NEURAL NET
The Delphi Discussions
History Topics - The Templars

 

 

 

From: Alpheta   
9/2/2002 1:15 pm 
To: ALL
(1 of 17) 
 
73.1 

Continuing the discussion that was started at "Chess, Goddess and Everything":

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-395725,00.html

An interesting archaeological discovery in London, now claiming that THIS is the oldest church built by the Knights Templar! Fascinating! As the current Temple Church dates to 1160 (consecretated in 1185), how old is this "older" Templar church? Ten years? Twenty? More? My recollection is that the Templars weren't constituted a legal entity by the Roman Catholic Pope until circa 1095 (may be wrong on this date). And yet here they are, less than 100 years later, with a rich-enough London base to build first one church, and then an even more grand version of the church (which survives to this day). All this from an order supposedly pledged to poverty, founded by the French "Saint" Bernard of Clairvoix to protect pilgrims en route to visit sites in the Holy Land. Hmmm...

From Timesonline
August 27, 2002
City find is Knights Templars' oldest London church
By Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent

REMAINS of London’s first Temple Church have recently been uncovered, several hundred yards north of its famous successor. Part of the distinctive circular nave which marked churches built by the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages was identified just south of High Holborn, on the edge of the medieval city of London.

The present Temple Church, which gives its name to the Middle Temple and Inner Temple, two of the four Inns of Court, was built from 1160 onwards. Its circular nave, reflecting the plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, was consecrated by Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem in 1185 as the central church of the Templar Order in England; seriously damaged by bombing in the Second World War, it has been completely restored.

The earlier church and the “Old Temple”, the initial headquarters of the Order, stood just east of Chancery Lane, where Southampton Buildings recently underwent refurbishment. Archaeologists from the Museum of London watched over the site when a new lift- shaft was installed.

At the base of the excavation they found Roman deposits, cut into by what Alison Telfer describes in London Archaeologist as “a substantial medieval chalk foundation, consistent with the location and design of the circular ‘Old Temple’ of the Knights Templar, dating to the 12th century”. The foundations rested on the natural gravel of the Thames terrace that underlies the City, and match other sections seen in 1704, and in 1876, when a bank was built in Holborn just north of the present site.

Reconstruction of the plan from the foundations suggests that the circular nave had an internal diameter of about 55ft — slightly smaller than the present Temple Church. The roof would have been supported by a central colonnade of six columns, recorded in the 1876 work, as in the present building, and Telfer suggests that there was both a western porch for entry and an eastern chancel as long again as the nave. The square chancel of the Temple Church was added in 1220-40.
The Old Temple was sold to the Bishop of Lincoln when its successor was built closer to the Thames and with direct river access, and he used it as his London residence. It was eventually demolished in 1595.

Apart from the recent discovery, further remains could survive in the surrounding area, Telfer suggests: the bedrock is sufficiently deeply buried for them probably to have avoided destruction by Victorian cellarage.

From:  Alpheta   
1/12/2003 6:17 pm 
To: Pimander unread
(2 of 17) 
 
73.2 in reply to 73.1 

Knock me over with a feather - this is the FIRST TIME anyone thought to do this????
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=366779

Knights Templar to use latest imaging in search for Grail
By Paul Kelbie, Scotland Correspondent
06 January 2003

For centuries the intricately carved stones of Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh have tantalised historians, archaeologists and devoted Christians.

A labyrinth of vaults beneath the 15th-century home of the Knights Templar is reputed to contain dozens of holy relics, including early gospels, the Ark of the Covenant, the fabled Holy Grail – and even the mummified head of Christ.
More than 550 years after the first foundation stones were laid, modern technology is about to put the legend to the test.

A group of Knights Templar, successors to the warrior monks who sought asylum from the Pope by fleeing to Scotland in the early 14th century and fought for Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn, are to make a "non-invasive" survey of the land around the chapel. They will use the latest ultrasound and thermal imaging technology in the hope of finding evidence of the existence of the vaults.

"The plan is to investigate the land around the chapel to a depth of at least 20ft," said John Ritchie, Grand Herald and spokesman for the Knights Templar.

"The machine we are using is the most sophisticated anywhere and is capable of taking readings from the ground up to a mile deep without disturbing any of the land.

"We know many of the Knights are buried in the grounds and there are many references to buried vaults, which we hope this project will finally uncover."

Rosslyn Chapel, or the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew as it was to have been, was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, third and last Prince of Orkney. Built as a celebration of Christ, it is also a monument to craftsmanship.
Bristling with flying buttresses and gargoyles in the highest Gothic style on the outside, the interior is carved with scenes from the Bible, the fall of man, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the birth of Christ, the crucifixion and the resurrection.

