Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

We've already observed that saying "Jesus" backwards sounds like sausage. We all know that backmasking is the work of the Devil; apply it to Jesus and it becomes a reversal of His values and purpose. Hence it would seem that sausage is evil.

And here's the proof. This Merguez sausage was purchased from the local supermarket--evidently a a conduit for North African devil worship and sausage idolatry.

Indeed, wasn't it the presumed stench of a sausage factory that allowed Anthony Sowell's crimes to go unnoticed for so long?

Beware the sausage my friends, for it bears the number of the beast!

The Law of Tangents

In a series of posts over the last year we have examined several images of objects, logos and street patterns which involve triangles. This, in certain contexts, may be linked to Masonic symbolism. We're not entirely sure this is the case, but we've set off down a path and intend to follow it until it either leads to an end....or we turn back from exhaustion, boredom or disillusionment.

Some time ago, a friend told us that Freemasons in France were heavily involved in the business of real estate and property development, in addition to building. They are Masons, after all!

We have no idea whether or not this is true. We did begin to find, however, in a recent bout of pyramid obsession, several companies which in fact use pyramids as their logo. Soon after, the triangle began popping up everywhere. One goes to withdraw money from the cash machine and just next door is a real estate agency with a pyramid logo. One visits a client in a neighboring town and across the street there's a builder with a triangle logo. What gives? Coincidence? Was our friend right about Freemasons and the real estate business?

Would a triangle logo indicate this is so, in any event? Maybe a triangle is simply like the three balls of the pawnshop or the striped pole of the barber, a symbol of the trade. It's a logical choice. The figure appears solid, stable, yet dynamic. It evokes the roof of a house; it's a visibly striking and fundamental form. Not to mention the architect uses triangles as part of the trade; it's one of the essential tools.....the square, the compass, the triangle, the ruler. Seeing any of them in the context of the industry is unsurprising.

Ultimately, for us this all hinges on one unverifiable statement made by a friend. Which is exactly the point. We become the focal point for objectively verifiable facts which come to assume meaningful patterns when filtered through the subjective lens of our brain. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Cor. 13)

Before we begin posting the pictures we've been taking of said triangles--which are becoming copious--we thought we'd quote liberally from Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences.

We posses a copy of this Encyclopedia, but found it already transcribed on the web by the Phoenixmasonry Museum and Library. Curator Dave Lettelier has kindly given us permission to copy and paste the entries they've transcribed, thus saving us a bit of work. Thanks! Please give the site a visit and peruse their excellent collection of articles.

We have reformatted the text to try and mimic the original a little more closely, and we have made a few slight alterations to correspond more exactly to our copy of the original, but otherwise have not altered the text.

We have also added the images. Don't be surprised to see them cropping up everywhere cheap conspiracy theories are sold!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Triangle. There is no symbol more important in its significance, more various in its application, or more generally diffused throughout the whole system of Freemasonry, than the triangle. An examination of it, therefore, cannot fail to be interesting to the Masonic student.

The equilateral triangle appears to have been adopted by nearly all the nations of antiquity as a symbol of the Deity, in some of his forms or emanations, and hence, probably, the prevailing influence of this symbol was carried into the Jewish system, where the yod within the triangle was made to represent the Tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God.

The equilateral triangle, says Brother D. W. Nash (Freem. Mag. iv., 294), "viewed in the light of the doctrines of those who gave it currency as a divine symbol, represents the Great First Cause, the Creator and Container of all things, as one and indivisible, manifesting Himself in an infinity of forms and attributes in this visible universe." Among the Egyptians, the darkness through which the candidate for initiation was made to pass was symbolized by the trowel, an important Masonic implement, which, in their system of hieroglyphics, has the form of a triangle. The equilateral triangle they considered as the most perfect of figures, and a representative of the great principle of animated existence, each of its sides referring to one of the three departments of creation, the animal, vegetable, and mineral.

The equilateral triangle is to be found scattered throughout the Masonic system. It forms in the Royal Arch the figure within which the jewels of the officers are suspended. It is in the Ineffable Degrees the sacred Delta, everywhere presenting itself as the symbol of the Grand Architect of the Universe. In Ancient Craft Masonry, it is constantly exhibited as the element of important ceremonies. The seats of the principal officers are arranged in a triangular form, the three Lesser Lights have the same situation, and the Square and Compasses form, by their union on the greater light, two triangles meeting at their bases. In short, the equilateral triangle may be considered as one of the most constant forms of Masonic symbolism.

