Las Vegas Mass Murder

Back when I first head about the horrendous mass shooting at the concert in Las Vegas I immediately honed in on a few details I knew the synchromystics would be exploring.  I abandoned that article because it seemed to me that it would be pointless.  Lots of "true believers" would be hard at work decrypting the "twilight language" and finally, it seemed to be in bad taste.  I'd already pretty much decided to leave synchromysticism behind and focus on history, public art, and folklore, but even there I've flagged.  I spent the better part of 2017 working on a novella (which will be published by an honest-to-God publisher -- Whiskey Tit -- in 2018) and have since been working on a full-length novel.  Hence the paucity of posts and their brevity.

But I didn't want to bin these notes so I'll just post them here for the heck of it.  Strangely, when looking at the link for the 23 enigma, I saw a link to a phenomenon named after an old Texas joke:  A guy shoots a slew of rounds into the side of a barn, then paints a target around the densest cluster of hits....then claims to be a sharpshooter!  The fallacy is defined thus:

[The] Texas sharpshooter fallacy is an informal fallacy which is committed when differences in data are ignored, but similarities are stressed. From this reasoning, a false conclusion is inferred. This fallacy is the philosophical or rhetorical application of the multiple comparisons problem (in statistics) and apophenia (in cognitive psychology). It is related to the clustering illusion, which refers to the tendency in human cognition to interpret patterns where none actually exist.

I've always thought synchromysticism to basically be a form of apophenia or clustering illusion, but it was startling to hear this term used after years of looking at synchromysticism in the context of America's deadliest mass-shooting.  

Also reminds me of a witty remark apparently made by my great-uncle Homer B. Adkins: 

Basic research is like shooting an arrow into the air and, where it lands, painting a target.

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What the synchromystics will be looking at:

The gunman fired from the Mandalay Hotel, referencing a city in Burma/Myanmar.  A country expelling Muslims.  A "person of interest" -- a girlfriend or roommate -- was sought, described as "Asian", named "Marilou Danley".  Perhaps Indonesian, a predominantly Muslim country. [She is in fact Australian-Filipina]  She is no longer a person of interest in the case.

Concert venue dominated by Luxor Hotel with its giant pyramid and obelisk.... (Masonic symbolism)

Shooter was described as firing from the 32nd floor....

23 arms were found in shooter's room.... 

The shooter's father was a notorious bank robber on the FBI's "most wanted" list....

My Bologne has a first name:

L'obelisque

When I moved to Toulouse in April, 2002, I lived a few hundred yards away from this plaza and for over a year regularly frequented the restaurants and bars nearby.  My best pal Alex's office is just around the corner and the plaza provides a convenient shortcut to the hopping/happening Place St. Pierre.

Which is why it's kind of odd that I must have seen this plaza fewer times than I can count on one hand.

The few times I had been there I must have

dithered about as if in a dream, 
some kind of hapless mote 
floating through on a sunbeam

(from Burning Pizzle by J. Trenchwheat)

because I'd never really quite grokked -- done the spit-take as it were -- the fact that there's an obelisk fountain at the dead center.  And if there's anything I'd grok, it's an obelisk fountain.  This quiet, almost hidden plaza in the midst of one of Toulouse's hubbiest bubs features an obelisk and, as Prof. Freedom Williams once said, "I'd never even gone "hmmm."")

The Place de Bologne is relatively new, so it's jut another indication that the Egyptian Revival is still going strong in Toulouse  (I've written extensively about plethora of contemporary pyramid monuments in the metropolitan area).  Egypt remains a source of inspiration for architects, developers, and builders as it has since the Phoenicians, Hebrews, Greeks, Romans -- times when Egyptian civilization was the antiquity of what we consider our own antiquity.

Place de Bologne as seen from the LoS helicopter

Take a S.I.P.

Imagine how geeked out I got when after seeing the obelisk I took a look at the office doors facing it and saw a triangle logo for home builder (an outfit called S.I.P.)  I have explored the links between Freemasonry, the Egyptian Revival(s), the triangle and/or pyramid logo, and the French real estate and construction industries.  In this case I was doubly geeked:  facing this first S.I.P. was another be-triangled business:  Groupe Osiris (!) is a developer and real estate manager.

Osiris has the cool-for-us title of the "Lord of Silence" -- but he was also known as the "Lord of the Dead" and the "King of the Living".  Interesting -- perhaps the Groupe seeks to evoke the importance of urban planning and lodging as a controlling force in our lives.  Haussmann certainly understood the relationship between urban geography and political liberty when he designed wide boulevards favorable to army forces and cannon at the expense of the narrow streets favorable to building blockades and defending the poor quarters with rusty rifles and kitchen knives.

King of the Living Room

When Toulouse performed the same kind of "remodeling" (at about the same as Haussmann), the city's motivations were probably less strategic than practical in terms of everyday traffic.  In any event, if an urban zone is defined by the constant reconstitution of its component parts (to paraphrase T.A. Wilson), a city is in a constant state of degeneration, regeneration, and transformation.
Osiris worship was in essence a cult of regeneration and rebirth, and a city it essentially an entity which is dying and re-birthing itself at every second of every day.  The city is its own mother, father, and child, a family coiled-up into a convoluted relationship which at its mutating center is a kind of cosmic incest.  (If in fact we can speak of a center at all; perhaps it's less inaccurate to speak of something so folded up in upon itself that it's all periphery.

Given the increasingly restrictive circles in which the elite travel, and -- like boolean ovals -- intersect through various boards, clubs, business groups, Lodges -- tighter and tighter as we head towards the tip of the pyramid -- it's no small wonder these increasingly reduced and therefore intimate business bedfellows move with ease within the nomenclature of this incestuous Egyptian genealogy: Horus, Osiris, Cheops....

