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The Reverse side of the Dollar Bill. The Great Seal of the United States. The Eye of the Holy spirit, here shown at the summit of a Pyramid of Creation, is a counterpart of the Eye of Vishnu mentioned in the Indian tale of the "Humbling of Indra". One may think of it as connoting, metaphorically, that mysterious 'impulse' out of which the Big Bang of creation sent flying into distances that are still receding in expanding space, hundreds of millions of exploding atomic furnaces which are seen from this earth as stars, constellations, and a Milky Way of unnumberable points of light. The present pyramid is not, however, of that first creation, but of a second, a 'new order of the world" (novus ordo seclorum), represented here as constituted of exactly 13 courses allegorical of our 13 original states. And whereas behind the new pyramid there is only a desert to be seen, before and around it are the sprouting seeds of a new and fresh beginning, dated 1776: 1 + 7 + 7 + 6 = 21. Mankind, that is to say, has herewith come of age and taken to itself responsibility and authority for the shaping of human lives according to Reason. Moreover, between the dated course at the the pyramid's base, which tells of an occurrence in Time, and the Eye at the top, which is of Eternity, there are 12 courses this being the number of signs of the belt of the Zodiac as defining the limits of the physical world. The number 13, accordingly, which is that of the dated course at the base, represents a creative transcendence of the boundary; of death, as appears in the popular superstition of 13 at table, but an achieved life beyond death, as signified in the model of the table at the Last Supper, where the 12 apostles were of the number of the belt of the zodiac by which the physical world is bounded, whereas the incarnate God who was about to die, though indeed among them in the field of Time, was of Eternity, beyond the pale of death. Thus the number 13 of our 13 originating states is here interpreted and celebrated as the sign of a resurrection of life out of death, fresh leaves from a desert, a wholesome gift of the light of Reason as an awakener to maturity of the mind in its social conscience. |
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| From: Inner Reaches of Outer Space by Joseph Campbell, page 128
Obverse, Great Seal of the United States: In the radiant disk above the American bald eagle's head the stars of the original 13 states are composed to form a Solomon's seal symbolic of the union of soul and body, spirit, and matter. Each of the interlaced equilateral triangles, one upward turned, the other downward, is a Pythagorean 'tetraktys' or "perfect triangle of fourness," of nine points, four to a side, enclosing a tenth representing the generative center ("still point of the turning world") out of which the others derive their force. The upward triangle is of spiritual, the downward pointing, of physical energy. Thus interlaced, the two represent the physical world recognized as informed by the spiritual, and in exactly this sense they appear at the Lotus Center of the awakened heart, Chakra 4, in the symbolic Lotus series of the Indian Kundalini. In the Classical imagination, the 9 circumferencial points of the Pythagorean tetraktys were identified with the Muses and the point in the center with Apollo, around whose radiant form the 9 dance. In Jewish thought, the sign of the two triangles together is known as the 'magen david' (Hebrew, maghen Dawidth), "Shield of David" , and read as connoting the shekhinah, or presence of God in Israel (as originally in the burning bush and in the cloud on the summit of Mt. Sinai). In the Great Seal of the United States the reference is the inspiration of the light of Reason in the Constitution of the originating 13 colonies brought together as one nation: e pluribus unum, "out of many, one". These are homologous, though culturally differentiated, interpretations of the same "elementary idea". When viewed as outlining a pyramid, the upward pointing triangle matches the pyramid on the reverse side of the Seal, with the single point at it's apex corresponding to the Eye out of which the expanding form of the universe has proceeded. As symbolized in the traditional Pythagorean tetraktys, the energy emanating from that initial point (which is of the opening both from and to eternity) yields, first, duality (2 points: measure and chaos, subject and object, light and dark, odd and even, male and female, etc. ), which then relate to each other in three ways (3 points: either a dominant, b dominant, or a and b in accord), whence derive all the phenomenal forms in the field of space-time (4 points: 4 quarters of the earth and heavens). There is a verse in the Chinese Tao Teh Ching: "The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produce all things" (Tao Teh Ching 42, translation, James Legge). Thus the ancient symbolism of the tetraktys: 1 point, 2 points, 3 points and 4; which series when read in the opposite sense of ascending or returning to the source, yields the interesting series, 4 3 2 (for the sense of which see: 432 Connotations of the same order pertain, of course, to the downward turned tetraktys, with its single point at the apex opening also from and to Eternity; so that, "What is above is below," and the energy of the Spirit (however named) whether from without (as from the Eye, the apex above) or from within the world (the apex below) is one. Moreover, since from every terminal point of the six-pointed Solomon's seal the same increasing series of 2 to 3 to 4 proceeds, it follows that the intended sense of the radiant symbol of 13 stars above the American bald eagle's head must have been the same essentially as that of Black Elk's remark, "The center is everywhere", above and below, north, south,e ast, and west - with an addition eighteenth-century implication of the humanizing light of reason reflected, universally, in the clarified consciousness of mankind. The number of stripes on the American eagle's shield is 13; so also the number of the arrows and of the leaves of the laurel spray in its talons, while the number of the feathers of its tail is 9, to the eye, but through the eye to the intellect, the meanings of which can be known only to those already familiar with the illustrated tradition. Such a composition may grace the eye, but in itself it lacks magic, or, as Joyce would say, the "radiance" (claritas) of an achieved work of "proper" art. One's heart is waked, not by the form of the work, but by its content, and if the latter is of a tradition either unknown or deceased, the work may be of interest, like the dollar bill, economically, but it is no longer a work of living art. The artist fashioning a work of this kind serves in the way, rather of the priest of an assured tradition than of an innovating creator, and the refinement of his vocabulary can be astounding. Consider, for instance, the elegant concision of the statement of the relationship of a theological ground to the polity of this nation, founded in benevolence and reason, that is represented in the ideogram of the outspread eagle on our dollar bill overhead, the two fold tetraktys arranged in the form a Solomon's Seal of 13 five-pointed stars; other recurrences of the number 13, the sum of the feathers in the eagle's tail (3 + 3 + 3); and the offered choices of either a spray of laurel or a sheaf of 13 arrows. It is ironical that today we should be passing around as legal tender these sociological manifestos without being able to read the message of democracy engraved on every one of them, the spiritual inspiration out of which their economic value has been derived. So that, not only the message, but even its vocabulary, has been lost. |
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THE FEDERALIST PAPERS . |
THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH Isaiah 2: For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God shall be on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it. 3: And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. 4: And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more. |
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THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION 17 Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Rev 17:9 And here [is] the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. Rev 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him [are] called, and chosen, and faithful. Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. |
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THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION 18 Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Rev 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her. Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, Rev 18:13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. Rev 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. Rev 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, Rev 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! Rev 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, Rev 18:18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city is] like unto this great city! Rev 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, [thou] heaven, and [ye] holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. Rev 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Rev 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be], shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
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