The “Eye-In-The-Triangle” above a truncated pyramid on the back of the $1 bill is a Masonic “memorial” to an ancient “Universal Religion” that flourished worldwide. The remnants of this religion are still visible in the eerily parallel ruins of truncated Pyramids and Eye symbols among many civilizations. Pyramids were temples where believers engaged in a powerful mystical practice called “Awakening Our Third Eye,” long banned by the Church, yet long safeguarded by Western Secret Societies.
Left: Freemason George Washington wearing Masonic apron with Third Eye in the center: Right: Luminous Third-Eye-In-A-Triangle forms the Great Seal of the U.S.
America’s Founders—who were either Freemasons or familiar with the Order’s principles—memorialized the fraternity’s “Lost Secret” in the icons of The Great Seal of the United States.
This “Lost Secret” is an ancient Universal Religion, now lost to time, but still visible in the ruins of the first civilizations, where we see a clear and consistent pattern of pyramids and disembodied Eye symbols:
PHOTO OF RUINED PYRAMID OF THE SUN + SINGLE EYE WALL CARVING, TEOTIAHUACAN, MEXICO
PHOTO OF RUINED PYRAMIDS + SINGLE EYE ART SYMBOL, SAQQARA, EGYPT
PHOTO OF RUINED PYRAMID + SINGLE EYE ART SYMBOL, OHIO MOUND CULTURE, OHIO, USA
PHOTO OF RUINED PYRAMID + SINGLE EYE ART SYMBOL, NAZCA CULTURE, NAZCA, PERU
PHOTO OF RUINED EL CASTILLO PYRAMID + SINGLE EYE “OLLAN” ART SYMBOL, CHICHEN ITZA, MEXICO
PHOTO OF RUINED PYRAMID + SINGLE THIRD EYE ART SYMBOL, SICILY, ITALY
PHOTO OF RUINED PYRAMID OF THE SUN + SINGLE THIRD EYE ART IN TRUJILLO, PERU
Practitioners focused on trying to open a luminous and mystical “Third Eye,” said to be hidden in the human forehead.
This Third Eye is believed to be the remnant organ from a higher, more sophisticated, and more spiritual form of humanity that lived on earth during an antediluvian “Golden Age,” attested to by the ancients and by classical historians as “Babel,” “Shambhala” and “Atlantis.”
If you would like to learn more about my work, you can purchase a copy of Written in Stone here:
As “postdiluvian” humans we still have access to this atrophied organ of our ancestors, which was identified by some 19th and 20th century scientists as the pineal gland:
“A small usu. conical appendage of the brain of all craniate vertebrates that in a few reptiles has the essential structure of an eye, that functions in some birds as part of a time-measuring system, and that is variously postulated to be a vestigial third eye, an endocrine organ, or the seat of the soul…”
—Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
The “Seat of the Soul” is how French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) described the pineal gland; he called it the bridge that connects man’s soul to his body.
Readers familiar with Eastern religions will recall the Third Eye as having a long history in India, China, and Southeast Asia, where Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism hold sway.
More than a “religious” idea, the Third Eye is an archaic “spiritual” custom.spacespace
Third Eye Bindi Dot On The Hindu Forehead
The Third Eye, called “urna” or “trinetra,” is marked by a dot in the middle of the forehead, above and between the eyes.
With two eyes closed you can open your Third Eye—the dot on the forehead—and see your spiritual inner Self or soul within.
In the East, Awakening Our Third Eye is achievable through Yoga, and particularly KundaliniYoga, which teaches the existence of the so-called ajna chakra or Third Eye chakra.
Kundalini in ancient Sanskrit means “illumination,” “enlightenment,” and refers to the light you experience when you awaken your Third Eye and remember who you are (i.e., commune with your soul within).
This “union with God” was considered blasphemy in the Christian West for a thousand years, punishable by death under the Inquisition.
Above Left: Awakening the Third Eye through Kundalini Yoga. Above Right: The Caduceus, popular throughout medieval Europe, is an arcane symbol of Kundalini Yoga.
Tradition holds that the proper way to activate the Third Eye is to “balance” two “opposite” channels in the body (ida and pingala) around a central vertical axis / spinal cord called the sushumna.
This balance of opposites creates a third force that unites the opposites and awakens the Third Eye and allows you to see your true essence, your Self, who you are.
“You don’t HAVE a soul, you ARE a soul. You HAVE a body.
—C. S. Lewis
This third force of “center” and “balance” is the number Three, the AOUM sound, chanted by Eastern mystics. The AOUM symbol is shaped like the number Three itself—as scholars say—denoting the balance of opposites:
Above: The Aum symbol is shaped like the number 3, which is also the chief number of the Freemasons.
The number 3 is also the chief number of the Freemasons:
“…in Freemasonry the number three is the most important…and we find it pervading our whole ritual …”
—Jeremiah How, The Freemason’s Manual, 1881
“Everywhere among the ancients the number three was deemed the most sacred of numbers…
In all the mysteries, from Egypt to Scandinavia,we find a sacred regard for the number three…
In Freemasonry, the ternary is the most sacred of all the mystical numbers.”
—Albert Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 1879
The Third Eye is used extensively in the east, appearing in varied disciplines (Yoga, Ch’an Buddhism, Karate, Qigong, and Aikido). The idea of the Third Eye, however, is quite foreign to the West. Despite living in the “information age” of globalization, it is still treated as something strange and alien, an enigma unique to the Eastern religions.
How is this possible? Could it be that there has been an intentional effort to conceal it?
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Freemasonry’s Great “Third Eye” Secret
The image of a single Eye is common to Western Secret Societies. A single Eye is one of the key symbols in Freemasonry. The Eye is visible on Masonic temples and aprons, among other places, but it does not stand for God; it stands for the hidden Third Eye in your forehead.
The Eye is also featured on Masonic “Tracing Boards,” age-old instructional designs that are present in all lodges, used to teach initiates (see below).
Dating back more than two centuries, the “Tracing Board” is one of the last vestiges of authentic untouched and unchanged Masonic wisdom.
Above: The “Masters Carpet,” from The Masonic Monitor in 1820, includes Freemasonry’s key symbols: the Sun, Moon, and Mystical Eye.
We are immediately drawn to the single disembodied Eye at the top and center of the portrait.
But few of us notice the two sides, right and left, marked by the twin pillars capped by sun and moon; in Kundalini Yoga, the Ida and Pingala channels.
Isn’t the message here that we have a powerful Third Eye hidden in our foreheads? And that we can awaken this central Eye?space
The Geometric Third Eye” Triangle
Isn’t the Masonic All-Seeing-Eye-in-the-Triangle over a truncated pyramid reminiscent of the ancient pyramids and Third Eye symbols in ruins worldwide?
In her fascinating 1924 book, Mystic Americanism, the obscure American author Grace Morey explained:
“The All-Seeing Eye…emblematic of the pineal gland or third eye of the human being…has been found amid the ruins of every civilization upon the globe, thereby attesting the fact of a universal religion over all the earth at some remote period. As we now restore this universal religion, we set the All-Seeing eye upon the pyramid.”
Above: The obverse of the Great Seals shows how “Awakening Our Third Eye” was the Universal Religion of the world’s ancient pyramid cultures.
Masons call the single Eye the “all-seeing Eye” but have little understanding of what this means. Others oversimplify it by calling it the “Eye of God”; either way, these modern descriptions provide us with little enlightenment.
More than a handful of authors and researchers have set forth the thesis that the All-Seeing-Eye signifies man and woman’s Third Eye, available for us to use.
Famous American Author and Freemason Mark Twain, writing in 1899, referred to the All Seeing Eye not as the Eye of some distant heavenly deity or “old man upstairs,” but as a tangible gift that any person can use:
“The common eye sees only the outside of things, and judges by that, but the ‘all seeing eye’ pierces through, and reads the heart and the soul, finding there capacities which the outside didn’t indicate or promise, and which the other kind couldn’t detect.”
Freemason Dr. Buck (1838-1916) gave a physical description of the Third Eye and connected its “mastery” to Freemasonry’s third degree of “Master Mason”:
“It has been called “The Third Eye.” The Ancient Hindus called it the Eye of Siva, and it should be borne in mind that Siva is the third person in the Hindu Trinity…It is atrophied, and therefore dormant in the average individual…The Eye of Siva is, in fact, an All-Seeing-Eye; for it practically annuls Space and Time as concepts on the physical plane…
A real Master [Mason], then, has the Eye of Siva; the pineal gland, dormant in others, is active in him…”
If Buck is correct, and practicing this “occult” system was part of Masonic adherence, then Masonry’s forced secrecy in Europe becomes clear. Due to the power and brutality of the Inquisition, Masons had no choice but to hide themselves in order to preserve their traditions, knowledge, and rites.
The Freemasons, by implementing Third Eye “magic,” ran the risk of being executed by the Church for heresy, and is thus the ultimate, obvious reason for Masonic secrecy. As many Westerners now believe, the lengths to which the Inquisition persecuted perceived “heretics” reflected the desire of the Church to retain much of its hegemony over the masses. The church hierarchy knew that if heaven could be attained by every individual, then what import do priests, churches, and scriptures possess?
In his 1918 book, The Wonders of the Human Body, Dr. George Washington Carey tells us:
“…the All-seeing eye…This is the eye of freemasonry, the third eye. While I am credibly formed that few Masons understand their own symbols, the fact remains that they use them…”
The idea that the so-called “All Seeing Eye” is really the Third Eye continues today.
In their well-researched book, The Uncommon Vision of Sergei Konenkov,1874-1971, published by Rutgers University Press in 2000, scholars John Bowlt, Wendy Salmond, and Marie Turbow explain:
“The Great Pyramid is a central occult symbol that is often depicted with the “all-seeing-eye” or “third eye” inside it. In this form it is the symbol of mystical Freemasonry.”