One of the many challenges facing urban planners is how to move a city forward without totally destroying its past.  One can't forbid any and all new construction in an historic city or we end up stunting a city's dynamism.  We have a static showpiece where we can't even put in a new skylight because it doesn't mesh with the surrounding 19th century character, for instance.

That said, I'm a firm believer in taking the time and spending whatever is necessary to properly investigate new construction sites and thinking long and hard about what we're destroying.  When in the 19th century the city of Toulouse plowed through the medieval warren of the centre ville to create a logically straight pair of central axes, they did indeed facilitate movement through the center of town; they also forever destroyed  its medieval character.  The neighborhoods around these axes remain today among Toulouse's most beautiful streets.  Imagine what has been lost.

In my own time, during the renovation and construction of the new Palais de Justice, the remains of the palace of the Counts of Toulouse were found; minimal archaeological investigation was carried out and what we might have learned from it has probably been lost forever.
  

Not so far from there, the destruction of a building attached to the Church of the Dalbade revealed a medieval cemetery underneath.  This was also investigated, but then, poof, a new building appeared and the cemetery was lost forever.

The Place de Bologne is another such place, which "represents in an edifying manner the problems posed by a certain kind of urbanism" (here).  Some of the buildings were renovated for use in the current plaza, but some very old buildings, in one of the oldest parts of Toulouse, were simply destroyed.  If we were dealing with some run-of-the-mill urban building, we could shrug it off as acceptable change.  "Urban Renewal" has been used to put lipstick on the pig of various corrupt and disruptive schemes dreamed up by developers eager to squeeze every last coin from every last square foot, but if we look past the abuse of this doctrine, we'll find it's a necessary and even positive part of urban evolution.  Without renewal, there is no urban stasis, only decay.

But the ruins here were in fact the last vestiges of the palace of the Visigoth kings of Toulouse, before various depredations obliged them to remove to Toledo (Spain, not Klinger's hometown).

This is an important and relatively under-known period of the city's history:  the Dark Ages, the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages -- the Visigoths being one of the tribes who brought that about -- in the epicenter of Gallo-Roman France.  The Visigoths had sacked Delphi and Rome and legend has it that they made off with the spoils of Solomon's Temple.  They built the first Church of the Daurade in an octagonal, Byzantine style, so-named for its golden mosaics.  Their kingdom extended from Andalusia to the Loire and Toulouse was their capital; Place de Bologne was the epicenter.

The worst part is what they destroyed it all for; the architecture is unremarkable and the entrances to the plaza are gated, giving the impression of a private rather than a public space.  Indeed, all the buildings on the plaza are a tightly controlled development, not really an organic residential zone but operated by one of the powerful developers which have had so much power in determining the ever fluid urban and suburban landscapes of French cities and villages

As one site puts it "the result of these errors makes this place close, cold, without life.  With a century of history destroyed beneath our feet."  Interesting now that I think of it.  Another one of these "dead zones" is Compans Caffarrelli, which, incidentally, is another big plaza surrounded by high-rises, a public space privatized, basically, but with a cold and inert feeling despite the fact that several hundred people probably live there.

One must also consider the chilling effect of all this not only on street life, but free speech.  Consider this anecdote from a few years ago:

Taking pictures of this pyramid and architecture, Daurade was approached by a squat little security guard, a little nervous and scowling, who informed him that taking pictures is forbidden. So there you have it. On the city streets one is free to photograph what one wants. But as all this public space is enclosed and privatized, public inquiry and expression are somewhat less free. In fact, taking a photo is forbidden. Whatever the reason for this, security probably, it still doesn’t eclipse the fact that in this new world order everything will be for sale, and those with money to buy are welcome. As long as the money keeps flowing in the right direction: up towards the pinnacle.

The fountain isn't remarkable:  an obelisk in an octagonal basin, accessed by three steps which form the octagonal base.  The plaza itself is paved in the same form.  I suppose one could read something into the three steps in terms of Freemasonry, but that may be pushing it!  It occurs to me that this is the second thing in this post described as octagonal; it's possible the form of the plaza is a reference to the original Church of the Daurade which sat in roughly the equivalent position at the other end of the Quai Lucien Lombard.

I've already mentioned in a few posts how the Count of Montalambert called Toulouse the "home of vandalism".  Part that vandalism isn't just the destruction of history, but replacing what has been destroyed by shite architecture.  Toulouse has recently been obliging people on the outskirts to sell their homes so they can be razed and big dumpy apartment blocks put in their place.  The whole quasi-rural character of vast tracts close to the dead center of Toulouse have been sucked into a cold and sterile, inorganic mess of character-less, undifferentiated buildings.

So, I was attracted by the Egyptian obelisk and, sniffing around for anything vaguely Masonic, came across the two developers using triangles -- a subject to which I've already dedicated both a post and a Picasa album -- one of these developers specifically evokes Osiris.  A curious choice, given the theme of death and rebirth.  They certainly killed something off here -- a piece of history which could furnish much-needed detail about the Visigoth period of Toulouse -- but whether something worthwhile has been born from this remains to be seen.

A renovated rose by any other name is still a renovated column, dagger, mark, monolith, monument, needle, pillar, pylon, shaft or tower

This here's a photo of the entrance to Toulouse's Terre Cabade municipal cemetery, a small necropolis atop the Jolimont at the dead end of the aptly named Avenue du cimitière.  Opened in 1840, the gate reflects the Egyptomania which gained renewed impetus in France after Napoleon's scientific/military adventures in Egypt some 40 years prior, a fascination with far-reaching manifestations in Western culture.  Some of these were physical signs: architecture, interior design, jewelry, women's make-up, funerary monuments.  Some of these were born into the realm of ideas:  large swaths of the Western esoteric tradition are widely (sombunall) regarded as having emerged out of the syncretic crucible of that was ancient Alexandria; Hermeticism is the namesake of Hermes Trismegistus, an apocryphal personage who was perhaps a blend of Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.  They are both scribes, messengers....deities of magic.

