Easter Island

What are these strange stone statues?  They are on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? They have been the subject of controversy for a LONG time.  They range in size from about 15 feet tall to about 70 feet tall.  There are more than 900 of them on this island that you could walk around in a day if you hurried.

Well, it turns out that the island is actually a part of Chile, even though you have to take a five and one half hour flight to get to Easter Island, called Rapa Nui by the native folks there.  Of course, you know me, I love to see strange things like this, so during the temple closure in September, Claudia and I along with two other missionary couples went to investigate.  Claudia was not too terribly interested in going there, but spurred on and encouraged by others she decided to go.
The flight over was L-O-N-G, but we were more or less comfortable in a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  Upon our arrival Claudia was met with one of her dreams.  She received a lei from our hotel as we walked out of the airport.

Did I mention that the island is small?  There is only one town on the island, Hanga Roa, and because everything has to be brought in by ship, accommodations are a bit spartan.  We had neither heat nor air conditioning in our hotel room.  We did need the heat as technically is was late winter there.  We slept under five wool blankets, but stayed fairly warm.

So, about these stone statues.  It seems as though the island was settled somewhere between 400 and 700 A.D.  No one is sure where the early inhabitants came from, but by around 1200 A.D. they learned to work with the volcanic stone on the island.  As tribal leaders claimed their territory they began to make these statues as a symbol of their power.  When they died, their power actually was thought to go into the statue.  Almost all of the statues faced the villages in order to protect them.  No, they do not have legs and feet.  They are not complete statues.


All of the moai - statues - were taken from the same quarry.  Their top knots came from a different quarry and are reddish in color.  The top knots are nt hats, but represent hair.  The natives were said to be fair skinned and have red or light hair.  How the natives got them to their locations is the subject of conjecture.  No one knows for sure.  The elders who still live n the island claim they walked into position.

The rough carving was done in the quarry, and after the moai arrived on site the details such as the eye sockets and ears were carved.  White coral was then placed in the eye sockets to represent the eyes.

Why is this island called Easter Island?  Because it was discovered by Europeans on Easter Sunday.   All of the statues were in place when the island was discovered, but over the years they were tipped over by warring tribes to destroy the power of the chiefs of a given village.  Restoration was done primarily by a Salt Lake City born archaeologist named William Mulloy.  He was educated at the University of Wyoming, and went to Rapa Nui to study the culture there.

There is only one set of moai that faces the sea.  There are seven statues and are said to represent the navigators who brought the original people to the island.










The largest group is a set of 15.  They are on the northeast part of the island and are very impressive.  When we first arrived the weather was a bit rainy, adding to the mystery of the site.






As the culture became more influenced by the Europeans, a variant developed.  This new culture was called the Bird Man culture.  Each village on the island would select a strong individual and send them to a special village on the southwest tip of the island during the early spring.  They would then compete by swimming 0.8 miles to an island to retrieve a bird egg.  It was not just any egg, but the first laid on the small island that spring.  The individual who collected that egg would then swim to the main island with the egg in his mouth.  If he was the first to arrive, and if the egg was still in one piece, he would be named the assistant to the chief of the island and received a special dwelling and his choice of wives.  No one was allowed to touch him, and his chief would become the chief of the island.



Needless to say, this little boondoggle was a great trip.  Even Claudia now thinks this is one of the highlights of our stay in Chile.  The weather was a bit on the cool side, and we did get rain, but it was a great trip.  We were there for four nights and three days.  That is just about right as you can see 95% of the sites in that amount of time.







One other interesting item we saw was an arrangement f five stones.  It is said to have magical power - a lot of it.  You can feel it if you get close enough to it (so they say).  While we were there, I spun my own version of a legend that should have been passed down by oral tradition on the island.  I have written it up, and if anyone wants a copy of it just email me and I'll send it along.





The moai all have their hands placed along their belt line.  Of course we thought it would be fitting if we all had our picture taken pretending to be moai.  This is our tour group.  I believe the lady not making like a moai did not understand the instructions well.  She is from Germany on a visit.

I believe when we get home, I will paint the outline of these moai on one of our walls, similar to the painting I did in our bedroom.  It will be a great souvenir from Easter Island.










Our last night on the island we went to a nice restaurant on the "beach".  We made sure that we were there to watch the sunset.  Some of the most beautiful sunsets are to be had by the seaside.




Well, that's our trip to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) during the last temple closure.  Thanks for following along.  More to come later.




For your interest, here is the legend that should have been:

Te Pito o Te Henua

Rapa Nui’s Epicenter of Mana

Brent Watson

Abstract

An extensive technical study of the location and chemical composition of Te Pito o Te Henua has been accomplished by the author. This study is a result of the curious nature of many naturally and man-made historical events of the island of Rapa Nui.  A detailed study of the crystal-like orientations and facial characteristics of the five stones that compose Te Pito o Te Henua were carried out using a state of the art spectroscopic analyzer.   Many of these naturally occurring and man-made events have been correlated to the existence and exact location of the above mentioned structure.

 

INTRODUCTION

A visit to Easter Island is never complete without a visit to Te Pito o Te Henua, or Naval of the World.  It is located on the north shore of the island and is a curious arrangement of five spherical stones as pictured above.  Local legend states that there is an unusual power, or mana that emanates from this apparently man-made formation. 

