Searching for the Silver Spiral Horn of The Unicornis Manuscripts

Those who have read and studied The Unicornis Manuscripts by Michael Green are sure to be familiar with The Prophecy of the True Horn.  It is a poem which describes the resting place of a magnificent Silver Spiral Horn.  Waiting to be found since 1983, this treasure lies buried beneath the ground somewhere ‘in New Lands across the sea’.  A Great Stone marks the spot.

EDIT: Below speaks of a search for the Horn.  We have since discovered the True Location and write about some of that in the article; ‘We found the Great Spiral Stone‘ and in ‘Six Questions with Julie-ann Nydegger’ is her story of visiting the True Location, as well.  I leave the story below just for sharing.  Many thoughts had changed.

Recently, I (and my family) checked out a location for the Silver Horn which I felt had potential.  Following the words of the poem, and considering further clues in the pages of the book, The Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania caught my attention.

Since I am not aware of any obvious ‘code’ to break that could spell out a definite location name (not saying there isn’t one, just I haven’t found one), I worked with an assumption that the poem must somehow provide a place name metaphorically.  Interpretations can be many, I know.  However, with references and images found in the Codex, I think it is possible that New Lands (across the sea) of the poem, hints at a ‘new land’ where God/the Divine dwells, like a New Jerusalem or a New Promised land.  Hence, part of the reason for why we looked in Promised Land State Park.

When reading The Unicornis Manuscripts (AmberLotus Publishing/22.95), a spiritual aspect is certainly recognized. Symbolically, the said sight of a Unicorn seems to be a realization of ‘the divine light’.  In Six Questions with Michael Green, when talking about ‘catching a glimpse of brightness beyond the walls of the world’, he shared the following paraphrasing from the Quran, “That Brightness is closer to you than your own jugular vein”.  This leads me to consider that the lines of the poem; ‘Furthest and Highest, Yet not beyond reach’ could be referring to the ‘realm of the Divine/God/Unicorn.’   He said his hope for writing the book was for people to discover a larger Truth.

I like the prospect of the diagrams of the four ages, displayed in the book, to relate the poem. The ‘furthest and highest’ circle is the realm where the Divine dwells.  This is not ‘beyond reach’.  Page 25 (2008 edition) includes, “Man has occupied each realm and, each time failing in his oath and promise, was removed to a lower, coarser one.” 

I won’t go into all the reasons towards my liking of Promised Land State Park.  But the one I liked most was the park consists of two lakes; ‘Promised Land Lake’ and ‘Lower Lake’.  These are linked together by way of a small narrow waterway (“let another, on narrow pathways, come to me”).  The Promised Land Lake flows into the Lower Lake.  I felt these lakes could be symbolic of higher and lower realms.

I felt walking along the narrow pathway from the Lower Lake (fallen realm of man) to the Promised Land Lake (place of the Unicorn) to be symbolic of entering the realm of the Divine/Garden of the Unicorn.

So many things can change in thirty years’ time, I am unsure of whether the location of the horn may still be the same as first described. It is known that by 1985 beavers had created a dam near the resting spot of the horn.  This caused the stone, which marked the place of burial on land, to be surrounded by water.  At that time, the stone could still be seen, but, can it still be seen today?  Possibly, even, the beavers have since moved on, and maybe the stone has returned to being again on land?  I looked for both.

Here were my thoughts in connection to the poem:

New Lands– Promised Land State Park (page 113 did mention the Milky Sea and the promised land (of the Bible) was flowing with milk and honey)
Narrow Pathway– small path along the waterway between the two lakes of the park (lower lake to promised land lake)
Furthest and Highest/not beyond reach– realm of Divine (promised land lake)
Path to teach– walk from the lower towards the ‘light’ (Unicorn-Garden)(there’s more for this, but I won’t get into it)
Sunken raised, emptiness filled, wandering heart, be stilled– referring to Man moving out of the Lower realm to the upper along waterway.
Seek the Great Stone– look for stone which marks the spot of the buried horn.
Guard the Source of Greatness– the horn should be near the entrance to the Promised Land Lake.

