The Mysteries of the Great Cross of Hendaye
Page 49
PESUNICA
Certainly it is easy to recognize the well-known phrase: O crux ave spes unica (Hail o cross, the only hope). However, if we were to translate it like a schoolboy, we should not know the purpose either of the base or of the cross and we might be surprised by such an invocation. In reality, we should carry carelessness and ignorance to the pitch of disregarding the elementary rules of grammar. The masculine word pes in the nominative requires the adjective unicus, agreeing in gender, and not the feminine form unica. It would, therefore, appear that the corruption of the word spes, hope, into pes, foot, by dropping the initial consonant, must be the unintentional result of a complete lack of knowledge on the part of out stone-cutter. But does inexperience really justify such uncouthness? I cannot think so. Indeed, a comparison of the other motifs, carried out by the same hand and in the same manner, shows evident care to reproduce the normal positioning, a care shown both in the placing and in the balance of the motifs. Why should the inscription have been treated less scrupulously? A careful examination of the latter shows that the letters are clear, if not elegant, and do not overlap (pl. XLVII). No doubt our workman traced them first in chalk or charcoal, and this rough draft must rule out any idea that a mistake occurred during the actual cutting of the letters. However, since this apparent mistake exists, it follows that it must really have been intended. The only reason that I can think of is that it is a sign put in on purpose, concealed under the appearance of an inexplicable blunder, and intended to arouse the curiosity of the observer. I will, therefore, state that, in my opinion, it was with knowledge and intent that the author arranged the inscription of his puzzling work in this way.
I had already been enlightened by studying the pedestal and knew in what way and by what means of what key the Christian inscription of the monument should be read; but I was anxious to show investigators what help may be obtained in solving hidden matters from plain common sense, logic and reasoning.
The letter S, which takes on the curving shape of a snake, corresponds to the Greek khi (X) and takes over its esoteric meaning. It is the helicoidal track of the sun, having arrived at the zenith of its curve across space, at the time of the cyclic catastrophe. It is a theoretical image of the Beast of the Apocalypse, of the dragon, which, on the days of Judgment, spews out fire and brimstone on macrocosmic creation. Thanks to the symbolic value of the letter S, displaced on purpose, we understand that the inscription must be translated in secret language, that is to say in the language of the gods or the language of the birds, and that the meaning must be found with the help of the rules of Diplomacy. Several authors, and particularly Grasset d’Orcet in his analysis of the Songe de Polyphile published by the Revue Britannique, have given these sufficiently clearly to make it unnecessary for me to repeat them. We shall, then, read in French, the language of the diplomats, the Latin just as it is written. Then, by making use of the permutation of vowels, we shall be able to read off the new words, forming another sentence, and re-establish the spelling, the word order and the literary sense. In this way, we obtain the following strange announcement: Il est écrit que la vie se réfugie en un seul espace (It is written that life takes refuge in a single space)j and we learn that a country exists, where death cannot reach man at the terrible time of the double cataclysm. As for the geographical location of this promised land, from which the élite will take part in the return of the golden age, it is up to us to find it. For the élite, the children of Elias, will be saved according to the word of Scripture, because their profound faith, their untiring perseverance in effort, will have earned for them the right to be promoted to the rank of the disciples of the Christ-Light. They will bear his sign and will receive from him the mission of renewing for regenerated humanity the chain of tradition of the humanity which has disappeared.
The front of the cross, the part which received the three terrible nails fixing the agonized body of the Redeemer to the accursed wood, is indicated by the inscription INRI, carved on its transverse arm. It corresponds to the schematic image of the cycle, shown on the base (pl. XLVIII). Thus we have two symbolic crosses, both instruments of the same torture. Above is the divine cross, exemplifying the chosen means of expiation; below is the global cross, fixing the pole of the northern hemisphere and locating in time the fatal period of this expiation. God the Father holds in his hand this globe, surmounted by the fiery sign. The four great ages—historical representations of the four ages of the world—have their sovereigns shown holding this same attribute. They are Alexander, Augustus, Charlemagne and Louis XIV.k It is this which explains the inscription INRI, exoterically translated as Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), but which gives to the cross its secret meaning: Igne Natura Renovatur Integra (By fire nature is renewed whole). For it is by fire and in fire that our hemisphere will soon be tried. And just as, by means of fire, gold is separated from impure metals, so, Scripture says, the good will be separated from the wicked on the great Day of Judgment.