Indeed, although it appears to be man-made, it’s location and actual placement of the stones is not all together happenstance.  This unique arrangement has been shown to be of significance in both the actual location and the minute detailed arrangement of the five boulders.  Their individual sizes can be shown to create a resonance that has global implications.  The ancient inhabitants knew of many of these world-wide powers, and hence named the location Te Pito o Te Henua, the Navel of the World.  The source of all power was said to be in the connection between a child and his mother, or umbilicus.  Therefore, a similar connection was said to exist at this site.

Whether this knowledge came by intuition or actual knowledge of this effluent of power can only be surmised.  Certainly it cannot be refuted that there is indeed great influence exerted by this pseudo man-made structure.

ORIGIN

The chemical nature of these stones as revealed by critical spectral analysis using a natural occurring spectrograph (the eye) reveals that these objects do not have their origins on the island of Rapa Nui.  They are said to have been brought to the island by its first king, Hotu Matu’a, in the eighth or ninth century.  They are composed of a very rare mix of hematite and magnetite.  A third element, cobalt, is also a part of the chemical composition.

Both of the main constituents of these spherical rocks minerals are oxides of iron, and exhibit antiferromagnetic properties at lower temperatures.  However when heated they become strongly ferrimagnetic.  The third ingredient of these stones is cobalt.  The cobalt serves to increase the magnetic strength of the crystalline lattice and is chiefly responsible for their increased power or mana.

The origin of these spheres is undoubtedly volcanic.  The added heat of the magma has been the catalyst these stones required to gain their magnetism and mana.

It is unusual to have these higher density products be volcanic in origin, but not entirely unheard of.   Their spherical shape comes from the fact that they were ejected from a shield volcano to an unusual height.  As they traveled through the air after being ejected, they assumed their lower energy state shape – that of a sphere.  They cooled sufficiently before again striking the earth to retain that shape.  This indicated that they undoubtedly came from a large, mature volcano and had sufficient time while falling for this cooling to occur.

LOCATION AND ARRANGMENT

King Hatu Matu’a was led to this location by the six spherical rocks he carried as cargo.  Only five are present at the site, but a sixth was obviously present during the creation of the monument.

Rapa Nui is located 27 degrees below the equator of the earth.  The earth’s current inclination is 23.5 degrees, but it is well known that this tilt is not constant.  At the time the king migrated to this isolated island, the tilt of the earth must have been closer to 27.113 degrees corresponding to the latitude of this small volcanic outcropping.  The king’s bi-canoe was surely steered by the mana emanating from these stones.  His arrival was said to be on the south part of the island, but the location of this grouping of rocks surely marks his first landfall.

Upon coming ashore with the six magnetic rocks, he placed the largest in the center of a circle with four other stones arranged at roughly 90 degrees with respect to each other.    He then constructed a special net which he employed to suspend the sixth sphere above the other five.  By gently moving (wiggling) the sixth stone above the rest, a magnetically induced vibration enveloped the remaining stones.  This vibration then moved the outer stones into their current position by magnetostriction.  The sixth stone was then cast into the sea, and has not been found.

The combination of being at the location directly below the axial tilt zenith and the vibration induced by the suspended sixth stone caused thee other smaller stones to align with the cardinal points of the compass.  Interestingly, they are also arranged in alignment with the four cardinal points off the earth’s orbit around the sun.  These locations are the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox, and the winter solstice.

The arrangement of the five rocks is not happenstance.  This unique layout enhances the influence of the mana coming from this location.

EFFECTS OF THE MONUMENT

Any person visiting the site can easily feel the mana or influential power of this grouping of special spheres.  But after careful study, the following effects can also be witnessed.

Rapa Nui has nearly 900 stone figures (Moai) that have been carved to represent rulers and prominent people on the island.  All of these Moai are arranged with their backs to the ocean.  This is to protect the inland villages and remind the inhabitants of the greatness of the people they represent.  This is universal around the 30 mile circumference of the island.

There is one notable exception to this rule.  It is located at Ahu Akivi.  Here seven Moai are facing the sea.  They represent seven navigators that helped Hotu Matu’a reach the island.  Interestingly, they are located exactly 1,000,000 wavelengths distant from Te Pito oTe Henua.  This location has enabled and caused these seven Moai to rotate on their bases to face the sea instead of facing inland.

Careful examination of the above photograph reveals the fracture line at the base of each Moai where they pivoted.

Jacob Roggeveen was the first European to visit the island.  His compass exhibited strange, rapid oscillations (wiggle) that would only cease when his ship was headed to Easter Island. He arrived on Easter morning in 1722.  Easter of that year fell on April 5^th.  This is very near the precessed date of the vernal equinox. 

Captain James T. Cook was the next European to visit the island.  He reported the same oscillations in his compass.  His date of arrival was also very close to the Vernal Equinox in March of 1774.

It is well known that later inhabitants participated in activities known as the BirdMan competition.  It is significant that they were seeking similarly shaped objects as they swam to a nearby island, Moto Nui - shown below, to collect the first egg laid in each year.  They were believed to possess the same power emanating from the Naval of the Earth.  No one was allowed to touch them at the peril of their lives.

  

The formation of these five rocks also has a strange effect on visitors to the site, depending on the length of their fingernails.  Upon arriving at the location near the Te Pito o Te Henua, they immediately begin to show signs that their minds have been affected by strange thoughts.  They believe that they are being transformed into Moai themselves, and take on very unusual behavior.

CONCLUSION

Strange things happen when you let a bunch of Mormon missionaries loose on a vacation to the most remote island on earth!  Propagate the theory!