Paradise has been found.

It has been waiting beneath you to be discovered all along.

It was built into the earth for us to recognize. When we recognize the order, we can recreate it.

The Cosmos is the first book to document the order of the world created during the age of Paradise, and the first to document the way back.

Buy the book

Lake Rubikiai, Anykščiai

The Center of it All

Aerial view of Lake Rubikiai in spring, its deep blue water scattered with wooded islands among fields and forest — ID 238214217 © Rimantas Abromas | Dreamstime.com

Kosmos meant order. The ancients gave the word to the Earth they arranged.

The book

To the ancient Greeks, kosmos meant order: the world arranged in harmony. In the earliest age of humanity, a civilization gave that order a physical form. It placed springs, mountains, temples and sacred cities in exact relationship to one another, and the pattern reached across every continent.

This ordered Earth was the cosmos: safe harbors and gardens of plenty, where people lived in harmony with the land, the celestial realm and one another. The paradise every culture remembers was a real place.

Drawing on history, sacred texts, mythology, linguistics and science, The Cosmos reads the world's myths as history told through hyperbole. Eden, Olympus, Hyperborea and the Golden Age become one memory, told in many languages.

The stories of the Golden Age of Mankind describe Paradise created through order and harmony. It will be recreated the same way.

How it was found

Whole numbers, again and again

When I first began mapping the mounds, stones, lakes and other sites around the Great Island of Lake Rubikiai, units of length we were told were created in the modern era kept measuring in whole numbers. It happened too often to be chance.

Ancient myths and modern scholars echo the same idea: the temples of the Golden Age of Mankind were defined by a temple on an island at the center of the world. Greek writers placed a round temple of Apollo on an island beyond the north wind. Renaud Gagné of the University of Cambridge has traced how central that northern land was to the Greek picture of the world, and Jean Richer mapped the sanctuaries of Greece in patterns radiating outward from sacred centers.

I had been fortunate to travel through Europe, and I remembered the founding stories of its ancient cities. So I measured to them.

The sunken garden fountain of the Domus Augustana on the Palatine Hill, Rome — ID 29302418 © Pablo Boris Debat | Dreamstime.com

1,200.00 Roman miles

Google Maps: 1,103.41 statute miles

Palatine Hill, Rome

From the center of the Great Island to the Fountain of the Pelte on the Palatine, where Romulus marked out the sacred boundary of Rome.

41.887766, 12.486560

View in Google Earth

Lycabettus Hill rising above Athens — ID 20001198 © Nikolai Sorokin | Dreamstime.com

1,200.00 Athenian ladas

Google Maps: 1,213.00 statute miles

Lycabettus Hill, Athens

The highest point of Athens, placed by Athena herself to mark the polis, the central pole of the city. The Athenian lada is a mile built from the ratio of the Athenian foot.

37.982051, 23.743491

View in Google Earth

The Temple de la Sibylle on its rocky cliff above the lake in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris — ID 424974881 © Jerome Cid | Dreamstime.com

1,000.00 Parisian ladas

Google Maps: 1,066.00 statute miles

Temple de la Sibylle, Paris

The temple stands atop an ancient quarry identified as the source of stone for the oldest structures of Paris. The Parisian lada is a mile built from the ratio of the king's foot.

48.881089, 2.383061

View in Google Earth

There are many more than these three. These are simply the most recognizable.

Measure it yourself

The discovery does not ask for your faith. Every measurement can be verified right now. By you.

Google Maps is free and lets you verify and explore every measurement for yourself. I urge you to do this.

Starting point: the Great Island 55°30’26.162” N, 25°17’5.755” E View the Great Island in Google Earth

Open Google Maps on a computer and paste the coordinate.
Right-click the point and choose Measure distance.
Click the second site, or paste one of the coordinates above.
To convert to an ancient unit, divide by its length in the table below.

Mapping tool

Google MapsMeasure the distance between any two points.

Unit	Length in statute miles	Google Maps distance ÷ unit
Roman mile1,000 paces of 5 Roman feet	0.9195075764,855 ft ÷ 5,280 ft	Palatine Hill1,103.41 ÷ 0.919507576 = 1,200.00 Roman miles
Athenian ladaThe Athenian foot, 1.0108333 English feet, scaled to a mile	1.01083331,213 ÷ 1,200	Lycabettus Hill1,213.00 ÷ 1.0108333 = 1,200.00 Athenian ladas
Parisian ladaThe pied du roi, the king’s foot of Paris, 1.066 English feet, scaled to a mile	1.0661,066 ÷ 1,000	Temple de la Sibylle1,066.00 ÷ 1.066 = 1,000.00 Parisian ladas

These three are only the beginning of the order connecting us throughout the world.

“Paradise was built once, by people like you and me who understood the conditions in which life flourishes. It can and will be built again.”