On each of the four sides of the pedestal, a different symbol is to be seen. One has the image of the sun, another of the moon; the third shows a great star and the last a geometric figure, which, as I have just said, is none other than the diagram used by the initiates to indicate the solar cycle. It is a simple circle, divided into four sectors by two diameters cutting each other at right angles. The sectors each bear an A, which shows that they stand for the four ages of the world. This is a complete hieroglyph of the universe, composed of the conventional signs for heaven and earth, the spiritual and the temporal, the macrocosm and the microcosm, in which major emblems of the redemption (cross) and the world (circle) are found in association.
In medieval times, these four phases of the great cyclic period, whose continuous rotation was expressed in antiquity by means of a circle divided by two perpendicular diameters, were generally represented by the four evangelists or by their symbolic letter, which was the Greek alpha, or, more often still, by the four evangelical beasts surrounding Christ, the living human representation of the cross. This is the traditional formula, which one meets frequently on the tympana of Roman porches. Jesus is shown there seated, his left hand resting on a book, his right raised in the gesture of benediction, and separated from the four beasts, which attend him, by an ellipse, called the mystic almond. These groups, which are generally isolated from other scenes by a garland of clouds, always have their figures placed in the same order, as may be seen in the cathedrals of Chartres (royal portal) and Le Mans (west porch), in the Church of the Templars at Luz (Hautes Pyrénées) and the Church of Civray (Vienne), on the porch of St. Trophime at Arles, etc. (pl. XLIX).
“And before the throne,” writes St. John, “there was a sea of glass, like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.”l
This agrees with Ezekiel’s version: “And I looked, and behold . . . a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. . . . As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.”m
In Hindu mythology, the four equal sectors of the circle, formed by the cross, were the basis of a rather strange mystical conception. The entire cycle of human evolution is figured there in the form of a cow, symbolizing Virtue, each of whose four feet rests on one of the sectors representing the four ages of the world. In the first age, corresponding to the Greek age of gold and called Creda Yuga or age of innocence, Virtue is firmly established on earth: the cow stands squarely on four legs. In the Treda Yuga or second age, corresponding to the age of silver,
it is weakened and stands only on three legs. During the Touvabara Yuga, or third age, which is the age of bronze, it is reduced to two legs. Finally, in the age of iron, our own age, the cyclic cow or human virtue reaches the utmost degree of feebleness and senility: it is scarcely able to stand, balancing on one leg. It is the fourth and last age, the Kali Yuga, the age of misery, misfortune and decrepitude.
The age of iron has no other seal than that of Death. Its hieroglyph is the skeleton, bearing the attributes of Saturn: the empty hourglass, symbol of time run out, and the scythe, reproduced in the figure seven, which is the number of transformation, of destruction, of annihilation. The Gospel of this fatal age is the one written under the inspiration of St. Matthew. Matthaeus, Greek Mατθαìος, comes from Mάθηµα, Mάθηµατος, which means science. This word has given Mάθησις, µάθησεως, study, knowledge, from µανθάνειν, to learn. It is the Gospel according to Science, the last of all but for us the first, because it teaches us that, save for a small number of the élite, we must all perish. For this reason the angel was made the attribute of St. Matthew, because science, which alone is capable of penetrating the mystery of things, of beings and their destiny, can give man wings to raise him to knowledge of the highest truths and finally to God.
