The Legacy.
Greg Marcus
Email is welcome. Corrections are welcome.
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To begin, I have to start somewhere in the middle of the story.
The beginnings of the Knights Templar:
"In 1118, nine Knight Crusaders in the East, among whom were Geoffroi de
Saint-Omer and Hughes de Payens, consecrated themselves to religion, and
took an oath between the hands of the Patriach of Constantinople, a See
always secretly or even openly hostile to that of Rome from the time of
Photius. The avowed object of the Templars was to protect the Christians
who came to visit the Holy Places: their secret objective was the
rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon on the model prophecised by Ezekiel."
-Morals and Dogma
Synchronistically :
From the Ottawa Citizen, May 25, 1998.
"They call him the green patriarch, and he's transforming Christianity's
oldest branch into a modern institution that rides the World Wide Web,
promotes political self-determination and denounces enviromental
destruction.
His holiness Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox
Christians who arrives today for a nine-day visit to Canada, is no mere
guardian of the other-worldly mysticism long associated with the church of
Dostoevsky and Augustine........."
The choosing of patriarch of Orthodox church instead of the Pope is no
small detail. I think it has everything to do with what they were really
about, and their end. Not 20 years later the Crusaders destroyed
Constantinople. (I'm pretty sure the Templars did not take part)
St.Bernard de Clairvaux (Valley of Light), perhaps best known for his
mystical doctrines, wrote the rules for the new Templars, and a treatise
called "In Praise of the New Knighthood" on their behalf.
St.Bernard is an interesting subject all by himself :
"St. Bernard, the parton of the Templars, played a formative role in the
evolution and dissemination of the Gothic architectural formula in its
early days. He had been at the height of his powers in 1134 when the
soaring north tower of Chartres cathedral had been built, and he had
constantly stressed the principals of sacred geometry that had been put
into practise in that tower and throughout the whole building. When asked
"What is God?", Bernard replied "He is length, width, height, and depth."
The entire edifice had been carefully and explicitly designed as a key to
the deeper religious mysteries. Thus, for example, the architects and
masons had made use of gematria to "spell out" obscure litigical phrases in
any of the key dimensions of the great building. Similarily, the
sculptors and glaziers working to the instructions of the higher clergy had
carefully concealed complex messages about human nature, about the past,
and about the prophetic meaning of the scriptures in the thousands of
different devices and designs that they had created."
-Sign and the Seal, Graham Hancock.
If this sounds interesting, you should check out the Church of Hagia
Sophia, the Holy Wisdom of Christ, in Constantinople. It's been the
Cathedral of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church for over 1000 years.
The Templar connection to the Orthodox Church is no small detail.
Regardless of anything else, the Templars continued the tradition of
"Master Builders", that you find connected to the Temple of Solomon, Egypt,
and the Mayans. But they were far more interesting than this:
"The true version of the history of Jesus and the early Christianity was
imparted to Hugh de Payens, by the Grand-Pontiff of the Order of the Temple
(of the Nazarene or Johannite sect) one name Theocletes, after which it was
learned by some Knights in Palestine, from the higher and more intellectual
members of the St. John sect, where they were initiated into its mysteries.
Freedom of intellectual thoughtand the restoration of one universal
religion was their secret object. Sworn to the vow of obedience, poverty,
and chastity, they were at first the true Knights of John the Baptist,
crying in trhe wilderness and living on wild honey and locusts. Such is
the tradition and true kabbalistic version"
-Isis Unveiled.
"The real task of the 9 knights was to carry out research in the area in
order to obtain certain relics and manuscripts which contained the essence
of the secret traditions of Judaism and ancient Egypt, some of which
probably went back to the days of Moses... There is no doubt that they
fulfilled this particular mission and that the knowledge obtained from
their finds was taught in the oral tradition of the Order's... secret
circles..."
-"The Templar Tradition in the Age of Aquarius"
"By virtue of their contact with Islamic and Jewish cultures, the Templars
had already absorbed a great many ideas alien to orthodox Roman
Christianity. Templar Masters, for example, often employed Arab
secretaries, and many Templars, having learnt Arabic in captivity, were
fluent in the language. A close rapport was also maintained with Jewish
communities, financial interests and scholarship. The Templars had thus
been exposed to many things Rome would not ordinarily countenance. Through
the influx of Cathar recruits, they were now exposed to Gnostic dualism as
well - if, indeed, they had ever really been strangers to it."
-Holy Blood/Holy Grail.
