Elon Musk's praises 'incredible' Burning Man despite death of festivalgoer

 Elon Musk's praises 'incredible' Burning Man despite death of festivalgoer

Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be widely classed as a genius but he made an embarrassing mistake when chaos broke out during last year's Burning Man Festival.

By Ayeesha Walsh

11:35 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024 | UPDATED: 11:40 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024

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Elon Musk's praises 'incredible' Burning Man despite death of festivalgoer

Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be widely classed as a genius but he made an embarrassing mistake when chaos broke out during last year's Burning Man Festival.

By Ayeesha Walsh

11:35 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024 | UPDATED: 11:40 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024

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Elon Musk shares video of Cybertruck of attempted break in

The Burning Man festival last year caused an embarrassing mistake for Elon Musk when he raved about the event on X only to discover the video he was commenting on was from Paris Fashion Week.

To make matters worse the tech billionaire totally missed the mark as festivalgoers at the time were braving horriffc conditions that saw one 32-year-old attendee die. Sharing a post on X believing it was footage from the festival he wrote: “Burning Man is unique in the world. Hard to describe how incredible it is for those who have never been. Best art on Earth.”

His response featured a quoted post from someone who was claiming to be stuck at the festival at the time.

They wrote: “I’m currently stranded at Burning Man, along with thousands of others. Despite the unexpected challenges, some artists managed to put together an impromptu catwalk show.

"The ‘I’m in the mud’ show is a metaphor for trying stuff and always learning. I’m deeply inspired by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of this community.” The video that accompanied the tweet saw someone wearing a long black dress, black gloves and boots as they trudged through mud.

However, a note added to the post by the social media app later clarified: “This is not burning man. It is from Balenciaga fashion show in Paris,” including a link to the luxury fashion house's “mud bath” show. Unprecedented storms left 70,000 attendees struggling to leave Burning Man in 2023 as they were confined to their camps after muddy conditions brought on by prolonged rain showers halted movement in and out of Nevada's Black Rock City.

The event's organizers urged participants to remain in place and conserve food and water as cooler-than-usual temperatures reached highs of the mid-70s before dropping to the mid-50s by night, with some people claiming they developed hypothermia. Meanwhile, festivalgoers are facing significant losses as they scramble to offload unwanted tickets for this year's festival.

In a surprising turn of events, tickets for the annual desert festival, which usually sell out rapidly, have not done so this year - a first since 2011. For the first time in over ten years, ticket prices for the Nevada-based festival have been halved, with some attendees eager to dispose of their extra passes.

As participants rush to sell their surplus tickets, some have incurred losses amounting to hundreds of dollars.

https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/146523/elon-musk-mistake-burning-man-festival

Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the western United States.[1][2] The event's name comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, that occurs on the penultimate night, the Saturday evening before Labor Day.[3] Since 1990, the event has been at Black Rock City in northwestern Nevada, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles (160 km) north-northeast of Reno. According to Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, the event is guided by ten stated principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.[4]

Burning Man features no headliners or scheduled performers; instead, participants create all the art, activities, and events.[5] Artwork includes experimental and interactive sculptures, buildings, performances, and art cars, among other media. These contributions are inspired by a theme chosen annually by the Burning Man Project.[6] The event has been called "countercultural revelry" and described by its organizers as an "excuse to party in the desert".[7] However, NPR said of Burning Man in 2019, "Once considered an underground gathering for bohemians and free spirits of all stripes, Burning Man has since evolved into a destination for social media influencers, celebrities and the Silicon Valley elite."[8]

Black Rock City is located in NevadaBlack Rock CityBlack Rock City

Location in Nevada

Burning Man originated on June 22, 1986, on Baker Beach in San Francisco as a small function organized by Larry Harvey and Jerry James, the builders of the first Man. It has since been held annually, spanning the nine days leading up to and including Labor Day. Over the event's history, attendance has generally increased. In 2019, 78,850 people participated.[9]

Burning Man is organized by the Burning Man Project, a nonprofit organization that, in 2013, succeeded Black Rock City LLC, a for-profit limited liability company. Black Rock City LLC was formed in 1999 to represent the event's organizers and is now considered a subsidiary of the nonprofit organization. The Burning Man Project endorses multiple smaller regional events guided by the Burning Man principles, in the United States and internationally.

