Mr. Jackson smiled, fixed his eyes back on the book, and quoted again, “‘The Jewish religion is based principally on the ancient Persian religion, on that of Zarathustra—who came later in Persian history—and on Babylonian doctrines, as well.’” He looked into Paul’s eyes, and added an explanation, saying that the six-pointed star symbolizes the procreative sexual operation of the Babylonian Brotherhood Bloodline. The geographical area where this operation had first started was the city of Babylon in Mesopotamia—modern day Iraq—known as the land between the two rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates.
“The Israeli Flag…” Paul muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile, frenzied sounds emerged from Albert Pike’s chamber, reaching the crypt below, where Paul and Mr. Jackson had been inspecting the red book.
“We have an intruder,” said one voice.
“Down in the crypt,” informed another.
Immediately realizing the time had come for him and Paul to escape the crypt, Mr. Jackson moved to plan ‘D’. The secret information he’d gotten about the crypt had not been as precise as he’d expected. He’d thought he’d be able to find the red book, and get out without problems. Plan ‘D’ would allow them an escape route from the crypt, through a tunnel built underneath the Sarcophagus. To access it, Mr. Jackson had to find a green button on the left pillar. He fervently hoped that at least this information would be accurate. If not, their destiny would be unknown.
“Help me find a green button on the left pillar, Paul,” he ordered in a shaky voice, before he added, “It’s our only way out!”
According to the Templars-Freemasons, the left pillar was called Boaz, in reference to Solomon’s great grandfather and King of Israel. Paul recalled the conversation he’d had with Mr. Gibson on that matter. It also meant Babel, he thought to himself.
Time was running out when Paul suddenly touched upon a green raised surface, and, without a second thought, firmly pressed on it, activating an automated pulley system that slowly began moving the Sarcophagus from its base. Footsteps running down the stairs towards the crypt were heard, louder and louder, as they approached.
“Hurry… Hurry…” shouted Mr. Jackson, his elegant white Stetson fell to the ground.
As Paul descended through the tunnel, followed by Mr. Jackson, shots of gunfire echoed inside the crypt. He heard a grunt of pain behind him, and immediately turned to look at Mr. Jackson. He was holding his left arm, and Paul could see the blood, seeping through his right hand.
“You’ve been shot!” Paul grunted in dismay.
“Just a… a… shot, I’m fine…” he answered spasmodically. “Don’t stop, Paul. I’ll cover you… Go!”
“What are you talking about? I can’t leave you here,” Paul said, looking at the man who’d just offered his own life for his survival.
“Listen to me,” ordered Mr. Jackson, his eyes on Paul’s. “If I let them catch me now… they will certainly stop running after you… They’ll think I’m alone,” he explained in a firm and steady voice that belied the pain coursing through him.
“But… I really can’t do that,” Paul retorted, sick at the idea of Mr. Jackson’s fate, if left to the mercy of the Babylonian Brotherhood.
“No! This is an order, Paul! Things—more important than my life—are at stake here. Keep to the right. Now run!”
These were the final words Mr. Jackson uttered, before five men in black appeared through the tunnel in pursuit of the intruders. Paul had understood Mr. Jackson’s words, and started running at once, as fast as he could. He followed the trail, turning right, for about an hour, before he ultimately reached an opening behind a wall that lead to a public garden.
“I’m safe,” he said to himself.
The thought of Mr. Jackson and what might be happening to him at this very moment urged him to go back, and try to save him. But the rational part of Paul’s mind reminded him of Mr. Jackson’s last words, and of the fact that it was impossible for him to do that, in any case, on his own. The Red Book was in his possession, and he couldn’t allow the risk of losing it, not now, not with the sacrifice that had been offered in its stead. The secrets contained therein should—and would—be revealed to the world.
Inside the tunnel, the five men in black caught Mr. Jackson, and took him back inside the House of the Temple and upstairs into a small room, where they imprisoned him for investigation. Mr. Jackson had complied with them, all the way up, without resistance. Although in pain from the deep injury in his arm, he seemed in a state of inner peace.