"I have, of course, been conscious that much curious information reached
the West through Islamic channels and through those who returned from the
Crusades, as well as through the Jewish communities. A great deal was
garbled and misinterpreted, because those whom it reached had an alien
background in matters spiritual, and lacked the capacity to form a right
judgement of what they received. They were also extremely credulous and
gullible. I have alluded in the story to the Cathars, the Templars, the
Freemasons, and Rosicrucians, and to the legends of the Wandering Jew and
Prester John. I do not doubt that in manuscripts which reached Europe,
copies of which are in particular libraries, as well as some in still
inaccessible monastic collections, there are additional sources to be
tapped. Lost documents which we know about from allusions and quotations
may yet come to light. Not a few have been given back to us in whole or
part during the past century, and this in spite of the efforts of the
ignorant and the hostile to suppress their contents."
-The Essene Odyssey.
In fact, after their founding, they spent the first 7 years in the Temple
in Jerusalem, digging. They re-discovered the stables of Solomon (or was it
herod the great?). There was a legend that before the looting of the
Temple by the Babylonians in 587BC, the Ark had been hidden and sealed in a
secret cavern below.
It seems pretty obvious that they failed to find it. Graham Hancock, in
Sign and the Seal, seems to think the Ark disappeared before the looting,
anyways.
In 1165, Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa received a letter from a ruler known
as "Prester John", describing his powerful Christian kingdom, unknown to
Europe at this time, and warning:
"There are Frenchmen among you, of your lineage and from our retinue, who
hold with the Saracens. You confide in them and trust in them that they
should and will help you, but they are false and treacherous.. may you be
brave and of great courage and, pray, do not forget to put to death those
treacherous Templars."
Prestor John's realm was said to be "Indian". Hancock makes a good case
for India meaning Ethiopia. I don't want to get into it much right now, but
this was most likely written by Harbay, the brother of the rightful ruler
who was exiled and in Jerusalem at the time.
"Harbay, reigning Zagwe monarch of Ethiopia before his brother
Lalibela deposed him, is deduced to have been the mythical Prester
John. "Derived from Jano, a reddish-purple toga worn only by royalty,
the word [Jan] meant 'king' or 'Majesty'..."
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal
His name "Lalibela", means "even the bees recognize his authority". Somehow,
he managed to take back the rule of his kingdom in Ethiopia, but how? Well.
The templars were in Jerusalem during the same time, and Lalibela had a story
that would be interesting to the Templars. The Kebra Nagast. The story of
Queen of Sheba, Solomon, and their son Menelik. Turns out Sheba might have
been ethiopian. The historian Josephus describes her as either Egyptian or
Ethiopian. Anyways, the story goes that Menelik went to visit his father,
and returned with the Ark (where it is said to remain to this day).
In Parzival, "a member of the Grail Company...spoke, amongst other
things, of riding 'deep into Africa...past the Rohas'. ...Rohas was
the old name for a town in the remotest highlands of Ethiopia - a town
now called Lalibela in honor of the great king who was born there and
who made it his capital when he returned to it in triumph in the year
of our Lord 1185...Lalibela had spent the previous quarter of a
century in Jerusalem rubbing shoulder with the knights of a
military-religious order whose headquarters stood on the site of the
Temple of Solomon - knights who would have had a special interest in
any contender to the throne of a country which claimed to possess the
lost Ark that the Temple had originally been built to house."
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal
In the city of Lalibela you can find rock-hewn churches, that display the
croix patte. Local legends say that the churchs were built in 24 year,
by "white men":
"By a considerable margin, the eleven rock-hewn churches of Lalibela
were the most architecturally advanced building that Ethiopia had ever
known (indeed, in the considered opinion of UNESCO, they deserved to
be ranked amongst the wonders of the world.)....Towering edifices, the
churches remain places of living worship eight hundred years after
they were built. It is important to stress, however that they were not
built at all in the conventional sense, but instead were excavated and
hewn directly out of the solid red volcanic tuff on which they stand.
In consequence, they seem superhuman - not only in scale, but also in
workmanship and in conception."
"...Considerable efforts have been made to cloak their real natures:
some lie almost completely concealed within deep trenches, whole
others hide in the open mouths of huge quarried caves. Connecting them
all is a complex and bewildering labyrinth of tunnels and narrow
passageways with offset crypts, grottoes and galleries - a cool,
lichen-enshrouded, subterranean world, shaded and damp, silent but for
the faint echoes of distant footfalls and priests and deacons go about
their timeless business."
On the arch "of the ceiling of the rock-hewn church of Saint
Mary's...can be seen a stylized croix pattée contained within a Star
of David - a most unusual symbol in a Christian place of worship, but
one to which it is known that the Knights Templar were particularly
attached. Behind the arch...[is]a cloth-wrapped column said by the
priests to have been engraved by King Lalibela himself with the
secrets of how the rock-hewn churches were made." Another croix pattée
is carved on a boulder on the outskirts of Axum, and several more can
be found "in the ruins of King Kaleb's palace - a structure that could
well have been still standing and inhabited in the thirteenth
century."
