In Part I of three chapters, Bernard Pietsch demonstrates how architecture communicates through design, number and geometry. He explains why the form of our national monument, based on the shape of the ancient Egyptian obelisk, ranks among the world’s greatest sacred architecture.
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For further details, check out this video excerpt on the Washington Monument from Scott Onstott’s Secrets In Plain Sight
Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians from the 16th and 17th Centuries. A few translations in English. Original texts archived at the University of Wisconsion Digital Collections.
What have the ancient Mysteries of Eleusis, Isis, and Mithra got to do with modern Freemasonry? JOHN ALGEO, PhD, served for 9 years as president of the Theosophical Society in America. The THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY in America is a branch of a world fellowship and membership organization dedicated to promoting the unity of humanity and encouraging the study of religion, philosophy and science so that we may better understand ourselves and our relationships within this multidimensional universe.
An American-Swedish collaboration has finally cracked The Copiale Cipher, a mysterious 18th century document that no one could read – until now
… Dr Knight and his colleagues found that The Copiale Cipher describes the rituals and some of the political ideals of a German secret society from the 1730s.
But why should we care about a dusty old book that no one could read that was written by members of a German secret society?
“This opens up a window for people who study the history of ideas and the history of secret societies”, says Dr Knight. He cites several modern examples of challenging ciphers, such as the communications from the still-unidentified Zodiac Killer to the California police in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Kryptos sculpture, located on grounds of the C.I.A. headquarters in the United States, which has been only partly decoded.
Dr Knight also points out that there are other such ancient enciphered texts, particularly the famous Voynich Manuscript, a 240-page volume that has confounded cryptographers for centuries. This document was recently dated back to the early 1400s.
“There are these books and ancient languages of real historical value that contain historical information that we just can’t get out yet, and that’s of interest to a lot of people.” For example, historians think that secret societies played a role in revolutions, but their importance is not known at this time because so many documents are enciphered.
from: The Guardian
Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher who was responsible for important developments in the history of mathematics, astronomy, and the theory of music. He founded the Pythagorean Brotherhood and formulated principles that influenced the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle. The influence of Pythagoras is so widespread, and coupled with the fact that no writings of Pythagoras exist today, this short article will attempt to guide the reader through the life of this most remarkable teacher.
He traveled widely in his youth with his father Mnesarchus, who was a gem merchant from Tyre. His family settled in the homeland of his mother, Pythais, on the island of Samos, where he studied with the philosopher Pherekydes. He was introduced to mathematical ideas and astronomy by Thales, and his pupil Anaximander in Miletus when he was between 18 and 20 years old. Thales advised Pythagoras to travel to Egypt to learn more of these subjects. Leaving Miletus, Pythagoras went first to Sidon, where he was initiated into the mysteries of Tyre and Byblos. It is claimed that Pythagoras went onto Egypt with a letter of introduction written by Polycrates, making the journey with some Egyptian sailors who believed that a god had taken passage on their ship. Arriving in Egypt, Pythagoras tried to gain entry into the Mystery Schools of that country. He applied again and again, but he was told that unless he goes through a particular training of fasting and breathing, he cannot be allowed to enter the school. Pythagoras is reported to have said, ” I have come for knowledge, not any sort of discipline.” But the school authorities said,” we cannot give you knowledge unless you are different. And really, we are not interested in knowledge at all, we are interested in actual experience. No knowledge is knowledge unless it is lived and experienced. So you will have to go on a 40 day fast, continuously breathing in a certain manner, with a certain awareness on certain points.” After 40 days of fasting and breathing, aware, attentive, he was allowed to enter the school at Diospolis. It is said that Pythagoras said,”You are not allowing Pythagoras in. I am a different man, I am reborn. You were right and I was wrong, because then my whole standpoint was intellectual. Through this purification, my center of being has changed. Before this training I could only understand through the intellect, through the head. Now I can feel. Now truth is not a concept to me, but a life.”
