Gilman Biden

LAST SOLD ON SEP 5, 2018 FOR $667,200

5905 Gilman Way,

North Highlands, CA 95660

https://ssl.cdn-redfin.com/photo/77/mbphoto/946/genMid.18040946_3.jpg

Word play or wordplay[1] (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonetic mix-ups such as spoonerisms, obscure words and meanings, clever rhetorical excursions, oddly formed sentences, double entendres, and telling character names (such as in the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Ernest being a given name that sounds exactly like the adjective earnest)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_play

Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden[1] (née Jacobs; born June 3, 1951) is an American educator who has been the first lady of the United States since 2021 as the wife of President Joe Biden. She was the second lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 when her husband was vice president. Since 2009, she has been a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, and is believed to be the first wife of a vice president or president to hold a salaried job during the majority of her husband's tenure.

Born in Hammonton, New Jersey, Biden grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. She married then widower Joe Biden in 1977, becoming the stepmother of Beau and Hunter. Biden and her husband also have a daughter together, Ashley Biden, born in 1981. Biden has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Delaware and master's degrees in education and English from West Chester University and Villanova University, and returned to the University of Delaware for a doctoral degree in education. She taught English and reading in high schools for thirteen years and instructed adolescents with emotional disabilities at a psychiatric hospital. Following this, she was an English and writing instructor for fifteen years at Delaware Technical & Community College.

Biden is the founder of the Biden Breast Health Initiative non-profit organization, co-founder of the Book Buddies program, co-founder of the Biden Foundation, is active in Delaware Boots on the Ground, and with Michelle Obama is co-founder of Joining Forces. She has published a memoir and two children's books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Biden

His son, Hunter Biden, 38, is a longtime federal lobbyist for the Jesuit university located in his father's hometown, Scranton PA. According to federal disclosures, Hunter Biden has been earning about $80,000 a year since 2006 to lobby for this university. Senator Biden himself has lectured at the Jesuit University of Scranton, and received an honorary degree from the same university, in 1976." Codeword Barbelon by P.D. Stuart

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

The university has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in red and blue lights.

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

SCRANTON, Pa. — In preparation for President Joe Biden's visit, a university lit up their lights in his honor.

The University of Scranton has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in blue and red with the number 46 prominently displayed to welcome the 46th president."

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge (γνῶσις, gnōsis, f.).[1][2] The term was used among various Hellenistic religions and philosophies in the Greco-Roman world.[1][3][4][5] It is best known for its implication within Gnosticism,[1] where it signifies a spiritual knowledge or insight into humanity's real nature as divine, leading to the deliverance of the divine spark within humanity from the constraints of earthly existence.[3][4][5][6][7]

Etymology

Gnosis is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness."[8] It is often used for personal knowledge compared with intellectual knowledge (εἴδειν eídein), as with the French connaître compared with savoir, the Portuguese conhecer compared with saber, the Spanish conocer compared with saber, the Italian conoscere compared with sapere, the German kennen rather than wissen, or the Modern Greek γνωρίζω compared with ξέρω.[9]

A related term is the adjective gnostikos, "cognitive",[10] a reasonably common adjective in Classical Greek.[11] The terms do not appear to indicate any mystic, esoteric or hidden meaning in the works of Plato, but instead expressed a sort of higher intelligence and ability analogous to talent.[12]

Plato The Statesman 258e

— Stranger: In this way, then, divide all science into two arts, calling the one practical (praktikos), and the other purely intellectual (gnostikos). Younger Socrates: Let us assume that all science is one and that these are its two forms.[13]

In the Hellenistic era the term became associated with the mystery cults.

In the Acts of Thomas, translated by G.R.S. Mead, the "motions of gnosis" are also referred to as "kingly motions".[14]

Irenaeus used the phrase "knowledge falsely so-called" (pseudonymos gnosis, from 1 Timothy 6:20)[15] for the title of his book On the Detection and Overthrow of False Knowledge, that contains the adjective gnostikos, which is the source for the 17th-century English term "Gnosticism".[16]

Comparison with epignosis

The difference and meaning of epignosis (Greek: ἐπίγνωσις) contrasted with gnosis is disputed. One proposed distinction is between the abstract and absolute knowledge (gnosis) and a practical or more literal knowledge (epignosis). Other interpretations have suggested that 2 Peter is referring to an "epignosis of Jesus Christ", what J. B. Lightfoot described as a "larger and more thorough knowledge". Conversion to Christianity is seen as evidence of the deeper knowledge protecting against false doctrine.[17]

Gnosticism

Gnosticism originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical Jewish and early Christian sects.[18] In the formation of Christianity, various sectarian groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge (gnosis) of the divine spark within, over faith (pistis) in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians.[3][6][7][19] Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God, and the Demiurge, "creator" of the material universe.[3][6][7][20] The Gnostics considered the most essential part of the process of salvation to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their worldview along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority.[3][6][7][20]

In Gnosticism, the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge (gnosis) to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the malevolent Demiurge's control.[20] Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a dualistic cosmology that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the liberating savior and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or creator god, identified with the Hebrew God of the Old Testament.[6][20] Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the Unknown God of the Gospel, the father of Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God.[3][6][20][21] In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created.[22][23][24]

However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent.[21][25] For instance, Valentinians believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as good as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness.[21][25] All Gnostics were regarded as heretics by the proto-orthodox Early Church Fathers.[3][6][7][20]

Mandaeism

Main article: Manda (Mandaeism)

In Mandaeism, the concept of manda ("knowledge", "wisdom", "intellect") is roughly equivalent to the Gnostic concept of gnosis.[26] Mandaeism ('having knowledge')[27] is the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity.[28][29]: 15 Mandaeans formally refer to themselves as Nasurai (Nasoraeans) meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge.[30][31] The Mandaeans emphasize salvation of the soul through secret knowledge (gnosis) of its divine origin.[27][32] Mandaeism "provides knowledge of whence we have come and whither we are going."[33]: 531

Christian usage

Despite rejection of Gnosticism,[citation needed] Christianity has sometimes used the term or derivatives of it in a laudatory rather than lambasting sense.

See also

icon Religion portal

Divine illumination

Enlightenment in Buddhism

Gnossiennes

Gnosticism in modern times

Gnosiology

Gnosis (chaos magic)

Jnana

Neoplatonism and Gnosticism

Noema

Noetic consciousness

Noetics

Prajñā (Buddhism)

Prajna (Hinduism)

Satori

Valentinus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosis

Genesis 3:15

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203%3A15&version=DRA

Genesis 3:15

1599 Geneva Bible

15 I will also put enmity between [q]thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall break thine [r]head, and thou shalt [s]bruise his heel.

Genesis 3:15 He chiefly meaneth Satan, by whose motion and craft the serpent deceived the woman.

Genesis 3:15 That is, the power of sin and death.

Genesis 3:15 Satan shall sting Christ and his members, but not overcome them.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203&version=GNV

PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN It contains in it three times, and two to examine oneself. The first time is in the morning, immediately on rising, when one ought to propose to guard himself with diligence against that particular sin or defect which he wants to correct and amend. The second time is after dinner, when one is to ask of God our Lord what one wants, namely, grace to remember how many times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect, and to amend himself in the future. Then let him make the first Examen, asking account of his soul of that particular thing proposed, which he wants to correct and amend. Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make in the first line of the G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make. The third time: After supper, the second Examen will be made, in the same way, hour by hour, commencing at the first Examen and continuing up to the present (second) one, and let him make in the second line of the same G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. FOUR ADDITIONS FOLLOW TO RID ONESELF SOONER OF THAT PARTICULAR SIN OR DEFECT First Addition. The first Addition is that each time one falls into that particular sin or defect, let him put his hand on his breast, grieving for having fallen: which can be done even in the presence of many, without their perceiving what he is doing. Second Addition. The second: As the first line of the G------- means the first Examen, and the second line the second Examen, let him look at night if there is amendment from the first line to the second, that is, from the first Examen to the second. Third Addition. The third: To compare the second day with the first; that is, the two Examens of the present day with the other two Examens of the previous day, and see if he has amended himself from one day to the other. Fourth Addition. The fourth Addition: To compare one week with another, and see if he has amended himself in the present week over the week past. Note. It is to be noted that the first (large) G------- which follows means the Sunday: the second (smaller), the Monday: the third, the Tuesday, and so on.

GGGGGG

"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

TRANSLATED FROM

THE AUTOGRAPH

FATHER ELDER MULLAN, S.J.

I.H.S.

NEW YORK

P.J. KENEDY & SONS

PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

6048 Gilman Way, North Highlands, CA 95660 - Listing

https://www.zac4realestate.com › listing › CA-SACMLS

Cross Street: Gay Way / Santa Fe Way.

https://www.zac4realestate.com/idx/listing/CA-SACMLS/223019954/6048-Gilman-Way-North-Highlands-CA-95660

3936 Santa Fe Way, North Highlands, CA 95660

Location Information

County: Sacramento

MLS Area: 10660

Cross Street: Gilman Way

Census Tract: 73.01

Directions: Head west on Kirkby Way toward Gilman Way Turn left onto Gilman Way Turn left onto Santa Fe Way

https://www.metrolistpro.com/homes/2/6/3936-SANTA-FE-WAY-NORTH-HIGHLANDS-CA-95660/224095577

Santa Fe (/ˌsæntə ˈfeɪ, ˈsæntə feɪ/ SAN-tə FAY, -⁠ fay; Spanish: [santaˈfe]) is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents,[5] Santa Fe is the fourth-most populous city in the state,[6] and part of the Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Los Alamos combined statistical area, which had a population of 1,162,523 in 2020. Situated at the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the city is at the highest altitude of any U.S. state capital, with an elevation of 7,199 feet (2,194 m).[7]

Founded in 1610 as the capital of Nuevo México, a province of New Spain, Santa Fe is the oldest state capital in the United States and the earliest European settlement west of the Mississippi River. Its name is Spanish for "Holy Faith", and an abbreviation of its formal name, La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís—"the Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi".[8][9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe,_New_Mexico

4048 Santa Fe Way, North Highlands, CA 95660 | Compass

compass.com

https://www.compass.com › ... › 95660

... Santa Fe Way, North ... Directions to Property: Roseville Road to Gilman Way to Santa Fe ... 3636 Karl Drive North Highlands, CA 95660.

https://www.compass.com/listing/4048-santa-fe-way-north-highlands-ca-95660/1405352270094414025/

Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła, Polish: [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa];[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II

The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious till the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Name

The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'freeman'.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty

U.S. shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast

Nation Updated on Feb 4, 2023 4:25 PM EDT — Published on Feb 4, 2023 2:26 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Saturday downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast on orders from President Joe Biden after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America, becoming the latest flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Biden said he wanted the balloon downed on Wednesday, but was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water. Military officials determined that the bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.

The balloon was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast. At about 2:40 p.m. EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Pentagon officials said.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-prepares-to-shoot-down-chinese-balloon-over-atlantic-ocean

"All Roads Lead to Rome" is a proverb of medieval origin that may refer to:

A proverb in a number of languages referring to Roman roads, especially the Milliarium Aureum

All Roads Lead to Rome (1949 film), a French film

All Roads Lead to Rome (2015 film), an American romantic comedy film

"All Roads Lead to Rome", an episode of the 2012 documentary Meet the Romans with Mary Beard

"All Roads Lead to Rome", an episode of the 1965 Doctor Who serial The Romans

"All Roads Lead to Rome", a song by the Stranglers on the 1983 album Feline

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_roads_lead_to_Rome

William Francis Dunn IV

3916 Santa Fe way

North Highlands California

95660

At his first audience on 16 March 2013, Francis told journalists that he had chosen the name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, and had done so because he was especially concerned for the well-being of the poor.[169][170][171] He explained that, as it was becoming clear during the conclave voting that he would be elected the new bishop of Rome, the Brazilian Cardinal Cláudio Hummes had embraced him and whispered, "Don't forget the poor", which had made Bergoglio think of the saint.[172][173] Bergoglio had previously expressed his admiration for St. Francis, explaining that: "He brought to Christianity an idea of poverty against the luxury, pride, vanity of the civil and ecclesiastical powers of the time. He changed history."[174]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

Mary D. Stifflemire

January 31, 1921 - August 11, 2015

Mary D. Stifflemire, of 43 West McKinsey Rd. in Severna Park, MD, died August 10th of natural causes. She was 94.

Born in New Bern, NC, January 31, 1921, to William F and May H Dunn, Mary had four brothers: William, John, Robert and Roger Dunn. She was 10 years old when her family relocated from New Bern to Washington, DC. The family resided on Clifton St. in NW Washington, DC, and Mary graduated from Central High School. Mary later lived on Quincy Street and on Eastern Avenue in NE Washington, DC, from 1954 to 1980, when she relocated to Fort Lauderdale, FL. She was married to Kenneth H. Ramey in 1941. They later divorced, and she remarried, to Paul F. Stifflemire in 1950. They were also divorced. Mary lived in Pompano Beach, FL with her longtime companion, Arvis “Bill” Lyman from 1984 until his death in 2004. She relocated to Maryland in 2009.

Mary’s professional career included positions as secretary to then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, followed by several years as secretary to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces. She was secretary to Brent Skowcroft, National Security Advisor to President Richard Nixon. She also served as secretary to Alexander Haig, then the Military Assistant to the Presidential Assistant for National Security Affairs, Henry Kissinger. She accompanied President Nixon and Mr. Kissinger on several important foreign missions, including the 1972 talks in Beijing that began the normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China, and the signing in January 1973 of the Paris Peace Accords that formally ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Mary was an active synchronized swimmer, performing with the Aqua Gems at the Ambassador Hotel in Washington, DC. She was a certified Red Cross swimming instructor and won numerous swimming medals in the Florida Senior Games.

Mary is survived by two sons, Kenneth Ramey, 73, of Bunker Hill, WV, and Paul Stifflemire, 64, of Arnold, MD. She leaves behind six granddaughters: Talia Ramey of College Park, MD; Victoria Ramey of Germantown, MD; Holly Stifflemire of Pepperell, MA; Heidi Crone of Cincinnati, OH; Heather Stifflemire of Framingham, MA; and, Grace Stifflemire of Arnold, MD. Mary also leaves two great-granddaughters, Ella and Cassidy Crone, and two great-grandsons, Anthony and Dominic Ramey.

A wake will be held at the Barranco & Sons, P.A. Funeral Home in Severna Park Maryland on Friday August 14, 2015 from 4:00PM to 8:00PM. A funeral mass will be celebrated at St. John the Evangelist Church, Saturday August 15 at 10:00AM. Mary will be buried with her father and mother at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, DC.

Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Audubon Society.

https://www.barrancofuneralhome.com/obituary/3271963

CIA Alexander M. Haig, Jr. and KGB Henry A. Kissinger, 1972 #668 This picture personifies the POWER of the Black Pope exercised through his agents over the Order’s masonically controlled “Holy Roman” Fourteenth Amendment Corporate-Fascist American Empire. Former NATO Commander and Knight of Malta Alexander M. Haig, Jr. (who according to G. Gordon Liddy was “Deep Throat” during the Watergate Scandal and whose brother, Francis R. Haig, is a powerful Jesuit), speaking to Knight of Malta Labor Zionist and KGB operative Henry A. Kissinger, saved the Pope’s Labor Zionist Israel from being overrun by the Egyptians during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Being powerful members of the New York Archbishop’s Council on Foreign Relations, both have a complete knowledge of the JFK Assassination and both were used to remove President Nixon from office. Knights of Malta Haig and Casey, working with KGB/Masonic Jewish Labor Zionists Kissinger and Hammer, brought the world even closer to worshipping the risen Papal Caesar ruling from Solomon’s rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem as “the beast,” exalted by his Jewish False Prophet. The White House Years: Triumph and Tragedy, Ollie Atkins, (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1977) p. 158.

Vatican Assassins:

“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”

Third Edition

by Eric Jon Phelps

https://ia802505.us.archive.org/28/items/EricJonPhelpsVaticanAssassins3rdEdition/Eric%20Jon%20Phelps%20-%20Vatican%20Assassins%203rd%20Edition.pdf

Obsidian (/əbˈsɪdi.ən, ɒb-/ əb-SID-ee-ən ob-)[5] is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock.[6]

Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen, aluminum, sodium, and potassium. It is commonly found within the margins of rhyolitic lava flows known as obsidian flows. These flows have a high content of silica, giving them a high viscosity. The high viscosity inhibits diffusion of atoms through the lava, which inhibits the first step (nucleation) in the formation of mineral crystals. Together with rapid cooling, this results in a natural glass forming from the lava.[7]

Obsidian is hard, brittle, and amorphous; it therefore fractures with sharp edges. In the past, it was used to manufacture cutting and piercing tools, and it has been used experimentally as surgical scalpel blades.[8]

Origin and properties

The Natural History by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder includes a few sentences about a volcanic glass called obsidian (lapis obsidianus), discovered in Ethiopia by Obsidius, a Roman explorer.[9][10][11][12]

Obsidian is formed from quickly cooled lava, which is the parent material.[13][14][15] Extrusive formation of obsidian may occur when felsic lava cools rapidly at the edges of a felsic lava flow or volcanic dome, or when lava cools during sudden contact with water or air. Intrusive formation of obsidian may occur when felsic lava cools along the edges of a dike.[16][17]

Tektites were once thought by many to be obsidian produced by lunar volcanic eruptions,[18] though few scientists now adhere to this hypothesis.[19]

Obsidian is mineral-like, but not a true mineral because, as a glass, it is not crystalline; in addition, its composition is too variable to be classified as a mineral. It is sometimes classified as a mineraloid.[20] Though obsidian is usually dark in color, similar to mafic rocks such as basalt, the composition of obsidian is extremely felsic. Obsidian consists mainly of SiO2 (silicon dioxide), usually 70% by weight or more; the remainder consists of variable amounts of other oxides, mostly oxides of aluminum, iron, potassium, sodium and calcium.[21][22] Crystalline rocks with a similar composition include granite and rhyolite. Because obsidian is metastable at the Earth's surface (over time the glass devitrifies, becoming fine-grained mineral crystals), obsidian older than Miocene in age is rare. Exceptionally old obsidians include a Cretaceous welded tuff and a partially devitrified Ordovician perlite.[23] This transformation of obsidian is accelerated by the presence of water. Although newly formed obsidian has a low water content, typically less than 1% water by weight,[24] it becomes progressively hydrated when exposed to groundwater, forming perlite.

Pure obsidian is usually dark in appearance, though the color varies depending on the impurities present. Iron and other transition elements may give the obsidian a dark brown to black color. Most black obsidians contain nanoinclusions of magnetite, an iron oxide.[25] Very few samples of obsidian are nearly colorless. In some stones, the inclusion of small, white, radially clustered crystals (spherulites) of the mineral cristobalite in the black glass produce a blotchy or snowflake pattern (snowflake obsidian). Obsidian may contain patterns of gas bubbles remaining from the lava flow, aligned along layers created as the molten rock was flowing before being cooled. These bubbles can produce interesting effects such as a golden SHEEN (SHEEN obsidian). An iridescent, rainbow-like SHEEN (fire obsidian) is caused by inclusions of magnetite nanoparticles creating thin-film interference.[26] Colorful, striped obsidian (rainbow obsidian) from Mexico contains oriented nanorods of hedenbergite, which cause the rainbow striping effects by thin-film interference.[25]

Occurrence

Obsidian is found near volcanoes in locations which have undergone rhyolitic eruptions. It can be found in Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Australia,[27] Canada, Chile, Georgia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Scotland, the Canary Islands, Turkey and the United States. Obsidian flows which are so large that they can be hiked on are found within the calderas of Newberry Volcano (Big Obsidian Flow,[28] 700 acres) and Medicine Lake Volcano in the Cascade Range of western North America, and at Inyo Craters east of the Sierra Nevada in California. Yellowstone National Park has a mountainside containing obsidian located between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Norris Geyser Basin, and deposits can be found in many other western U.S. states including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Washington,[29] Oregon[30] and Idaho.

There are only four major deposit areas in the central Mediterranean: Lipari, Pantelleria, Palmarola and Monte Arci (Sardinia).[31]

Ancient sources in the Aegean were Milos and Gyali.[32]

Acıgöl town and the Göllü Dağ volcano were the most important sources in central Anatolia, one of the more important source areas in the prehistoric Near East.[33][34][35]

Prehistoric and historical use

The first known archaeological evidence of usage was in Kariandusi (Kenya) and other sites of the Acheulian age (beginning 1.5 million years BP) dated 700,000 BC, although only very few objects have been found at these sites relative to the Neolithic.[36][37][38][39][40] Manufacture of obsidian bladelets at Lipari had reached a high level of sophistication by the late Neolithic, and was traded as far as Sicily, the southern Po river valley, and Croatia.[41] Obsidian bladelets were used in ritual circumcisions and cutting of umbilical cords of newborns.[42] Anatolian sources of obsidian are known to have been the material used in the Levant and modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan from a time beginning sometime about 12,500 BC.[43] Obsidian artifacts are common at Tell Brak, one of the earliest Mesopotamian urban centers, dating to the late fifth millennium BC.[44] Obsidian was valued in Stone Age cultures because, like flint, it could be fractured to produce sharp blades or arrowheads in a process called knapping. Like all glass and some other naturally occurring rocks, obsidian breaks with a characteristic conchoidal fracture. It was also polished to create early mirrors. Modern archaeologists have developed a relative dating system, obsidian hydration dating, to calculate the age of obsidian artifacts.

Europe

Obsidian artifacts first appeared in the European continent in Central Europe in the Middle Paleolithic and had become common by the Upper Paleolithic, although there are exceptions to this. Obsidian played an important role in the transmission of Neolithic knowledge and experiences. The material was mainly used for production of chipped tools which were very sharp due to its nature. Artifacts made of obsidian can be found in many Neolithic cultures across Europe. The source of obsidian for cultures inhabiting the territory of and around Greece was the island of Milos; the Starčevo–Körös–Criș culture obtained obsidian from sources in Hungary and Slovakia, while the Cardium-Impresso cultural complex acquired obsidian from the island outcrops of the central Mediterranean. Through trade, these artifacts ended up in lands thousands of kilometers away from the original source; this indicates that they were a highly valued commodity.[45] John Dee had a mirror, made of obsidian, which was brought from Mexico to Europe between 1527 and 1530 after Hernando Cortés's conquest of the region.[46]

Middle East and Asia

In the Ubaid in the 5th millennium BC, blades were manufactured from obsidian extracted from outcrops located in modern-day Turkey.[47] Ancient Egyptians used obsidian imported from the eastern Mediterranean and southern Red Sea regions. Obsidian scalpels older than 2100 BC have been found in a Bronze Age settlement in Turkey.[48] In the eastern Mediterranean area the material was used to make tools, mirrors and decorative objects.[49]

The use of obsidian tools was present in Japan near areas of volcanic activity.[50][51] Obsidian was mined during the Jōmon period.

Obsidian has also been found in Gilat, a site in the western Negev in Israel. Eight obsidian artifacts dating to the Chalcolithic Age found at this site were traced to obsidian sources in Anatolia. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) on the obsidian found at this site helped to reveal trade routes and exchange networks previously unknown.[52]

Americas

Lithic analysis helps to understand pre-Hispanic groups in Mesoamerica. A careful analysis of obsidian in a culture or place can be of considerable use to reconstruct commerce, production, and distribution, and thereby understand economic, social and political aspects of a civilization. This is the case in Yaxchilán, a Maya city where even warfare implications have been studied linked with obsidian use and its debris.[53] Another example is the archeological recovery at coastal Chumash sites in California, indicating considerable trade with the distant site of Casa Diablo Hot Springs in the Sierra Nevada.[54]

Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans' use of obsidian was extensive and sophisticated; including carved and worked obsidian for tools and decorative objects. Mesoamericans also made a type of sword with obsidian blades mounted in a wooden body. Called a macuahuitl, the weapon could inflict terrible injuries, combining the sharp cutting edge of an obsidian blade with the ragged cut of a serrated weapon. The polearm version of this weapon was called tepoztopilli.

Obsidian mirrors were used by some Aztec priests to conjure visions and make prophecies. They were connected with Tezcatlipoca, god of obsidian and sorcery, whose name can be translated from the Nahuatl language as 'Smoking Mirror'.[46]

Indigenous people traded obsidian throughout the Americas. Each volcano and in some cases each volcanic eruption produces a distinguishable type of obsidian allowing archaeologists to use methods such as non-destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence to select minor element compositions from both the artifact and geological sample to trace the origins of a particular artifact.[55] Similar tracing techniques have also allowed obsidian in Greece to be identified as coming from Milos, Nisyros or Gyali, islands in the Aegean Sea. Obsidian cores and blades were traded great distances inland from the coast.[56]

In Chile obsidian tools from Chaitén Volcano have been found as far away as in Chan-Chan 400 km (250 mi) north of the volcano, and also in sites 400 km south of it.[57][58]

Oceania

The Lapita culture, active across a large area of the Pacific Ocean around 1000 BC, made widespread use of obsidian tools and engaged in long distance obsidian trading. The complexity of the production technique for these tools, and the care taken in their storage, may indicate that beyond their practical use they were associated with prestige or high status.[59]

Obsidian was also used on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) for edged tools such as Mataia and the pupils of the eyes of their Moai (statues), which were encircled by rings of bird bone.[60] Obsidian was used to inscribe the Rongorongo glyphs.

Current use

Obsidian can be used to make extremely sharp knives, and obsidian blades are a type of glass knife made using naturally occurring obsidian instead of manufactured glass. Obsidian is used by some surgeons for scalpel blades, although this is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use on humans.[61] Well-crafted obsidian blades, like any glass knife, can have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels: the cutting edge of the blade is only about three nanometers thick.[62] All metal knives have a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope; however, obsidian blades are still smooth, even when examined under an electron microscope.[63] One study found that obsidian incisions produced fewer inflammatory cells and less granulation tissue in a group of rats after seven days but the differences disappeared after twenty-one days.[64] Don Crabtree has produced surgical obsidian blades and written articles on the subject.[62] Obsidian scalpels may be purchased for surgical use on research animals.[65]

The major disadvantage of obsidian blades is their brittleness compared to those made of metal,[66] thus limiting the surgical applications for obsidian blades to a variety of specialized uses where this is not a concern.[62]

Obsidian is also used for ornamental purposes and as a gemstone.[67] It presents a different appearance depending on how it is cut: in one direction it is jet black, while in another it is glistening gray. "Apache tears" are small rounded obsidian nuggets often embedded within a grayish-white perlite matrix.

Plinths for audio turntables have been made of obsidian since the 1970s, such as the grayish-black SH-10B3 plinth by Technics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian

Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie SHEEN, is an American actor. He is known as a leading man in film and television. Over his fifty-year career he has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 1994 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Charlie Sheen followed in the footsteps of his father Martin Sheen in becoming an actor. He starred in a slew of successful films such as Red Dawn (1984), Platoon (1986), Wall Street (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), Young Guns (1988), The Rookie (1990), The Three Musketeers (1993), and The Arrival (1996). In the 2000s, when Sheen replaced Michael J. Fox as the star of ABC's Spin City, his portrayal of Charlie Crawford earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. He then starred as Charlie Harper on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003–11), for which he received multiple Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy nominations, and as Dr. Charles "Charlie" Goodson on the FX series Anger Management (2012–14). In 2010, Sheen was the highest-paid actor on television, earning US$1.8 million per episode of Two and a Half Men.[2]

Sheen was terminated from his Two and a Half Men contract by CBS and Warner Bros. following a public series of substance-abuse issues, marital problems and comments made towards the series' creator, Chuck Lorre.[3][4] In 2015, Sheen publicly revealed that he is HIV positive which led to an increase in HIV prevention and testing which was dubbed the "Charlie Sheen effect".[5][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Sheen

The Black Stone (Arabic: ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, romanized: al-Ḥajar al-Aswad) is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.

The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic pagan times. According to Islamic tradition, it was set intact into the Kaaba's wall by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 605 CE, five years before his first revelation. Since then, it has been broken into fragments and is now cemented into a silver frame in the side of the Kaaba. Its physical appearance is that of a fragmented dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of pilgrims. It has often been described as a meteorite.[1]

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba as a part of the tawaf ritual during the hajj and many try to stop to kiss the Black Stone, emulating the kiss that Islamic tradition records that it received from Muhammad.[2][3] While the Black Stone is revered, Islamic theologians emphasize that it has no divine significance and that its importance is historical in nature.[4]

Physical description

The Black Stone was originally a single piece of rock but today consists of several pieces that have been cemented together. They are surrounded by a silver frame which is fastened by silver nails to the Kaaba's outer wall.[5] The fragments are themselves made up of smaller pieces which have been combined to form the seven or eight fragments visible today. The Stone's exposed face measures about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) by 16 centimetres (6.3 in). Its original size is unclear and the recorded dimensions have changed considerably over time, as the pieces have been rearranged in their cement matrix on several occasions.[1] In the 10th century, an observer described the Black Stone as being one cubit (46 cm or 18 in) long. By the early 17th century, it was recorded as measuring 140 by 122 cm (4 ft 7 in by 4 ft 0 in). According to Ali Bey in the 18th century, it was described as 110 cm (3 ft 7 in) high, and Muhammad Ali Pasha reported it as being 76 cm (2 ft 6 in) long by 46 cm (1 ft 6 in) wide.[1]

The Black Stone is attached to the east corner of the Kaaba, known as al-Rukn al-Aswad (the 'Corner of the Black Stone').[6] Another stone, known as the Hajar as-Sa’adah ('Stone of Felicity') is set into the Kaaba's opposite corner, al-Rukn al-Yamani (the 'Yemeni Corner'), at a somewhat lower height than the Black Stone.[7] The choice of the east corner may have had ritual significance; it faces the rain-bringing east wind (al-qabul) and the direction from which Canopus rises.[8]

The silver frame around the Black Stone and the black kiswah or cloth enveloping the Kaaba were for centuries maintained by the Ottoman Sultans in their role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The frames wore out over time due to the constant handling by pilgrims and were periodically replaced. Worn-out frames were brought back to Istanbul, where they are still kept as part of the sacred relics in the Topkapı Palace.[9]

Appearance of the Black Stone

The Black Stone was described by European travellers to Arabia in the 19th- and early-20th centuries, who visited the Kaaba disguised as pilgrims. Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited Mecca in 1814, and provided a detailed description in his 1829 book Travels in Arabia:

It is an irregular oval, about seven inches [18 cm] in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly well smoothed; it looks as if the whole had been broken into as many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone which has been worn to its present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and of a yellow substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown approaching to black. It is surrounded on all sides by a border composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and gravel of a similar, but not quite the same, brownish colour. This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader below than above, and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails.[10]

Visiting the Kaaba in 1853, Richard Francis Burton noted that:

The colour appeared to me black and metallic, and the centre of the stone was sunk about two inches below the metallic circle. Round the sides was a reddish-brown cement, almost level with the metal, and sloping down to the middle of the stone. The band is now a massive arch of gold or silver gilt. I found the aperture in which the stone is, one span and three fingers broad.[11]

Ritter von Laurin, the Austrian consul-general in Egypt, was able to inspect a fragment of the Stone removed by Muhammad Ali in 1817 and reported that it had a pitch-black exterior and a silver-grey, fine-grained interior in which tiny cubes of a bottle-green material were embedded. There are reportedly a few white or yellow spots on the face of the Stone, and it is officially described as being white with the exception of the face.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stone

Islam in Hawaii organised its first official body in 1979, with the incorporation of the Muslim Students' Association of Hawaii, though the organisation had been operational as early as 1968. The group initially prayed in a cottage, before purchasing the Manoa Mosque in the 1979–1980 period.[1] However, a 1992 study by the American Muslim Support group listed zero mosques in Hawaii in 1992.[2]

As of early 2001, the Manoa Mosque was mentioned as having a Friday Prayer attendance of 200 men, the end of Ramadan iftar meal as having 700 attendees, and the mosque itself as having 2,000 members.[3]

Population

According to a 2017 estimate, there are around 5,000 Muslims living in Hawaii. This correspond to 0.34% out of population of 1,455,271. Hawaiian Muslims are racially diverse, consisting of American-born converts and those with familial ties to many regions of the world like Asia and the Middle East. The first Muslims appeared in Hawaii as far back as the 19th century.[4]

Islam Day observance

In May 2009, Hawaiian legislators voted to create a state-designated day of recognition, Islam Day on 24 September of that year, in order to recognize "the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions of the Islamic world." The resolution was approved in the State Senate by a 22–3 vote.[5]

Islamic art

The Shangri La mansion built by Doris Duke in 1937 serves as the repository for over 2,500 pieces of Islamic art, as well as the Islamic architecture embodied in the building itself. The building is now operated by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, with tours in cooperation with the Honolulu Museum of Art.[6][7]

Education

The Philosophy Departments of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where the state's main mosque is located, offers an Undergraduate Certificate in Islamic Studies.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Hawaii

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa[a][b] is a public land-grant research university in Mānoa, Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offices of the system. Most of the campus occupies the eastern half of the mouth of Mānoa Valley, with the John A. Burns School of Medicine located adjacent to the Kakaʻako Waterfront Park.

UH offers over 200 degree programs across 17 colleges and schools. It is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission and governed by the Hawaii State Legislature and a semi-autonomous board of regents. It also a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities.

Mānoa is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".[9] It is a land-grant university that also participates in the sea-grant, space-grant, and sun-grant research consortia; it is one of only four such universities in the country to participate in all four consortia (Oregon State University, Cornell University and Pennsylvania State University are the others).

UH and its subsidiary, the Applied Research Laboratory, is one of only 14 University Affiliated Research Centers (UARC) of the United States Department of Defense and is one of five UARCs in the country for the United States Navy.

Notable UH alumni include Patsy T. Mink, Robert Ballard, Richard Parsons, and the parents of Barack Obama – Barack Obama Sr. and Stanley Ann Dunham. Forty-four percent of Hawaii's state senators and 51 percent of its state representatives are UH graduates.[10]

History

Founding

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa was founded in 1907 as a land-grant college of agriculture and mechanical arts establishing "the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Territory of Hawaiʻi and to Provide for the Government and Support Thereof".[11] The bill Maui Senator William J. Huelani Coelho through the initiatives of Native Hawaiian legislators, a newspaper editor, petition of an Asian American bank cashier, and a president of Cornell University,[12] was introduced into the Territorial Legislature March 1, 1907 as Act 24, and signed into law March 25, 1907 by Governor George Carter, which officially established the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Territory of Hawaiʻi under a five-member Board of Regents[12] on the corner of Beretania and Victoria streets (now the location of the Honolulu Museum of Art School).[11] The Board of Regents first selected J.E. Roadhouse of the University of California to head the new college in October 1907 but unfortunately had died before leaving Berkely.[12] With classes scheduled to start in February 1908, the regents persuaded Willis T. Pope, vice principal of the Territorial Normal School, to head the college for its first semester. In Spring 1908, the regents appointed John W. Gilmore, professor of agriculture at Cornell University, as the college's first president. The Cornell connection would strongly influence the shaping of the new college, even today.[12] It officially became an institution of higher learning on September 14, 1908, when it enrolled 5 freshmen registered for a bachelor of science degree. Willis T. Pope went on to become the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the Territory of Hawai’i from 1910 until 1913 and later a professor of botany and horticulture at the university.

In September 1912 it moved to its present location in Mānoa Valley on 90 acres of land that had been cobbled together from leased and private lands and was renamed the College of Hawaii.[11] William Kwai Fong Yap, an cashier at Bank of Hawaii, and a group of citizens petitioned the Hawaii Territorial Legislature six years later for university status which led to another renaming finally to the University of Hawaiʻi on April 30, 1919, with the addition of the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Applied Science.[13][12]

In the years following, the university expanded to include more than 300 acres. In 1931 the Territorial Normal School was absorbed into the university, becoming Teacher's College,[13] now the College of Education.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Hawai%CA%BBi_at_M%C4%81noa

The Honolulu Volcanics are a group of volcanoes which form a volcanic field on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, more specifically in that island's southeastern sector and in the city of Honolulu from Pearl Harbor to the Mokapu Peninsula. It is part of the rejuvenated stage of Hawaiian volcanic activity, which occurred after the main stage of volcanic activity that on Oʻahu built the Koʻolau volcano. These volcanoes formed through dominantly explosive eruptions and gave rise to cinder cones, lava flows, tuff cones and volcanic islands. Among these are well known landmarks such as Diamond Head and Punchbowl Crater.

