted’ the infamous Reichstag Fire, which justified the Nazi imposition of martial law. [xx]

More Aurorae in WWII

Already in World War One, Tchijevsky had identified an intense solar storm, or minor version of a Carrington Event,during the height of WWI. He made the following observations in connection to the conflicts of 1915:

“[…] The appearance of large sunspots was immediately followed by increased activities on different battle fronts simultaneously. The first observation was made in the middle of June 1915 when a large group of sunspots crossed the central meridian of the sun, and when the aurora borealis were exceedingly powerful in North America and Northern Europe, and magnetic storms were exceptionally strong and interfered with telegraph work. At the time of these phenomena, the hardest and bloodiest fights of the war were being fought by Germans, Russians, Austrians, Serbians, French and English.” [xxi]

During the second World War, in a paper by M. Waldmeier (Zurich) on extraordinary aurorae in these years, published on 2^ndof March, 1942, no direct connection to the war that was raging only a few hundred kilometers north of Zurich, was made. The author also documents extreme aurorae on Sep. 18/ 19 1941, and explains the solar cause of the great aurora event of 1938.[xxii]But no explicit mention is made of Hitler’s August 23^rd, 1939 aurora, if Speer was correct it was only one of many anomalous sightings between 1938 and 1942, we note the Sept 18^th1941 aurora appeared only 2 months after the invasion of Russia, another decisive battle of WWII.

The paper is titled “the Northern Lights of 25 January, 1939 and of 18 September, 1941 and their solar cause” and was published in the quaternary paper of the association for a natural science of Zurich”. It describes how R. Wolf and H. Fritz in Zurich had already in the 1860s discovered the parallel cycles of the northern lights and sun spot cycles. Waldmeier wrote that aurora activity in Europe in 1939- 1941 was the highest it had been since the record years of 1870-1872. In Switzerland, 10 single events of northern lights were reported in these early years of the war. The aurora of 25^thJanuary 1938, is described as follows:

“In the afternoon the before clear skies were covered with cirrus clouds and the sun showed an intense halo […]”

At 20.34h pm, single strains of light had risen as high as the polar star. The astronomers measured a magnetic storm in the station for geomagnetic observation in the meteorological Institute in Regensdorf, near Zurich.

Also for 1941, we note more agreements with the WWII timeline. Hitler again invaded unexpectedly, in close proximity to extraordinarily rare aurorae, this time it was 2 months beforethe sighting of Sept 18^th1941.

Nazi Germany under the command of Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union (now Russia) on June 22^nd, 1941 in Operation Barbarossa. This was two days after Tamerlane’s (Timur’s) tomb was opened and the remains of Timur were sent to Moscow. This invasion came without any formal declaration of war, the largest military invasion of all times. [xxiii]

Hitler named this operation after Frederic I Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor who died in 1190 in Asia Minor while leading an army in the Third Crusade. [xxiv]

And then there was this: In 1962, at the fervor of the Cuban Missile Crisis, strong aurora appeared over Alaska and there is a notion that this almost started WWIII. Air Force Captain Charles Maulstby was dazzled by the Northern lights, “one of the brightest – and in this case most disorienting” – during a routine flight to the North Pole, and because of that, accidently trespassed into Russian air space, which triggered highest alert on the Russian side and preparations for retaliation. The American Air Force flew atmospheric sampling missions where pilots flew right into the cloud after a Soviet or Chinese bomb test, collecting the material on special filters, to be later analyzed by technicians. Amy Shira Teitel recounts:

“it had been only days since President Kennedy learned that the Soviet Union was establishing missile sites in Cuba. The U.S. Air Force was on DEFCON-2. American and Soviet military forces were an order away from launching a nuclear attack.

But on Saturday, October 27, it wasn’t a military general or political leader who nearly upended that delicate world balance and set off World War III. It was the aurora borealis.” [xxv]

Needless to say, aurora north of Alaska are very common, but it was the high intensity of the event (enough to throw off the highly experienced and prepared Air Force) that is noted here with the coincidence of the highest international political tensions.