He spent the next 22 years perfecting himself in mathematics, astronomy, music, and was initiated into the Egyptian Mysteries. When Cambyses II, the king of Persia invaded Egypt in 525BC, he made Pythagoras his prisoner and sent him to Babylon. He utilized this misfortune as an opportunity for growth, and for the next 12 years he studied with the Magi and was initiated into the Chaldean Mysteries. Leaving Babylon, he made his way through Persia to India, where he continued his education under the Brachmanes. At that time India was still feeling the effects of the spiritual revival brought about by Gautama the Buddha. Although Pythagoras arrived in India too late to come into personal contact with the Buddha, he was greatly influenced by his teachings. He went to India a student, he left it as a teacher, and even to this day he is known in that country as Pitar Guru, and as Yavanacharya, the Ionian Teacher.
It sounds like something out of a Dan Brown novel, but a scholar in Manchester, England, claims to have found hidden code in the ancient writings of Plato. If true, the secret messages would have made the ancient philosopher and mathematician a heretic in his day.
Jay Kennedy tells NPR’s Guy Raz that his discovery was partially luck. Looking at Plato’s works in their original scroll form, he noticed that every 12 lines there was a passage that discussed music. “The regularity of that pattern was supposed to be noticed by Plato’s readers,” Kennedy says. Music in ancient Greece was based on a 12-note scale, unlike the eight-note scale of modern Western music. Kennedy posits that Plato deliberately inserted discussions of music every 12 lines to send a secret, musical message.
What Plato couldn’t tell people was that he was a closet Pythagorean. Pythagoras and his followers believed that mathematics and music were the key to the universe. “The Pythagoreans realized that when we hear beauty and music, when we hear notes harmonizing, that’s because the notes have simple ratios, like 1:2 or 3:4,” Kennedy explains. “So the beauty of music is direct perception of the mathematical order underlying the world. They worshipped that mathematics.”
But the Pythagoreans were a persecuted sect, Kennedy adds, sometimes violently persecuted. “They were a threat to traditional religion, like many new sects.” Plato’s own teacher, Socrates, was famously executed for religious heresy. “Simply put, they were threatening to overthrow the gods on Olympus and put numbers and mathematics in its place.
Prior to Socrates being executed, a number of other philosophers were banished or fled because of threats to themselves. It was dangerous in those days to be a philosopher. ”As far as Kennedy can tell, Plato’s message was one of solidarity simply by acknowledging the relationship between music and mathematics, but he suspects there’s more to it. “Perhaps some scholar will find that — in The Republic, at least — that there is something like a melody or a score embedded in the text,” he says.
from: NPR
Mithraism was a mystery religion with devotees sworn to secrecy. Nothing could be spoken or written down. What little is known of Mithra, the god of justice and social contract, has been deduced from reliefs and icons found in temples. Most of these portray Mithra clad in a Persian-style cap and tunic sacrificing a white bull in front of Sol, the sun god. From the bull’s blood and semen, grain, grapes and living creatures sprout forth. Sol’s wife Soma, the moon, begins her cycle and time is born. The letters ‘VSLM’ that are inscribed on many Mithraic stones are part of a secret code thanking Mithra for his good deeds and are recognizable only to the faithful. Mithraism and Christianity competed strongly because of the striking similarity in many of their rituals. Both involve shepherds, an ark built to escape a flood and a form of baptism. Devotees knelt when they worshipped and a common meal – a communion- was a regular feature of the liturgy.