In her 2006 book, Eden, contemporary author of the esoteric, Dr. Joye Jeffries Pugh, explains:
“The Order of Freemasonry acknowledges the ‘All Seeing Eye’ as the ‘Eye of Great Wisdom.’
This ‘Great Wisdom’ is said to offer those who seek the sacred mysteries an understanding of illumination, inner vision, and intuitive knowledge. Contact with this great wisdom occurs through the ‘Third Eye’ (pineal gland) located inside the forehead.”
Freemasonry is often called a “Science of the Soul”; it is likely, then, that such an inward-facing order is in fact a repository for instructions on how to awaken the Third Eye, endowing an initiate with powers born of his own eternal nature.space
In Conclusion
Today, unfortunately, Freemasonry derides and disassociates itself from these ideas; the Third Eye and any related mystical / esoteric concepts are dismissed and pejoratively labeled “the occult”. Why?
The answer is simple; it is because these doctrines appear to remove the Old Testament “God” from the equation completely, by empowering man with the strength of his own divinity. This does not sit well with many modern Freemasons, but, as we now know, many highly trained and educated Masons of the past, including several noted authors and scholars, were convinced that such Third Eye ideas were integral to their order and that the modern system of Freemasonry is in fact corrupted.
Desperate that mankind should never lose sight of this knowledge, and yet knowing that its truths were forbidden in the atmosphere of intellectual intolerance that marked the Dark and Middle Ages, the Freemasons designed Third Eye gnosis into the architectural facades of churches, castles and cathedrals all over the world, as demonstrated in Written In Stone:
Richard Cassaro’s new book, The Missing Link, explores the meaning, transformations and propagation of the ancient world’s most important religious icon. His first book, Written in Stone, is a wide-ranging exploration of hitherto-unknown connections among Freemasons, medieval cathedral builders and the creators of important ancient monuments, in support of his theory that a spiritually advanced mother culture, lost to history, is behind many of the world’s architectural and artistic traditions.
Prior to the publication of Written in Stone, Cassaro enjoyed a successful career as a U.S. correspondent, professional journalist, and photo researcher for Rizzoli Publications, one of the world’s leading media organizations. Cassaro, who is a graduate of Pace University in New York City, has examined first-hand the ancient ruins and mystical traditions of Egypt, Mexico, Greece, Italy, Sicily, France, England, India, Peru and Spain; he has lectured on his theories to great acclaim in the United States, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Peru.
Though Christian buildings by purpose, Europe’s Gothic cathedrals contain an ancient Pagan wisdom hidden in their architecture. This wisdom, which predates Christianity, was placed by the operative Freemasons, builders commissioned by the Church to create cathedrals, churches, and other edifices. For centuries the Masonic heresy went unrecognized, but the Church eventually outlawed the Freemasons and called for their immediate destruction once the heresy was discovered. Their structures live on, however, and in this article we’ll see how Freemasonry’s “lost secret” can be found encoded in the stone architecture of Gothic cathedrals.
Above: The Burgos Cathedral is a Gothic-style cathedral in Burgos, Spain. Begun in 1221, it is famous for its vast size and unique architecture. Do ancient secrets lay hidden here?
Rumors have for centuries swirled that the Freemasons are in possession of a “great secret.”
“It is always understood that the Freemasons have a secret which they carefully conceal…”
—Thomas Paine, The Origins of Freemasonry, 1818
This secret is said to be an ancient Pagan wisdom-teaching, a highly advanced and life-changing “Sacred Science” they inherited from Antiquity. In Tolstoy’s War & Peace, a Freemason says:
“The first and chief object of our Order, the foundation on which it rests…is the preservation and handing on to posterity of a certain important mystery… which has come down to us from the remotest ages, even from the first man – a mystery on which perhaps the fate of mankind depends.”
—Leo Tolstoy, War & Peace, 1869
Many say the medieval Freemasons encoded their secret into the art and architecture of the churches, castles, and cathedrals they constructed, without the Church’s knowledge.
“It is generally believed in occult circles that… medieval masons had inherited esoteric knowledge… and that this knowledge was incorporated into the sacred architecture of the cathedrals.”
—Michael Howard
If indeed the Masons inherited an ancient Pagan doctrine, and if they encoded its wisdom into cathedral architecture, it amounts to heresy, and would constitute a direct threat to the Church.space
Catholic Church VS. Freemasons
Interestingly, the Church very abruptly turned about-face in their support of the Masons: far from hiring them, they instead started to call for the death of the Masons in the 1700s. Starting with Pope Clement XII (b. 1652 – d. 1740), the Church began hammering the Masons with encyclicals and other documents calling for their destruction:
“The purpose and aim of the Masonic sect having been discovered from plain evidence is easy to understand…to try to revive after eighteen centuries, the manners and institutions of Paganism. …we intend to turn our attention to the Masonic society…to illustrate more and more this wicked force and stop the spread of this contagious disease…”
– Pope Le0 XIII, Humanum Genus Encyclical (Condemnation of Freemasonry)
This about-face is curious: what pagan evidence was uncovered by the Holy See?
This “rift” has not exactly been mended. As recently as 1983, then little-known Cardinal Ratzinger—today Pope Benedict XV—wrote:
“The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.”
–Cardinal Ratzinger, Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
In the past two centuries brief inquiries have been made into the idea of pagan wisdom encoded in Masonic architecture. In 1831, Victor Hugo, author of the novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, explained:
“…from remotest antiquity…the human race has employed architecture as its chief means of writing…Sometimes an entrance, a front, or even an entire church presents a symbolic meaning wholly foreign to religion, or even hostile to the Church…Only the initiated can decipher these mysterious books.”
—Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
In 1910, American architect and writer Claude Bragdon (1866–1946) wrote:
“In Mediaeval Europe…fragments of the Secret Doctrine—transmitted in the symbols and secrets of the cathedral builders—determined much of Gothic architecture.”
—Claude Bragdon, The Beautiful Necessity
These two quotes are not absurd, baseless claims: both Bragdon and Hugo were celebrated men in their time. Their Masonic / Gothic cathedral research, however, was limited.
Left: Architect Claude Bragdon, 1866 – 1946, designed New York Central Railroad Station, Rochester, NY. Right: Victor Hugo, 1885, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The subject lay more or less dormant until 1926,when French alchemist and hermeticist Fulcanelli published Le Mystere des Cathedrales naming alchemical secrets in French cathedrals. The work is detailed but dense, and has been criticized as very difficult to follow (a quality he himself seems to have intended).space
New Gothic Cathedral Secrets Discovered
In the present article, we’ll defiantly outline a complete Pagan doctrine written in cathedral stone, and supported by facts. The doctrine will show that Masonry is a Pagan organization with a Sacred Science that runs counter to the Catholic Church.
Look at the three Notre Dame cathedrals below:
The Western facade of all three are almost identical, sharing these unique qualities:
1) pair of twin towers on top
2) giant rose window in the center
3) three-door entrance
This repeating pattern has gone unrecognized by any professor or scholar, and thus far no one has pointed it out, named it, or explained its symbolism. This repeating Western facade, however, is nothing less than a “Cathedral Code”: a message from the Masons themselves, encoded in stone and concealed in plain sight.
The Masonic Tracing Board is a mystery to today’s uninformed Masons.
This Tracing Board is an enigma to modern Masons, esoteric authors, and even occult research: they are unsure of its purpose and unaware of its symbolism. The Tracing Board, however, actually holds the key to the Gothic Western facade and the lost secret of the Freemasons encoded within.space
Tracing Board Is The Gothic Cathedral Blueprint
The true meaning of the Tracing Board is, in fact, that it is a blueprint of that same Western facade above. It is the blueprint behind that facade, and in fact shares every resemblance:
The Twin Pillars on the Masonic Tracing Board (left) are identical to
the Twin Towers of the Gothic Cathedral (right).
A century ago author and Freemason Walter L. Wilmshurst (1867 – 1939), one of very few modern-day Masons who understood Masonry profoundly, explained:
“The [Twin] Pillars…have been incorporated into Christian architecture. If you recall the construction of York Minster or Westminster Abbey, you will recognize the pillars in the two great towers flanking the main entrance…”
—W.L. Wilhmshurst, The Meaning of Masonry, 1922
Left: Westminster Abbey, London, England. Right: York Minster, York, England
What do the Twin Pillars on the Tracing Board signify? Why is there a sun over the Jachin pillar and a moon over the Boaz pillar? Is this what each one stands for?
Mainstream Masonry’s explanation for the Twin Pillars are that they are called “Jachin” and “Boaz”, and that they once decorated King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. While this story may be true, it neglects to explain the sun and the moon (which, in fact, are never mentioned in any Masonic explanation) and also makes no reference to the fact that the pillars predate Solomon and even Judaism by thousands of years.
The Right-Hand Pillar is capped by the Sun
The Left-Hand Pillar is capped by the Moon
This duality of the Sun/Moon is critically important: The world’s first cultures all perceived the Sun and Moon as “perfect opposites” or perfect “pairs of opposites.” Indeed, Mother Nature has placed the Sun & Moon at odds and on opposite sides of the polarity spectrum:
The SUN stands for DAY, but the MOON means NIGHT.
During the Day it’s HOT, but at Night it’s COLD.
The Day is filled with LIGHT, but the Night is filled with DARKNESS.
During the Day it’s DRY, but at Night it’s MOIST.
Note the naturally occurring pairs of opposites. By this chain of associations…SUN/MOON, DAY/NIGHT, HOT/COLD, LIGHT/DARK…the Sun and the Moon engender and denote all the “pairs of opposites” in the visible universe!
