zelia nuttall--year of the swastika

''with a veil over his eyes, he can see the stars of the big dipper at noon. those in power distrust his vision.'' i-ching, hexagram-55.


zelia nuttall had an interest in the swastika that bordered on worship, she wrote a book about it, "on the fundamental principles of old and new world civilizations", a 640 page book explaining how she had looked up at the heaven one night and a vision came to her, a starry-vision in which the big and little dippers were repeated four times around the pole star and appeared as two twinkling swastika to her.

once she got over the vision, she went back to her desk and it seemed to her that all of the research on symbols of mexican religion she had laboured with over the previous thirteen years was solved, and that she now held the key to the origins of the swastika, the four season calendar, the septimal counting system, and the triskelion.

her conclusion seems to come from a coincidence in the position of the seven stars of the big dipper on the four nights of the year that break the year into four seasons. on one of those nights the big dipper lies exactly to the north of the pole star, one night to the east one night to the south and one night to the west.

when a line is drawn from the pole star to the big dipper on each of these nights at twelve o'clock, they together form a bent line, repeated four times it does sort of look like a swastika. zelia nuttall thought that ancient star-watchers would of had the same vision as she did, and when they recovered from the vision, use the design as a symbol of the year of four seasons. a calendar sign.