The film Stalker by Tarkovsky heavily influenced the Cacophony Society, which began in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area and which organized "Zone Trips" for participants.[10]

The first burning of a wooden, symbolic man at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, occurred on "Zone Trip Number 4" in 1990. This occasion evolved into an enormous annual festival of arts, music, culture called Burning Man.[10][11]

History

1980s

Burning Man began as a bonfire ritual on the summer solstice. Sculptor Mary Grauberger, a friend of Larry Harvey's girlfriend, Janet Lohr, held solstice bonfire gatherings on Baker Beach for several years before 1986, some of which Harvey attended. When Grauberger stopped organizing it, Harvey "picked up the torch", with Grauberger's permission, and ran with it.[12] He and Jerry James built the first wooden effigy on June 21, 1986, cobbled together using scrap wood, to be torched that evening. On June 22, Harvey, James, and a few friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco[13][14] and burned an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) wooden man and a smaller wooden dog. Harvey later described his inspiration for burning these effigies as a spontaneous act of "radical self-expression".[12] In 1987, the Man grew to 15 feet (5 m) tall, and by 1988, it had grown to 30 feet (9 m).[15][16]

By 1988, Harvey formally named the summer solstice ritual "Burning Man" by titling flyers for the happening as such. This was apparently done to ward off references to "wicker man", the reputed Celtic pagan practice of burning live sacrifices in human-shaped wicker cages. Harvey has said that he had not seen the 1973 cult film The Wicker Man until many years after and that it did not inspire the action.[15][17]

1990 to 1996

In 1990, a separate event was planned by Kevin Evans and John Law on the remote and largely unknown playa, known as the Black Rock Desert, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Reno, Nevada.[18] Evans conceived it as a dadaist temporary autonomous zone with sculptures to be burned and situationist performance art. He asked John Law, who also had experience on the dry lake and was a defining founder of the Cacophony Society, to take on central organizing functions of the events. In the Cacophony Society's newsletter, it was announced as Zone Trip No. 4, A Bad Day at Black Rock (inspired by the 1955 film of the same name).

Meanwhile, the solstice burn at Baker Beach was interrupted by the park police for not having a permit. After striking a deal to raise the Man but not to burn it, event organizers disassembled it and returned it to the vacant lot where it had been built. Shortly thereafter, the legs and torso of the Man were chain-sawed and the pieces removed when the space was unexpectedly leased as a parking lot. The Man was reconstructed, led by Dan Miller, Harvey's then-housemate of many years, just in time to take it to Zone Trip No. 4.[19]

Michael Mikel, another active Cacophonist, realized that participants unfamiliar with the environment of the dry lake would benefit from knowledgeable persons helping to ensure they did not get lost in the deep dry lake and risk dehydration and death. He took the name Danger Ranger and created the Black Rock Rangers to assist them. Thus, Black Rock City began as a fellowship, organized by Law and Mikel, based on Evans's and Grauberger's ideas, along with Harvey's and James's symbolic man. Drawing on experience in the sign business and with light sculpture, Law prepared custom neon tubes for the Man starting in 1991 so it could be seen as a beacon to aid navigation at night long before there were any planned roads.

In its early years, the community grew by word of mouth alone, all were considered (and generally not invited until they could be expected to be) participants under their contribution to the cacophonous situationist vibe. There were no paid or scheduled performers or artists, no separation between art and life nor art-space and living-space, no rules other than "Don't interfere with anyone else's immediate experience" and "no guns in central camp".

1991 marked the first year that the event had a legal permit through the BLM (the Bureau of Land Management).[20] It was also the year that art model and fire dancer (and later Burning Man's first art director) Crimson Rose attended the event.[21] 1992 saw the birth of a smaller, intensive, nearby event named "Desert Siteworks", conceived and directed by William Binzen and co-produced (in 1993 and '94) with Judy West.[22] There were about 20 participants the first year, and approximately 100 in the second and third year. The annual, several weeks-long event, was held over summer Solstice at various fertile hot springs surrounding the desert. Participants built art and participated in self-directed performances.[23]

Some key organizers of Burning Man were also part of Desert Siteworks (Law, Mikel) and Binzen was a friend of Harvey. Hence, the two events saw much cross-pollination of ideas and participants.[23] The Desert Siteworks project ran for three years (1992–1994). 1996 was the first year a formal partnership was created to own the name "Burning Man" and was also the last year that the event was held in the middle of the Black Rock Desert with no fence around it.