This “pairs of opposites” wisdom is the lost key to all the Mystery schools in history (Perennial Philosophy, Hermetic Teachings, Philosopher’s Stone, etc. and so on). The “pairs of opposites” can be witnessed in the natural mechanics of the moon: they each spend half the day up, and though the Sun is far larger than the moon they appear the same size because the moon is much closer. These natural pairings are strong evidence towards the sun and the moon as being equal but opposing natural symbols.
The sun and full moon appear the same size in our sky.
It is, of course, a cornerstone of Ancient and Masonic philosophy that has since been lost: that these celestial bodies have been placed thus on purpose, for our benefit, with the goal being to teach us the power of opposites.
Wilmshurst said that the Twin Pillars on the Tracing Board, which are capped by the Sun and Moon:
“…stand for what is known…as the “pairs of opposites.” Everything in nature is dual and can only be known in contrast with its opposite…”
—W.L. Wilmshurst, The Meaning of Masonry
In The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Freemason Manly Hall (1901 – 1990) explained:
“Jachin–the white pillar of light…Boaz–the shadowy pillar of darkness. …These two pillars respectively connote also the active and the passive…the sun and the moon…good and bad, light and darkness.”
—Manly Hall
As author Warren Kenton tells us, the twin columns of France’s Chartres Cathedral are capped with iron plates of the sun and moon.
“Erected by the masons…the west front of each church had two towers representing the twin columns…the masculine and feminine aspects, the active and passive forces, flowing down from Heaven. Called, in Chartres Cathedral, the sun and moon towers…”
—Warren Kenton
Note how Kenton here mentions the “masculine and feminine aspects.” That’s because man and woman also fall into this “pairs of opposites” category. In the early 20th century, renowned architect Claude Bragdon wrote:
“…man, like the sun, is lord of day; he is like fire, a devastating force; woman is subject to the lunar rhythm; like water, she is soft, sinuous, fecund…
The Masonic guilds of the Middle Ages were custodians of the esoteric… The north or right-hand tower (“the man’s side”) was called the sacred male pillar, Jachin; and the south, or left-hand tower (“the woman’s side”), the sacred female pillar, Boaz…”
—Claude Bragdon
Looking at the Grand Master Certificate of the “heretic” Giordano Bruno below, we see a “male” pillar crowned by the Sun on the right side and a “female” pillar crowned by the moon on the left:
16th century “heretic” Giordano Bruno’s Grand Master Certificate,
featuring a Male right-hand side pillar balanced by a Female left-hand side pillar.
This is the same “pairs of opposites” symbolism encoded in the twin towers of the Western facade of Gothic cathedrals:
The Twin Columns on the Gothic Cathedral symbolize male and female,
as well as all the other “pairs of opposites” in the physical world.space
Man’s Body Is Half Sun & Half Moon
Though the pairs of opposites has been explained, the addition of masculine and feminine symbolism adds a deeper meaning: why did the Masons build a “male” right hand tower and a “female” left hand tower? It is for the simple reason that the great wisdom of the “pairs of opposites” doctrine lies not only in the fact that the universe is composed of “pairs of opposites”; the great wisdom lies in the fact that, like the universe, Man is also formed by opposites. “As above, so below” is a phrase used by many without grasping its deeper meaning: Man lives inside the universe, not separately from it, and thus our physical bodies are made of the same “pairs of opposites” as the universe.
“Our life is a mingled yarn, good and evil together…” —Shakespeare
The Gothic facade seen above is not only a depiction of the polarity of the universe, it is a symbol of the polarity in the physical human body as well: We have two hands, two arms, etc. and so forth, split into symmetrical halves—the sun and the moon.
“Man has been called the microcosm, or little world, in contradistinction to the macrocosm, or great world…by reason of a supposed correspondence between the different parts and qualities of his nature and those of the universe.”
—Albert Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
The human body’s bilaterally symmetrical appearance are a product of the duality of the universe: the right side is the sun side, male and warm: the left side is the moon side, cold and female.
Like the universe in which he lives, Man too is formed by opposites.
No human, of course, is completely male or completely female despite physical gender, and we all possess both masculine and feminine traits.
“Though essentially a unit, there is a well marked division into right and left…two arms, two legs, two ears, two eyes…Moreover, the terms of such pairs are masculine and feminine with respect to each other, one being active and the other passive.”
—Claude Bragdon, The Beautiful Necessity
In his 1909 The Pre-eminence of the Right Hand, widely cited by scholars, French sociologist Robert Hertz explained:
“The axis which divides the world into two halves, one radiant and the other dark, also cuts through the human body and divides it between the empire of light and darkness.”
— Robert Hertz
Famous Freemason Manly Hall Wrote:
“In ancient times men fought with their right arms and defended with their left arms… …the right side of the body was considered masculine and the left side feminine.”
—Manly Hall
The following portrait appeared in an esoteric manuscript of unknown origin traced back to the 1400s.. It is a two-headed human with a male on the right holding the sun and a female on the left holding the moon:
Esoteric portrait identifying the true makeup of a human being (1400s).
This is YOU! You are half male and half female, a fact science has yet to rediscover.
While many are unaware of the symbolism behind this portrait, in reality it is a symbolic, esoteric portrait of man.
If you would like to learn more about my work, you can purchase a copy of Written in Stone here:
The famous magician Harry Houdini—who was a dedicated Freemason—says in The Metaphysical Magazine:
“…the Sun represents the right half of the body and the Moon the left half…”
—Harry Houdini
You, me, all of us are formed of the “pairs of opposites,” and it infiltrates every aspect of our lives. In a sense, this explains the “devil” on our left and “angel” on our right shoulders:
The age-old symbolism of an angel on our right shoulder and devil
on our left shoulder is rooted in the esoteric doctrine that
our bodies are composed of pairs of opposites.
It does, in fact, explain all the ideas of duality our society has about humans: demons and deities, sinners and saints, etc. and so forth. We are a pair of opposites wrapped up in one human package, and according to esoteric philosophy this enables us to accomplish extraordinary feats. To do so, however, we must first realize that the “pairs of opposites” are in fact related to the Trinity, and this evidence is encoded into the cathedral facade as well by the three door entrance.space
Masonic Number Three—The Triptych
Much like the “Cathedral Code”, this three door entrance has never been investigated or explained. Let’s call it a “Triptych”—this Triptych is directly connected with the twin towers above it.
The Twin Towers are symbolized on the ground by the
Triptych’s twin outer doors, which signify “opposites.”
The twin towers terminate (or rise up) from the Triptych’s outer doors. The doors are, like the towers, a pair of opposites, and are encoded in both ancient and modern architecture, as evidenced by the very modern building below:
A massive Triptych graces the facade of Rockefeller Center. Above the door on the right is
a male, above the door on the left is a female, and a ‘god’ sits above the center door.
The male and female figures atop the doors of opposites are, of course, pairs of opposites themselves:
The Triptych design that graces the entrance of Rockefeller Center matches the
Masonic symbolism of Sun (right), Moon (left), and the Spiritual Eye (center).
But what symbolism lies behind that third door? We know already, from the evidence above, the meaning behind the dual outer doors: what is the esoteric meaning beside the door they juxtapose?
The answer is, in fact, a major part of Freemasonry’s lost secret: the secret is symbolized by the sacred Masonic number three, and the answer is that the third door represents you. That god in the center of that Triptych above represents man’s soul, the eternal Self that is not physical, the Self that every human body, or “pair of opposites”, contains within it.
The metaphor here being, of course, that the two opposing halves contain a higher element: a third element inside, the soul.
You don’t HAVE a soul. You ARE a soul. You HAVE a body.”
—C. W. Lewis
The body, the physical, two-sided part, is material and temporary, composed of the same pairs of opposites as the material world in which it lives. The soul, however, is not thus subjected: it lives free of the laws of the physical universe, a teaching echoed in the biblical tale of the Garden of Eden where Man falls to the lower world after eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (good and evil being opposites).
“…the fall [of your soul] from perfection into duality…was naturally followed by the discovery of the duality of good and evil…This is the Biblical version of a myth known to many lands …”
—Joseph Campbell
The Self or soul, then, has fallen from its higher spiritual home in the heavens and has landed in the material world of opposites:
“According to this mystic doctrine…all souls have pre-existence and have descended from the spiritual world into the earthly prison of the body…”
—John Yarker, Arcane Schools
What this teaching implies is that humans are in fact divine already: they existed before the birth of the body and will survive after it. Having fallen, however, the soul is now imprisoned inside a material body that mimics the duality of the universe in which it lives.
“Man is a god in the body of an animal according to the pronouncement of ancient philosophy…”
—Alvin Boyd Kuhn
The word “imprisoned” is accurate because your body is not your true home but an imperfect and transitory vehicle. The body imprisons the soul because it requires care and constant maintenance. To survive, it must continually:
Breathe
Eat
Drink
Maintain A Constant Temperature
Fight Disease
A body can endure for decades, but death will eventually come to it. For the ancients, the fall into this fragile human body is a tragedy:
“…the Platonists in general believed in a pre-existent state, in which all souls had sinned, and thus lost their wings, whereby they were once capable of ascending, and so they sunk into these bodies partly as a punishment for former follies.”
—Olinthus Gregory, The Fall of Man and the Depravity of Nature
The end result of this particular consequence is, unfortunately, the loss of the true Self and the true origin entirely: the soul has descended so deeply into the material world that it has lost sight of the eternal “god within”.
“A man is a god in ruins.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
The soul is thus imprisoned in these conditions over which it has no control, but it is not completely powerless. The soul is eternal, a trait that imbues it with its own inherent powers: powers that can be exercised in the material world. Though the soul is in a fallen state, the powers it has were never lost, merely covered up and unrecognizable.