In talking with a local restaurant owner over lunch about beaver dams, we learned back in the late 70’s and early 80’s there were 6 or so dams at the top edge of Lower Lake where the Promised Land lake outflow is.  As the beaver dams grew, they did back up the waterway between the two lakes.  The beavers needed to be relocated because of this.  There are signs of the past dams, but none of those particular homes are active there today.

Obviously this caught our attention.  We have to laugh thinking back on this, because we know when the gentleman said ‘the dams caused real problems with backing up the water between the lakes that they had to be moved’, we all perked up.  It caused him to pause in his story.

There isn’t a ‘marked trail’ along this waterway.  However, there is a path through the forest.  The water is more rapid at the start of the stream (Promised Land Lake side) and becomes very calm and marshy towards the center and end.

We started our walk from the ‘Lower Lake’.  I thought, like the Tree of Life diagram in the book, the area between the Lower to the Highest (to Promised Land Lake), could be considered a path to teach; as a person following the Kabala learns by moving up this ‘way’.   The books shares the Unicorn likes to ‘traverse the boundaries’ and ‘can serve as a guide.’

It wasn’t looking good for finding any ‘Great Stone’ at first.  Even though the park had areas where many large stones were scattered about, this area had none……except one… and it was near a pond like area. Since the beavers were relocated, we felt this rock by this area on land was now possible.   We did not find any mark on it, though. (I was looking for a spiral/water/cross symbol, like on the Codex) (this was before we knew what the Great Stone looked like)

We still poked and prodded around the stone with a metal rod we had; listening for the sound of it hitting a ‘copper box’ underground.  (Whatever that may sound like, we didn’t hear it)  (for those wondering why, the Silver Horn is said to be in a copper box)

Earlier, we had hiked a trail to a place called Little Falls.  I was in hopes this waterfall of Promised Land Park would look like the waterfalls shown in the book (page 98-99) to add support for the park location.  It doesn’t.  Plus, I also don’t like how the area doesn’t seamlessly match with Mr. Green’s explanation on the location of the horn in the back of the 2008 edition of the book.  This says:

“I shall not reveal the actual place, but to get there, one takes a path by a stream that drains a small body of water.  By its shore the Horn lay buried.  Approaching the spot, I saw beavers had built a dam across the outflow and that the dam had raised the water level of the pond.  The stone that marked the spot now stood surrounded by water:  the Horn now lies at the bottom of a lake. It was a strange and spooky moment.  The Talisman had its own story now, drawing the water over itself to become the Horn of the Lake!”

Of course, with the above statement, I do like how the Horn was then called ‘Horn of the Lake’; because if the water of the Lower Lake backed into the area of where the Horn was buried, it would become part of the Lake.  What I don’t like is how Green said the stream drains a ‘small body of water’.  Promised Land Lake is not ‘small’.  But, I suppose, it is possible the ‘pond-like area’ between these two lakes could have been what Green is referring to (if this was the correct spot- which it isn’t).

There were things I loved about this area, and others I didn’t. I didn’t like the fact there weren’t any ‘signs’ of the Unicorn that the book mentions.  If I were to dismiss this specific location, which I must, I do still like the poem lines of ‘wandering heart’ to be a metaphor for man and stream.  He is stilled by entering ‘the realm of the Divine/Unicorn’.

So while this day we didn’t find the correct Great Stone, or the Horn, I do like the possibilities by pursuing this line of thought.  Is there another place name that could symbolically refer to the Divine Realm?  And could it include a Source of Greatness for which the Horn still guards?

I will continue to share my thoughts on the Search for the Silver Spiral Horn of The Unicornis Manuscripts, and if you have any, I would happy to hear them, or share your own adventures on here, if wanted.

Best of luck to all!