To make a long story short, the "Egyptian Revival" is kind of a misnomer; I think several basic components of Egyptian thought and art never left us and indeed, in Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, Martin Bernal proposes that Greek civilization did not arise from Indo-European sources as much as it derived from Egyptian and especially Phoenician colonization.  I've not read Bernal's book but I have often pondered the link between Phoenicia and Greece.  A relative dearth of material about the Phoenicians has led antiquarians to approach the topic carefully, but we can say for sure that their influence was wide-reaching, as they are known to have traveled beyond the straights of Gibraltar, likely up to Ireland, carrying their goods and their culture along with them.  Phoenicia, more a confederation of city-states than an empire, was passed back and forth like a football for centuries, too weak to fight off their powerful neighbors -- Egypt, Persia, Assyria and the like -- but too wily and important to merit obliteration.  We do know that their skill as builders was widely admired and when Solomon needed to build the Temple, he turned to his neighbors in what is now Lebanon and got it done.

The two pillars that marked the entrance, Jachin and Boaz, were long part of Phoenician religious architecture and probably derives from the Egyptian practice of marking the entrance to temples with obelisks.  But I've written about all of this before; it does however bring us neatly back to the photo which started this post; the Terre Cabade entrance.  Basically, what drew me to snap a photo again was the fact that one of the two administrations in the Capitole since I first photographed it decided to re-point the bricks and cap the obelisks with a golden -- gilt aka "dorada" aka "daurade" -- pyramidion, or at least a golden pyramidion sheath.  At first I just thought they'd capped the rotten tooth so to speak and re-did the mortar in the bricks, but it appears the wall has also had a new roughcast and a coat of the tan paint so liberally used in Toulouse.

As Stephen Curl points out in The Egyptian Revival, "Egyptianism" was intimately linked to Freemasonry.  Jachin and Boaz are an important element of any Masonic Lodge, which is itself a schematic representation of Solomon's Temple.  The central myth of Freemasonry turns on the story of the Temple's construction and of chief architect Hiram Abiff.  "Egyptian" Masonic rites date back to Napoleon's expansion into Egypt and were later stimulated by discoveries such as the Rosetta Stone which allowed for the decryption of hieroglyphs; this pursuit had become something of an international obsession and the biggest breakthroughs were made by a Frenchman from Figeac named Champollion, who published his findings in the 1820's.  The French still regard Champollion as a national hero.

So voici a little context behind this renovation I came across a couple of months ago during one of my periodic dérives through the streets of Toulouse.  For more of the history and symbolism behind the funerary architecture of the Terre Cabade, please refer to my earlier article.

I'd here like to drop in an interesting bit of history I'm not entirely sure what to make of.  I'm finishing up Robert Crease's World in the Balance about the search for an absolute system of measurement and naturally a good part of the narrative is taken up by the invention and progress of the metric system, another topic I've dealt with quite a bit on LoS.  I was quite chuffed to see that he linked the success of the metric system to some historical developments I have identified as being in philosophical harmony with this most rational of measurement systems:  the diffusion of the scientific method, the rise of capitalism and the emergence of the modern nation state.  I have also (insufficiently) discussed how the metric system was used during the French Revolution as a tool to overthrow the old feudal order, or ancien régime, with its patchwork of aristocratic and churchly fiefs.  But this idea of the metric system as a revolutionary tool is not confined to France.  Crease points out that in Africa, for example, the adoption of the metric system by newly independent states in the wake of the Second World War was a decision made as part of the decolonization process, reducing the influence of British culture, including their measurement system, which is, after all, known as "imperial" measurement.

 

I think this is neatly summed up in the "macaron" of the BIPM, the international agency responsible for maintaining metric standards and overseeing further inquiry into metrology.  My post about that seal is worth a look-see if only for a summary of the seal's concise visual statement about the revolutionary value of the metric system, as well as its celebration of commerce, scientific rationalism and representative democracy.  One principal figure in the seal is our friend Hermes, who in addition to being a god of magic is a god of weights and measures.

What I really want to mention here is a story in Crease's book about the origin of the idea that the Great Pyramid at Giza is in fact a metrological monument; this idea is today so widespread I can't do the subject justice here, but the whole genre of sacred geometry/metrology with regards to the Great Pyramid appears to have started with an anti-metric book entitled The Battle Of The Standards: The Ancient, Of Four Thousand Years, Against The Modern, Of The Last Fifty Years, The Less Perfect Of The Two, by John Taylor (1864).  Taylor's first pyramid book had appeared in 1859 and was enormously popular in its day; his second book develops his ideas and bears a title bound to grab the attention of anyone versed in English Masonic history.

Taylor wrote that it was probably Noah who'd overseen the construction of the Great Pyramid following the instruction of the "Great Architect"  -- the Masonic name for God.  Freemasons honor Noah as a builder and as a reservoir of antediluvian wisdom, and symbols associated with him form the foundation of several relatively auxiliary Masonic degrees.  Without going into details, Taylor proposed that the Pyramid was built to provide "the measure of the earth" from which sacred measurement standards could be derived.  As Crease says, the "battle" in the title of his book was "whether to use the ancient, sacred and natural measurement system or the modern, artificial metric one."