Masonry exists not only to reveal to Man the presence of his inner soul, but to help him rediscover its higher powers—powers that have been covered up by the body.
We can see this entire concept carved on an ancient statue that still sits in ruins in the Elephantine Caves of Bombay, India. Note how the statue forms a three-in-one design, with a male on the right (sun, Jachin pillar) and female on the left (moon, Boaz pillar) flanking a “god” in the center (the eternal, spiritual you).
Above: The Mask of Eternity, as described by Joseph Campbell. Elephanta Caves, India.
Press play on the one minute video below and watch how the illuminated 20th century professor of mythology, the brilliant Joseph Campbell, analyzed this ancient Triptych-like statue:
As Joseph Campbell tells us in this video, we are all-powerful beings. To spark these powers…to turn these powers “on”…you need to employ the actual formula of the number Three. That is, you need to “reconcile” or “balance” your twin bodily opposites. This forms the basis of the lost secret of Freemasonry:
“…only by the reconciliation of opposing forces is the Pathway made to true occult knowledge and practical power…”
—Israel Regardie, The Eye in the Triangle
In other words, you need to “join” your male “right-half” and your female “left-half,” the twin sun and moon pillars:
“…Join the male and the female and you will find what you are seeking…”
—Aphorisms of Zosimus
Once the twin opposing forces have been balanced or reconciled, then the true “soul within” is revealed. This three-in-one practice of uniting the opposites through the middle path is an ancient exercise, virtually unknown in the West and now the exclusive province of the Eastern religions:
“Unfortunately our Western mind, lacking all culture in this respect, has never yet devised a concept, nor even a name, for the union of opposites through the middle path, that most fundamental item of inward experience…
…It is at once the most individual fact and the most universal, the most legitimate fulfillment of the meaning of the individual’s life.”
—Carl Jung
Carl Jung
This “union of opposites through the middle path”, described by Jung, is the secret of the Triptych entrance on Gothic cathedrals. It forms the lost wisdom of the Masons as well as being the deeper meaning behind the famous Masonic number “Three”.
The Triptych very elegantly conveys the ancient occult wisdom of the practice outlined above, and its arcane Pagan wisdom, as mentioned, runs counter to the mainstream Christian belief that every human being’s soul and body are created at the very moment of our birth on earth.
The Masons did not just encode this secret into the High Gothic cathedrals; they also adorned castles, lodges, temples, and multitudes of other buildings with the Triptych entrance, embedding their secret for future generations.
Above: Masonic temples with Triptych entrancesspace
In Conclusion
In conclusion, the “lost secret” of the Freemasons is far from being lost, and in fact is embedded into the very stones of the buildings they created: it is an ancient Pagan doctrine, predating Christianity. It is a doctrine dealing with the eternal Self and the duality of the material world and body; specifically, the balancing of the duality to find the middle way, the ultimate secret behind the Masonic number Three encoded into the Triptychs of Gothic cathedrals.
Richard Cassaro’s new book, The Missing Link, explores the meaning, transformations and propagation of the ancient world’s most important religious icon. His first book, Written in Stone, is a wide-ranging exploration of hitherto-unknown connections among Freemasons, medieval cathedral builders and the creators of important ancient monuments, in support of his theory that a spiritually advanced mother culture, lost to history, is behind many of the world’s architectural and artistic traditions.
Prior to the publication of Written in Stone, Cassaro enjoyed a successful career as a U.S. correspondent, professional journalist, and photo researcher for Rizzoli Publications, one of the world’s leading media organizations. Cassaro, who is a graduate of Pace University in New York City, has examined first-hand the ancient ruins and mystical traditions of Egypt, Mexico, Greece, Italy, Sicily, France, England, India, Peru and Spain; he has lectured on his theories to great acclaim in the United States, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Peru.
More and more Americans are starting to believe, with good reason, that ‘We The People’ are not free, but have become subservient to a small but powerful elite who possess ancient knowledge that they keep hidden from the masses. As an example of their greed, power and deception, we will look at how (in this author’s opinion) Macy’s, “The World’s Largest Store”, seems to be one of many weapons in their sinister corporate arsenal, and we will analyze the meaning of the occult symbolism used in Macy’s marketing.
Above: A massive gift-bag marked “the world’s largest store” emblazoned with Macy’s ancient Pentagram logo.Macy’s is the crown jewel of Federated Department Stores, a group of the nation’s most profitable stores.
The rise of Macy’s is painted in the corporate media as a storybook American business dream come true. But the truth (in my opinion) is far different, far more sinister.
Macy’s seems to be hypnotizing the masses and distorting America’s culture—and yet its atrocities go unnoticed. Few understand the deep damage it seems to have done, and continues to do.
This “mind control” of the masses can be seen in 7 main ways:
#1 – Pentagram Logo – Macy’s has adopted the ancient Pentagram for its logo. The symbol is powerful beyond comprehension. The pentagram has been associated with high spirituality for millennia. Instead of using it to teach spiritual principles, however, the company is using it to control the minds of the masses.
#2 – Magic Colors – Macy’s uses red and white in most of its advertising, promotions, coupons, television commercials and more. These are the same colors the Nazis used. Why? Because both Macy’s and the Nazis knew that red and white are two colors that naturally attract the masses.
#3 – Magic “Believe” Slogan – Macy’s has coupled their Pentagram logo with a powerful “Believe” slogan. The two go side-by-side in ancient systems of magic (as we shall see).
#4 – Macy’s High Holy Days – Macy’s appears to have hijacked and co-opted Thanksgiving and Christmas, and now seems to be attempting to do the same with the 4th of July, changing the inherent meaning of these holidays and transforming them into “days of shopping.”
#5 – MoviesThat Shape American Culture – Macy’s is apparently using movies and films to plant the seeds of consumerism on the unsuspecting American mind.
#6 – Archetypical Images – Macy’s appears to have somehow come to possess ancient knowledge regarding archetypical images that attract the unconscious mind. These images have been “installed” throughout its stores.
#7 – Occult Symbols Encoded In Architecture – Macy’s uses ancient occult symbols throughout the architecture of its stores. This architecture seems to be designed to attract the masses who are unconsciously drawn to these symbols.
Any credible sociologist would agree that Macy’s Department Store has played a significant historical role in transforming Christmas into a grossly commercial enterprise. That same sociologist might say things started spiraling downward from there.
The “focal point” was the first Thanksgiving Day parade in 1924. The parade started in Harlem in upper Manhattan and went all the way down to Macy’s midtown store on Herald Square. At the end of it was Santa Claus, who held court at Macy’s 34th Street store up until Christmas Day, happy to listen to children of all ages requesting toys of all kinds.
Above: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924 shows a float with Santa bearing the Macy’s pentagram logo.
What this did was it associated Christmas with gift-buying. This was something new in the American experience. This association of Christmas with gift-buying peaked at the end of World War II, when the masses began celebrating the post-war peace by gift-buying like never before.
Shortly after, in 1947, the movie Miracle on 34th Street told the tale of a kind old man hired to be the store Santa Claus at Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square. He believed he was Santa and the movie convinces you so, as he works miracles on-screen, including having R.H. Macy shake hands with his arch-enemy Gimbel.
The biggest miracle of all is how suddenly the holiday became associated not with any spiritual introspection, as it has been previous, but with gift-buying. This is partly how “We The People” have become unwitting servants to an empire beyond comprehension.
But how can this be? Macy’s is “America’s store.” Macy’s gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside.
The reason is because Macy’s appears to have successfully indoctrinated us to think this. They are using advanced marketing and advertising techniques. Most people have no idea how to defend against this. So they believe what Macy’s wants them to believe. Macy’s only cares about its bottom line; this in and of itself isn’t intrinsically evil. The bad part is that Macy’s seems to knowingly be using powerful spiritual tools to turn you into a fear-driven consumption junkie, rather than revealing to you the true spiritual meaning of these tools and how they can help you evolve and grow.
So, why is this evil? It’s a dog eat dog world out there, no? Isn’t America all about capitalism and consumption?
America’s founders didn’t think so, and there is a distinct practical difference between “marketing” and “mind control”; Macy’s appears to now be able to control consumers actions at will. That’s not really nice, is it?
And Macy’s is performing admirably in this regard. A recent (2011) headline described Macy’s latest earnings: “Macy’s profits jump 50 percent in fourth quarter, more than double for full year“. Not too shabby. A strange profit report, especially considering the current recession. The article explained: “Department store chain Macy’s Inc. reported that its fourth-quarter profits jumped 50 percent to $667 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, up from last year’s $445 million.” The truth is, a bad economy means little to America’s mind-controlled populace; a populace with little understanding of their inner powers but too much understanding of superficial matters.
So how exactly is Macy’s controlling the minds of the masses, if indeed they are?
The answer is, Macy’s understands the cornerstone of all marketing—that “perception is reality”; how a product is “perceived” counts more than how “useful” or “functional” it is.
To see this, let’s first look at two different big corporations for a moment, Disney and Mercedes. Strictly speaking, one is an amusement park and the other sells cars. Their advertising, however, sells something else: Disney sells dreams of enchantment and childhood fantasies come true. Mercedes sells the idea of luxury, higher class, wealth, taste and status.
Above: Does Mercedes just sell cars? Does Disney just sell rides?
Consumers have dreams, but it’s the big corporations who plant the seeds of those dreams and then sell that dream to the consumer via marketing and advertising.
When people think of Volvo, they think “safety”; this is no accident. In 1927 the company’s founder committed to this idea, and today Volvo owns the concept of “automotive safety” in popular cultural consciousness, even though some other cars have scored higher in automotive safety tests. Volvo has even evolved the “safety” idea by instituting and describing in their marketing their quest for “preventative” safety, like testing airbags, model designs, crumple zones, and so on; a quintessential example of planting the dream seed and then delivering it.
