Knights Templar Rounded Up (Friday, October 13, 1307)
When we think of the Knights Templar, we get an image of a Crusader Knight. That equal-armed cross on his tunic is probably why. But were they much more than that? Yes.
I don’t know about you, but I get a queasy feeling when I think of that Friday the 13th in 1307. And just before dawn, it would be the normal time to get up, so they wouldn’t even have had time to put their armour on. Yes, they would have been at their most vulnerable. The Part of Fortune @ 13° Taurus (conjunct the Moon) is very auspicious. They would have been totally opposite the stellium of four planets (Mercury, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) arrayed between 11° and 14° Scorpio, forming T-squares with the Midheaven @ 5° Leo. And Mars @ 27° Capricorn is opposite the Midheaven, and forming T-squares with the Sun/Ascendant conjunction @ 27° Libra. Pluto also gets in on the act by being trine to both the Sun and the Ascendant. Venus is trine Mars; Jupiter is trine the Midheaven. (And Chiron is the midpoint of an intercepted Pisces 9th House.) This is no accident!
The reason may be simple: it was time to take the organization off the world stage so that it could continue its work ‘underground’. (Neptune in Aquarius). Seemingly, the whole order has been resurrected in the United States this year. Interesting.
But Is There Proof of a Connection to Freemasonry?
Let’s compare the one organization’s ‘death’ chart to the other’s birth chart, shall we?
If these were two individuals across time, I would say that they are connected astrologically. There are five contact points: ‘fatal’ Mars conjunct natal Ascendant; ‘fatal’ Moon conjunct natal Neptune (forming an interactive Yod); ‘fatal’ Jupiter conjunct natal Midheaven; and ‘fatal’ Venus conjunct natal Uranus. That leaves the strongest/strangest one of them all: the North/South Node axes in both charts are 4° apart, with the ‘fatal’ North Node being conjunct the natal Saturn @ 13° Libra. Double hmm. The Grand Lodge of England chart has its Part of Fortune very close to my own Ascendant in this life, conjunct its Mars. My ‘peaceful’ warrior energy?
But enough about me…
One Conclusion
It’s obvious that this time is when we need spiritual energy to fight the good fight. Can we be inspired by these poor knights? I like to think so.
Let me be upfront with you: I am not a Mason, so I have no ‘insider’ information. But I’m not so sure about any of my past lives. I seem to ‘know’ more than I should.
Freemasonry is a modern version of a ‘trade’ union going back to King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and its chief architect, Hiram Abiff.
The tale of Hiram Abiff as passed down in Masonic Lodges underpins the third degree. It starts with his arrival in Jerusalem, and his appointment by Solomon as chief architect and master of works at the construction of his temple. As the temple is nearing completion, three fellowcraft masons from the workforce ambush him as he leaves the building, demanding the secrets of a master mason. Hiram is challenged by each in turn and, at each refusal to divulge the information, his assailant strikes him with a mason’s tool (differing between jurisdictions). He is injured by the first two assailants, and struck dead by the last.
The Masonic Legend of Hiram Abiff (Wikipedia)
The Ark of the Covenant (as shown at the top of the Grand Order crest) is testament of this connection. The cherubim are replicated in the main image. (Note the cloven hooves.)
“Since the middle of the 19th century, Masonic historians have sought the origins of the movement in a series of similar documents known as the Old Charges, dating from the Regius Poem in about 1425 to the beginning of the 18th century. Alluding to the membership of a lodge of operative masons, they relate it to a mythologised history of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of fidelity are to be taken on joining. The 15th century also sees the first evidence of ceremonial regalia.
“There is no clear mechanism by which these local trade organisations became today’s Masonic Lodges. The earliest rituals and passwords known, from operative lodges around the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, show continuity with the rituals developed in the later 18th century by accepted or speculative Masons, as those members who did not practice the physical craft gradually came to be known. The minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No. 1 in Scotland show a continuity from an operative lodge in 1598 to a modern speculative Lodge. It is reputed to be the oldest Masonic Lodge in the world.