Volcanic activity began less than one million years ago and occurred at between 40 and 30 separate volcanic vents, some of which are submarine. Sea level varied during the activity of the volcanic field, and some volcanic eruptions have been dated through correlation with individual sea level fluctuations. The field erupted various kinds of lavas of mostly basaltic type with a high content of xenoliths. During eruptions, ascending magma often underwent interactions with water and thus caused steam explosions and the formation of particular volcanic structures such as tuff cones. The last eruption took place 35,000 or 76,000 years ago and future hazardous eruptions are possible.

Geography and geomorphology

The Honolulu Volcanics are a series of volcanoes in the southeastern sector of Oʻahu[2] and includes dikes, lava flows, spatter cones,[3] tephra deposits,[4] tuff cones,[3] and mesas where the surrounding terrain has been eroded away.[5] Vents span the area southeast of a line between Mokapu Peninsula and Pearl Harbor, and extend from the ridges of Koʻolau volcano to below sea level and to the coast plain of southern Oʻahu.[6]

The system takes its name from Honolulu, the capital of Hawaiʻi,[7] as craters are scattered in and around the city.[8] The volcanic system includes well-known landmarks of Honolulu such as Diamond Head, Koko Head, Punchbowl Crater,[3] Rabbit Island, Tantalus,[9] Hanauma Bay (notable as a snorkeling site)[10] and the Mokapu Peninsula,[11] which is the location of Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi.[12] The United States military has made use of some of the volcanic islands that were formed by the Honolulu Volcanics.[13] The Koko area is designated as the Koko Head Regional Park[14] and Hanauma Bay is also a state park.[15] Parts of this system are among the best known volcanic vents of Hawaiʻi.[16]

About 30–40 vents have been identified.[17] Most cinder cones on Oʻahu are quite large, over 76 metres (250 ft) high and up to 0.80 kilometres (0.5 mi) wide.[18] Some of the lava flows filled deep valleys cut into the older Koʻolau volcano[19] and displaced streams that previously ran through these valleys; for example, water passing over a lava flow in Kamanaiki Valley forms a waterfall.[20] Together with sediments coming down from the mountains and coral reef growth, the deposits of the Honolulu Volcanics have formed the coastal plain on which the city of Honolulu and military installations are built.[21]

The vents of the Honolulu Volcanics follow northeastward-trending[6] alignments that are at right angles to the rift zone of the Koʻolau volcano.[22] From northwest to southeast these are the Haʻikū Rift, the Tantalus Rift, the Kaimukī/Kaʻau Rift and the Koko Head/Koko Rift,[23][24] but each rift has had eruptions at different times and with different compositions.[25] It is not clear whether these alignments are in any way related to the structure of the previous Koʻolau volcano, instead of being controlled by the crust of the Pacific Ocean,[6] but the trends along the Koko and Tantalus Rifts are parallel to that of the flexural arch[a] of Hawaiʻi Island.[27] There is also a hypothetical "Diamond Head fault" that may be associated with earthquakes on Oahu that occurred in 1948, 1951 and 1961–1981, but it is not parallel to these alignments and its very existence is questionable.[28]

Submarine vents are also known,[29] including a 300-metre (980 ft) high solitary cone with two ridges off northeast Oʻahu, which is covered by pillow lavas and volcaniclastic sediments.[30] At least five cones[31] are found off the southwestern extension of the Koko Rift[32] where they are situated on a southwestward extending ridge. Another set of submarine vents is found south of Diamond Head.[33] It was once proposed that some seamounts (underwater mountains) off northeastern Oʻahu such as Tuscaloosa Seamount are related to the volcanic series;[34] today however they are considered to be fragments of the giant Nuʻuanu Slide off northeastern Oʻahu.[35]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu_Volcanics

A lava lamp is a decorative lamp, invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company Mathmos.

It consists of a bolus of a special coloured wax mixture inside a glass vessel, the remainder of which contains clear or translucent liquid. The vessel is placed on a base containing an incandescent light bulb whose heat causes temporary reductions in the wax's density and the liquid's surface tension. As the warmed wax rises through the liquid, it cools, loses its buoyancy, and falls back to the bottom of the vessel in a cycle that is visually suggestive of pāhoehoe lava, hence the name. The lamps are designed in a variety of styles and colours.

Lava lamps can be associated with hippie and cannabis cultures.[1][2]

Operation

A classic lava lamp contains a standard incandescent or halogen lamp which heats a tall (often tapered) glass bottle. A formula from a 1968 US patent consisted of water and a transparent, translucent, or opaque mix of mineral oil, paraffin wax, and carbon tetrachloride.[3]p. 2, line 30 The clear water or mineral oil can optionally be coloured with translucent dyes.

Common wax has a density much lower than that of water and would float on top at any temperature. However, carbon tetrachloride is denser than water (also nonflammable and miscible with wax) and is added to the wax to make its density at room temperature slightly higher than that of the water. When heated, the wax mixture becomes less dense than the water, because it expands more than water when both are heated.[3]p. 1, lines 40 & 45 It also becomes fluid, causing blobs of it to ascend to the top of the lamp. There, they cool, increasing their density relative to that of the water, and descend.[3]p. 1, line 47 A metallic wire coil in the bottle's base breaks the cooled blobs' surface tension, allowing them to recombine.

Video of an orange lava lamp in operation

Since 1970, lava lamps made for the US market have not used carbon tetrachloride, the use of which was banned that year due to toxicity.[4] Haggerty, their current manufacturer, has stated that their current formulation is a trade secret.[5]

The underlying fluid mechanics phenomenon in lava lamps is a form of Rayleigh–Taylor instability.

The bulb is normally 25 to 40 watts. It generally takes 45–60 minutes for the wax to warm up enough to form freely rising blobs, when operating the lamp at standard room temperature, and as long as 2 to 3 hours if the room is cooler.

Once the wax is molten, the lamp should not be agitated, or the two fluids may emulsify, and the fluid surrounding the wax blobs will remain cloudy rather than clear. Some recombination will occur as part of the normal cycle of the wax in the container, but the only way to recombine all of the wax is to turn off the lamp and wait for a few hours. The wax then settles back to the bottom, forming one blob once again. Severe cases can require many heating-cooling cycles to clear. [6]

In 2015, a new design was introduced that uses ferrofluid in place of wax.[7]

History

British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker had the idea for the lava lamp in 1963 after watching a homemade egg timer, made from a cocktail shaker filled with liquids, as it bubbled on a stovetop in a pub.[8] This precursor was designed and patented GB patent 703924 by Donald Dunnet.[9] Craven Walker hired British inventor David George Smith to develop the device and the chemical formula it required. Smith is credited as the inventor on the original U.S. patent 3,387,396 for a "Display Device" filed and assigned to Craven-Walker's company in 1965, and subsequently issued in 1968.[3] Craven Walker's company, Crestworth, was based in Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom. He named the lamp "Astro" and had variations such as the "Astro Mini" and the "Astro Coach" lantern.

In 1965, Adolph Wertheimer and Hy Spector were intrigued by Walker's product when they saw it at a German trade show. They bought the American rights and began the Lava Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago to sell what they called the Lava Lite Lamp. In the late 1970s, US rights were sold to Larry Haggerty, who created a subsidiary of his company, Haggerty Enterprises, called Lava World International, which produced American lava lamps for over 30 years.[10]

In 2003, American lava lamp maker Lava World International (formerly Lava-Simplex-Scribe Internationale) moved its production to China. In 2008, it was acquired by Talon Merchant Capital and its name was changed to Lava Lite LLC. As of 2016, lava lamps were being sold under Lifespan brands in North America.[11] In 2018, the "Lava Lamp" brand was acquired by toy and gift maker Schylling Inc. of North Andover, MA.[12] who continue to hold the US trademark rights to both the shape and name of LAVA lamp.[13]

When the American rights were sold, Craven Walker retained the rights for the rest of the world, and took on two business partners in the late 1980s, Cressida Granger and David Mulley. They eventually took over the company and changed its name to Mathmos in 1992. Edward Craven Walker remained a consultant to them until his death in 2000. Mathmos continues to make Lava Lamps and related products. They have won two Queens Awards for Export, and the Best Multi-Media prize at the Design Week awards.[14][15] Astro lava lamp was launched in 1963 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013.[16] Mathmos lava lamps are still made in the original factory in Poole, Dorset.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lamp

As the fertility goddess, Ishtar was often associated with eggs, which were seen as a symbol of new life and rebirth. In ancient times, people would decorate eggs in honour of Ishtar and give them as gifts to one another during the spring equinox, which marked the beginning of the agricultural season.

Over time, decorating eggs spread to other cultures and religions. In Europe, for example, people began decorating eggs during the Christian celebration of Lent, a period of fasting and repentance leading up to Easter. Eggs were seen as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the new life he brought to the world.

In many countries, people dye eggs in bright colours and decorate them with intricate designs and patterns. Some cultures even have special games and competitions centred around egg decorating and hunting.

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/assyrian/en/podcast-episode/what-is-the-connection-between-easter-and-ishtar/duroih1gj

The nuclear egg: challenging the dominant narratives of the atomic age

By Hebatalla Taha

August 15th 2022

While researching early Egyptian perspectives on nuclear weapons, I repeatedly came across the symbol of the egg. The atomic bomb, and atomic technology more broadly, was frequently imagined and drawn as an egg in the period after August 1945 in Egyptian magazines and popular science journals. Cartoonists, journalists, and even some scientists narrated the dawn of the atomic age through this recurring visual. The atomic bomb, some authors suggested incorrectly, was the size of an egg. The description of the atomic bomb as tiny likely emerged because of the association of atoms as miniscule, though others have offered more scientific explanations for the visual. Today, this visualization has largely faded, though it is still invoked in some jokes.

The image of the egg can be contrasted with other unrealistically small depictions, such as Albert Camus’s description of the bomb being the size of a football. However, it is notable that the mushroom cloud, considered to be the uncontested image of the nuclear age, barely featured in early Egyptian accounts of nuclearization. By going beyond this iconic image, which reflects the specific vantage point of the US, we can better understand the agency of actors typically seen as lying beyond the scope of nuclear politics. In a recent article published in a special section of International Affairs, dealing with Feminist Interrogations of Global Nuclear Politics, I discuss the implications of the visual of the egg, alongside several other images and metaphors that featured in Egyptian nuclear imaginations. In doing so, the article challenges the dominant narratives, histories, and aesthetics of the atomic age.

https://blog.oup.com/2022/08/the-nuclear-egg-challenging-the-dominant-narratives-of-the-atomic-age/

The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي, romanized: ar-rabīʻ al-ʻarabī) or the First Arab Spring (to distinguish from the Second Arab Spring) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation.[1][2] From Tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Rulers were deposed (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia in 2011, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya in 2011, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 2011, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen in 2012) or major uprisings and social violence occurred including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations took place in Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Sudan. Minor protests took place in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.[3] A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world is ash-shaʻb yurīd isqāṭ an-niẓām! (Arabic: الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام, lit. 'the people want to bring down the regime').[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring

Hadrian's Tomb

The tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian, also called Hadrian's mole,[1] was erected on the right bank (or northern edge) of the Tiber, between 134 and 139 CE.[2] Originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder, with a garden top and golden quadriga. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury Room, deep within the building. Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum – it still provides a scenic approach from the center of Rome and the left bank of the Tiber, and is renowned for the Baroque additions of statues of angels holding aloft instruments of the Passion of Christ.[citation needed]

Decline

Much of the tomb contents and decorations have been lost since the building's conversion to a military fortress in 401 and its subsequent inclusion in the Aurelian Walls by Flavius Honorius Augustus. The urns and ashes were scattered by Visigoth looters during Alaric's sacking of Rome in 410, and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary were thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537, as recounted by Procopius. An unusual survivor, however, is the capstone of a funerary urn (probably that of Hadrian), which made its way to Saint Peter's Basilica, covered the tomb of Otto II and later was incorporated into a massive Renaissance baptistery.[3] The use of spolia from the tomb in the post-Roman period was noted in the 16th century – Giorgio Vasari writes:

...in order to build churches for the use of the Christians, not only were the most honoured temples of the idols [pagan Roman gods] destroyed, but in order to ennoble and decorate Saint Peter's with more ornaments than it then possessed, they took away the stone columns from the tomb of Hadrian, now the castle of Sant'Angelo, as well as many other things which we now see in ruins.[4]

Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend, given the militant disposition of this archangel, was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw an angel statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a prolonged season of the plague, Pope Gregory I heard that the populace, even Christians, had begun revering a pagan idol at the church of Santa Agata in Suburra. A vision urged the pope to lead a procession to the church. Upon arriving, the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peter's by the Aelian Bridge, the pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle, wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle, and then sheathing it. While the pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased, this did not prevent Gregory from destroying more sites of pagan worship in Rome.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_Sant%27Angelo

The Al-Aqsa mosque compound, atop the site, is the second oldest mosque in Islam,[23] and one of the three Sacred Mosques, the holiest sites in Islam; it is revered as "the Noble Sanctuary".[24] Its courtyard (sahn)[25] can host more than 400,000 worshippers, making it one of the largest mosques in the world.[23] For Sunni and Shia Muslims alike, it ranks as the third holiest site in Islam. The plaza includes the location regarded as where the Islamic prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven,[26] and served as the first "qibla", the direction Muslims turn towards when praying. As in Judaism, Muslims also associate the site with Solomon and other prophets who are also venerated in Islam.[27] The site, and the term "al-Aqsa", in relation to the whole plaza, is also a central identity symbol for Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians.[28][29][30]

Since the Crusades, the Muslim community of Jerusalem has managed the site through the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf. The site, along with the whole of East Jerusalem (which includes the Old City), was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967 and has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. Shortly after capturing the site, Israel handed its administration back to the Waqf under the Jordanian Hashemite custodianship, while maintaining Israeli security control.[31] The Israeli government enforces a ban on prayer by non-Muslims as part of an arrangement usually referred to as the "status quo".[32][33][34] The site remains a major focal point of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[35]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount

On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Ağca was apprehended immediately and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. The Pope forgave Ağca for the assassination attempt.[1] He was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope's request and was deported to Turkey in June 2000. Ağca converted to Roman Catholicism in 2007.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Pope_John_Paul_II

Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. It has a population of 197 as of the 2020 U.S. census.[2] It is part of the Somerset, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area and is located 78 miles (126 km) southeast of Pittsburgh and 226 miles (364 km) west of Philadelphia.

Shanksville garnered global attention during the September 11 attacks when United Airlines Flight 93, bound from Newark, New Jersey for San Francisco, crashed in adjacent Stonycreek Township after its passengers rebelled against the flight's al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers. It was the only one of the four hijacked planes that failed to reach the terrorists' intended target.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanksville,_Pennsylvania

Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa];[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II

As May 18 dawned, Mount St. Helens's activity did not show any change from the pattern of the preceding month. The rates of bulge movement and sulfur dioxide emission, and ground temperature readings did not reveal any changes indicating a catastrophic eruption. USGS volcanologist David A. Johnston was on duty at an observation post around 6 mi (10 km) north of the volcano: as of 6:00 am, Johnston's measurements did not indicate any unusual activity.[9]

At 8:32 am, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake centered directly below the north slope triggered that part of the volcano to slide,[31] approximately 7–20 seconds after the shock,[9] followed a few seconds later by the main volcanic blast. The landslide, the largest subaerial landslide in recorded history, traveled at 110 to 155 mph (177 to 249 km/h) and moved across Spirit Lake's west arm. Part of it hit a 1,150 ft-high (350 m) ridge about 6 mi (10 km) north.[9] Some of the slide spilled over the ridge, but most of it moved 13 mi (21 km) down the North Fork Toutle River, filling its valley up to 600 feet (180 m) deep with avalanche debris.[31] An area of about 24 sq mi (62 km2) was covered, and the total volume of the deposit was about 0.7 cu mi (2.9 km3).[9]

Scientists were able to reconstruct the motion of the landslide from a series of rapid photographs by Gary Rosenquist, who was camping 11 mi (18 km) away from the blast 46°18′49″N 122°02′12″W.[9] Rosenquist, his party, and his photographs survived because the blast was deflected by local topography 1 mi (1.6 km) short of his location.[32]

Sound of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, as heard from 140 miles away

Duration: 44 seconds.0:44

Amateur recording of a series of booms produced by the eruption, as heard from the town of Newport, Oregon (audio filtered and amplified).

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Most of St. Helens's former north side became a rubble deposit 17 mi (27 km) long, averaging 150 ft (46 m) thick; the slide was thickest at 1 mi (1.6 km) below Spirit Lake and thinnest at its western margin.[9] The landslide temporarily displaced the waters of Spirit Lake to the ridge north of the lake, in a giant wave about 600 ft (180 m) high.[33] This, in turn, created a 295 ft (90 m) avalanche of debris consisting of the returning waters and thousands of uprooted trees and stumps. Some of these remained intact with roots, but most had been sheared off at the stump seconds earlier by the blast of superheated volcanic gas and ash that had immediately followed and overtaken the initial landslide. The debris was transported along with the water as it returned to its basin, raising the surface level of Spirit Lake by about 200 ft (61 m).[9]

Four decades after the eruption, floating log mats persist on Spirit Lake and nearby St. Helens Lake, changing position with the wind. The rest of the trees, especially those that were not completely detached from their roots, were turned upright by their own weight and became waterlogged, sinking into the muddy sediments at the bottom where they are in the process of becoming petrified in the anaerobic and mineral-rich waters. This provides insight into other sites with a similar fossil record.[34]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens

Updated May 18, 2023 Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons Both the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the House Armed Services Committee’s bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force Report have identified directed energy as a technology that could have a significant impact on U.S. national security in the years to come. As the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to invest in directed-energy (DE) weapons, Congress may consider implications for defense authorizations, appropriations, and oversight. Overview DOD defines DE weapons as those using concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to “incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and/or personnel.” DE weapons include high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons; other DE weapons, such as particle beam weapons, are outside the scope of this In Focus. HELs might be used by ground forces in short-range air defense (SHORAD), counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), or counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missions. The weapons might be used to “dazzle” (i.e., temporarily disable) or damage satellites and sensors. This could in turn interfere with intelligence-gathering operations; military cmmunications; and positioning, navigation, and timing systems used for weapons targeting. In addition, HELs could theoretically provide options for boost-phase missile intercept, given their speed-of-light travel time; however, experts disagree on the affordability, technological feasibility, and utility of this application. In general, HELs might offer lower costs per shot and— assuming access to a sufficient power supply—deeper magazines compared with traditional munitions. (Although a number of different types of HELs exist, many of the United States’ current programs are solid state lasers, which are fueled by electrical power. As a result, the cost per shot is equivalent to the cost of the electrical power required to fire the shot.) This could in turn produce a favorable costexchange ratio for the defender, whose marginal costs would be significantly lower than those of the aggressor.

Similarly, HPM weapons could provide a nonkinetic means of disabling adversary electronics and communications systems. These weapons could potentially generate effects over wider areas than HELs, which emit a narrower beam of energy. As a result, some analysts have noted that HPM weapons might provide more effective area defense against missile salvos and swarms of drones. HPM weapons have also been considered for use as nonlethal “heat ray” systems for crowd control. Directed-Energy Weapons Programs A number of countries are investing in directed-energy weapons programs. This In Focus discusses a selection of unclassified DE weapons programs in three leading military powers: the United States, China, and Russia. United States DOD requested approximately $1 billion for unclassified DE programs in FY2024. (For additional information about specific U.S. DE weapons programs, see CRS Report R44175, Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Gun-Launched Guided Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress, by Ronald O'Rourke, and CRS Report R45098, U.S. Army WeaponsRelated Directed Energy (DE) Programs: Background and Potential Issues for Congress, by Andrew Feickert.) DOD does not currently have any DE programs of record. DOD directed energy programs are coordinated by the Principal Director for Directed Energy within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD[R&E]). The Principal Director for Directed Energy is additionally responsible for development and oversight of the Directed Energy Roadmap. According to OUSD(R&E), DOD’s current DE roadmap outlines DOD’s plan to increase power levels of DE weapons from around 150 kilowatts (kW—a unit of power), as is currently feasible, to 300 kW by FY2023, “with goal milestones to achieve 500 kW class with reduced size and weight by FY2025 and to further reduce size and weight and increase power to MW [megawatt] levels by FY2026.” For reference, although there is no consensus regarding the precise power level that would be needed to neutralize different target sets, some analysts believe that lasers of around 100 kW could engage unmanned aircraft systems, small boats, rockets, artillery, and mortars, whereas lasers of around 300 kW could additionally engage cruise missiles flying in certain profiles (i.e., flying across—rather than at—the laser). Lasers of 1 MW could potentially neutralize ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons. In addition to the DE roadmap, OUSD(R&E) manages the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), which former Principal Director for Directed Energy Dr. Jim Trebes notes is “to demonstrate laser output power scaling while maintaining or improving beam quality and efficiency.” HELSI is intended to strengthen the defense industrial base for potential future directed energy weapons by providing near-term prototyping opportunities for industry partners. Dr. Trebes additionally notes that OUSD(R&E) has completed a DOD-wide Laser Lethality Analysis Process Review to identify future needs for the Department and best practices for DE development and use. According to OUSD(R&E), DOD is also testing a Directed Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons https://crsreports.congress.gov Energy Lethality Database that is to serve as a searchable repository for the department’s DE analyses. China According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China has been developing DE weapons since at least the 1980s and has made steady progress in developing HPM and increasingly powerful HELs. China has reportedly developed a 30-kilowatt roadmobile HEL, LW-30, designed to engage unmanned aircraft systems and precision-guided weapons. Reports indicate that China is also developing an airborne HEL pod. According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, China is additionally pursuing DE weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors and possibly already has a limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors. China [has likely fielded] a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit spacebased sensors ... and by the mid-to-late 2020s, it may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of non-optical satellites. Russia Russia has been conducting DE weapons research since the 1960s, with a particular emphasis on HELs. Russia has reportedly deployed the Peresvet ground-based HEL with several mobile intercontinental ballistic missile units. Although little is publicly known about Peresvet, including its power level, some analysts assert it is to dazzle satellites and provide point defense against unmanned aircraft systems. Russia’s deputy defense minister Alexei Krivoruchko has stated that efforts are underway to increase Peresvet’s power level and to deploy it on military aircraft. Reports suggest that Russia may also be developing HPMs as well as additional HELs capable of performing antisatellite missions. Potential Issues and Questions for Congress Technological Maturity Directed-energy weapons programs continue to face questions about their technological maturity, including the ability to improve beam quality and control to militarily useful levels and the ability to meet size, weight, and power (SWaP) and cooling requirements for integration into current platforms. Some DE systems are small enough to fit on military vehicles, but many require larger and/or fixed platforms that could potentially limit deployment options and operational utility. In what ways, if any, are DOD technology maturation efforts reducing the SWaP and cooling requirements of DE systems? Weapons Characteristics Although HELs may offer a lower cost per shot than traditional weapons such as missiles, they are also subject to a number of limitations. For example, atmospheric conditions (e.g., rain, fog, obscurants) and SWaP and cooling requirements can limit the range and beam quality of HELs, in turn reducing their effectiveness. Traditional weapons, in contrast, are not affected by these factors. How, if at all, might HEL limitations be mitigated by technological developments, concepts of operation, or other methods? What impact might a failure to mitigate these limitations have on future military operations? Mission Utility Given the strengths and weaknesses of DE weapons, DOD is continuing to examine their role within the military. DOD is additionally conducting multiple utility studies to analyze potential concepts of operation for DE weapons and to assess the scenarios in which they might be militarily useful. How might Congress draw upon the conclusions of these analyses as it conducts oversight of DE weapons programs? What is the appropriate balance between DE weapons and traditional munitions within the military’s portfolio of capabilities? Defense Industrial Base Some analysts have expressed concerns that, in the past, DOD did not provide stable funding for DE weapons programs or sufficient opportunities for the DE workforce. According to OUSD(R&E), HELSI is intended to address these concerns by providing industry with assured prototyping opportunities. In what ways, if any, has HELSI strengthened the defense industrial base for DE weapons? What, if any, challenges does the base continue to face and how might they be mitigated?

Intelligence Requirements

Some analysts have questioned whether DOD has sufficient knowledge of adversary DE weapons systems and materials to develop its weapons requirements. DOD is currently attempting to further define its DE collection requirements for the intelligence community (IC) through the Directed Energy Lethality Intelligence initiative. To what extent, if at all, is this initiative improving connectivity between DOD’s DE community and the IC? What collection requirements, if any, remain? Coordination within DOD Pursuant to Section 219 of the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 114-328), OUSD(R&E)’s Principal Director for Directed Energy is tasked with coordinating DE efforts across DOD and with developing DOD’s Directed Energy Roadmap, which is to guide development efforts. To what extent are the military departments and defense agencies adhering to this roadmap? What, if any, additional authorities or structural changes would be required to ensure proper coordination throughout DOD? Related CRS Products CRS Report R46925, Department of Defense Directed Energy Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress, coordinated by Kelley M. Sayler. This report was originally co-authored by John Hoehn. Kelley M. Sayler, Analyst in Advanced Technology and Global Security IF11882 Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11882 · VERSION 8 · UPDATED Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material"

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11882

It's hard to see how the fishing industry will pick itself up again. Takeshi is moving away from the coast as is his neighbor and fellow fisherman. His wife has refused to return here since the tsunami hit. At the age of 77, he is unlikely to be able to start from scratch. But he picks up any remnants of his fishing gear he can find, just in case. What is left intact barely fills one small basket. His neighbor finds his clock. It has stopped at 3:22pm -- the exact moment his life changed and countless others ended." Misplaced trust: 30-foot tsunami wall didn't save Japanese village by Paul Hancocks

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/japan.tsunami.village/index.html

Skull and Bones, The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut."

"There is a secret that binds the two men who would be the next leader of the free world. President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry both spent a portion of their youth laying bare their sex lives in Gothic rituals presided over by a human skull and the skeletal remains of various other animal species in a windowless building known as the Tomb. They also formed an unusual attachment to the number 322, which holds a special resonance for the club's members." Skeletons in the closet

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/20/usa.internationaleducationnews

"It is perhaps worth noting, in light of George W.'s controversial episode at Bob Jones University and the specter of anti-Catholicism, that at one point in the proceedings every initiate kisses the slippered toe of the "Pope." At last the initiate is formally dubbed a Knight of Eulogia. Amid more raucous ritual he is cast from the room into the waiting arms of the patriarchs."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/george-w-knight-of-eulogia/304686/

"A major landslide occurred 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oso, Washington, United States, on March 22, 2014 (3/22/2014), at 10:37 a.m. local time. A portion of an unstable hill collapsed, sending mud and debris to the south across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, engulfing a rural neighborhood, and covering an area of approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2). Forty-three people were killed and 49 homes and other structures destroyed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide

Published: 10 October 1996

Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research

Carl Levitin

Moscow. The first official details have emerged in Moscow of ambitious research into 'tectonic warfare' carried out by the former Soviet Union and subsequently by the government of Russia, and involving atte mpts to stimulate 'artificial' earthquakes as weapons of destruction. According to documents obtained by the newspaper Moscow News, two research programmes, the first known as ' Mercury ' and the second as ' Volcano', were aimed at creating new earthquake epicentres by using underground nuclear explosions . Geophysicists are aware that impending earthquakes may be triggered by underground nuclear explosions . But Western geophysicists remain sceptical about tectonic warfare and have all but abandoned research after two unsuccessful phases of activity in the 1960s and 1980s, says Roger Clark, a lecturer in geophysics at the University of Leeds. Clark is not at all surprised that th e Russians tried to create earthquakes and control their location electromagnetically, however. "This sort of science is very much part of their heritage. We don't think it is impossible, or wrong , but past experience suggests it is very, very unlikely. "

The programme , which was secretly launched by the Communist rulers of the former Soviet Union in 1987, and has been unofficially known to Western geophysicists for several years, is now believed to have been abandoned. It would certainly contravene the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signe d at the United Nations in Geneva last month . The Mercury project was launched in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but came to a halt when the republic became independent. It was superseded by the Volcano project. Three underground nuclear tests are believed to have taken place at sites in Kyrgyzstan.

According to the documents, the Mercury project was launched by a secret decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The objective was to "develop a methodology for remote operation on an earthquake epicentre by using weak seismic fields and research possibilities of transferring the seismic energy of an explosion ".

The documents say that the Mercury project involved 22 scientific and industrial organizations, including the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku. The remit extended to developing the electronic equipment to be installed aboard space satellites that would control the tectonic weapon. The scientists were given three years to complete research, with testing planned for 1990.

During the research phase, Azerbaijani scientists grew increasingly confident and, according to the documents, were sure that " after [a] nuclear explosion, subterranean energy may accumulate at huge distances from the epicentre and reach massive capacity, after which the next directed explosion can release it all ".

Underground testing began at the town of Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and was directed by lkram Ke rimov , of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The documents say that scientists detonated an underground nuclear charge and tried to control the direction of seismic energy release d using British-built equipment known as 'system 9690 ' .

A report prepared by the Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute concluded that the test had been a success. But progress slowed considerably following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. At about this time , Russia embarked on a more comprehensive tectonic warfare programme known as the Volcano project. The Earth Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) became the project headquarters .

Research was scheduled to be completed in 1992, with underground testing beginning the following year. The final test was carried out at a place code-named S36NZ-0Kh; Moscow News believes the letters 'NZ' refer to Novaya Zemlya, where Soviet nuclear testing began in the 1950s."

https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0

Extrusive (Volcanic) Rock Classification

Volcanic rocks are classified based on their chemical composition as determined by analytical techniques that identify the proportion of major elements found in them. Unlike for plutonic rocks, it is not possible to classify volcanic rocks based on the minerals found in them.

Some volcanic rocks contain some crystals (phenocrysts) that grew in the magma chamber prior to eruption, but others contain no crystals at all or are volcanic glass (obsidian).

In addition to the mafic (low silica) basalt, and the silicic rhyolite, several subdivisions exist between the two compositional end members.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/igneous.htm

THE CONCLAVE OR CELESTIAL CITY

Containing an epitome of the twelve degrees of the Philosophic Chamber of the Ancient and Accepted Rite.

The twelve degrees preceding the Rose Croix are as we have shown, associated with the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

From these fixed signs, the Rite passes to the Sun, Moon and the Planets.

From these the Rite looks to the four elements or four components of man, etc., and from these it considers the spirit and matter, or infinite and finite of the Universe and of man.

In the Rose Croix Degree, we have seen the son of masonry and heard the promise of universal peace and joy. Now let us proceed to seek the methods of realization, and learn how to restore the lost Eden and reedify the Celestial City."

Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated

THE COMPLETE RITUAL OF THE

Ancient AND Accepted Scottish Rite,

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.

Volume 2

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/scotchritemasonr02blan/scotchritemasonr02blan.pdf

"Very soon now, it will no longer be a mystery of 'when' these events will take place; they will have become a terrible reality. Where then, will each of us stand on these issues, when the onslaught actually begins? Quickly it will be seen that the New Ager's counterfeit messiah, Lord #Maitreya, is also the same person as the #Pontifex Maximus pope of Rome, who then will take the reins of the New World Order. The deceptions will mesh wonderfully together, as the "World Harmonic Convergence" accomplishes new values for mankind in the cooperation, collaboration and unification on behalf of the "Spirit of the Earth." For those of you who read this book, be patient, it won't be long and you will know that it revealed to you the truth.

Also, it is only a matter of time when Pope John Paul II, old and tired, will succumb to his great age, and his mantle will then go to a more younger and aggressive pope. By him, a work will now be accomplished, known as the "Era of Reseeding" when major population areas will be 'thinned out' and the human population will be resettled. Finally, will come the "Era of the New Harmony" and the "Crystal Kingdom" of the earth will be set up. This is the glorious version of Rome's final victory and total conquest of humanity. But there is one last crowning act that is needed to make this masterpiece of deception complete.

FALSE MESSIAH OCCUPIES JERUSALEM

The counterfeit surpassing all other counterfeits, Rome has now fulfilled its grandest dreams. The entire world lays in shambles at its feet. "Order out of Chaos" ,was its beloved motto.

Now the 'great pretender' , the Pontifex Maximus pope declares himself to be God over all the earth! Not content with just being ruler of all the earth - but "is worshiped; so that he as God sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

Only a Luciferic mind could think like that.

After usurping the very exalted position of grandeur, magnificence, majesty and sovereignty of God Himself - what other place would he choose to locate his Crystal Kingdom headquarters - other than where the God of creation has placed His own Holy name Jerusalem; where else? Rome has always had its covetous eye set on Jerusalem. The Crusaders were sent there to conquer it, after which, the Knights Templar were named after its temple. And now the Pontifex Maximus pope, dripping in blood of the world's innocents, claims this city as his too; to be the headquarters for ruling his New World Order.

Does all of this sound like some grotesque farcy tale or the terror of some fearsome nightmare? Oh my friend, how I wish that could really be the case; that we could actually wake up and none of this would really be true, and I could be called a liar. What I wouldn't give, if I could make that be so. But for all the sadness and horror it brings, it must be acknowledged that it is the truth. Not because man says so, but because God's Word has declared it. There is only one way to face the onslaught that is just ahead. We must fully trust our life into the hands of God, and then resolve in our minds that we are going to be killed; forgetting entirely the thought that we might be fortunate enough to escape. That is how thoroughly God's people are going to be rooted out. Know for sure in your own mind - they can kill your body ever so dead, but they can never take your life - if it is in Christ Jesus. That belongs to God alone.

Very soon, God's people are going to be confronted with the exact same experience as our Lord and Saviour. To know and look straight into the face of death - and yes, by the very same executioner - Rome. But our Lord loved you, dear reader, and me, and all, that He gave up His own life for ours. We must now respond to that love and be resolved to die also for Him, standing firm for His truth, as He died for us. And Rome can not kill us so dead, that our mighty God can not raise us back up to life. Not the miserable life we know now but incorruptible life for eternity. A quick calculation will tell you, that if one third of the earth's population, or nearly two billion people, are going to be slaughtered, only a minuscule fraction of that amount are fundamentalist Christians . That means a huge amount of people are going to die that are not Christians. Sadly, beyond any comprehension, they will have died for a very lost cause.

From all the horror, misery, and bloodshed, people universally, will become utterly paralyzed from sheer shock.

And to the overwhelming majority of them, sadly, this life is their only world, as they watch it being ripped apart; everywhere, nothing but chaos and devastation. They are terrified. They just do not understand! But there are a people that do understand; as they watch now with solemn awe, events occurring that they had known about and anticipated for many many years. This is what gives to God's people "hope". They know that God does not lie. God has given to His people promises, predictions, and prophecies that have never ever failed. That, dear friend, is wonderful, unselfish, and abiding love! - that builds unswerving trust. And no other promise is so deeply embedded into their hearts, than the one given that

Christ will soon return and redeem His people out of this wretched world. It buoys their spirits, as it assures them precious

'hope'.

Five hundred years before Jesus Christ walked the earth, God revealed to His people that Rome's false messiah, in the very end times, would "plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." In other words, Jerusalem. (Daniel 11:45) What an incredible God we have! But notice how God describes it. He calls Rome setting up its New World Order headquarters in Jerusalem the "abomination that maketh desolate." In fact, Christ Himself prophesied that Rome would invade Jerusalem soon after His departure from earth, which it did in A.D.70. And this first invasion was to become a "type" for when it would occur again, with vengeance, in the very end time."

CHAPTER 17 "TWO OCCULT POWERS UNITED FOR FINAL WORLD

CONTROL"

The Grand Design Exposed

by John Daniel

http://www.granddesignexposed.com/contents.html

hoodwink

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Wikipedia.

hood·wink (ho͝od′wĭngk′)

tr.v. hood·winked, hood·wink·ing, hood·winks

1. To deceive or swindle by deception. See Synonyms at deceive.

2. Archaic To blindfold.

3. Obsolete To conceal.

hood′wink′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hoodwink (ˈhʊdˌwɪŋk)

vb (tr)

1. to dupe; trick

2. obsolete to cover or hide

[C16: originally, to cover the eyes with a hood, blindfold]

ˈhoodˌwinker n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hood•wink (ˈhʊdˌwɪŋk)

v.t. -winked, -wink•ing.

1. to deceive or trick.

