Roel Oostra, film maker

In late 2006, the Dutch film maker Roel Oostra visited Ireland to film a segment for a documentary called 'As Above, So Below', part of a television series called 'Myths of Mankind'. For two days, filming took place in the Boyne Valley with Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore, authors of "Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers'.

Recently, the hour-long documentary got its first airing on Dutch national television. It was broadcast in a prime slot on the main national station on Saturday, January 26th, 2008. The documentary is set to be further screened on German and Belgian television in the coming weeks.

Anthony Murphy explains the Cygnus significance of Newgrange

'As Above, So Below' looks at ancient cultures around the world and how they related the sky to the ground, often in monumental fashion. The documentary visits many countries, including Ireland, where the Stone Age structures of the Boyne Valley take centre stage. Oostra takes us to far-flung locations across the globe, including Malta, China, Sri Lanka, France, Ireland, South America and the USA, and a common thread emerges - that in prehistory, a sacred cosmic union was formed which joined heaven and earth.

The documentary features many famous names, including astronomer Ed Krupp, world famous authors Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, Michael Rappengluck, Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Anna Sofaer and many more.

Many famous names are featured in 'As Above, So Below', including (from left): Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock, Dr. Michael Rappengluck, Dr. Ed Krupp and Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe.

The sun penetrates through the roofbox of Newgrange, in CGI !

In Ireland, Oostra homes in on Newgrange, and the myths which connect it to the sky. Mythical Ireland's Anthony Murphy explains the link between the Boyne river and the Milky Way, and speaks about the Cygnus Enigma, which connects Newgrange and Fourknocks with the swan constellation of the sky.

Moon and Milky Way

There are striking parallels between the beliefs of the ancients around the globe and those of the prehistoric Irish. Prof. Wickramasinghe says in the documentary, "we are children of the cosmos", the exact words used by Anthony Murphy in the prologue of the book "Island of the Setting Sun". Wickramasinghe goes on to say, about the Ganges river in India, "I think a large imposing river that runs across the earth is rather like the Milky Way, a river of stars dominating the starry skies", echoing the belief that the Boyne, the river of the White Cow, as a reflection of the Milky Way, the "Way of the White Cow".

Richard Moore and Anthony Murphy at Fourknocks

WIth stunning imagery and a breathtaking continuity, Oostra masterfully takes us through a journey in time and across the globe, and looks at how, in recent times, we've blotted out the light of the night sky with our bright city lights. "Have we lost something?" he asks.

Well, we might have gained something too. That visceral sense of belonging in the cosmos is confirmed by modern astrophysicists who tell us that we are made of the stuff of the universe, and that bacteria are probably space travellers. Perhaps life was even brought to earth by a comet?

The sunlight in Newgrange in CGI

Of course, the megalithic monuments of Ireland are the earliest of the monuments visited in 'As Above, So Below', and thus take a very early and important place in the documentary. It is hoped that this film will be shown on Irish television perhaps some time in the future.

Anthony Murphy by the banks of the Boyne in 'As Above, So Below'

Competent astronomy is always believed to have started with the Babylonians, something which is disputed in this film. In Neolithic Ireland, a very competent astronomy was carried out, in which the sky was brought to the ground in a very monumental fashion.

We are beginning to see here in Ireland something that is echoed right across the world, in almost every corner of the globe, that the people who inhabited this land before us made a very sacred connection with the cosmos.