Carrington Solar Storm

Several dates of solar storms of the past two millennia could be reconstructed and these are more prevalent in grand minima or transition periods. But the solar storm that left the most direct impact for civilization was recorded in a grand maximum.

In these years, several remarkable solar induced energetic atmospheric events were recorded in the 1850s at the short but severe peak of high solar activity that followed the short Dalton Minimum:

The so-called Carringtonsolar stormof 1859 was actually just the most severe of a series of solar storms and involved aurora events that affected humans in a very direct, tangible way. C. Muller, 2014 gave a comprehensible rundown of the event:

Already in 1847, “the Wheatstone network was the first to report electrical perturbations related to an auroral phenomenon in 1847, Barlow was the chief engineer of the East Midlands Railway and also a dedicated observer, his relations with established scientists certainly helped the publication of this observation twenty years before the Maxwell equations.”[xxvi]

“Carrington, Sabine and others were well positioned to observe the solar maximum of 1859, between the end of August and the 6^thof September, auroral displays, sunspots and magnetic storms occurred every day, the most spectacular artefact being the Carrington white flare observed on September 1, 1859.” [xxvii]

Carrington made detailed drawings of his observation of a very bright white flare that lasted at least 5 minutes. Tsurutani et al, noted: “The solar flare was followed by a magnetic storm at the Earth. The time delay was ∼17 hours and 40 min (stated in the Carrington paper).”[xxviii]These magnetic perturbations were the cause of both the ground induced currents – which disturbed the telegraph network – and of the auroral displays. [xxix]

In Brussels, communication with other European cities was interrupted from midnight to about 1:30 am.

As we discussed above, it is generally in Schwabe minimum, when atmospheric ozone depletion is observed. During this solar storm, an extremely abrupt increasein atmospheric ozone content was estimated.

“I would thus follow a dedicated observer as Bérigny by stating that the tropospheric ozone increased by around 20 % in the night from the 28^thto the 29^thof August 1859. This would come from an increase in chemical activity related to an increased UV penetration in the previous day due to the direct solar flare and the temporary destruction of stratospheric ozone.” [xxx]

So, destruction of upper atmosphere ozone by solar effects, more UV penetration, more ozone in the lower atmosphere.

Ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere was measured also in more recent solar proton events in 1971 and 1972. McPeters et al 1981, determined that the solar proton event of August 1972 was very large and produced an ozone depletion of 15% at 42 km that persisted for almost 30 days. [xxxi]

Extreme aurorae were sighted before and during the Carrington event. The Aurora Borealis were seen as far south as the Caribbean and the Aurora Australis reached north to the Australian Outback. Telegraph paper caught fire, wires melted down, some telegraph stations burned down, people were injured by electrocution. Since the global trade and infrastructure at the time did not depend on the electricity grid and telecommunication, as it does today, the disruption did not create any major global chaos. Were the same solar eruption to occur today, it could possibly cripple our modern-day power grid and disrupt civilization as we know it. It might be the infamous “kill shot” or Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), which former FEMA director Janet Napolitano named in 2011 – among cyber-attacks and Electro Magnetic Pulses (EMP, artificial or of cosmic origin) – as ‘the greatest threat to the power grid and national security’ in the US. In order to prevent panic, I hasten to add, the telegraph network of the time was not prepared at all for such events, the hardware had no or insufficient grounding, so in some respects, equipment similar to a telegraph grid today might cope better with ground induced currents than it did in 1859. On the other hand, the Carrington event took place not only during Grand Maximum but also in a time of a stronger geomagnetic field. Since 1850, this field has been declining in strength exponentially, so the same energy release from the sun would have a greater impact on Earth than it had then. While we are entering unchartered territory in this regard, researchers such as Suspicious Observers are increasingly successful in correlating minor solar storms to more widespread power grid failures.

In 1859, the solar cycles had just been identified by Schwabe (in 1844).