"Rosslyn is an amazing building. It is a book in stone but, because the symbolism which is written into the chapel is in a medieval language, we haven't even cracked the introduction page yet," Mr Ritchie said.

Pillars and arches are covered with hundreds of exquisitely carved leaves, fruit, animals and figures. Some curious carvings are said to depict cactus and sweetcorn, chiselled before Columbus set foot in America in 1492.

"There is a whole series of stuff on each section of the chapel, which relates to a different period of time," Mr Ritchie added. "We have to go back to the 15th century and read it with a medieval eye to understand what it all means. All these symbols relate to events in history. It is a book created in stone, which brings in all the apostolic religion, laid over by an astrological form which tracks the seasons, and the plants in the seasons." Both the Freemasons and the Knights Templar claim the ornate stonemasonry of the church is a secret code which, if broken, will reveal the whereabouts of treasures.

One theory suggests that one of the ornate columns, known as the Apprentice Pillar, may contain a lead casket in which is hidden the legendary cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and later used to collect his blood, the so-called Holy Grail. "Once we understand the introduction page we will begin to understand what this book in stone means," Mr Ritchie added. "We hope to start as soon as possible and get a load of readings from it. We hope to at least find this burial place and maybe the Holy Grail itself."

12 January 2003 17:13

From:  Alpheta   
1/17/2003 8:18 pm 
To: Pimander
(3 of 17) 
 
73.3 in reply to 73.2 

Do you happen to know what Euclid's 47th theorem is? (I don't). And why it is (apparently) of importance to the Masons?

From:  Pimander  
1/18/2003 3:15 am 
To: Alpheta
(4 of 17) 
 
73.4 in reply to 73.3 

Hi Alpheta
I have it in my chess file! But I can't seem to find a way to post it here so I will forward it to you at home. When you see it you will know that it might be of importance to chess. I think the actual proposition has to do with the sum of the sqaures of the two opposite side of the hypoteneuse of a right angle triangle being equal to the square of the hypoteneuse. Err... what the Tin Man said in the Wizard of Oz! -- as well as the 3-4-5 connection in some math puzzles. Don't quote me though! I could be citing the wrong proposition and will have to check. Anyway, even if my recollection of Euclid is a jumble, I think #47 is considered to be one of the very few instances that Euclid plays with Pythgorean number mysticicm.

a bientot
Pi

From:  Alpheta   
1/18/2003 10:25 am 
To: Pimander
(5 of 17) 
 
73.5 in reply to 73.4 

Hi Pi,
I did find out more about #47. It does have to do with the 3/4/5 right triangle. Still, I wasn't sure about a possible masons/templars connection, but then I came across a site that described the "Egyptian string trick". The Egyptians somehow came up with this method for making a true right (90 degree) triangle, and they used the method in laying out their building sites and doing other types of work. Here's what the site has to say:
http://www.luckymojo.com/47thproblem.html

The version of the Pythagorean Theorem or 47th problem of Euclid (called that because Euclid included it in a book of numbered geometry problems) in which the sides are 3, 4, and 5 -- all whole numbers -- is also sometimes known as "the Egyptian string trick."

The "trick" is that you take a string and tie knots in it to divide it into 12 divisions, the two ends joining. (The divisions must be correct and equal or this will not work.)

Then get 3 sticks -- thin ones, just strong enough to stick into soft soil. Stab one stick in the ground and arrange a knot at the stick, stretch three divisions away from it in any direction and insert the second stick in the ground, then place the third stick so that it falls on the knot between the 4-part and the 5-part division. This forces the creation of a 3 : 4 : 5 right triangle. The angle between the 3 units and the 4 units is of necessity a square or right angle.

The ancient Egyptians used the string trick to create right angles when re-measuring their fields after the annual Nile floods washed out boundary markers. Their skill with this and other surveying methods (cf. Barry Carroll's posts on the checkerboard surveying system which they may have learned from the Sumerians) led to the widely held (but false) belief that the Egyptians invented geometry (geo=earth, metry=measuring).

Thales the Greek supposedly picked the string trick up while travelling in Egypt and took it back to Greece. Some say that the Greek mathematician and geometer Pythagoras, described in Masonic lectures as "our worthy brother," also went to Egypt and learned it there on his own. In any case, it was he who supplied the PROOF that the angle formed by the 3 : 4 : 5 triangle is invariably square and perfect. As to whether he actually sacrificed a hecatomb upon completing the proof, i leave to historians to determine. Once the proof was found, it could be applied to other right angles and was found to satisfy the conditions of their construction as well.