My mission has ended, he thought to himself, as he sat alone in the tiny room where they’d locked him. The Red Book is in good hands now. The world shall know the truth, he smiled.
Pacing the packed streets of Washington D.C., Paul thought of taking the train back to Lebanon, New Jersey, show the book to Mr. Gibson, and stay a couple of days, before travelling back to Lebanon, and convening with the Keepers and the Padre. His life was too precious to waste now.
Suddenly he stopped, and turned pale at sight of what he’d imagined to be a ghost or an apparition of some sort, amidst the falling night. Upon closer inspection, what he’d thought he’d seen turned out to be something different. A bronze statue of the Grand Commander—Albert Pike—stood in the triangle, opposite to the Municipality Building.
Paul heaved a sigh of relief at seeing the statue standing still, inside the triangle. “Statues can’t walk,” he mumbled under his breath, and smiled, reassured.
The trip to New Jersey had been arranged an hour and a half later. It was around ten when the train left the US capital, heading north.
.46.
The Star Chamber
Sunday, December 12, 04:05 PM
The joyful reunion—early Sunday morning, with the Keepers at the Fortress of Gebel—happened a week after his escapade from the House of the Temple. Paul had stayed a few days at Mr. Gibson’s little cottage by the lake, as it would’ve been extremely dangerous to take a flight back to Lebanon, immediately after having gotten a hold of the ‘Red Book’. Mr. Gibson had informed his guest that the ‘BB’s secret agents would be on a heightened state of alert and vigilance, closely watching all ports of entry, especially airports, for a likely accomplice to Mr. Jackson.
Holding the Red Book in his hands, Dr. Najem revealed a smile of triumph. “Good job, Paul. Good job!” he said, as he handed the book to the other Keepers, Professor Michel first, then Dr. Bechara, and finally Nabil, who took it to the Library, where he placed it in a special section dedicated to the Persians, Chaldean-Babylonian-Hebrews, Templars, and Freemasons.
“You must be tired now, Paul,” Dr. Najem broke the silence, and added, “I believe you should rest for the day,” he proposed. “However, we will show you, later tonight, the secret passage that leads you to the Mystery Chamber of Gebel.”
“A secret passage to the Mystery Chamber?” Paul exclaimed, a sudden energy sprinting through his veins. “What now?” he asked.
“You simply cannot enter the Mystery Chamber from the Archaeological site, Paul. We think… ” Professor Michel interrupted, his eyes widening in alarm. “Well, you’ll be taking the secret passage from here, because we cannot let you go openly to Gebel!”
“We believe Seth Servitors might still be watching the secret entry to the Mystery Chamber from the site,” Dr. Bechara explained with a serious tone and a deep frown. He turned his attention to Paul, and warned him, “If they catch you now, especially now, after they’ve lost their ‘Red Book’, it would be your end and perhaps the end of our Fraternity. We trust the secret passage is safe. No one knows about it.”
All eyes turned to Paul. A frightening silence weighed on him.
“To answer your question ‘what now?’ we shall meet at eleven o’clock in the evening on the doorstep of the ‘Star Chamber’ for your final ritual,” Dr. Najem informed.
“My final ritual?” Paul wondered aloud.
“Yes. Every Keeper of the Word has gone through it, and so will you,�
�� he explained.
At Paul’s nod of agreement, they all smiled.
Standing in front of the door of the Star Chamber later at night, he felt the quickened beats of his heart. He couldn’t stabilize it, or ignore its reverberations clutching his stomach. The last ritual would take place anytime now, he thought.
“Calm down,” whispered Nabil in reassuring tones, “Everything will be alright.”
Paul nodded, unable to match his confidence.
Dr. Najem opened the heavy wooden door, and led the way. They followed him, one after the other. At once, the cool air in the Chamber enfolded Paul—his mind and body. Pure and uplifting, it permeated through his pores, and imbued his heart.