United Grand Lodge of England, London
“Alternatively, Thomas De Quincey in his work titled Rosicrucians and Freemasonry put forward the theory that suggested that Freemasonry may have been an outgrowth of Rosicrucianism. The theory had also been postulated in 1803 by German professor; J. G. Buhle.
“The first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the Grand Lodge of England (GLE), was founded on St John’s Day, 24 June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner.” (Origins – Wikipedia)
There are two Fingers of God (Yods) made up of four inconjuncts, one pointing at Mars, the other, at Neptune.
Sun Inconjunct Mars
You have a rather strong will, which may be difficult to control. This is because your way of doing something tends to interfere with what you want to gain by doing it. Your actions in some situations may surprise people by contradicting what they have learned about you as a person. Inside of yourself, you may even begin to feel that you can’t approve of the way you act, or you may feel that you can’t deal comfortably with the results of your actions. In other words, you get yourself into real jams.
Mars Inconjunct Jupiter
With this aspect you probably are quite active, with abundant energy for anything you want to do. But you must learn to control your energies rather than have them control you. You may be inclined to take excessive risks, to try out things that you are not sure you can do. But be careful, because with this aspect the energies of Mars and Jupiter do not work very smoothly together. If you overextend yourself and try to do more than you are physically capable of, you may have an accident. Also you may be clumsy when you take up a new activity until you learn to control your physical body better.
Mars Inconjunct Neptune
With this aspect you must learn to stand up for yourself and demand your rights forthrightly and directly. Often you feel that you don’t have enough energy to assert yourself or that any such effort would be futile. Unfortunately, some people with this aspect learn to work behind the scenes or dishonestly. Other simply give up or take a defeatist attitude toward life.
Saturn Inconjunct Neptune
This aspect can have a variety of effects, one of which may be difficulty in relating fantasy and imagination, on one hand, to reality, duty, obligation and work, on the other. Usually the reality, duty and work aspect of the combination is dominant, at least at first. Your imaginative side tends to be transformed into nervousness, fear and irrational anxieties. The most negative manifestation of this aspect is a feeling that you have to keep a tight lid on yourself and that if you look inside yourself too closely, you will find only emptiness and disintegration. It is difficult for you to realize that this is not the truth about your inner self.
“Hear, see, keep quiet.” Hmm.
Did You Notice the Black and White Floor Tiles?
This might seem a bit out in left field, but those tiles are important for a connecting link with the Jerusalem Temple: the Knights Templar. Colin Bloy, in his book I’m Just Going Down to the Pub to Do a Few Miracles, explains (in Chapter 21: What’s Behind DNA?) that “Of course, the equal armed or Greek cross was the first cross used by the Templars, and if the theory was right, it was also the first manifestation in the form of dragon energy, as seen in the first Fountain Experiment. […] The Greek cross is the basis of the chequer board when you work it out thus:”
Pages 120-1
Terra, the dragon, is one thing — the light of Coeius, heaven, is another. Hmm.
“A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.”
De Laude Novae Militae – In Praise of the New Knighthood
That last part is doubly important: [he] need fear neither demons nor men.
They Say that the Knights Templar are NOT Connected
How could they not be connected? I suppose the contradiction is that the Knights Templar were dismembered by the Roman Catholic Church, and, like the Cathars, they unofficially went underground. But, even so, why pretend no connection to a Gnostic tradition? Is it because of the allegations of heresy? To see what I mean, read this:
The Knights Templar, full name The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta, is a fraternal order affiliated with Freemasonry. Unlike the initial degrees conferred in a regular Masonic Lodge, which (in most Regular Masonic jurisdictions) only require a belief in a Supreme Being regardless of religious affiliation, the Knights Templar is one of several additional Masonic Orders in which membership is open only to Freemasons who profess a belief in Christianity. One of the obligations entrants to the order are required to declare is to protect and defend the Christian faith. The word “United” in its full title indicates that more than one historical tradition and more than one actual order are jointly controlled within this system. The individual orders ‘united’ within this system are principally the Knights of the Temple (Knights Templar), the Knights of Malta, the Knights of St Paul, and only within the York Rite, the Knights of the Red Cross.