Not having read the book, I can only speculate on what follows, but my gut tells me the book is linked to a conflict in English Freemasonry.  English Freemasonry was marked in the fifty years preceding publication of Taylor's book by the unification of two rival Grand Lodges to form the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813.  What makes this seem a little less far-fetched is that the two rival factions were known as the Ancients and the Moderns.  I wonder if the battle of the standards in the title was also a battle between rival interpretations of Freemasonry's tenets?  Was this an important subtext to the book, or is it merely coincidence?  Or was Taylor just playing with the double sense, taking a dig at the "Moderns" within Freemasonry?  As "building" is the central metaphor of Masonry, reflected in the Fraternity's very name, it would seem likely that someone of an esoteric bent such as Taylor would express to some degree Masonic ideals in a book about measurement, especially given Freemasonry's link with "Egyptianism".  

Taylor's work, though influential in the esoteric tradition, was not well-received by the scientific community, even though his predecessors were of an impeccable scientific pedigree.  His formulation of the "pyramid inch" was based upon no less a personage than Sir Isaac Newton's formulation of the "sacred cubit", something he was inspired to do upon reading mathematician John Greaves' book entitled Pyramidographia (1646) (source)  Needless to say, Newton's work was partially derived from close readings of Scripture and analysis of its description of Solomon's Temple and Noah's Ark.  These interests have led many writers to speculate that Newton was a Freemason, but despite the intersection of interests, there's no evidence that this is the case.

So, I intended this post to be a sentence or two saying "oh looky they've renovated the obelisks!"  It was hard to keep it simple because Egyptian architecture has long been a source of fascination within (and apart from) the esoteric tradition and you simply can't study one without eventually coming across the other.  Sacred geometry, divine revelation and numerology are inexorably linked with the exoteric knowledge and artifacts of science and architecture; domains we see as apposed to magical thinking today were anything but to people such as Newton and Taylor.

I think Taylor was a Freemason judging from his works and associations -- but I can't positively identify him as having been a member.  The same is true for Taylor's chief disciple Charles Piazzi Smyth, one-time "Astronomer Royal for Scotland" and a scientist with a great deal of mainstream credibility.  Smyth elaborated on Taylor's ideas, doing some damage to his reputation in the process.  Despite the eventual disproving of the existence of a "pyramid inch" by William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Smyth had made some valuable contributions to Egyptology after becoming engrossed in Taylor's work; he was the first to photograph the interior of the Great Pyramid and his measurements, which had been the most accurate to date, led him to produce numerous valuable designs and drawings.  A British Israelite (basically the idea that Western Europeans, especially Britons, were direct descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel), Smyth claimed that the "pyramid inch" had been handed down to history by Noah's son Shem and that the Hebrews had built the Great Pyramid under Melchizedek.  Melchizedek, incidentally, has been interpreted by some to be one and the same as the aforementioned Shem and a prototype of the Messiah.  Hebrews 7:1-21 quotes Psalm 110:4 in calling Jesus "a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek".  Not only was it a divine revelation, but it could be used to tell the future; the Great Pyramid was thus a "repository of prophecies."

Dig this:

Smyth's theories on pyramid prophecy were then integrated into the works and prophecies of Charles Taze Russell (such as his Studies in the Scriptures), who founded the Bible Student movement (most visible today in the Jehovah's Witnesses....)

I have already spoken quite a bit about the connection between the Jehovah's Witnesses and Freemasonry, as well as Moorish Science.  Russell, if anything, was a bit cagey and cryptic as to whether he was himself a Freemason or not.  What continues to fascinate me about the JW's is that given the Witnesses declared abhorrence of all thing occult-related, their founder was steeped in occultism, pyramidology, quasi-Masonic ruminations and ongoing revelation from God on high.  Check out Smyth's  tomb (left) and that of Russell (right) :

OK, being something like a broad but shallow river, I leave off with the task of determining if Taylor and Smyth were Freemasons and looking into the oceans full of virtual ink spilled about the "occult/Masonic conspiracy" filter through which the Internets seem to view Smyth and Russell's relationship.  Recall that despite his dubious ideas about the construction and metrology of the Great Pyramid, Smyth was a genuine and accomplished, much like Newton, whose own  spiritual beliefs we would today consider quite eccentric, but in the day didn't seem to give him any pause regarding their compatibility with science.

Not a bad dip into the river for something that began as a kind of OCD-like reflex to document whatever small changes occur to monuments I've written about!

Further reading:

Here's an interesting review of an episode of America Unearthed about another pseudo-scientific attempt at applying a newly-discovered metrological standard -- the "megalithic yard" -- to the layout of Washington D.C. in an attempt to prove that the city is a giant monument to Goddess Worship: Review of America Unearthed S02E07 "Secret Blueprint of America".  The review is rightfully skeptical, but  it covers some of what I've touched on here and demonstrates that the kind of thinking that motivated Taylor and Smyth is alive and well -- and still finding an appreciative audience....

The Cemetery of Pleasures

Photo courtesy of Luis Morgado.  Please visit the link to see his other pictures of Lisbon's wonderful architecture.

Cemetery of Pleasures:  that's got to be the most evocative name for a cemetery I've ever heard. But really, it's named after the Lisbon neighborhood where it can be found -- Prazeres -- "Pleasures" in English.

It's also right around the corner from a street where one can buy just about any drug one could desire, from branca to cavalo, or so I'm told. Cemetery of Pleasures indeed.

The cemetery is filled with the kind of memento mori that would make a goth kid spontaneously, to paraphrase The Lonely Island, jizz in their pants.

What caught my eye was a large tomb, pictured above. There was no indication as to what it was or who it contained. I'd meant to write about it at the time I wrote a few other posts about Lisbon (Dr. Martins' got soul and Axis-sixA) but didn't get around to it until my last post jogged my memory.

This pyramid is the Jazigo dos Duques de Palmela or Tomb of the Dukes of Palmela. According to Mort Safe, it was designed by Giuseppe Cinatti, a Freemason, under the direction of Pedro de Sousa Holstein (1781-1850). Pedro was one of the leading diplomats of his time and was named 1st Duke of Palmela for his services. Early versions of the Wikipedia entry on Sousa Holstein say he was a Freemason, but the current version has been changed.