2. Archaic. to blindfold.

3. Obs. to cover or hide.

[1555–65; hood1 + wink1]

hood′wink`a•ble, adj.

hood′wink`er, n.

hoodwink

Past participle: hoodwinked

Gerund: hoodwinking

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/hoodwink

THE WHEEL & THE CROSS

An Anthology by Jesuits & Friends on Buddhism and Dialogue

Edited by

Cyril Veliath, SJ

Published on behalf of the JCAP Buddhist Studies & Dialogue Group by

MAGGA Jesuit Research Center

Phnom Penh & Manila

2021

https://jcapsj.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2021/12/The-Wheel-The-Cross.pdf

On 11 June 1963, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated outside the Cambodian embassy in the city of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalists were notified in advance to show up, but had not been told what would happen. The US journalist Malcolm Browne photographed the scene. His photograph became an enduring worldwide image of Buddhist protest.

Many in the US assume that the self-immolation was a protest against the war in Vietnam, paralleling anti-war protestors at home. This idea fits nicely into the popular association of Buddhism with peace. It is, however, wrong. Quang Duc’s self-immolation and the others that followed were a protest against the South Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem administration and its allies in the West. Vietnamese Buddhists felt persecuted by the Vietnamese administration’s pro-Catholic stance. Their self-immolations were acts to defend Buddhism.

Buddhists have always been involved in civil disobedience movements and peace-making agendas, such as the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. Further, Buddhist meditations have proven incredibly helpful in the rehabilitation of criminals. In short, Buddhism, to its practitioners, is not an ‘accoutrement’ to life or ‘just’ a philosophy – it is a full-bodied religion whose adherents are eager to protect. The myth of Buddhism as a wholly peaceful religion ignores Buddhists’ agency and diversity – and the fact that they will go to great lengths to defend their religion, whether by way of pistol-bearing monks or self-immolating protesters.

Recently, Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also called for violence. In 2013, Time magazine placed the Burmese Buddhist monk U Wirathu on their cover with the headline ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror’. U Wirathu has been a fiery critic of Burmese Muslims, particularly those who identify as Rohingya. The 2014 Myanmar census found that Buddhists make up 89 per cent of the population, compared with Muslims at 4.3 per cent. Nevertheless, U Wirathu and his counterparts argue that both Burmese Buddhism and Myanmar itself are threatened by the ‘Islamification of Asia’. In well-attended sermons, U Wirathu has repeatedly derided Muslims and Islam, accusing them of seeking to destroy Burmese culture and the future of Buddhism. In one sermon, he likened Muslims to the African carp, explaining that they are inherently violent, prone to breed quickly, and want to eat their own kind.

U Wirathu is a member of the 969 movement. This movement and the Ma Ba Tha (the Patriotic Association of Myanmar) retain significant influence over the Buddhists of Myanmar. They distribute pamphlets and taped sermons that warn about the threat of Islam. Their work to foment fear of Muslims helps to propel Burmese Buddhists toward violence, as in the murderous anti-Muslim riots in the central city of Meiktila in 2013, where at least 40 people died. Before these, there were powerful precursors from the western Rakhine state. Since 2012, nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Most of these Rohingya have been deported from homes into special internment camps. Due to the terrible conditions in these camps, journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times argue that the Buddhist treatment of the Rohingya constitutes genocide.

In 2015, the two Burmese Buddhist organisations successfully lobbied for the passage of pro-Buddhist legislation. Many international human-rights groups argue that these new laws are discriminatory against minority groups, particularly Muslims. U Wirathu continues to develop connections not only with Thailand’s Buddhist monks, but also with Sri Lankan Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist organisation ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott on stores selling halal-certified meat

From 1983, Sri Lanka was engaged in a civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought to separate and form their own independent state of Tamil Eelam. The Sri Lankan government opposed this, both through secular language and Buddhist rhetoric. Buddhist monks fiercely argued against negotiations, and for fighting to keep Sri Lanka ‘whole’. For these monks, Sri Lanka is the true land of Buddhism and it was under attack. Monks were straightforward political players, delivering incendiary speeches, joining political parties (such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), and taking part in violent clashes.

The civil war ended in 2009, but Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have continued to push their political agendas. Since 2011, there have been further escalations in violent rhetoric by Sri Lankan Buddhist nationalist organisations such as the Sinhala Ravaya (The Roar of the Sinhalese), the Ravana Balaya (Ravana’s Force) and the Bodu Bala Sena (The Army of Buddhist Power). Often, the rhetoric is directed at businesses, for example against halal provision for Muslims. In early 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott against stores that provided halal-certified meat. The Buddhist organisation falsely alleged that Muslims were slaughtering young calves (an illegal practice), and accused the governing body for halal-certification, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, of taking steps to bring about Sharia law in Sri Lanka.

Similar to their counterparts in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have incited anti-Muslim riots, as in Aluthgama in 2014. Buddhist groups have been implicated in the assassination of politicians and peace activists. The growing influence of these hyper-nationalist Buddhist organisations, together with the Sri Lankan government’s tacit support (through a lack of response) has spurred NGOs and local communities to protest. In November 2016, 367 Sri Lankan citizens submitted a collective complaint about the inaction of the police to protect minorities from the persistence of Buddhist monk-led attacks.

No religion has a monopoly on ‘violent people’, nor does any one religion have a greater propensity for violence. Rather, social conditions such as poverty and societal upheavals generate violent behaviour, regardless of religion. It is no coincidence that poorer regions and neighbourhoods suffer higher crime rates. When people find the world changing around them, they turn to their religion to make sense of things. Some look to religion as a means to preserve what they have, and religion provides a way of understanding one’s place in the world and, more importantly, one’s duty.

In order to comprehend such people’s justifications for violence, it is important to explore their worldview, namely, the way in which Buddhists understand and protect what is sacred to them. Although Buddhism is incredibly diverse, all Buddhists venerate the Triple Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (doctrine) and Sangha (monastic community). As long as these jewels remain in the world, humanity still has a way of escaping the vicious cycle of rebirth. Buddhists, along with Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, believe that time is cyclical, and that there is a decline before the end of each great cycle.

According to Buddhists, their doctrine provides rulers with justice, societies with equilibrium, and individuals with a path to salvation. Its attenuation, therefore, is one sign of the decline. Another is the absence, or dwindling numbers, of the sangha. When there are no more monks, Buddhist End Times will begin.

Buddhist scriptures measure internal time by how many breaths you take, and external (cosmic) time through the rotation of four kalpas, or aeons. Unlike in Abrahamic religions, time in Buddhism has no beginning. It is a constant cycle. There is no definitive amount of time given for each kalpa, but Buddhist scriptures provide suggestive analogies. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one kalpa lasts longer than the time required to wear away an 18,000-square-metre rock by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every 100 years.

The first kalpa is a formative and chaotic period. In the second kalpa, the chaos continues to unfold. It is only in the third kalpa in which the chaos declines, and the world enters into a rapid stage of evolution. The fourth and final kalpa is called the Age of Destruction. It ends with an apocalyptic rainfall that destroys all life and sparks the beginning of the first kalpa. Buddhists believe that we are living in the fourth and final section of the last kalpa. The end of the kalpa will inevitably come and, when it does, a new Buddha will emerge: Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be. But Buddhists can forestall the end. The longer the Buddhist monks and their doctrine remain strong, then the slower the pace toward the end of the kalpa.

Buddhist traditions have different ways of identifying the signs of deterioration. According to legend, on the eve of the Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) becoming awakened, he was tempted by Mara, the embodiment of desire, death and rebirth. Although he conquered his desires and vanquished Mara, many Buddhists have believed that the re-appearance of Mara is a sign that the End Times have arrived. Others think that the erosion of their sacred Three Jewels signals the beginning of the end. In order to forestall the quickening of the End Times, Buddhists have fought against the manifestations of Mara and to preserve the integrity of their practices and doctrine.

For instance, in sixth-century China, the Buddhist monk Faqing led a revolt and declared the arrival of a new Buddha. He marshalled 50,000 men to fight, promising them that, with each kill, they would reach a higher stage in the bodhisattva path. In ninth-century Tibet, Emperor Langdarma was assassinated by a Tibetan lama. According to Tibetan sources, Langdarma had become possessed by demonic forces (gdon). He destroyed monasteries and began to attack the Buddhist establishment. Things were changing and not in the right direction. The murder of Langdarma ‘saved’ Buddhism in Tibet. It has become such an important event that the Tibetans commemorate the murder in their Cham dance, which offers moral instructions through performance.

Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese emperor strengthened support for Shintoism, and began to dismantle Buddhist institutions that were not favourable to the state. Buddhist monks had a choice of either complying with the state, or leaving the monkhood. Many remained and supported the onset of Japanese imperialism. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, Rinzai Buddhist monks spoke out in favour of the military campaign. For them, the war was a fight for the preservation of civilisation and the Buddhist doctrine – a fight for the world.

The Buddhist call-to-arms reoccurred throughout the Second World War. Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Zen and Pure Land Buddhist monks argued that the Second World War was justified in order to preserve ‘true’ Buddhism. The Buddhist traditions in places such as China, Korea and Singapore had become corrupt and faulty. It was a sign of decay.

As humanity moves closer to the Buddhist End Times, the Buddhist doctrine explains that it will become harder for a person to become enlightened. In recent years, many Buddhists have turned to Pure Land Buddhism. These Buddhists believe that our world is now fraught with a multitude of obstacles to becoming fully awakened. To avoid this, a follower practices uttering Amitabh’s name (nianfo) and visualizing him. In this way, the follower ensures a rebirth in Pure Land, where he can receive the teachings from the Bodhisattva Amitabha to reach enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism is one of the largest populated traditions in East Asia, and is quickly expanding its numbers globally. While some Buddhists turn to traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, others fight to preserve what they believe is true Buddhism, such as in southern Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Over the centuries, there have been tremendous changes to Buddhism. Indeed, change is one of the foundational principles in Buddhism: all is impermanent. Some changes are in concert with modernity, others are in reaction. Each Buddhist tradition has transformed with the times – and the times are always changing. But there are persistent patterns that keep pace with these changes. Buddhist monks in the early sixth-century China led revolts to defend Buddhism. Today, monks in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka continue to fight – violently – for their religion and to call their followers to action. The cycle of violence continues in this final stage of the cycle of time: the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction.

Monks with guns

Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam?

https://aeon.co/essays/buddhism-can-be-as-violent-as-any-other-religion

St Peter's foot at the Vatican after centuries of being touched by pilgrims

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellworn/comments/aicf4z/st_peters_foot_at_the_vatican_after_centuries_of/

Appearance of the Black Stone

Visiting the Kaaba in 1853, Richard Francis Burton noted that:

In 1917, the Virgin appeared in Fatima. "The Mother of God" was a smashing success, playing to overflow crowds. As a result, the Socialists of Portugal suffered a major defeat. "Roman Catholics world-wide began praying for the conversion of Russia and the Jesuits invented the Novenas to Fatima which they could perform throughout North Africa, spreading good public relations to the Muslim world. The Arabs thought they were honoring the daughter of Muhammad, which is what the Jesuits wanted them to believe. "As a result of the vision of Fatima, Pope Pius XII ordered his Nazi army to crush Russia and the Orthodox religion and make Russia Roman Catholic." A few years after he lost World war II, Pope Pius XII startled the world with his phoney dancing sun vision to keep Fatima in the news. It was great religious show biz and the world swallowed it. "Not surprisingly, Pope Pius was the only one to see this vision. As a result, a group of followers has grown into a BLUE Army world-wide, totaling millions of faithful Roman Catholics ready to die for the blessed virgin. "But we haven't seen anything yet. The Jesuits have their Virgin Mary scheduled to appear four or five times in China, Russia, and major appearance in the U.S.

"What has this got to do with Islam?

Note Bishop SHEEN's statement: "Our Lady's appearances at Fatima marked the turning point in the history of the world's 350 million Muslims. After the death of his daughter, Muhammad wrote that she "is the most holy of all women in Paradise, next to Mary."

"He believed that the Virgin Mary chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a sign and a pledge that the Muslims who believe in Christ's virgin birth, will come to believe in His divinity.

"Bishop Sheen pointed out that the pilgrim virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima were enthusiastically received by Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere, and that many Muslims are now coming into the Roman Catholic Church."

How the Vatican created Islam (remnantofgod.org)

http://www.remnantofgod.org/books/docs/how-the-vatican-created-islam.pdf

Alan the Black (Latin: Alanus Niger, French: Alain le Noir; died 1098) was the second lord of the Honour of Richmond from 1093 until his death. He was a younger son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre. He succeeded his elder brother, Alan Rufus ("Alan the Red"), at Richmond. There is no record of him being in England prior to 1093.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_the_Black

Alan Rufus died childless. As Lord of Richmond, Alan Rufus was succeeded by his younger brothers: Alan Niger who also died without issue, followed by Stephen, Count of Tréguier.

Other activities of Count Alan Rufus

Beneath Richmond Castle, Alan founded the town of Richmond, North Yorkshire. He also built the original manor house of Costessey Hall, Alan's CAPUT at Costessey in Norfolk, on the north side of the River Tud in Costessey Park.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Rufus

The Scottish Clan Stewart and the royal House of Stuart have Breton origins. Alan Rufus, also known as Alan the Red, was both a cousin and knight in the retinue of William the Conqueror. Following his service at Hastings, he was rewarded with large estates in Yorkshire. At the time of his death, he was by far the richest noble in England. His manorial holding at Richmond ensured a Breton presence in northern England. The Earldom of Richmond later became an appanage of the Dukes of Brittany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretons

Name

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail1 Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same.

The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail

In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line. In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization:

This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2

From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government! "3

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

Devī (/ˈdeɪvi/;[1] Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is deva. Devi and deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism.

The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed around the 2nd millennium BCE. However, they did not play a vital role in that era.[2] Goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radha, Saraswati and Sita have continued to be revered in the modern era.[2] The medieval era Puranas witness a major expansion in mythology and literature associated with Devi, with texts such as the Devi Mahatmya, wherein she manifests as the ultimate truth and supreme power. She has inspired the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. Further, Devi is viewed as central in the Hindu traditions of Shaktism and Shaivism.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi

Kamala Devi Harris[b] (born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th and current vice president of the United States since 2021, serving under President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic Party's nominee for president in the 2024 election. As a woman of Afro-Jamaican and Tamil Indian descent, she is the first woman, first Black American, and first Asian American to hold each of the offices of the vice president, attorney general of California, and San Francisco district attorney. Additionally, from 2017 to 2021 she represented California in the United States Senate. She is the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

"Tzel" (צֵל) is the Hebrew word for "shadow," but it’s more than just a dark shape cast by light—it carries also a deep spiritual significance, often symbolizing protection, divine presence, and refuge in the Bible.

Why It Matters:

"Tzel" appears in important biblical contexts, such as in Psalm 91:1: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." This imagery of tzel is often used in scripture to describe God's own character—He offers shade, shelter, and protection to all people.

Fun Fact:

In the desert, the Israelites were led by a cloud—essentially a "shadow" from God—providing protection from the harsh sun. In Numbers 14:9, Joshua tells the Israelites that the Canaanites are defenseless because their "shade" (tzel) has been removed, leaving them without divine protection.

But tzel also has another meaning. Jacob wrestles with his own shadow—his inner struggles—before resolving his conflict with Esau, reminding us that true transformation often comes from confronting our inner selves.

What About You?:

Can you think of a time when you felt like you were in a "tzel"—a moment when you experienced protection or comfort during a difficult time? Or perhaps a moment when you wrestled with your own "shadow"?

https://israelbiblecenter.com/courses/creation-and-torah-stories/the-story-of-our-hebrew-fathers-ii-isaac-and-jacob?via=eb03b8d&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IBC_lead_standalone_content_biblical-word-tzel-list-3_2024-10-25#eb03b8d

Shadow government Look up shadow government in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Not to be confused with Shadow Cabinet. Shadow government may refer to: Government An opposition grouping in a parliamentary system that mimics the structure of the actual government, in particular its cabinet (see Shadow Cabinet) A term for plans for an emergency government that takes over in the event of a disaster, see continuity of government A government-in-exile Shadow government (conspiracy), a conspiracy theory of a secret government"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_government

Protocol 15: When the King of Israel sets upon his sacred head the crown offered him by Europe he will become patriarch of the world.

Twelve royal families in Europe today have Grail blood flowing through their veins. Two of them carry the title of "King of Jerusalem:" Otto von Habsburg, Pretender to the Austrian throne, and Juan Carlos, King of Spain.

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

Odo (French: Eudes; c. 857 – 1 January 898) was the elected King of West Francia from 888 to 898. He was the first king from the Robertian dynasty, the parent house of the House of Capet. Before assuming the kingship, Odo was the count of Paris.[2] His reign marked the definitive separation of West Francia from the Carolingian Empire, which would never be reunited.

Family and inheritance

Odo was the eldest son of Robert the Strong, Duke of the Franks, Margrave of Neustria, and Count of Anjou and Adelaide of Tours.[3][a] After his father's death at the Battle of Brissarthe in 866, Odo inherited the Margraviate of Neustria. Odo lost this title in 868 when King Charles the Bald appointed Hugh the Abbot to the title. Odo regained it following the death of Hugh in 886. After 882 he was the count of Paris. Odo was also the lay abbot of St. Martin of Tours.[5][6]

In 882 or 883 Odo married Théodrate of Troyes.[7] The eleventh-century chronicler Adémar de Chabannes wrote that they had a son, Arnoul (c.882–898)[citation needed], who died shortly after his father. Guy is named as one of the couple's children in an Alan I's charter dated 28 August 903, but genealogist Christian Settipani has argued that the document is false.[8] The genealogical work Europäische Stammtafeln refers to Raoul as a son of Odo by Théodrate, but its primary source is not known.

Reign

For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of Vikings during the 885–886 Siege of Paris, Odo was chosen by the western Frankish nobles to be their king following the overthrow of Emperor Charles the Fat.[9] He was crowned at Compiègne in February 888 by Walter, Archbishop of Sens.[10]

Odo continued to battle against the Vikings and defeated them at Montfaucon, but was soon involved in a struggle with powerful Frankish nobles who supported the claim of Charles the Simple to the throne.[9][11]

In 890 Odo granted special privileges to the County of Manresa in Osona.[12] Because of its position on the front line against the Moorish aggression, Manresa was given the right to build towers of defence known as manresanas or manresanes. This privilege was responsible for giving Manresa its unique character, distinct from the rest of Osona, for the next two centuries.[citation needed]

To gain prestige and support, Odo paid homage to East Francia's King Arnulf in 888.[13][14] Despite this, in 894 Arnulf declared his support for Charles the Simple, and after a conflict which lasted three years, Odo was compelled to come to terms with his rival and surrender a district north of the Seine to him.[9] Odo died in La Fère on 1 January 898.[15]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odo_of_France

Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart am Brusach), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329.[1] Robert led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to restore Scotland to an independent kingdom and is regarded in Scotland as a national hero.

Robert was a fourth-great-grandson of King David I, and his grandfather, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, was one of the claimants to the Scottish throne during the "Great Cause".[1]

As Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his family's claim to the Scottish throne and took part in William Wallace's revolt against Edward I of England. Appointed in 1298 as a Guardian of Scotland alongside his chief rival for the throne, John Comyn of Badenoch, and William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews, Robert resigned in 1300 because of his quarrels with Comyn and the apparently imminent restoration of John Balliol to the Scottish throne. After submitting to Edward I in 1302 and returning to "the king's peace", Robert inherited his family's claim to the Scottish throne upon his father's death.

Bruce's involvement in John Comyn's murder in February 1306 led to his excommunication by Pope Clement V (although he received absolution from Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow). Bruce moved quickly to seize the throne, and was crowned king of Scots on 25 March 1306. Edward I's forces defeated Robert in the Battle of Methven, forcing him to flee into hiding, before re-emerging in 1307 to defeat an English army at Loudoun Hill and wage a highly successful guerrilla war against the English.

Robert I defeated his other opponents, destroying their strongholds and devastating their lands, and in 1309 held his first parliament. A series of military victories between 1310 and 1314 won him control of much of Scotland, and at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Robert defeated a much larger English army under Edward II of England, confirming the re-establishment of an independent Scottish kingdom. The battle marked a significant turning point, with Robert's armies now free to launch devastating raids throughout northern England, while he also expanded the war against England by sending armies to invade Ireland, and appealed to the Irish to rise against Edward II's rule.

Despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to renounce his claim to the overlordship of Scotland. In 1320, the Scottish nobility submitted the Declaration of Arbroath to Pope John XXII, declaring Robert as their rightful monarch and asserting Scotland's status as an independent kingdom.

In 1324, the Pope recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and in 1326, the Franco-Scottish alliance was renewed in the Treaty of Corbeil. In 1327, the English deposed Edward II in favour of his son, Edward III, and peace was concluded between Scotland and England with the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton in 1328, by which Edward III renounced all claims to sovereignty over Scotland.

Robert I died in June 1329 and was succeeded by his son, David II. Robert's body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart was interred in Melrose Abbey, and his internal organs embalmed and placed in St Serf's Church, Dumbarton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_the_Bruce

Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia, with Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner in supporting roles. Die Hard follows New York City police detective John McClane (Willis) who is caught up in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife.

Plot

On Christmas Eve, New York City Police Department (NYPD) Detective John McClane arrives in Los Angeles, hoping to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly, at a party held by her employer, the Nakatomi Corporation. He is driven to Nakatomi Plaza by a limo driver, Argyle, who offers to wait for McClane in the garage. While McClane washes himself, the tower is seized by the German radical Hans Gruber and his heavily armed team, including Karl and Theo. Everyone in the tower is taken hostage except for McClane, who slips away, and Argyle, who remains oblivious to events.

Gruber is posing as a terrorist to steal the $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds in the building's vault.[a] He kills executive Joseph Takagi after failing to extract the access code from him and tasks Theo with breaking into the vault. The terrorists are alerted to McClane's presence, and one of them, Tony, is sent after him. McClane kills Tony and takes his weapon and radio, which he uses to contact the skeptical Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Sergeant Al Powell is sent to investigate. Meanwhile, McClane kills more terrorists and recovers their bag of C-4 and detonators. Realizing Powell is about to leave, having found nothing amiss, McClane drops a terrorist's corpse onto his car. After Powell calls for backup, a SWAT team attempts to storm the building but is counterattacked by the terrorists. McClane throws some C-4 down an elevator shaft, causing an explosion that kills some of the terrorists and ends the counterattack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II

Peter Hans Kolvenbach SJ (30 November 1928 – 26 November 2016) was a Dutch Jesuit priest and professor who was the 29th superior general of the Society of Jesus, the largest male Catholic religious order.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hans_Kolvenbach

The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11,[f] were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. On that morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California. The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and aimed the next two flights toward targets in or near Washington, D.C., in an attack on the nation's capital. The third team succeeded in striking the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia, while the fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt. The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the multi-decade global war on terror to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and several other countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

SACROS LATERAN ECCLES

OMNIUM URBIS ET ORBIS

ECCLESIARUM MATER

ET CAPUT

English Translation:

HOLY LATERAN CHURCH,

MOTHER AND HEAD

OF ALL CHURCHES

Basilica of St. John Lateran

The Main or East Façade

https://catholic-resources.org/Photos/Rome-Churches.htm

It is hypothesized that the name comes either from Latin caput, meaning "head", and means "chief" or "head of state".

https://homework.study.com/explanation/how-did-hugh-capet-get-his-name.html

The House of Capet (French: Maison capétienne) ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians and the Karlings.

The direct line of the House of Capet came to an end in 1328, when the three sons of Philip IV (reigned 1285–1314) all failed to produce surviving male heirs to the French throne. With the death of Charles IV (reigned 1322–1328), the throne passed to the House of Valois, descended from a younger brother of Philip IV.

Royal power would pass on, in 1589, to another Capetian branch, the House of Bourbon, descended from the youngest son of Louis IX (reigned 1226–1270). From 1830 on it would go to a Bourbon cadet branch, the House of Orléans, always remaining in the hands of agnatic descendants of Hugh Capet himself a descendant of Charlemagne, except for the 10-year reign of Emperor Napoleon.

Names

The House of Capet (French: Maison capétienne) were also called the Direct Capetians (Capétiens directs), the House of France (la maison de France), or simply the Capets. Historians in the 19th century came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet (c. 939 – 996). Contemporaries did not use the name "Capetian" (see House of France). The Capets were sometimes called "the Third Race of Kings" (following the Merovingians and the Carolingians). The name "Capet" derives from the nickname (of uncertain meaning) given to Hugh, the first Capetian king.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Capet

Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Fitzempress and Henry Curtmantle,[2] was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled England, substantial parts of Wales and Ireland, and much of France (including Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine), an area that altogether was later called the Angevin Empire, and also held power over Scotland and the Duchy of Brittany.

Henry became politically and militarily involved by the age of fourteen in the efforts of his mother, Matilda (daughter of Henry I of England), to claim the English throne, at that time held by Matilda's cousin Stephen of Blois. Henry's father, Geoffrey, made him Duke of Normandy in 1150, and upon Geoffrey's death in 1151, Henry inherited Anjou, Maine and Touraine. His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine brought him control of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Thus, he controlled most of France. Henry's military expedition to England in 1153 resulted in King Stephen agreeing, by the Treaty of Wallingford, to leave England to Henry, and he inherited the kingdom at Stephen's death a year later. Henry was an energetic and ruthless ruler, driven by a desire to restore the royal lands and prerogatives of his grandfather Henry I. During the early years of his reign Henry restored the royal administration in England, which had almost collapsed during Stephen's reign, and re-established hegemony over Wales. Henry's desire to control the English Church led to conflict with his former friend Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy lasted for much of the 1160s and resulted in Becket's murder in 1170. Soon after his accession Henry came into conflict with Louis VII of France, his feudal overlord, and the two rulers fought, over several decades, what has been termed a "cold war". Henry expanded his empire at Louis's expense, taking Brittany and pushing east into central France and south into Toulouse; despite numerous peace conferences and treaties, no lasting agreement was reached.

Henry and Eleanor had eight children. Three of their sons would rule as king, though Henry the Young King only as co-ruler rather than sole monarch, as he predeceased his father. As his sons grew up, Henry struggled to find ways to satisfy their desires for land and immediate power, and tensions rose over the future inheritance of the empire, encouraged by Louis VII and his son Philip II, who ascended to the French throne in 1180. In 1173 Henry's heir apparent, "Young Henry", rebelled against his father; he was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey and by their mother. Several European states allied themselves with the rebels, and the Great Revolt was only defeated by Henry's vigorous military action and talented local commanders, many of them "new men" appointed for their loyalty and administrative skills. Young Henry and Geoffrey led another revolt in 1183, during which Young Henry died of dysentery. Geoffrey died in 1186. The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland provided lands for Henry's youngest son, John. By 1189, Philip swayed Richard to his side, leading to a final rebellion. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to Chinon Castle in Anjou. He died soon afterwards and was succeeded by his son Richard I.

Henry's empire quickly collapsed during the reign of his son John (who succeeded Richard in 1199), but many of the changes Henry introduced during his lengthy rule had long-term consequences. Henry's legal changes are generally considered to have laid the basis for the English Common Law, while his intervention in Brittany, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland shaped the development of their societies, histories, and governmental systems. Historical interpretations of Henry's reign have changed considerably over time. Contemporary chroniclers such as Gerald of Wales and William of Newburgh, though sometimes unfavourable, generally laud his achievements. In the 18th century, scholars argued that Henry was a driving force in the creation of a genuinely English monarchy and, ultimately, a unified Britain. During the Victorian expansion of the British Empire, historians were keenly interested in the formation of Henry's own empire, but they also criticised certain aspects of his private life and treatment of Becket.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England

Alan fitz Flaad (c. 1060 – after 1120) was a Breton knight, probably recruited as a mercenary by Henry I of England in his conflicts with his brothers.[1] After Henry became King of England, Alan became an assiduous courtier and obtained large estates in Norfolk, Sussex, Shropshire, and elsewhere in the Midlands, including the feudal barony and castle of Oswestry in Shropshire.[2][3][4] His duties included supervision of the Welsh border.[5] He is now noted as the progenitor of the FitzAlan family, the Earls of Arundel (1267–1580), and the House of Stuart,[6] although his family connections were long a matter of conjecture and controversy.

Career

Arrival in England

Flaad and his son Alan had come to the favourable notice of King Henry I of England who, soon after his accession, brought Flaad and Alan to England. Eyton, consistently following the theory of the Scottish origins of the Stewarts, thought this was because he was part of the entourage of the Queen, Matilda of Scotland,[7] Round pointed out that Henry had been besieged in Mont-Saint-Michel during his struggle with his brothers,[1] an event which probably occurred in 1091. He is known to have recruited Breton troops at that time and, after his surrender, left the scene via the adjoining regions of Brittany, where Dol is situated. This is a likely explanation for the Bretons in the military retinue he brought to England after the death of William Rufus.

Alan's career in England can be traced largely through his presence as a witness to charters granted by the king during his travels in the first decade or more of his reign. Some of his activities were traced by Eyton, and his researches overlap with William Farrer's calendar of Henry I travel. All of the business in which he took part was ecclesiastical, involving grants, sometimes disputed, to churches and monasteries.

Appearances at court

Alan appeared in Henry I's company at least as early as September 1101, probably at a court held in Windsor Castle,[8] when he witnessed important grants to Norwich Cathedral, confirming its foundation and various endowments.[9][10] Next, he appeared with the king at Canterbury in 1103,[11] where he witnessed the grant of a market to the nuns of Malling Abbey and land acquisitions by Rochester Cathedral, then in the process of rebuilding.[12]

Later that year,[13] or early in the next,[14] Alan was with the king in the New Forest, where the business concerned Andover Priory, a daughter house of the great Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur.[15] He was probably selected deliberately for this meeting because of his family's close connections with Saumur Abbey: one of his uncles was a monk there.[16] William Rufus had decreed that all chapels in the parish of Andover church should be handed over to the monks or destroyed.[17] One problem at issue revolved around the Foxcote chapel, which was evidently being defended from destruction or annexation by Edward de Foscote, a local landowner. Another seems to have been the administration of justice in the monastic estates.[18] Wihenoc, a monk of St Florent, had initiated an action against the reeve of Andover to have these issues clarified and resolved. Alan Fitz Flaad was called upon to witness a compromise, although Foxcote was among the properties confirmed to the priory by Pope Eugenius III in 1146.[19]

In the autumn of 1105, Alan was called to York to witness confirmation of Ralph Paynel's transfer of his refounded Holy Trinity Priory in York to Marmoutier Abbey, Tours[20][21] and his many endowments of the priory itself.[22][23] At some point, he also witnessed the Roger de Nonant's gift of the church at Totnes and various tithes to the Abbey of Ss Sergius and Bacchus at Angers, a gift earmarked as being for the souls of the royal family.[24]

In May 1110, Alan was at court at Windsor again to witness the king's settlement of a property dispute between Hervey le Breton, Bishop of Ely, and Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, resolved in favour of the former.[25]

Probably only later did he appear as a witness to a royal command issued to Richard de Belmeis I, the Bishop of London and the king's viceroy in Shropshire, to see that justice was done in the case of a disputed prebend at Morville.[26][27] The collegiate church there had been dissolved and replaced with a priory attached to Shrewsbury Abbey[28] and it seems that the son of one of the prebendaries was resisting the loss of what he regarded as his patrimony. Alan is listed among a group of Shropshire magnates, including Corbets and a Peverel, meeting perhaps during Henry I's 1114 military expedition into Wales. Johnson and Cronne tentatively place the meeting at Holdgate Castle in Shropshire. Eyton dates the event earlier, around the time of a royal expedition to Shropshire in 1109.[29] Whatever the date, it shows Alan as an important member of the Shropshire landowning class.

Territorial magnate

Alan's rapid ascent to wealth and power was a symptom of troubled times. The abortive revolt of Robert de Belleme in 1102 had torn apart the Anglo-Norman system of governing the Welsh Marches. With other Breton friends, Alan had been given forfeited lands in Norfolk and Shropshire, including some which had previously belonged to Robert de Belleme himself.[30] Robert had proved a threat to Henry in both the Welsh Marches and in Normandy, so the king was determined to insert reliable supporters to counterbalance or replace his network of supporters. Alan received more land as he proved his worth. A large portfolio of lands in Shropshire and around Peppering, near Arundel in Sussex, was taken from the holdings of Rainald de Bailleul,[31] ancestor of the House of Balliol, which was also later to provide a king of Scotland. These were lands granted to Rainald by William the Conqueror in recognition of his role as Sheriff of Shropshire. There is no evidence that Rainald or his successor, Hugh, were rebels, and it seems that their lands came to Alan as a consequence of his elevation to the shrievalty of the county. He also gained a stake in the very large estates of Ernulf de Hesdin by marriage to his daughter, Avelina.[32]

Religious grants and foundations

Alan was actively involved in a number of grants to religious institutions. One of the grants to Norwich Cathedral that he witnessed in 1101 concerned advowson of the church at Langham, Norfolk, which "had been Alan's", along with the tithes. It is possible this was a donation by himself.[8] At some point unknown he gave the manor of Eaton near Norwich, to Norwich Cathedral, a gift the king promised "to confirm when Alan comes to my court."[33][34] It is unclear whether this implied the king doubted the existence or the authenticity of the monks' charter:[35] it certainly implies that Alan's attendance at court was to be expected. He also made considerable grants of land to Castle Acre Priory,[36] which lay on the boundary of his Norfolk honour of Mileham.[37]

However, his most important grants in Norfolk were to Sporle Priory, another Benedictine house subject to St Florent de Saumur, which he founded.[38] He gave to the monks of St Florent the church at Sporle, its tithes, a man's landholding, a ploughland in Sporle and another in Mileham, firewood and building timber, and pasture for sheep.[39] The Liber Albus of St Florent mentions that one of the monks present when Alan made the gift was Wihenoc, who initiated the action at Andover.[40] Sporle was later endowed with property in Norfolk villages, including Great and Little Palgrave, where the priory had the church,[19] Great Dunham, Hunstanton and Holme-next-the-Sea.[13]

Alan acquired Upton Magna, the manor in Shropshire on which Haughmond Abbey was later built, as part of the group of estates that had belonged to earlier sheriffs.[41] A note at the beginning of the abbey's cartulary dates the foundation to 1100 but attributes it to Alan's son, William Fitz Alan,[42] which is impossible, as he was not yet born.[43] The existence of a religious community at Haughmond is not definitely attested before a grant of a fishery to what was still a priory by William, around 1135.[44] While Eyton assumed that William was the founder, although at a later date than suggested by the introductory note on the cartulary, the Victoria County History account leaves open the possibility that a small semi-eremitic community existed earlier at Haughmond under Alan's protection, without leaving a written trace.[31]

Alan probably gave many small grants of land or property rights. He gave land at his manor of Stretton-on-Dunsmore in Warwickshire to Burton Abbey.[45] He granted the tithes from his demesne at Burton on Trent to the monks of Léhon in Brittany, where there was a priory subject to the Abbey of Marmoutier: this is known from its confirmation some decades later by his grandson, Alan fitz Jordan.[46] Alan fitz Jordan also confirmed his grandfather's grant to Marmoutier of property at Cuguen,[47] in Brittany, and confirmed or restored Alan fitz Flaad's gift of a mill at Burton to Sele Priory, a small Sussex monastery subordinate to St Florent de Saumur.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_fitz_Flaad

NINETEEN

HOUSE OF THE UNICORNS

THE UNION OF CROWNS

Scotland’s Royal House of Stewart arose from a marital union of the hereditary lines of Jesus and his brother James — springing from the Merovingians’ own source on the one hand, and from the Celtic Kings of Britain on the other. The Stewarts emerged, therefore, as a truly unique Grail dynasty and have long been known as the ‘House of Unicorns’. We have already seen that the ‘Horn’ of the Unicorn was equivalent to the ‘Blade’ in Grail lore, and both were represented by the male symbol A. Along with the Davidic Lion of Judah and the Franco-Judaic fleur-de-lys, the Desposynic Unicorn was incorporated in the Royal Arms of Scotland. The Unicorn was considered to correspond to the virile Jesus, and was related to the anointing (Messianic) imagery of Psalm (sacred song) 92:10. The mystic beast was among the foremost symbols of the Albigensian Cathars, who were so hideously persecuted by the Inquisition. In medieval legend the Unicorn was always associated with fertility and healing, and Renaissance tapestries portray his head in the lap of the Bride. This alludes to the ancient ritual text of the Sacred Marriage (the Hieros Gamos), ‘The king goes with lifted head to the holy lap,’’ as originally expressed in the poetic rite of old Sumerian Mesopotamia — the land of Noah and Abraham. The Cathars believed that only the Christine horn of the Unicorn could purify the false doctrines that flowed from the Roman Church, and in this regard the revered creature was often portrayed with his horn dipped into a stream or a fountain. Other depictions show the Unicorn trapped within an enclosed garden — confined, but very much alive. The seven tapestry panels of la Dame a la Licorne at the Cluny Museum in Paris were originally from medieval Lyon. The seven Flemish Hunt of the Unicorn panels in the cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum, New York, come from 16th-century Languedoc, and show the Unicorn being chased and persecuted. When captured, he is sacrificed, but is then seen alive and well in the garden of the Bride. This is a direct replication of the story of Jesus. The mythological symbolismy of the Unicorn was central to the so-called heresies of Provence that were so brutally condemned by the Church. It was by no chance that the fabulous beast of the Grail bloodline found his place as guardian of the Lion in the Arms of Scotland, along with the early Christian sign of male and female unity (A + V = X) — the well-known Saltire, popularly identified as the cross of St Andrew. When Robert II Stewart (grandson of Robert the Bruce) founded the Scottish Royal House in 1371, the succession was entailed on his heirs in the Scots Parliament. The Plantagenet Houses of York and Lancaster subsequently battled for dominion in England, but lost out to the Tudors. In France, the Valois dynasty fought constant wars against rival claimants, and were succeeded by the Bourbons. But through all of this the Stewarts maintained their uninterrupted dynastic position. Before the High Stewards became Kings of Scots, their family branches were well positioned in terms of noble status, and as time progressed they acquired titles in Lorne, Innermeath, Atholl, Lennox, Doune, Moray and elsewhere. By the late 16th century the name Stewart had become Stuart in the royal line, a change that occurred by way of French association through the Stewart Seigneurs d’Aubignie and Mary Queen of Scots’ first marriage to the Dauphin. Following the childless death of Elizabeth Tudor of England, the Scottish and English Crowns were united in 1603. James VI of Scots was the great-grandson of James IV, and Henry VIII's sister Margaret. He was therefore deemed to be Elizabeth's closest living relative, and was invited to succeed. In fact, England had a suitable heir to the throne in Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp, by descent from Henry VII's daughter Mary. Nevertheless, although many were happy enough to recognize a legitimate parallel succession from Henry VII, others were far from content that the King of Scots had become King of England. They did not object to the crowns being united, but they would have preferred a reverse situation, so that an English monarch governed Scotland. As a result, one of history’s greatest political conspiracies was set against James and the Stuart kings. When James VI of Scots arrived in London to become also James I of England, he was confronted by two immediate problems. The first was related to religion. Both Scotland and England were established as Protestant nations, but James had experienced a Presbyterian upbringing whereas England was Anglican. The second difficulty was that the Westminster administration was wholly English, and Scots born before James’s 1603 accession were debarred from government office.