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal
Another persistant rumour surrounding the Knights Templar is that of the
true meaning of the Holy Grail. Some think it is the Davidic bloodline,
through Jesus Christ:
I have along with others only a mild interest in religion
but I am curious about new ways of thinking about culture Thus it
was that at the beginning of the 1980s I found myself absorbed in a
book entitled 'Holy Blood Holy Grail.' The authors Michael Baigent,
Richard Leigh and Harry Lincoln present in this book some ideas
that, to start with, seem very peculiar. Ideas concerning, amongst
others, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the Cathars, the Knights Templar and
the myth of the Holy Grail which we find in the medieval tales
about King Arthur. In these tales, the Grail is described as a
chalice, or as a stone, that can present unlimited amounts of food,
light and power to the person who asks the right questions.
In 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' we find the following thoughts and
assumptions: The Holy Grail in French 'san greal', might well be,
if we move the 'g', 'sang real', which means 'royal blood', and
indicate a bloodline which originated from Jesus. The assumption is
made that he was married to Mary Magdalene, who gave birth to his
son. When Magdalene fled to France after the crucifixion, the child
was with her. From this child a family would have emanated that
brought the bloodline through the French royal family 'the
Merovingians' and other families to our time. Presumably a purpose
of these descendants would have been to reinstate a one of their
number on the royal throne of Jerusalem, a position that Jesus
himself by right should have had. This was successful in 1099 as we
will see later.
Behind all this there is a secret order, most commonly known as
'Prieuré de Sion'. Their all encompassing purpose is to reinstate
the dynasty of the Merovingians, decending from Jesus, onto the
thrones of France and of Europe. This secret order, still active
today, founded the Knights Templar and has been behind all the
attempts through the centuries to bring the bloodline of Jesus to
royal power in Europe. Attempts that, to a certain extent, have
succeded as in the case with the royal house of Hapsburg. Through
time, we find as leaders in this secret order personalities such as
Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo,
to mention the most renowned. These people are not claimed to have
been part of the family of Jesus. But they are said to have
participated in the alternative cultural movement that had to go
underground in the 13th and 14th century after the obliteration of
the Cathars and the Knights Templar. As a result of this we could
state that a not insignificant part of the sources of inspiration
in the West would be derived from underground movements. In France
during the Second World War it would form the core of the anti nazi
resistance movement.
To be able to understand this alternative view of history, we
need to go back to the time of the origin of Christianity and try
to see with new eyes on what actually happened.
[snip]
Mary Magdalene is a very celebrated patron Saint in France. In many
places there are relics and shrines dedicated to her. The first
tales about her appear with the Archbishop of Mainz, Rabanus
(776-856). He recounts mass landings by the whole cast of the
Passsion drama around Marseille during the first century A.D.
According to later stories, written in the 13th century, Mary
Magdalene was a so called 'noble woman'. Her father Cyrus was rich
and her mother was Eucharis. Lazarus was her brother and Martha her
sister. In the year 42, a boat without rudder is said to have
landed in Marseillle, or more precisely in Ratis, later renamed
'Les Saintes Maries de la Mer'. Passengers on this boat were Mary
Magdalene, Lazarus, Martha, Joseph of Arimathea, (in the Bible
described as a secret follower to Jesus and the one who took care
of the body of Jesus, collecting his blood in a chalice), a man
called Maximin and a girl by the name of Sarah. In the boat were
also a skull and some bones.
[snip]
The Merovingians were a royal family of Franks that reigned in
France for 300 years after the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th
century A.D. It is peculiar that even by their contemporaries they
were considered to be a royal family, that in a self-evident way
had the right to the throne in a priest king tradition that had
been kept alive through time.
[snip]
There are many signs that suggest a connection between the
Merovingians and the Jewish Benjamitic family branch. One is that
several of the Merovingian Princes are named Simon. Southern France
became a refuge for many Jewish and Christian families that opposed
Rome. The Merovingians seem to have interbred with these. As this
family of kings considered themselves direct descendants from Jesus
it seems likely that they would not just let go of that kingship.
[snip rest]
From: http://www.alphaomega.se/crusades.html
When the Templars were arrested in 1307, there were a list of charges drawn
up against them, mentioning everything from demon-worship to homosexuality.
(if you want to know the in-between, do a web search. There is a ton of
information about the templars. just stay away from the loonies' sites)
> On Friday, October 13, 1307, following a lengthy series of events, the
> bailiffs of King Philip IV, the Fair, of France, entered the Templar
> Commanderies and captured, without a hint of struggle or protest,
> "all" of the Knights of the Temple. They were imprisoned, tortured,
> forced to confess to a variety of heresies and perversions and were
> offered the choice of recantation or death. Jacques de Molay, their
> Grand Master, chose to burn at the stake and died in 1312, ending the
> tumultuous, 200 year existence of the Knights Templars.
