On May 3rd, 2011, a guest article entitled The Time Monk Project was posted on Andrew Gough’s Arcadia website.  The article, written by Duncan Burden, released a geometric depiction of the ‘Key’ involved in the armchair treasure hunt called Maranatha-Et in Arcadia Ego, and subsequently the Time Monk Project.  The online piece also offered background information into the objectives, formation, and limitations of the Cambridge research group responsible for the creation of the puzzle.  The fascinating and complete article is well worth a careful read; The Time Monk Project.

Burden shared the group’s construction of the ‘Key’ by the utilization of the three primary shapes of geometry.  He was able to demonstrate how two squares, a circle, and opposite triangles, comprising of the same center point, designed a tilted hexagram.  He further showed how the group believed this exceptional shape was purposely expressed in two paintings connected to the mystery of Rennes le Chateau.  The group claimed the first half of the hidden message found on the Grand Parchment referred to this Key, while the ending segment of the message holds what the group refers to as the ‘lock.’

Within the Maranatha puzzle book itself, a hexagram could, and was, constructed by using certain details in the images.  Certain puzzlers had posted the sacred shape, but, understanding how the ‘Key’ was used or what it represented remains publicly unknown.  The unpublished portion of the puzzle series was to incorporate the Lock in which the Key could be applied, and which was claimed to lead to the Holy Grail.  Like said, this last part has not been released.

Previous to the Arcadian Time Monk Project post, puzzlers had already received notification for the termination of the treasure hunt bit of the puzzle on February 21st, 2011.  Included within the announcement for the conclusion of the puzzle was the release of five PDF documents providing stages and processes to the puzzle’s solution and claiming. It was said; “this system would also reveal the Key to a reader” and would later be confirmed.  Although the puzzle competition was over, readers were still encouraged to continue their search, if wanted.   A lapse of seventy two days had passed between the PDF documents and the additional release of the Key on the Arcadia site.

According to a Tweleve forum member, Jlocklest, who had contacted Mr. Duncan Burden, Burden may have been ready to release the Time Monk Article a few days after April 11th.  Jlocklest had shared on the forum he asked Burden if he had any new information concerning the Maranatha Puzzle.  According to Burden’s reply, on the above date (April 11th), there was something in the making and may be released within a few days.  However, nothing appeared until the date of May 3rd.

Since it would seem the correspondence with Burden implied a possible earlier opportunity to release the article, could the date of release offer a clue? Is it possible May 3 (or because May is the fifth month, the numbers 5-3, (or as dates are written in UK, 3-5)), hold some meaning?

One of the most often talked about pages of text was one which only contained 103 pigpen characters.  On this page, unlike all other pages which utilized the full 156 (12×13) grid block, 53 spaces were left empty or contained ‘nothing’.  The sentence following this unique format is; “So from nothing is the Key revealed, as the tree grows such does the lead become gold.”

Could the fact that the article, which released the Key on 5-3 (USA’s dating format or UK’s 3-5(reversal of nothing), be hinting at the importance of the ‘53’ nothing spaces on the page? Although there are many interpretations and layered meanings to the phrases in the text, I sort-of like the following as one application: “So from nothing” or 5-3 (May 3rd), is the Key revealed, and it was.

16 Comments

  1. Isn’t working with dates a major problem – given that a date/time can be up to 16 digits? If you take the whole post date 3rd May 2012 @ 6:14 pm (ie 18:14), the only digits NOT there are 7 and 9 – if there had been 14 spaces you could have found a reference, 35 spaces, 18 spaces, 81 spaces…etc. If you then factor in different dating standards and date formats, I’m sure you can achieve virtually any combination.

    Horatio

    1. You make me smile, Horatio. I understand your point and would agree. However, in this case, I wasn’t necessarily working from the ‘date.’ I was working from the contentment page. The page does have 53 ‘nothing’ spots. The following sentence does say, ‘so from nothing is the Key revealed..’. And so I found it interesting then that this connected (although possibly all coincidence I know), to 5-3 (May 3rd), the day the Key was revealed. That was all I was looking at….nothing really. Lol.

      Sometimes I like to just look at the whole picture from far away, and forget the details. But, there are the times I want to scrutinize every tiny speck up close. I suppose, as it seems like everything, it is finding the balance of both. Thanks for reminding me.

      jkile

    2. 5-3, ok so what is the meaning of 3 and 5?

      3 = rhythm, triplet factor, law of 3, root of all dynamism and synthesis, first 2-D form – triangle, triangular of 2, Fibonaccci 4th sequence

      5 = quintessence, pentacle, pentagon, a CHROMATIC, basis of pentatonic scale, Fibonnaci 5th sequence

      ..and the middle number between those two gives us the HARMONIC:

      4 Form, measure, 2², square and all four cornered forms, definition of space (four primary directions), stages of primary cosmic cycle, harmonic, first 3-D form, tetrahedron

      and 5-3=2 (3rd fibonacci sequence 2+3=5 or 2*3=6 the cube)

      2 Polarity, binary power, basis of all even number, law of alternation, yin and yang, inhalation-exhalation, male-female, night-and-day etc. Fibonacci 3rd sequence

      and 5+3=8 (which completes a whole OCTAVE (resonant fractal of whole)

      8 2 x 4, 2³, Galactic form and order, octagon, octave (resonant fractal of whole), diatonic scale, basis of 3rd 3-d solid, octahedron Fibannaci 6th sequence

      TimeTraveller8

  2. Hi Jenny,
    Thought its time to end the ongoing poker-game on the Tweleve forum.
    I have decided to make all my personal findings regarding the ‘key’ available on; http://tombedlamscabinetofcuriosities.wordpress.com/
    in the hope that others might elect to do the same.
    The material I am featuring on my blog is by no means definitive, but hopefully it might just push the envelope a little further and someone might be able to pick this material up and run with it.
    Best,
    Tom

    Tom Bedlam

  4. Thanks Nate, it is always refreshing to find an answer that is clear because of its obvious nature.
    Many times when considering the 681 problem, I had stuffed towards the number 7, considering that it is the median between 6 and 8, sprayed from either by a degree of 1. Which is obviously half of your number 14 and yet also designates the weekly cycle.

    I might add though that the key in question, as in the hexagram, is the six, and for the 8, in terms if finding the lock that the 6 turns within, might be not be the 8 that Duncan’s solution proposes, but an external form which contains the tilted hexagram. I will post further about this on the Tweleve site at a future time.

    haywardg

    1. I think you don’t get to 681 until near the end of the Maranatha puzzle. So it’s pointless to try to get there quickly.

      I suspect the lock is in the text in page 1. And there are other texts the key may fit in. But until I unlock something, I won’t know for sure.

      Maria Rigel

  7. Pingback: End of Line Club - Page 401

  8. I’m starting to think that there could be something significant about the grid of the pigpen pages being 12×13. The numbers 12 and 24 appear again and again in Masonic contexts, and I suspect it has to do with the number of letters of the Latin alphabet, plus the fact that 12 appears easily on regular geometrical constructions that involve hexagons and/or equilateral triangles. Thirteen is 12+1. Or looking at it another way, twelve plus the centre.

    Maria Rigel

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