Before the event opened to the public in 1996, a worker named Michael Furey was killed in a motorcycle crash[24] while riding from Gerlach, Nevada, to the Burning Man camp in the Black Rock Desert. Harvey insisted that the death had not occurred at Burning Man, since the gates were not yet open. Another couple were run over in their tent by an art car driving to the "rave camp", which was at that time distant from the main camp. After the 1996 event, Law broke with Burning Man and publicly said the event should not continue.

1997 to 2013

1997 marked another major pivotal year for the event. It had to be moved because the permit for Black Rock was denied for the 1997 event. A team conducting land speed trials had a conflicting permit that took precedence. Fly Ranch, with the smaller adjoining Hualapai dry lakebed, just west of the Black Rock desert, was chosen as the alternate location. This moved Burning Man from Pershing County/federal BLM land into the jurisdiction of Washoe County, which brought a protracted list of permit requirements.[25]

In 1999 to comply with the new requirements and manage the increased liability load, Harvey and five organizers formed Black Rock City LLC with the assistance of "Biz Babe" Dana Harrison. The LLC founders consisted of Larry Harvey (chief philosophy officer), Harley K. DuBois (chief transition officer), Marian Goodell (CEO), Crimson Rose (art transition officer), Will Roger Peterson (Nevada relations director), and Michael Mikel (historian and archivist).[26]

Will Roger Peterson and Flynn Mauthe created the Black Rock City Department of Public Works (DPW) to build the "city" grid layout (a requirement so that emergency vehicles could be directed to an "address"), designed by Rod Garrett, an architect. Garrett continued as the city designer until his death in 2011, at age 76. He is also credited with the design of all of the Man bases from 2001 through 2012, the center camp café and first camp.[27] 1998 saw a return to the Black Rock desert, although not to the deep playa, along with a temporary perimeter fence. The event has remained there since.

As the population of Black Rock City grew, more restrictions were added by the BLM, and changes were made in how people were invited to the event, notably the addition of publicized online ticket sales to all comers, further rules were established concerning its survival. Some critics of the later phase of the event cite these rules as impinging on the original freedoms and principles, diminishing the scope of the experience unacceptably, while many newer attendees find the increased level of activity more than balances out the changes:

A grid street structure.[28]

A speed limit of 5 mph (8 km/h).[29]

A ban on driving, except for approved "mutant vehicles" and service vehicles.[30]

Safety standards on mutant vehicles.[29]

Burning of any art must be done on an approved burn platform.[31]

A ban on fireworks.[32]

A ban on animals.[33]

Another notable restriction to attendees is the 9.2-mile- (14.8 km) long[34] temporary plastic fence that surrounds the event and defines the pentagon of land used by the event on the southern edge of the Black Rock dry lake.[35] This 4-foot- (1.2-meter) high barrier is known as the "trash fence" because its initial use was to catch wind-blown debris that might escape from campsites during the event. Since 2002, the area beyond this fence has not been accessible to Burning Man participants during the event.[36]

One visitor who was accidentally burned at the 2005 event unsuccessfully sued Black Rock City LLC in San Francisco County Superior Court. On June 30, 2009, the California Court of Appeal for the First District upheld the trial court's grant of summary judgment to Black Rock City LLC on the basis that people who deliberately walk toward The Man after it is ignited assume the risk of getting burned by such a hazardous object.[37]

2013 to 2019

In December 2013, following negotiations between founders,[38] Black Rock City LLC was made a subsidiary of a new nonprofit entity known as the Burning Man Project.[39][40][41]