>
> It is believed by some that a conspiracy between the French crown
> (particularly Philip and his chancellor, Guillaume de Nogaret) and the
> Vatican, who feared and envied the power and wealth of the Templars,
> was responsible for their demise. Perhaps this is so, but there has
> been no adequate explanation of why the Templars went into captivity
> so meekly. The only possible clue, an ambiguous one at that, lies in
> the story of a wagon, believed to be loaded with Templar treasure,
> that was seen leaving the Paris Commanderie, a week before the mass
> arrest. Some believe that the ones who were left behind to face
> torture and death, did so willingly, to protect whatever was carried
> off in that wagon. Of course that story doesn't really answer any
> questions, it merely raises more.The wagon must have contained
> something of inestimable value, though, as it is hard for us to
> imagine anyone being willing to die horribly by fire and sword to
> protect a wagon load of gold, that someone else will enjoy. As the
> flames were doing their worst, Grand Master de Molay is said to have
> prophesied the imminent deaths of Philip IV and his co-conspirator,
> Pope Clement V. That prophecy came true as both men died within a year
> of de Molay.
>
> 1. http://www.britannia.com/history/time1.html
In the list of charges drawn up by the Inquisition against the
Templars on 12 August 1308, there appears the following:
"Item, that in each province the order had idols, namely heads, of
which some had three races and some one, and others had a human
skull.
Item, that they adored these idols or that idol, and especially in
their great chapters and assemblies.
Item, that they venerated (them).
Item, that (they venerated them) as God.
Item, that (they venerated them) as their Savior....
Item, that they said that the head could save them.
Item, that [it could] make riches.
Item, that it made the trees flower.
Item, that [it made] the land germinate.
Item, that they surrounded or touched each head of the aforesaid
idols with small cords, which they wore around themselves next to
the shirt or the flesh.
Item, that in his reception, the aforesaid small cords or some
lengths of them were given to each of the brethren.
Item, that they did this in veneration of an idol.
Item, that they (the receptors) enjoined them (the postulants) on
oath not to reveal the aforesaid to anyone."
- The Articles of the Accusations
Coincidentally, I'm sure, in 1306 the Pope had received 30 envoys from the
Christian kingdom of Ethiopia.
"It is known that this emperor [Wedem Ara'ad of Ethiopia] in
the...year of our salvation 1306 sent thirty envoys
[who]...presented themselves reverentially before Pope Clement V at
Avignon."
- Giovanni da Carignano (a Genoese cartographer active during the
years 1291-1329)
I wonder if the Roman Church heard what the Templars were really doing?
This is the same kingdom responsible for the Prester John letters, warning
that the Templars were at least on speaking terms with Muslims. The charges
against them say nothing about it, however. Proof of traitorous acts would
have went a long way in speeding up the process of putting those ringleaders
to death. The Church obviously had something to hide.
Among the main charges against the Templars was that they were said to
worship a decapitated "head".
~Caput LVIII M, "Head 58m" remains a baffling enigma. But it is worth
noting that the M may be the symbol for Virgo"
-Holy Blood, Holy Grail
"The number 58 is less puzzling if one remembers that five (5) is the
number of the pentagram and eight (8) is indicative of Isis. We may
now complete the simple equation which exposes her secret number:
5 X 8 = 40 = 58 - 18 ISIS
"The numbers 5 and 8 are also exhibited in the beliefs of the
'Brothers of the Rose Cross', where the rose is constructed with a
centre of five petals, surrounded by eight petals."
- David Wood, GENISIS (1986)
"Dr. Hugh Schonfield in the Essene Odyssey had discovered a system of
cryptography, - he called it the "Atbash Cipher" - which had been used to
conceal certain names in Essene/Zadokite/Nazarene texts."
"From the Templar's use of the Atbash Cipher, it is probable that some form
of Nazarean or neo-Nazarean sect had continued to survive in the middle
east as late as the 12th century, and had made its teachings available to
the west."
- messianic legacy
"In France the arrested Templars were tried and many subjected to torture.
Strange confessions were extracted and even stranger accusations made.
Grim rumours began to circulate about the country. The Templars supposedly
worshipped a devil called Baphomet. At their secret ceremonies they
supposedly worshipped a devil called Baphomet. At their secret ceremonies
they supposedly prostrated themselves before a bearded male head, which
spoke to them and invested them with occult powers. Unauthorised
witnesses were never seen again."