On reading the above, Bill Madison commented:
The 3, 4, 5 is of interest, however, because it is the smallest,
and the only right triangle in which the integers are consecutive.
Bill Madison Internet: bmadison@crl.com |
CompuServe: 73240,342 | FIDOnet: bill madison 1:387/800 |

Bill's brief point that 3, 4, and 5 are both the smallest integer series to form a Pythagorean triple and the only series of consecutive numbers in that group is extremely important, for it opens the door to considerable philosophical conjecture:
Since each integer in the tetraktys (that's 1 through 10 for those who don't keep track of these terms) was given symbolic meaning by Pythagoras, the 3, 4, 5 series is the only such triplicity to which "instantaneous" Pythagorean symbolic meanings can be ascribed.

While any other integer sets that form a right triangle can be given derivative meanings -- based on the symbolism of the Pythagorean categories into which they fall (evenly-odd, evenly-even, triangular, square, etc. etc.) or by using medieval Cabalistic gematria to work out their correspondance to some deity's name or the name of some virtue or vice -- only 3, 4, and 5 form a set that lays WITHIN the holy tetraktys. This makes the 3 : 4 : 5 right triangle the most symbolically freighted of all the right triangles.

As for the symbolic "meaning" of the digits 3, 4, and 5, well, modern mystical Masonic writers like Manly P. Hall (working from genuine Pythagorean teachings, but "fingerpainting" a little as they go) have attributed to these numbers metaphors such as:

Spirit (3)
Matter (4)
Man (5).
or
Osiris (3)
Isis (4)
Horus (5)

You were told that in laying out the triangle, the length of 3 should be vertical and the length of 4 should be horizontal. Using Hall's neo-Pythagorean attributions, the symbolism of this arrangement is obvious: "Matter" (4) lays upon the plane of the Earth and "Spirit" (3) reaches up to Heaven and they are connected by "Man" (5) who partakes of both qualities. Or, alternatively, Isis the Earth-mother (4) is horizontal, Osiris the ithyphallic father-god (3) is erect (!) and Horus their son (5) extends between them and reunites them.

Although such metaphorical ascriptions to the 3 : 4 : 5 triangle do appear in various symbolic exegeses of Masonic imagery now and again, nothing as specific as the interpretation given above is taught in any actual Lodge ritual or lecture i have ever read -- probably because the type of triangle most often used to demonstrate the 47th problem in Masonry is not the 3 : 4 : 5 but the 1 : 1 : square root of 2 form.

The square and the cube which are 1 unit on each side are of great symbolic meaning to Masons (and will be the subject for another essay). Therefore, the bisection of the square into a pair of 1 : 1 : square root of 2 triangles has important Masonic connotations. It is in this form that the Pythagorean theorem is most often visually encountered in Masonry, specifically in the checkered floor and its tessellated border, as a geometric proof on Lodge tracing boards, as a jewel of office, and in the form of some Masonic aprons.

To create a 1 : 1: square root of 2 right triangle, also known as an iscoceles right rtriangle, you need a compasses and a straight edge -- familiar tools to the Craft, of course. On soft ground, use the compasses to inscribe a circle. Then use the straight edge to bisect the circle through the center-point marked by the compasses. Mark the two points where the bisecting line crosses the circle's circumference. Using the compasses again, erect a perpendicular that bisects this diameter-line and mark the point where the perpendicular touches the circle. Now connect the three points you have marked -- and there is your 1 : 1 : square root of 2 right triangle.

An aside to Freemasons: the first two points -- where you marked the crossing of the bisecting diameter through the circle's circumference -- can also be used to construct two further perpendicular lines. These are the two "boundary" lines of conduct sometimes symbolized on Masonic tracing boards by the Two Saints John and sometimes referred to as indicators of the Summer and Winter Solstices, whereon the feast days of those saints occur.

For a study in depth on Pythagorean and Cabalistic systems of numerical symbolism, i recommend "The Dimensions of Paradise: The Proportions and Symbolic Numbers of Ancient Cosmology" by John Michell. Publication details on this and other books by Michell can be found in the Sacred Landscape Bibliography: Letter "M".
**********************************************************************
One other thing - that reference to the "checkerboard" method of surveying, I've seen references to it while I've been doing some scouting-out research on "checkerboard motif", but I haven't got into it. Note the Sumerian connection. Tres interesting, non?

From:  Sunwolf (SUNWOLF1)   
2/9/2003 3:57 pm 
To: Alpheta
(6 of 17) 
 
73.6 in reply to 73.5 

Ok, I can't resist.  Too much a coincidence.  I just posted this in Goddess Chess less than 10 minutes ago (Thelema and Masonry are related)[also five can we seen as the Hierophant, either female or male]:

The Great Switcheroo:

93
Unlocking the keys!

I had mentioned this to Isis and others, but I will put it out there again, from three sources.