Sir Edward Sabine had discovered in 1852, that minima and maxima in annual averages of the frequency and intensity of magnetic storms corresponded exactly with Schwabe minimum and maximum sunspot years.[xxxii]During solar maximum, there is an increased number of flare events.A recent study by S: Elvidge et al determined the statistical probability of a future Carrington event. This did not consider the currently weakening Earth magnetic field and the potential effect for modern technology.

“Using EVT and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites X‐ray flux data, it is shown that the expected 150-year return level is approximately an X60 flare while a Carrington‐like flare is a one in a 100-year event. In the worst case the 150-year return level is an X90 flare while a Carrington flare is a one in 30 years event. It is also shown that the EVT results are consistent with flare data from the Kepler space telescope mission.“[xxxiii]

Solar storms, solar maximum and geomagnetic field.

Well, historically, extreme solar storms, CMEs that affect human affairs as well as aurorae are more prevalent in solar maximum. As I’ll explain in the 2^ndpart of the introduction to Grand Solar Minimum, cosmic rays and Earth Changes, in today’s cosmic environment, we have a new constellation to consider. It is important to note that during the Maunder Minimum, the geomagnetic field was much stronger than today, and this was able to buffer some of the harmful effects of the weak solar activity and the increased cosmic rays. In fact, Earth’s magnetic field was stronger throughout the last 3000 years and started to decline rapidly from around 1850 onwards at the same rate as the geographic location of the magnetic poles have been moving. Thus, also in regard to this current combination, we are entering unchartered territory in terms of incoming space energy. With the ongoing decline in solar activity and the declining Earth’s magnetic field at the same time, a relatively small solar storm could possibly disrupt our modern power grid.

Fatima and the October Revolution

The so-called ‘Miracle of the Sun’ in Fatima, Portugal on October 13^th, 1917, was witnessed by 10s of thousands of people, including public figures and journalists. Most who were asked, testified that the sun behaved strangely in one way or another, the ‘miracle’ had been predicted by three children who claim to be conversing with the virgin Mary who made the prophecies of the Three Secrets of Fatima.Most attendants of the ‘miracle’ said: After a rainy day, the sun suddenly came out between the clouds and moved around in front of the clouds in zig zag patterns (mostly downwards) and then returned to its original position, the spectacle took up to 10 minutes. Some people saw the sun spiraling, moving towards them, flashing, in radiant colors, others saw nothing extraordinary. Hundreds of testimonies were gathered by Father John De Marchi. [xxxiv]Photographs, (in the rudimentary quality of the time with long exposure times, do not reveal a definite anomaly in the sky.

For a possible natural cause of such a “moving sun”, my best guess would be piezoelectric discharges in the limestone bedrock, causing intense ball lightning, or even a daytime meteor coming from the direction of the sun. It may not have been the sun coming forth between the clouds but another temporary light source, coming from the same direction. Similarly, many witnesses of the 1908 Tunguska meteor (October 31^st) were certain it was the sun that had gone off its track. Intense ball lighting in front of thick cloud cover could confuse everyone. Skeptics insist that the apparition was a case of mass hallucination due to expectations and staring into the sun. A strong solar flare can theoretically be noticed with the naked eye as a flashing in the sun, but this would manifest without movement. Another observation of interest is that many eye witnesses claimed that just after the pouring rain stopped and the sun suddenly moved out between the clouds, their clothes dried quickly and there was a fresh smell in the air

Whatever the cause of the apparition (and even if it were ‘only’ the biggest event of mass hallucination in history with no physical source) no natural cause of the light apparition can explain how the three children would know the date of such an event in advance when they claimed the mother Mary called everyone to Fatima at that date and location, where she would perform a miracle.

The apparition happened at a solar peak toward the end of WWI, and just weeks before the October Revolution in Russia (with its zenith in November 7, 1917, Gregorian Calendar). The corresponding Schwabe cycle (Solar cycle 15) peaked in August 1917.