The right-angled triangle is another form of this figure which is deserving of attention. Among the Egyptians, it was the symbol of universal nature; the base representing Osiris, or the male principle; the perpendicular, Isis, or the female principle; and the hypotenuse, Horus, their son, or the product of the male and female principle.This symbol was received by Pythagoras from the Egyptians during his long sojourn in that country, and with it he also learned the peculiar property it possessed, namely, that the sum of the squares of the two shorter sides is equal to the square of the longest side symbolically expressed by the formula, that the product of Osiris and Isis is Horus. This figure has been adopted in the Third Degree of Freemasonry, and will be there recognized as the Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid (see Geometry, Circle, Square, and Forty-seventh Problem).

Triangle and Square. As the Delta was the initial letter of Deity with the ancients, so its synonym is among modern nations, It is a type of the Eternal, the All-Powerful, the Self Existent.

The material world is typified by the Square as passive matter, in opposition to force symbolized by the Triangle.

The Square is also an emblem of humanity, as the Delta or Triangle typifies Deity.

The delta, Triangle, and Compasses are essentially the same. The raising one point, and then another, signifies that the divine or higher portion of our nature should increase in power, and control the baser tendencies. This is the real, the practical "journey toward the Last."

The interlacing Triangles or Deltas symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe. (1.)

The two Triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of the two apparent powers in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life. (2.)

The Triangle and Square together form the Pyramid (3.), as seen l in the Entered Apprentice's Apron. In this combination the Pyramid is the metaphor for units of matter and force, as well as the oneness of man and God. The numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, have their places in the parts and points of the Square and Triangle when in pyramidal form, and imply Perfection (see Pointed Cubical Stone.)

Triangle, Radiated. A Triangle placed within and surrounded by a circle of rays. This circle is called in Christian art, a Glory. When this Glory is distinct from the Triangle, and surrounds it in the form of a circle, it is then an emblem of God's Eternal glory. This is the usual form in religious uses. But when, as is most usual in the Masonic symbol, the rays emanate from the center of the Triangle, and, as it were, enshroud it in their brilliancy, it is symbolic of the Divine Light. The perverted ideas of the Pagans referred these rays of light to their sun-god and their Sabian worship.

But the true Masonic idea of this Glory is, that it symbolizes that Eternal Light of Wisdom which surrounds the Supreme Architect as a Sea of Glory, and from Him as a common center emanates to the universe of His creation.

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

Terre Cabade Cemetery

Despite the fact that the cemeteries enclosed within the city walls of Toulouse had long been regarded as unsanitary places and had been the targets of many complaints, it wasn't until the city was threatened with a cholera epidemic that a new large cemetery was approved outside the city--in 1832. Even then, it wasn't until 1840 that the new cemetery was officially opened.

The result was the Terre Cabade Cemetery, the city within a city that houses the final remains of Toulouse's notable families and citizens. The name comes from "cavade", that is the say the clay-like soil taken from the earth which also serves to make the famous Toulouse brick.

The entrance to this cemetery was directly inspired by Egyptian art. This was in line with the Egyptian revival which as Wikipedia says:

"...is generally dated to the enthusiasm for ancient Egypt generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and, in Britain, to Admiral Nelson's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Napoleon took a scientific expedition with him to Egypt. Publication of the expedition's work, the Description de l'Égypte, began in 1809 and came out in a series though 1826. However, works of art and, in the field of architecture, funerary monuments in the Egyptian style had appeared in scattered European settings from the time of the Renaissance."

Indeed, considering that Egyptian art is so closely associated with funerary art, it was a logical choice.


The first Egyptian feature of the entrance is the pair of brick obelisks at either side of the front gate. This, however, was not the original proposal. A design submitted in 1833 featured a large pyramid to house the cemetery's chapel. The design, perhaps a bit too over-the-top, was not accepted; the version we can see today dates from 1836.

In ancient Egypt, obelisks were placed in pairs before Egyptian temples. They were said to be petrified rays of the sun and thus honored Ra, who in some cases was said to reside in the obelisks. In books such as The Hiram Key and The Messianic Legacy, the authors have linked the iconography of two obelisks--via the pillars of Solomon's Temple (Jachin and Boaz)--to Freemasonry.

The Messianic Legacy interprets the twin obelisks as representing the union of spiritual and temporal authority and ultimately the origin of the concept of twin messiahs. The Hiram Key posits that Freemasonry derives from Pharaonic initiation rituals and that Jesus, as heir to this tradition, was part of a sect that perpetuated the rites; thus making Jesus a kind of Mason! (Might as well claim Jesus was a kind of sentient pickle....)

Whatever dubious claims the books make is rather irrelevant. The theories presented in these books are not entirely new to them; they draw upon esoteric and heterodox currents present in Christianity from the very start, and the supposed Egyptian origins of Freemasonry is a theory that has been floated about since the 18th century. We here at LoS are not concerned with the truth of these claims insamuch as we are interested in the fact that these claims exist.