There was a great switcheroo in times past, when the Goddess religion was usurped by the Male Domination Patriarchy.  In other words, the feminine was replaced by the masculine.  This is found in the Tarot.  The first two cards are 1 Magician and 2 the Priestess.  As above so below right, so it should be 3 the Emperor and 4 the Empress, correct?  Its not.  The Men in Violet switched the Empress and Emperor, so that now the 3rd Trump is Empress and the 4th is Emperor.  3 used to mean Nurturer, which the male is the nurturer, protector and teacher.  The 4 represents Nature, the elements, the woman, the womb.  Man wanted to be "Nature" so he imposed his hierarchial matrix over chaos, therefore corrupting a natural system of randomness with an artificial system of logic and thought.  Its about to bust at the seams.  If you look at the Mayan Dreamspell, here too the 3rd glyph is the Lizard, or Iguana, the seed being planted and the 4th is the Cave, or the womb, going within.  Man and the Patriarchy took over the church and the santuary and closed it off to people going within, making even drugs illegal.

If that was not enough, they turned the cycles of the moon against us, and made a false calendar of Gregorian time.
This is just the beginning.  In the Book of the Law, Thelema, there are two keys:  93 and "if you look into the word, Qelema, there are therein 3 grades, the Hermit, the Lovers, the Man of the Earth."  9 is the trump called Hermit.  6 is the Lovers, and 3, according to my calculations, is the Emperor, the man of the Earth, the nurturer.  They add up to 18, the card of the Moon, lunar, or natural time, the woman's cycle.

There are my points.  There is much more in the Game of Chess, Enochian chess, magick, and even Christianity.  One last thought, when Christianity came along they didn't destroy all of Wicca or Paganism.  And when Islam came along they didn't destroy Christianity.  Now Thelema comes along and it is not out to destroy anything, but to unite the subjective realities and modalities into one bigger picture, if it can, the Age of Aquarius.  If anyone would care to discuss these points I will post this at 4 of my favorite sites, where you can find additional information within its four walls and forum members:

From:  Sunwolf (SUNWOLF1)   
2/11/2003 8:02 am 
To: Alpheta
(7 of 17) 
 
73.7 in reply to 73.3 

I did find something in connection to this theorem and the Masons, after all.  Seems it has to do with the riddle of "squaring the circle".  Circumambulation.  Squaring the lodge/temple.

"The 47th proposition of Euclid's first book of the "Elements", also known as "The Pythagorean Theorem", stands as one of Masonry's premier symbols, though it is little discussed and less understood today. That fact is made the more unfortunate, since the 47th proposition may well be the principal symbol and truth upon which Freemasonry is based."
Hum, this fits with another article I read today, by a German Mathematician, stating that the Universe was design, a formula based on Prime Numbers.

http://www.io.com/~janebm/summa.html

From:  Alpheta   
2/11/2003 9:48 pm 
To: Sunwolf (SUNWOLF1)  
(8 of 17) 
 
73.8 in reply to 73.7 

Good research, SW. I just started skimming through the article you posted the link to, but I'm much too tired tonight to make sense of it. Mushed my way home at 5 through a blizzard caused by not so much snow but horrific swirling winds! Anyway, I will check out the article when I am much more awake and ready to pay attention.

As always, the reason we are involved in this reseach is because of chess. How does this relate to chess? Mathematics, of course, relate to chess in numerous ways, as - apparently - does music, which is just another form of mathematical expression, although I confess that is all way beyond me! I've never been able to make the intuitive connection between music and number, although rationally I know it must be so.

Regardless, I intuit that the "right triangle" of the 47th must be related to the Knight's move on the chess board. This same "number" is echoed again and again in Masonic tradition. I was fortunate enough to tour a grand Masonic lodge in Montreal in November, 2001, along with Pimander, Georgia and Michelle, her daughter. The checkerboard motif was much in evidence, and is well-attested to in published literature. Mind you, our tour-guide and host would not, when questioned about it, answer specific questions about WHAT the symbolism meant! SO! One has to wonder how reliable is the information available about the so-called meaning of Masonic symbols?????? If it's a secret, and has been kept a secret, is the information that IS available just a lot of rubbish and - perhaps - MISINFORMATION???

I don't know, for sure! That's why I'm interested in the Templars who are, by all historic accounts, the prececessors (or at least the "template" [lol!] for the later Masonic tradition. Specifically, I'm interested in the checkered-board, but I don't want to go into any more detail here, in a public forum. If you are interested in learning more, contact me by email and I'll explain the rest. You may not find it of interest, but then again, you may.
 