On September 3, 2017,[42] a 41-year-old man, Aaron Joel Mitchell, fought his way past a safety cordon of volunteers and firefighters and threw himself into the flames of the Man. Mitchell died the next day due to cardiac arrest, bodily shock, and third-degree burns to 97% of his body. His death was ruled a suicide.[43][44][45]

2020 to 2021

On April 10, 2020, the Burning Man Project announced that Burning Man was canceled for 2020[46] due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making 2020 the first year Burning Man did not happen since its inception. They then decided to offer ticket refunds despite the tickets being sold explicitly as non-refundable.[47]

On September 7, 2020, an estimated 1,000 Burners celebrated on San Francisco's Ocean Beach. San Francisco Mayor London Breed tweeted about the event, "This was reckless and selfish. You aren't celebrating, but are putting people's lives and our progress at risk. No one is immune from spreading the virus."[48] Several thousand also showed up in the Black Rock desert for an unofficial event and some described it as a return to the "old days".[49][50]

The 2021 event was canceled on April 27, 2021, due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite progress on vaccination, organizers said that "uncertainties that need to be resolved are impossible to resolve in the time we have".[51] On May 14, 2021, the Burning Man Project released tickets on their website for online events slated between August 22 and September 7, 2021.[52]

The unofficial event was larger than 2020 with an estimated 20,000 attending. It was loosely coordinated by a variety of groups including Black Rock Plan B and Rogue Burn. The Bureau of Land Management implemented restrictions including no structures other than shade structures and no fires other than campfires. There was a massive illuminated drone display outlining the Man instead of the burning of a Man effigy.[53]

2023

Main article: Burning Man 2023

The 2023 Burning Man had rains and subsequent flooding on Labor Day weekend, with a lockdown preventing vehicle movement throughout the site.[54][55] Organizers arranged for some cellular service and shared a 2023 Wet Playa Survival Guide: "no driving is permitted until the playa surface dries up, with the exception of emergency services… Participants are encouraged to conserve food, water, and fuel, and shelter in a warm, safe space" and told attendees about Burning Man Information Radio (BMIR) 94.5 FM and Gate Information Radio Station (GARS) 95.1.[56] One person died following the flooding, with thousands more stranded.[57]

2024

On August 25, 2024, the first day of the 2024 Burning Man festival, a female participant died.[58][59] On August 26, it was reported that tickets remained unsold for the festival for the first time since 2011.[60]

An epic dust storm was reported on the final day of event, snarling departure traffic with lines lasting more than four hours.

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

A Black Fast, also known as a strict fast, is a form of early Christian fasting.[1] Those undertaking a Black Fast consume no food or water during the day and then break the fast after sunset with prayer, as well as water and a vegetarian meal devoid of meat, eggs, dairy products (lacticinia), and alcohol.[2][3][4][5] Christians normatively fasted in this way during Lent prior to the 6th century.[6]

Description and practice

Traditionally, the Black Fast is undertaken during Lent; it is the early Christian form of fasting consisting of fasting until sunset, and then consuming one vegetarian meal afterwards (with food and water being allowed only at this time).[5][4] This was the normative way of Christian fasting prior to the 6th century A.D. and among certain denominations (such as the Coptic Orthodox Church) and in some localities like India and Pakistan, many Christians continue to observe the Black Fast throughout the whole season of Lent.[6][5][7][8][9] After attending a worship service (often on Wednesday or Friday evenings), it is common for Christians of various denominations to break that day's Lenten fast together through a communal Lenten supper, which is held in the church's parish hall in the public setting; in the home setting Lenten Suppers take place in the context of a family meal every day during Lent (except on the Lord's Day).[10] Throughout the entire Christian year, many Christians keep the Black Fast on Wednesdays (in memory of Jesus' betrayal) and on Fridays (to mourn the crucifixion of Jesus).[11] In Western Christianity, many monastics still retain this practice, though many laypeople voluntarily undertake the Black Fast, especially on Good Friday.[12]

The details of the Black Fast are as follows:[13][3]

No food or liquids are allowed from midnight until sunset.[14][4][9]

One vegetarian meal a day is permitted, only after sunset.[3][14][15][13]

A mealtime prayer is offered at the time the Black Fast is broken.[5]