These examples, then, form the base of our inquiry into the possibility that Macy’s is using advanced mind-influencing techniques. We have been talking of dreams; what dream comes to mind when we think of Macy’s?
The answer is, quite simply—magic. Macy’s has magic, and that magic will make our lives better, more interesting, more vivacious; it will make our pain go away. Macy’s wants us to believe that it has magic, which magic the company uses to empower us to feel like a glowing star when we shop at Macy’s—the same star the company uses in its ancient magical pentagram logo.
To see how Macy’s accomplishes this seemingly Herculean task, read through the following SEVEN subtle ways Macy’s makes us believe in the Magic dream they are selling us—a dream that lives and moves and has its being completely in our minds:ce
#1 – MAGIC PENTAGRAM
To see how Macy’s seeks to associate itself with “magic” in our minds, we need look no further than the company’s pentagram logo, which is often coupled with a slogan that reads “the Magic of Macy’s”:
Above: Macy’s magic pentagram, along with its magic slogan.
This slogan has been in use for quite some time. Most people don’t realize it, but the word “magic” is related to Macy’s “star” logo, a symbol with a long history of “magic,” going back to ancient times:
“Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia, and are used today as a symbol of faith by many Wiccans, akin to the use of the cross by Christians… The pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice Neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol…The pentagram has associations with Freemasonry…”
— Wikipedia
The pentagram has long been associated with mystery and mysticism. In the ancient tradition of magic, the pentagram is used to channel good energy, banish bad energy, offer protection, and bring desired outcomes depending how and where it is used. It is the simplest form of star shape that can be drawn unicursally—with a single line—hence it is sometimes called the Endless Knot. Other names are the Goblin’s Cross, the Pentalpha, the Witch’s Foot, and the Devil’s Star.
Used throughout history, the pentagram has many “magical” meanings and associated contexts:
The pentagram dates back to c. 3500BC at Ur of the Chaldees in Ancient Mesopotamia where it was symbolic of imperial power
Amongst the Hebrews, the symbol was ascribed to Truth and to the five books of the Pentateuch
In Ancient Greece, it was called the Pentalpha, being geometrically composed of five A’s
To the Gnostics, the pentagram was the ‘Blazing Star’
For the Druids, it was a symbol of the divine
In Egypt, it was used to symbolize the higher spiritual plane
The Pagan Celts ascribed the pentagram to the underground
Medieval Christians attributed the pentagram to the Five Wounds of Christ
The Christian Emperor Constantine I used the pentagram, together with the chi-rho symbol in his seal and amulet.
In the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pentagram was Sir Gawain’s glyph, inscribed in gold on his shield, symbolizing the five knightly virtues
In Hermeticism the upright pentagram is drawn as though in complete resemblance to the shape of man, with his legs and arms outstretched; indeed an illustration attributed to Agrippa or to Tycho Brae (1582) depicts the similarity of proportion in this image. Later, the pentagram came to be symbolic of the relationship of the head to the four limbs and hence of the pure concentrated essence of anything (or the spirit) to the four traditional elements of matter (quintessence).
Above: Expressing the saying “Every man and every woman is a star,” we can juxtapose Man on a pentagram with head and four limbs at the points.
“Every man and every woman is a star.”
—Aleister Crowley
The pentagram was well known throughout history as a spiritual symbol that transcends the logic of the mind and goes directly to the Will. It was used to aid in the development of spirituality. In the great ancient system of Freemasonry, every soul is symbolized by the Blazing Star, which is a pentagram. This is to remind us that beneath our physical flesh each one of us is a star that shines. That is to say, we are more than a physical body we see in the mirror; we are an eternal soul, a divine star underneath it. The women’s branch of Freemasonry uses the five pointed “Easter Star” as its emblem.
Left: The Masonic Blazing Star written in stone above the doorway of a building in France. Right: The Masonic Blazing Star is one of the most important symbols of the Craft.
The number ‘5’ in general has always been regarded as mystical and magical, yet essentially human:
We have five fingers/toes on each limb extremity.
We commonly note five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste.
We perceive five stages or initiations in our lives: birth, adolescence, adulthood, parenthood and death.
Now that we have seen the pentagram’s meanings and symbolism as well as its spiritual connection to humanity, we can see why for over 150 years, the pentagram star has been used everywhere in Macy’s marketing. Often it appears by itself filling an entire newspaper ad and even the entire TV screen, especially around the holidays, and the Macy’s marketing department uses this ancient magical emblem apparently to influence and even “control” the thoughts of consumers.
At left, Miss Helen Olstein was in the center of the star in a scene from a 1927 production by Macy’s employees, Red Star Revue. She was queen in the parade in 1926 and 1927.
Rather than enlightening Americans as to the true meaning of the Pentagram (i.e., that it can be used for spiritual introspection and development) Macy’s uses it for the more nefarious purpose of material gain; notice its use in the Macy’s commercials below:
While not the only big corporation to use the pentagram in advertising, they are one of the oldest and most successful to do so, even apparently going so far as to understand how important the colors of the star are to successfully indoctrinate the people.space
#2 MAGIC COLORS (RED & WHITE)
Why is the pentagram always red or white? Red and white are a powerful combination, potent colors that have a tremendous impact on the human psyche and are thus used by Macy’s marketing:
In Nazi Germany, Hitler made sure that the colors red and white (and black, which is also used by Macy’s) formed the basis of the country’s swastika flag:
“In Mein Kampf, Hitler discussed at length his selection of colors for the swastika flag. He decided to use black, white and red because they had “the most brilliant harmony in existence”…Hanfstaengl later tried to get Hitler to change the colors…Hitler informed him that…he had learned…that “there is only one colour with which to attract the masses and that is red.”
—Sherree Owens Zalampas, Adolf Hitler: A Psychological Interpretation Of His Views On Architecture …
It’s worth noting here that Hitler was an accomplished and talented artist, with deep knowledge of colors and their juxtaposition, along with other design elements. It should not be surprising to believe, then, that in fact Hitler knew and understood how these colors affected his citizens on both a conscious and unconscious level. Many cultures see white and red as incredibly profound colors, especially in combination.
Japan is an example. Red and white are the colors of the Japanese flag; the red signifies the sun, the white signifies the spiritual source “from which” and “on which” the sun and all other life manifests:
Above: The Japanese national flag (kokki) has a red circle on a white background.space
#3 – MAGIC “BELIEVE” SLOGAN
Of course, just filling your advertising with colored pentagrams won’t by itself achieve a goal of consumer influence. In keeping with a stated goal of “perception is reality”, you must also entice the viewer to believe in the magic offered by the symbol. Every great scholar of magic, from Crowley to Evola, stresses that magic is useless without belief. As a result, Macy’s advertising machine must instill belief as well.
Toward this end, in much of Macy’s marketing we see the same one-word instruction over and over again, in which Macy’s commands men, women and children to believe:
Macy’s marketing needs you to believe in their magic in order to be successful, and so they run a “Believe” campaign side-by-side with their magic symbol in order to associate the two in the minds of viewers.
“Believe” draws not only on the brand’s association with the Thanksgiving Parade in New York City and the film Miracle On 34th Street, but harks back to the 1897 New York Sun editorial, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Designed to highlight Macy’s special connection to the holiday season, it is rooted in Macy’s brand heritage, whose “DNA is really imbedded in this holiday tradition, particularly with Santa,” according to marketing VP Martine Reardon.
Above: A modern Macy’s ad revisits an 1800s New York Sun editorial.
Besides television and print ads, Macy’s is now using social media to maximize their holiday campaign. The retailer has hosted a “Tell Us Why You Believe” contest, encouraging individuals to “share their thoughts about what they believe in and why they believe” in the form of short essays, photos and videos posted on the Macy’s “believe” website. This sort of content gathering is highly effective on two fronts; not only do they collect vital information for future marketing campaigns, but they know that getting a consumer to articulate why they believe is more effective than telling the consumer to believe. Active indoctrination is more effective than passive, and so social networking is a valuable tool for their marketing department on multiple levels.space
#4 – MAGIC HOLY DAYS (HOLIDAYS)
Not many would argue that Christmas is now a time for shopping and not for spiritual reflection. Beginning as early as October Americans are bombarded with Christmas advertising everywhere. Children and adults alike compile lengthy wish-lists of the latest available products, and we are faced with the pressure of fulfilling such requests in order to make the holiday special and to keep children believing in Santa.
And all of this comes at a high price, financially and spiritually: Many Americans have come to associate the holiday season with high stress as they scramble amid chaos to shop, buy, wrap, and return. Suicide rates increase and so does depression across all ages and all walks of life. This current-day conception of Christmas is indicative of a significant change in holiday celebrations in the U.S. over time, and could hardly be said to be an improvement from the previous celebrations of Christmas that stressed spirituality and time with loved ones.
Macy’s is, above all, the originator of this commercialized Christmas. By virtue of its timing, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade claims to celebrate two holidays, Christmas and Thanksgiving. In truth, however, the parade is about advertising: Companies sponsor the parade and as a result are given license to insert their insignia and mascot into the parade. Far from being a cheerful holiday event, this parade is a part of advertising campaigns and designed to generate publicity and profits through spectacle.
The parade also benefits New York City. During this popular weekend, hotels provide a variety of different packages that promote the parade as well as one of the biggest shopping days of the year, the sinister “Black Friday” which comes the day after.
Above: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began as a marketing ploy and has continued in this vein ever since. Macy’s owns Christmas; and Thanksgiving. When you wake up Thanksgiving morning, what do you see on TV?