The tomb was built near the end of its patron's life, between 1846-1849. Mort Safe makes some interesting observations about apparent Masonic symbolism I didn't get to see, as it was not open to visits when I was there.

First of all is the massive pyramid....which is unfinished.

Remember that one of masonic legends says that the Master Hiram Abiff, responsible for building the Temple of Solomon, was assassinated before completing the work, leaving the unfinished temple. This face, where it is usual to put up a stone Benben to complete the pyramid (or obelisk), is a statue, which some authors attribute to Calmels. This statue is a female figure, often identified as the Angel of Death....and is probably one of the Seven Virtues....

As Mort Safe points out, there are other Masonic symbols. There are seven steps leading to the gate. These could represent the seven virtues, seven liberal arts, seven ages of man. Between the gate and the tomb itself the ground is paved with black and white stones forming 12 lozenges. The Temple of Solomon allegedly had decorative motifs on the floor in contrasting black and white geometrical shapes. A grid of black and white tiling is still a common feature of Masonic Lodges in some jurisdictions.

Mort Safe also mentions that the statue on the unfinished top is holding a cross and thus conforms to the practice of "Christianizing" the pagan monument, something I mentioned in my last post about the obelisks fronting the cemetery of Levignac. The most famous precedent for this practice would have to be the obelisk in St. Peter's Square. The bronze cross at the top of this obelisk contains a fragment of the True Cross and has exorcising formulas inscribed on two sides of the base.

Other sources indicate the mausoleum contains over 200 bodies, all from the same family with the exception of two priests. That it reproduces the symbolism of a Masonic Temple is also confirmed.

Cinatti (1808-1879) was born in Siena and settled in Lisbon in 1836. He was most famous as a set designer and interior decorator, although he did do considerable work in painting and architecture.

The Prazeres Cemetery was built after a cholera outbreak in 1833. It is the biggest cemetery in Lisbon and is known for being the final resting place of many of its notable citizens, especially those involved in the arts.

A dreaded sunny day / So I meet you at the cemet'ry gates

Here's a little ditty for all you latter-day Egyptian Revivalists and cemetery groupies.... 

Back in 2009 I posted about the Egyptianized elements of the Terre Cabade cemetery (Toulouse), especially the pair of obelisks at the entrance.

Briefly put, these obelisks derive from Egyptian temple architecture and were adopted by the Phoenicians, who, if we are to believe Biblical accounts, applied them (as pillars) to the design of Solomon's Temple.  These pillars (Jachin and Boaz) were later incorporated into Freemasonic Lodge architecture (see I ♥ Phoenicia and Pillars of the Community).

The other day I happened to be skulking around the Saint-Simon neighborhood of Toulouse and saw that all of the pillars in the wall surrounding the parish cemetery are capped by regular pyramidions.  This is actually a rather widespread design, so I don't make too much of it....I'm not sure if it's a conscious case of "Egyptianizing" or not.

Saint-Simon:  Pillar with equilateral-sided square pyramidion. 1775?

I was walking away pondering that and saw a pair of pyramidion-capped pillars, and wondered if indeed, the builders weren't after all referencing the obelisk as entrance to a temenos, or sacred space.  I think this pair of pillars, whose pyramidions differ from the others, once marked an entrance.  Note that the walls to either side are made of brick and river stones (galets); in between, there is only brick.  I imagine it was once open and bricked up at a later date.  These obelisks are incredibly phallic, more so than most obelisks, the pyramidions strikingly glans-like.  This stylized form represents the penis, and the earth or cave which the tomb represents is likewise the womb.  Which is fitting for a cemetery, actually, as a symbol of resurrection.  Life from death, yadda yadda.

Saint-Simon:  Gateway with truncated square pyramidions.  1775?

The church dates from 1775, but there's no telling when the cemetery wall was actually built.

Just a few days later I passed through the town of Lévignac and saw a much more definite Egyptian reference.  Here we have something between an obelisk and a steep pyramid.  The left structure retains a cross, whereas the right cross (bam!) has tumbled down.

Entrance to Lévignac cemetery.  Date unknown.

Judging from the condition of the wall, I'd guess these are roughly contemporary with Terre Cabade (ca. 1840)  I'd be willing to guess within ten years or so of the latter.

Anyway, no earth-shattering revelations here; cemetery obelisks are ubiquitous in France, usually as monuments to the Great War, but this is only the second obelisk/pyramid gate design I've seen for a cemetery.

For a more thorough treatment, I encourage to follow the links to our previous posts.

Compare to:

Terre Cabade cemetery entrance, Toulouse. (1836)

Entrance to Passeio Público (not a cemetery), Rio de Janeiro. (1779-1783)

The Temple Circuit within the Eye of Your Brain

Whereas, having recently gone back into the archives to write up things which had been percolating for a while, being otherwise bereft of any new ideas; and, taking into account carlessness in frigid weather as an important de-motivating factor, let it be hereby resolved that I shall scribble down a sparse little ditty to present this week.

Last week I saw a couple of pics on Bookface which caught my attention, independently.  But they pretty much do the same thing:  juxtapose ancient images with something unexpected; visual metaphor as a means of speculating about the source of ancient knowledge.