From:  Sunwolf (SUNWOLF1)   
2/12/2003 3:28 am 
To: Alpheta
(9 of 17) 
 
73.9 in reply to 73.8 

Alpheta:

Neat.  Good questions.

"Regardless, I intuit that the "right triangle" of the 47th must be related to the Knight's move on the chess board. This same "number" is echoed again and again in Masonic tradition. I was fortunate enough to tour a grand Masonic lodge in Montreal in November, 2001, along with Pimander, Georgia and Michelle, her daughter. The checkerboard motif was much in evidence, and is well-attested to in published literature."

I can tell you this, all the motifs and symbols in Masonic ritual, Golden Dawn, Thelema, all use the symbols on the chess board.  The black and white squares represent the black and white pillar of the Qabala (I am sure you've seen this) but basically represents "mirrors", black and white, one could say good and evil but I feel this gets us sidetracked.
The Bishops is seen in the symbol of the Hierophant, who presides over the intiates ritual.  The High Priestess the Empress, and so on.  There are even four towers in the temple, representing the Rook.  So as I have mentioned over at Goddess Weave game, Chess and Magick are interchangeable.

I will email you.  I am a big believer that the secrets can't be kept hidden anymore.  It's all over the net, and in our meditations and thoughts too. LOL. 

From:  Alpheta   
2/12/2003 9:17 pm 
To: Sunwolf (SUNWOLF1)  
(10 of 17) 
 
73.10 in reply to 73.9 

You're absolutely right about "good and evil" being too simplistic. We're dealing with concepts of "opposites", to be sure, but more in the sense of balance, as expressed in Yin/Yang. So, in a sense, on a universal level, there's this never-ending dance going on to maintain the balance...

And on our level, the here and now, the never-ending dance takes place among dark/light, night/day, death/life, winter/spring, male/female, republicans/democrats (well, that's probably not a very good example!), Cheknya/Russia, and on and on and on.

What's really funny about this is that some chessplayers think computers are the answer :)

From:  Sunwolf (SUNWOLF1)   
2/13/2003 5:18 am 
To: Alpheta
(11 of 17) 
 
73.11 in reply to 73.10 

Nah.  Computers can never replace human strategy and human will.  I think these things are what "make the game", for the board and pieces are only props for the exchange that is happening on a human level, I think.
"Will" is a good example, it may sound simplistic, but willpower is that which our whole society is based on from politics, to art, education, and religion.  The ritual aspect is creating the sacred space of the game and going through the journey of the challenge.

From:  Alpheta  
4/23/2006 7:40 pm 
To: ALL 
(12 of 17) 
 
73.12 in reply to 73.11 

This quote is from post 5, done back in 2003:

The ancient Egyptians used the string trick to create right angles when re-measuring their fields after the annual Nile floods washed out boundary markers. Their skill with this and other surveying methods (cf. Barry Carroll's posts on the checkerboard surveying system which they may have learned from the Sumerians) led to the widely held (but false) belief that the Egyptians invented geometry (geo=earth, metry=measuring).

Notice the CHECKERBOARD SURVEYING SYSTEM.  I remember trying to find out what the heck this was and never got anywhere doing internet research on it; about the closest I came after reading through countless websites (none of which mentioned Sumerians and checkerboard) was concluding that the "grid" system used for setting up many cities in the United States was perhaps based on this system.

Anyway, the Templars are back in the news.  Some Templar burials have been discovered in northern Israel and they date to 1179. The article is maddening for the lack of details - for instance, where the bodies buried in their armor?  Were other artifacts found in the gravesites? 

http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18761160-5001027,00.html
First Knights Templar are discovered

April 10, 2006
LONDON: The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel.

British historian Tom Asbridge yesterday hailed the find as the first provable example of actual Knights Templar.
The remains were found beneath the ruined walls of Jacob's Ford, an overthrown castle dating back to the Crusades, which had been lost for centuries. They can be dated to the exact day -- August 29, 1179 -- that they were killed by Saladin, the feared Muslim leader who captured the fortress.

"Never before has it been possible to trace their remains to such an exact time in history,' Mr Asbridge said. "This discovery is the equivalent of the Holy Grail to archaeologists and historians. It is unparalleled.