INDEX
Abbot Suger, 184, 192, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 214, 217, 222, 280
Abd-al-Rahman, 122
Abelard, Peter, 169
Abraham, 98–101, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107–8, 145, 154, 182–83, 223, 323, 326, 341, 344
Abraham ben David, Rabbi, 184, 185
Abram, 102, 104–6, 341
Abu Abdallah, 113
Abu Artush, 180
Abufalah, 170–80, 234
Abyssinia, 100
Acharontos, 44–45, 61
Acre, 169
Acts of the Apostles, 211
Adam, 101, 382
Adam Kadmon, 383, 406
Adelmar, 213
Adhemar, 138, 139
Adriatic Sea, 163
Aegean Sea, 369
Afghanistan, 110
Aghlabid, 113
Ahathoor Temple, 429
AHH YHVH ELOHIM, 247
Aisne, 193
Aix, 181
Akiva, Rabbi, 179
Al Aqsa Mosque, 192
Al Arabi, Ibn, 185
Al Azhar Mosque, 113–14, 128–29, 197
Al Hakim, 122, 128–29, 137, 140,
144–45, 180, 181
Al Khattab, Omar, 109–10
Al Mansur, Hallaj, 111, 112, 144, 145 Alberti, Leon Battista, 217
Albi, 171, 173, 174, 181 Albigensian, 173, 181
Alchemy, 118, 120, 141, 148, 149, 222, 228, 266, 268, 273, 312, 332, 338, 357, 393, 421, 423
Gnostic science and art of, xi–xiv, 2, 12–16, 19–20, 31, 37–64
meme of, 41–42, 54, 57, 62, 67
and androgyny, 17, 28
and DNA, 61–64, 69
and eschatalogy, xiii, 1, 6, 22, 37–39, 64–85
and three-fold transformation, 58–66, 81
and transformation/transmutation/redemption of spirit inside matter, 3, 5–6, 11, 17, 37, 55, 58, 77, 86
as “science of light and time,” xii, 37–39, 58, 61–64, 115
linguistic. See Green Language
method of, 59, 67
Alephus, 186
Alexander III, Pope, 152, 166, 215
Alexander the Great, 47, 118, 159, 308
Alexander VI, 383
Alexandria, 42, 44, 47, 49, 51–52, 66, 71, 80–81, 87, 195
Alexis I, 133, 135
Alfassa, Mirra, 298–300
Al-Haithan, 114, 128
Al-Hallaj, 113
Alhazen, 114, 128
Ali, 108, 112, 191
Al-khem, 42
Allah, 102, 103, 110, 111, 234
Allat, 234
Al-Lat, 103, 208, 234
Allen, J. M., 374–77
Al-Manat, 103
Al-Maqqari, 128, 129
al-Maqrizi, 122
al-Nur, 111
Alpha and Omega, 50–51
Alpha Crucis, 388, 390
Alpilles, 155, 156, 166
al-Sirat, 111
Al-Taif, 109
Altiplano, 376
Al-Uzza, 103, 109
Alyschamps, 164–65
Amadou, Robert, 26
Amedee de Ponthieu, 270
Amiens, 15, 138, 199, 207, 249, 255, 272, 274
Amnael, 44–45, 59–61, 241, 247
Amon-Re, 59–60
Amorai, Rabbi, 88, 93, 179
Ananda, 409
Anatolia, 204, 291, 405
Andalusia, 122
Andes, 365, 378, 383, 387, 400,
Andre, John, 148
Andreae, Johann Valentin, 55
Ankara, 206
ankh, 5, 48–50, 52, 251–253, 281
Anne, 202
Annunciation of the Virgin, 231
Antichrist, 79, 82, 185
Antioch, 138, 139
anti-Semitism, 87
Anubis, 44, 61
Aphrodite, 209
apocalypse, 9–10, 37, 67, 76–87, 185. See also eschatology
apokalypsis, 173
Apollo, 408
Apophis, 318
Appollonius of Tyana, 75, 120
Aquarius, 106
Aquinas, Thomas of, 147
Aquitaine, 126
Arabs, 100, 107, 120
Aragon, 75
Arcadia, 186
Archimedes, 120
Ardennes, 136, 137
Arelate, 155, 164
Arguelles, Jose, 335
Ariadne, 257
Aristotle, 120
Arithmetic, 224
Arius, 84–85
Arjuna, 417
Ark, 144
Arles, 5, 48, 52, 155, 156, 158–59, 161–67, 178, 181, 187, 201, 252, 278, 279, 309, 327, 330