As documented in a note found in the Pacelli family archives, Pope Pius XII said he saw ‘the same miracle of the sun in 1950, on November 30^thand 31^st, then again on October 1^stand 8^th. [xxxv]The father claims he saw the sun as an “opaque sphere” that “moved outward slightly, either spinning, or moving from left to right and vice versa.  Well, since he was the only person in the middle of Rome to see it on 4 singular days, not much can be said on the credibility of the testimony, however it is somewhat interesting the days are at the zenith of the Earth’s crossing of the Taurid meteors stream, which in the past brought very real catastrophes to the Earth, including the said Tunguska meteor explosion.

Thought Experiment: Aurorae, the Second Secret of Fatima and persecution

After what we know from the connection of solar activity and aurora, I wonder: was the prediction of the Second Secret of Fatima an outstanding case of foresight? Just a good guess? The so-called ‘Miracle of the Sun’ was witnessed by tens of thousands, it may not be so strange that it occurred just weeks before the October Revolution in Russia.

The Second Secret allegedly prophesied to the three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, that WWI will end soon, (which it did in 1918) but another war would break out. Here again the passage:

“When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions against the Church and against the Holy Father.” [xxxvi]

Could this be loosely translated into: “When you again see aurorae in unusual latitudes, expect another war and more persecution of certain religious minorities”?

After all I learned in recent years in researching for this book, it’s not out of the realm of mortals to make limited predictions on periods of war, famine and persecution, if one is able to monitor long term and short-term solar activity. Granted, the near end of World War I was not certain in 1917, the war lasted from 28^thJuly 1914 to 11^thNovember 1918. The prediction of a new war (WWII) ‘starting soon’, is vague enough and there was no indication that sunspot numbers were to drop anytime soon.

If I had to make a vague prediction on the next time of a high probability of war and mass persecution, I might try this: When you see decades of increasingly stable and warmer weather, decades of increasing sunspots, then an upsurge in aurora in unusual places (unknown lights, as people didn’t know what it is) this means high solar activity so you can expect high social excitability, wars, revolts and persecution of peoples, including of religious groups. Under this general pretext, the Second Secret seems somewhat of a ‘one-Grand-Solar-Maximum-fits-all prediction’.

As far as famine is concerned, the matter is a little more complex: naturally induced famines are more prevalent in Grand Solar Minimum, in the “bad-weather- periods” with unpredictable precipitation, frosts, drought and crop failure. On the other hand, anthropogenic exaggerated famine in recent centuries went along with war and persecutions more often in Solar Maximum, grain prices also rise in Grand Maximum. Singular local droughts may also be experienced in these Grand Maxima due to shifting weather patterns.

The children of Fatima claimed to report the words of the virgin Mary, who could be assumed to have a bias to “rout for her team” and warn of persecution of Christians more than the persecution of other religions. Having said that, religious groups, especially well-functioning religious minorities, are usually among the first to be purged when collectivist, totalitarian systems that promise ‘justice for the people’, take over. And as we saw, this happened overwhelmingly during Grand Solar Maximum. And it is not unreasonable to suggest that in these periods of highest excitability, it was first and foremost believers of religions that were practiced primarily by people of free market societies – such as Christians and Jews – were persecuted first, whenever collectivist, egalitarian mobs are excited to purge the “oppressors” or “the rich”. It was often such groups that were the most family oriented and had well-functioning communities. Even if they lived in isolated settlements, collectivist totalitarian leaders still managed to convince the masses that they are exploiters and responsible for everyone else’s poverty. All the totalitarian regimes of the 20^thcentury boasted to be atheist in their core.

-In Germany, the Jews were seen as the exploiters and killed in concentration camps by the Nazis, just like Luther had urged during the 1600 Grand Maximum.