-Holy Blood/Holy Grail
It's amazing what people will say under torture, especially if the
torturers don't really want the truth, but other excuses to achieve the
goals they wish to attain. Remember, we are basically dealing with the
Romans here. Roman laws, Roman ways. Rome always tolerated other
religions as long as it did not interfere with their authority, or the
social structure. Was there a threat to their authority? Why exactly is
it that almost all other early christian churches, usually founded directly
or indirectly by the Apostles of Christ, have always had problems with
Rome?
For an idea what these "confessions" might actually be "allegorically"
talking about, see the end bit about "stupa symbolism".
"The mysteries here referred to have never been explained. But the
evidences of links with Essene lore suggested to me that these reports
might have a foundation in fact. I decided to treat the obviously
artificial name Baphomet as another case of the use of the Hebrew Atbash
cipher for purposes of concealment. Setting down Baphomet in Hebrew
characters produced [hebrew], which by Atbash converted immediately into
[Sophia], the Greek word for Wisdom. So this centuries old secret was for
the first time revealed!
But what the bearded male head? In the cosmic figure of the Adam Kadmon
(Sky Man) the bearded male head is denominated in Hebrew as [hebrew]
(Chokmah), i.e. Wisdom. The greek Sophia represents a female rather than a
male, and we are not surprised to find in Templar hands, according to
Inquistion records, a casket surmounted by "a great head of gilded silver,
most beautiful, and constituting the image of a woman.""
-Essene Odyssey (Hugh Schonfield)
"A great head of gilded silver, most beautiful, and constituting the image
of a woman. Inside were two head bones, wrapped in a cloth of white linen,
with another red cloth around it. A label was attached, on which was
written the legend Caput LVIIIm. The bones inside were those of a rather
small woman."
-Oursel, Les Proces des Templiers
The long and the short of it is that when you apply the Atbash cipher to
"Baphomet", you get "sophia", wisdom.
Regarding certain Grail legends, which are allegorical stories regarding
the knowledge that the templars had:
"One chronicler cites the name of the woman in the story -Yse, which would
seem to clearly derive from Isis."
-Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
"Isis' magic was allied to the Egyptian god, Thoth. His wife or consort,
Nehamaut (Ma'at), was known to the Gnostics as Sophia."
-Sign and the Seal.
"That it had a feminine origin is shown by Gerald Massey who writes "Mete"
was the Baphomet or mother of all breath. According to Von Hammer, the
formula of faith inscribed on a chalice belonging to the Templars is as
follows: "Let Mete be exalted who causes all things to bud and blossom. It
is our root; it is 1 and 7; it is octinmous, the 8 fold name."
-"Night Side of Eden"
"The ankh which Isis carries as supreme initatrix may account for sme of
the oddly-shaped sceptres carried by the Black Virgins, who, like Isis,
often favor the color green. Their greeness and blackness points to the
beginning of the opus, whose secret, according to alchemists, is tobe found
in "the sex of Isis".
-"the Cult of the Black Virgin"
"The Templars, imprisoned and awaiting death in the Castle of
Chinon...composed a prayer to Our Lady acknowledging Bernard to be the
founder of her religion. In addition to the numerous hymns and sermons
he addressed to her, he wrote about 280 sermons on the theme of the
Song of Songs, the epithalamion of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,
whose versicle 'I am black, but I am beautiful, O ye daughters of
Jerusalem' is the recurring refrain of the Black Virgin cult."
Ean Begg, The Cult of the Black Virgin
"The Black Virgin is Isis and her name is Notre Dame de Lumiere"
-Pierre de Plantard.
From the Gospel of Phillip:
The apostles said to the disciples:May our offering obtain saltThey
called Sophia salt. Without it no offering is acceptable.But Sophia is
without child. For this reason she is called a traceof salt . But
where they will be in their own way, the Holy Spiritwill also be, and
her children are many.
"We may note, however, that the pagan side of the Gnostic mysth is that the
Simonians worshipped Helen as Athena (Goddess of Wisdom), who in turn was
identified in Egypt with Isis. Plutarch states that Isis was sometimes
called Sophia, and in a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus Isis is identified with
Syrian Astarte. We can, indeed, go much further back to "the old
Babylonian goddess Inanna, the one who descended to the lower world and was
mistreated at its seven gates."
"There would seem to be little doubt that the beautiful woman's head of the
Templars represents Sophia in her female and Isis aspect, and she was
linked with Mary Magdalene in the Christian interpretation. The
mythological and cosmic origins would seem to have been known to an
appreciable extent by the Templars. HBHG, among its illustrations, depicts
the seal of the British branch of the Order in 1303A.D. The symbolism is
disguised cosmic and inter-faith. At the top the star and crescent of
Islam has been adapted by depicting the crescent moon of the Mother Goddess
as a boat with the cross pattee on a pole serving as the mast. Underneath
is a lion, ostensibly of England, but actually the Lion of the Sun and of
Judah (the king from the sun). On either side are single five-pointed
stars, conceivably representing the twin Messianic functions, Priestly and
Regal, like the two olive trees of Zech.iv.11-14. The symbolism is very
close to the Messianic Mystery as/ conceived by the Essenes."