Armageddon, 10, 128
Armenia, 167
Arnold of Villanova, 148
Arnulf, 126
Art, or Temperance, 332
Art/Alchemy, 333
Artemis, 211
Artemis/Arachne/Ariadne, 203
Arthur, King, 158, 187
Arthurian literature, 152, 166, 177
Aryans, 368
Asia Minor, 133
Astronomy, 224
Atalanta, 271
Atawallpa, 384–385
Athens, 81
Atlanteans, 289, 313, 378, 379
Atlantis, 44, 47, 366, 369, 371, 373– 377, 399, 406–8, 417, 418, 421, 422, 425
Atlas Mountains, 110
Atum, 402, 405
Atum-Re, 402–3
Atzilut, 272
Augustus, Octavius, 159, 308
Aurillac, 122, 134
Auvergne, France, 122
Avalon, Arthur, 300
axes, dragon (ecliptic, galactic, precessional), 96–98, 106–7
AYLN, 247
Aztec, 324
Baal, 102
Babaji, Mahavatar, 296
Bacchus, 231
Bacon, Roger, 130, 284
Bahir, 88, 91–94, 97, 98, 101–2, 106, 107, 110, 113–14, 119, 146, 149, 153, 177–88, 190, 191, 208, 213, 234, 235, 236, 237, 240, 272, 282, 316, 319, 320, 322, 338, 339, 420, 425
Bakr, Abu, 109–10
Balaak, 233
Balaam, 231, 265
Baldwin II, 139, 140–43, 146
Balthazar, 166
Bamberg Apocalypse, 128
Baphomet, 130, 131, 241
Baptism, 173
Barcelona, 179, 185
bardo, 423
Basilides, 70
Basque, 33, 288, 291, 301, 302, 303, 306, 313, 427
Beast of the Apocalypse, 333, 360
Beersheba, 183
Begg, Ean, 268
ben HaKana, Rabbi Nehuniah, 87–88
ben Zakkai, Rabbi Johanen, 87–88
ben-ben, 255
Benedictines, 184,
192
Berengaria, 169
Bergier, Jacques, See Morning of the Magicians
Bernbaum, Edwin, 413
Berry, 137, 276
Berthelot, 256
Besant, Annie, 297
Bethelem, 263
Beziers, 171
Bhrikuti, 410
Binah, 60, 89–92, 104–5, 213, 247, 250, 251, 255, 258, 279, 340
Black Madonna, The, 211, 273, 274, 309
Black Madonna of Dijon, 213
Black Madonnas, 57, 68–69, 212, 214, 234
Black Sea, 110, 207
Black Stone, 100–101, 107, 109, 144– 46, 181, 341
Black Virgin(s), 204, 211, 266, 267, 268, 269, 426, 427
Blasted Tower, The, 332
Blessed Holy One, 97
blue star, 355–356
Bogomils, 130, 171–73
Bohemund, 138
Bompo Ri, 415
Bond, F. Bligh, 245
Boniface VIII, Pope, 148
Bon-pos, 412–14, 417, 418
Book of James, The, 204
Book of the Law of Moses, 72
Bordeaux, 148
Botticelli, Sandro, 54
Boucher, Jules, 22–25, 29, 39, 303–5, 308, 311, 312, 315, 316, 324, 361, 362, 429
Bourges, 15, 18, 49, 54, 137, 147, 198, 216, 241, 249, 272, 276, 278
Brahma, 297
Bran, 292
Breton, Andre, 11, 12, 17–18
Brienne, 143
Brittany, 294, 301
Brons the Fisher-king, 152
Brotherhood of Heliopolis, 21, 26, 425, 430, 431
Buddha, 409, 416
Buddhism, 409–10
Burgandy, 143
Burgoyne, T. H., 300
Burton, Sir Richard Francis, 145
Busra, 204
Byzantine, 108, 133
Caba, 231, 234
Cabala, 246
caballus, 246
Caer Sidi, 292
Caesars, 79, 82–83
Cagliostro, 1
Cairo, 5, 47, 113, 114, 192, 391
Calabria, 126, 137, 152
Calvario, 380, 381
Camargue, 159, 163
Cambriel, Louis-Paul-Francois, 428
Camelot, 177, 187
Cana, 232
Canaanite, 102
Canseliet, Eugene, 3, 13–14, 17, 19– 30, 34, 246, 247, 281, 284, 424, 425, 428, 431
Cape Science Foundation, 303
Capet, Hugh, 126
Capetian, 199, 200, 217
Carcassone, 171
Carnac, 294
casamari, 184