Over the course of its long history, the parade has been recorded on TV, in newspapers, magazines, books, art, and film. These representations have the power to influence people’s perceptions of the parade as well as their perceptions of Macy’s, Thanksgiving and Christmas, pop-culture, history, and the American way of life.
Above: LIFE magazine has released two separate commemorative books on the parade.
The parade is carefully inserted not just into the minds of New York City’s people but Americans everywhere: Every year, before the show, feature stories and timely articles grace the pages of The New York Times and other newspapers and magazines leaking out details about the balloons, floats and even celebrities who will be attending. Ads appear within newspapers to remind potential-spectators of the event, offering tips on when to arrive and how to select the best viewing locations. All of this serves to stir excitement and anticipation in parade-goers and the general public.
Even after the parade, Macy’s does not release its hold on viewers: there are TV and print reviews of the parade after the fact, summarizing the event and its highlights.
Above: Besides Thanksgiving, Macy’s seems to be purposely hijacking another important holiday by sponsoring the annual N.Y.C. 4th of July fireworks display. The event is a tradition for many Americans, and is televised each year on NBC, the same network that televises the Thanksgiving Day parade.
Of course, of all the celebrities that take part in the Thanksgiving Day Parade spectacle, we can’t forget Santa Claus, the “king” of the hour. He is a small but important feature of the parade, a culmination of the entire process:
Above: Jolly old Santa Claus, the king of the Thanksgiving Day parade and a poster-child for gift-buying and commercialism.
Santa, though he originated as Saint Nicholas, has since become a decidedly secular figure. More importantly, Santa has come to reign as the archetypal symbol of holiday marketing, as he stands for gift-giving and hence gift-purchasing. His presence is ubiquitous in American holiday ads, and has been for decades.
This sort of image exploitation is common in massive undertakings of public perception; the organization that is doing the exploitation takes a well-known symbol and replaces the semantic identity of the symbol; people recognize the symbol as one to be trusted, and so people more readily accept the changed message because the symbol is one they have been conditioned to trust.
In fact, all of these ideas regarding Santa Claus and the singular role of Macy’s in commercializing not only Christmas but American society in general is starting to be realized and discussed by scholars:
“…Christmas window displays of manufactured goods became a part of the promotion of Christmas buying and gift-giving (Snyder 1985). Numerous other department stores also began to promote Christmas gifts heavily at about this time (Schmidt 1991). Between 1880 and 1920, Waits (1978) found that popular American magazine advertising in November and December began to encourage the purchase of manufactured gifts…Santa Claus featured prominently in these ads… It’s not surprising that Santa became a fixture in department stores, which slowly realized that exploiting the growing Christmas emphasis on children was good business. If Santa is the god of materialism, what better place to enthrone him than in the department store which did so much to foster consumer culture.”
—Daniel Miller, Unwrapping Christmas
Of course, there is one “special” day out of the year that has become synonymous with, and almost as popular as, Christmas. The day is called “Black Friday”, and it is a day of excessive consumption. There are reports of shoppers sleeping in tents outside, rushing and trampling other shoppers in an attempt to get the best deal before it sells out. By Christmas, in fact, Americans spend almost $150 billion, or $500 for each man, woman, and child.
The corporations take it one step further, however, by linking economic prosperity with Christmas: Christmas is portrayed as good or bad depending on the amount Americans spent that year in shopping, or our “economic forecast”. It seems as though American families cannot have an enjoyable Christmas if retail sales are disappointing. In effect, the corporations have succeeded in making their interest your own; your Christmas cannot be good if their Christmas is not profitable.
So we have, then, the process by which Macy’s undermined the holy days to their own benefit; they cleverly co-opted a known symbol, and through a process of semantic shifting used Santa to create a culture of gift-giving that directly links the amount and quality of gifts, and subsequently the profits of these corporations, to a good or bad Christmas for the end consumer.
It may not seem like it, but this corporatization of Christmas—and, in turn, the general commercialization of the entire American society into a nation of consumers—was accelerated by, and is promoted heavily in, the film Miracle on 34th Street.space
#5 – MAGIC “MIRACLE” ON 34TH STREET
How can anyone say anything bad about Miracle on 34th Street? It’s a great movie, with wonderful characters and a deep, touching story. The problem with the movie, however, is it allowed America to turn a spiritual day into a day of mass consumption and materialism, causing America to be less than it once was and far less than what it has the potential to become.
For one thing, the role of Santa Claus in the film helps consecrate (make sacred) Macy’s and facilitate the spirit of spending with little concern for cost.
“Miracle on 34th Street completely disconnects Christmas from its original Christian meanings and significance. From the opening scenes, Christmas is presented as an almost purely commercial spectacle and secular family ritual, driven by individuals’ willingness to share in the fantasy of Christmas giving, Santa Claus, and personal dreams come true. Taking place in New York, the global capital of the emerging post-WWII transitional economy, Christmas and its rituals are designed, staged and managed by corporate capital (Macy’s) and the state (New York City and State) to sustain and/or increase consumer spending. The Thanksgiving Parade is an elaborate consumer spectacle, in part dedicated to commemorate Thanksgiving; but, to a larger degree, it is aimed at launching the Christmas shopping season. Warmed up with images of Santa and his reindeer, big business invokes consumers to spend the next two days after Thanksgiving and few weeks up to Christmas mobbing the department stores in a media-managed frenzy of personal-consumption.
—Diane Christine Raymond, Sexual Politics and Popular Culture
A less immediately-apparent theme in Miracle on 34th Street is the occult doctrine of the reconciliation of opposites, which is the key to occult wisdom:
“…only by the reconciliation of opposing forces is the Pathway made to true occult knowledge and practical power…”
—Israel Regardie, The Eye in the Triangle
“…Join the male and the female and you will find what you are seeking…”
—Aphorisms of Zosimus
The doctrine of the union of opposites is all-pervasive in Miracle on 34th Street from the first scene to the last. There are no less than three “sets” of opposites united in the film:
– The lead man (John Payne as Frederick M. Gailey) and lead woman (Maureen O’Hara as Doris Walker)
– Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle) and the girl (Natalie Wood as Susan)
– Macy’s and Gimbels
We see this “union of opposites” idea personified in the following timeless poster, where “pairs of opposites” are neatly balanced, symmetrically and in proper ratio:
First, we have Doris Walker and Fred Gailey, the strong male and female powers of the film. The movie creates a dichotomy in the characters by giving the leads opposite gender characteristics; Doris Walker is more “masculine”, a strong character who disagrees with Fred Gailey’s “idealistic binge”. Gailey, on the other hand, is more “feminine”: is softer and gentler, a romantic who gives up his stable job to defend Kris Kringle. The two opposites meet and fall in love, otherwise known as reconciling.
Another opposite pairing occurs with Kris Kringle and young Susan. Besides the male / female difference, Santa is old yet young at heart,while the little girl is young but old at heart.He is youthful for his age, she seems far beyond her years. The two reconcile by showing the other person their world, which helps the other in the transformation each one makes in the picture. The two become eternal friends.
Above: This film spawned three remakes (1959, 1973 and 1994) and a Broadway musical.
The third and final set of opposites that are united in the film are not so evident—that of Macy’s and Gimbels. Remember, the heads of these twin opposing forces actually shake hands with Kris Kringle in between them.
Note carefully how these opposites interact—it’s natural, right, and good for the first two pairs to reconcile; the movie lulls the viewer into the “reconciliation is good” phenomenon, and by doing so leads the viewer into believing the “reconciliation” between Macy’s and Gimbel’s is good and just. We love and support Doris and Fred, Kris and Susan—the “union of opposites”, used here to great effect, compels us to love and support Macy’s and Gimbel’s as well.
To believe that all of this has been setup to somehow sway the mind of the American public into feeling empathy and even love for Macy’s Department Store may seem a stretch to normal every day people—but not to those occultists and esoteric minded men and women who understand the power of the “union of opposites” doctrine and see how this doctrine was used in the film to subliminally attract and capture our hearts.space
#6 – MAGIC IMAGERY
In addition to the pentagram, Macy’s uses other age-old symbols to help us “believe” and buy into its myth and magic. There are too many Macy’s images to describe and delve into here, but we need one example still to illustrate the point: the famous “Photo With Santa Claus”.
We all remember as children the delight and wonder of getting our picture taken with Santa Claus. Some of us as adults still take part in the tradition. Macy’s knows the power of this memory. What Macy’s has done at its flagship store in NYC is to create a background behind their Santa Claus that mimics an ancient archetypical scene—the Tree of Life.
In the photos below, which were taken at Macy’s, look past Santa and the people and notice the background of the chair they are sitting on. This is no ordinary chair, it’s a magical chair that has special power, as we’re about to learn:
Above: Getting our picture taken with Santa taps into a timeless memory we all remember. Macy’s knows this.
The chair depicts a tree and two reindeer flanking and facing the tree. First, look at the tree itself. This is the Tree of Life, an ancient and universal idea in Antiquity eventually adopted by the Hebrews and put in the biblical Book of Genesis.
A potent symbol of rebirth, Christmas Trees are a vestige of the pagan practice during the winter solstice of bringing greenery into the home (evergreen trees, plants, and leaves) to symbolize life in the dead of winter and the arrival of the winter solstice, which occurs in the northern hemisphere between December 21st and 22nd, and which signals the triumphant return of light. This celebration represented the end of the long, dark winter days and the beginning of the return of the light and its promise of spring.
The tree you see behind Santa Clause is the same Tree of Life that comes from ancient cultures. Those two reindeer flanking the Christmas Tree are even evident in ancient artwork. Shown below, we see them as symmetrical animal figures:
Left: Phrygian Terracotta 6-7th. Century BC. Anatolian Civilization Museum/ Ankara.