-The Essene Odyssey.
"By this analysis, therefore, when the Templars worshipped Baphomet
what they were really doing was worshipping the principle of Wisdom."
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal
There is more to this "head" and the "practises" of the Templars. The most
interesting one being that they worshipped an "Egregori":
"An egregori is a magical entity that is artificially created by the
focused thoughts and desires of a medium (analogous in many ways to Tibetan
tulpas [he means stupas, will attach a little thing on that to the end of
this post]. Supposedly a medium or statue could then serve as a tenant for
the egregore, nourished by the sexual life-powers of the members"
This is all nonsense. The Egregori, in legend, are a race similar to, but
different from, Angelos, the Angels. They are the Watchers mentioned in the
book of Enoch, those who watch humankind (they are from God, but don't
always seem to be "good"). I have some ideas about this whole thing, but
I'm saving it for now. The Mayans seem to have memories of these beings, as
well. I can only speak on what I know, but I have a feeling when I look
into it further I will find it all around the world.
"The egregori does exist in the so-called "astral plane" and it is a demon,
that is to say, an illusory entity. It is not a true Microcosm [as above,
so below?], but a gestalt of vitalized shells, a focus for everything that
is negative, defeatist, maudlin, bigoted, introverted in human-nature,- a
morass completely hostile to progress and to the spiritual evolution of
mankind"
The knowledge the templars brought back to Europe CAUSED the Renaissance.
You find a lot of it in Gnosticism. The templars were FAR more spiritually
mature than the Roman See.
"The representation of the egregori as bust recalls the ancient literary
tradition of animated statues or Salome, who wanted the head of John the
Baptist, probably to master his visionary powers... the classic prototype
of such an egregori is Baphomet, the alleged egregori of the Templars,
Baphomet was besought with the introduction of the Koran and dismissed with
the 24th chapter of the book of sirach"
-From P.R. Koenig
The templars have been referred to as "Warrior Monks". It is said that
early christianity, when it was still almost exclusively practised behind
closed doors, was "mystical". That Jesus taught of a transcendant God that
each person could experience in their own minds, that there was no need for
"high priests" as such. I'll explore this later.
Could it be that the Templars knew something about the real teachings, or
at least, meaning of the teachings, of Jesus Christ? Did they keep a
secret about the bloodline of Jesus Christ? Was this the end of it all?
"On the evening before the raid, Thursday October 12th 1307, I
myself saw three carts loaded with straw, which left the Paris
Temple shortly before nightfall, also Gèrard de Villiers and Hugo
de Chalons, at the head of 50 horse[men]. There were chests hidden
on the carts, which contained the entire treasure of the Visitator
Hugo de Pairaud. They took the road for the coast, where they were
to be taken abroad in eighteen of the Order's ships."
- Jean de Chalons
To be continued. Maybe.
---------
From "Some Aspects of Stupa Symbolism", Lama Anagarika Govinda
"[In the Maha-parinibbana-sutta of the Pali Digha-Nikaya} the Buddha gives a
new meaning to the stupas [Pali: thupas]. They are no longer intended to be
the abodes of souls or spirits or mere receptacles of magic substances as in
prehistoric times, but memorials which should remind later generations of the
great pioneers of humanity and inspire them to follow their example, to
encourage them in their own struggle for liberation and to make their hearts
"calm and happy."
Thus the caitya is elevated to the service of the dead to the service of the
living. It's meaning does not remain centred in the particular relics, or the
particular personality to whom those remains belonged, but in that higher
actuality that was realized by the Holy Ones. The Buddha does not say "a
stupa should be erected for me or my disciples" but "for the Awakened Ones and
their disciples."
Thus the stupas did not become objects of hero worship but symbols of nirvana,
of illumination.
In this connection it may be mentioned that some of the old stupas were covered
from top to bottom with small triangular recesses for oil lamps, so that the
whole monument could be illuminated and appeared as one huge radiating dome of
light.