The second obvious Egyptian feature are the administrative offices behind the obelisks. The buildings are clearly modeled on Egyptian prototypes. As one can see from the following website, they are of the "open" type as opposed to the blatantly phallic "bud type." The closest capital found on these pages is identified as an "Open Papyrus." Whatever the exact identification, there's no doubt as to their provenance.

For more info on this interesting cemetery, we recommend the following website, for those who speak French.

The Obelisk of the Battle of Toulouse

The Battle of Toulouse (April 10, 1814) was one of the last battles of the Napoleonic Wars; indeed it came four days after Napoleon surrendered the Imperial Army to the Sixth Coalition. Indecisive and largely unnecessary, it nevertheless resulted in nearly 8,000 casualties. The French forces actually held out until the end and gave up the fight not because they were losing, but because they received news of the Empire's death. The French Forces escaped intact.


Today this largely-forgotten battle is commemorated by a large brick obelisk. The obelisk was the brainchild of Baron Louis Victorin Cassagne and was designed and built by the same Urbain Vitry who designed the Terre Cabade Cemetery. (Cassagne, incidentally, participated in several battles of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, including the Battle of the Pyramids, previously discussed on LoS. Baron Cassagne is buried in Terre Cabade, his tomb in an Egyptian style).

The first brick of the obelisk was set in 1835 and it was inaugurated in 1839, according to the Mairie of Toulouse; thus it is almost exactly contemporary with Terre Cabade, which you may recall was opened in 1840.

As you can see from the picture, just under the pyramidion, the obelisk is punctuated by a hexagram of the "Star of David" variety. This hole actually traverses the column so that from two sides one can see the light of the sky.

This hexagram could have a variety of meanings, but we propose to examine it in relation to Freemasonry. If rolling eyes could make a sound, I'm sure at this point there would be a deafening roar, what with all the bullshit flung about so freely on the internets. One of the biggest shit flingers is a fundamentalist anti-Mason by the name of Texe Marrs. Still, he's done us one service. Someone found an essay by him quoting Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry on the hexagram and popped it on Wikipedia:

"The interlacing triangles or deltas symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe. The two triangles, white and black, interlacing, typify the mingling of the two apparent powers in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life." (p. 809)

Fortunately for us, we also possess a copy of the Encyclopedia. Marrs quotes correctly. We also looked for "hexagram" and found "hexagon." In addition to being a nickname for France, the hexagon is merely a hexagram seen through a squinted eye....

"Hexagon. A figure of six equal sides constitutes a part of the camp in the Scottish degree of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. Stieglitz, in an essay on the symbols of Freemasonry, published in 1825, in the Altenberg Zeitschrift, says that the hexagon, formed by six triangles, whose apices converge to a point, making the following figure,

is a symbol of the universal creation, the six points crossing the central point; thus assimilating the hexagon to the older symbol of the point within a circle." (323-324)

So the hexagon is not entirely alien to the Masonic milieu. But more importantly, the most universal of Masonic symbols, the Square and Compasses, is universally arranged so as to resemble....a hexagram.

The Prestige

The "Prestige," like in the movie, refers to that part of a magic trick where the trick is actually pulled off; it's the cum-shot, if you will. In our story it's where we leave the realm of history and enter the realm of speculation.

Between the cemetery and the obelisk there is an isosceles triangle formed by three streets. The two long arms of the triangle are called Rue de l'Obelisque and Avenue de la Colonne. The obelisk, as we've mentioned, is called "la colonne" (the column) The two streets thus refer to the same monument; unity in duality, like Mackey's hexagram? One cannot help but think of the two pillars or obelisks we discussed earlier in this post. Is the layout of the streets made to reinforce the symbolism of the two obelisks at the entrance of the Terre Cabade? Is the triangle in fact a Masonic delta? The base of the triangle is the Allee des Acacias, which joins the cemetery to the obelisk. Momuments of death joined with a symbol of....

Mackey has a longish entry on the Acacia's symbolism. It is both a symbol of innocence and initiation, but primarily one of the immortality of the soul: "that important doctrine which is the great design of the Institution to teach." (p. 7) One might even say the Acacia is a symbol of the foundation of Masonic doctrine...the base of the triangle.


But was Vitry a Freemason? We haven't been able to determine this. His tomb, which he designed and which sits in the Terre Cabade, features a prominent square and compasses over the entrance. But then again, this proves nothing; the man was an architect and the symbols may simply refer to his metier.