From:  Alpheta  
10/4/2006 11:39 pm 
To: ALL
(13 of 17) 
 
73.13 in reply to 73.12 

I checked to see if there was a separate "Masons" thread here and didn't find one - but I skimmed through pretty fast.  I think there is not one and that's why I'm posting this here, but no one will read it except me so who the fuck cares!
It's an article that was recently in the New York Times - big stuff.  Guess the Masons, like every other fratenal society around the world, are really hurting for new recruits (equals $$$) and now are reaching out for publicity.  I'm not sure how I feel about, this, actually.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/nyregion/04masons.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

A Secret Society, Spilling a Few Secrets
By JAMES BARRON
Published: October 4, 2006
For more than two centuries, the Freemasons and their grandiose rituals have played a secretive, mysterious role in American life. One of the Masons’ symbols looks a lot like the all-seeing eye on the back of every $1 bill. And look whose picture is on the other side.

George Washington was not the first Mason, and not the only famous one. Mozart worked thinly disguised touches of Masonry into operas. Fourteen presidents and everyone from the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale to the comedian Red Skelton belonged. Masons presided when the cornerstone was laid at the Statue of Liberty.

But the Masons’ numbers have been steadily dwindling — whatever their secrets are, they apparently do not have one for avoiding death — and their ranks have been graying. So the New York State Masons have followed other state Masonic societies in doing something that they would have once considered heretical: they are actively reaching out for new members. And, in the process, a famously reticent fraternal organization that now puts a premium on its community service has lifted its veil of secrecy just a bit.

The Masons are not giving out the secret words that members are supposed to say to get into meetings (although these days, simply showing a dues card might do). But the Masons are giving public tours of the New York Grand Lodge Headquarters.

So people can see the gilded ceiling, the marble walls, the benches along the sides for the rank and file and, at either end, the thronelike chairs for high-ranking Masons. And, in a conference room next door, there is more gold, though it is only paint on a copy of a larger-than-life statue of George Washington.

The lodge also hired a public relations firm to spread the word about its 225th anniversary, which was last month. And the Masons have run advertisements in movie theaters and run one-day classes to award the first three Masonic degrees in a single session. Until then, would-be Masons had to spend months learning what they needed to know to rise from Entered Apprentice to Fellowcraft to Master Mason.

“We’re still not thinking of it as recruiting or trying to amass people,” said Thomas M. Savini, the director of the library at the New York Grand Lodge Headquarters, on West 23rd Street and the Avenue of the Americas, “but I think we’ve reached a point where we realized that not saying anything isn’t making it any easier.”

They had also reached a point where they could not ignore what others were saying about them in “The Da Vinci Code” and other bestsellers like “The Book of Fate” by Brad Meltzer.

“What ‘The Da Vinci Code’ gave us was an opportunity to say, ‘Here’s what we are,’” Mr. Savini said.
What there is, inside the grand lodge headquarters, are a dozen ornate rooms where some 60 lodges still hold meetings regularly.

Those dozen rooms have no windows. Leading the way into one of them, the Grand Master, or leader of all Masons in New York State, Neal I. Bidnick, said the layout was no different from any other lodge room in the world, with an altar and candles in the center. At the one end are two pieces of stone, each about the size of a cinder block — one uncut, the other finished.

“We take a good man and polish the rough edges,” Mr. Bidnick said. (The Masons do not admit women.)
In the hallways of the grand lodge headquarters, the walls are crowded with framed photographs of Masons past and present, but mostly past: Hubert H. Humphrey, the former vice president; and William J. Bratton, the former police commissioner who is now the chief of police in Los Angeles.

But there are fewer names on the membership rolls than there once were: 54,000 in New York, down from a high of 346,413 in 1929. Membership rose again after World War II, rising to 307,323 in 1957 before beginning a long slide.
As Mr. Bidnick explains it, New York’s Masons are heavily involved in community service, underwriting medical research and supplying 29,000 American flags,one for every public school classroom in the city. But still there are the secret rooms where Masons gather.

“Why do we bring them into a room like this?” Mr. Bidnick asked. “Basically, all our rituals are designed to be educational. All these things they show you on TV, the assumptions are wrong.”

He described an encounter with a cable television reporter. “The woman from CNN read some passages about a rope and a hood and asked, ‘Is that what you do?’” he recalled. “It’s not.”

He has heard the conspiracy theories. “We’re often asked why we have a G” as a symbol, Mr. Bidnick said. “We had a person in here from CNN before ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ She pointed out that only in English and German does the word for God begin with a G. But masonry is an educational institution, so that G stands for geometry.”

And, on one wall, is a stained-glass panel with a G in a square and compasses.

Geometry is but one of the seven liberal arts. A Mason who could not remember the other six would need only to look up, for they are written on the ceiling: arithmetic, rhetoric, logic, grammar, music and astronomy. The four cardinal virtues — fortitude, prudence, temperance and justice — are written there, too.