-Marx boasted: “Religion is opium for the masses.”[xxxvii]In Russia/ Ukraine, the kulaks, independent, land-owning farmers who produced most of the food (mostly orthodox Christians) were lynched, which then contributed to mass starvation, as there were not enough proletarians left who knew how to run a farm. Churches and other religious structures were confiscated, and religions were de facto outlawed. The label of kulakwas broadened in 1918 to include any peasant who resisted handing over their grain to detachments from Moscow. [xxxviii]Stalin’s Great Purge in 1936 targeted the kulak peasants, Red Army leaders, and ordinary citizens, ‘among them many Jews’, although many of the Great Purge’s victims ‘were ethnic or religious Jews, they were not specifically targeted as an ethnic group during this campaign’. [xxxix]But Stalin shared Hitler’s contempt for Jews. In a meeting, he told US President Roosevelt: “The Jews are middlemen, profiteers and parasites.” [xl]In 1929 Stalin founded the far east Jewish region of Birobidschan, where Jews were sent for ‘resettlement’ and ‘re-cultivation’, de facto deportation.

The Communist Party of China did not lag behind as they persecuted religious groups, not only Buddhists but also Christians, especially in 1949, in the “Great Leap Forward”, and in the Cultural Revolution. Even today, such persecution is ongoing. According to the Epoch Group:

“The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has lost all composure in the frantic persecution of religion. During the Cultural Revolution, numerous temples and mosques were torn down, and monks were paraded in humiliation through the streets. In Tibet, 90 percent of the temples were damaged”.Even today, the CCP is jailing tens of thousands of ‘house church Christians’. [xli]

-The victims of the Armenian Genocide in today’s Turkey were Christians.

– Today, even though solar activity is declining – indicating the end of the modern Grand Maximum and pointing to the next Grand Minimum – we see again increasingly radical state leaders of western nations and opinion shapers appeal to “social justice” and rally the mob against conservative values. To be an evangelical Christian is enough to be placed on US Army terrorist watchlists [xlii]and there are increased attacks in Europe on European Jews, these attacks are covered up by western states and main stream media. [xliii]Meanwhile, the EU and UN migration policies led to an upsurge of new religious and social conflict between different migrant groups in Europe.

Speaking of the alleged Miracle of Fatima and Earth changes: The most famous Third Secret was supposed to be published in 1960, but the Vatican kept the secret until 2000 and then released a much disputed and contradictory document. Whether or not you believe in ‘miracles’ and ‘prophecies’, keep in mind: very powerful people of the Vatican and beyond are extremely serious about this, some spent enormous money and effort to conceal this secret, others did the same to reveal it.

The following conversation between late pope John Paul II and church officials took place in November, 1980 in Fulda, Germany and was published in „Stimme des Glaubens, Nr. 10/81 of May 20^th, 1981. The exchange was independently verified by several church officials and a journalist present at the meeting. The pope was asked [translation mine]:

“What is the 3^rdsecret of Fatima? It should have been published in 1960?”

Pope John Paul II replied:

“Because of the gravity of its content, in order not to encourage the communist world power to certain actions, my predecessors in the Petrus Office preferred a diplomatic communication. Beyond this, it should suffice for every Christian to know this: If it is written, that oceans will flood entire regions of the Earth, and that people will be called to the lord from one minute to the other, and this by the millions, then one should no longer desire the publication of this secret.“ [xliv]

In an interview in the Fatima Crusaderof 2006, [xlv]Father Paul Kramer, who has studied the facts and circumstances of the Third Secret for some thirty-five years, agrees with Mother Angelica that the Third Secret is indeed scary — and far scarier than Catholics have generally understood.

But Father Kramer also claims, ‘there is great cause for hope’.