The first of these is an artist's rendition of an aerial view of Teotihuacan, specifically the ceremonal axis of the Pyramid of the Sun, side by side with a detail of a printed circuit board (PCB).  Pictured this way, there is indeed a similarity, but why shouldn't there be?  I don't think that someone was looking at a PCB and exclaimed "Eureka" after noticing is was almost an exact re-creation of the temple complex.  More likely is that the PCB detail, which isn't a photograph but an illustration, was created specifically to imitate the latter.  So there's nothing amazing about it.  A first view might lead to raised eyebrows and a murmured "wow,"  but really, any decent artist could make the image after making the visual connection.  Would make great raw material for R.A.W. material....Pyramid of the Simon Moon?  It's a striking visual metaphor, but certainly not "proof" that the Aztecs had some knowledge of computers or that their pyramids were landing sites for UFOs, as quite a few sites are claiming.  Unfortunately I skimmed through these before I had a notion to do this post, and I'm feeling too lazy to go back and find the links.  As the Buddha said, you can't eat the same tripe twice.

The History Channel logo at bottom right indicates that the image probably comes from the channel's Ancient Aliens series, which addresses the question:

"Is it possible that extraterrestrials with superior knowledge of science and engineering landed on Earth thousands of years ago, sharing their expertise with early civilizations?"

Well, yes, I suppose it is possible.

A fun question, sure, and one guaranteed to attract a decent-sized audience.  Over the years I've heard lots of theories like this, it's a well-entrenched part of our shared pop mythology:  certain Inca monuments are revealed to be giant animals only visible from the air; an image of a Mayan king from Palenque appears to be reclining and surrounded by "dials" indicating that the king was in fact an astronaut; the perfect cut and tight joints of the massive blocks forming the Egyptian pyramids could not have been effected by human, especially ancient human hands.  All this was given wide circulation by Swiss author Erich von Däniken, whose bestseller Chariots of the Gods? (1968 in the US) litters my childhood memories.  Däniken wasn't the first to espouse the theory that ancient civilizations were in contact with ET, but an industry has flourished under his inspiration since the 70s.  All very neat, but it's harder to swallow when we learn the man himself has been arrested several times and convicted on charges linked to fraud, embezzlement, forgery....  

By the by, I think it was Charles Fort in The Book of the Damned (1919) that first discussed this theory, without actually espousing it.  This from a little digging about.  Add another book to the wish list. 

Some of course will simply see the arrests as efforts by "the Man" to supress Däniken's ideas.  One could be generous and say he merely wanted to fund his travels and research in order to sustain his mission, at any cost, like an independent filmaker selling pot to fund his films.  Less generous would be to say the man's a clever bullshit artist who wanted to live the life of a "playboy" (to use the words of the Swiss high court), funding his endeavours one paperback at a time.  That along with "repeated and sustained" criminal activity linked to being a thief and a liar.  Not to mention that on at least one occasion he has admitted to using fraudulent evidence...

Hell, I like Stargate as well as the next guy, but I'm sure it's a bit annoying to those Egyptians and various groups of Amerindians to read that their ancestors weren't clever enough to build great monuments and understand the movements of the stars....

Origin of the image unknown.  Apologies to its maker, but this one appears to have gon viral....

A second image which caught my fancy compares the Eye of Horus, forerunner of the Eye of Providence used by Catholics, Freemasons and the Illuminati, to the structure of the human brain...I suppose this is more "objective" than our first image....one simply cannot redesign the Eye or the brain to make them match, but I haven't seen the proposition but forth by any professional Egyptologists.  One site included this image in its "proofs" of ancient alien contact...how could the Egyptians have had such "astonishing " knowledge?   

This isn't astonishing at all.  I don't propose that the Eye of Horus is a diagram of the brain, but the Egyptians were certainly, perhaps above all other ancient civilizations, in a good position to have had this kind of knowledge.  After all, their priests were also skilled morticians; removing human organs for preservation in canopic jars was an important part of the mummification process.  Apparently, the brain was an exception; they pulled it out through the nose after mashing it into a liquid state with a special tool.  They didn't consider the brain to be of the utmost importance, so using such an important symbol of divinity to represent it wouldn't have made much sense. So for us, this is a real no-brainer.  Heh heh.  One would have to imagine, however, that at some point during the millennia they practiced mummification, they'd have taken a good look at a human brain.  So while I think they were knowledgeable enough to have modelled the Eye of Horus on the human brain, I don't think they would have.  If anything, they would have modelled it on the heart,  which they believed "to be the center of a person's being and intelligence."

What the image above doesn't show is the pineal gland, found  just below the rear of corpus callosum.  This gland is often referred to as the "third eye," by Blavatsky, among others.  Indeed, the gland "produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions." Nifty metaphorical function aside ("waking up" as in "becoming aware" or even "enlightened"), isn't seratonin a major factor in the influence of mood whose level is affected by the use of mind-altering drugs, sex, meditation....?  OK, I'm not a neurochemist, but isn't it interesting that the structure said to be represented by the Eye of Horus contains the third eye?  Even if the Egyptians didn't see it that way?

Which is probably enough to show that I know just about fuck all when it comes to the human brain.  Or the Eye of Horus.  And I'm betting most of these people claiming that one represents the other are in the same boat.  Which is really, all I wanted to say on this subject, admittedly interesting, fraught with the pitfalls of bad science, bad archeology and "bad" thinking....

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Armand Cambon, La République, 1848-1849

Like everywhere else in Europe, the first half of the 19th century was an especially turbulent time for France:  the First Republic (1792-1804) gave way to Napoleon's Empire (1804-1814/15), in turn followed by the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1815--"The 100  Days"--1815-1830).  The July Revolution of 1830 led to the so-called July Monarchy of the House of Orléans, which ruled until 1848.  In 1848 the Second Republic was established and the year is considered as the end of France's "revolutionary era" (The current state, btw, is no less than the Fifth Republic, proof that the turbulent times were far from over!)

In any event, to celebrate the newborn Second Republic, a competition was held to find a painting that could be displayed in town halls across the country.  Between 1848 and 1849, Armand Cambon created the painting above as his entry (he didn't win).  La République is a symbol-heavy allegory and many of these Republican symbols are quite obviously also Masonic.  But as I've said before, half-jokingly, what symbol isn't?