The two animals on the side are immediately evocative of the “union of opposites” mentioned above. Two animals on either side of the Tree represent the “pairs of opposites,” while the Tree of Life in the center represents the third power that unites the opposites in eternal and spiritual reconciliation, the same idea represented in the film “Miracle on 34th Street”, further highlighting Macy’s use of esoteric and occult symbols to further their influence (and, in my opinion, indoctrination).space
#7 – MAGIC FLAGSHIP STORE
Clearly, this alleged indoctrination has been working: Macy’s has posted record profits, and has accrued enough wealth to own an entire city block in Manhattan, in an area with some of the most expensive real estate in the world!
The R. H. Macy and Company Store is the flagship of Macy’s department stores, located on Herald Square in Manhattan, NYC. The building has been the world’s largest department store since 1924. As of 2011, the store has stood at the site for 110 years.
Every year Macy’s decorates the storefront windows of its flagship store in Manhattan with holiday themes and people come from far and wide to stand on the sidewalk and gaze at the dream-like scenes. Christmas windows have now become a traditional part of New York City during the holidays.
The architecture of the building, however, is as important as its storefront windows, perhaps more so: The architecture is mystifying and subliminally attractive, conveying an unconscious message to all that gaze upon it.
Above: The occult owls, esoteric Triptych windows, pagan caryatids, and the ancient magical pentagram star.space
In Conclusion
Macy’s remains one of the most famous stores in the world, immortalized in people’s unconscious as the “store with a heart,” and synonymous in many minds with quality brands at affordable prices. But if we dig deep we will find that Macy’s, either willingly or not, is preventing us from finding our true inner Selves.
The human race has been asleep, and has dreamed that property and money are the true wealth of our nation, sacrificing men, women and children to the chimerical idea that danced in visionary splendor throughout their brains. The result of this is to be seen in the uneasiness that prevails everywhere. But humanity is slowly waking up and beginning to realize that it, itself, is the most precious thing on earth.
When we realize that big corporations like Macy’s have been responsible for singing us to sleep, only then will the masses learn and understand the true meaning of Macy’s.
Richard Cassaro’s new book, The Missing Link, explores the meaning, transformations and propagation of the ancient world’s most important religious icon. His first book, Written in Stone, is a wide-ranging exploration of hitherto-unknown connections among Freemasons, medieval cathedral builders and the creators of important ancient monuments, in support of his theory that a spiritually advanced mother culture, lost to history, is behind many of the world’s architectural and artistic traditions.
Prior to the publication of Written in Stone, Cassaro enjoyed a successful career as a U.S. correspondent, professional journalist, and photo researcher for Rizzoli Publications, one of the world’s leading media organizations. Cassaro, who is a graduate of Pace University in New York City, has examined first-hand the ancient ruins and mystical traditions of Egypt, Mexico, Greece, Italy, Sicily, France, England, India, Peru and Spain; he has lectured on his theories to great acclaim in the United States, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Peru.
In this brief blog post you’re going to discover one powerful fact—the Shriners organization incorporated what I call the ancient “Triptych” design in their most important architectural works.
They did this because the Shriners organization—the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (commonly known as Shriners and established in 1870 is an appendant body to Freemasonry)—has the same ultimate purpose and meaning of the Freemasons, from whom it spun off.
This purpose is to quietly—or, better, “secretly”—preserve the ancient Triptych’s meaning, and to carry this powerful meaning into modern times.
What is the ancient Triptych, and what does it stand for?
If you’ve been following my blog you already know that I’ve discovered that the ancient Triptych—a three-in-one architectural pattern formed by three arches or doorways, with the center arch or doorway larger than the two flanking it—symbolizes an enigmatic “Sacred Science” wisdom-teaching that was once mysteriously shared by history’s earliest civilizations.
Here is an example of the Triptych architectural pattern, this one’s from ancient Rome:
(Triumphal arches were structures in the shape of a monumental archway, in theory built to celebrate a victory in war.)
Here is an example of the Triptych from ancient China:
(A Temple of Confucius or Confucian temple is often described as a temple devoted to the memory of Confucius and the sages and philosophers of Confucianism.)
Here is an example of the Triptych from ancient Mexico:
(These Corbel Arches in Tonina were built by the Mayans.)
Here is an example of the Triptych from ancient Persia:
(The Caliphal Palace was built by the caliph al-Mu`tasim in 836, and finally abandoned about 895. It is one of the largest imperial palaces to have survived from ancient times.)
To see more examples of ancient Triptychs all around the world visit www.DeeperTruth.com
Now, with these ancient Triptychs fresh on your mind, notice how a powerful “modern” Triptych forms the front of the main headquarters of the Shriners headquarters in Washington DC:
(The Shrine of North America has been a part of the Washington Downtown area since 1886.)
Below is another example of “Triptych” Shriner architecture. This is the famous Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, now an important historical landmark:
(The Fox Theatre—often marketed as the Fabulous Fox—in Atlanta, Georgia is one of the grand movie palaces built in the United States in the 1920s.)
There are plenty more examples of modern-day Triptychs built by and connected to the Shriners Organization.
Why did the Shriners use the Triptych?
Because the Shriners organization is just like the Freemasons—established to preserve and protect the same ancient Sacred Science wisdom-teaching.
This Sacred Science is not for everyone; it endows seekers (if they’ve been suitably prepared) with the knowledge (gnosis) and ability “see” their soul inside their own body…and become illuminated by the experience of their own true immortality and eternal divinity.
You’re now going to discover one of the greatest esoteric secrets in human history…
I’m not talking about American history, European history, or even Western or Eastern history.
I’m talking about “human history” as we know it.
It’s the “key” secret that “fascinated” and even “inspired” the world’s most ancient cultures (Americas, Europe, Oceana, Asia, Africa).
What’s the secret?
The cathedral-building Freemasons knew the secret and they expressed it symbolically using two identical (twin) columns, which you can see here:
Their names in (modern) Freemasonry are “Boaz and Jachin,” with Boaz on the left and Jachin on the right.
As the story goes, these two pillars were erected on either side of the entrance to King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, which was built by King Solomon c. 10th B.C.E. according to God’s instructions.
The symbolic significance of these twin pillars is not touched upon in Freemasonry, yet most modern authors say that in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament the word Jachin (the right hand pillar) means he will establish and Boaz (the left hand pillar) means strength.
You won’t hear anything even close to this explanation from me simply because I don’t believe any of it.
In fact, I call this a “substitute secret.” It was invented as a cover-up and it continues to be published in books and websites by an unsuspecting public.
My research uncovers the true meaning of the twin pillars, which predate Solomon, the Jews, and even the Old Testament books by thousands of years.
What’s their real meaning?
The answer is that the Twin Pillars form the foundation of an ancient “Sacred Science” once known worldwide.
This Sacred Science was encoded by the operative Freemasons into the design and architecture of the world’s most famous Gothic cathedrals.
How did the Triptych find its way onto the Salt Lake Temple?
The answer is simple: The founder of the Mormon Religion, Joseph Smith, Jr., was a (speculative) Freemason. In fact, it’s well-known that his entire family was active in Freemasonry as early as 1816.
Now, generally speaking, there are two schools of thought regarding the Mormon Religion.
One view is held by scholars, the other is held by Mormons.
Mormons believe every word of the LDS church; scholars, on the other hand, ignore the entire history of the Mormon movement.
I believe the discovery of the Triptych on the Salt Lake Temple is provocative and powerful enough to open up a third school, a third point of view.
This third camp looks at the entire Mormon movement from a totally new perspective—from the angle of Joseph Smith’s involvement in Freemasonry, and from the point of view that Joseph Smith may have understood the “Secret” of the Triptych architectural pattern (the “Secret” of the ancient Sacred Science of true Freemasonry) as evidenced by the Triptych design on the Salt Lake Temple (see www.DeeperTruth.com):
Today, the impact of Freemasonry in Mormon Church doctrine remains the subject of intense debate, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a longstanding policy of maintaining no official position on Freemasonry.
However, many researchers have uncovered profound parallels and links between the two movements in practice, structure, and symbolism, which go back to the church’s origins.
(One example is that many features of the church’s temple endowment ceremony as established by Smith parallel rituals and ceremonies practiced in Freemasonry.)
In the early 1800s, when the Mormon Church was headquartered in Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith and several of his followers—including his first four successors as church president—were already Freemasons.
When the church relocated to Utah in the 1840s after Smith’s death, there was even talk of forming a “Mormon Grand Lodge.” (This was ultimately rejected by church President Brigham Young.)
In my upcoming book, Written In Stone (www.DeeperTruth.com), I provide more parallels and more information on this emerging and mysterious Mormonism / Masonry connection.
I will discuss more in future blog posts, and I plan to visit and videotape Masonic architectural elements of the Triptych on Salt Lake Temple.
If this subject interests you, make sure to download my FREE PDF Report titled Breaking The Cathedral Code: Freemasonry’s Triptych Secret Revealed (by visiting www.DeeperTruth.com)
Here’s a final follow-up to my last two blog posts.
First, please review the mosque photos in my two prior posts.
Note the powerful and undeniable THREE-IN-ONE architecture on their facades.
Here is an example:
Khudasia Mosque
Look at the THREE domes and the THREE doorways.
See how the dome and doorway in the center is larger than the two flanking?
I call this THREE-IN-ONE architecture a “Triptych.”
These mosques clearly depict the same Triptych architecture that European Freemasons designed into the facades of Europe’s Gothic cathedrals.
Scholars have not yet recognized it, but mosque Triptychs are the mystical creations of “Arabian Freemasons”—just as cathedral Triptychs are the work of medieval European Freemasons.