Flesh meat, eggs, and dairy products (lacticinia: milk, butter, and cheese) are forbidden.[13]

Alcohol is forbidden.[13][16]

During Holy Week (the final week of Lent), the Lenten supper meal consists exclusively of bread, salt, herbs, and water.[3][A]

Oriental Orthodoxy

Coptic Orthodox Church

Further information: Fasting and abstinence of the Coptic Orthodox Church

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Black Fast is the normative way of fasting during Great Lent; Coptic Orthodox Christians go without water and food from midnight to sunset; after that time, the consumption of water and one vegetarian meal is permitted.[9] Married couples abstain from sexual relations during this period "to give themselves time for fasting and prayer (1 Cor. 7: 5)."[9]

Roman Catholicism

The Black Fast was widely practiced by the faithful during the Lenten season by "kings and princes, clergy and laity, rich and poor".[18] In addition, the Black Fast was kept on the days preceding one's ordination.[18] When fasting today, Roman Catholics have the liberty to fast in this manner, or in the modern fashion in which a collation is permitted. Fasting rules were liberalised to avoid accidents due to weakness or lack of concentration in modern industrial jobs. For the same reason some soldiers in military orders like the Hospitallers were historically exempt from the strict rule.

Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism

The Black Fast is observed by the devout Eastern Orthodox laity or monks throughout Great Lent, as well as the three other fasting periods of the year (the Dormition Fast, Nativity Fast, and the Apostles' Fast) and occasionally on the weekly fast days of Wednesday and Friday.[19][20]

Some Eastern Catholics and Eastern Lutherans perform the Black Fast on Fridays during Lent, especially on Good Friday.

Romanian Orthodox Church

The term "Black Fast" has a different connotation within the Romanian Orthodox Church, which defines it somewhat similar to the definition given by those within the realms of the Classical Pentecostal movement (see below).

Anglican Communion

In Anglican Communion, the faithful have observed the Black Fast on "the two great Prayer Book fast days, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday".[12] The Black Fast was especially popular during the 19th century as it sought to imitate "the fasting of the ancient church."[12]

Pentecostalism

The term "Black Fast" has a different connotation with writers within Classical Pentecostalism. A Black Fast is complete abstinence from food or water and nothing is consumed in its duration.[21]

Ward states that the terms "Black Fast," "Hebrew Fast," and "Absolute Fast" are synonymous. British evangelical Arthur Wallis coined the term "Absolute Fast" in his book God's Chosen Fast (1968).[22]

A Normal Fast or "Complete Fast" consists of eating nothing but drinking pure water. A Partial Fast (or Daniel Fast) consists of abstinence, either eliminating all but one type of food or eliminating just one type of food. The Black Fast is observed on rare occasions in Pentecostal circles while the Normal Fast is most usually undertaken.

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

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

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

Niggardly (noun: niggard) is an adjective meaning 'stingy' or 'miserly'. Niggard (14th C) is derived from the Middle English word meaning 'stingy,' nigon, which is probably derived from two other words also meaning 'stingy,' Old Norse hnǫggr and Old English hnēaw.[2] The word niggle, which in modern usage means to give excessive attention to minor details, probably shares an etymology with niggardly.[3]

Nigger, a racial slur widely considered to be offensive, derives from the Spanish word Negro, meaning 'black', and the French word nègre. Both negro and noir (and therefore also nègre and nigger) ultimately come from the Latin adjective niger, 'black' or 'dark'.[4] The first recorded use of nigger dates to 1574, and its first recorded derogatory use to 1775.[5][6] Plays on the similarity of the two words date back at least a century, one example being a piece of sheet music from 1900.[7][original research?]

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

In alchemy, nigredo, or blackness, means putrefaction or decomposition. Many alchemists believed that as a first step in the pathway to the philosopher's stone, all alchemical ingredients had to be cleansed and cooked extensively to a uniform black matter.[1]

In analytical psychology, the term became a metaphor for "the dark night of the soul, when an individual confronts the shadow within."[2]

Jung

For Carl Jung, "the rediscovery of the principles of alchemy came to be an important part of my work as a pioneer of psychology".[3] As a student of alchemy, he (and his followers) "compared the 'black work' of the alchemists (the nigredo) with the often highly critical involvement experienced by the ego, until it accepts the new equilibrium brought about by the creation of the self."[4] Jungians interpreted nigredo in two main psychological senses.

