Just what is the real cause behind the precession of the equinoxes and why did the ancients believe this cycle was so important? Walter Cruttenden asks this question in his latest book Lost Star of Myth and Time and comes to some provocative conclusions. 

To the layman, the precession of the equinoxes is the observed motion of the night sky shifting backwards by a small amount every year. Of course, the night sky continuously shifts throughout the year as the Earth orbits around the Sun, but if one were to take a fixed point in time (like the Vernal Equinox, for instance) and take a snapshot of the sky on that day every year, one would notice the sky slowly shifting backwards with each progressing year. This is what is meant by the precession of the zodiac, or precessional movement. Astrologers would say we are in a different 'age' or zodiac sign depending on which constellations are visible in the sky on the Vernal Equinox of a particular year. This precessional movement of the sky amounts to about 50 arc seconds per year and takes about 24,000-26,000 years to complete a full cycle; the "great year" or "great world cycle" as it is often called. 

Sir Isaac Newton was the first to put forth the idea that this precession is due to a wobbly motion of the Earth's axis, and few scientists have challenged this assumption since Newton's time. Cruttenden dares to ask the most basic question about this in his book bringing together a number of clues to form a hypothesis for precession being the result of the Sun moving in a binary orbit about a companion star. Could Cruttenden's speculations really lead to data that could overturn the ideas of Newton - a man treated like a deity in the world of physics and astronomy? As we'll see below, there's actually a large body of evidence to support Cruttenden's ideas. 

In his book, Cruttenden also offers some speculation about what ancient civilizations believed about this precessional cycle. Although, this part is not as strongly grounded in science, he speculates that as the Solar System makes its way through the points along this cycle, the nature of human civilization changes. At one extreme we have a Golden Age filled with peace, plenty and full social harmony; and at the other extreme an Iron Age filled with ignorance, war and social cacophony. The state of civilization depends on where we are in the cycle. Cruttenden points out that this shifting of the ages is recorded in Greek legends and in the legends of many other cultures around the world. This cycle implies that many civilizations with high technology - or perhaps just a more refined understanding of nature - may have come and gone through the many such "great years." This also implies that our current civilization is by no means special (in contrast with the prevailing Darwinian view.) 

Cruttenden even offers some speculation on what particular star this companion might be, focusing on Sirius as a possible candidate. While his arguments may seem reasonable, there's much evidence in Picknett and Prince's book The Stargate Conspiracy to point to the case for Sirius being overstated. I might even suggest reading The Stargate Conspiracy first before tackling Cruttenden's book. Even if Cruttenden is off in his quest to locate the Sun's companion, the evidence he's gathered for the Binary model is compelling and worth the read. The interested reader may want to check what he has to say over at his Binary Research Institute, which mirrors much of what's in his book. I've summarized some of the main scientific points he makes in his book below. 

Full article: http://www.sott.net/article/230480-Is-the-Sun-Part-of-a-Binary-Star-System-Six-Reasons-to-Consider