The author

Shawn Cabral

Shawn Cabral first felt it as a boy in the stands of a stadium: thousands of people singing in one voice and breathing as one breath. He spent the rest of his life looking for it.

A tradesman and lifelong traveler, he followed his spiritual search through the ashrams of India, where one evening of meditation changed the direction of his life. The search brought him to Anykščiai in northeastern Lithuania. Walking its forests, he noticed that the ancient mounds were aligned and followed the line. It led to Lake Rubikiai and its Great Island, and to more than ten years of research.

He divides his time between Anykščiai, Lithuania, and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

In his own words

I am curious.

If one word describes me, it is that one.

I was born and raised on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, curious about nature and the world around me. When I was young, my grandfather took my brothers and me to sporting events. There I felt the energy of the crowd: thousands singing in one voice, breathing in one breath. I understood that there was a deeper connection between all things, and I went looking for it.

Curiosity has led me around the globe. I studied the sacred mysteries in Egypt, lived with monks in India, and learned from every culture I was fortunate enough to experience.

I was not looking for Atlantis, Hyperborea or Paradise. I grew curious when I saw the mounds of Anykščiai, and more curious as their alignments came into focus. So I dug, and I dug, and I dug. I read every ancient myth and text I came across, and I am still reading.

This book, and the others to follow, are the result. Curiosity leads to learning. Learning leads to transformation.

I wear many hats. The one I love most is the one I wear with my children: foraging in the forest, or on the beach for a sunrise or a sunset, every one of them different.

Never be, or pretend to be, the smartest person in the room. Learn from the room you are in. Understand the smallest curiosities of the world, and the larger ones reveal themselves.

I am Shawn, but more importantly, I am curious.

In the author's words

How did the book begin?

While visiting Lithuania, I was walking through the forests near Anykščiai and noticed that the ancient mounds were aligned. I began to follow the paths. The mounds led me to a lake, and the lake had a story to tell.

Who is the book for?

Everyone. The Cosmos describes our world and our place within it. It is for anyone who senses that the world is on an unsustainable path and is looking for insight and guidance. It is for readers of history, mythology, religion and spirituality, and for anyone seeking their place in the cosmos.

How can readers check the measurements?

Every site can be found by its name alone, and the coordinates are printed in the book. No one is being asked to take this on faith. I ask readers to check it themselves, with any mapping tool they trust. Google Maps is free and familiar to most people, and the steps are in the Measure it yourself section above.

Enter the coordinate of the Great Island and any site in the book, and measure the distance. Texts and myths can be interpreted in many ways. Arithmetic is either correct or it is not. I want readers to investigate and challenge this material.

Couldn’t the distances be coincidence?

I was not looking for Atlantis, Hyperborea or Paradise. I was following the order in the ground, and it led me to the most sacred sites of Europe and beyond.

What makes the pattern clear is convergence. Set the measurements aside entirely, and the remaining evidence still stands. Cultures on every continent tell the same stories of paradise and a golden age, stories often attributed to shared human psychology. Scholars have documented temples and shrines aligned along lines radiating from sacred centers such as Cusco, and similar alignments are now being documented around the world. The ancient units of measure are related to one another, which is as compelling as the distances themselves.

Each line of evidence leads to the same place. Together they describe one ordered world.

How do archaeologists respond?

The book is written for the public, and it is open to everyone, scholars included. Every field advances over time, and our understanding of the world continues to evolve.

I was not the first to recognize this order. Others documented it in detail but lacked the technology to continue their research. In England, Alfred Watkins, a businessman and photographer, called them leys, the old straight tracks. In Germany, the pastor Wilhelm Teudt called them holy lines. In France, Xavier Guichard, head of the Paris criminal police, traced lines radiating from a central site. Jean Richer mapped the sanctuaries of Greece in patterns radiating from sacred centers, and the historian Livio Catullo Stecchini traced the traditional units of length of the ancient world to a common origin in the dimensions of the Earth.

They were outdoorsmen, clergy, police chiefs and professors, working in different countries, and each recognized a piece of the same pattern. With satellite imagery and modern mapping, the whole of it can now be seen. This discovery brings humanity to a crossroads.

What is the Assembly of the Gods, and why 1,728?

Around the world, the gods are remembered meeting in council, seated in a circle around a center: the twelve Olympians, the assembly on Mount Zaphon in the Canaanite texts, “the congregation of the mighty” in Psalm 82. In the book, the Assembly of the Gods is that circle on the ground. Sacred sites, including the peak of Mount Olympus, stand exactly 1,728.00 kilometers from the Great Island.