Another inconclusive symbol, found in a round medallion at the center of the cross atop the tomb, is a human hand. By chance we stumbled across another entry in Mackey's Encyclopedia--Hand (p. 317)--illustrated by an engraving of the hand in a nearly identical gesture:

"In Freemasonry, the hand as a symbol holds a high place, because it is the principal seat of the sense of feeling so highly revered by Masons....Horapollo says that among the Egyptians the hand was the symbol of a builder, or one fond of building, because all labor proceeds from the hand." Mackey continues, explaining its use in Christian iconography in a gesture of benediction: "The form of this act of benediction, as adopted by the Roman Church, which seems to have been borrowed from the symbols of the Phrygian and Eleusinian priest or hierophants, who used it in their mystical processions, presents a singular analogy, which will be interesting to Mark Master Masons, who will recognize on it a symbol of their own ritual. In the benediction referred to, as given in the Latin Church, the thumb, index and middle fingers are extended, and the other two bent against the palm. The church explains this position of the extended thumb and two fingers as representing the Trinity; but the older symbol of the Pagan priests, which was precisely of the same form, must have had a different meaning. A writer in the British Magazine (vol.i., p.565) thinks that the hand, which was used in the Mithraic mysteries in this position, was symbolic of the Light emanating not from the sun, but from the Creator, directly as a special manifestation....Certainly, to the Mason, the hand is most important as the symbol of that mystical intelligence by which one Mason knows another "in the dark as well as in the light."

Given that the symbol is used as a sign of benediction, it may not be anything more than a sign of his Catholic faith. But maybe it's a Masonic reference. It's certainly an eye-popper. Given Vitry's passion for Egyptian architecture, by which his tomb was inspired, it may simply be a nod to the use described by Horapollo. It's worth recalling the notion that the Egyptian obelisk is also thought to symbolize a petrified ray of light, much akin to our anonymous British writer's theory that the hand symbol represents the light emanating from the Creator. Again, like the square and compasses, it lead to tantalizing speculation but nothing conclusive. Maybe the hand is simply a brazen variation on the Anahinthan cock's comb.

Finally, since we've quoted so liberally from our copy of Mackey's Encyclopedia, we'll warn against taking its entries as "proof" of anything. What many anti-Masons fail to recognize first is that no one Mason can speak on behalf of his own Grand Lodge, let alone the Fraternity as a whole. State to state, nation to nation, rite to rite, practices and doctrines vary, in some cases quite considerably. Secondly, guys like Mackey, Waite and the infamous Albert Pike are atypical representations of the craft with idiosyncratic takes on its lore, legends and history.

Still, we propose further investigation of Vitry and Cassagnes, hereby soliciting the straight dope, as it were. Was Vitry influenced by Freemasonic imagery? Were both Masons? Is there intentionality behind the triangular arrangement of streets betwenn the cemetery and the obelisk? Was the Acacia reference a Masonic wink and a nod?

Stay tuned....

Rugby Haka

A little clarification.

The Illuminati Trashcan of Toulouse ;)

Météo France is the national weather service of France. The principal research and forecasting facility, along with the national meteorological school is located in Toulouse in a complex known as the Météopole.

The architecture there is not your garden-variety series of homogeneous big boxes; buildings are round or have curved walls; hemispheres abound. Observation towers have trapezoidal observation decks. Parking lots are circular. Buildings are stepped like the missing half of ancient ziggurats. There is a profusion of colored panels and exoskeletons; some buildings look like what we imagine space stations to be like. Clearly, the intent was to create an overall "futuristic" feel.

If a gleaming spacecraft were to set itself down gently upon the great field between the campus and the rocade Arc-en-Ciel, nobody would blink an eye.

We have noted that an inverted pyramid decorates the entrance to the Météopole. Later ithe same month we observed that the neighboring DSNA building is also adorned with a pyramid--the sole ornamentation on an otherwise unremarkable boxy building. In that same post we wrote also about the Météo France logo: a triangle which seems to orbit a circle divided into light and dark halves. This would seem to use to represents the planet, divided literally into night and day by the sun, but also symbolically divided into black and white, as in a checkerboard. The triangle for us represents a satellite, an observing eye, a tool of measurement and thus control. It also hearkens back to the triangles which are often associated with the symbols of Revolutionary france; it has mystical connotations.


Seek and ye shall find! In the thick of all these encounters with pyramids and triangles we stumbled across a mundane object--an ashtray. This ashtray was an obelisk. The pyramidical cap punctuated by seven triangles through which to toss butts. OK, we know; let's not push it. This is no cosmic trigger. But have you even seen an ashtray such as this?

It would seems as though in an era where the funds flowed more freely, no expense was spared to ensure that the details were not overlooked. Even the ashtrays were conceived of with an eye towards the prevailing symbolism of the institution. Unless it's just a coincidence or the passing whim of some bored factotum in the purchasing department....


Then again, have you ever seen a trash can like the one pictured here? It's just unusual, clearly a product of some aesthetic reasoning above and beyond being merely functional. It's not even really the most efficient size and the expense of making it must be above and byond the standard garbage can.

But actually, all this reflection makes us sound a little more serious about all this than we actually are. It's funny, is all. Every visit to the Météopole reveals another detail which fits into the overarching symbolism of the whole. For what it's worth. At the very least an amusing coincidence.