The first sense represented a subject's initial state of undifferentiated unawareness, "the first nigredo, that of the unio naturalis, is an objective state, visible from the outside only ... an unconscious state of non-differentiation between self and object, consciousness and the unconscious."[5] Here the subject is unaware of the unconscious; i.e. the connection with the instincts.[6]

In the second sense, "the nigredo of the process of individuation on the other hand is a subjectively experienced process brought about by the subject's painful, growing awareness of his shadow aspects."[7] It could be described as a moment of maximum despair, that is a prerequisite to personal development.[8] As individuation unfolds, so "confrontation with the shadow produces at first a dead balance, a standstill that hampers moral decisions and makes convictions ineffective or even impossible ... nigredo, tenebrositas, chaos, melancholia."[9] Here is "the darkest time, the time of despair, disillusionment, envious attacks; the time when Eros and Superego are at daggers drawn, and there seems no way forward ... nigredo, the blackening."[10]

Only subsequently would come "an enantiodromia; the nigredo gives way to the albedo ... the ever deepening descent into the unconscious suddenly becomes illumination from above."[11]

Further steps of the alchemical opus include such images as albedo (whiteness), citrinitas (yellowness), and rubedo (redness). Jung also found psychological equivalents for many other alchemical concepts, with "the characterization of analytic work as an opus; the reference to the analytic relationship as a vas, vessel or container; the goal of the analytic process as the coniunctio, or union of conflicting opposites."[12]

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

The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as 50 million people[2] perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population.[3] The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas and through the air.[4][5] One of the most significant events in European history, the Black Death had far-reaching population, economic, and cultural impacts. It was the beginning of the second plague pandemic.[6] The plague created religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history.

The origin of the Black Death is disputed.[7] Genetic analysis suggests Yersinia pestis bacteria evolved approximately 7,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Neolithic,[8] with flea-mediated strains emerging around 3,800 years ago during the late Bronze Age.[9] The immediate territorial origins of the Black Death and its outbreak remain unclear, with some evidence pointing towards Central Asia, China, the Middle East, and Europe.[10][11] The pandemic was reportedly first introduced to Europe during the siege of the Genoese trading port of Kaffa in Crimea by the Golden Horde army of Jani Beg in 1347. From Crimea, it was most likely carried by fleas living on the black rats that travelled on Genoese ships, spreading through the Mediterranean Basin and reaching North Africa, West Asia, and the rest of Europe via Constantinople, Sicily, and the Italian Peninsula.[12] There is evidence that once it came ashore, the Black Death mainly spread from person-to-person as pneumonic plague, thus explaining the quick inland spread of the epidemic, which was faster than would be expected if the primary vector was rat fleas causing bubonic plague.[13][14][15] In 2022, it was discovered that there was a sudden surge of deaths in what is today Kyrgyzstan from the Black Death in the late 1330s; when combined with genetic evidence, this implies that the initial spread may not have been due to Mongol conquests in the 14th century, as previously speculated.[16][17]

The Black Death was the second great natural disaster to strike Europe during the Late Middle Ages (the first one being the Great Famine of 1315–1317) and is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of the European population, as well as approximately 33% of the population of the Middle East.[18][19][20] There were further outbreaks throughout the Late Middle Ages and, also due to other contributing factors (the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages), the European population did not regain its 14th century level until the 16th century.[a][21] Outbreaks of the plague recurred around the world until the early 19th century.