And Mr. Bidnick said when Masons refer to God, they refer to the great architect of the universe. To hear him and Mr. Savini tell it, there is nothing theological in the reference. Mr. Savini said that Masonry was dogma-free. “It doesn’t tell a man how to interpret a symbol, which leaves it open to people outside to misinterpret it,” he said.

They would not describe in detail what happens in the room when members are present for a lodge meeting. Mr. Savini did dispel what he said were misconceptions — that there are secret tattoos, for example. “Masonry has nothing to do with tattoos,” he said. “You don’t get a tattoo when you become a Mason.”

Still, he himself has a tattoo, though not a Masonic tattoo.

And Mr. Savini points out that the eye on the dollar bill is not really a Masonic symbol. “We use the eye,” he said, “but opticians use the eye. It makes us look ridiculous if we say it links into some Masonic connection that was not there.”

From: Alpheta  
10/21/2007 12:51 pm 
To: ALL
(14 of 17) 
 
73.14 in reply to 73.13 

The Templars have finally been exonerated - 700 years later. Roman Catholic Church, you have a lot of really HEAVY sins on your head. Shame, shame.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071012/ts_nm/vatican_templars_dc

Knights Templar win heresy reprieve after 700 years
By Philip Pullella
Fri Oct 12, 4:10 AM ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Knights Templar, the medieval Christian military order accused of heresy and sexual misconduct, will soon be partly rehabilitated when the Vatican publishes trial documents it had closely guarded for 700 years.

A reproduction of the minutes of trials against the Templars, "'Processus Contra Templarios -- Papal Inquiry into the Trial of the Templars"' is a massive work and much more than a book -- with a 5,900 euros ($8,333) price tag.

"This is a milestone because it is the first time that these documents are being released by the Vatican, which gives a stamp of authority to the entire project," said Professor Barbara Frale, a medievalist at the Vatican's Secret Archives. "Nothing before this offered scholars original documents of the trials of the Templars," she told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of the official presentation of the work on October 25.

The epic comes in a soft leather case that includes a large-format book including scholarly commentary, reproductions of original parchments in Latin, and -- to tantalize Templar buffs -- replicas of the wax seals used by 14th-century inquisitors.

Reuters was given an advance preview of the work, of which only 799 numbered copies have been made.
One parchment measuring about half a meter wide by some two meters long is so detailed that it includes reproductions of stains and imperfections seen on the originals.

Pope Benedict will be given the first set of the work, published by the Vatican Secret Archives in collaboration with Italy's Scrinium cultural foundation, which acted as curator and will have exclusive world distribution rights.

The Templars, whose full name was "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon," were founded in 1119 by knights sworn to protecting Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land after the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099.
They amassed enormous wealth and helped finance wars of some European monarchs. Legends of their hidden treasures, secret rituals and power have figured over the years in films and bestsellers such as "The Da Vinci Code." The Knights have also been portrayed as guardians of the legendary Holy Grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper before his crucifixion.

The Vatican expects most copies of the work to be bought up by specialized libraries at top universities and by leading medieval scholars.

BURNED AT THE STAKE
The Templars went into decline after Muslims re-conquered the Holy Land at the end of the 13th century and were accused of heresy by King Philip IV of France, their foremost persecutor. Their alleged offences included denying Christ and secretly worshipping idols.

The most titillating part of the documents is the so-called Chinon Parchment, which contains phrases in which Pope Clement V absolves the Templars of charges of heresy, which had been the backbone of King Philip's attempts to eliminate them. Templars were burned at the stake for heresy by King Philip's agents after they made confessions that most historians believe were given under duress.

The parchment, also known as the Chinon Chart, was "misplaced" in the Vatican archives until 2001, when Frale stumbled across it. "The parchment was catalogued incorrectly at some point in history. At first I couldn't believe my eyes. I was incredulous," she said. "This was the document that a lot of historians were looking for," the 37-year-old scholar said. Philip was heavily indebted to the Templars, who had helped him finance his wars, and getting rid of them was a convenient way of cancelling his debts, some historians say.

Frale said Pope Clement was convinced that while the Templars had committed some grave sins, they were not heretics.

SPITTING ON THE CROSS
Their initiation ceremony is believed to have included spitting on the cross, but Frale said they justified this as a ritual of obedience in preparation for possible capture by Muslims. They were also said to have practiced sodomy.

"Simply put, the pope recognized that they were not heretics but guilty of many other minor crimes -- such as abuses, violence and sinful acts within the order," she said. "But that is not the same as heresy."

Despite his conviction that the Templars were not guilty of heresy, in 1312 Pope Clement ordered the Templars disbanded for what Frale called "the good of the Church" following his repeated clashes with the French king.