1,728 is 12 × 12 × 12, the great gross of the duodecimal system, the counting by twelves the ancients used to measure both space and time. The same number measures the ages of the world. In Hindu tradition, the Golden Age lasts 1,728,000 years, and each age after it is shorter by 432,000 years. Our present age, the Kali Yuga or Age of Iron, lasts 432,000 years, which the texts count as 1,200 divine years. Four of them make one Golden Age: 4 × 432,000 = 1,728,000.

What advice do you have for those seeking to understand themselves?

Perfection is unachievable. Nobody has ever been perfect, and nobody ever will be. What we can strive for is awareness, of ourselves and of our surroundings.

We live in an age when people listen to respond, not to learn. Conversations turn into debates and competitions, and that has spread into our media and our politics. We notice it as theater there, but often overlook it in our own daily conversations.

It is not always easy, but we all need to practice quieting the mind. Every moment offers a chance to learn. Don't dwell on the past; it's done, so learn from it and move on. Don't be anxious about the future; prepare for it with the lessons the past has taught you.

Awareness is as close to perfection as we can hope to get.

Have a question of your own? Join The Cosmos Community on Facebook.

Cover of The Cosmos: A Book of Revelation by Shawn Cabral

Buy the book

Available now

332 pages, with photographs and satellite images of the sacred sites. Proceeds support organizations that preserve the remaining sacred sites and the living traditions still connected to them.

Hardcover

$39.99ISBN 979-8-9959488-1-0Buy the hardcover

Paperback

$29.99ISBN 979-8-9959488-6-5Buy the paperback

eBook

$12.99EPUBBuy the eBook

Also available to order from any bookstore by ISBN.

Lithuania in the shape of a heart, in the yellow, green and red of its flag

Lithuania, the Heart of Europe.

The series

The first of several books

The order in the earth runs through every nation, and no single book could document it all. The Cosmos is a primer. It teaches you to recognize the order surrounding you, and it lights the path back.

BOOK ONE

The Cosmos

The ordered Earth, and where paradise was.

FORTHCOMING

Sacred Order of the Soul

The same order, read in the individual.

FORTHCOMING

The False Prophets of Paradise

How humanity was divided, and how it reunites.

FORTHCOMING

Climate and the Earth

The world passed to the next generations, and its restoration.

FORTHCOMING

The Living Traditions

The cultures and practices kept alive by indigenous peoples worldwide, some for tens of thousands of years. Their stories told from their own perspectives.

FORTHCOMING

The Cosmos of Every Continent

The order mapped extensively on every continent, one volume at a time.

Learn more

The wisdom keepers of the world

The cosmos is kept alive by the peoples, languages and traditions that still hold its memory. These organizations preserve them and welcome your support.

The world's traditions

Parliament of the World's ReligionsThe oldest global interfaith gathering, begun in Chicago in 1893.
United Religions InitiativeGrassroots interfaith circles in more than 100 countries.
The Pluralism Project, HarvardStudy of the world's religious traditions and how they live side by side.

Masked Morenada dancers leaping in traditional Bolivian costume

Indigenous peoples and their rights

Cultural SurvivalIndigenous-led advocacy, community radio and language work since 1972.
Survival InternationalA global movement for tribal peoples' lands and lives.
IWGIAInternational Work Group for Indigenous Affairs: research and advocacy.
UN Indigenous PeoplesThe United Nations' forum on indigenous issues.

A Basarwa elder in a floral headscarf and beaded necklaces

Languages, stories and living heritage

WikitonguesRecordings of every language in the world, made by its speakers.
Living Tongues InstituteHelping communities document and revitalize endangered languages.
Endangered Languages ProjectA shared map and archive of the world's threatened languages.
Endangered Languages ArchiveA digital archive of recordings of endangered languages and cultures.
UNESCO Intangible HeritageSongs, rituals, festivals and crafts protected as living heritage.
Smithsonian FolklifeThe Smithsonian's center for folklife and cultural heritage.

Sacred lands and places

“Uluru/Ayers rock” by Ek2030372672, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

Nia TeroSupporting indigenous guardianship of their lands and waters.
Native Land DigitalA map of indigenous territories, languages and treaties.
Sacred Land Film ProjectStories of sacred places and the peoples who protect them.
Amazon Conservation TeamPartnering with Amazonian peoples to protect forests and culture.
World Monuments FundPreserving endangered heritage sites around the world.
UNESCO World HeritageThe list of the world's protected cultural and natural sites.

Hands weaving a sash on a Lithuanian national costume

The Baltic tradition

Institute of Lithuanian Literature and FolkloreThe national archive of Lithuanian songs, tales and folk tradition.
RomuvaThe living Baltic tradition of Lithuania.

Press and events

Interviews, talks and site visits

Shawn Cabral is available for interviews, podcasts and talks, and for guided visits to the sites around Anykščiai and Lake Rubikiai. A media kit with the press release, author Q&A and images is available on request.

Contact

info@thecosmosbookstore.com

Published by Lada Press · shawncabral.com