The Noble Lie

(Just to be clear, the post's title is firmly tongue-in-cheek, but the event was interesting nonetheless.)

On my drive home yesterday, the same day I made that last post about the bee symbol, I had a strange encounter. I was almost home with my driver's side window slightly cracked when I heard a "thump" like something had smacked the side of my car. I didn't think too much about it until I got out of the car and noticed that a big fat black bumblebee was on my left breast (yea, I have man boobs, wanna fight about it?) and it was convulsing and struggling to move. I guess it must have smacked the side of my car and fallen through the small crack in my window onto my shirt.

I took a tissue and put it on the ground, but all the poor thing could do at that point was twitch and convulse, so I gave it as quick and merciful an end as I could. I was moved by the suffering of the individual bee, and frustrated I could do little more.

Translated, "The Rose gives the Bees honey." Rosicrucian symbol.

Since this love life is held back in all the bees except a single queen, the sexual life of the beehive is transformed into all of this activity that the bees develop among themselves...This is a very wise form of life.
- Rudolf Steiner, "Bees"

Leave me alone, stop it, just stop doggin' me around
- Michael Jackson

The dog days of summer are upon us. With July comes the conjunction of our sun with nearby binary star Sirius, the l'etoile flamboyante (blazing star), also known as the Dog Star.

In ancient Rome, the dies caniculares (dog days) were a bad omen, "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies." In ancient Egypt, the conjunction of Sirius and the sun was much welcome, as it marked the time of the annual Nile inundation.

The Nile inundation is probably alluded to in Waite's depiction above. As it heralds the flood of the Nile, Sirius is believed by some to flood our solar system with cosmic/divine energy.

To quote from Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot:

A great, radiant star of eight rays, surrounded by seven lesser stars--also of eight rays. The female figure in the foreground is entirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot upon the water. She pours Water of Life from two great ewers, irrigating sea and land. Behind her is rising ground and on the right a shrub or tree, whereon a bird alights. The figure expresses eternal youth and beauty. The star is l'étoile flamboyante, which appears in Masonic symbolism, but has been confused therein. That which the figure communicates to the living scene is the substance of the heavens and the elements. It has been said truly that the mottoes of this card are "Waters of Life freely" and "Gifts of the Spirit."

The summary of several tawdry explanations says that it is a card of hope. On other planes it has been certified as immortality and interior light. For the majority of prepared minds, the figure will appear as the type of Truth unveiled, glorious in undying beauty, pouring on the waters of the soul some part and measure of her priceless possession. But she is in reality the Great Mother in the Kabalistic Sephira Binah, which is supernal Understanding, who communicates to the Sephiroth that are below in the measure that they can receive her influx.

Sirius is also the star of Isis (the divine mother who tricked her way into divinity, with the help of a serpent). It is a symbol of transcendence and liberation. All in all, not an inappropriate time for a Declaration of Independence and a bunch of burning, blazing fireworks.

Words fail me sometimes. Symbols speak louder than words, and I plan to use more of them. One of the greatest sources of symbolism that is readily accessible to anybody in this age is Tarot. This symbol has been on my mind a lot lately.

XVI. The Tower

Tears of the feeble, hands of the slaves
Skin of the mothers, mouths of the babes
Building the towers belongs to the sky
When the whole thing comes crashing down, don't ask me why

- Soundgarden, "Limo Wreck"

I know why you tore it down that day
You thought that if you got caught we'd all go away
Like a spoiled little baby who can't come out to play
You had your revenge

Build me up, tear me down like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down these joining walls
So they can't climb at all

- Bad Religion, "Skyscraper"

"Ring of Power: Empire of the City" is a spectacular, and very long, documentary. Weighing in at over 4 hours, it covers the Egyptian crypto-history of the Bible including the Hyksos Kings, the "Twelve Tribes of Israel," secret societies, Queen Elizabeth II, the Rothschilds, the City of London, September 11, and New World Order and Globalism.

If you decide to track down and verify the claims made in this documentary, you are in for quite a ride. Many fascinating discoveries and some false leads are to be had in this documentary.