Frale depicted the trials against the Templars between 1307 and 1312 as a battle of political wills between Clement and Philip, and said the document means Clement's position has to be reappraised by historians. "This will allow anyone to see what is actually in documents like these and deflate legends that are in vogue these days," she said.

Rosi Fontana, who has helped the Vatican coordinate the project, said: "The most incredible thing is that 700 years have passed and people are still fascinated by all of this."

"The precise reproduction of the parchments will allow scholars to study them, touch them, admire them as if they were dealing with the real thing," Fontana said.

"But even better, it means the originals will not deteriorate as fast as they would if they were constantly being viewed," she said.

From: JanDamcar  
Mar-19 10:28 am 
To: Alpheta
(15 of 17) 
 
73.15 in reply to 73.14 

In regards to the Templars, I wonder if anyone knows the history behind the geometry and architecture that adorned their various places? Was there Templar architects? Or did others do the job for them, and if so was it not just for them but for others generally? The Templars may not at all have been directly involved with the octagonal and round church geometry and what is symbolises and may not even have known what it was all about anyway.I feel it is the architecture and sacred geometry which is the esoetric side of the Templars if in fact they had such a side anyway.

As a curious aside, Rossyln Chapel has eight figures of the various stations of the community, farmers, etc and above them are 8 figures of death with a sycle. This sculpture has been described as representing the dance macabre genre and in some churches in Sweden there are paintings of a death figure playing chess with a knight. Perhaps these 8 figures in Rossyln point towards and allegorical perhaps even esoteric understanding of chess? I personally dont see any links with proto Masonry from Templars associated with Rosslyn, more interesting is the links with the Anjou family and the area and the links betwen the Anjou lineage and the Magdalene and Grail tradition. Just an opinion...
 
From: Alpheta  
Mar-21 12:01 pm 
To: JanDamcar
(16 of 17) 
 
73.16 in reply to 73.15 

I believe the Templars did know exactly what the geometry of their churches meant, but of course they were not the only group who built round and/or octagonal shaped churches.

As I understand it, historians generally accept the linkage between the survivors of the Templar persecution and the founding of the Masonic movement. The Sinclairs who own Rosslyn Chapel were certainly sympathetic to the Templars and harbored survivors of the French persecution.

I am skeptical of the more fantastic legends associated with Rosslyn and I don't believe that Mary Magdalene bore a child from any marriage to Jesus Christ and founded a "holy bloodline". I think that is a sort of psychic myth that arose out of the persecution and degradation of the feminine principle that followed as the christian religion overtook the ancient "pagan" practices and forcibly stamped out as much of the goddess as it could - and what it could not stamp out it corrupted. I believe the social trauma was so great that - rather like the "grassy knoll" theory surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, there arose into popular belief an actual "physical embodiment" of the "marriage of Christ and Mary Magdalene" as a sort of underground protest. That is - and I'm not putting this very well - that the wars of ideas involved were embodied as and incorporated into human beings; much easier for people to grasp the concepts that way, when "real" people were supposedly involved in this epic battle of ideas.

From: JanDamcar  
Mar-26 10:57 am 
To: Alpheta
(17 of 17) 
 
73.17 in reply to 73.16 

Actually the Rosslyn Templar theory is simply just that and the history behind such links is very amateur and I am saying this from a neutral perspective after having been into al this for many years and once a great believer in the Templar survival in Scotland. And the Mary Magdalene (I believe all Marias in the Bible are facets of Sophia) marrying Christ is such a simple thing inherent in the Gospels itself and is nothing to do with a bloodline at all but simply due to the sacred androgyny and bridal marriage mystical tradition which arose before Christ at the time of Christ and after Christ and is the original understanding of wisdom in the Hebrew tradition. A physical bloodline has been superimposed upon it but it is all an allegory, symbol whatever and kabalistic principle of Christ as the male side of the logos, wisdom, which was by the side of the Beyond Male and Female Godhead and Mary Magdalene as the female side of this logos, wisdom, as in the Old Testament, Song of Songs of Solomon and various apocryphal texts wisdom, which is also the personification of the community, Israel, the Church etc is female.

Rosslyn does indeed contain the eight figures, stratas of society and the eight deaths with sycles above them, perhaps even the Rosslyn chapel uses chess symbolism in its temple architecture?

The 'Templar' gravestones are also not unique to that part of Scotland and are found dotted around many place elsewhere so if they are evidence of Templar survival then the Templars must have also survived in many other places in the north of the British isles, but these crosses have been also shown to not be Templar crossess at all.

Octagonal geometry was a wider aspect of Christian architecture and not uniquely confined to templars.