After many failed attempts to gain control of Scotland, the English Parliament had discovered a strategic route to Scottish possession — one that may well have been devised before James was invited to succeed. Once James was settled on the united thrones, a solution to the longstanding ambition was in place: (a) future Kings of Britain would remain based in London, thereby restricting Scottish influence even in the affairs of Scotland; (b) Westminster could eventually dissolve the traditional Scottish Three Estates Parliament; (c) at an appropriate time, the Stuarts could be discredited and deposed, and (d) a puppet monarch of Westminster’s own choosing could then replace the Scottish succession. The perceived outcome of this strategy would be Scotland’s overall subjection to English rule - an ambition which had prevailed since the Plantagenet days of Edward I. And that is precisely what happened from 1688 when King James VII (II) was usurped and sent into exile by Church and parliamentary conspirators. Earlier, in 1560, the austere Presbyterian Kirk (regulated by elders rather than bishops) had become the National Church of Scotland. South of the border, the Anglican Church had existed since Elizabeth I authorized the Thirty-Nine Articles of the English doctrine in 1563. So when the Stuarts succeeded as overall monarchs of Britain, they were expected to uphold two major Churches, each without offence to the other. It was an impossible task — particularly since the king was supposed to be Head of the Church of England. In order to achieve a compromise, the Stuarts founded the Scottish Episcopal Church, which introduced a like structure of Protestant bishops in parallel with the Anglican equivalent. But the kings then had a third Church to uphold, and this made things even more difficult. Over and above this, there was another complication. In addition to being Kings of Britain, the Stuarts were also Kings of Ireland (the Irish Free State was not established until 1921), and therefore had responsibilities towards the Irish people, who were traditionally Catholic. Elizabeth I had ruled without much parliamentary consultation, and had put the crown into considerable debt. King James was in consequence obliged to implement higher taxation. However, in approving this measure, Parliament insisted that he could not rule in the autocratic Elizabethan style. In fact they put forward a series of restrictions which left the King with hardly any individual powers at all. James responded, declaring that by Scots tradition he was not answerable to Parliament but to God and the nation. It was his duty, he maintained, to uphold Scotland’s Written Constitution on behalf of the people, and to take constitutional stands against Parliament and the Church if and when the need arose. But unlike Scotland, England had no Written Constitution (as is still the case), and the people had nothing to protect their rights and liberties. All that existed was a feudal tradition which vested the power of the land in the wealthy upper classes. Throughout the Stuart era, religious differences between rival factions of the Christian Church were very much to the fore. In enforcing the Acts of Uniformity in respect of the Book of Common Prayer, James V1 (I) upset the Catholics and prompted the Gunpowder Plot. Conversely, in introducing his Authorized Version of the Bible, he caused the Protestants to assert that he was siding with Rome. There was no way in which the Stuart king could satisfy the Anglicans, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians and the Catholics without being thoroughly tolerant of them all. The problem was that the Anglican Parliament did not react well to such toleration, especially when it was extended to include Jews as well.

When James’s son Charles I acceded to the throne, his immediate concern was the discriminatory nature of the Westminster Parliament. The ministers were so wrapped up in religious and territorial wrangling that they had forgotten all about managing the country. Charles therefore dissolved the troublesome Parliament in 1629 and instituted his own new administration. By so doing he gained considerable popularity; he also managed to balance the national budget for the first time in centuries. Within six years he was more favourably accepted than any monarch since Henry VII (1485- 1509) — but as the dogmatic Puritans rose to power, so Charles's reign collapsed. The high-minded doctrines of the Anglican bishops had become thoroughly disliked by large sectors of the community. Not surprisingly, the people were quick to follow instead their local Puritan preachers who denounced the episcopacy altogether. King Charles did all he could to salvage the Anglican reputation, but succeeded only in alienating marty potential supporters. During the ongoing struggle with Spain, Charles allied himself with France by marrying Henri IV’s daughter, Henrietta Maria, and this upset both the Anglican Church and the Puritans, for Henrietta Maria was a Catholic. CIVIL WAR After eleven years of self-sufficiency, Charles was obliged to recall his Parliament in 1640. This followed severe problems with the Scottish Kirk, whose nonepiscopal elders had been offended by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s attempt to enforce the Anglican Prayer Book in Presbyterian Scotland. At Westminster the Puritan ministers promptly impeached Archbishop Laud for treason, and he was subsequently beheaded along with King Charles’s deputy, Viscount Strafford. The Puritans then set about abolishing the King’s council of the Star Chamber, and drew up the ‘Grand Remonstrance’ —a list of complaints against the King himself. Having smoothed over the Scottish problem, Charles was then confronted by further troubles the following year in Ireland. There the Catholics were reacting violently against the presence of British Protestants who were being encouraged to migrate in their thousands to Ulster. King Charles endeavoured to raise an army to quell the insurgency, but Parliament refused him the finance, thinking that Charles might turn his army upon themselves. Then in 1642, when Charles tried to arrest five MPs for obstructive behaviour, the gates of London were locked firmly against him — and the result was civil war. In Nottingham the King mustered a force of Royalist Cavaliers, while Oliver Cromwell — an ambitious country MP—assumed command of the Parliamentary forces. His cavalry met the Royalists at Edgehill, but the battle ended indecisively. Unlike the colourful Cavaliers, the Westminster party were indeed puritanical, especially with their severely short haircuts which caused them to be dubbed ‘Roundheads’. Cromwell's breast-plated troopers were given the nickname ‘Ironsides’.’ Following Edgehill, the Roundheads established the Solemn League and Covenant with the Scottish Kirk: they promised to introduce Presbyterianism into England if the Kirk would supply additional soldiers. This, along with a fee of £30,000 a month (equivalent to around £2,000,000 a month in today’s terms), was sufficient to win the Kirk’s support —and it was as a direct result that Cromwell defeated the Royalists at Marston Moor in 1644. In the following year, Parliament's New Model Army defeated Charles again at Naseby. Only at this stage, however, did the Kirk’s soldiers discover the true nature of their fellow Puritans. They had previously seen them simply as other non-episcopal Protestants, akin to their own Presbyterian society, but now their eyes were opened. It was reported that the Roundheads slaughtered all the Irish women found in the Royalist camp after the Battle of Naseby, and they mutilated the English women with knives. They took the Scotsmen prisoners, gouged out their eyes, cut off their ears, and nailed down their tongues. In the South, people had supported the Puritan cause in large numbers, but now this seemingly temperate sect was seen in a new light as an army of fanatical persecutors — to rival the savage Catholic Inquisitors of the ‘Holy Office’. These same Puritan fanatics were soon destined to pursue their own erstwhile supporters with a vengeance, in their effort to root out witches and sorcerers! It was only a matter of time before King Charles was forced to surrender, and in 1646 he was handed into Parliamentary custody at Newark. Later the same year he began negotiations with the sorely embarrassed Presbyterian Kirk. The elders recognized that in siding with the Puritans they had actively assisted in the downfall of their own royal dynasty (unlike the Scots Episcopalians who had stayed loyal to the Crown). But it was too late to make amends, and although a Scots army was despatched against Cromwell, he defeated it at Preston in August 1648. Early in the following year, King Charles I was tried at Westminster Hall, and beheaded in Whitehall on 30 January 1649. The Puritan army thereafter swept through Ireland, killing thousands of innocent citizens — an atrocity for which the unfortunate English people as a whole were blamed. With no king to consider, Parliament established an interim period of ‘Commonwealth’, and in 1650 Cromwell defeated the late king’s son, Charles, Prince of Wales, at Dunbar. Irrespective of this, the Scots crowned Charles II at Scone on 1 January 1651, and he faced Cromwell's troops again at Worcester. He lost once more, however, but managed to escape to France. Some two years later, in 1653, Oliver Cromwell terminated both his Parliament and the Commonwealth. Appointing himself ‘Lord Protector’, he then ruled by military force alone, and his Protectorate was far more severe than any regime that had ever gone before. At his order, the Anglican Prayer Book was forbidden, along with any form of celebration at Christmas or Easter. Property was sequestrated, education was constrained, and freedom of speech was terminated. Adultery was punished by death, and single mothers were imprisoned. Sports and entertainment were pronounced blasphemous, inns were closed, meetings were prohibited, and punitive fines were imposed at will by the soldiers. Those who dared to pray at all prayed for ‘a speedy return to the protection of the Common Law’. When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, his despotic legacy fell to his son Richard. Fortunately, he was not possessed of his father’s ambition, with the result that it was not long before Charles II was invited back to his kingdoms. The ‘Restoration’ of Charles Stuart to the throne thus occurred in 1660, eleven years after the execution of his father. Charles proved to be a skilful and popular king. He reformed the Anglican Church, and maintained a society wherein all religious denominations were equally accepted. Yet despite these achievements, the Anglican politicians and clergy pursued their imperious course. No matter what the king thought, they had no intention of showing any forbearance towards other religious persuasions, particularly not to the Jews or the Catholics. Moreover, because Charles was married to the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza, they insisted that he must have leanings toward the Church of Rome. Parliament therefore passed the restrictive 1673 and 1678 Test Acts, precluding anyone other than Anglicans from holding governmental or public office."

page 397-406

Bloodline of The Holy Grail by Laurence Gardiner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zsH4O_ls0IgWEYXLXWCo7I3IUi32FJhq/view?usp=sharing

The Monument to the Royal Stuarts is a memorial in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City State. It commemorates the last three members of the Royal House of Stuart: James Francis Edward Stuart ("the Old Pretender", d. 1766), his elder son Charles Edward Stuart ("the Young Pretender" or "Bonnie Prince Charlie", d. 1788), and his younger son, Henry Benedict Stuart ("the Cardinal Duke of York", d. 1807). The Jacobites recognised these three as kings of England, Scotland and Ireland.

The marble monument is by Antonio Canova (1757–1822), the most celebrated Italian sculptor of his day. It was erected in 1819.

Description

The monument takes the form of a truncated obelisk. It carries bas relief profile portraits of the three exiled princes, and the following inscription:

IACOBO·III

IACOBI·II·MAGNAE·BRIT·REGIS·FILIO

KAROLO·EDVARDO

ET·HENRICO·DECANO·PATRVM·CARDINALIVM

IACOBI·III·FILIIS

REGIAE·STIRPIS·STVARDIAE·POSTREMIS

ANNO·M·DCCC·XIX

("To James III, son of King James II of Great Britain, to Charles Edward and to Henry, Dean of the Cardinal Fathers, sons of James III, the last of the Royal House of Stuart. 1819")

Below the inscription are two weeping angels, symbolising the lost hopes of the exiled Stuarts.

The monument to the Royal Stuarts was originally commissioned by Monsignor Angelo Cesarini, executor of the estate of Henry Benedict Stuart. Among the subscribers, curiously, was King George IV, who (once the Jacobite threat to his throne had ended with the death of Cardinal Stuart in 1807) was an admirer of the Stuart legend.[1]

The monument stands towards the back of the basilica in the left aisle opposite the door from which people coming down the spiral staircase from the dome and roof exit. It is frequently adorned with flowers by Jacobite romantics.

Burials

The monument is, strictly speaking, a cenotaph, not a tomb. The three Stuarts are buried in the crypt below the basilica. James Francis Edward Stuart was buried here at his death in 1766. When Charles Edward Stuart died in 1788, he was buried in the Basilica of St Peter Apostle in Frascati. When his brother Henry Benedict Stuart died in 1807, both brothers were laid to rest next to their father in the crypt of St. Peter's. Three separate tombstones were erected on the site.

Until 1938 the bodies of the three Stuarts were buried where the tomb of Pius XI now stands. In that year the bodies were moved slightly further east on the left side of the crypt, to make room for Pius's tomb. In 1939 a single sarcophagus was erected over the three graves. On top of the sarcophagus is a bronze pillow on which is placed a bronze crown. On the front of the sarcophagus is the same inscription quoted above.

Other monuments

Opposite the monument to the Royal Stuarts in St. Peter's Basilica is a monument to Maria Clementina Sobieska, wife of James Francis Edward Stuart and mother of Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict Stuart. Its inscription reads:

MARIA CLEMENTINA M. BRITANN.

FRANC. ET HIBERN. REGINA

("Maria Clementina, Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland"[a])

Queen Christina of Sweden, the only other monarch with a memorial in the church, also lies entombed in the crypt below the basilica, with the Royal Stuarts. She abdicated her throne in 1654 to convert to Catholicism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_Royal_Stuarts

The Crowns of America

So often one hears politicians quoting the British Constitution as if it actually exists by way of adocumentary privilege — but it does not. It is simply an accumulation of old customs and precedents concerning parliamentary sanctions, together with a number of specific laws defining certain aspects. Since Scotland's 1320 Declaration of Arbroath was nullified by England's Treaty of Union in 1707, the oldest Written Constitution now in force is that of the United States of America. It was adopted in 1787, ratified in 1788, and effected in 1789. In that same year began the French Revolution, which abolished feudalism and ‘absolute’ monarchy in France, thereby influencing politics in much of Europe. In close to 200 years since the Revolution, France and other European States (with Britain as a noticeable exception) have adopted Written Constitutions to protect the rights and liberties of individuals — but who champions these Constitutions on behalf of the people? A popular alternative to absolute monarchy or dictatorship has been found in Republicanism. The Republic of the United States was created primarily to free the emergent nation from the despotism of Britain’s House of Hanover. Yet its citizens tend still to be fascinated by the concept of monarchy. No matter how Republican the spirit, the need for a central symbol remains. Neither a flag nor a president can fulfil this unifying role, for by virtue of the ‘party system’ presidents are always politically motivated. Republicanism was devised on the principle of fraternal status, yet an ideally classless society can never exist in an environment that promotes displays of eminence and superiority by degrees of wealth and possession. For the most part, those responsible for the United States’ morally inspired Constitution were Rosicrucians and Freemasons, notable characters such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Charles Thompson. The last, who designed the Great Seal of the United States of America, was a member of Franklin’s American Philosophical Society — a counterpart of Britain’s Invisible College. The imagery of the Seal is directly related to alchemical tradition, inherited from the allegory of the ancient Egyptian Therapeutate. The eagle, the olive branch, the arrows, and the pentagrams are all occult symbols of opposites: good and evil, male and female, war and peace, darkness and light. On the reverse (as repeated on the dollar bill) is the truncated pyramid, indicating the loss of the Old Wisdom, severed and forced underground by the Church establishment. But above this are the rays of ever-hopeful light, incorporating the ‘all-seeing eye’, used as a symbol during the French Revolution.

In establishing their Republic, the Americans could still not escape the ideal of a parallel monarchy — a central focus of non-political, patriotic attachment. George Washington was actually offered kingship, but declined because he had no immediately qualifying heritage. Instead he turned to the Royal House of Stuart. In November 1782 four Americans arrived at the San Clemente Palazzo in Florence, the residence of Charles III Stuart in exile. They were Mr Galloway of Maryland, two brothers named Sylvester from Pennsylvania, and Mr Fish, a lawyer from New York. They were taken to Charles Edward by his secretary, John Stewart. Also present was the Hon Charles Hervey-Townshend (later Britain’s ambassador to The Hague) and the Prince's future wife, Marguerite, Comtesse de Massillan. The interview — which revolved around the contemporary transatlantic dilemma — is doctimented in the US Senate archives and in the Manorwater Papers. Writers such as Sir Compton Mackenzie and Sir Charles Petrie have also described the occasion when Charles Edward Stuart was invited to become ‘King of the Americans’. Some years earlier, Charles had been similarly approached by the men of Boston, but once the War of Independence was over George Washington sent his own envoys. It would have been a great irony for the House of Hanover to lose the North American colonies to the Stuarts. But Charles declined the offer for a number of reasons, not the least of which was his lack of a legitimate male heir at the time. He knew that without a due successor the United States could easily fall to Hanover again at his death, thereby defeating the whole Independence effort. Since those days, many other radical events have taken place: the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, two major World Wars, and a host of changes as countries have swapped one style of government for another. Meanwhile, civil and international disputes continue just as they did in the Middle Ages. They are motivated by trade, politics, religion, and whatever other banners are flown to justify the constant struggle for territorial and economic control. The Holy Roman Empire has disappeared, the German Reichs have failed, and the British Empire has collapsed. The Russian Empire fell to Communism, which has itself been disgraced and crumbled to ruin, while Capitalism teeters on the very brink of acceptability. With the Cold War now ended, America faces a new threat to her superpower status from the Pacific countries. In the meantime, the nations of Europe band together in what was once a seemingly well conceived economic community, but which is already suffering from the same pressures of individual custom and national sovereignty that beset the Holy Roman Empire. Whether nations are governed by military-style regimes or elected parliaments, by autocrats or democrats, and whether formally described as monarchist, socialist or republican, the net product is always the same: the few control the fate of the many. In situations of dictatorship this is a natural experience — but it should not be the case in a democratic institution based on the principle of majority vote. True democracy is government by the people for the people, in either direct or representative form, ignoring class distinctions and tolerating minority views. The American Constitution sets out an ideal for this form of democracy ... but, in line with other nations, there is always a large sector of the community that is not represented by the party in power. Because presidents and prime ministers are politically tied, and because political parties take their respective turns at individual helms, the inevitable result is a lack of continuity for the nations concerned. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there is no reliable ongoing institution to champion the civil rights and liberties of people in such conditions of ever-changing leadership. Britain does, at least, retain a monarchy, but it is a politically constrained monarchy, and as such is ineffectual in performing its role as guardian of the nation. The United States, unlike Britain, has a Written Constitution — but has no one with the power to uphold its principles against successive governments who determinedly pursue their own politically vested interests. Is there an answer to the anomaly — an answer that could bring not just a ray of hope but a shining light for the future? There certainly is, but its energy relies on those in governmental service appreciating their roles as ‘representatives’ of society rather than presuming to stand at the head of society. Alongside the political administration, an appointed Constitutional champion would be empowered to keep check on any potential disparities and infringements of the Constitution that might occur. This can be achieved in the manner first envisaged by George Washington and the American Fathers. Their original plan was for a democratic Parliament combined with a working Constitutional Monarchy bound not to Parliament or the Church but to the people and their Written Constitution. In such an environment, sovereignty would ultimately rest with the people, while the monarch (as an operative Guardian of the Realm) would pledge an ‘Oath of Fealty to the Nation’ — not the reverse, as in Britain’s case, whereby the nation pays homage to the sovereignty of Parliament and the monarchy. The unfulfilled ambition of the American Fathers was that government ministers should be elected by the majority vote of the people, but that their actions be directed within the boundaries of the Constitution. Because that Constitution belongs to the people, its champion — as George Washington perceived — should be a monarch whose obligation is not to politics or religion but to the sovereign nation. Through the natural system of heredity (being born and bred to the task), such a Constitutional guardian would provide an ‘ongoing continuity’ of public representation through successive governments. In this regard both monarchs and ministers would be servants of the Constitution on behalf of the Community of the Realm. Such a concept of moral government lies at the very heart of the Grail Code, and it remains within the bounds of possibility for every civilized Nation State. A leading British politician recently claimed that it was not his job to be popular! Not so—a popular minister is a trusted minister, and holding a deserved electoral trust facilitates the democratic process. No minister can honestly expound an ideal of equality in society when that minister is deemed to possess some form of prior lordship over society. Class structure is always decided from above, never from below. It is therefore for those on self-made pedestals to be seen to kick them aside in the interests of harmony and unity. Jesus was not in the least humbled when he washed his Apostles’ feet; he was raised to the realm of a true Grail King — the realm of equality and princely service. This is the eternal ‘Precept of the Sangréal’, and it is expressed in Grail lore with the utmost clarity: only by asking ‘Whom does the Grail serve?’ will the wound of the Fisher King be healed, and the Wasteland returned to fertility.

pages 438-443 "The Sangreal Today"

Bloodline of the Holy Grail by Laurence Gardner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zsH4O_ls0IgWEYXLXWCo7I3IUi32FJhq/view?usp=sharing

Vice President Kamala Harris

November 4, 2021

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=287432446715585&set=a.287432426715587

Pink Floyd - Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (Part I, II, III) (Official Audio)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSR3DIRce1A

Parliament may very well have rejected polygamy; but the marriage, if marriage it was, between the realms of England and Scotland was to be morganatic at best. James's ambitions were greeted with horror from the English parliament who feared the loss of the ancient and famous name of England.[19] Legal objections were raised, with legal opinion at the time being that a union would end all established laws of both countries.[20] For James, whose experience of parliaments was limited to the stage-managed and semi-feudal Scottish variety, the self-assurance — and obduracy — of the English version, which had long experience of upsetting monarchs, was an obvious shock. He decided to side-step the whole issue by unilaterally assuming the title of King of Great Britain by a Proclamation concerning the Kings Majesties Stile on 20 October 1604 announcing that he did "assume to Our selfe by the cleerenesse of our Right, The Name and Stile of KING OF GREAT BRITTAINE, FRANCE AND IRELAND, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, &c." .[21] This only deepened the offence. Even in Scotland there was little real enthusiasm for the project, though the two parliaments were eventually prodded into taking the whole matter 'under consideration'. Consider it they did for several years, never drawing the desired conclusion.[citation needed]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_the_Crowns

A plan was hatched by a joint collaboration of the Pope and the Jesuits to blow up the House of Lords during the state opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605. Robert Catesby was the leader of a group of English Catholics who plotted to assassinate the protestant King James 1 in the failed gunpowder plot.

Guy Fawkes, a key member of the group was chosen to bomb the parliament owing to his experience as a soldier in the Spanish army. He smuggled 36 barrels of gun powder into a cellar directly below the Parliament which was enough to obliterate the entire building thereby killing all the key members of the state including the king and high ranking officials.

However, through Divine providence, an anonymous letter was sent to a Catholic called William Parker who was a member of the Parliament. The letter warned him to stay away from the opening of the Parliament. Alarmed by this, he brought this to the attention of King James who then ordered a search of the basement of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was found hiding in one of the cellars guarding a stash of gunpowder and explosives. After being tortured, Guy Fawkes revealed that this was a preplanned Jesuit led Catholic conspiracy to annihilate England’s Protestant government and replace it with a Catholic one.

Guy Fawkes Day – The Jesuit Treason and the Gunpowder Plot

https://www.secretsunlocked.org/bible/bible-history/guy-fawkes-day-the-jesuit-treason-and-the-gunpowder-plot

Mothership Connection (Star Child)

Parliament

Mothership Connection (Star Child) · Parliament

The Best Of Parliament: Give Up The Funk

℗ 1975 The Island Def Jam Music Group

Released on: 1995-01-01

Producer, Associated Performer, Vocalist, Co- Arranger: George Clinton

Associated Performer, Vocalist: Calvin Simon

Associated Performer, Vocalist: Fuzzy Haskins

Associated Performer, Vocalist: Raymond Davis

Associated Performer, Vocalist: Grady Thomas

Associated Performer, Vocalist, Guitar: Garry Shider

Associated Performer, Vocalist, Guitar: Glen Goins

Associated Performer, Vocalist, Bass Guitar, Guitar, Drums, Co- Arranger: William Earl Collins

Associated Performer, Trombone, Co- Arranger: Fred Wesley

Associated Performer, Trumpet: Maceo Parker

Associated Performer, Saxophone: Michael Brecker

Associated Performer, Trumpet: Randy Brecker

Associated Performer, Saxophone: Boom

Associated Performer, Saxophone: Joe Farrell

Associated Performer, Bass Guitar: Cordell Mosson

Associated Performer, Guitar: Michael Hampton

Associated Performer, Drums: Tiki Fulwood

Associated Performer, Drums: Jerome Brailey

Associated Performer, Drums: Gary Cooper

Associated Performer, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Co- Arranger: Bernie Worrell

Composer Lyricist: George Clinton

Composer Lyricist: William Earl Collins

Composer Lyricist: Bernie Worrell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrmGQeX8naA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_the_Crowns

Highlander is a 1986 British-American fantasy action-adventure film directed by Russell Mulcahy from a screenplay by Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson. It stars Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery. The film chronicles the climax of an age-old war between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and present-day storylines. It is the first film in the Highlander franchise.

Connor MacLeod (Lambert) is born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century. After being mortally wounded by the murderous Kurgan (Brown) in battle, he makes a seemingly miraculous recovery and is banished from his village under suspicion of witchcraft. Five years later, MacLeod is found by swordsman Ramírez (Connery), who trains him in swordplay and explains that they and others were born immortal, invincible unless beheaded. Immortals wage a secret war, fighting each other until the last few remaining will meet at the Gathering to fight for the Prize. In 1985, the Gathering is finally happening in New York City, and MacLeod must ensure that the Prize is not won by the Kurgan.

Highlander was a commercial failure on its initial theatrical release, grossing only a little less than $13 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million, while receiving mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it became a cult film and inspired several film sequels and television spin-offs. The rock band Queen recorded several songs for the soundtrack, with "Princes of the Universe" also used for the title sequence in the television series.[9][10] The tagline, "There can be only one", has carried on into pop culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander_(film)

The 51st State (also known as Formula 51) is a 2001[2] action comedy film directed by Ronny Yu, written by Stel Pavlou, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Ricky Tomlinson, Sean Pertwee, Rhys Ifans, Stephen Walters and Meat Loaf. The film follows the story of an American master chemist (Jackson) who heads to Britain to sell his formula for a powerful new drug. All does not go as planned and the chemist soon becomes entangled in a web of deceit.

The film premiered in the United Kingdom on 7 December 2001. It was released internationally under the title Formula 51 in October 2002, where it grossed $14.4 million, just over half of the budget.

Plot

In 1971, a policeman pulls over Elmo McElroy, a recent college graduate with a degree, for driving under the influence of marijuana. Due to his arrest and conviction, McElroy cannot find work as a pharmacologist. In the present day, drug lord "the Lizard" calls a meeting of his colleagues, hoping to sell a new substance invented by Elmo. During the meeting, in a bid to escape from the Lizard's manipulation, Elmo blows up the building, killing everyone but the Lizard. Enraged, the Lizard contacts contract killer Dakota, who previously killed the only witness in a case against the Lizard. Dakota reluctantly accepts when the Lizard offers to clear her gambling debts and give her a $250,000 bonus.

Felix DeSouza, a local "fixer" in Liverpool, has been sent by Leopold Durant, head of a local criminal organization, to collect Elmo from Manchester airport, in exchange for two tickets to a sold-out football match between Liverpool and Manchester United. On route to the airport, Felix enters a pub full of Manchester United supporters and antagonizes them before letting off a rocket flare inside; the United fans give chase but his friends rescue him in their car.

Elmo lands in Manchester, is greeted by Felix and is taken to the meeting with Durant. At the meeting, Elmo pitches POS 51, a synthetic drug that can be produced with minimal facilities and is 51 times as potent as other drugs. A second opinion from Pudsey, Durant's chemist, confirms Elmo's claims, and Durant gives him over a million dollars in bonds. Since it is $18 million short of the agreed payment, Elmo refuses to sell.

On a roof across the street, Dakota is about to shoot Elmo in the head when the Lizard calls cancelling the hit; not wanting to kill Elmo until he has the formula. Instead of killing Elmo, she is to kill anyone who meets with him. She ends up killing everyone but Durant, Elmo, and Felix, who is shot in the buttocks. As Elmo and Felix leave the hotel, skinheads who want the drug attack them. Elmo protects them with a golf club. Detective Virgil Kane and his partner Arthur arrive on the scene and give chase. They are soon lured into a game of chicken by Elmo, who escapes. Kane and Arthur return to the crime scene and Kane demands 50% of Durant's deal with McElroy. A miscommunication leads to Durant's death.

Felix contacts a gun dealing club owner and drug distributor named Iki, promising him the formula for £20 million. As Elmo and Felix acquire the ingredients necessary for the drug's manufacture, all of which are over-the-counter products, the now-armed skinheads take them hostage. The skinheads claim they have a lab, though it turns out to be a broken-in animal testing facility. Elmo makes two batches of the drug; one blue and one red. Elmo claims that the red pill is the stronger version, and after he takes one, the skinheads try it. While they are partying, waiting for the effect of the drug, Elmo secretly spits out his red pill. He tells Felix it is a powerful laxative; Elmo and Felix leave after throwing rolls of toilet paper at the incapacitated skinheads.

At Iki's rave club, Elmo initiates his deal and delivers the drug to the waiting crowd. Kane and the police interrupt the deal and arrest Felix. After appearing, Dakota reveals that her real name is Dawn and that she and Felix were domestic partners. She abducts Elmo, leaving with him via the roof. Elmo overpowers her, suspending her over the edge of the roof. Having no choice, she strikes a deal with him and they escape Kane. Meanwhile, Kane blackmails Felix during an interrogation and forces himself into the deal with Iki, which Felix sets up for him.