This film is also the first place I heard and appropriated the wonderful portmentau, bankster. I'll add notes the next time I watch it (soon).

Part 1

Part 2

• Ouroboros - Wikipedia
• Oroborus notes for someone's tattoo, lots of good musings

Pedet Finis Aborigine - Look for the end in the beginning

Lately I have been studying the history of "conspiracy culture" and listening to some of the earlier generations of radio and shortwave hosts who raised and nurtured this fascinating little fringe of Americana. As far as I'm concerned, so-called "conspiracy theory" is as American as apple pie..

I am becoming fascinated by this guy, Bill Cooper, and recognize that a great deal of this current crop of conspiracy hosts cribbed almost everything they know from this guy. He started as a member of the UFO study (so-called Ufology) community, but eventually drifted away from that to become very involved with the Militia and Patriot Radio movement. He also brings a clarity of understanding of the occult side of power that is often imitated but rarely duplicated, especially among self-identified "Christian" hosts. Incidentally, he was killed during a tense confrontation with police.

Bill Cooper - Mystery Babylon Series 01 - The Dawn of Man

On the topic of masonic aprons, check out:

• George Washington's apron (chock with symbolism)
• Meriwether Lewis's apron (relative of George Washington, Robert E. Lee, and Queen Elizabeth II)

Meriwether Lewis was quite a fellow. Not only was he Lewis from Lewis and Clark, but he also fought in the unit that put down the Whiskey Rebellion. He was master of the first masonic lodge in St. Louis. He died from multiple gunshot wounds.. the official ruling was suicide but his family maintained that he was murdered.

This is not a political discourse or an endorsement of either candidate. If (big IF) I vote for anybody, it will be Cynthia McKinney, because I think she has integrity. I'm chiefly interested in language and invoked symbols in this post. McCain is powerless but Sarah Palin is not. As far as I'm concerned, this race is between Obama and Palin.

Thanks to UV Garden again for this first clip. Here is a pretty disgusting video of some Sarah Palin supporters.. and Sarah being blessed by people standing around her speaking in tongues. This video is just disgusting, especially the person who is screaming about the MURDERERS who take birth control pills.

[embed file="video/Palin_LandofQueenEsther.flv

Here is a video of Louis Farakhan preaching to his people to consider Obama as an ambassador from God. Hard times and struggling people need a hero to worship, and Obama is being offered up for that role. He is trying to make Obama sound like something more than human, like he comes from a special womb, or a magical place.

A lot of people on the web freaked out claiming Farakhan called Obama the Messiah, but if you listen he didn't really do that. He called Obama the Herald of the Messiah, and I think he mentions how careful he has to be about what he says. In Bible terms, this would cast Obama in the role of John the Baptist. The herald of the messiah, in the case of John the Baptist, prepares the world for the messiah's coming, anoints the messiah, and is killed.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, 'I am not the Christ.' They asked him, 'Then who are you? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No.' Finally they said, 'Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?' John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, 'I am the voice of one calling in the desert,"Make straight the way for the Lord."'

Book of John

The Herald of the Messiah is also the dawn or morning star which heralds the "new sun rising."

“A light will shine down from somewhere. It will light upon you. You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it."
-Barack Obama

A lot of people are riding on their candidate, on both sides, so that they can reshape America in their own image. Besides the messianic overtones, both of these clips also mention a need or desire to transform America. And we will be transformed, by hook or by crook.

I know I am not the only person who gets the chills pondering Kennedy's very liberal sentiment, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Messianic links

• John The Baptist, The Herald of the Messiah's Coming
• Gospel of Barnabas (didn't make the Bible cut)

EDIT: I meant to include this, here's a great article (from somebody who would think I'm a loon, no doubt, but it's still a great article) on the the power of image over issues in politics.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

- The Beatles

The Egyptians had a nuanced and multi-faceted view of spirit. Most fascinating to me is the Ba, the part of the spirit which is the unique identity of the individual, represented as a bird with a human head. After death, this Ba would fly out of the tomb of the deceased, and seek to meet once again with its animating force, the Ka.