All in white, from head to toe, the four Keepers cheerfully welcomed Paul into the Star Chamber, and congratulated him for reaching so far in his Initiation. They explained to him how the man in white, Jesus, had firmly stepped into the Temple of Shalim, after the Hebrews had made it imperfect, when they’d turned it into the Temple of Shlomo, Solomon. With great, fascinating authority Jesus had shoved out the impious traders and money dealers from the Temple, saying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers! You’ve made it imperfect!” His words, written in the New Testament, had reached Paul, clearly still, from the back of his mind. He recalled the Padre’s commentary of that powerful scene, which he had uttered with a smile in a sweet tone of voice, “The true battle of survival in this world, Paul, is not material… not for or by money, but by prayers, compassion, love, and peace—a spiritual victory. The road is awkward and long, but don’t be afraid, Truth shall always prevail.”
Paul’s heart took courage again, remembering these particular words, as he carefully listened to the Keepers—pointing out that he had still fallen short of success in his battle against Satan. The Air of Freedom—he had lost it, but should he prevail in his next attempt, he would then be apt to move to the final element—the fifth. Despite the dread and thrill of the moment, he felt ready for it. He filled his lungs with fresh air, in a deep and plentiful breath that widened his thorax, straightened his shoulders, and brought his head up.
The light—diffused from the torches of the ten golden statues in the Star Chamber—enveloped him. Circling a Five-Pointed Star drawn in the middle of the marble floor, they appeared to him to be majestic guardians in a stance against the powers of evil. A distinctive statue majestically stood over the central point of the Star. Paul looked in awe at this eleventh statue that personified a Magician in white. In his left hand, a Scepter—the Caduceus of Enoch-Hermes—with two serpents coiled around it. The serpent’s heads joined a little below the rim of the Caduceus’s crest, which extended out in the form of the fluttering wings of a Phoenix. A golden crown on his head, the Magician carried a rolled papyrus, tied with a golden ribbon, in his right hand.
The serious voice of Dr. Najem rose from the right corner, reverberating through the Chamber. “The White Robe signifies the Purity in man,” he began. “The Scepter shows his Mastership over the basic elements of Nature, and the Golden Crown means the individual will—in unison with the Universal Light: God—for the manifestation of Truth and Justice,” he paused, adding, “It will be directly involved, in participation with Divine Power, over existential life. It is an eternal gift to the free spirits.
“Let me explain the meaning behind the Caduceus of Hermes, the Great seer of ancient times,” he resumed, “He was Thot—the Egyptian, Ibis-headed god—lawgiver, divider of time, and counter of the stars. Curious and strange as it may sound, the Caduceus resembles the double helix structure of the DNA! Could it be possible that the ancient seer had discerned it?” he halted, and continued, “In the ninth vision of the Sacred Alphabet, Tet(h): the Old Serpent—which the seer saw coiled around the Tree of life, known also as the Shaft of the Shepherd—is our unconscious, a reminder of who we are, and who we would become.” He gazed at Paul, “Toth or Teth is the awakening of our memory, long hence latent—ever since we lost contact with our true nature. It is the Serpent who laid the foundation for our godhead lotus to blossom, lifting us upwards from the mud that constitutes our material, organic life, and into immortality. Like a Hierophant to a neophyte, it whispers divine words from mouth to ear. It is our revealed DNA, our hidden memory… our cultural-genetic rhythm of Truth, long fallen short from its divine archetype.
“The Serpent around the Rod of Enoch was known in almost all Religions of the ancient civilizations as the symbol of wisdom and immortality,” Dr. Najem carried on. “The eternal cycle of death and rebirth was represented by a serpent biting its tail: the Ouroboros. We ignore why the Church has associated it with the Devil in the first place. Some assume that it is because of its correlation with the cycle of death and rebirth, as being the cycle of pain and entrance into matter, where temptation and sexual desires are always in active states,” he seemed to be done speaking, and looked at the Professor.
“In the Hindu system of Yoga, for instance, the Kundalini Serpent stands upward along the human spinal cord, having Seven Centers of Energy,” Professor Michel proposed, continuing the teachings where Dr. Najem had stopped. “Two currents of Energy—one positive and one negative—in the shape of two serpents traveling upwards, crisscrossing around the Seven Centers, known by the name of Chakras.” He halted for a moment of reflection, and added, “The Spaces and loops the two serpents form around the Caduceus of Thot are just like those of the Chakra system, described in Yoga. In addition, Esoteric Physiology—a secret system found in ancient Egypt—shows some likeness in its portrayal of the force centers in the human body.”