The Mysteries of Mithra, which came to flower in the near east during the Hellenistic age as a kind of Zoroastrian heresy, and in the Roman period was the most formidable rival of Christianity… Celebrants wore masks representing animals of the Zodiac: for astronomy was undergoing a new development in this period through an application of Greek thought to the data of the centuries of Sumero-Chaldean observation. In all religions of the age, the Zodiac had come to represent the bounding, ever revolving sphere of time – space – causality, within which the unbounded Spirit operates unmoved yet moving in all. – Joseph Campbell
Symbolism is the language of the Mysteries, [and] all Nature, for every law and power active is manifested through the medium of symbol to communicate thoughts which transcend the limitations of language
Paul Foster Case was born in Fairport, New York. His mother was a teacher and his father was the head librarian of the town library, in which Paul Case was literally born. For a man whose thirst for hidden knowledge was unquenchable, he could not have been born into more fortunate circumstances. Paul learned to read at a very young age. By the age of four he was found pouring over “forbidden books” in the attic of his father’s library. He was also found to have extraordinary musical talent at an early age, and at the age of three began training in piano and organ. At the age of nine, he was the organist at the Congregational Church in which his father was deacon. At the age of seven, Case began correspondence with Rudyard Kipling, who verified the “fourth-dimensional” experiences Case was having as being not merely imaginary, but actual states of being. At this early age, Case found that he had the ability to consciously manipulate his dreams. At sixteen, Case met the occultist Claude Bragdon, as they had both donated their talents to a charity performance. It was in this meeting that Paul Case got his first “directive”. Bragdon asked Case, “Where do you think the playing cards come from?” This simple question sparked an immediate search for the origins and uses of Tarot.
Within a very short period of time, Case had collected every book and every set of Tarot Keys available. He spent years researching, studying, and meditating on these archetypal images.Case described his experience at the time as definitely “guided” by an inner voice. In his view, the experience with Tarot had stimulated an “inner hearing”, through which he was guided to the many attributes of Tarot which were published before he was 21 years old. Perhaps Eliphas Levi’s statement on Tarot best summarized its influence on the young Paul Case: “As an erudite Kabalistic book… A prisoner devoid of books, had he only a Tarot of which he knew how to make use, could in a few years acquire a universal science, and converse with unequaled doctrine and inexhaustible eloquence.”……..
The cross is a symbol that is about as universal and ancient as any symbol that has emerged out of man’s psyche. The cross symbolizes the meeting at right angles of horizontals and perpendiculars. Forces going in quite opposite directions but meeting at a central point, a common ground. It can symbolize the union of opposites and the dualism in nature. It can be the outstretch archetypal man with the infinite possibilities of growth being immortal. It represents eternal life. The cross can symbolize the decent of Spirit into matter. It is the intersection of the level of time with the Eternity of the Spirit.
The cross is the axis of the cycle of the year whose spokes are the equinoxes and solstices. It is the crossroads where the four directions meet. In a Christian sense the cross signifies acceptance of sacrifice, suffering, and death as well as immortality. There is a legend that the cross of Christ was made out of wood from the Tree of Knowledge, the cause of the Fall, making it the instrument of Redemption. In the Egyptian mythos the crux ansata or – a type of cross – was a symbol of life, immortality, and health. It is held by the gods and goddesses. It also represented the union of Isis and Osiris.
Numerologically, the cross is sometimes represented by the number four. Within our own teachings: “No.4 is the Mystic number, and indicates the operative influence of the four elements. Under this number, or the geometrical square, Pythagoras communicated the Ineffable Name of God to his chosen disciples.” In the Hebrew alphabet the last letter is called Tav. And Tav means “mark” or “cross” and its original form was written much like ankh or cross. I could go on with many more examples but I think we can see that the cross transcends human culture in both time and space. It is a symbol that ties us all together as a Brotherhood of Mankind. It is a symbol that goes to the very root of our being.
In the mid-1990’s Terence McKenna and Mystic Fire’s Sheldon Rocklin teamed up to make this rich and exciting film. Little did they know that this would be their last film. Filmed in Prague with Terence portraying his usual erudite rendition of the Irish Bard, this filmed classic takes us on a journey into the alchemical renaissance of King Frederick V and his wife Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia. Playing the role of John Dee, court magician for Queen Elizabeth of England, Terence McKenna shows us how the promise of a return to the tradition of alchemy was almost instituted in Europe. He also shows us that this early attempt at the creation of an alchemical kingdom actually lead to the European Renaissance and the institution of Cartesian science and the beginnings of rationalism within the western mindset. This incredible film is not only beautifully filmed but is Terence McKenna’s finest performance and a worthy eulogy to his genius.”
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