According to the website for the museums of the Midi-Pyrenées, the woman is an allegory of the Republic, or perhaps the Law, crowned with a victory laurel, thus recalling the recent overthrow of the last French monarch Louis-Philippe.  The flag crowned with the eagle and the lion immobilizing the serpent symbolize the Republic's capacity for defense.  The clasped hands, the square and the hand in benediction represent Equality and Justice; the beehive, Fraternity and Work.  The tricolor rainbow is said to symbolize the glory of Republican government.  (We've seen the hand before on Urbain Vitry's tomb, 1863.)

I feel that this is a simplification of the symbolism.  I can't vouch for Cambon's intentions, but let's take the clasped hands as an example anyway.  I've always read that they symbolized Fraternity and/or unity.  It wouldn't be too far a stretch to assume it also hints at a new social contract between citizens.  Not quite the same as the interpretation above.

Of the symbols in this painting, the square, the clasped hands, the beehive and the rainbow are still regularly used in Freemasonry.  The eagle might also be a not entirely implausible link as well.  A double-headed eagle is used in the Scottish Rite, but more importantly, it is also the symbol of St. John the Evangelist, one of the two patron saints of Freemasonry.  St. Mark, for that matter, is symbolized by a lion, and while I'm not saying the eagle represents St. John, I'm sure the lion is more a symbol of strength, dignity and leadership and is even less likely to have a connection to the evangelist. 

What I find interesting about this lion is that he is subduing a serpent, most likely the sneaky enemies of the Republic, which in and of itself is not so remarkable; what is striking here is that the image of a subdued serpent has a long history in Marial iconography, or what George P. Landow calls "prophetic typology"....the Virgin vanquishing Satan and Original Sin.  I propose that Cambon is making a sly anti-clerical statement here, tweaking the nose of would-be counterrevolutionaries in the Church, the lion has replaced the Virgin, but this is not an air-tight case by any stretch of the imagination.

Let's also look a bit more at the rainbow.  Another website about Cambon's painting bluntly states: "L’arc-en-ciel est un symbole de fraternité."  The rainbow is a symbol of Fraternity.  So we already have two differing interpretations and I'm not sure either quite gets it right.

The most famous rainbow in Western Civilization involves the story of Noah and the Ark.  It is a rainbow which indicates that God entering a new compact with Man.  Genesis 6:17:  "And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."  Compare this to the Epic of Gilgamesh: 

Then Ishtar arrived. She lifted up the necklace of great jewels that her father, Anu, had created to please her and said, "Heavenly gods, as surely as this jeweled necklace hangs upon my neck, I will never forget these days of the great flood. Let all of the gods except Enlil come to the offering. Enlil may not come, for without reason he brought forth the flood that destroyed my people." 

The value of such a symbol for the French Revolution is self-explanatory.  The Revolution wiped away the old to make way for a new, more lawful order.  Interesting that the first interpretation of the allegory has the women as either the Republic, or the Law.  The rainbow appears just after God has set before Noah a reiteration of the laws he gave Adam and Eve, having added a seventh.  Sealing the deal with clasped hands?  This last law is a kind of meta-law, as it calls for establishing courts of law.

The Jewish Noachide Movement also uses the rainbow as a symbol, the seven colors representing these Seven Laws of Noah which are binding not just for Jews, but for all humankind.

Gilbert Stuart, "Lansdowne portrait", 1796

The rainbow is also featured in the famous "Lansdowne portrait" of George Washington.  In this symbol-heavy piece, storm clouds are to his right while to his left a rainbow appears.  Certainly the story of Noah is being evoked here to represent that the American Revolution, if not Enlightenment ideas, were leading to a "new world order" to coin a phrase, of peace and progress.

A Washington website (where you can explore an interactive version of the portrait) has this to say:

The Masonic rainbow is sometimes interpreted as the Arch of Heaven, supported by the pillars of Wisdom and Strength. A rainbow appears in the ritual apron given to Washington by Marquis de Lafayette, his comrade-in-arms in the Revolutionary War. 

Indeed, the pillars of Wisdom and Strength (two of the seven Biblical Pillars of Wisdom) will return to our story as towers.  The website in question features a detail of  the rainbow ending not in a pot of Lucky Charms, but on a pillar topped by a globe in the fashion of Jachin and Boaz.

A striking Masonic link with Cambon's symbolism is to be found in the logo of the International Order of Rainbow Girls:

Rainbow Girls logo

A tricolored rainbow in the French and American colors arcs over a pair of clasped hads.  The Masonic delta is prominent and the hemispheres in different colors, like the colors in the Noahide flag, represent 7 virtues.

This order was created by Freemason Rev. W. Mark Sexson (ha ha) in 1922, based on the Order of DeMolay for boys.  DeMolay also promotes 7 cardinal virtues.  Could the number of these virtues be a reference to Noah's laws?  Given the rainbow, it is quite possible.

Another Masonic rainbow is found in the Royal Arch, an additional set of degrees in the York Rite, considered at one point to be a continuation and completion of the 3rd Degree in regular Craft Masonry (1°-3°).  As a visual metaphor, the rainbow reappears in various Royal Arch contexts.

Indeed, it has been shown "...showed that the Rainbow symbol formed part of an early Royal Arch ceremony..."  But the tradition of associating the Rainbow and the Arch continues.

For example:

It has been said that “The Royal Arch stands as the rainbow of promise in the ritual; it stands as promise of the resurrection; of that which was lost and shall be recovered.” The Royal Arch accepted the rainbow, that God put in the Heavens as a covenant between God and man, that he would not destroy the world by water again-but by fire.