The universality of the principal of enlightenment (bodhi) and the
boundlessness of the Enlightened One who has surpassed the limits of
individuality, who is deep and immeasurable like the ocean - this universality
is expressed in the cosmic symbolism of the stupa. It's main element, the
cuploa, in fact, imitates the infinite dome of the all embracing sky which
includes both, destruction and creation ,death and rebirth. The early
Buddhists expressed these prinicipals by comparing the cupola of the stupa to
the water bubble and the egg (anda) as the symbol of latent creative power (as
such anda was also a synonym for the universe in the oldest indian mythology),
while the kiosk or altar-like(harmika) structure which rose on the summit of
the cupola,symbolised the sanctuary enthroned above the world, beyond death and
rebirth. Nepalese stupas, which in many respects have preserved archaic
features, decorate the harmika with painted human eyes, thus suggesting a
human figure in the posture of meditation hidden in the stupa: the crossed leg
in the base, body up to the shoulders in the hemisphere, the head in the
harmika. This also corresponds to the psycho-physiological doctrine of the
cakras or centres of psychic force, which are located one above the other in
the human body and through which consciousness deveolps in ascending order:
from the experience of material sense-objects through that of the immaterial
worlds of pure mental objects, up to the supramundane consciousness of
enlightenment which has its base in the crown chakra of the head. The latter
would correspond to the harmika.
The symbolism proceeds in two lines, the cosmic and the psychic; they find
their synthesis in the psycho-cosmic image of Man, in which the physical
elements and laws of nature and their spiritual counterparts, the different
world palnes and their corresponding stages of consciousness (loka, and lokiya
cittani) as well as that what transcends them (lokut-tara-cittam) have their
place...
The altar-shaped harmika on the summit of the cuploa was crowned by one or more
honorific umbrellas of stone and served, in accordance with its symbolical
importance, as a receptacle of relics; in pre-Buddhistic times these were
buried most probably in or under the massive and more or less flattened stone
hemisphere or its terrace-like base if such a one existed. The resemblance of
the harmika to a sacrificial altar is perhaps not unintentional, because the
Holy One, instead of sacrificing other beings, sacrifices himself to the world.
As the Buddha teaches: There is only one sacrifice which is of real value, the
sacrifice of our own desires, our own "self". The ultimate form of such a
sacrifice is that of a Bodhisattva who renounces even Nirvana until he has
helped his fellow-beings to find the path of liberation.
From the standpoint of the sacrificial altar also, the later idea, which
compares the harmika with the element of fire, gets a new significance. Even
the eyes on the harmika of Nepalese stupsa fit into this symbolism, because
according to the Tantras, fire (agni) corresponds to the eye (faculty of
vision, also of inner vision).
The stupas were surrounded by great stone fences (vedika) originally made of
wood, as their architectural character indicates, seperating the sacred place
from the profane world. Most of them were decorated with auspicious signs in
order to ward off evil influences and to prepare the minds of the worshippers
before entering the sanctuary. Four beautifully carved gates, the climax of the
decorations of the fence, opened towards the four quarters of the world,
emphasizing the universal spirit of the Buddha Dharma, which invites all beings
with the call: "Come and see!~ The inner space, between the fence and stupa,
and the circular terrace at the basis of the cupola were used as pradaksina
patha for ritualistic circumambulation in the direction of the sun's course.
The orientation of the gates equally corresponds to the sun's course, to
sunrise, zenith, sunset, and nadir. As the sun illuminates the physical world,
so does the Buddha illuminate the spiritual world. The eastern torana
represents his birth, the southern his enlightenment, the western his "setting
in motion the wheel of the Law", or the proclamation of his doctrine, and the
northern his final liberation.
The entrances were buiit in such a way that they appear in the ground plan as
the four arms of a svastika, which has its centre in the relic shrine on the
top of the hemisphere in other words: in place of the comsic centre, which
according to ancient Indian ideas, was mount Meru with the tree of divine life
and of knowledge (in Buddhism the Bodhi tree), there stood the Buddha, the
Fully Enlightened One, who realized that knowledge in his own life...
It is interesting to see how closely the architectural development follows the
spiritual growth of the Buddha Dharma. ... The original elements of the stupa
speak the same language if we analyse them from the psychological point of
view. The ground-plan and starting from the principle of the stupa is the
cricle, the symbol of concentration. As a three-dimensional form the stupa is
essentially a hemisphere, it represents the principle of concentration in a
higher dimension which does not only co-ordinate the forces of one plane but
creates an equilibrium of all the forces concerned, a complete relaxation of
tension, the harmony of coming to rest within oneself. Every point of the
surface is equally related to the centre, get its meaning and its importance
from there, immune against external influences or disturbances, combining
concentration and restfulness.
The symbolical meaning of the different parts of the stupa according to the
description of the Tibetan Tanjur is as follows:
I. The first step of the 4 sided basal structure, i.e. the foundation of the
whole building corresponds to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, namely:
1) mindfulness as regards the body
2) mindfulness as regards sensation
3) mindfulness as regards the mind
4) mindfulness as regards phenomena.