Felix, Elmo and Dawn meet Iki in a private viewing box at the football match at Anfield. This time, the deal is interrupted by the Lizard, who kills Iki and demands the formula to POS 51. The Lizard celebrates with a drink, as Elmo reveals that the drug is a placebo and POS stands for Power of Suggestion. Kane interrupts them as Elmo's cocktail, an explosive ingested by the Lizard, takes effect, killing the Lizard. Kane is knocked unconscious and arrested by Arthur, while the main three exit unscathed. Dawn and Felix settle down together, and Elmo purchases the Scottish Highland castle of the Chief of Clan McElroy, while explains that he has spent the movie wearing a kilt with "the tartan of my slave master", but that Elmo now claims both the Castle and the Tartan as his own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_51st_State

The Embassy of the United States of America in Jerusalem is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America to the State of Israel. It is located in Talpiot, a neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem. In mid-October 2018, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State under the Trump administration, declared that the new embassy would be merging with the Consulate General, through which the United States had maintained diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority. Currently, all diplomacy between the United States and the Palestinians is conducted through the "Office of Palestine Affairs" inside of the American embassy for Israel.[1][2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_States,_Jerusalem

"Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a Roman work of the entire Society, 304 §2"

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Latium is a 1669 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was dedicated to Pope Clement X and a 1671 edition was published in Amsterdam by Johannes van Waesbergen.[1] The work was the first to discuss the topography, archeology and history of the Lazio region.[2] It was based partly on Kircher's extensive walks in the countryside around Rome, although it included sites that he had probably not visited in person.[3] The work included many illustrations of the contemporary countryside, as well as reconstructions of ancient buildings.[4]: 92 It also included an account of his discovery of the ruined sanctuary at Mentorella, which he had already recounted in his 1665 work Historia Eustachio Mariana.[4]: 94

Contents

Kircher’s stated purpose in Latium was to use the physical remains of ancient Latium as illustrations of human mutability and transience.[5] It was divided into five books. The first covered the origins and ancient history of the Latins. The second contained chapters describing (I) the region of Monte Cavo, Lake Albano and the ancient town of Alba Longa; (II) Tusculum; (III) the ancient Praeneste and the modern town of Palestrina, and (IV) the region of Labici and the ancient Hernici tribe. The third book examined the ancient history of Tivoli and the fourth, the countryside and ancient remains around it. The fifth book was devoted to the Pontine marshes.[1][6] The Pontine Marshes to the southeast of Rome had been discussed by Kircher in his 1658 work Scrutinium Physico-Medicum because they were a source of malaria that prevented the agricultural development of the neighbouring region and imposed a heavy burden of disease on its population. Kircher was probably one of the first people to recommend the taking of quinine in Rome to counter malaria. Pope Urban VIII had brought in the Dutch engineer De Wit to begin draining the marshes and in Latium Kircher noted these efforts approvingly, illustrating the devices used to pump out the water.[7]

Ancient history of Latium

In Book I, Kircher advanced the theory that Latium had been populated after the time of the Tower of Babel, or possibly before. Indeed he held that it had originally been settled by Noah, and that this was supported by local legends about Saturn and Janus, who he believed were in fact Noah himself.[5] Thus, he held, the mythological account of the castration of Saturn was a variant of the Biblical story of the discovery of Noah's nakedness by Ham. Such speculative theories were to be developed in his later works Turris Babel and Arca Noë.[8]: 44

During his countryside walks, Kircher was searching for evidence that would allow him to reconstruct the history of the region from its earliest times right up to the pontificate of Pope Alexander VII. Although the timeline he constructed was highly inaccurate, the evidence he gathered was the first attempt at a complete chronological reconstruction of the region’s history.[9]

The Nile mosaic

Around 1600 a Roman mosaic was discovered at the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste. It is known to modern scholarship as "the Nile mosaic" because it is understood to represent the course of the River Nile from the mountains of Ethiopia through Sudan and Egypt to the sea. However in Book III of Latium Kircher offered a completely different interpretation of the piece, based on the idea that it depicted ceremonies in honour of the goddess of fortune. The upper part, he said, depicted wild animals, representing fortune's dangers. He noted that the people of ancient Praeneste were devotees of Hercules, who was famous for having destroyed monsters and overcome ill fortune. Beneath this, he said, was depicted the veneration of the goddess and consultation of her oracle. He correctly identified the temple of Serapis but this did not serve as a clue of the mosaic's real subject. At the bottom there are festivals and processions in honour of the goddess.[4]: 87–88

Illustrations

Latium was published in folio with 27 engraved plates. These included illustrations, maps, and plans, including 15 double-page foldouts.[10] The illustrations included views of the countryside, sculptures, mosaics, coins and mechanical devices such as watermills.[6]

The frontispiece was by Romeyn de Hooghe. It depicted a seated figure of the genius loci Latia. On one side of her stands a mountain on which Atlas hold up the world, and on the other figures a volcano. These emblems represent, perhaps, the temporal and spiritual power of Rome respectively. Above her hang both ancient and contemporary arms. Romulus and Remus and their she-wolf adopted mother play behind her back while a putto presents her with the papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter. She is wearing regalia that show that her presence and her power are intimately connected with the Catholic Church.[3] Her crown identifies her as the protector of a city, and the star above it is the symbols of the Chigi family to which Pope Alexander VII belonged. She holds a long sceptre topped with the hand of justice and her eyes fall on a mitre, a cardinal's hat, and other Catholic religious objects. Her robe covers the imperial eagle and her foot rests on the orb of temporal power, indicating her primacy over the Holy Roman Emperor. Beneath Latia is inscribed the Latin motto 'Latium cui par nihil est, nihil Secundu' ('Latium, to which none is equal, and second to none'). At the bottom of the illustration the male figures are the gods of the river Tiber and its Tivoli tributary the Aniene. The female figure with butterfly wings is the goddess of the Aniene, otherwise Ino, resting on symbols of her mythological shipwreck.[4]: 39

The imagery of the frontispiece was intended to emphasise the purpose of Kircher’s claim that his contemporary Rome was connected not just to the ancient city that preceded it, but to a both the ancient classical and biblical worlds. The figure of Latia was Etruscan, the sceptre she hold resembled the regalia of ancient Egypt, while Greece was represented by the winged figure of Ino.[9]

The illustration depicting the apotheosis of Homer was signed by Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi. The aerial view of Palestrina and the plate of the Nile mosaic were signed by Agapito de Bernardini.[6]: 178 [4]: 51 The maps in the book were the work of Innocenzo Mattei.[11] The book also reused a number of earlier illustrations from previously published works, by Étienne Dupérac, Daniele Stoopendahl and Matteo Greuter. The image of the reconstruction of Hadrian’s villa was a replica of the illustration by Francesco Contini and the image of the temple of Fortune was a replica of a piece by Domenico Castelli.[6]: 182

Critical reception

The work was criticised by many scholars of Kircher’s time for its inaccuracies and speculations about ancient history. Raffaello Fabretti pointed out that Kircher’s text was full of mistakes,[5] his images of aqueducts were inaccurate and his map wrongly located the source of the Aqua Virgo near Colonna.[12] Kircher intended to write a similar work on Etruria, entitled Iter Etruscum, but this was never published, because the Jesuit censors would not approve it.[3][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latium_(1669)

THE American Capitol abounds with clues of its Roman origins. “Freedom,” the Roman goddess whose statue crowns the dome, was created in Rome at the studio of American sculptor Thomas Crawford. We find a whole pantheon of Roman deities in the great fresco covering the dome’s interior rotunda: Persephone, Ceres, Freedom, Vulcan, Mercury, even a deified George Washington. These figures were the creation of Vatican artist Constantino Brumidi. The fact that the national Statehouse evolved as a “capitol” bespeaks Roman influence. No building can rightly be called a capitol unless it’s a temple of Jupiter, the great father-god of Rome who ruled heaven with his thunderbolts and nourished the earth with his fertilizing rains. If it was a capitolium, it belonged to Jupiter and his priests. Jupiter’s mascot was the eagle, which the founding fathers made their mascot as well. A Roman eagle tops the governing idol of the House of Representatives, a forty-six-inch sterling silverand- ebony wand called a “mace.” The mace is “the symbol of authority in the House.”4 W h e n the Sergeant-at-arms displays it before an unruly member of Congress, the mace restores order. Its position at the rostrum tells whether the House is in “committee” or in “session.” America’s national motto “Annuit Coeptis” came from a prayer to Jupiter. It appears in Book IX of Virgil’s epic propaganda, the Aeneid, a poem commissioned just before the birth of Christ by Caius Maecenas, the multi-billionaire power behind Augustus Caesar. The poem’s objective was to fashion Rome into an imperial monarchy for which its citizens would gladly sacrifice their lives. Fascism may be an ugly word to many, but its stately emblem is apparently offensive to no one. T h e emblem of fascism, a pair of them, commands the wall above and behind the speaker’s rostrum in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. They’re called fasces, and I can think of no reason for them to be there other than to declare the fascistic nature of American republican democracy. 6 A fasces is a Roman device. Actually, it originated with the ancient Etruscans, from whom the earliest Romans derived their religious jurisprudence nearly three thousand years ago. It’s an axe-head whose handle is a bundle of rods tightly strapped together by a red sinew. It symbolizes the ordering of priestly functions into a single infallible sovereign, an autocrat who could require life and limb of his subjects. If the fasces is entwined with laurel, like the pair on the House wall, it signifies Caesarean military power. The Romans called this infallible sovereign Pontifex Maximus, “Supreme Bridgebuilder.” No Roman was called Pontifex Maximus until the title was given to Julius Caesar in 48 BC. Today’s Pontifex Maximus is Pope John Paul II. As we shall discover in a forthcoming chapter, John Paul does not hold that title alone. He shares it with a mysterious partner, a military man, a man holding an office that has been known for more than four centuries as “Papa Nero,” the Black Pope. I shall present evidence that the House fasces represent the Black Pope, who indeed rules the world. Later, I will develop what is sure to become a controversial hypothesis: that the Black Pope rules by divine appointment, and for the ultimate good of mankind.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://archive.org/details/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy_202201/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy/

In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, where she was described as "an able prosecutor on the way up".[37] In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie BROWN, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.[37] In February 1998, San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney.[38] There, she became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases—particularly three-strikes cases. In August 2000, Harris took a job at San Francisco City Hall, working for city attorney Louise Renne.[39] Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division, representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne endorsed Harris during her D.A. campaign.[40]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[1]

He is the father of US Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris and lawyer Maya Harris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Harris

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

Danney Lee Williams Jr. (born December 7, 1985) is a man from Little Rock, Arkansas who claims to be the biological son of Bill Clinton, the former President of the United States.[1] Blood tests ruled out Clinton as the father.[1][2]

Background

Williams was born in 1985 to Danney Williams Sr. and Bobbie Ann Williams.

The story came to notice in the late 1990s when reporting by Newsmax led by celebrity tabloid magazine Star to commission a paternity test prove whether Williams is actually Clinton's biological son.[3] Time magazine cited Star on July 18, 1999 to say that there was no match.[4]

The story was revived in 2016 before the 2016 presidential election and pushed by a number of media outlets including Newsmax, the Drudge Report,[3] as well as WorldNetDaily,[1] and the New York Daily News.[1]

Due to some uncertainties with the original test by Star, Snopes concluded that the claim was unproven.[3] The Washington Post stated that, while the test could not prove Clinton was the father, it did conclusively rule him out as the father.[1]

On October 19, 2016, Williams' lawyers announced their intentions to file a paternity suit to prove that Clinton's DNA matched Williams'.[5] Williams wrote to Monica Lewinsky asking for her dress in order to obtain a sample of Clinton's DNA. However, Lewinsky never replied to Williams.[6] A partial analysis of Clinton's blood, and thus his DNA, was already part of the public record because of the Lewinsky affair investigation.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danney_Williams

Silicone breast implants are filled with silicone gel.

https://www.plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures/breast-augmentation/implants

silicone (n.)

coined 1863 in German from silico-, combining form indicating the presence of silicon, + -one.

also from 1863

Entries linking to silicone

silicon (n.)

nonmetallic element, 1817, coined by British chemist Thomas Thomson from silica (silicon dioxide), from which it was isolated. The name is patterned on carbon, etc. Silicon chip is attested from 1965; Silicon Valley for the Santa Clara Valley near San Francisco is attested by 1974, in reference to the concentration there of manufacturers of silicon chips used in computers, watches, etc.

-one

chemical suffix, from Greek -one, female patronymic (as in anemone, "daughter of the wind," from anemos); in chemical use denoting a "weaker" derivative. Its use in forming acetone (1830s) gave rise to the specialized chemical sense.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/silicone

Charles Babbage, an English mechanical engineer and polymath, originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered the "father of the computer",[22] he conceptualized and invented the first mechanical computer in the early 19th century.

After working on his difference engine he announced his invention in 1822, in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society, titled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables",[23] he also designed to aid in navigational calculations, in 1833 he realized that a much more general design, an analytical engine, was possible. The input of programs and data was to be provided to the machine via punched cards, a method being used at the time to direct mechanical looms such as the Jacquard loom. For output, the machine would have a printer, a curve plotter and a bell. The machine would also be able to punch numbers onto cards to be read in later. The engine would incorporate an arithmetic logic unit, control flow in the form of conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory, making it the first design for a general-purpose computer that could be described in modern terms as Turing-complete.[24][25]

The machine was about a century ahead of its time. All the parts for his machine had to be made by hand – this was a major problem for a device with thousands of parts. Eventually, the project was dissolved with the decision of the British Government to cease funding. Babbage's failure to complete the analytical engine can be chiefly attributed to political and financial difficulties as well as his desire to develop an increasingly sophisticated computer and to move ahead faster than anyone else could follow. Nevertheless, his son, Henry Babbage, completed a simplified version of the analytical engine's computing unit (the mill) in 1888. He gave a successful demonstration of its use in computing tables in 1906.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer

Babbage’s, Inc.

10741 King William Drive

Dallas, Texas 75220

U.S.A.

(214) 401-9000

Fax: (214) 401-9002

Public Company

Incorporated: 1983

Employees: 2,400

Sales: $233.4 million

Stock Exchanges: NASDAQ

SICs: 5734 Computer & Software Stores

Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California.[5] The university's campus surrounds the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís which traces its founding to 1777. The campus mirrors the Mission's architectural style and is one of the finest groupings of Mission Revival architecture and other Spanish Colonial Revival styles. The university is classified as a "Doctoral/Professional" university.[6]

The university offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through its six colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education and Counseling Psychology, Leavey School of Business, School of Engineering, Jesuit School of Theology, and School of Law. It enrolls 6,115 undergraduate students and about 3,063 postgraduate students as of Fall 2022.

Santa Clara's sports teams are called the Broncos. Their colors are red and white. The Broncos compete at the NCAA Division I levels as members of the West Coast Conference in 19 sports. Broncos have won NCAA championships in both men's and women's soccer. Santa Clara's student athletes include current or former 58 MLB,[7] 40 NFL,[8] and 12 NBA players and 13 Olympic gold medalists.

Santa Clara's faculty and alumni include U.S. Senators and House representatives, a Pulitzer Prize winner, numerous billionaires and U.S. governors, a Director of the CIA, a U.S. Secretary of Defense, a U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, a White House Press Secretary and a United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Santa Clara has Fulbright Scholars as well as 4 Rhodes Scholars.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_University

1885 was a year a full century before the modern time of Marty McFly: 1985. It had been 20 years since Hill Valley's founding and a festival was held to honor the anniversary.

The town consisted of two major dirt streets which intersected at Courthouse Square and the construction of a new county courthouse and clock tower. One of the streets went to the Hill Valley Train Station.

Most of the surrounding countryside was mountains and valleys with deciduous trees and farther out desert with mesas to the north of the town and the ravine to the southeast of the town.

https://backtothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/1885

Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer and public official who served as the first female and 78th United States attorney general. Reno, a member of the Democratic Party, held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only William Wirt.

Reno was born and raised in Miami, Florida. After leaving to attend Cornell University and Harvard Law School, she returned to Miami where she started her career at private law firms. Her first foray into government was as a staff member for the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives. She then worked for the Dade County State Attorney's Office before returning to private practice. She was elected to the Office of State Attorney five times and was the first woman to serve as a state attorney in Florida. President Bill Clinton appointed her attorney general in 1993, a position she held until Clinton left office in 2001.

The following Department of Justice actions occurred during Reno's tenure:

The 51-day Waco siege standoff and resulting 76 deaths—the Branch Davidians—in Waco, Texas. (The standoff began on February 28, 1993, twelve days before Reno was installed as attorney general). Reno stated in congressional testimony that she authorized the FBI assault on the Branch Davidians because of reports that militia groups were en route to Waco during the standoff "either to help [Branch Davidian leader David] Koresh or to attack him."[48] The FBI had also, erroneously, reported to Reno that children were being abused at the compound.[49] Reno publicly expressed her regret of the decision to storm the compound, and accepted full responsibility for the loss of life.[50]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Reno

Ellen G. White in a group at Reno, Nevada, camp meeting 1888.

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [t]image of the [u]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

Revelation 13:14

"14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American author and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Along with other Adventist leaders such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, she was instrumental within a small group of early Adventists who formed what became known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. White is considered a leading figure in American vegetarian history.[2] Smithsonian named her among the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time".[3]

Scottish doctor Alexander Wood is credited with inventing the modern hypodermic syringe in 1853. His goal was to treat pain in just one area of the body. He attached a hollow needle, an earlier invention by Irish doctor Francis Rynd, to a plunger.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky[a] (née Hahn von Rottenstern; 12 August [O.S. 31 July] 1831 – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian and American mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy.

Born into an aristocratic family in Yekaterinoslav, then in the Russian Empire (now Dnipro in Ukraine), Blavatsky traveled widely around the empire as a child. Largely self-educated, she developed an interest in Western esotericism during her teenage years. According to her later claims, in 1849 she embarked on a series of world travels, visiting Europe, the Americas, and India. She also claimed that during this period she encountered a group of spiritual adepts, the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom", who sent her to Shigatse, Tibet, where they trained her to develop a deeper understanding of the synthesis of religion, philosophy, and science.

Using his newly invented hypodermic syringe he was able to inject pain relief medicine to the area which was causing pain. His first patient was a woman experiencing neuralgia, which causes intense pain after nerve damage. She was injected at the site of her pain with the pain relief medicine morphia. Morphia was a mixture of sherry and morphine, a powerful pain relief medicine.

The Berenstain/Berenstein Confusion Doesn't Exist In A Vacuum. Close. The popular belief that the correct spelling of the Bears' last name was “Berenstein,” not "Berenstain," is one of the most prevalent examples of the Mandela Effect at work in the movie world.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis 2:24

7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

1 John 5:7

This Babylonian clay tablet, called Plimpton 322, was created around 1750 BCE in Sumeria, during the reign of Hammurabi the Great.

While more than 1000 years older than Pythagoras, the rows and columns on this table contain Pythagorean triples: integer solutions for the equation a2+b2=c2. For example, (3, 4, 5) is a Pythagorean triple because 32+42=52.

The exact purpose of the tablet has been debated by archeologists. Some think that it was a “teachers aid”, designed to help generate right-angled triangles. Others think it may be a very early trigonometry table.

THE HOUR OF THE TIME

Tape No. 453: "The Hermetic Marriage"

Tuesday, October 4, 1994

The Hermetic Marriage, or the marriage of the sun and the moon, the

origin of the hermetic philosophy, will astound you. You're going to

learn a few things about yourselves, about religion, and about Walt

Disney tonight.

https://www.hourofthetime.com/hermetic.html

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days—which was longer than those of any of her predecessors—constituted the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Victoria, a constitutional monarch, attempted privately to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond jubilees were times of public celebration. Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, at the age of 81. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria

The Vittoriano is on the Capitoline Hill, in the symbolic centre of ancient Rome, and is connected to the modern one thanks to roads that radiate from Piazza Venezia.[3]

Its design is a neoclassical interpretation of the Roman Forum. It features stairways, Corinthian columns, fountains, an equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel II, and two statues of the goddess Victoria riding on quadrigas. On its summit is a majestic portico characterized by a long colonnade and two imposing propylaea, one dedicated to the "unity of the homeland", and the other to the "freedom of the citizens", concepts metaphorically linked to the figure of Victor Emmanuel II.[3]

The base houses the museum of Italian unification,[4][5] and in 2007 a lift was added to the structure, allowing visitors to access the roof for 360-degree views of Rome.[6] This terrace, which is the highest of the monument, can also be reached via 196 steps that start from the portico.[7]

The structure is 135 m (443 ft) wide, 130 m (427 ft) deep, and 70 m (230 ft) high.[3][8] If the quadrigae and Winged Victorys are included, the height reaches 81 m (266 ft).[4] It has a total area of 17,550 m2 (188,907 sq ft) and possesses, due to the conspicuous development of the interior spaces, a floor area of 717,000 m2 (7,717,724 sq ft).[3][8]

One of the architecturally predominant elements of the Vittoriano are the external staircases, which constitute in the complex 243 steps, and the portico on the top of the monument, which is inserted between two lateral propylaea.[3] The entrance stairway is 41 m (135 ft) wide and 34 m (112 ft) long, the terrace of the Altar of the Fatherland is 66 m (217 ft) wide.[8] The maximum depth of the Vittoriano underground reaches 17 m (56 ft) below street level. The colonnade is formed by columns 15 m (49 ft) high and the length of the porch is 72 m (236 ft).[3]

The allegories of the monument mostly represent the virtues and feelings, very often rendered as personifications, also according to the canons of the neoclassical style, which animate the Italians during the Italian unification, or from the revolutions of 1820 to the capture of Rome (1870), through which national unity was achieved.[9] Due to the complex process of unification undertaken by Victor Emmanuel II throughout the second half of the 19th century, the Italians gave him the epithet of Father of the Fatherland (Italian: Padre della Patria). The only non-allegorical work is the equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II,[3] which is the architectural centre of the Vittoriano.[8]

The monument, as a whole, appears as a sort of marble covering on the northern slope of the Capitoline Hill:[3] it was therefore thought of as a place where it is possible to make an uninterrupted patriotic walk (the path does not in fact have an architectural end, given that the entrances to the highest part are two, one for each propylaeum) among the works present, which almost all have allegorical meanings linked to the history of Italy.[8] Different are the vegetal symbols present, among which the palm, which recalls the "victory", the oak (the "strength"), the laurel (the "victorious peace"), the myrtle (the "sacrifice") and the Olive tree (the "concord").[10]

From a stylistic perspective, the architecture and works of art that embellish the Vittoriano have been conceived with the aim of creating a "national style" to be replicated in other areas.[11] It was designed to communicate the imperial splendours of ancient Rome.[12] Above all, for the realization of the Vittoriano, Giuseppe Sacconi took inspiration from the Neoclassical architecture—the reborn heir of the classical Greek and Roman architecture, on which Italic elements were grafted and eclectic influences added.[8]

The Vittoriano is regarded as a national symbol of Italy and every year it hosts important national celebrations.[2] The largest annual celebrations are Liberation Day (25 April), Republic Day (2 June), and Armed Forces Day (4 November). During these celebrations, the President of the Italian Republic and the highest government officials pay tribute to the Italian Unknown Soldier and those who died in the line of duty by laying a laurel wreath.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_II_Monument

Britannia (/brɪˈtæniə/) is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield.[1] An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin Britannia was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great Britain, and the Roman province of Britain during the Roman Empire.[2][3][4] Typically depicted reclining or seated with spear and shield since appearing thus on Roman coins of the 2nd century AD, the classical national allegory was revived in the early modern period.[3] On coins of the pound sterling issued by Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Britannia appears with her shield bearing the Union Flag.[3] To symbolise the Royal Navy's victories, Britannia's spear became the characteristic trident in 1797, and a helmet was added to the coinage in 1825.[3]

By the 1st century BC, Britannia replaced Albion as the prevalent Latin name for the island of Great Britain.[5][6] After the Roman conquest in 43 AD, Britannia came to refer to the Roman province that encompassed the southern two-thirds of the island (see Roman Britain). The remaining third of the island, known to the Romans as Caledonia, lay north of the River Forth in modern Scotland. It was intermittently but not permanently occupied by the Roman army.[7] The name is a Latinisation of the native Brittonic word for Great Britain, Pretanī, which also produced the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai.

In the 2nd century, Roman Britannia came to be personified as a goddess, armed with a spear and shield and wearing a Corinthian helmet. When Roman Britain was divided into four provinces in 197 AD, two were called Britannia Superior (lit. 'Upper Britain') in the south and Britannia Inferior (lit. 'Lower Britain') to the north. The name Britannia long survived the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th century and yielded the name for the island in most European and various other languages, including the English Britain and the modern Welsh Prydain. In the 9th century the associated terms Bretwalda and Brytenwealda were applied to some Anglo-Saxon kings to assert a wider hegemony in Britain and hyperbolic inscriptions on coins and titles in charters often included the equivalent title rex Britanniae. However, when England was unified the title used was rex Angulsaxonum ('king of the Anglo-Saxons').

After centuries of declining use, the Latin form was revived during the English Renaissance as a rhetorical evocation of a British national identity. Especially following the Acts of Union in 1707, which joined the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, the personification of the martial Britannia was used as an emblem of British maritime power and unity, most notably in the patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!".

A British cultural icon, she was featured on all modern British coinage series until the redesign in 2008, and still appears annually on the gold and silver "Britannia" bullion coin series. In 2015 a new definitive £2 coin was issued, with a new image of Britannia. She is also depicted in the Brit Awards statuette, the British Phonographic Industry's annual music awards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia

al-Lat (Arabic: اللات, romanized: al-Lāt, pronounced [alːaːt]), also spelled Allat, Allatu, and Alilat, is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, at one time worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca, where she was worshipped alongside Al-Uzza and Manat as one of the daughters of Allah. The word Allat or Elat has been used to refer to various goddesses in the ancient Near East, including the goddess Asherah-Athirat.

The worship of al-Lat is attested in South Arabian inscriptions as Lat and Latan, but she had more prominence in north Arabia and the Hejaz, and her cult reached as far as Syria.[3] The writers of the Safaitic script frequently invoked al-Lat in their inscriptions. She was also worshipped by the Nabataeans and was associated with al-'Uzza. The presence of her cult was attested in both Palmyra and Hatra. Under Greco-Roman influence, her iconography began to show the attributes of Athena, the Greek goddess of war, as well as her Roman equivalent Minerva.

According to Islamic sources, the tribe of Banu Thaqif in Ta'if especially held reverence to her. In Islamic tradition, her worship ended when her temple in Ta'if was demolished on the orders of Muhammad.[4]

Etymology and name

There are two possible etymologies of the name al-Lat.[5] Medieval Arab lexicographers derived the name from the verb latta (to mix or knead barley-meal). It has also been associated with the "idol of jealousy" erected in the temple of Jerusalem according to the Book of Ezekiel, which was offered an oblation of barley-meal by the husband who suspected his wife of infidelity. It can be inferred from al-Kalbi's Book of Idols that a similar ritual was practiced in the vicinity of the image of al-Lat.[5] The second proposed etymology takes al-Lat to be the feminine form of Allah.[5] She may have been known originally as ʾal-ʾilat, based on Herodotus' attestation of the goddess as Alilat.[6]

Al-Lat was used as a title for the goddess Asherah or Athirat.[7] The word is akin to Elat, which was the name of the wife of the Semitic deity El.[8] A western Semitic goddess modeled on the Mesopotamian goddess Ereshkigal was known as Allatum, and she was recognized in Carthage as Allatu.[9]

The goddess Allat's name is recorded as:[10][11]

𐡄𐡍𐡀𐡋𐡕‎ (han-ʾIlat) in Imperial Aramaic;

𐢀𐢑𐢞‎ (Allāt) in Nabataean Arabic;

𐡠𐡫𐡶‎ (Allāt) in Palmyrene Aramaic;

ʾLT (ʾIlāt), H-LT (ha-Lāt), and LT (Lāt) in Safaitic;

𐪁𐪉‎ (Lāt) in Dadanitic;

𐪁𐪉‎ (Lāt) in Thamudic;

Ἀλιλάτ (Alilát) in Ancient Greek;

𐩡𐩩 (Lāt) and 𐩡𐩩𐩬 (Lātān) in Sabaean;

أللاَّت ʾal-Lāt in Classical Arabic.

Attestations

Pre-Islamic era

Al-Lat was mentioned as Alilat by the Greek historian Herodotus in his 5th-century BC work Histories, and she was considered the equivalent of Aphrodite (Aphrodite Urania):[12]

The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alilat [Greek spelling: Ἀλιλάτ], and the Persians Mithra.[13]

According to Herodotus, the ancient Arabians believed in only two gods:

They believe in no other gods except Dionysus and the Heavenly Aphrodite; and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples. They call Dionysus, Orotalt; and Aphrodite, Alilat.[14]

Al-Lat was widely worshipped in north Arabia, but in South Arabia she was not popular and was not the object of an organized cult, with two amulets (inscribed "Lat" on one, "Latan" on the other) being the only indication that this goddess received worship in the area.[15] However, she seems to have been popular among the Arab tribes bordering Yemen.[15] She was also attested in eastern Arabia; the name Taymallat (a theophoric name invoking the goddess)[16] was attested as the name of a man from Gerrha, a city located in the region.[17]

From Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions, it is probable that she was worshipped as Lat (lt).[3] In Safaitic inscriptions, al-Lat was invoked for solitude and mercy, as well as to provide well-being, ease and prosperity.[18] Travelers would invoke her for good weather and protection.[18] She was also invoked for vengeance, booty from raids, and infliction of blindness and lameness to anyone who defaces their inscriptions.[18]

The Qedarites, a northern Arabian tribal confederation, seemed to have also worshipped al-Lat, as evidenced by a silver bowl dedicated by a Qedarite king, with the goddess' name inscribed on it.[19]

The Nabataeans and the people of Hatra also worshipped al-Lat, equating her with the Greek goddesses Athena and Tyche and the Roman goddess Minerva.[20] She is frequently called "the Great Goddess" in Greek in multilingual inscriptions.[20] The Nabataeans regarded al-Lat as the mother of the deities, and her family relations vary; sometimes she is regarded as the consort of Dushara and at other times as the mother of Dushara.[3] Nabataean inscriptions call her and al-'Uzza the "brides of Dushara".[21]

A temple was built for al-Lat in Iram of the Pillars, by the tribe of ʿĀd.[22] Al-Lat was referred to as "the goddess who is in Iram" in a Nabataean inscription.[1] She was also referred to as "the goddess who is in Bosra".[1] Perhaps a local Hijazi form of her attested in Hegra alongside Dushara and Manat was "Allat of 'Amnad".[1]

Al-Lat was closely related to al-'Uzza, and in some regions of the Nabataean kingdom, both al-Lat and al-'Uzza were said to be the same goddess.[3] John F. Healey believes that al-Lat and al-'Uzza originated as a single goddess, which parted ways in the pre-Islamic Meccan tradition.[3] Susan Krone suggests that both al-Lat and al-'Uzza were uniquely fused in central Arabia.[23]

Al-Lat was also venerated in Palmyra, where she was known as the "Lady of the temple".[24] According to an inscription, she was brought into the Arab quarter of the city by a member of the Bene Ma'zin tribe,[25] who were probably an Arab tribe.[26][a] She had a temple in the city, which Teixidor believed to be the cultic center of Palmyrene Arab tribes.[24] The practice of casting divination arrows, a common divination method in Arabia, was attested in her temple; an honorific inscription mentioning "a basin of silver for [casting] lots (lḥlq)".[28]

By the second-century AD, al-Lat in Palmyra began to be portrayed in the style of Athena, and was referred to as "Athena-Allāt", but this assimilation does not extend beyond her iconography.[29] The Palmyrene emperor Vaballathus, whose name is the Latinized form of the theophoric name Wahballāt ("Gift of al-Lat"), began to use Athenodorus as the Greek form of his name.[30]

Islamic tradition

In Islamic sources discussing pre-Islamic Arabia, al-Lat is attested as the chief goddess of the Banu Thaqif tribe.[31] She was said to be venerated in Ta'if, where she was called ar-Rabba ("The Lady"),[32][33] and she reportedly had a shrine there which was decorated with ornaments and treasure of gold and onyx.[34] There, the goddess was venerated in the form of a cubic granite rock.[31][9] The area around the shrine was considered sacred; no trees could be felled, no animal could be hunted and no human blood could be shed.[35]

According to al-Kalbi's Book of Idols, her shrine was under the guardianship of the Banū Attāb ibn Mālik of the Banu Thaqif.[16] She was also venerated by other Arab tribes, including the Quraysh, and their children would be named after the goddess, such as Zayd al-Lat and Taym al-Lat.[16]

Al-Lat is also mentioned in pre-Islamic Arab poetry, such as in al-Mutalammis' satire of Amr ibn Hind:[36]

Thou hast banished me for fear of lampoon and satire.

No! By Allat and all the sacred baetyls (ansab)

thou shalt not escape.

A poem by the pre-Islamic monotheist Zayd ibn Amr mentions al-Lat, along with al-'Uzza and Hubal:[37]

Am I to worship one lord or a thousand?

If there are as many as you claim,

I renounce al-Lat and al-Uzza, both of them,

as any strong-minded person would.

I will not worship al-Uzza and her two daughters…

I will not worship Hubal, though he was our lord

in the days when I had little sense.

Al-Lat was also called as a daughter of Allah along with the other two chief goddesses al-'Uzza and Manat.[38][39][40][41] According to the Book of Idols, the Quraysh were to chant the following verses as they circumambulated the Kaaba:[42]

By al-Lat and al-'Uzza,

And Manat, the third idol besides.

Verily they are the gharaniq

Whose intercession is to be sought.

The word gharaniq was translated as "most exalted females" by Faris in his English translation of the Book of Idols, but he annotates this term in a footnote as "lit. Numidean cranes".[42]

According to Islamic tradition, the shrine dedicated to al-Lat in Ta'if was demolished on the orders of Muhammad, during the Expedition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, in the same year as the Battle of Tabuk[34] (which occurred in October 630 AD).[43] The destruction of the cult image was a demand by Muhammad before he would allow any reconciliation to take place with the tribes of Ta'if, who were under his siege.[44] According to the Book of Idols, this occurred after the Banu Thaqif converted to Islam, and that her temple was "burnt to the ground".[36]

Quran and Satanic Verses incident

Main article: Satanic Verses

In the Quran, she is mentioned along with al-‘Uzza and Manat in Quran 53:19–22,[45] which became the subject of the alleged Satanic Verses incident,[46] an occasion on which the Islamic prophet Muhammad had mistaken the words of "satanic suggestion" for divine revelation.[47] Many different versions of the story existed (all traceable to one single narrator Muhammad ibn Ka'b, who was two generations removed from biographer Ibn Ishaq).[46] In its essential form, the story reports that during Muhammad's recitation of Surat An-Najm, when he reached the following verses:

Have you thought of al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzá

and Manāt, the third, the other?

— Quran 53:19–20

Satan tempted him to utter the following line:[46]

These are the exalted gharāniq, whose intercession is hoped for. (In Arabic تلك الغرانيق العلى وإن شفاعتهن لترتجى.)

Following this, the angel Gabriel chastised Muhammad for uttering that line, and the verses were abrogated with a new revelation:[48]

Are yours the males and His the females? That were indeed an unfair division!

— Quran 53:21–22

The majority of Muslim scholars have rejected the historicity of the incident on the basis of the theological doctrine of 'isma (prophetic infallibility i.e., divine protection of Muhammad from mistakes) and their weak isnads (chains of transmission).[47] Due to its defective chain of narration, the tradition of the Satanic Verses never made it into any of the canonical hadith compilations,[49] though reference and exegesis about the Verses appear in early histories, such as al-Tabari's Tārīkh ar-Rusul wal-Mulūk and Ibn Ishaq's Sīrat Rasūl Allāh (as reconstructed by Alfred Guillaume).[46]

The "Grinder" legend

Various legends about her origins were known in medieval Islamic tradition, including one which linked al-Lat's stone with a man who grinds cereal (al-latt, "the grinder").[50] The stone was used as a base for the man (a Jew) to grind cereal for the pilgrims of Mecca.[51] While most versions of this legend place the man at Ta'if, other versions place him at either Mecca or 'Ukaz.[50] After the man's death, the stone, or the man in the form of a stone, was deified,[51] according to some legends after the Khuza'a drove the Jurhum out of Mecca, while other legends report it was Amr ibn Luhayy who deified the grinder.[50]

Michael Cook noticed the oddity of this story, as it would make al-Lat masculine.[52] Gerald Hawting believes the various legends that link al-Lat with that of al-latt, "the grinder", was an attempt to relate al-Lat with Mecca.[50] He also compared the legends to Isaf and Na'ila, who according to legend were a man and a woman who fornicated inside the Kaaba and were petrified.[51] These two stones representing the primordial couple (sic Adam & Eve the so called ancestors of the human race) most likely pre-existed this cautionary tale promulgated by Islam. Furthermore, Isaf & Na'ila played a central role in the Quraish and al-Khuza'a's ritual practice of hierogamy or 'sacred marriage' culminating in a communal wedding feast 'walima'. This joyful event took place every year during the mid-winter month of Dhu'l Hijjah on and around Mt. Arafat until the pair of baetyls were finally removed and placed at Jabal as-Safa'a and Jabal al-Marwah in Mecca.

Mythological role

F. V. Winnet saw al-Lat as a lunar deity due to association of a crescent with her in 'Ayn esh-Shallāleh and a Lihyanite inscription mentioning the name of Wadd over the title of 'fkl lt.[3] René Dussaud and Gonzague Ryckmans linked her with Venus, while others have thought her to be a solar deity.[3] John F. Healey considers al-Uzza actually might have been an epithet of al-Lat before becoming a separate deity in the Meccan pantheon.[3] Redefining Dionysos considers she might have been a god of vegetation or a celestial deity of atmospheric phenomena and a sky deity.[12] According to Wellhausen, the Nabataeans believed al-Lat was the mother of Hubal (and hence the mother-in-law of Manāt).[53]

It has been hypothesized that Allah was the consort of al-Lat, given that it is typical of deities in that area of the world to have consorts.[54]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Lat

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°; and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

1236

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Al-Andalus[a] (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس) was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain, Portugal[1] and France. The name describes the different Muslim[2][3] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[4][5][6] and part of present-day southern France (Septimania) under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed constantly through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[2][3][7][8][9] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

As a political domain, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); the first taifa kingdoms (1009–1110); the Almoravid Empire (1085–1145); the second taifa period (1140–1203); the Almohad Caliphate (1147–1238); the third taifa period (1232–1287); and ultimately the Nasrid Emirate of Granada (1238–1492). Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Islamic world. Achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus, including major advances in trigonometry (Jabir ibn Aflah), astronomy (Al-Zarqali), surgery (Al-Zahrawi), pharmacology (Ibn Zuhr),[10] and agronomy (Ibn Bassal and Abū l-Khayr al-Ishbīlī). Al-Andalus became a conduit for cultural and scientific exchange between the Islamic and Christian worlds.[10]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

But this secret society, [the] most successful of secret societies showed that its strength ultimately depended upon a powerful leader. [Well,] Kia Mohammed was no such [leader]. [And] little by little it became obvious that his son, Hasan the Hated, was the stronger personality. [Now remember, Kia Mohammed was the Old Man of the Mountain, and the mountain lair was called: The Eagle's Nest.] Now Hasan, through some magnetic power, was able to capture the imagination of the Assassins, soon having it believed that he himself was none other than the Power of All Powers, the Hidden Imam, who had been mentioned by the first Grand Master; an incarnation of all greatness. So important was [Hasan] that he was the fountain of power, and others only held a [very small] measure of authority because he allowed them to have it [and for no other reason].

This final absurdity was lapped up by members who had been conditioned to believe in things which were not, shall we say, exactly self-evident to the ordinary man. The doctrine of the all-powerful Invisible Imam was a part of Ismailism; and Hasan was ready even during his early manhood to assume the role. But, since his father was able to assert himself by having some two hundred and fifty of Hasan' followers murdered, he thought it wiser to hold his hand. In 1163 his chance came. Mohammed died, and Hasan II issued an order to all Ismailis to collect below the castle of Alamut.

Never before had such an assembly of killers, fanatics and dedicated perverters of the truth been seen. Hasan, probably in a state of megalomania, assured them that he had received a message from the Almighty that as from now, all the bond of religion were loosed: everyone might do as he liked. [Later, in the modern age, we would hear that again as: “The whole of the Law shall be: do as thou wilt.”] It was not necessary [he said] to keep up pretences. And, furthermore, he, Hasan, was none other than the Hidden Imam. His word was law; and he was a form of the divinity, not merely relaying instructions from above [but the divinity].

[Now] there was one further obstacle [folks]. According to Ismaili doctrine, the Hidden Imam was to be of the Family of Hashim, the blood of Mohammed the Prophet. Such descendants were known and revered: and it was common knowledge that Hasan II was not one of them. He overcame this difficulty by stating that he was not in fact the true son of Kia Mohammed the Persian, but an adopted child of the Caliphial family of Egypt. This pretence was carried on for four years, during which the crazed Hasan showed that he was not as mad as he might have been, by consolidating quite efficiently the power of the cult. Eventually, he was assassinated by his brother-in-law, Namwar ('The Famous'). Now the father-to-son succession seemed to be established. Mohammed II, son of Hasan II, began the cultivation of letters and sciences which was to distinguish successive Grand Masters of the Order. It was a conceit of his, in the time of the greatest flowering of Persian literature, that he [he] was supreme among poets and philosophers. He used his assassins [also] to drive this point well home. The Imam Razi, one of the greatest thinkers of the time, refused to acknowledge the Assassins as the most advanced theologians: so Mohammed II sent an envoy to him, promising either a swift death by dagger or a pension of several thousand gold pieces a year. Suddenly [oh yes, suddenly!] the learned Imam's discourses seemed to lose their bite. One day, soon afterwards, he was asked why he did not attack the Assassins as of old. “Because,” said the old man, with a nervous glance around the assembly where a murderer might lurk, “their arguments are so sharp, and pointed [and indeed, they were].”