I don't know where exactly this has been said, but I found the same quote here.  Dig also the following:

While Zerubbable was a "Prince of Judah" as proclaimed by Cyrus, another "Prince" was coming, a Prince of Peace.  One that would establish God's kingdom in the hearts of man, causing each to be a "Temple of God."  The covenant as exemplified by the rainbow, the Royal Arch of the Noahchide promise, must give way to the Royal Decree of, "This is my beloved Son.  Hear ye Him!"

I'm not exactly sure what that means, to be honest.  I should also point out that Mackey's Encyclopedia does not contain an entry on "Rainbow".  Which is actually quite surprising and leads me to wonder if perhaps I'm not making too much of the symbol's Freemasonic usage.  On the other hand, it's appearance in the contexts descibed above are a legitimate connection, so I'm not exactly sure what to make of it.  The proposed meanings seem contradictory and confusing.

Perhaps there is another explanation: 

"[James] Anderson’s reference to Masons as ‘Noachidae’ was not simply harking back to an early tradition. As a ‘basis of that natural religion’ on which all Masons can agree he is here suggesting that we are those who accept the Noachite Laws as our standard."

Noah again....

For the moment, however, I would like like to return to the following quote and look at the Honduran coat of arms. 

The Masonic rainbow is sometimes interpreted as the Arch of Heaven, supported by the pillars of Wisdom and Strength.

The Masonic imagery in this coat of arms should be obvious: the delta, or pyramid, forms the backdrop to a radiant rising sun, which was originally a Phrygian cap--one of the most ubiquitous of symbols from the French Revolution.

Spanish Wikpedia says the rainbow symbolizes peace, the unity of the Honduran family and high ideals. The triangle signifies equality before the law.  The castles represent the conflict between the Aboriginal Hondurans and the Conquistadores. The rising sun symbolizes freedom, patriotism and hope.

The two castles, or towers, also bring to mind those the pillars of Strength and Wisdom, aka Jachin and Boaz, which support the Arch of Heaven, or rainbow, and which would appear to be depicted in the Lansdowne portrait of Washington.

The Wisdom and Strength of the Republic are essential meanings contained within Cambon's symbolic painting.

We have long spoken on LoS about the symbolic meaning of pillars at the entrance of sacred space, perhaps too much, but I did come across an interesting discussion about the symbolic meaning of two towers in church architecture--or lack thereof--which I'd like to quote:

The earliest of walled permanent human settlements had access gates flanked by towers for defensive and observation purposes. Since the city/city state was the most important thing in most people's eyes, these gate towers were not only defensive, they marked the entrance into an "important space." As these cities grew and other "important spaces" were incorporated within them, such as temples, etc, these spaces were also entered through doubly towered gates. The concept of 'towered entry' to important space had carried over from the symbolism of the city gate towers themselves. Pairs of large single stones frequently mark the entry to sacred space from the earliest of times. The great temples of Egypt were fronted by twin pylon towers. The gate towers of many ancient cities became works of art and symbols of civic pride. 

..."Two" may have started out as a practical form of defense for a gate type or restricted space, but "two" was also recognized as something of visual balance - or to give balance to something else... 

... 

Any symbolism you may find regarding the subject would be rather recent in origin and an example of "symbol emerging from utility"rather than symbolism actually driving the original design. 

I think there is a lot of merit in this argument, but on an "archetypal" level, the evocation of Egyptian and (to my mind) Phoenician sacred architecture belies the "symbol emerging from utility" argument.  Medieval architects were certainly aware of the appearance of Solomon's Temple, designed by a Phoenician, so it's quite possible that this symbolic heritage entered into the equation, not instead of but in addition to the process described by this author.  Which brings up an important point when discussing symbolism in general; once one thing has become widely accepted to represent another, its use will multiply exponentially.  Thus when we see symbols in Freemasonry repeated (or borrowed) from other contexts, we should remember this point.

I'm not sure I want to make too much of these towers as a substitute for Jachin and Boaz, but I can't help but think of this idea of strength, or earthly power and wisdom, or divine insight as being both sides of the same coin.  Or the same side of different coins, no matter!  I also cannot help but think of the Toulouse coat of arms, surmounted by a crown composed of three towers, while the shield itself has an image of a castle and a church: earthly and spiritual authority side by side.  Some have proposed that this is, in fact is the significance of two pylons or obelisks in front of Egyptian "important spaces", thus leading via Solomon's temple into Freemasonic usage.  But this leads us deeper into a realm of unsubstantiated speculation.  I have in fact already posted about Masonic imagery in Latin American heraldry, and towers don't figure into those images at all.

We could add that the coat of arms of the United Grand Lodge of England, the closest thing to a world authority for Grand Lodge (as opposed to Grand Orient) Masonry, features a coat of arms with three towers, among other things.  I wonder too, out of the blue, if this is why Mary Magdalen, whose name itself means "tower," is often pictured wearing a crown in the form of a tower, as if eartlhy might rests upon the seat of wisdom.

It may also be worth examining at some point the Empire Sentinels.  This was a Scouting group founded by Major David Cossgrove in New Zealand circa 1910;  Sentinels were organized into “Towers” and the scheme had three degrees based on religious duty, patriotism, sacrifice and work, each with a corresponding “Watch,” or ritual.  The watchtower is an important symbol in the ritual and organization.  It was also influenced by Masonry, which is reflected quite clearly in it's rituals.  Watchtowers are also an important feature of Enochian magic.  Enoch is the seventh of ten antediluvian patriarchs and is also usually referred to as an "ancestor" (great-grandfather) of....Noah. 

I think at this point I need to make like Ham and delve deeper into Noah.  This is the second time he's popped up withing the context of symbol-heavy French allegorical paintings (first time was here), and this Noachide Movement is intriguing....