We have such a fixation on opposites, good vs bad, black vs white, right vs wrong that we forget that the way through is by combining the two into the synthesis of a third way: the middle column in the Tree of Life.
So, What Exactly is a Mason?
Extended metaphor
As one site put it: Freemasonry makes good men, better…
I guess this is the natural progression of thought from yesterday’s post. I wasn’t sure how I was going to approach the subject, but then I decided to focus on the accident chart.
This is a fairly ‘balanced’ chart, with only one inconjunct.
Mercury Inconjunct Pluto
You have a rather complicated and sometimes tricky mind. You usually prefer to do things in roundabout and involved ways instead of being simple and direct.
This aspect can mean that at certain times in your life you will go through tremendous psychological changes. All your thoughts and opinions will change completely. These stages may seem difficult, but you will be much better off if you let go of the past and welcome the new ideas.
So, here’s the thing: if this event was due to Buddy Holly’s spontaneous decision to hire a plane, then you’d think he would be the most affected by the crash. But when I compared his birth chart to what is essentially his death chart, it didn’t seem to be that conclusive. And then I got the idea of comparing all three singer’s birth charts with the ‘event’ chart and then it becomes more interesting. (Hopefully, your eyes won’t cross when you look at this.)
As you can see, this crash was their shared destiny. The ‘event’ Moon is conjunct Valen’s Moon, Holly’s Jupiter and the Big Bopper’s Moon in Sagittarius. They went out with a ‘bang’. The rest of their combined aspects are spread out like a huge fan, so that no one person is totally to blame, but Valens’ stellium in Taurus is triggered by the ‘event’ Mars @ 27° Taurus, opposite Jupiter @ 29° Scorpio. His life was snuffed out way too soon. Holly’s natal Uranus is opposite the ‘event’ Neptune/Ascendant. There was no way he could have foretold the future, as it was hidden. It would seem that only the Big Bopper is in sync with the event: his Neptune is conjunct the ‘event’ Pluto in Virgo.
But February made me shiver With every paper I’d deliver Bad news on the doorstep I couldn’t take one more step I can’t remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride Something touched me deep inside The day the music died
Not sure why I’m supposed to feature Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman) today. It started with the line from Don McLean’s American Pie, quoted as the title of this piece. Then it evolved into his lyrics from one of his earlier songs.
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Written by: Bob Dylan
Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’
Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won’t come again And don’t speak too soon For the wheel’s still in spin And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’ For the loser now will be later to win For the times they are a-changin’
Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway Don’t block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’ It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin’
Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don’t criticize What you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly agin’ Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand For the times they are a-changin’
The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is rapidly fadin’ And the first one now will later be last For the times they are a-changin’
(Yes, I can see how applicable these words are now, especially verse 3, on January 6th.)
This is considered an accurate birth time (since the collector obtained his birth records). The Yod pointing at Saturn (conjunct his natal Moon) tells the whole story, I expect.
Moon Inconjunct Ascendant
You tend to put your own emotional needs and wants second to whatever you feel has to be done. In other words, you are likely to be more disciplined emotionally than most people your age. But this is not good if you feel that your emotional needs are not important. Your needs must be fulfilled as much as anyone else’s, particularly because your feelings are really very powerful within you.
This aspect also ties together in you a Moon sign and a rising sign that are very different. This indicates that the image you project to other people does not reveal very much about your real feelings. When you are upset, you surprise people by showing a totally different side of your personality.
Saturn Inconjunct Ascendant
With this aspect you probably have a rather serious attitude toward life and other people. It may be quite difficult for you to simply go out and have a good time. You want to be serious and to spend all your time performing significant tasks. This attitude may have developed because you were discouraged from enjoying yourself when you were younger. You may have been made to feel that only work is important, that play serves no useful purpose.