“The intertwined dual serpents also represent the process of evolution and involution in esoteric sciences.” He looked at Paul as he spoke, capturing his attention, “It simply indicates the spirit descending into matter, and then, rising back again to enlightenment in the spiritual dimension. In fact, it is through the wings of the Phoenix, flapping vigorously over the heads of the serpents that liberation from the unconscious limitations of the mind could occur. Then, a new dawn of self-consciousness would rise.”
The Professor then elaborated on the Doctrine of Hermes, explaining that it is essentially based on the unity of all things. God is all, and God is within. Thus, God is ‘One’, and humanity can be one with God through spiritual awareness. Hermes—also called Hermes Trismegistos, or Thrice Greatest—is identified as the Earthly Agent of the Divine Creator. Certainly, he was the inventor of speech and of the Phonetic Alphabet, being ‘Thor-Theut’ himself—the wise physician and magician mentioned in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
His Caduceus is held by the ‘Shepherd of Men’, who guides humanity to repent, to get rid of the darkness within, and to grasp the inner light. He would also lead humanity to forsake corruption, and partake of immortality. Every Initiate is required to have some sort of self-discipline, and to experience certain forms of asceticism. Silent Meditation gives the Initiate the ability to see the Great Vision and perceive its depth, by suppressing all senses that fall within the boundaries of Dualism.
Hermes revealed that man on Earth is a mortal god, and that God in the abode of Heaven is an immortal Man. His famous axiom ‘As above so below’ is but an invitation for man to come nearer to God, for God is always in the heart of man. Therefore, it is a solemn call for man to become a god—son of God, for in truth, God has uttered the Word that came to dwell among us in the form of a man.
“Christianity preaches that Jesus is the son of man, or woman, so to speak,” the Professor suggested with a smile, “But the concept of son of God would not be fully understood without the spiritual revelation of Hermes-Enoch-Taautus. Jesus—entrapped like us, humans, inside the cycle of death and rebirth, in duality—succeeded, after all, in conquering this cycle, by reaching fulfillment in the oneness with God, and becoming what he was in reality: the son of God,” he said in eloquent conclusion.
“We have to close the Circle… now,” Dr. Bechara invited, surprisi
ng them all. “Or I should say, close the lines of the Star, and initiate the energy of the Five Points of Fellowship!”
“What do you mean?” Paul asked, perplexed.
“Come along… follow me.”
Dr. Najem sat crossed-legged at the apex of the Star on the Eastern side; right beneath the image of a Rising Sun. Everyone else took their position on the remaining four points. Professor Michel sat on the left, the Northern side, as Dr. Bechara sat on the right, the Southern point. Nabil and Paul hesitated for a moment then randomly chose the two remaining points, directed towards the West.
“The five-pointed star of Pythagoras,” Dr. Bechara remarked, “known also as the Pentagram, means ‘death to reveal’ in the Secret Occult language of the authentic Tradition. Each of its lines intersects with the others in Macro to Micro proportions. Therefore, if correctly drawn inside the Circle, as it is the case here, the Star would then hold the power to exorcise the bad daemons. So let’s start!”
The meditation began… and the Buddhist mantra AUM echoed…
They were deeply engrossed in meditation when a sudden rush of energy darted along the five lines of the Star, whooshed from one point to another, lit them all up at once, and stayed that way for some time, before an abrupt cut-off took place, astonishing Paul. Immediately after, a sense of order settled in, and a great peace—harmonious in nature—flooded the air.
“O Thot-Hermes, the Ibis-Headed god at the ‘Great Hall of Justice’, the divine lawgiver, you, who record the assessment of the heart of the deceased against the feather of truth. Open the way…” Dr. Najem invoked the spirit of Thor.
The Phoenician Code Page 40