For thirty-five years Mohammed II ruled the Ismailis with a rod of iron; the only law was that of obedience to the Assassin will. The observances of ritual Islam were abolished. A new star had arisen [Remember that star?]: a power to stiffen resistance to Crusader penetration; Saladin, who was to become an implacable foe of the Assassins.

The Syrian branch of the cult grew in power, while the activities of the Eastern Assassins were carried out much more quietly, with missionaries being sent to India, Afghanistan, even the remote Pamir Mountains which straddle China and Russia, where even today adherents of the sect are to be found. Saladin had overcome the other Ismaili branch and original home of Assassinism—Egypt—and restored the true faith to the people of the Nile. He now had enough booty for ten years' war against the Crusaders in Palestine, and troops to spare. His first task was to unify the forces of Islam; and this he determined to do by force if necessary. Sinan, Ancient of the Assassin cult in Syria, decided to oppose this terrible enemy of the Fatimites. Three assassins fell upon Saladin and nearly killed him. This made the sect a priority target for the Saracen chief. The Old Man of the Mountain, for his part [who was now Mohammed II], now unleashed a succession of fanatics, in every kind of disguise, upon Saladin. By 1176, Saladin decided that an end must be put to the cult. He invaded their territory and started to lay it waste, when the Assassin chief offered him freedom of action to fight the Crusaders, and no [no] further attempt upon his life, if the cult were spared. [Now] these terms were agreed to, and henceforth no Assassin ever again attempted to molest Sultan Saladin.

This period introduces Sinan as yet another strange and terrible Assassin leader. [For] he had decided that he was the incarnation of all power and deity, and that he would live the part. Sinan was never seen to eat or drink, sleep, or even to spit. [Now can you imagine this? A living, human being never seen to eat or drink, sleep, or even to spit.] Between sunrise and sunset he stood on a pinnacle of rock, dressed in a hair-shirt, and preached his own power and glory to delighted Assassins. [Have you ever worn a hair shirt? Have you ever stood on a pinnacle of rock between sunrise and sunset? I mean, every sunrise and sunset, and wearing a hair shirt every sunrise and sunset? Well, folks, this is historic fact. This is not something that someone made up.] Thus, at one and the same time, there were two chiefs of the Order, each busily telling his own followers that he, and he alone, was God [was God!]. Hasan in Persia, Sinan in Syria, each commanded legions of devoted killers, all committed by oath to follow his path.

When Mohammed II died, he was succeeded by his son Jalaludin, who completely reversed the orders that the Assassins were to have no outward religious observances. [You see] he felt that he could do a great deal by adopting the cloak of orthodox piety, and sent ambassadors far and wide to announce his maintenance of the true faith. He went so far as to curse his predecessors publicly, in order to convince the incredulous that such a people as the Assassins could turn over a new leaf. As a result of what would today be called a long-term and comprehensive propaganda plan, he was acknowledged as a religious leader by half the orthodox monarchs of Islam, and (the first Assassin to be so styled) came to be termed Prince Jalaludin.

Jalaludin died in 1203, after twelve years of leadership of the cult, handing over to Alaeddin ([or] Aladdin) [And you guys thought that it was just a storybook tale, didn't you? Aladdin], a child of nine years of age. Weak, inefficient, stupid, Alaeddin made little mark upon history. [Except in the classic tales of Arabia, the 1001 Arabbian Nights, for Aladdin in the 1001 Arabbian Nights is Aladdin, the leader of the Assassins.] It is said that his main activity was tending sheep, to which he was passionately attached, and he even had a small hut built in a sheepfold, where he spent most of his time. [Aladdin] was extraordinarily cruel, in spite of the contact with the sheep, and continued to terrorize in time-honored fashion any person, great or small, who did not pay tribute or otherwise co-operate with the organization.

[And even today, those in power who are in contact with sheep most of the time (laughs) ultimately turn out to be same. And we all know who the sheeple are, don't we?]

The Assassins' hands, ears and eyes were everywhere. Once fully initiated, a man might be sent to a place a thousand miles away, to take up residence and live: waiting for the moment when orders came to him from Alamut to fulfill his fatal destiny [and all the while in-between, furnishing intelligence to the central headquarters of the Assassins]. A story is told of the court of the Shah of Khwarism, thus: “The Ismaili ambassador spent some time with the Vizier. One day, after a splendid banquet when the wine which they had been drinking in violation of the law had mounted into their heads, the ambassador told the Vizier by way of confidence that there were several Ismailis among the pages, grooms, guards and other persons who were immediately about the Sultan. The Vizier, dismayed and at the same time curious to know who these dangerous attendants were, besought the ambassador to point them out to him, giving him his napkin as a pledge that nothing evil should happen to them. Instantly, at a sign from the envoy, five of the persons who were attendants in the chamber stepped forth, avowing themselves to be concealed Assassins, ‘On such a day and at such an hour,’ said one of them, an Indian, to the Vizier, ‘I might have slain thee without being seen or punished; and if I did not do so it was only because I had no orders from my superiors.’ ”

The Vizier [of course] begged for his life. But word got the Sultan, who ordered the Assassins to be apprehended and burned alive, and “the five chamberlains were cast on the flaming pyre, where they died exulting at being found worthy to suffer in the service of the great Sheikh of the Mountain [so powerful was their devotion to the cult].” The Assassins had the last laugh, for an order arrived immediately afterwards from Alamut, that the Shah must pay ten thousand pieces of gold as compensation for each man killed—which he did [or be killed himself].

Another subsidiary activity which the Assassins delighted in was holding captive in Alamut of useful, rare and distinguished personages who could be of value to them in educational, military or other spheres. [And] one was a physician, another a famous astronomer, a third the greatest painter in Persia, who worked to the order of the chief alone.

The end of a chapter was near, for the Mongol hordes under Halaku, lieutenant of Chinghiz, were steadily destroying all the civilization of Islam which lay in their inexorable path westwards. Rukneddin, son of Alaeddin, succeeded him and tried at first to turn the Mongol tide. After a series of encounters, pitched battles, intrigues and counter-intrigues, Rukneddin was taken. He played for time as long as he could, but was eventually murdered in his own turn by the victorious Mongol chief's men. Assassin power in Persia was broken, and what remained of the members were ordered—none knows by whom—to conceal their faith and await a signal that the cult was in full operation again. Alamut was silenced, and the Syrian headquarters alone remained.

[And if it had not been for the refusal of the Christian kings in Europe to send ambassadors to make a treaty, or a new Crusade, with the Mongol horde, then all of Islam would have been decimated. But it was not, for the Christian kings, even though they would have liked to regain their foothold in the Middle East, had problems of their own and ignored the Mongol emissaries.]

It was a long time until the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt was able to overcome the Mongol thrust. In 1260, however, he carried the banners of Islam victoriously against them, and restored the fortress of Alamut and other properties to the Assassins, who were strongly surviving underground. They soon found that they had exchanged one master for another, for the Egyptians were now employing them for their own purposes [and required them to undergo a new initiation, that of the ancient Egyptian Mysteries of Babylon]. Ibn Batuta, the great traveler of the fourteenth century, found them well entrenched in their former strong places, being used as the “arrows of the Sultan of Egypt with which he reaches his enemies.”

The supposed suppression of the creed which followed the Mongol destruction did not in fact take place. Copying each other, historians (laughs) have asserted that Assassinism died six hundred years ago [nothing could be further from the truth]. Now and again, however, fresh facts of their continued existence still come to light. In the eighteenth century an Englishman, the British Consul at Aleppo in Syria, was at pains to make this better known: “Some authors assert,” he writes, “that these people were entirely extirpated in the thirteenth century by the Tartars . . . but I, who have lived so long in this infernal place, will venture to affirm that some of their spawn still exists in the mountains that surround us; for nothing is so cruel, barbarous and execrable that is not acted, and even gloried in, by these cursed [Assassins].”

The Assassins were widely dispersed throughout Asia. The rise of the Thugs, the secret society of assassination of India, followed the Mongol invasion of Persia. Indeed, at least one of the Thug recognition-signals (Ali bhai Salam!) indicates salutations to Ali, the descendant of the Prophet most greatly revered by the Assassins. Ismailis, not all of them recognizing the one chief, reside in places as far apart as Malaya, East Africa and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). They would not necessarily feel that they are Assassins in the same sense as the extremists who followed the old Sheikhs of the Mountains; but at least some of them revere the descendants of the Lords of Alamut to the extent of deification.

The modern phase of Ismailism dates from 1810, when the French consul at Aleppo found that the Assassins in Persia recognized as their divinely-inspired chief a reputed descendant of the Fourth Grand Master of Alamut, who then lived at Kehk, a small village between Isfahan and Tehran. This Shah Khalilullah “was revered almost like a god and credited with the power of working miracles . . . the followers of Khalilullah would, when he pared his nails, fight for the clippings; the water in which he washed became holy water.”

The sect next appear to the public gaze through an odd happening. In 1866, a law case was decided in Bombay. There is in that city a large community of commercial men known as Khojas: “A Persian,” the record tells us, “Aga Khan Mehalati (i.e., a native of Mehelat, a place situated near Khek) had sent an agent to Bombay to claim from the Khojas the annual tribute due from them to him, and amounting to about £ 10,000. The claim was resisted, and the British court was appealed to by Aga Khan. Sir Joseph Arnold investigated his claim. The Aga proves his pedigree, showing that he descended in a direct line from the fourth Grand Master of Alamut, and Sir Joseph declared it proved; and it was further demonstrated by the trial that the Khojas were members of the ancient sect of the Assassins, to which sect they had been converted four hundred years before by an Ishmaelite missionary, who composed a work which has remained the sacred book of the Khojas.”

In the First Afghan War, the then Aga Khan contributed a force of light cavalry to the British forces. For this he was awarded a pension. Hitti, in his History of the Arabs, notes (p. 448, 1951 edition) that the Assassin sect, known as Khojas and Malwas, gave over a tenth of their revenues to the Aga Khan, who “spends most of his time as a sportsman between Paris and London.”

The influence of the new form of organization and training, as well as initiatory techniques, of the Assassins upon later societies has been remarked by a number of students [and I have found in my research that it's absolutely true]. That the Crusaders knew a good deal about the Ismailis is shown from the detailed descriptions of them which survive. S. Ameer Ali, an Orientalist of considerable repute, goes further in his assessment: “From the Ismailis the Crusaders borrowed the conception which led to the formation of all the secret societies, religious and secular, of Europe. The institutions of Templars and Hospitallers; the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola, composed by a body of men whose devotion to their cause can hardly be surpassed in our time; the ferocious Dominicans, the milder Franciscans—may all be traced either to Cairo or to Alamut. The Knights Templar especially, with their system of grand masters, grand priors and religious devotees, and their degrees of initiation, bear the strongest analogy to the Eastern Ismailis.”

[We've got to take a break, folks. I'll be right back, right after this short pause.]

(Interlude music: Moonglow)108

[In the year 1110, a mysterious order called the Prieuré de Sion appeared upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This mysterious secret order, the Prieuré de Sion, was eventually to crown the first king, the first Christian king of Jerusalem. When they appeared in the Temple Mount in 1110, they recruited nine knights to comb, to scour the Temple Mount, the passages and caverns and tunnels beneath for the ancient remains of the relics of their religion.]

Later in A.D. 1118, nine knights, [supposedly] concerned for the welfare of pilgrims to the Holy Land, bound themselves together in the creation of a knightly Order. [This order, again existing of nine knights, just like the original nine knights, were commissioned by the Prieuré de Sion.] In under two hundred years [folks] this organization had become one of the most powerful single entities—if not the greatest—[power ever to exist] in Europe. [They were the first international bankers. The first that ever existed in the world.] A few years later it was utterly destroyed. [They say, however, as you're going to find out, they were not destroyed at all, but merely driven underground.] The zeal of religion, the conditioning which made men support a dedicated cause with all of their might, was likewise the instrument of their destruction. Nothing less than religious fervor could have smashed the Order: as nothing less could have created it.

[And folks, you're going to find it difficult to believe, but the rise of this order and destruction, at least publically, of this order has such a great bearing on events today that you could say that everything that has happened since has been brought about by this one series of acts.]

Were the Knights Templar devil-worshippers, secret Saracens indulging in obscene orgies? Did they adore a head, spit on the Cross, use the word, 'Yallah' [which means literally in Arabic,] (O Allah!) in their rituals? Did they learn their ways from the terrible sect of the Assassins?

[Well, yes folks, they did. And they are the link—at least, in that day, would have been considered the modern link—between the ancient Mystery Religion of Babylon and Europe. For the religion had come to Europe long, long before the Templars ever emerged, and made their appearance in the ancient worship of the sun by the Druids and the Celts, and the tribes, the Germanic tribes who had made their way thousands of years ago from the Middle East up through Asia, and across Russia and into Europe. They brought Mystery Babylon with them, and practiced it as what we now know of today as the pagan religion. And Stonehenge is actually an ancient Babylonian temple of the sun. And you will find how all this connects later.]

[But the origin of this was lost, and the ability to control large numbers of people, by the use of the hidden knowledge of the ages, was lost. It wasn't until the Knights Templar bought [sic] and brought the Mystery Religion of Babylon to Europe, that the ancient, ancient worship of the sun again took hold. Amongst the Christian countries, in the guise of Christianity, which was itself at that time—I'm not talking about the teachings of Christ now, I'm talking about the perversion of the teachings of Christ—the melding of the teachings of Christ with the ancient worship of the sun, the Mystery Religion of Babylon which became the Catholic church was indeed another branch of the ancient Mystery Religion of Babylon. And some of you out there may be confused from all of this.]

[If you've been listening from the beginning of this series, then you're right on target; you're not confused, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you picked up this series somewhere in the middle, then you need to call Stan and order the studio quality tapes. They're in stereo, they're on TDK tapes, first-quality tapes and crystal clear. You need to order this series from the first tape, the very first, and that was broadcast on February the 12th, I believe, a Friday. But anyway, Stan will know. Give him a call at (602) 567-6109. That's (602) 567-6109 or write to Stan and ask him for an information packet at P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322. That's P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322.]

[Now, folks,] the original objective of the Order [of the Temple—Knights Templar], which immediately because the subject of applause throughout Christendom, was to combine the two functions of monk and knight, to live chastely and fight the Saracents with the sword and spirit. The Sweet Mother of God [at least outwardly they say] was chosen as their patroness; and they bound themselves to live in accordance with the rules of St. Augustine, electing as the their first leader Hugh de Payens. [Now] King Baldwin II granted him a part of his palace to live in and gave them a grant toward its upkeep. [Now the part of the palace they lived in was an ancient mosque, which was built upon the actual location of the old Temple of Solomon, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.]

[The Knights Templar] vowed to consecrate their swords, arms, strength and lives to the defense of the mysteries of the Christian faith; to pay complete and utter obedience to the orders of the Grand Master; to fight whenever commanded, regardless of perils, for the faith of Christ as they understood it. Among the vows taken which were forbade their yielding even a foot of land to the enemy [whoever the enemy was] and not to retreat, even if attacked in the proportion of three to one. They choose the name militia temple—Soldiers of the Temple—after the temple supposedly built by Solomon in Jerusalem, near which they had been assigned quarters by the King. [But in reality had nothing to do with the Temple of Solomon.]

Some say that the Templars derived their idea of their Order from that of the Hospitallars, who looked after Catholic pilgrims to Palestine; for there was little hospitality to be had from the native Orthodox Christians of those parts. Others hold that there was an even older Order from which they received their inspiration. No reliable evidence is, at this point however, available. [According to the "establishment" historians, although for those who really, really research the true history of the secret orders, and specifically the Knights Templars, there's a direct connection to the Assassins and the Roshaniya.]

Although the Templars were so poor than two men had to share a horse [they say, but that is not true at all] (and their Seal commemorated this decades after they became one of the richest communities of their time), they soon attracted favorable notice and support. [Now, the two knights riding a horse was a symbol of sacrifice. It denoted their vows of poverty. In truth, each knight now only had a horse, but he had what they called a yeoman. He had a spare horse, he had a pack horse, and he had several horses in reserve, and a whole train of servants. But the Knights Templar were the first true—as we know it in modern times, in modern times there were others before, but they were the first true in modern times—and by modern, I'd say, from the time that Europe escaped from the old tribal of paganism. In other words in 1110, I consider that to be beginning of the modern age. Although historians may disagree with me, it's the beginning of everything that has happened since, and everything that's happening today can be traced right to the door of the Knights Templar, and that's why I say that. They were the first modern order to practice what we now know as true Communism. They were the ones who brought international Socialism into Europe, which has always been the tenet and the creed of the Mystery Religion of Babylon.] Only one year after their establishment, Fulk, Count of Anjou, who had come to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage, joined as a married member and gave them an annual grant of thirty pounds of silver. This example was soon followed by other devout Western princes.

For the first nine years of their existence, the knights continued to live a life of chastity and poverty in accordance with their vows. They adopted a striped black and white banner, called the Beauséant, after their original piebald horse; and this word also became their battle-cry. Special raiment they had none, and they wore whatever clothes were given to them by the pious. But little by little, as one writer puts it, they were to become “haughty and insolent”.

[And the black and white banner, the translation of the meaning of which was for the, again, exoteric, for the real meaning of the black and white banner was the meaning of the androgynous god, the positive and the negative, the black and the white, the yin and the yang, the male and the female combined into one, and that was the real meaning of the black and white banner. And it's carried forth today on the floor of many of the temples of Freemasonry where the black and white checkered pattern exists, and in one famous cathedral in Europe built by the Knights Templar. They disguised their esoteric religion in an exoteric manner that would be accepted by Christianity.]

Baldwin of Jerusalem, who had been a prisoner in the hands of the Saracens and knew of their disunity, realized at about this time that Islam must eventually unite against the Christian invasion, and the decided that the Templars who prove ideal allies in the battles which were to come. In 1127, therefore, he sent two Templars with his strong recommendation to the Pope, applying for official recognition of the Order by the Holy See.

[And this is the first time that the Templars even were considered to be close to the center of religion, the Christian religion in that day, the Catholic church, the Pope. For they were not commissioned as a Christian order; they were not commissioned by the Pope or by the church, and this is a big myth that the Knights Templar started out to protect the church and to protect the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. They were established first, primarily, and foremost as a branch of the ancient order of the Religion of Mystery Babylon. And it's indicative of the strategies that they've used since to endear themselves to whatever the established power, or the beliefs of the majority of the people might be.]

[When they went to see the Pope,] they had an introduction to St. Bernard himself, the Abbot of Clairvaux, who was known to be admirer of theirs, and who was a nephew of one of their envoys. Then the Grand Master himself arrived in Europe, and received the eulogistic opinion of the Abbot: “They go not headlong into battle, but with care and foresight, peacefully, as true children of Israel. But as soon as the fight had begun, they rush without delay upon the foe . . . and know no fear . . . one has often put to flight a thousand; two, ten thousand . . . gentler than lambs and grimmer than lions; theirs is the mildness of monks and the valor of the knight.” [Now folks, this was a strong recommendation, and this testimonial was part of the campaign of the Templars in their efforts at recognition of the Pope. All of you who have thought that they began as a religious order in the first place are so way off base that it's pathetic. And neither were the Jesuits a religious order in the first place, but we'll get that together in another broadcast.] [But] on the 31st [of] January [in the year] 1128, the Master appeared before the Council of Troyes. This formidable body consisted of the Archbishops of Rheims and Sens, ten bishops and a number of abbots—including St. Bernard himself - presided over by the Cardinal of Albano, the Papal legate. They were approved; and Pope Honorius chose for them a white mantle, completely plain. The red cross was added by order of Pope Eugenius III in 1146. [And see, you thought the Templars thought of this. Nope not at all. This was mandated by two Popes: first, the white mantle, completely plain; and then later the red cross was added by Pope Eugenius III in 1146.]

Hugh de Payens now took his delegation through France and England, and collected a number of recruits. Gifts and grants were showered upon the Order; lands, rents and arms were forthcoming from all quarters. Richard I of England was enthusiastic about them. By 1133, King Alfonso of Aragon and Naverre, who had fought the Spanish Moors in twenty-nine battles, had willed his country to them; although when the Moors finally laid him low his nobles prevented the Templars from claiming their rights. [Nevertheless, this was of great honor. In fact, to my knowledge and to our research into history, it never had before been done.]

In 1129 the Master, accompanied by three hundred knights, recruited from the noblest houses of Europe, led a huge train of pilgrims to the Holy Land. It was at this time that the Templars formed part of the Christian contingent which, allied with the Assassins, tried to take Damascus. [And it wasn't the first time nor the last that the Christian Knights Templar, or supposedly Christian Knights Templar (they really weren't Christian at all) were allied with the Assassins.] Were they (as the Orientalist von Hammer alleges)109

connected in some secret way with the Assassins? [Yes, our research shows that it is a historical fact. And it is also a historical fact that the Assassins were prepared to adopt Christianity if they could gain greater power thereby (Christianity, that is, on the surface, just as the Knights Templar had done)]. Hammer points to the similarities of the two organizations. The followers of Hasan Ibn Sabah were in contact with the Templars, and had a similar method of organization. They were in existence before the Templars were formed: “The Ismailians ([or] Assassins) was the original, and [folks] the Order of the Templars, [was] the copy.”

The balance of Western opinion is against this contention; more particularly because, one feels from wide reading of historians, great sympathy is felt for the cruelly treated and a arbitrarily dispossessed Templars. Thus Keightley, who made a close study of the Order those who would claim that the Templars were an Assassin branch [but, when you do research into the (laughs) associations and memberships of Keightley, you'll find that Keightley was himself a Knight Templar. And he said:]

“When, nearly thirty years after their institution, the Pope gave them permission to wear a cross on their mantle, like the rival Hospitaller Order, no color could present itself to well suited to those who daily and hourly exposed themselves to martyrdom as that of blood, in which there was so much of what was symbolical. With respect to internal organization it will, we apprehend, be always found that this is for the most part of the growth of time and the product of circumstances; and it always nearly the same where these last are similar.”110

[And you find this kind of rhetoric, semantics, all throughout the writings of those who wish to cover the true origin and the true meaning of Mystery Babylon.]

The famous question of the three thousand gold pieces paid by the Syrian branch of the Assassins to the Templars is another matter which has [of course] never been settled. One opinion holds that this money was given as a tribute to the Christians; the other, that it was a secret allowance from the larger to the small organization. [Which it really was as the Assassins wished to expand their control and remember their original goal was to take over the entire world by the systematic infiltration and control of each individual country.] Those who think that the Assassins were fanatical Moslems, and therefore would not form any alliance with those who to them were infidels, should be reminded that to the followers of the Old Man of the Mountains only he was right, and the Saracens who were fighting the Holy War for Allah against the Crusaders were as bad as anyone else who did not accept the Assassin doctrine.

[And it is true today: “If you are not one of us, you are nothing.” “The ends justify the means.” “The strength of our Order exists in the fact that we manifest ourselves under many different names and many different occupations, and sometimes even seem to oppose ourselves. But at the highest level, we are of one mind.” And I could go on, and on (laughs), and on, and you all know that I could go on and on and on. For I have studied this for so many years that I eat, drink and sleep it. Oh yes.]

[Well, eventually] grave charges against the Templars during the Crusades included the allegation that they were fighting for themselves alone. More than one historical incident bears this out. The Christians had besieged the town of Ascalon in 1153, and were engaged upon burning down the walls with large piles of inflammable materials. Part of the wall fell after a whole night of this burning. The Christian army was about to enter, when the Master of the Temple (Bernard de Tremelai) claimed the right to take the town himself. This was because the first contingent into a conquered town had the whole spoils. As it happened, the garrison rallied and killed the Templars, closing the breach. There seem good grounds for believing that the power which they had gained caused the Templars to devote their efforts as much to their own Order's welfare as to the cause of the Cross, in spite of their tremendous sacrifices for that cause. Having no loyalty to any territorial chief, they obeyed their Master alone, and hence no softening political pressure could be put upon them. [Well,] this might well have led to an idea that they were an invisible super-state [and that is exactly the fact]; and this does show some similarity with the invisible empire of the Assassins. If none can deny their bravery, their high-handedness and exclusivity, in less than a hundred and fifty years after their founding gave them the reputation of considering themselves almost a law unto themselves.

[No longer reading]

And now, dear listeners, we get into the meat, the direct connection between the historical events and the events that are happening today. Don't miss even one episode of this series.

Good night, and may God bless each and every one of you.

(Outro music: Stardust)111"

The Templars and the Assassins (aired March 2nd, 1993)

https://viefag.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/transcripts-of-william-cooper-s-mystery-babylon-series.pdf

"Arrest and Sentencing

The proselytizing activities and successes of the alumbrados received its first serious blows in the spring of 1524. These blows came in spite of initial Inquisitorial misgivings that had given Alcaraz the impression that the case of the Guadalajara group was closed and that he was thus allowed to continue in the movement.19

The previous environment of religious and cultural diversity, reform and renaissance under the sponsorship of Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros that saw the publishing of a polyglot Bible in Toledo and the opening up of professorships in Hebrew and Arabic in Alcalá did not do anything to lessen the fervor of Inquisitorial prosecution. Alcaraz and Isabel de la Cruz had once again come under investigation, this time it involved a messy and complicated affair between Alcaraz and men he viewed as either his opponents or deviants from his own interpretation of alumbradismo. It was during this messy affair that Alcaraz was under the service of Don Diego López Pacheco, the Marquess of Villena.

At the Marquess’s estate in Escalona Alcaraz seems to have successfully proselytized and made alumbrados of the Marquess and his wife as well as a Mercederian fray. During this time Alcaraz met two men, Fray Juan de Olmillos and Fray Francisco de Ocaña who were, in J.C. Nieto’s terminology, “apocalyptic Franciscans”. Ocaña was wont to have prophetic visions and trances.

Alcaraz’s fervor, which in the past had given him successes in his proselytizing activities, was once again causing trouble. Hamilton opines, “Alcaraz continued to engineer his own downfall. He made no secret of his disapproval of those numerous individuals who had fallen under the spell of Ocaña and Olmilllos or who had been duped by Francisca Hernández.” Visions and trances were a point of contention for Alcaraz as it was for other alumbrados including Isabel de la Cruz. Alcaraz, however, had already had some disagreements for some time with Fray Francisco Ortiz and Francisco de Osuna concerning the value of these mystical endeavors. Alcaraz considered trances, visions and prophecy to be ataduras and thus undesirable. To engage in such activity would hinder one’s dejamiento or abandonment to God by refocusing the mind on prophecies that concerned themselves with the material.22 In his attempts to denounce Ocaña and Olmillos to the Franciscan provincial Alcaraz instead succeeded in calling attention to himself. In May of 1524 Francisco de Quiñones, the general of the Franciscan order, held the Inquisitorial chapter of Toledo in Escalona. On the 22nd of May a decree was issued that condemned the practices and activities of Isabel de la Cruz and Pedro Ruíz de Alcaraz.23

In spite of interventions by the Marquess of Villena on their behalf the pair were imprisoned, their trials and imprisonment lasting until 1529. Neither was put to death for his or her own heretical behavior. Both, however, suffered public humiliations including the wearing of the San Benito, the confiscation of their property and confinement in convents. By 1540 their confinements ended, their lives seemingly having returned to some normalcy.

24 When arrested in March of 1529 Francisca Hernández denounced a number of her former fellow alumbrados, including María de Cazalla, to the Inquisitors. Why she did this not entirely clear, but because she was not a typical beata it is postulated that she was simply trading favors with the Holy Office in order to ensure that her imprisonment remained “of the most comfortable kind” with a maid and other niceties.25 When her time for sentencing came Francisca was “confined in a convent of beatas of St. Benedict…it was not long before she moved to the house of one Perez de Montalvo and effectively disappears from the pages of history.”26

Even after having been denounced by Francisca, María de Cazalla was arrested rather late in 1532. María’s late arrest was likely due to her “higher social standing” and the ties she enjoyed to the elite of Castile.

27 It is this higher social standing that probably also afforded María one of the lightest sentences: she was simply abjured de levi and fined one hundred ducats.28

While the Inquisition essentially squashed the alumbrado movement in Toledo, the ideas and spirit of alumbradismo were not. “Alumbrado” entered the Inquisitors’ vocabulary of heresy and would remain in use as a category of heretical behavior into the seventeenth century. By the late sixteenth century in Extremadura and Seville other groups of individuals calling themselves alumbrados arose. While bearing some similarities, these groups were not exactly the same as the original Castilian iteration of alumbradismo. The scholarship on the groups in southern Spain has grown much in the last two decades, but these groups are even more problematic than their Castilian antecedents. On good grounds historians of the Castilian alumbrados question the sincerity of belief of the Llerena and Seville groups as well as the exact nature of their ties to the Castilian group(s).29

The focus of this thesis will remain the alumbrados of early sixteenth century Castile up until the arrest of Francisca Hernández in 1529."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA by Javier A. Montoya

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/uf/e0/04/13/85/00001/montoya_j.pdf

"Self-love, Progress measured by abandoning

Senses, Application of"

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

"The Letter “G” in Freemasonry Signifies Gnosis

One of the most debatable Freemason symbols that you will find is the square and compass that is often depicted with the letter “G” in the center. It is this letter “G” that has garnished the most speculation from outsiders, and even initiated members of this Secret Brotherhood. In this article I would like to focus on what this letter actually symbolizes to help dispel the myths, and let you, the reader decide, if what I write is truth.

The most common explanations that you will find for what the letter “G” represents run the gambit from God, who would also be the Great Architect of the Universe or Geometry since as Pythagoras had said, all is number. In both operative and speculative Masonry the use of math and mathematical symbols has always been at the forefront in the teachings of the craft. Therefore, it would only be natural for people to assume that the G could possibly represent Geometry since it is one of the “most ancient and noblest of sciences.”

The letter “G” in Greek and also in the Semitic tongues is not seven but three. “G” is the third letter of the Hebrew (Phoenician) alphabet in which the builders of King Solomon’s temple, which is also the number three, is among other things they had used; three is the age of an Entered Apprentice. The number three degree (3rd) is the highest degree that you will find in the Blue Lodge, but in Scottish Rite Freemasonry, the honorary highest degree of the Supreme Council is the 33rd degree which is 3×3=9, which is the power of creation and the God of All or Truth.

In the bible, the number three is seen in Genesis 3 that describes “The Fall.”

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The Number 33 is a Master Number (Master Teacher), it is Christ consciousness. Jesus was crucified at Golgotha (place of Jupiter Ammonthe skull) at age 33 in the year 33 A.D. 33 is the number of The God Amon (AMEN) which is the numerical equivalent of AMEN: 1+13+5+14=33; Amen is the God of Truth and God corresponds to 1/3 (33.3%) as seen in Revelation 12, where the great red dragon is sweeping 1/3 (3.33) of the stars from heaven.

Hence, when you become an honorary 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason you will have been voted by your fellow Masons as a worthy related Brother who is both a Gnostic and understands the secrets of procreation, the universe, truth, love and immortality.

You will have been deemed by the Supreme Council to have what may be called a “Christ consciousness” or a “Reincarnated Buddha” Astral Body, where you may walk as both Jesus and Buddha had done by knowing THYSELF and also by using the knowledge you have gained for wisdom and reason in order to operate in the current moment of Truth.

This is what being a Gnostic is all about.

Therefore, the letter ‘G’ in Freemasonry signifies Gnosis, Generation and the Grand Architect. Gnosis (Greek for knowledge) in its simplest form is “knowledge of thyself” or the Great Arcanum, Daath (Da’ath – Hebrew for knowledge). Philo also refers to the “knowledge” (gnosis) and “wisdom” (sophia) of God. This fact we find in the biblical passage Proverbs 2.6; “The Lord gives wisdom (sophia), from his face come knowledge (gnosis) and understanding (sunesis).”

Generation (from the Latin generāre, meaning “to beget”), also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring. Hence, it is from the blood that Gnosis or knowledge is transmuted through the act of procreation that then passes the knowledge encrypted within our DNA to our offspring.

33rd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason, Albert Pike and Master Occultist, Eliphas Levi agree with the Masonic facts I have stated, that the letter ‘G’ in Freemasonry signifies Gnosis, Generation and the Grand Architect.

In the Mysteries of Magic by Eliphas Levi and interpreted by Arthur Edward Waite, it is written; “All these magical theorems, based on the unique dogma of Hermes, and on the analogical inductions of science, have been invariably confirmed by the visions of ecstatics and by the convulsions of cataleptics under the supposed possession of spirits. The G which Freemasons place in the centre of the Burning Star signifies Gnosis and Generation, the two sacred words of the ancient Kabbalah. It also signifies Grand Architect, for the Pentagram, from whatever side it may be looked at, always represents an A. (Also See Eliphas Levi, Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, vol. II, p. 97.)

Albert Pike had reconfirmed this fact by quoting Levi in his book, Liturgy of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry: IV to XIV; “In the centre of this Blazing Star Freemasons place the letter G. It signifies Gnosis and Generation, the two sacred words of the ancient Kabala; and also the Grand Architect; for the Pentagram, whichever way we view it, presents the letter A.”

It is written in the History of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons edited by Henry Leonard Stillson, William James Hughan;

“The G which Freemasons place in the center of the blazing star signifies GNOSIS and GENERATION, the two sacred words of the ancient Kabala. It also means the GRAND ARCHITECT, for the Pentagram, on whatever side we view it, represents an A. All the Mysteries of Magic, all the symbols of the Gnosis, all the figures of Occultism, all the Kabalistic keys of prophecy, are summed up in the sign of the Pentagram, which Paracelsus pronounces the greatest and most potent of all signs.(De la Haute Magic, Vol. II. pp. 55-62.)”

In An Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, Albert Gallatin Mackey claims that many middle age stone masons used Gnostic symbols and the letter G can be traced to a Gnostic source. Mackey writes:

“The architects and stone-masons of the Middle Ages borrowed manv of the principles of ornamentation, by which they decorated the ecclesiastical edifices which they constructed, from the abstruse symbols of the Gnostics.

So, too, we find Gnostic symbols in the Hermetic Philosophy and in the system of Rosicrucianism; and lastly, many of the symbols still used by Freemasonry — such, for instance, as the triangle within a circle, the letter G, and the pentacle of Solomon — have been traced to a Gnostic source.”

The Letter “G” in Freemasonry Signifies Gnosis | Gnostic Warrior By Moe Bedard

https://www.gnosticwarrior.com/

"[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

"Ahead of World Youth Day, the head of the Jesuits had a candid Q&A with six young pilgrims

On Monday, July 31, during MAGIS 2023, the Jesuits’ pre-World Youth Day program for people aged 18 to 35, Arturo Sosa, S.J., had a candid, live-streamed conversation with six young pilgrims. (Credit: MAGIS 2023)

Father Sosa invited everyone to “fix our eyes on him, so that his eyes may reflect to us the poor and humble Jesus who SEDUCED him to the point of MADNESS. St. Ignatius was a madman for Christ, as the monk of Montserrat called him.”"

Ahead of World Youth Day, the head of the Jesuits had a candid Q&A with six young pilgrims

Ricardo da Silva, S.J.