“Even if the worst happens, the formerly Catholic nations will rediscover their faith under persecution and in the midst of the world’s desolation by war. Then the Pope will consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart and Russia will be converted. The Asiatic and Islamic invaders will be driven out of Europe.” [Editor’s Note: With the help of the converted Russian invaders. [xlvi]

One may wonder who Father Kramer was alluding to when in 2006 he spoke of ‘Asiatic and Islamic Invaders’, nine years before the European Leaders opened the borders in the European Migration Crisis. In 2018, French conservative politician Nicholas Dupont-Aignan was given a suspended fine of 5,000 euros for merely speaking about a “migrant invasion”. [xlvii]

Notes:

[i]Hyde, David & Davidson, Ben: Space Weather its effect on human health behavior. New Dawn Magazin 2017 https://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/space-weather-its-effect-on-human-health-behaviour

[ii]Schlamminger, L. 1992:  Aurora borealis lags during the Middle Ages; Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics Volume 54, Issues 7–8, July–August Pages 989-993; https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-9169(92)90065-S

[iii]Herman, John R.; Goldberg Richard A.1978: Scientific and Technical Information Branch 1978 NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Washington, D.C.

1. 16

[iv]ABC Science Online, 2001: Historic records link sunspots and northern lights; 18 July 2001

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/07/18/330954.htm

[v]Ice Core Records – From Volcanoes to Supernovas. Harward.edu; NASA Chandra mission for X-ray astronomy. The Historical Sunspot Record http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/formal/icecore/

[vi]Kurihara, Ken; 2015: Celestial Wonders in Reformation Germany; Routledge p. 23

[vii]Kurihara, Ken; 2015: Celestial Wonders in Reformation Germany; Routledge p. 24

[viii]Borchert, Till-Holger, 2013: The Book of Miracles Hardcover – Facsimile, 29 Nov 2013 ), c. 1552 (f°119

[ix]Kurihara, Ken; 2015: Celestial Wonders in Reformation Germany; Routledge p. 26

[x]Dobler,Sacha, 2017: Black Death and Abrupt Earth Changes in the 14th century p. 20

[xi]Kurihara, Ken; 2015: Celestial Wonders in Reformation Germany; Routledge p 14,

[xii]Van der Sluijs, Rens: The Coming of the Sky Dancers; Apr 06, 2009, Thunderbolts.info http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2009/arch09/090406skydancers.htm

[xiii]for updates see for instance the YouTude.com / Adapt 2030

[xiv]Schwarte, Wiebke; 1999: Nordlichter: Ihre Darstellung in der Wickiana, Waxmann Münchenp p.101

[xv]The New York Times titled January 26, 1938, p.25

[xvi]Malachi Martin in the Coast to Coast. Art Bell Show. April 4-5, 1997; http://www.revisionisthistory.org/wire3.html; Video recording 1:18:00, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW-3Qhkw6A0

[xvii]Speer, Albert, 2015: Inside the Third Reich; Hachette UK, Chapter 12 „ the descent beginns“.

[xviii]Kurlander, Eric, Yale University press Blog: Hitler’s Obsession with The Occult; June 30, 2017;

[xix]Wikipedia: Hyperborea, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperborea 2-4-2018

[xx]KURLANDER, ERIC, Yale University press Blog: Hitler’s Obsession With The Occult June 30, 2017

[xxi]Tchijevsky A. L. 1926: Physical Factors of the Historical Process, Translated by Vladimir P. de Smitt, Cycles, 1971: 22 pp.11-27.p. 21

[xxii] Die Nordlichter vom 25. Januar 1938 und 18. September 1941 und ihre solare Ursache” (Vierteljaehresschrift der Naturf. Gesellschaft in Zürich http://www.ngzh.ch/archiv/1942_87/87_3-4/87_10.pdf

[xxiii]Factslegends written by Sankalan BaidyaMay 5, 2014; https://factslegend.org/15-facts-tamerlanes-curse/

[xxiv]Wikipedia: Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor; 8.15.2018

[xxv]Discover, Science for the curious, Amy Shira Teitel; 2013: How the Aurora Borealis Nearly Started World War III; March 11, 2013; http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2013/03/11/how-the-aurora-borealis-nearly-started-world-war-iii/#.W0HJkC-B3OQ

[xxvi]Muller, C, 2014: The Carrington Solar Flares of 1859: Consequences on Life; Orig Life Evol Biosph PMC NCBI. 2014; 44(3): 185–195.