II. The second step of the 4sided... corresponds to the Four Efforts
1) effort to destroy evil which has arisen
2) effort to prevent the evil which has not yet arisen
3) effort to produce the good which has not yet arisen
4) effort to cultivate the good that has arisen
III. The third step corresponds to the Four Psychic Powers
1) the desire to act
2) energy
3) thought
4) investigation
IV. The fourth step corresponds to the Five Faculties
1) faculty of faith
2) faculty of energy
3) faculty of mindfulness
4) faculty of concentration
V. The circular basis of the cupola corresponds to the Five Forces, which are
of the same kind as the Faculties, faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration,
and reason. the 2 groups represent the passive and the active side of the same
properties.
VI. The cupola represents the Seven Factors of Enlightenment
1) mindfulness
2) discerning the truth
3) energy
4) rapture
5) serenity
6) concentration
7) equanimity
VII. The harmika corresponds to the Eightfold Path
1) Right views
2) Right aspirations
3) Right speech
4) Right action
5) Right livelihood
6) Right effort
7) Right effort
8) Right concentration
VIII. The stem of the tree of life corresponds to the Tenfold Knowledge
1) knowledge of the Law
2) knowledge of other persons' thoughts
3) knowledge of relations
4) empirical knowledge
5) knowledge of suffering
6) knowledge of the cause of suffering
7) knowledge of the annihilation of suffering
8) knowledge of the way that leads to the annihilation of suffering
9) knowledge of the things connceted to despair
10) knowledge of the non-production of things.
IX. The thirteen discs or layers of the tree of life which correspond to the
mystical powers of the Buddha. The 13 mystical powers:
1) the knowledge of the places which are suitable for the preaching and the
activity of the Buddha
2) the knowledge of the ripening of the different kinds of karma.
3) the knowledge of all the meditations, liberations, ecstasies, and unions
with higher spheres
4) the knowledge of the superior and inferior faculties
5) the knowledge of the different inclinations of other beings
6) the knowledge of the different spheres of existence
7) the knowledge of those ways which lead to any desired end
8) the knowledge and recollection of former existences
9) the knowledge of the time of death and of rebirth
9) the destruction of evil forces;
11-13) the three foundations of the particular mindfulness of the Buddhas
10 Powers according to Anguttara-Nikaya
1) perceives what is possible as possible, what is impossible as impossible
2) perceives the results of actions done in the past, present and the future
according to circumstances and causes
3) perceives every result
4) perceives world with different elements
5) perceives inclinations of other beings
6) perceives the superior and inferior faculties of other beings
7) perceives the purity or impurity of the states of trance and of liberation,
of concentration and its attainments
8) remembers innumerable former existences
9) perceives with the celestial eye, the purified, the supra-human how the
beings reappear according to their deeds
10) by conquering his passions he has attained, perceived, and realized by
himself the passionless liberation of heart, mind, etc.
At first sight this scholastic symbolism will appear rather arbitrary, but if
we examine it more carefully we find that it is consistent with the
constructive principles of the stupa and their ideology. It represents the way
to enlightenment, revealing the psychological structure of the Buddha-Dharma
and the qualities of the Enlightened One in whom the Dharma is realized. The
stupa, accordingly, is as much a memorial for the Buddhas and saints of the
past as a guide to the enlightenment of every individual and a pledge for the
Buddhas to come.
[snip]
--------------------------
--
Ottawa, Canada
==Gene Poole==
In article <6l7t3c$2...@freenet-news.carleton.ca>, ah...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA
(Greg Marcus) wrote:
#Email is welcome. Corrections are welcome.
#
#To begin, I have to start somewhere in the middle of the story.
#
#The beginnings of the Knights Templar:
<SNIP>
Can you begin with a premise, a context into which I as reader may place
your writing? I am familiar with this topic, and find it fascinating.
Please see below.
#There is more to this "head" and the "practises" of the Templars. The most
#interesting one being that they worshipped an "Egregori":
#
#
# "An egregori is a magical entity that is artificially created by the
# focused thoughts and desires of a medium (analogous in many ways to Tibetan
# tulpas [he means stupas, will attach a little thing on that to the end of
# this post]. Supposedly a medium or statue could then serve as a tenant for
# the egregore, nourished by the sexual life-powers of the members"
This may need correction; a 'Tulpa' is indeed a synthetic 'entity', while
a 'stupa' is a symbolic representation of the multi-dimensional body. So I
would go with 'Tulpa' rather than stupa. (Stupas may be seen as stacks of
geometric shapes, while Tulpa is 'created' via the will of a powerful shaman.)
Best regards,
==Gene Poole==
--
Primate hardwiring includes its own transcendance