Follow the Star

All amazing puzzles and treasure hunts have one good thing in common, a really cool pattern and theme. The pattern is not obvious but needs to be discovered. Mr. Fenn has often said the we won't know the first clue until we solve the last, which to me implies the first clue and the last clue are the same, which is why he quotes TS Eliot, "We shall not cease from our exploration And at the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time." This quote was also made famous by the Apollo 8 crew as mentioned in Fenn's Psychedelic Breakfast post. Carl Sagan also used it as a reason for exploring the stars.

My "Follow the Star" theory has been out for a couple of years but gained momentum, when Forrest Fenn release his Once upon a While book that featured a stick man fishing for stars or using a star a bait on his hook. The theory stems from the wise men (from the poem if you have been wise) who followed the star to arrive to witness Christ's birth. This is interesting since Apollo 8 thumb coving earth story occurred on Christmas eve. The most famous reference to following the star are the three wise men ("been wise") on their journey to witness the birth of Christ.

The very first clue begins with a star and ends with a star if TS Eliot quote,

"We shall not cease from our exploration And at the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time”

has anything to do with solving the poem.

Thus does the first clue begin with a star? Well my first clue at Warm Springs certainly does. Look at the big picture (as Fenn always says), that stop sign is also a star formed by the rafters. The 8 points of an octagon form a star, thus brining relevance to the number 8 as in Apollo 8 and why Mr. Fenn mentioned he won his precious bracelet in a game of pool or 8-ball.

It is interesting that Apollo 8 thumb incident occurred the same day, Christmas Eve, Forrest Fenn returned to Lubbock, Tx after he was shot down in Vietnam. When he was shot down, he ejected under his canopy or parachute. If you look at the canopy from above it looks like a star where all lines cross.

Keep this in mind as we advance to clue 2.