[xxvii]Muller, C, 2014: The Carrington Solar Flares of 1859: Consequences on Life; Orig Life Evol Biosph PMC NCBI. 2014; 44(3): 185–195.

[xxviii]Tsurutani, B.T. Et Al, 2003: The Extreme Magnetic Storm Of 1–2 September 1859; Journal Of Geophysical Research; Space physics. Volume108, Issue A7; July 2003

[xxix]Muller, C, 2014: The Carrington Solar Flares of 1859: Consequences on Life; Orig Life Evol Biosph PMC NCBI. 2014; 44(3): 185–195.

[xxx]Muller, C, 2014: The Carrington Solar Flares of 1859: Consequences on Life; Orig Life Evol Biosph PMC NCBI. 2014; 44(3): 185–195.

[xxxi]McPeters, R. D.et al , 1981: Observations of ozone depletion associated with solar proton events;  Journal of Geophysical research; Volume 86, Issue C12; 20 December 1981; pp. 12071-12081

[xxxii]Cliver, E. W. 2004: The 1859 space weather event: Then and now; Air Force Research Laboratory, Received 7 July 2004; received in revised form 18 July 2005; accepted 21 July 2005; Advances in Space Research 38 (2006), p 119 -129. p. 120

[xxxiii]Elvidge, S. et al, 2018: Using Extreme Value Theory for Determining the Probability of Carrington‐Like Solar Flares; AGU Journal; Volume16, Issue 4; April 2018; pp. 417-421

[xxxiv]De Marchi, John. 1956: True Story of Fatima, Catechetical; Guild Educational Society; St. Paul, Minnesota

[xxxv]Antonio Gaspari, 2004: Pius XII Saw “Miracle of the Sun”; Handwritten Note Reveals Pope’s Experience; November 04, 2008; Zenit Staff, Vatican Dicasteries/ Diplomacy; https://zenit.org/articles/pius-xii-saw-miracle-of-the-sun/

[xxxvi]  Kelly, Peter B,  MS, JD, MTS, MS, 2015: The Known Light (May 3, 2015) https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/1726-the-known-light-1

[xxxvii]Karl Marx: Introduction to Marx’s work A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, published separately in 1844, in Marx’s own journal Deutsch–Französische Jahrbücher, 1844.

[xxxviii]Wikipedia, Kulak; 3:26.2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulak

[xxxix]Medvedev, Roy 1989: Let History Judge; The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism. Trans. George Shriver. Columbia University Press; New York; p. 563

[xl]Abbott, Arnold P. 2004: When in Doubt…Blame a Jew!: A Personal and People’s Memoir of Anti-Semitism; AuthorHouse p. 246

[xli]The Epoch Group 2004:  Persecution of Christians in China. Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party; road Book USA,  p. 112

[xlii]Politifact Virginia, Nancy Madsen 2013: (Representative Randy) Forbes says Army training program listed evangelical Christians and al-Qaida as extremists: May 3rd, 2013; https://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2013/may/03/randy-forbes/forbes-says-army-training-program-listed-evangelic/

[xliii]Article “Almost all Antisemitic attacks are committed by Muslim Migrants. Abrupt earth Changes.

[xliv]Das Dritte Geheimnis von Fatima Apr. 2015; (Oktober 2014); https://gloria.tv/article/VtFNGsCvCfJb1RkXG1TcCpELH

Originally posted in Crusader; issue 82, Summer 2006. http://www.fatima.org

[xlv]Fatima Crusader, issue 82, summer 2006, p. 11; http://archive.fatima.org/crusader/cr82/cr82pg11.asp

[xlvi]Cfr. Prophecy of St. John Bosco, as explained in Fatima: Tragedy and Triumph, pp. 319-355].

[xlvii]Breitbart.com, French Conservative Given Suspended 5,000 Euro Fine for Mentioning ‘Migrant Invasion’; 6 Apr 2018, Chris Tominson; https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/04/06/french-conservative-suspended-5000-euro-fine-migrant-invasion/