August 02, 2023

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/08/02/father-arturo-sosa-magis-world-youth-day-questions-245777

"Defining Locura: The Inquisitors’ Interpretive Problems Loosely translated the word loca means “crazy” or “MAD.” In general Spanish use, loca is the feminine form of the adjective locura, a noun that signifies “MADNESS”, “craziness” or “insanity”. Loca was likely used in the sixteenth century Castile, as it is today, when referring to a person who has lost reason or rationality.27 According to the 23rd edition of the Diccionario de la Lengua Española the word loca also signifies someone who is possessed of “poor or little judgment, [who is] foolish/ridiculous and imprudent”.28 Likewise, the Diccionario Crítico Etimológico Castellano e Hispánico similarly asserts “Loco is a word in general use throughout all literary periods of the Middle Ages”.29 The Diccionario Crítico notes that loco has also been taken to mean “insane” or “unhealthy” (insano).30 27 Sara T. Nalle, Mad for God: Bartolomé Sánchez, the secret Messiah of Cardenete. (Charlottesville, VA: The University of Virginia Press, 2001), 151. Thus, for the purposes of this thesis locura and its adjective loca are considered to imply loss of reason or judgment and, depending on the context, imprudent or foolish behavior i.e. “craziness” or “madness”."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/uf/e0/04/13/85/00001/montoya_j.pdf

"Though the term illuminati has been most closely associated with the 18th-century movement of republican free thought in Bavaria, the word has in fact been in use since the late 15th century to refer to various groups. One of the early illuminati groups was the Alumbrados (“Enlightened Ones”), whose movement began in Spain in the 16th century and had ideological roots in gnosticism. A very early leader was María de Santo Domingo, a prophet and mystic who claimed to converse directly with Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary and was tried under the auspices of the Inquisition. Many Alumbrados later fell victim to the Inquisition, and St. Ignatius of Loyola was charged with having sympathies with the Alumbrado movement. Another early group associated with the illuminati was the Rosicrucians, who came to public attention in the early 16th century but claimed to go back to 1422. Much of what is known about them comes from their earliest extant text, Fama Fraternitatis, first published in 1614, which describes the journey of their founder, Christian Rosencreutz."

https://www.britannica.com/question/What-are-the-origins-of-the-illuminati

"The Knight’s Templar was expelled from the Papacy in 1312 by Pope Clement V and Philip IV of France. The few Templars who escaped went to the powerful kingdom of Aragon and became known as the Order of the Calatrava, who would later align with the the Montessa. In 1534, a Spanish nobleman by the name of Ignatius Loyola would revive the Templars and call them the "Society of Jesus." Loyola was a Templar, and a member of a secret society called the "Alumbrados." The third Superior General and co-founder of the order was Francis Borgia. The Borgia bloodline is part of the notorious "Black Nobility" which dates back to the ancient Ptolemaic period in history."

Exposing the Jesuits and the Papacy: The Jesuits are the revived Knights Templar (jesuitinquisition.blogspot.com)

https://jesuitinquisition.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-jesuits-are-revived-knights-templar.html

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid0AmGdeZ8koSxTCqZbFVjubsSuXm8mGyMkDFqADU83nMBd63DnFfGTywJ9aQcxCEtBl

Artaxerxes I (/ˌɑːrtəˈzɜːrksiːz/, Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 Artaxšaçāʰ;[2][3] Greek: Ἀρταξέρξης)[4] was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC.[5][6] He was the third son of Xerxes I.

In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" (Ancient Greek: μακρόχειρ Makrókheir; Latin: Longimanus), allegedly because his right hand was longer than his left.[7]

Succession to the throne

Artaxerxes was probably born in the reign of his grandfather Darius I, to the emperor's son and heir, Xerxes I. In 465 BC, Xerxes I was murdered by Hazarapat ("commander of thousand") Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard and the most powerful official in the Persian court, with the help of a eunuch, Aspamitres.[8] Greek historians give contradicting accounts of events. According to Ctesias (in Persica 20), Artabanus then accused Crown Prince Darius, Xerxes's eldest son, of the murder, and persuaded Artaxerxes to avenge the patricide by killing Darius. But according to Aristotle (in Politics 5.1311b), Artabanus killed Darius first and then killed Xerxes. After Artaxerxes discovered the murder, he killed Artabanus and his sons.[9][10]

Egyptian revolt

The ancient Egyptian god Amun-Min in front of Artaxerxes' cartouche.

Artaxerxes had to face a revolt in Egypt in 460–454 BC led by Inaros II, who was the son of a Libyan prince named Psamtik, presumably descended from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. In 460 BC, Inaros II revolted against the Persians with the help of his Athenian allies, and defeated the Persian army commanded by satrap Achaemenes. The Persians retreated to Memphis, and the Athenians were finally defeated in 454 BC, by the Persian army led by Megabyzus, after a two-year siege. Inaros was captured and carried away to Susa.

Relations with Greece

After the Achaemenid Empire had been defeated at the Battle of the Eurymedon (c. 469 BC), military action between Greece and Persia was at a standstill. When Artaxerxes I took power, he introduced a new Persian strategy of weakening the Athenians by funding their enemies in Greece. This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of the Delian League from the island of Delos to the Athenian acropolis. This funding practice inevitably prompted renewed fighting in 450 BC, where the Greeks attacked at the Battle of Cyprus. After Cimon's failure to attain much in this expedition, hostilities ceased. Later sources argue that the purported Peace of Callias was agreed among Athens, Argos and Persia in 449 BC; however, the existence of a formal treaty between the Greek States and Persia is disputed.

Artaxerxes I offered asylum to Themistocles, who was probably his father Xerxes's greatest enemy for his victory at the Battle of Salamis, after Themistocles was ostracized from Athens. Also, Artaxerxes I gave him Magnesia, Myus, and Lampsacus to maintain him in bread, meat, and wine. In addition, Artaxerxes I gave him Skepsis to provide him with clothes, and he also gave him Percote with bedding for his house.[12] Themistocles would go on to learn and adopt Persian customs, Persian language, and traditions.[13][14]

Portrayal in the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah

A King Artaxerxes (Hebrew: אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתְּא, אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא, pronounced [artaχʃast(ǝ)], or אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתָּא pronounced [artaχʃasta]) is described in the Bible (Ezra 7) as having commissioned Ezra, a kohen and scribe, by means of a letter of decree to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation.

Ezra thereby left Babylon in the first month of the seventh year[15] of Artaxerxes' reign, at the head of a company of Jews that included priests and Levites. They arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month of the seventh year according to the Hebrew calendar. The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465–424 BC) or to Artaxerxes II (404–359 BC).[16][17] Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption:[18] Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their missions do not overlap", however, in Nehemiah 12, both are leading processions on the wall as part of the wall dedication ceremony. So, they clearly were contemporaries working together in Jerusalem at the time the wall and the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt in contrast to the previously stated viewpoint.[19] These difficulties have led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in the seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II, i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that the biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries.[18][20] However, Ezra appears for the first time in Nehemiah 8, having probably been at the court for twelve years.[21]

The rebuilding of the Jewish community in Jerusalem had begun under Cyrus the Great, who had permitted Jews held captive in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild Solomon's Temple. Consequently, a number of Jews returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, and the foundation of this "Second Temple" was laid in 536 BC, in the second year of their return (Ezra 3:8). After a period of strife, the temple was finally completed in the sixth year of Darius, 516 BC (Ezra 6:15).

In Artaxerxes' twentieth year, Nehemiah, the king's cup-bearer, apparently was also a friend of the king as in that year Artaxerxes inquired after Nehemiah's sadness. Nehemiah related to him the plight of the Jewish people and that the city of Jerusalem was undefended. The king sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem with letters of safe passage to the governors in Trans-Euphrates, and to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, to make beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the city walls.[22]

Interpretations of actions

Roger Williams, a 17th-century Christian minister and founder of Rhode Island, interpreted several passages in the Old and New Testament to support limiting government interference in religious matters. Williams published The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, arguing for a separation of church and state based on biblical reasoning. Williams believed that Israel was a unique covenant kingdom and not an appropriate model for New Testament Christians who believed that the Old Testament covenant had been fulfilled. Therefore, the more informative Old Testament examples of civil government were "good" non-covenant kings such as Artaxerxes, who tolerated the Jews and did not insist that they follow his state religion.[23]

Medical analysis

According to a paper published in 2011,[24] the discrepancy in Artaxerxes’ limb lengths may have arisen as a result of the inherited disease neurofibromatosis.

Children

Quadrilingual inscription of Artaxerxes on an Egyptian alabaster vase (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian and Egyptian).[25][26]

By queen Damaspia

Xerxes II

By Alogyne of Babylon

Sogdianus

By Cosmartidene of Babylon

Darius II

Arsites

By Andia of Babylon

Bogapaeus

Parysatis, wife of Darius II Ochus

By another(?) unknown wife

An unnamed daughter, wife of Hieramenes, mother of Autoboesaces and Mitraeus[27]

By various wives

Eleven other children

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artaxerxes_I

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years, it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080. The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare,[1] has influenced both East Asian and Western military theory and thinking, and has found a variety of applications in myriad competitive non-military endeavors across the modern world including espionage,[2] culture, politics, business, and sports.[3][4][5][6]

The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training throughout the world.

The book was translated into French and published in 1772 by the French priest Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot; it was re-published in 1782. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title The Book of War. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910.[7] Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen, Vietnamese general Võ Nguyên Giáp, is cited along with American military generals Douglas MacArthur and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. as having drawn inspiration from the book.[8]

Outside of military use, The Art of War has also become a source of inspiration in business, politics, sports and esports, and its usage has extended to film and television.

History

Text and commentaries

The Art of War is traditionally attributed to an ancient Chinese military general known as Sun Tzu (pinyin: Sūnzǐ), meaning 'Master Sun'. Sun Tzu is said to have lived in the 6th century BC, but the earliest parts of The Art of War probably date to at least 100 years later.[9]

Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, records an early Chinese tradition that a text on military matters was written by one "Sun Wu" (孫武) from the State of Qi, and that this text had been read and studied by King Helü of Wu (r. 514–495 BC).[10] This text was traditionally identified with the received Master Sun's Art of War. The conventional view was that Sun Wu was a military theorist from the end of the Spring and Autumn period (776–471 BC) who fled his home state of Qi to the southeastern Kingdom of Wu, where he is said to have impressed the king with his ability to quickly train even court women in military discipline and to have made Wu's armies powerful enough to challenge their western rivals in the state of Chu. This view is still widely held in China.[11]

The strategist, poet, and warlord Cao Cao in the early 3rd century AD authored the earliest known commentary to the Art of War.[10] Cao's preface makes clear that he edited the text and removed certain passages, but the extent of his changes were unclear historically.[10] The Art of War appears throughout the bibliographical catalogs of the Chinese dynastic histories, but listings of its divisions and size varied widely.[10]

Authorship

Fragments of The Art of War discovered as a part of the Yinqueshan Han Slips, showing the version of The Art of War that was popular in Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)

Beginning around the 12th century, Sun Tzu's historical existence began to be questioned by Chinese scholars, primarily on the grounds that he is not mentioned in the historical classic Zuo Zhuan, which mentions most of the notable figures from the Spring and Autumn period.[10] The name "Sun Wu" (孫武) does not appear in any text prior to the Records of the Grand Historian,[12] and has been suspected to be a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior", glossing the surname "Sun" as the related term "fugitive" (xùn 遜), while "Wu" (wǔ 武) is (1) the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" and (2) a Jianghuai dialectal synonym of 士; shì "knight",[13][14] which corresponds to Sunzi's role as the hero's doppelgänger in the story of Wu Zixu.[15] In the early 20th century, the Chinese writer and reformer Liang Qichao theorized that the text was actually written in the 4th century BC by Sun Tzu's purported descendant Sun Bin, as a number of historical sources mention a military treatise he wrote.[10] Unlike Sun Wu, Sun Bin appears to have been an actual person who was a genuine authority on military matters, and may have been the inspiration for the creation of the historical figure "Sun Tzu" through a form of euhemerism.[15]

In 1972, the Yinqueshan Han slips were discovered in two Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) tombs near the city of Linyi in Shandong.[16] Among the many bamboo slip writings contained in the tombs, which had been sealed between 134 and 118 BC, respectively were two separate texts, one attributed to "Sun Tzu", corresponding to the received text, and another attributed to Sun Bin, which explains and expands upon the earlier The Art of War by Sunzi.[17] The Sun Bin text's material overlaps with much of the "Sun Tzu" text, and the two may be "a single, continuously developing intellectual tradition united under the Sun name".[18] This discovery showed that much of the historical confusion was due to the fact that there were two texts that could have been referred to as "Master Sun's Art of War", not one.[17] The content of the earlier text is about one-third of the chapters of the modern The Art of War, and their text matches very closely.[16] It is now generally accepted that the earlier The Art of War was completed sometime between 500 and 430 BC.[17]

The 13 chapters

The Art of War is divided into 13 chapters (or piān); the collection is referred to as being one zhuàn ("whole" or alternatively "chronicle").

The Art of War chapter names and contents

Chapter Lionel Giles (1910)[19] R. L. Wing (1988) Ralph D. Sawyer (1996) Chow-Hou Wee (2003) Michael Nylan (2020) Contents

I Laying Plans The Calculations Initial Estimations Detail Assessment and Planning

(Chinese: 始計; pinyin: shîjì) First Calculations Explores the five fundamental factors (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management) and seven elements (which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the way or moral law, which side’s general is more capable, which side has superior in right time and right place, which side's laws and regulations can be enforced more strictly, which side has more resources, better equipment and stronger army, which side's officers and men are more well-trained and more capable of fighting, which side's rewards and punishments are more fair and clear) that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action. The text stresses that war is a very grave matter for the state and must not be commenced without due consideration.

II Waging War The Challenge Waging War Waging War

(Chinese: 作戰; pinyin: zuòzhàn) Initiating Battle Explains how to understand the economy of warfare and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict.

III Attack by Stratagem The Plan of Attack Planning Offensives Strategic Attack

(Chinese: 謀攻) Planning an Attack Defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the five factors that are needed to succeed in any war. In order of importance, these critical factors are: Attack, Strategy, Alliances, Army and Cities.

IV Tactical Dispositions Positioning Military Disposition Disposition of the Army

(Chinese: 軍形) Forms to Perceive Explains the importance of defending existing positions until a commander is capable of advancing from those positions in safety. It teaches commanders the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy.

V Use of Energy Directing Strategic Military Power Forces

(Chinese: 兵勢) The Disposition of Power Explains the use of creativity and timing in building an army's momentum.

VI Weak Points and Strong Illusion and Reality Vacuity and Substance Weaknesses and Strengths

(Chinese: 虛實) Weak and Strong Explains how an army's opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of the enemy and how to respond to changes in the fluid battlefield over a given area.

VII Maneuvering an Army Engaging The Force Military Combat Military Maneuvers

(Chinese: 軍爭) Contending Armies Explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon the commander.

VIII Variation of Tactics The Nine Variations Nine Changes Variations and Adaptability

(Chinese: 九變) Nine Contingencies Focuses on the need for flexibility in an army's responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully.

IX The Army on the March Moving The Force Maneuvering the Army Movement and Development of Troops

(Chinese: 行軍) Fielding the Army Describes the different situations in which an army finds itself as it moves through new enemy territories, and how to respond to these situations. Much of this section focuses on evaluating the intentions of others.

X Classification of Terrain Situational Positioning Configurations of Terrain Terrain

(Chinese: 地形) Conformations of the Lands Looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offers certain advantages and disadvantages.

XI The Nine Situations The Nine Situations Nine Terrains The Nine Battlegrounds

(Chinese: 九地) Nine Kinds of Ground Describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus that a commander will need in order to successfully navigate them.

XII Attack by Fire The Fiery Attack Incendiary Attacks Attacking with Fire

(Chinese: 火攻) Attacks with Fire Explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon. This section examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack and the appropriate responses to such attacks.

XIII Use of Spies The Use of Intelligence Employing Spies Intelligence and Espionage

(Chinese: 用間) Using Spies Focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, and specifies the five types of intelligence sources and how to best manage each of them.

Cultural influence

Military and intelligence applications

See also: Wen and wu

Across East Asia, The Art of War was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations.

During the Sengoku period (c. 1467–1568), the Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) is said to have become almost invincible in all battles without relying on guns, because he studied The Art of War.[20] The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard "Fūrinkazan" (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain), meaning fast as the wind, silent as a forest, ferocious as fire and immovable as a mountain.

The translator Samuel B. Griffith offers a chapter on "Sun Tzu and Mao Tse-Tung" where The Art of War is cited as influencing Mao's On Guerrilla Warfare, On the Protracted War and Strategic Problems of China's Revolutionary War, and includes Mao's quote: "We must not belittle the saying in the book of Sun Wu Tzu, the great military expert of ancient China, 'Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster.'"[20]

During the Vietnam War, some Viet Cong officers extensively studied The Art of War and reportedly could recite entire passages from memory. General Võ Nguyên Giáp successfully implemented tactics described in The Art of War during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ending major French involvement in Indochina and leading to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into North and South. General Giáp, later the main PVA military commander in the Vietnam War, was an avid student and practitioner of Sun Tzu's ideas.[21]

Outside East Asia

The United States' defeat in the Vietnam War, more than any other event, brought Sun Tzu to the attention of leaders of U.S. military theory.[21][22][23] The Department of the Army in the United States, through its Command and General Staff College, lists The Art of War as one example of a book that may be kept at a military unit's library.[24] The Art of War is listed on the US Marine Corps Professional Reading Program (formerly known as the Commandant's Reading List). It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel.[25] The Art of War is also used as instructional material at the United States Military Academy (commonly known as West Point), in the course Military Strategy (470).[26] It is also recommended reading for Officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Some notable military leaders have stated the following about Sun Tzu and The Art of War:

"I always kept a copy of The Art of War on my desk."[27] – General Douglas MacArthur, 5 Star General and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.

"I have read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. He continues to influence both soldiers & politicians."[28] – General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State.

According to some authors, the strategy of deception from The Art of War was studied and widely used by the KGB: "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness".[29]

Application outside the military

The Art of War has been applied to many fields outside of the military. Much of the text is about how to outsmart one's opponent without actually having to engage in physical battle. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat.

The Art of War is mentioned as an influence in the earliest known Chinese collection of stories about fraud (mostly in the realm of commerce), Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles (Du pian xin shu, 杜騙新書, c. 1617), which dates to the late Ming dynasty.[30]

Many business books have applied the lessons taken from the book to office politics and corporate business strategy.[31][32][33] Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives.[34] The book is also popular among Western business circles citing its utilitarian values regarding management practices. Many entrepreneurs and corporate executives have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. The book has also been applied to the field of education.[35]

The Art of War has been the subject of legal books[36] and legal articles on the trial process, including negotiation tactics and trial strategy.[37][38][39][40]

The book The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene employs philosophies covered in The Art of War.[41]

The Art of War has also been applied in sports. National Football League coach Bill Belichick, record holder of the most Super Bowl wins in history, has stated on multiple occasions his admiration for The Art of War.[42][43] Brazilian association football coach Luiz Felipe Scolari actively used The Art of War for Brazil's successful 2002 World Cup campaign. During the tournament Scolari put passages of The Art of War underneath his players' doors at night.[44][45]

The book Sun Tzu Soccer by Liam Shannon is a direct translation of The Art of War into soccer language and scenarios.[46]

Playing To Win by David Sirlin analyses applications of the ideas from The Art of War in modern esports.[47] The Art of War was released in 2014 as an e-book companion alongside the Art of War DLC for Europa Universalis IV, a PC strategy game by Paradox Development Studios, with a foreword by Thomas Johansson.

Film and television

The Art of War and Sun Tzu have been referenced and quoted in many movies and television shows, including in the 1987 movie Wall Street, in which Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) frequently references it.[48] The 20th James Bond film, Die Another Day (2002) also references The Art of War as the spiritual guide shared by Colonel Moon and his father.[49] In The Sopranos, season 3, episode 8 ("He Is Risen"), Dr. Melfi suggests to Tony Soprano that he read the book.[50]

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation first-season episode "The Last Outpost", first officer William Riker quotes The Art of War: "Fear is the true enemy, the only enemy". Captain Picard expressed pleasure that Sun Tzu was still taught at Starfleet Academy. Later in the episode, a survivor from a long-dead nonhuman empire noted common aspects between his own people's wisdom and The Art of War with regard to knowing when and when not to fight.[51]

The Art of War is a 2000 action spy film directed by Christian Duguay and starring Wesley Snipes, Michael Biehn, Anne Archer and Donald Sutherland.[52]

Notable translations

Sun Tzu on the Art of War. Translated by Lionel Giles. London: Luzac and Company. 1910.

The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1963. ISBN 978-0-19-501476-1. Part of the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Translated by Thomas Cleary. Boston: Shambhala Dragon Editions. 1988. ISBN 978-0877734529.

The Art of Warfare. Translated by Roger Ames. Random House. 1993. ISBN 978-0-345-36239-1.

The Art of War. Translated by John Minford. New York: Viking. 2002. ISBN 978-0-670-03156-6.

The Art of War: Sunzi's Military Methods. Translated by Victor H. Mair. New York: Columbia University Press. 2007. ISBN 978-0-231-13382-1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War

A famous Jesuit General Michael Angelo Tambourini once boasted, in 1720, to the Duke of Brissac: " See, My Grace [my Lord], from this room, I govern not only Paris, but China; not only China, but the whole world, without anyone knowing how it is managed."

"Andrew Steinmetz, History of the Jesuits, Vol. 1 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lea and Blanchard Publ.,/New York: Richard Bentley, 1848), pp.107, 168-169; see also, Constitution of the Jesuits, edited by Paris Paulin (1843); Eugene Sue (Marie Joseph), The Wandering Jew, (London: Chapman and Hall, 1844/ New York; Harper & Brothers,, 1845), Bk I, Chap. XV, P. 183; see also, p. 618, and Bk. II, p. 21; Abrige de I'Hist. Eccles. de Racine, Chap. xii. P. 77." page 129 Chapter XII "Unhesitating Obedience: The General And The Holy Office" Codeword Barbelon book One by P.D. Stuart

"Steinmetz was fourteen years a Jesuit; see also, Constitutions of the Jesuits, ed. by P. Paulin (1843); Morale Pratique Des Jesuites: Histoire De La Persecution De deux Saints, Vol. I (Cologne, 1669), pp. 50 and 51." "Epilogue-For Such A Time As This"

Pope Francis Lord of the World by P.D. Stuart

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot (Chinese: 錢德明; pinyin: Qián Démíng; February 8, 1718 – October 8, 1793) was a French Jesuit priest who worked in Qing China, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.

Born in Toulon, Amiot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at the age of 19. After he was ordained in 1746, he aspired to serve in an overseas mission. Eventually, he was assigned a mission in China and left France in 1749. He arrived at Beijing in 1751 and remained there for the rest of his life.

Amiot served as an intermediary between the academics of Europe and China. His correspondence provided insight on the culture of China to the Europeans. He translated Chinese works into French. Most notably, his translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War is the first rendition of the work into a Western language.

Early life

Amiot was born in Toulon on February 8, 1718 to Louis Amiot, the royal notary of Toulon, and Marie-Anne Serre.[1] He was the eldest of ten children: five boys and five girls.[2] His brother Pierre-Jules-Roch Amiot would go on to become the lieutenant-general of the admiralty of Toulon[3] and his sister, Marguerite-Claire was an Ursuline nun.[4] Amiot maintained contact with both.[5]

After finishing his studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit seminary in Toulon, Amiot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Avignon on September 27, 1737;[5] he remained a novice for two years.[5] Afterwards, he taught at the Jesuit colleges of Besançon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence and finally at Nîmes, where he was professor of rhetoric in the academic year of 1744–1745. He completed his theological studies at Dôle from 1745 to 1748[6] and was ordained as a priest on December 22, 1746.[6]

Arrival at China

Amiot requested Franz Retz, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus at that time, to serve in an overseas mission, and was eventually given a mission to China.[7] Earlier, in a letter to his brother, he had expressed his desire to serve in a delegation to this particular country.[8] He left France in 1749, accompanied by Chinese Jesuits Paul Liu and Stanislas Kang,[7] who had been sent to study in France and were returning to their home country. Kang died at sea, before the party could reach China.[9]

They arrived at Macau on July 27, 1750.[7] The Jesuits of Beijing announced Amiot's arrival, along with that of the Portuguese Jesuits José d'Espinha and Emmanuel de Mattos,[7][10] to Emperor Qianlong, who ordered that they be taken to the capital.[11] On March 28, 1751, they left Macau for Guangzhou and arrived there five days later.[12] They left Canton on June 2, and reached Beijing on August 22.[13]

After his arrival in Beijing, he was put in charge of the children's congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels. Alongside this, he studied the Chinese language.[11] He adopted the Chinese name Qian Deming (錢德明)[14] and wore Chinese clothing in order to adapt himself to the culture of China.[15] In 1754, Amiot made a young Chinese man by the name of Yang Ya-Ko-Pe his assistant[15] and instructed him in the European manner. Yang died in 1784, after working with Amiot for over thirty years.[11]

Suppression of the Jesuits

In 1762 the Parlement of Paris ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus and the confiscation of its property.[16] The society was abolished in France two years later, by the order of King Louis XV.[17] The Jesuit mission in China survived for a while after their suppression, being protected by the Qianlong Emperor himself.[18] The final blow, however, would be Pope Clement XIV's brief, Dominus ac Redemptor, issued on July 21, 1773, with which the Bishop of Rome officially ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus. The brief reached the French Jesuits in China on September 22, 1775[19] via a German Carmelite named Joseph de Sainte-Thérèse.[20] The Jesuits of Beijing surrendered to it, resigned from the Society of Jesus and became secular priests.[18][21] Wishing to keep the French mission alive, King Louis XVI sent them financial aid and appointed François Bourgeois as their administrator.[22][23] Amiot was named as Bourgeois' replacement in the event of his absence.[24]

Subsequently, Amiot turned his attention to writing. He maintained contact with Henri Bertin, the foreign minister of France. His correspondences were published from 1776 to 1791 in the Mémoires concernant l’histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mœurs et les usages des Chinois.[25] He also corresponded with other European Academies, including brief contacts with the Imperial Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society.[26]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Joseph_Marie_Amiot

In 1748 the Rite de Veilla Bru, or Faithful Scotsman, was established at Toulouse with nine degrees, the first three Symbolic, followed by the Secret Master, four Elu degrees, and the Ninth degree ' Scientific Masonry.^" " In 1750 and 1751, a Lodge styled ' St. Jean de Ecossais ' was established at Marseilles, which afterwards assumed the style of ' Scottish Mother Lodge of France.' Its regime finally consisted of Eighteen degrees, of which the Scottish Mother Lodge of France at Paris afterwards borrowed Eight."

" In 1752 a power of the High degrees was established under the pompous title of * Sovereign Council, Sublime Scotch Mother Lodge of the Grand French Globe.' It afterwards called itself* Sovereign Council, Sublime Mother Lodge of the Excellents of the Grand French Globe.' The ' Council of the Emperors of the East and West ' assumed that title also on the 22d January, 1780. — Ragon."

"In 1754, The Chevalier de Bonneville established a chapter of the High degrees at Paris, styled the ' Chapter of Clermont.' In it the Templar system was revived, and the Baron de Hund received the High degrees, there and thence derived the principles and doctrines of his ' Order of Strict Observance ' —Thory and Leveque—Ragon says, The regime of the Chapter of Clermont at first comprised only three degrees, viz., the three Symbolic, followed by the Knight of the Eagle or Master Elect, Illustrious Knight or Templar, and Illustrious Sublime Knight—but that they soon became more numerous."

" In the same year Martinez Pascalis established his rite of ' Elus C'dens ' with nine degrees. He did not carry it to Paris until 1767, where Martinism in ten degrees grew out of it." — Clavel.

" In 1757 M. de St. Gelaire introduced at Paris the ' Order of Noachites.' ^'

page 50

THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH KITE, IN THIRTY-THREE DEGREES. KNOWN HITHERTO UNDER THE NAMES OF THE " RITE OF PEEPECTION" ^THE " EITE OF HEEEDOM" THE " ANCIENT SCOTTISH rite"—THE " RITE OF KILWINNING" AND LAST, AS THE " SCOTTISH RITE, ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED." A FULL AND COMPLETE HISTORY, WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING NUMEROUS AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS, RELATING TO THE ORIGIN, PKO- OB£SS AND ESTABLISHMENT OP THE EITE—EDICTS, CIRCULARS, PATENTS, REGISTERS, AND THE OPINIONS OF NUMEROUS AUTHORS — ILLUSTRATED WITH "TABLETS," / BY ROBERT B. FOLGER, M. D., Past Master, 33d., iJi-SECRETARY GENERAL, &0. SECOND EDITION. ,c ^ j ;^ NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/The_ancient_and_accepted_Scottish_rite%2C_in_thirty-three_degrees_%28IA_ancientaccepted00folg%29.pdf

PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]

§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us FREE:

FREE, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

FREE, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

FREE, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

n 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)"

https://web.archive.org/.../scottish-rite-history.html

The Collège de Clermont was one of the earliest schools established by the Jesuits, who were incredibly influential in shaping education in Europe. The Jesuits were a rigid and hierarchical Catholic sect that followed the teachings of Ignatius Loyola.

https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/exhibits/show/development-of-education-in-ea/item/249#:~:text=The%20Coll%C3%A8ge%20de%20Clermont%20was,the%20teachings%20of%20Ignatius%20Loyola.

Note 370.—"Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The 32nd degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite, and for many years, or until the institution of the 33d degree, this was the highest degree, or ne plus ultra of Masonry. The body is styled a Consistory, and should be held in a building of two stories. The officers are, a Thrice Illustrious Commander, First and Second Lieutenants, a Minister of State, a Grand Chancellor, a Grand Treasurer, a Grand Secretary, and a Grand Captain of the Guard. In the East a throne, elevated on seven steps, which is the seat of the Thrice Illustrious Commander, who wears a robe of royal purple, and he and the Lieutenants, wear swords. The collar of this degree is black, lined with scarlet, and in the center, at the point, a double-headed eagle, of silver or gold, on a red Teutonic cross. The apron is of white satin, with a border of gold lace, one inch wide, lined with scarlet; on the flap is a double-headed eagle, on each side of which is the flag of the country in which the body is located, the flag of Prussia and the Beause- -ant of the Kadosh degree; on the apron is the camp of the Crusaders, , which is thus explained; it is composed of an enneagon, within which is ' inscribed a heptagon, within that a pentagon, and in the center an equilateral triangle, within which is a circle. Between the heptagon and pentagon are placed five standards, in the designs of whigjl are five letters, which form a particular word. The first standard is purple, on which is emblazoned the ark of the covenant, with a palm, tree on each side; the ark has the motto Laus Deo. The second is blue, on which is a lion, of gold, couchant, holding in his mouth a golden key, with a collar of the same metal on his neck, and on it is the device, Ad majorem Dei gloriam. The third is white, and displays a heart in flames, with two wings; it is surmounted by a crown of laurels. The fourth is green, and bears a double-headed black eagle, crowned, holding a sword in his right claw, and a bleeding heart in his left. The fifth bears a black ox. on a field of gold. On the sides of the enneagon are nine tents, with flags, representing the divisions of the Masonic army; on the angles are nine pinions, of the same color as the flag of the tent that precedes it. The hall of the Consistory is hung with black, strewed with tears of silver. The jewel is a double-headed white and black eagle, resting on a Teutonic cross, of gold, worn attached to the collar or ribbon. ^The members are called Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. The moral of the degree teaches opposition to bigotry, superstition, and all the passions and vices which disgrace human nature."—Macoy's Encyclopaedia and Pictionary of Freemasonry, Article Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the SUCCESSORS OF PETER[32]

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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Vatican confirms ban on Catholics becoming Freemasons

By Reuters

November 15, 20235:16 PM PSTUpdated 10 months ago

The department, known as the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, issued its opinion, dated Nov. 13 and countersigned by Pope Francis, in response to a bishop from the Philippines alarmed by the growing number of Freemasons in his country.

The same office said last week that transgender people can be baptized, serve as godparents and act as witnesses at Catholic weddings.

The letter on Freemasons cited a 1983 declaration, signed by the late Pope Benedict XVI, at the time the Vatican's doctrine chief, stating that Catholics "in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion".

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/vatican-confirms-ban-catholics-becoming-freemasons-2023-11-15/

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who serves as the 31st and present superior general of the Society of Jesus. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation on 14 October 2016, succeeding Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

Early life and education

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on 12 November 1948,[1] the son of Arturo Sosa, Sr. a prestigious businessman who served twice as finance minister in 1958 and 1982.[2] He entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.[1] He earned a licentiate in philosophy from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in 1972, and a doctorate in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1990.[3][4]

Priestly ministry

Sosa has held a number of positions in various universities. He was a professor and member of the Council of the foundation for the Andrés Bello Catholic University, and rector of the Catholic University of Tachira, both Jesuit universities.[4] He was also the Chair of Contemporary Political Theory and the Department of Social Change at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Venezuela.[4] He published a number of works, mainly about the history and politics of Venezuela. He was also coordinator of the social apostolate and director of Centro Gumilla in Venezuela, a centre of research and social action for the Jesuits in Venezuela,[4] as well as editor-in-chief of Revista SIC magazine for Catholic social ethics and politics from 1976 to 1996.[5] In 2004, he was professor of Venezuelan political thinking at the Catholic University of Tachira and was invited to Georgetown University Center for Latin American Studies as a visiting professor to give a lecture.[6]

Between 1996 and 2004, Sosa was Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Venezuela.[4] During the 35th General Congregation in 2008, he was appointed Counselor General by then-Superior General Adolfo Nicolás.[4] In 2014, he joined the General Curia of the Society of Jesus in Rome as Delegate for Interprovincial Roman Houses of the Society of Jesus in Rome, which include institutions such as the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the Vatican Observatory, and La Civiltà Cattolica.[4][7]

Sosa speaks Spanish, Italian and English, and understands French.[4]

Superior General of the Society of Jesus

On 14 October 2016, during the thirty-sixth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, the assembly elected Sosa as the Order's thirty-first Superior General to succeed Adolfo Nicolás.[6] He became the first Latin American to head the Jesuits.[8] In his first address as Superior General, he said that Jesuits should look for "alternatives to overcome poverty, inequality and oppression" and also to collaborate with others "inside and outside the Church".[9]

In 2017, in a visit to the Jesuit mission in Cambodia, Sosa met with a group of Buddhist monks in the Buddhist-majority country.[10] In 2018, commenting on the Fifteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Sosa spoke of secularization, saying "What if we try, instead, to look at secularization as a sign of the times, in the theological sense that the Second Vatican Council gave to this expression? It means looking at secularization, and the secular world that arises from it, as one of the ways the Spirit is speaking to us and guiding us in this time."[11]

In February 2019, after guiding Jesuits and their lay collaborators through two years of discernment, Sosa announced four priorities that would guide the Society's decisions for the next decade. These were: teaching discernment through use of the Spiritual Exercises, walking with the poor in their quest for dignity and justice, accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future, and collaborating in the care of our Common Home. Pope Francis declared these priorities to be very much in line with those of his pontificate.[12]

Criticism

The Catholic Herald criticised Sosa for being one of over 1,000 signatories of a 1989 letter welcoming Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to Venezuela in 1989, Castro having repressed the Catholic Church in Cuba during his time in power.[13] George Neumayr of the conservative American Spectator described Sosa as a "Marxist", "a Venezuelan communist, and modernist".[14]

In February 2017, in response to Cardinal Müller's argument that permitting the reception of Communion by the remarried contradicts Jesus's words in the Bible that marriage is indissoluble and Müller's insistence that those words are unchangeable, Sosa argued for a "reflection on what Jesus really said", and described the Gospel as "relative", being "written by human beings" and "accepted by [...] human beings". Sosa also argued that the doctrine of the Church is in "continuous development", and "never in white and black".[15] Sosa's remarks drew criticism in the Italian media.[16]

The English priest and consulting editor of The Catholic Herald Alexander Lucie-Smith disagreed with Sosa, arguing that the Church's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage has been historically consistent, and that there was no precedent set in the Bible to interpret these words otherwise.[17] Theologian Chad Pecknold criticised Sosa's views as "reflect[ing] a profound skepticism about Holy Scripture", countering that although a variety of interpretations are allowed, they must "fit with the established doctrine of the Church and do not contradict the deposit of the Faith". Contradicting Sosa's own claim that his views were "not relativism",[15] Pecknold characterised Sosa's remarks as "historicist relativizing".[18]

Catholic author Vittorio Messori accused Sosa of "'liquefying' the Gospel itself" by suggesting that the Gospel should be adapted according to the times on the basis that Jesus's words were not recorded verbatim or "on tape".[19]

In June 2017, in an interview with El Mundo, Sosa said, "We have formed symbolic figures such as the devil to express evil. Social conditioning can also represent this figure, since there are people who act [in an evil way] because they are in an environment where it is difficult to act to the contrary". This was criticised as contradicting the Catechism of the Catholic Church which teaches that the Devil is a real creature.[20] A spokesman for Sosa later argued that Sosa was not denying church teaching, saying, "to say the devil symbolizes evil is not to deny the existence of the devil."[21] On 21 August 2019, Sosa declared in an interview that the Devil "exists as the personification of evil in different structures, but not in persons, because [he] is not a person, [he] is a way of acting evil. He is not a person like a human person. It is a way of evil to be present in human life. [...] Good and evil are in a permanent war in the human conscience and we have ways to point them out. We recognize God as good, fully good. Symbols are part of reality, and the devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality." The Catholic World Report criticized these declarations, saying they were contrary to the catechism, and reminded of the controversy of the June 2017 statement of Sosa concerning the Devil.[22]

In October 2018, in an interview with Eternal Word Television Network, Sosa argued that "the pope is not the chief of the Church, he's the Bishop of Rome". This was opposed by Chad Pecknold, Associate Professor of Theology at the Catholic University of America, who argued that it would be wrong to believe that Pope was "merely 'first among equals' ", and insisted that the pope has "supreme authority" over all bishops and the faithful.[23]

Publications

Sosa has authored about a dozen books on politics and on the history of Venezuela, including:

Arturo Sosa, La filosofía política del gomecismo: Estudio del pensamiento by Laureano Vallenilla Lanz, Barquisimeto, Centro Gumilla,1974, 130 p. (ISBN 8439920830)

Arturo Sosa and Eloi Lengrand, Del garibaldismo student to the izquierda criolla: Los orígenes marxistas del proyecto de AD (1928-1935), Caracas, Centauro, 1981, 517 ppp. (OCLC 30449576)

Arturo Sosa, Ensayos sobre el pensamiento político positivista venezolano, Caracas, Centauro,1985, 269 pp. (ISBN 9802630217)

Arturo Sosa, Rómulo Betancourt y el Partido del Pueblo, 1937-1941, Caracas, Fundación Rómulo Betancourt, coll. "Vigente Tiempo" (No. 9) 1995, 617 pp. (ISBN 9806191293)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”

That is the law of God as laid down in the beginning; that if a man shall shed blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Why? Because the blood is the life of the flesh, and is the only atonement a man can make for killing another. A murderer, by the shedding of his blood, may make some atonement for his sin; but he cannot come forth and inherit an exaltation in eternal life, he must be content with a less degree of glory. Still, as Brother Brigham taught, there is a chance for some men who have committed this great transgression if their blood be shed, and there are others who, even if they were willing to have their blood shed, could not obtain forgiveness for their transgressions. You can read about this in the revelation on celestial marriage. (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. cxxxii,par. 26-7.) They are those who have not only been baptized into the Church of Christ, received the power of the Holy Spirit and been enlightened from on high, but have been in the most sacred places on the earth, ordained of God by His holy law, and have made special covenants in relation to that and other sins; they have been specially enlightened ; they have gone from step to step, from grace to grace, from knowledge to knowledge, and have had keys of power placed in their hands whereby, if they are faithful, they may climb to the highest pinnacle of honor and glory in the presence of our Heavenly Father, and then they turn round and commit this great transgression, the shedding of innocent blood. For them there is no forgiveness. They will be banished from the presence of God; they cannot inherit the glory which was sealed upon them, however repentant they may be; they cannot come up in the first resurrection and enter into their exaltation; but they must be cast out from the presence of God and have the everlasting penalty pronounced,

“Depart from me ye workers of iniquity.”