Names

European writers contemporary with the plague described the disease in Latin as pestis or pestilentia, 'pestilence'; epidemia, 'epidemic'; mortalitas, 'mortality'.[22] In English prior to the 18th century, the event was called the "pestilence" or "great pestilence", "the plague" or the "great death".[22][23][24] Subsequent to the pandemic "the furste moreyn" (first murrain) or "first pestilence" was applied, to distinguish the mid-14th century phenomenon from other infectious diseases and epidemics of plague.[22]

The 1347 pandemic plague was not referred to specifically as "black" in the time of occurrence in any European language, though the expression "black death" had occasionally been applied to fatal disease beforehand.[22] "Black death" was not used to describe the plague pandemic in English until the 1750s; the term is first attested in 1755, where it translated Danish: den sorte død, lit. 'the black death'.[22][25] This expression as a proper name for the pandemic had been popularized by Swedish and Danish chroniclers in the 15th and early 16th centuries, and in the 16th and 17th centuries was transferred to other languages as a calque: Icelandic: svarti dauði, German: der schwarze Tod, and French: la mort noire.[26][27] Previously, most European languages had named the pandemic a variant or calque of the Latin: magna mortalitas, lit. 'Great Death'.[22]

The phrase 'black death' – describing Death as black – is very old. Homer used it in the Odyssey to describe the monstrous Scylla, with her mouths "full of black Death" (Ancient Greek: πλεῖοι μέλανος Θανάτοιο, romanized: pleîoi mélanos Thanátoio).[28][26] Seneca the Younger may have been the first to describe an epidemic as 'black death', (Latin: mors atra) but only in reference to the acute lethality and dark prognosis of disease.[29][26][22] The 12th–13th century French physician Gilles de Corbeil had already used atra mors to refer to a "pestilential fever" (febris pestilentialis) in his work On the Signs and Symptoms of Diseases (De signis et symptomatibus aegritudium).[26][30] The phrase mors nigra, 'black death', was used in 1350 by Simon de Covino (or Couvin), a Belgian astronomer, in his poem "On the Judgement of the Sun at a Feast of Saturn" (De judicio Solis in convivio Saturni), which attributes the plague to an astrological conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.[31] His use of the phrase is not connected unambiguously with the plague pandemic of 1347 and appears to refer to the fatal outcome of disease.[22]

The historian Cardinal Francis Aidan Gasquet wrote about the Great Pestilence in 1893[32] and suggested that it had been "some form of the ordinary Eastern or bubonic plague".[33][b] In 1908, Gasquet said use of the name atra mors for the 14th-century epidemic first appeared in a 1631 book on Danish history by J. I. Pontanus: "Commonly and from its effects, they called it the black death" (Vulgo & ab effectu atram mortem vocitabant).[34][35]

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

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season and is the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. Many stores offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices and often open early, sometimes as early as midnight[2] or even on Thanksgiving. Some stores' sales continue to Monday ("Cyber Monday") or for a week ("Cyber Week").

"Black Friday" has evolved in meaning and impact over the years, initially referring to calamitous days, with a notable early instance being Black Friday (1869) in the US. This financial crisis saw a dramatic plunge in gold prices, affecting investors. The term was later used in American retail, starting ambiguously in the 1950s. Initially associated with workforce absenteeism post-Thanksgiving, it was reinterpreted by Philadelphia police to describe the shopping-induced congestion. Attempts at rebranding to "Big Friday" failed, and the term "Black Friday" solidified by the 1980s, referring to the pivotal point where retailers purportedly shifted from loss ("in the red") to profit ("in the black"). This day marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, with promotional sales aiming to draw large crowds. Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States[3][4][5] and retailers prioritize it and Cyber Monday as highly profitable holiday shopping days.[6]

The concept has since globalized, with countries around the world adopting "Black Friday" sales to mimic the U.S. phenomenon, adjusting local customs or creating similar events. The advent of online shopping and events like "Cyber Monday" have expanded the traditional one-day shopping frenzy into a broader holiday shopping season, diluting the singular focus of Black Friday, and expanding its economic impact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Black project is an informal term used to describe a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by government, military personnel, or contractors.

United States and black projects

In the United States, the formal term for a black project is an unacknowledged special access program (SAP). Black projects receive their funding from the black budget.

The US depends on private defense contractors to develop and build military equipment. The two most notable examples are Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The R&D department of Lockheed Martin is commonly referred to as Skunk Works; it is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified R&D programs, and exotic aircraft platforms.

Two well known sites for testing of black projects are the Nevada Test site and Area 51.