You may find it difficult to express yourself to other people. This is another expression of your lack of self-confidence, which will change if you get positive emotional support from the people around you.
Saturn Inconjunct Midheaven
You are likely to have very serious difficulties with authority figures, because you are afraid of how they will treat you, not expecting that anyone will ever give you the loving guidance you need. You will see all authorities only as potential threats to your freedom and as sources of pain and trouble.
In any case it is good to associate with people your own age, to avoid becoming so isolated that you cannot deal with people. This also helps to counter your loneliness.
(Hence the ‘freewheeling’ image of that first album.)
Moon Conjunct Saturn
With this aspect you tend to refuse emotional help from others. You may feel that your own inner feelings are not very important because they belong only to you.
Two Incidents, One Year Apart
When I first envisioned this post, I thought about the time he was booed by some of the audience when he introduced electric guitars to the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. This was his middle finger to the authorities. (In the chart of that event, I let the timing be randomized and then changed it to PM from AM.)
The ‘event’ Saturn is inconjunct his natal Midheaven, echoing his natal aspect between them. His Part of Fortune is conjunct the ‘event’ Midheaven. His natal Pluto is conjunct the ‘event’ Sun. His venturing into electric guitars would be the making of him.
The second event is an obvious one: his motorcycle accident, of which there are scant details. I set the time for 12 noon, to see what popped up.
Now we’re getting somewhere: the ‘event’ North Node @ 21° Taurus 33′ is almost exactly conjunct his natal Moon. His natal South Node is conjunct the ‘event’ Saturn. And the ‘event’ Ascendant is almost exactly conjunct his natal Midheaven. This feels fated. His natal Sun and Pluto are forming a Yod with the ‘event’ Moon. Need I say anything more?
It has been suggested that this accident may have saved his life. I would tend to agree with that assessment. He certainly walked away from the constant busy-ness of his life and spent time contemplating his future. He also starting writing and recording with The Band.
The lining up of calendar date digits usually leaves me cold, mainly because there is no year ‘dot’, so whatever comes of looking at the symmetry of the numbers is a nonsense.
But this one is different. And I think it may be the fact that the USA’s Pluto Return hits the day before, this time moving forward, not retrograde. Hmm.
I set the clock for 2:22 am my local time, just to see what might pop out. Surprise, surprise! There are two inconjuncts: the Sun and the Midheaven; and Uranus and the Ascendant.
Sun Inconjunct Midheaven
While you are young, you will find it difficult to decide what to do with your life. The demands of the world may sometimes be hard to handle, because hey don’t seem to take advantage of your natural abilities and instincts. Also you tend to rush through your tasks, because you are impatient to get to something else, but in that way you don’t learn anything very thoroughly. Or you may try to live entirely for what you think is most pleasurable at the moment rather than for your long-range goals. Certainly you have a right to be young and happy, but don’t overdo it; the lessons you do not learn well now will create problems when you try to pursue a future course of action.
Uranus Inconjunct Ascendant
Your need for freedom may also interfere with your close relationships. When you are with others, even those you like, you feel very restless but you can’t get up and leave because you want to be with them. This is typical of the ambiguity that comes with this transit. Certainly, the more others try to restrict your freedom of movement, the more you try to get away.
The restless energies of this aspect should be given some kind of release, because otherwise they can turn inward to create the kind of rash and impulsive actions that lead to accidents. If you have accidents, it is not because you are unlucky, but because you are not careful at critical times. Learn to avoid any kind of dangerous activity when you are nervous, upset or feel that your energies are scattered.
(Please note that these 2 shall pass…)
Here’s the Meme:
This can be looked at from a national or personal level. Either way, something’s got to give.
Can an Accident (Even a Minor One) Change a Life Forever?
Susan Miller
My wife, Susan, is a beautiful person, but she suffers from chronic pain due to an accident that she suffered more than 30 years ago. Last night she chronicled the ‘slip and fall’ that she had in 1990. The result, for most of the time, is Fibromyalgia. The fact that it can be identified is not enough to put an end to her concerns. As she is getting older, the pain is almost debilitating.
