by Nick Addey

Created on: August 28, 2009   Last Updated: September 05, 2009

Nursery rhymes - origins in the stars.

For those folk who have never been happy with the explanations put forward regarding the origins of our favourite nursery rhymes I have glad tidings.

These so-called nonsense verses have endured for centuries and live with us from the cradle to the grave. To assume they tell of some past battle or political wrangle is to hugely misjudge their importance - their very survival indicates a significance beyond the norm. They do, as some suspect, carry a hidden message but it is concealed in such a way that everyone can see it, if you know how to look

Long, long ago in an age not that dissimilar to ours ordinary people were burned at the stake for speaking the 'wrong' words, their lands were confiscated and their dependents put on the streets or sold. Those were the days, or rather centuries (imagine that), when the laws of blasphemy and heresy held sway. These laws, installed to silence the populace, were enthusiastically enforced and proved very effective. Or so it seemed.

So certain of his power a Catholic priest once said 'Give me a child before he is ten and I'll give you a Catholic for life.' Now, if that sort of indoctrination is to be countered then any opposition (and there was plenty) had to get in early and you don't get much earlier than the nursery. Of course the message, or antidote, had to be delivered in a way so as not to arouse suspicion and 'nonsense' provided the perfect cover.

Yet nonsense is not a survivor. In a hard world it is knowledge that keeps you alive, and it should be knowledge that we seek. Nursery rhymes hold knowledge - knowledge powerful enough to tumble the 'house-of-cards' called religion. And fortunately this knowledge is available for free, to everyone. How so?

Astronomy and the Church have always been at odds with each other. I am at odds with Astronomy, for the 'official keepers of information' will tell us that our ancestors did not make recognisable shapes in the stars, that their ideas were abstract and we could not hope to see what they saw. This belief is not only illogical, it is visibly wrong. All you need is a starlit night and a bit of practice.

So to the crux. What have nursery rhymes, religion and the stars got to do with each other? They are inseparable. Religion is based on 'divine' inspiration drawn from star patterns, while nursery rhymes are precise tools for learning those patterns. For example; 'Pop! goes the Weasel' can be seen using the constellations Auriga, Perseus, Cassiopeia,

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