They will be banished from the presence of God,, which is spiritual destruction, that spiritual death which is called the “second death.”

But, there are other persons who by making thisitonement may obtain redemption—persons that have not advanced to this degree of knowledge in understanding, and whose sins are not of so* heinous a nature. Because sin is guaged by the light of the individual. The depth of man’s infamy is guaged by the degree of his light and is opportunity. He that knows much is expected to do much. Of him that knows but little, only little is expected. If a man has great light and he sins he is the greater sinner. I have heard people argue that all sin is the result of ignorance. Well, it is just the other way. Sin is rather the result of knowledge ; because a man cannot sin without some light. An idiot cannot sin, because he is responsible. It takes a responsible being to do responsible wrong. The more responsible a man is, the greater wrong he does if he commits transgression.

The greater a man’s light is, the greater is sin. The greater the light, the greater the condemnation for doing wrong. That is based upon the eternal principle of justice. From this, then, it would seem that if a man commits a sin unto death there is no redemption : if not unto death, and he pays the penalty, there is for him a chance of salvation.

This divine law for shedding the blood of a murderer has never been repealed. It is a law given by the Almighty and not abrogated in the Christian faith. It stands on record for all time that a murderer shall have his blood shed. He that commits murder must be slain. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” I know there are some benevolent and I philanthropic people in these times who think that capital punishment ought to be abolished.

Yet I think the Lord knows better than they. Their law He has ordained will have the best results to mankind in general.

Well, is there any other sin that a man may commit which is worthy of death? I think there is. I will refer you to one in the Book of Leviticus, 20th chapter and 10th verse:

“And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and; the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

That was the law of God in the days of Moses. It was the law of God previous to the days of Moses, as you will find by reference to the Book of 1 Genesis. It has been a law of God from the beginning. Some people have an idea that Jesus.

Christ did away with that law, and they bring up the case of the woman that had been taken in transgression. The object of the Pharisees in bringing the woman to the Savior was that they might catch Him in some way. You will find by a reading the history of Jesus Christ’s ministry on the earth that it was then as it is to-day—snares are all the time being laid to catch the servants of God. They tried to entrap Him in many ways but He was able to meet them with the wisdom of the Great God ; for the Spirit of God was given to Him without measure. The woman they brought to Him was taken in this great transgression. The Pharisees knew the law -of Moses was that she should be put to death. They inquired what Jesus had to say. He stooped down and thought a little while, then wrote with His finger on the ground and exclaimed, “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone !

”The Pharisees looked at each other and finally they slipped away. Why ? Because that was “an evil and adulterous generation.’’

Those self-righteous hypocrites were guilty of the transgression themselves, and the person to inflict the penalty justly, had to be one who was not guilty; for how could one such sinner rightly inflict the penalty upon another? Jesus Christ’s words smote them to the heart, and they slunk off and left the woman standing there. Did the sinner go free? Did Jesus say the law ought not to be inflicted? No. He asked: “Woman, where are thine accusers ?” They were gone. “Neither do I accuse thee.” It must be remembered that there must be accusers as well as judges. Jesus set a pattern which judges in these times would do well to follow. He did not act as an attorney for the prosecution or as a witness against the accused as well as a judge to pronounce the sentence. “Woman, where are those thine accusers ? * * *

Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” pages 26-27

Blood atonement, as taught by leading elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints : an address delivered in the Twelfth Ward assembly hall, Salt Lake City, October 12, 1884 (archive.org)

"The friendliness of the Mormons towards Catholics is attributed to their appreciation that their settlement in the great Salt Lake Valley is due to having been directed to it by Fr. Pierre Jean de Smet, the great Jesuit missionary and explorer, who met and was entertained by Brigham Young in Council Bluffs, while the Mormons were on their trek West. Writing to his nephew, Fr. de Smet said: "They asked me a thousand questions about the regions I had explored, and the valley I have just described to you, pleased them greatly from the account I gave of it. Was that what determined them to settle there? I would not dare affirm it. They are there!"

https://web.archive.org/web/20151020074727/http://www.catholictradition.org:80/Tradition/goldstein70.htm

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls. [11]

L. D. S. "

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"[593] 8. 1For the same reason, and to avoid occasions of unrest foreign to our profession, and also the better to preserve the peace and benevolent relations with all unto the greater glory of God, 2no professed or coadjutor or scholastic of the Society will consent to be interrogated in criminal trials or even in civil trials [E] (unless he is compelled to do so by someone who can oblige him under sin), without permission of the superior. 3The superior will not give the permission except in the trials which touch upon the Catholic religion, or in other pious cases which are favorable to one party in such a way that they do not do damage to another. [27] 4For it is proper to our Institute to serve all in our Lord without offense to anyone, as far as this is possible."

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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The Mountain Meadows Massacre (September 7–11, 1857) was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train.[1][a] The massacre occurred in the southern Utah Territory at Mountain Meadows, and was perpetrated by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) involved with the Utah Territorial Militia (officially called the Nauvoo Legion) who recruited and were aided by some Southern Paiute Native Americans.[2] The wagon train, made up mostly of families from Arkansas, was bound for California, traveling on the Old Spanish Trail that passed through the Territory.

After arriving in Salt Lake City, the Baker–Fancher party made their way south along the Mormon Road, eventually stopping to rest at Mountain Meadows. As the party was traveling west there were rumors about the party's behavior towards Mormon settlers and war hysteria towards outsiders was rampant as a result of a military expedition dispatched by President Buchanan, and Territorial Governor Brigham Young's declaration of martial law in response.[3][4][5] While the emigrants were camped at the meadow, local militia leaders, including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, made plans to attack the wagon train. The leaders of the militia, wanting to give the impression of tribal hostilities, persuaded Southern Paiutes to join with a larger party of militiamen disguised as Native Americans in an attack. During the militia's first assault on the wagon train, the emigrants fought back, and a five-day siege ensued. Eventually, fear spread among the militia's leaders that some emigrants had caught sight of the white men, likely discerning the actual identity of a majority of the attackers. As a result, militia commander William H. Dame ordered his forces to kill the emigrants. By this time, the emigrants were running low on water and provisions, and allowed some members of the militia – who approached under a white flag – to enter their camp. The militia members assured the emigrants they were protected, and after handing over their weapons, the emigrants were escorted away from their defensive position. After walking a distance from the camp, the militiamen, with the help of auxiliary forces hiding nearby, attacked the emigrants. The perpetrators killed all the adults and older children in the group, in the end sparing only seventeen young children under the age of seven.[a]

Following the massacre, the perpetrators buried some of the remains but ultimately left most of the bodies exposed to wild animals and the climate. Local families took in the surviving children, with many of the victims' possessions and remaining livestock being auctioned off. Investigations, which were interrupted by the American Civil War, resulted in nine indictments in 1874. Of the men who were indicted, only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law. After two trials in the Utah Territory, Lee was convicted by a jury, sentenced to death, and executed by firing squad on March 23, 1877.

Historians attribute the massacre to a combination of factors, including war hysteria about a possible invasion of Mormon territory and Mormon teachings against outsiders, which were part of the Mormon Reformation period. Scholars debate whether senior leadership in Mormonism, including Brigham Young, directly instigated the massacre or if responsibility for it lay only with the local leaders in southern Utah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre

Mormon President and Pope Francis meet for the first time, after decades of hidden diplomacy

The two leaders met for 33 minutes at the Vatican and exchanged gifts, the day before Russell M. Nelson was due to dedicate the first Mormon temple in Rome

Michelle Boorstein Sunday 10 March 2019 20:38 GMT

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-mormon-leader-meeting-rome-vatican-lds-church-latterday-saints-a8816421.html

5 children among 8 dead in Utah murder-suicide after wife sought divorce, officials say

Updated on: January 5, 2023 / 5:26 PM EST / CBS/AP

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/enoch-utah-eight-family-members-five-kids-shot-dead-at-home/

How the Murder of a Utah Family Sparked Another Online Battle Over Mormonism

“So many men knew about this … I’m so f—ing furious.”

By Haley Swenson

Jan 20, 2023 5:21 PM

https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/01/michael-haight-murders-mormon-obituary-gofundme.html

page 221

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"The choice made by General Congregation 32 concerning the mission of the Society in today s world as the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement, must give new vigor to our formation, so that it may respond to the requirements of evangelization in a world that is often infected by atheism and injustices,[5] and may equip our members for entering into dialogue with people and meeting the cultural problems of our times.[6]" The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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"§2. This solidarity with the body of the Society ought to take precedence over any other loyalties (those binding a man to any type of institution, within or outside the Society). I t ought to mark any other commitment, transforming it thereby into a mission. For a mission as such is bestowed by the Society through the superior and is always subject to its review. The Society can confirm or modify it as the greater service of God may require.[40]"

The CONstitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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"Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a ROMAN work of the entire Society, 304 §2"

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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Meals: a signal for them should be sounded in the colleges [436]; what should be said regarding grace, thanksgiving, and maintaining temperance and modesty [251]; the extent to which externs can be invited to them, 327 §3

Means of social communication: see Social communication (media)

Media: see Social communication (media)

Medicine: whether it can be taught by Ours [452]; the extent to which medicine should be used [304]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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Overview

Food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, is a sickness people get from something they ate or drank. The causes are germs or other harmful things in the food or beverage.

Symptoms of food poisoning often include upset stomach, diarrhea and vomiting. Symptoms usually start within hours or several days of eating the food. Most people have mild illness and get better without treatment.

Sometimes food poisoning causes severe illness or complications.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes/syc-20356230

The Vatican Pharmacy (Latin and Italian: Farmacia Vaticana) is the only pharmacy in the Vatican City, founded in 1874 by Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli religious.[1] According to Vatican sources, it is the busiest pharmacy in the world, with 2,000 customers per day.[1] Half of those customers come from outside the Vatican for medicines that are not available in Italy or are difficult to find.[2]

The current director of the pharmacy is Binish Thomas Mulackal, a Fatebenefratelli monk.[1] Although the director of the pharmacy has always been a monk of that order, the staff pharmacists have been lay people for the past 30 years (7 religious and 53 laypeople in 2014).[3] The pharmacy is organized under the Directorate of Health Services, one of eight Vatican City directorates.[4]

Due to deeply relaxed or lack of regulations (self-regulation), the Vatican Pharmacy has one of the largest and most extensive stocks in Europe, carrying many American medicines considered experimental in Europe and vice versa. The pharmacy does not stock sexual health-related products nor Chinese traditional medicine.[1] It is popular among the citizens of Rome as it has more stock and prices up to 25% cheaper due to lack of taxes.

History

The pharmacy was founded in 1874, at the height of the "Roman Question", when Cardinal Secretary of State Giacomo Antonelli asked Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli monk, who ran a nearby pharmacy, to take charge of supplying medicines for the pope and cardinals residing in the Vatican.[1] Popes had been confined to the Vatican since an 1870 dispute with the Italian government, when Rome was annexed into the Kingdom of Italy.[1]

The pharmacy remained only a storeroom until 1892, when a permanent office was established to offer healthcare services to the pope, cardinals, and bishops of the Vatican.[1] In 1917, the pharmacy was moved to St. Anne's Gate, closer to the main entrance of the Vatican.[1] At the time, the Vatican pharmacy was immensely popular for offering medicines which were otherwise unobtainable within Rome.[1] Even today, due to the complicated bureaucratic drug approval process of the Italian government, the pharmacy often has medicines months to years before Italian pharmacies.[1]

After the Lateran treaties of 1929, the pharmacy was moved to its current location in Palazzo Belvedere, behind the Vatican central post office and across from the Vatican supermarket.[1] Unlike Italian pharmacies, the Vatican Pharmacy will fill foreign prescriptions.[5]

Eligibility

Non-Vatican employees must obtain a temporary pass from a special registry office, and have a prescription and ID to use the pharmacy.[1] The 10,000 members of the Vatican's private health care plan possess a permanent pass to use the pharmacy.[1]

As Vatican City has no taxes, the pharmacy is duty-free.[1]

Stock

The pharmacy carries 42,000 products,[2] but it does not carry products which are contrary to Catholic social teaching, such as contraceptives or abortifacients.[1] Nor does the pharmacy carry sildenafil (Viagra)[6] or medical marijuana.[7] However, the pharmacy does carry "top-brand beauty-care products" and perfume.[1] Its prices for many items are between 12 and 25 percent lower than the prices of the same products in nearby Italian drug stores.[1] The pharmacy also produces some of the ointments and potions it sells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Pharmacy

Magisterium of the Church: its norms are to be observed in the doctrine that is to be taught by Ours, 100; due reverence should be shown to it, 101; what is to be said if a given professor in his teaching departs from doctrine that is in accord with it, 104; we must collaborate with it in order to discern the movements of the Spirit in the sense of the faithful, 295

Magistrates: see Important persons, princes

Magnanimity: it should shine forth in the superior general [728]; in all superiors, 349 §2; and in novices, 51, 52 Magnates: see Important persons, princes

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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Word of the Week

September 23, 2023

Pharmakeia: It’s Magic!

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery . . . .

Galatians 5:19-20 NASB

“I’m talking to someone who says it’s OK to practice witchcraft, even though the Old Testament condemned it, because things have changed. Contemporary practices are not the same as the practices outlawed in the laws of Israel.“ My friend raised this issue recently, gathering information to answer this position.

The Old Testament unmistakably outlawed witchcraft in any form. Manipulating spirit forces to unlock the future or to produce good crops was a blatant slap in God’s face, ignoring Him and turning to alternate deities. It was so serious that the Law prescribed death as the penalty for it (Exodus 22:18).

The occult is too broad a topic to handle in one article, but we can contribute one small slice of truth by examining one of the primary Greek words for such practices.

In reality, we will look at a small cluster of words built on the same base:

Pharmakeia – “sorcery, magic”

Pharmakon – “magic potion, drug, enchantment”

Pharmakos – “sorcerer, magician”

It is no surprise that these words, which form the base of our English “pharmacy,” originally described someone who mixed herbs and other substances to make potions for medical purposes. Anyone who can mix a drink to cure your asthma can easily concoct a dose of poison, so the word took on that meaning as well.

Ancient medicine was often tangled with spirit practices, and practitioners of sorcery would also use potions to attract the gods with a pleasing smell, to satisfy the demands of the spirits, or to put a person in a stupor that would make them receptive to spiritual influences.

New Testament references to pharmakeia all refer to sorcery or witchcraft, not mere medicine. Every mention of the words condemns the practice.

It appears in a list of the “works of the flesh” which are incompatible with the kingdom of God.

“. . . idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy . . . (Galatians 5:20)

The book of Revelation spotlights the sin of sorcery several times.

“And they [the people of earth] did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality or of their thefts” (Revelation 9:21).

Regarding end-time Babylon: “. . . all the nations were deceived by your sorcery” (Revelation 18:23).

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable . . . and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

“Outside [of the New Jerusalem] are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying” (Revelation 22:15).

Dabbling in magic with or without drugs is rejected in the New Testament just as strongly as in the Old. Pharmakeia and the other words in this group appear in several of the references to witchcraft in the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7, 18; Isaiah 47:9, 12). God made His position clear in the Old Testament; He had not changed His mind in the New.

Modern enthusiasts sometimes claim that they engage only in “white magic,” used to help people, not harm them. But that misses the point. Anything that seeks help from an alternate spiritual realm, rather than from God Himself, is a violation of the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

Study Hint:

To study this topic further, you can look up these additional Greek words:

Mageuō – to practice magic

Magos – magician, Magi

Goēs – sorcerer

Baskainō – to bewitch, cast a spell with the evil eye (Galatians 3:1)

Q/A:

Q – What do we know about the spirit that enabled a slave girl to tell fortunes in Acts 16:16?

A – Paul had arrived in Philippi with his companion Silas. As they were walking along, a slave girls followed them, shouting that they represented the most high God. Paul recognized that a demonic spirit was behind her behavior, so he cast out the demon. It is identified as a “spirit of divination,” but the Greek literally says “a spirit puthōna” or Python spirit. According to Greek mythology, a huge serpent named Python was guarding the sacred site at Delphi. The god Apollo slew the serpent, and Delphi became the site where people would go to receive messages from the gods. The word was later used to describe a spirit in the belly which enabled priestesses to pass on the supernatural messages. The slave girl evidently possessed similar powers.

Coming Up

Jesus once announced that He was gentle, and He has often been portrayed as a mild-mannered softy. Next week we will examine the word He used to describe Himself to get a more accurate appraisal of His character.

https://ezraproject.com/pharmakeia-its-magic/

§2. We must cooperate with the media, so that the Church s true face can appear and the Gospel can be inculturated in this new mass culture as well. Though we remain always loyal to the truth, our Ignatian sense of sentire cum ecclesia will lead us to present what is praiseworthy in the Church.[140]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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What Would the Pope and Mark Zuckerberg Even Talk About?

The bishop of Rome and the CEO of Facebook met at the Vatican on Monday.

By Emma Green

Pope Francis hosted a special guest at the Vatican on Monday: Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, spoke with Francis about “how to use communications technology to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter, and to communicate a message of hope, especially to the most disadvantaged,” according to the Vatican.

It’s difficult to imagine two more different world leaders hanging out together. Zuckerberg was raised in a Jewish home, identifies as an atheist, and professes a profound respect for Buddhism. His social-media company claims to have a mission oriented toward creating social good, but in practice, it often leverages its immense influence over the way people use the internet for profit and political power. By his own description, the Facebook founder is interested in saving the world through technology: its use, its development, its spread.

Pope Francis, on the other hand, is aggressively anti-technology and anti-modern, in the sense that he actively warns against the belief that technological tools can be used to redeem or fix the world. The predominantly Catholic magazine First Things called his 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, “the most anti-modern encyclical since the Syllabus of Errors, Pius IX’s haughty 1864 dismissal of the conceits of the modern era.”

There’s a lot of evidence in that piece of writing, along with many of Francis’s homilies and speeches, to suggest that he sees technological progress as a dangerous goal. “Technology, which, linked to business interests, is presented as the only way of solving ... problems, in fact proves incapable of seeing the mysterious network of relations between things and so sometimes solves one problem only to create others,” the pope wrote. Francis sees the development of technological tools as directly connected to the search for profit; and this, he says, always damages human relationships. And the orientation toward profit, rather than relationships, “has made it easy to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers, and experts in technology.”

This indictment seems directed exactly at people like Zuckerberg, who drive and promote the total takeover of a socially networked world to extreme financial benefit. But Francis’s critique is not just about the moneymaking; he believes that “media,” including the digital networks that dominate communication in many parts of the world, “stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously.” When this happens, he wrote in Laudato Si, “the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload.” Ultimately, Francis—who was famous for spending time in the slums in Argentina during his time as a priest there, and who has called on the leaders of the Catholic Church to “smell like the sheep” they tend— has critiqued what he sees as the abstraction of digital culture. Media can “shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences,” he wrote in Laudato Si. “For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/08/pope-francis-meets-with-mark-zuckberg/497819/

The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center[1] (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I trauma center for the 1.5 million residents of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County.[2] It is the largest acute inpatient and rehabilitation hospital for psychiatric patients in the city. Additionally, it is the only acute hospital in San Francisco that provides 24-hour psychiatric emergency services.

In addition to the approximately 3,500 San Francisco municipal employees, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) provides approximately 1,500 employees (including physicians, nurses and ancillary personnel), and the SFGH serves as one of the teaching hospitals for the UCSF School of Medicine. The hospital, especially its Ward 86,[3] was instrumental in treating and identifying early cases of AIDS. A new San Francisco General Hospital acute care building was completed in 2016 for a total approximate cost of $1.02 billion. A $75 million donation by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan[4] covered approximately 7.35% of the overall cost. In recognition, the hospital was renamed after the couple.[5]

The hospital is a safety net hospital additionally serving poor, elderly people, uninsured working families, and immigrants. As of 2014, 92 percent of the patient population at SFGH either receives publicly funded health insurance (Medicare or Medi-Cal) or is uninsured.[6]

SFGH is rare in that its emergency rooms do not have agreements in place with private health care insurance providers. Until 2019, privately insured patients were often billed the balance of their care, which could be sizable. This practice was changed after media attention regarding the hospital's billing practices.[7]

SFGH provided $74,620,877 of services with unrecovered payments in year ending 2020-06-30.[8]

History

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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2021)

In 1850, a California state bill appropriated $50,000 to build a State Marine Hospital in San Francisco.[9]

In 1851, the United States Congress established the U.S. Marine Hospital, San Francisco at Rincon Point[10] and relocated to the Presidio of San Francisco in 1875.[11][12][13][14][15]

In 1855, the State Marine Hospital building was transitioned to the City and County Hospital of San Francisco, funded by every vessel that entered the port, paying inspection fees, to a public health officer.[16][17]

By 1857, the City and County Hospital had located to the former North Beach School, at the southwest corner of Francisco and Stockton Streets.[16] San Francisco opened its first permanent hospital in 1857.[18]

A hospital has been at Potrero Avenue since 1872,[19] when the city of San Francisco built a 400-bed hospital on Potrero, an all wood hospital, one of four emergency hospitals eventually built by 1904, Central, Harbor, Park and Potrero.[20]

Expansions to the site have been made in 1909 (Mission Emergency Hospital),[20] 1915 (four main, distanced, ward buildings),[20] 1924 (psychiatric ward),[21] 1976 (Acute Care Hospital),[20] and 2016.[22]

"SFGH and the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF) have been partners in public health since 1872..."[23][24]

In 1966, SFGH was designated as the city's trauma center,[20] the second trauma center established in the U.S. after Cook County Hospital.[25]

In 1977, a new inpatient facility consisting of clinic space, rooms for patients, a new born unit, and surgery facilities was established.[26]

Chan Zuckerberg building

In November 2008, San Francisco voters approved an $887.4 million general obligation bond for the General Hospital rebuild, work began in 2009, and was expected to be finished in 2015.[23][27][28][29][30][31][32]

In 2015, Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife Priscilla Chan gave $75 million[33][34] to help fund equipment and technology for the new hospital.[35] In 2016, the new hospital building was completed. It is the first hospital building in San Francisco to be constructed with a base-isolated foundation, 30 inches in any direction[36][37] for protection against earthquakes. Publicised improvements included expanding the Emergency Department from 27 to 58 beds, and Operating Rooms from 10 to 13.[28][38] The number of general admission beds, the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds increased.[citation needed] The previously separate surgical and medical units were combined into one ICU.[citation needed]

Billing practices

Through early 2019, SFGH did not participate in any private health insurance networks and practiced balance billing. A Vox analysis (derived from a database of more than a thousand emergency room bills) characterized the hospital's billing practices as "aggressive" and "surprising": one privately insured patient arriving at the hospital after a bicycle accident was billed more than $20,000 for diagnostic scans and treatment for a broken arm;[39] the bill was 12 times the Medicare billing rate.[40] After media attention, SFGH changed its billing policy so that privately insured patients would be billed at rates consistent with their insurers' network rates, with an income-based maximum.[41]

Artwork

The hospital owns and displays two paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, donated to the hospital by Dr. Leo Eloesser. Eloesser interned at SFGH and was Kahlo's physician.[42][43]

Notable deaths

Diane Whipple, American lacrosse player and coach, dog mauling victim.[44]

Kate Steinle, died from gunshot wounds.

Ed Lee, attorney, politician and mayor of San Francisco, died from coronary artery disease, with hypertensive heart disease.[45]

Jack Palladino, investigator and attorney, died from a head injury.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_General_Hospital

Patient Safety

At Dignity Health – St. Rose Dominican, our staff is committed to the health and safety of all patients.

To ensure your hospital stay is as pleasant and safe as possible, please follow the guidelines below.

Be Involved

Take part in decisions about your treatment.

Ask the doctor or your care provider to explain anything you don’t understand.

Voice any concerns you have about your health care or condition.

Ask a trusted family member or friend to be with you when the doctor or care provider is explaining your treatment or condition.

Complete an Advance Directive and bring it with you to the hospital. If you are having surgery, make sure you, your doctor and your surgeon all agree on what will be done.

Ask the doctor to mark the area to be operated on before you are anesthetized.

Keep a written record of your medical history.

https://www.dignityhealth.org/las-vegas/patients-and-visitors/for-patients/patient-safety

The first Inquisition was temporarily established in Languedoc (south of France) in 1184. The murder of Pope Innocent III's papal legate Pierre de Castelnau by Cathars in 1208 sparked the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229). The Inquisition was permanently established in 1229 (Council of Toulouse), run largely by the Dominicans[28] in Rome and later at Carcassonne in Languedoc.

In 1252, the Papal Bull Ad extirpanda, following another assassination by Cathars, charged the head of state with funding and selecting inquisitors from monastic orders; this caused friction by establishing a competitive court to the Bishop's courts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

Paragraph 2267 (capital punishment)

Main article: Catholic Church and capital punishment § Modification to the Catechism (2018)

One of the changes in the 1997 update consisted of the inclusion of the position on the death penalty that is defended in John Paul II's encyclical Evangelium vitae of 1995.[28][better source needed]

The paragraph dealing with the death penalty (2267) was revised again by Pope Francis in 2018.

The text previously stated (1997):[29]

Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the DIGNITY of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm – without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself – the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."

The 2018 change to the Catechism reads:[30][29]

Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.

Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that "the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", and the Catholic Church works with determination for its abolition worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechism_of_the_Catholic_Church

FitzHenry's Funeral Home

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775-882-2644

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At Dignity Memorial, we strive to get every detail right the first time, every time. That's why we offer every family we serve a 100% service guarantee. Should any detail of our service not meet the expectations as promised in our agreement, we’ll do everything we can to make it right, up to refunding that portion of the service.

Learn more about The Dignity Difference benefits.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/nevada/carson-city/fitzhenrys-funeral-home/6761

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

Name

The archbasilica's Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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Why did God allow the Holocaust?

In dealing with the problem of evil in the world, we run into many problems like this one. Could God have prevented the Holocaust? Yes, He could have. He could also have prevented Stalin’s massacres in the U.S.S.R., the Spanish Inquisition’s torture of dissidents, and Nero’s reign of terror. In each case, God allowed evil men to exercise a certain amount of power for a short period of time.

Ultimately, we do not know the reasons for what God allows. His ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). His sovereign plan takes in the whole scope of history, past, present, and future, encompassing every possible course of action, every cause and effect, every potentiality, and every contingency. There is no way we could possibly fathom the intricacies of His design. By faith, we trust that His plan is the best plan possible for restoring fallen humanity and a cursed world to righteousness and blessing.

But we can understand this: God’s permission is not the same as His approval. God allowed Adam to eat of the forbidden tree, but He did not approve of the action. In the same way, God’s allowing the Holocaust in no way suggests His approval of it. God is grieved by the sinfulness of man and the hardness of his heart (Genesis 6:6; Mark 3:5).

We also know that God has done everything possible to redeem us from the sin which would destroy us. He gave His only Son, who sacrificed His life for our sin and took our penalty. All who turn to Jesus Christ in faith are saved. The sin in this world, and horrors such as the Holocaust, are a direct result of mankind’s continued rebellion against God.

While nothing can justify the evil of the Holocaust, it did indirectly bring about an advancement in biblical prophecy. The Holocaust was a primary reason the White Paper of 1939 was rescinded, freeing European Jews to immigrate to Israel. Regardless of one’s political stance, the fact is that the 1948 restoration of an independent Jewish state helps to fulfill such biblical prophecies as Ezekiel 37 and Matthew 24.

In all of His doings, God is just (Psalm 145:17). The blame for the Holocaust lies squarely on the shoulders of sinful humanity. The Holocaust was the product of sinful choices made by sinful men in rebellion against a holy God. If the Holocaust proves anything, it is the utter depravity of man. Just fourteen years after "the war to end all wars" (World War I), Hitler rose to power. What is even more shocking is that millions followed him, enabling his horrific policies and pursuing a path to national destruction.

And while Nazism took hold in Germany, where were the European churches? Some, it is true, stood fast against the evil in their midst, and some churchmen, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, paid the ultimate price for dissenting. But they were the minority. Most churches of the era acquiesced to Nazi Party rules and remained silent while the Jews were slaughtered. Where were the world leaders? Other than England’s Winston Churchill, the world’s politicos took the route of isolation or appeasement. Neither worked. Where were the good, decent people? Edmund Burke is often quoted as saying, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph in the world is for enough good men to do nothing." Although there were a few Germans and other Europeans such as Oscar Schindler and Corrie ten Boom and her family, who risked their lives to save thousands of Jews from annihilation, most remained silent and the Holocaust ensued. The question is not so much "Why did God allow the Holocaust?" but "Why did we?"

God gives mankind freedom of choice. We can choose to follow Him and take a stand for righteousness, or we can rebel against Him and pursue evil. The problem resides in the heart of man. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Until man’s heart turns to God, the world will continue to witness "ethnic cleansings," genocides, and atrocities such as the Holocaust.

https://www.gotquestions.org/God-allow-Holocaust.html

Mark 3

1599 Geneva Bible

3 1 The withered hand is healed. 6 The Pharisees consult with the Herodians. 10 Many are healed by touching Christ. 11 At his sight the devils fall down before him. 14 The twelve Apostles. 24 The kingdom divided against itself. 29 Blasphemy against the holy Ghost. 33 Christ’s parents.

1 And [a]he entered again into the Synagogue, and there was a man which had a [b]withered hand.

2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.

3 Then he said unto the man which had the withered hand, Arise: stand forth in the midst.

4 And he said to them, Is it lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath day, or to do evil? to save the [c]life, or to kill? but they held their peace.

5 Then he looked round about on them [d]angrily, mourning also for the [e]hardness of their hearts, and said to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored, as whole as the other.

6 ¶ [f]And the Pharisees departed, and straightway gathered a council with the [g]Herodians against him, that they might destroy him.

7 But Jesus avoided with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, and from Judea,

8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and [h]beyond Jordan: and they that dwelled about Tyre and Sidon, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him in great number.

9 And he commanded his disciples, that a little ship should [i]wait for him, because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.

10 For he had healed many, insomuch that they pressed upon him to touch him, as many as had [j]plagues.

11 And when the [k]unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

12 And he sharply rebuked them, to the end they should not utter him.

13 ¶ Then he went up into a mountain, and called unto him whom he would, and they came unto him.

14 [l]And he [m]appointed twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them to preach.

15 And that they might have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

16 And the first was Simon, and he named Simon, Peter,

17 Then James the son of Zebedee, and John James’ brother (and surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder.)

18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and [n]Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,

19 And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him, and they came [o]home.

20 And the multitude assembled again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

21 [p]And when his [q]kinsfolks heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said that he was beside himself.

22 ¶ And the Scribes which came down from Jerusalem, said, He hath Beelzebub, and through the prince of the devils he casteth out devils.

23 But he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan drive out Satan?

24 For if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 Or if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot continue.

26 So if [r]Satan make insurrection against himself, and be divided, he cannot endure, but is at an end.

27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and take away his goods, except he first bind that strong man, and then spoil his house.

28 ¶ [s]Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the children of men, and blasphemies, wherewith they blaspheme:

29 But he that blasphemeth against the holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but is culpable of eternal damnation.

30 [t]Because they said, He had an unclean spirit.

31 ¶ Then came his [u]brethren and mother and stood without, and sent unto him, and called him.

32 And the people sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother, and thy brethren seek for thee without.

33 But he answered them, saying, Who is my mother and my brethren?

34 [v]And he looked round about on them, which sat in compass about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren.

35 For whosoever doeth the will of God, he is my brother, my sister, and my mother.

Footnotes

Mark 3:1 Thirdly, for that they preferred the ceremonial Law (which was but an appendant to the moral Law) before the moral Law: whereas contrariwise, they should have learned out of this, the true use of the ceremonial Law.

Mark 3:1 That is, unprofitable and dead.

Mark 3:4 A figurative speech, by the figure Synecdoche. For this kind of saying, To save the life, is as much, as to save the man.

Mark 3:5 Men, when they have wrong done unto them, are angry, but not without vice, but Christ is angry without vice, neither is he sorry so much for the injury that is done to his own person, as for their wickedness: and therefore he had pity upon them, and for that cause is he said to have mourned.

Mark 3:5 As though their heart had been so closed up, and grown together, that wholesome doctrine could prevail no more with them.

Mark 3:6 The more the truth is kept under, the more it cometh out.

Mark 3:6 See also Matt. 22:16.

Mark 3:8 Which Josephus calleth stony or rocky.

Mark 3:9 Should always be ready for him.

Mark 3:10 Diseases wherewith God scourgeth men as it were with whips.

Mark 3:11 In them whom they had entered into: or by the figure called Metonymy, for them which were vexed with unclean spirits.

Mark 3:14 The twelve Apostles are set apart to be trained up to the office of the Apostleship.

Mark 3:14 Chose and appointed out twelve to be familiar and conversant with him.

Mark 3:18 Whom Luke also calleth Judas: and for difference’s sake, the other Judas is called Iscariot.

Mark 3:19 The disciples whom Christ had taken to be of his train and to live with him, come home to his house, to be with him always after.

Mark 3:21 None are worse enemies of the Gospel, than they that least ought.

Mark 3:21 Word for word, they that were of him, that is, his kinfolks: for they that were mad, were brought to their kinsmen.

Mark 3:26 Satan’s imps or . . . .

Mark 3:28 They only are without hope of salvation, which do maliciously oppugn Christ, whom they know.

Mark 3:30 These are the words of the Evangelist.

Mark 3:31 Under this name Brother, the Hebrews understand all that are of the same stock and kindred.

Mark 3:34 The spiritual kindred is far otherwise to be accounted of, than the carnal or fleshly.

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