In my mind, this ‘minor’ accident may have been the culmination of an injury she may have suffered more than five years before when the car she was in had a head-on crash with an articulated lorry in England. At the time, she seemed to suffer only minor cuts and bruises, but I wonder if it didn’t make her back more susceptible to injury later.
Subsequent to the 1990 accident, her three lower vertebrae were fused surgically, to keep her mobile. And her limited mobility after that, caused her to put more weight on than she would have liked. Now, she carries more pounds than is healthy, but dieting isn’t easy, either.
The 1990 Accident Chart
Those two Yods, pointing at Mars and Neptune, may be the clue to the ‘illness’. But it’s only when you compare her birth chart to the ‘event’, that you can see how many inconjuncts and Yods were activated.
So, those of you with eyes to see, can you help me understand what I should do to help her?
This is one of the few ‘nice’ images from that confrontation in Bolton, Ontario. You can read about it in the Toronto Star, here. In truth, I don’t recognize our country anymore.
The dividing line is along Trudeau’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m sure whoever was in power for the last 18 months would have been hated by at least some of the people, but this display of full out anger seems to be a step too far. And the Canadian media may have had a silent hand in promoting it.
The first report of an anti-vaxxer heckling Trudeau on the campaign trail took place about a week ago, by CTV in Barrie. The CTV National News correctly identified the city, but the local Barrie News implied it was in Toronto, somewhere. Then, in the last few days, the CBC highlighted a video showing another protestor heckling Trudeau in Quebec, and then the next day in Vancouver. That must have planted a seed of thought in some peoples’ minds.
In the words of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi: “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”
Jack Layton died ten years ago this week. It was the only time I voted NDP in a federal election. He was a Canadian Idealist.
In what is perhaps Layton’s most complete articulation of his political philosophy, a foreword he wrote for Canadian Idealism and the Philosophy of Freedom, he explains that, “The idealist current holds that human society has the potential to achieve liberty when people work together to form a society in which equality means more than negative liberty, the absolute and protected right to run races against each other to determine winners. Idealists imagine a positive liberty that enables us to build together toward common objectives that fulfill and even surpass our individual goals.”
Wikipedia
Here was a man who embodied my own ideals.
Jack’s accurate birth chart has one inconjunct.
Mercury Inconjunct Jupiter
You like to think big, and you have great ambitions, but you don’t always make sure that your thinking is clear or careful. When you make any kind of plan, be careful. Don’t try to take on more than you can handle and make sure not to overlook details, for that could hurt what you are trying to do. Careful planning will help you develop disciplined habits in other areas as well. This aspect can mean that you are sloppy in your personal appearance and in your work habits.
See where the term Orange Wave comes from? It was the year that the Liberal Party was almost wiped out. There were many reasons for that, not the least was their leader at the time, Michael Ignatieff. The New Democratic Party had always been in third place until this election. Then they became the Official Opposition, for the first time. But Jack’s mission was over. He died three months and three weeks (less a day) later.
I was nagged by my dreams to write about this today. Sometimes, I can be a reluctant scribe. But if the inspiration is coming from a Higher Source, I have to give in and just do it.
The one inconjunct in the election chart is not dependent on a ‘correct’ time (which I set at noon). The Sun inconjunct Saturn, eh? Hmm. It was a harbinger of Jack’s death, I suspect.
“Voting Day Couple” May 3, 2011 (Barrie Examiner)
Conclusion
After Jack’s death, his wife, Olivia Chow, had this quote published. It is his epitaph, now.
This is a once weekly injection. But it’s not insulin. I’ve taken three starter doses (.25 mg) so far, and it seems to be tolerable for my body. But here’s the surprise: I’ve lost five pounds already!
There is really only one side effect: my wedding ring is now so loose, I’m constantly having to be mindful of it, or else I might lose it. That might also be a metaphor of my marriage.