My new book, Written In Stone, reveals how operative Freemasons purposely encoded Triptychs into cathedral architecture to secretly symbolize a powerful and ancient “Sacred Science of Three” they inherited from Antiquity. (Visit www.DeeperTruth.com).
So, with this in mind, the discovery of Triptychs on mosques indicates something very interesting:
As European Freemasons encoded the Triptych into cathedral architecture to symbolize the ancient worldwide “Sacred Science of Three”…so Arabic Freemasons encoded the Triptych into mosque architecture to denote the same.
After my previous post went live, I received a few emails from readers who identified themselves as Freemasons, questioning my conclusion that Freemasonry made its way into Arabia.
It’s a great question with a simple answer.
In fact, a well-known mainstream author named Albert Gallatin Mackey (1807 – 1881) wrote on this subject.
Keep in mind that back in the 1800s when Mackey was writing, the word “Mohammedan” meant “Muslims”:
“Nearly all of the old Mohammedan buildings in India, such as tombs, mosques, etc., are marked with Masonic symbols, and many of these structures, still perfect, were built in the time of the Mogul Emperor Akbar, who died in 1605. Thus Masonry must have been introduced into India from Middle Asia by the Mohammedans hundreds of years ago.”—Albert Mackey
Mackey clearly believed that Masonry was “introduced into India” by Muslims “hundreds of years ago.”
Mackey also gives us an important clue as to the possible source of Muslim Masonic architecture—the Mogul Emperor Akbar.
Now, rather than making you read a long, drawn-out explanation of history, I’d prefer to ask you to conduct your own study into the so-called “Mogul” Empire, also spelled “Mughal” (1526–1858).
Study its culture, analyze its art and architecture, and see if you can identify the Moguls as a Triptych-building people, as possessors of the Sacred Science from Antiquity.
As you study the Moguls, I think you’ll see them as a family lineage of builders in stone—in a word, “Freemasons”—who were initiates of Triptych / Sacred Science wisdom.
That is to say, the Moguls appear to have been authentic Freemasons who knew the truth behind the ancient Triptych / Sacred Science.
And they knowingly replicated this Triptych / Sacred Science wisdom in the architecture they designed and constructed.
Let me leave you with one wonderful example, to get you started.
The Mogul Emperor Akbar (who, as Mackey tells us in the quote above, died in 1605) was a close relative to a man named Shah Jahan.
Now, the name “Shah Jahan” means nothing to you, right? That is, until you realize he was the builder of the great Taj Mahal.
With its three giant domes arranged in an ominous Triptych design, the Taj Mahal forms one of the most mysterious and incredible Triptychs on earth:
Flanking the Taj Mahal are a pair of mosques, both of which have three massive Triptych domes, as well as a clear Triptych portal entryway:
This is clear evidence that the Triptych was known to Arabic peoples, and was encoded into mosque architecture.
Amazingly, the two mosques flanking the Taj Mahal actually form a Triptych, along with it.
The two mosques are precise mirror images of each other.
Finally, here’s a snippet of text from a book called Freemasonry in the Eastern Hemisphere by Ray V. Denslow.
Denslow was master of Trenton Lodge No. 131, Missouri, and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri in 1931:
“Freemasonry in India is no new venture. That there were societies of operative Masons there long before the British occupation is evident by the signs and symbols which are easily seen on many of the ancient forts, temples and tombs.”— Ray V. Denslow
Denslow also writes:
“A very interesting book on the subject entitled Indian Masons’ Marks of the Mogul Dynasty, has been written by Bro. Gorham.”
Now, I don’t want to get into a deep explanation of this book or these marks.
My point for this post, and for my two previous blog posts, is simply to suggest that an “Arabian” form of Freemasonry surely existed, though scholars don’t recognize it.
As evidence, we find Triptych architecture in mosques all over Arabia, just as we find Triptych architecture in cathedrals throughout Europe.
Why? Because there’s a deeper meaning behind the Triptych; it symbolizes a lost ancient Sacred Science perpetuated by the Freemasons.
Stay tuned for more evidence that reveals how the Triptych (and the Sacred Science it symbolizes) is the real-life Lost Symbol of the Freemasons.
By Richard Cassaro
January 5, 2010 Category:
Archive
In recent years, a great deal of information has appeared online linking the Freemasons to a grand “conspiracy.”
According to this idea, the Freemasons have for centuries been secretly plotting world domination (i.e., a “New World Order”).
I’ve been asked if my upcoming book, Written In Stone (www.DeeperTruth.com), is related to this subject.
The answer is no.
Instead, my research reveals how the ‘Great Secret’ of the Freemasons has been Written In Stone—written into the stone architecture of churches, castles, cathedrals and other Masonic buildings worldwide—by the Freemasons themselves.
That is to say, the operative Freemasons encoded the same message, over and over again, in all of the medieval buildings they constructed.
The message they encoded relates instructions on how to understand and master an ancient Sacred Science of the Soul now lost to the Western world.
With this in mind, I’ve made a list of 10 Powerful Facts about the history of the Freemasons, in response to some of the questions I’ve been asked.
Here goes:
#1 – The Freemasons are one of a few Secret Societies carrying Ancient Wisdom across the ages. A glimmer of this ancient wisdom is still visible in their signs, symbols, and ceremonies, though much of it has been distorted (while some has remained intact).
#2 – This Ancient Wisdom of the Freemasons once formed a universal “Worldwide Religion” (or “Sacred Science”). Pyramids are a key symbol of this Sacred Science. But, even more important than pyramids, Triptych three-door temples form the pinnacle of this Sacred Science. This is why we find the ruins of pyramids and Triptych temples worldwide:
Even more than pyramids, the triptych three-door entry is evidence of a Universal Wisdom once shared worldwide.
Think for a moment about what this means. Imagine it; the world was united in ancient times by the same body of spiritual wisdom.
#3 – In honor of the ancients, the medieval Freemasons carved the Triptych (symbol of the Sacred Science) into the architecture they created—cathedrals, castles, churches, abbeys and other important buildings. We can see this in the Triptych entry of Gothic cathedrals:
From left to right, the Triptych entryway of Reims, Notre Dame, and Laon.
#4 – These medieval Freemasons understood that modern religions carry pieces of the Sacred Science. However, they also understood the religions have served to “cover up” the truth about the Sacred Science (especially the so-called big three Western religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam).
#5 – The closest thing available today to the authentic Sacred Science of the Freemasons is found in a mix of Gnosticism, Hinduism, Sacred Geometry, and ancient Greek and Sicilian philosophy (Plato, Socrates and Pythagoras).
#6 – The Freemasons “changed” in the mid 1800s, during which time the heritage and truth about the Sacred Science was stripped from the Order. The Freemasons became an “eating and drinking society” with a newfangled creed focusing on Faith, Hope and Charity. Ever since then, the spirit of true Freemasonry has been lost.
#7 – Modern Freemasonry is not authentic because it has been painted in terms of the religion of Judaism. For example, the Masonic holy book is now the Bible. The “God” of the Bible is thought by most Masons to be the Great Architect of the Universe (key figure in Masonic ritual). Masonic symbolism is now centered around the “Temple of Solomon,” which once stood in Israel. There’s more. All this serves to confuse rather than enlighten Masons on the Order’s founding secret—the ancient Sacred Science, and the powerful unified history of humanity.
#8 – Most Masons today are neither part of a grand conspiracy, nor interested in the true esoteric meaning of Freemasonry. They’ve joined either for the social conviviality or to further their own careers. I once read that modern Freemasons can barely organize a picnic, let alone put together and fulfill a plan for world domination.
#9 – The Masonic “G” symbol absolutely, positively DOES NOT stand for the “God” of the Bible. Instead, it denotes “Geometry,” which is the Sacred Science of the authentic operative Freemasons. (Read Plato’s dialogues on Geometry for more). To believe the “G” symbol stands for “God” is to completely misunderstand the true history of the Freemasons and the purpose of the Craft.
#10 – A key Masonic architectural symbol is the Triptych. It’s nothing short of the real life “Lost Symbol of the Freemasons” (to borrow from Dan Brown). The Triptych appears on all things Masonic, in honor of the Sacred Science.
For example, here is a Masonic Temple with Triptych entrance:
Modern-era Secret Societies that have been “spun off” from the Freemasons use the Triptych. We see this in the Triptych entryways of their headquarters. One example is the Skull & Bones, founded at Yale University in the early 1832:
A powerful Triptych appears on the facade of the Skull & Bones headquarters in New Haven, CT.
Another is the Ancient Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, founded in 1870, headquartered in Washington D.C.:
Headquarters of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in Washington D.C.
Both of these headquarters have Triptych entryways.
[google-translator]
Richard Cassaro’s new book, The Missing Link, explores the meaning, transformations and propagation of the ancient world’s most important religious icon. His first book, Written in Stone, is a wide-ranging exploration of hitherto-unknown connections among Freemasons, medieval cathedral builders and the creators of important ancient monuments, in support of his theory that a spiritually advanced mother culture, lost to history, is behind many of the world’s architectural and artistic traditions.
Above: The Burgos Cathedral is a Gothic-style cathedral in Burgos, Spain. Begun in 1221, it is famous for its vast size and unique architecture. Do ancient secrets lay hidden here?
Left: Architect Claude Bragdon, 1866 – 1946, designed New York Central Railroad Station, Rochester, NY. Right: Victor Hugo, 1885, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The Masonic Tracing Board is a mystery to today’s uninformed Masons.
The Twin Pillars on the Masonic Tracing Board (left) are identical to
Left: Westminster Abbey, London, England. Right: York Minster, York, England
Above: Getting our picture taken with Santa taps into a timeless memory we all remember. Macy’s knows this. 