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

World, the: 1. It is proper to our vocation: to go to diverse places and live in whatever part of the world and to be sent wherever the greater service of God and the help of souls can be hoped for [82, 92, 304, 308, 588, 603, 605, 626, 749]; to this purpose is directed the vow of special obedience to the supreme pontiff regarding missions, FI no. 3 [603, 605], 2 §1; consequently a complete availability, mobility, and universality are necessary, 110, 121 4°, 242 §3, 246 7°, 248, 259, 411; at the service of which is chastity, 144 §2; consequently our community is a community for dispersion, 255 §1, 312, 314 §2, 315, 317; thus also the need for communicating with different cultures of the world and for insertion into them, 99 §2, 106 §2, 110, 111, 246 2°; and for promoting that perfect and open cooperation among the members of the entire Society, of whatever province or region they may be, 396 §2. See also Cooperation, interprovincial and supraprovincial; Culture(s); Insertion 2. God is present in the world: exercising the ministry of healing and reconciliation, 246 4°; thus he is there to be sought and found, 223 §§3-4; the world, in great part afflicted with atheism and injustice and increasingly divided by diverse economic, social, and ethnic systems and by other sources of division and opposition, 59 §2, 223 §3, 246 4° 3. The world, as distinguished from religious life: is to be left behind, trampled underfoot, and renounced [30, 50, 53, 61, 66, 297]; it is to be despised because of the love for and imitation of Christ [101]; contempt for it assists in the union of minds and hearts [671]: customs which smack of the world are not to be introduced, 322.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

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.

https://mathigon.org/timeline/plimpton-322

"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 

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.

§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142] 

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The National Security Act of 1947 (Pub.L. 80-253, 61 Stat. 495, enacted July 26, 1947) was a law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. The majority of the provisions of the act took effect on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James Forrestal as the first secretary of defense.[1][2]

The act merged the Department of the Army (renamed from the Department of War), the Department of the Navy, and the newly established Department of the Air Force (DAF) into the National Military Establishment (NME).[3] The act also created the position of the secretary of defense as the head of the NME.[3] It established the United States Air Force under the DAF, which worked to separate the Army Air Forces into its own service.[3] It also protected the Marine Corps as an independent service under the Department of the Navy.[3] Aside from the unification of the three military departments, the act established the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency, the latter of which is headed by the Director of Central Intelligence.[3]

The legislation was a result of efforts by Harry S. Truman beginning in 1944.[4] President Truman proposed the legislation to Congress on February 26, 1947.[5] The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 28, 1947, and in the Senate on March 3, 1947.[6] Senator Chan Gurney was the bill's sponsor.[6] Senator Gurney, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, led committee hearings for the bill from mid-March to early May.[7][8][9] The bill passed in the Senate on July 9, 1947, and in the House on July 19, 1947.[10] The Senate agreed to a related House resolution (80 H.Con.Res. 70) on July 16, 1947.[10] The bill received bipartisan support and was passed in both chambers by voice vote.[4][10] The National Security Act of 1947 was signed into law by President Truman on July 26, 1947, while aboard his VC-54C presidential aircraft Sacred Cow.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_of_1947

Harry R. Truman (October 1896 – May 18, 1980) was an American businessman, bootlegger, and prospector. He lived near Mount St. Helens, an active volcano in the state of Washington, and was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake near the base of the mountain. Truman came to fame as a folk hero in the weeks leading up to the volcano's 1980 eruption after refusing to leave his home despite evacuation orders. He was killed by a pyroclastic flow that overtook his lodge and buried the site under 150 ft (46 m) of volcanic debris.

After Truman's death, his family and friends reflected on his love for the mountain. In 1981, Art Carney portrayed Truman in the docudrama film St. Helens. He was commemorated in a book by his niece, and also in various pieces of music, including songs by Headgear, Billy Jonas, and Shawn Wright and the Brothers Band.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_R._Truman

Newly added to Digital Collections: Harry S. Truman Letters

July 14, 2020

Did you know that President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) was in correspondence with Melvin Maynard Johnson (1871-1957), the head of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction's Supreme Council during the 1940s and 1950s? A number of recently digitized letters, written from Truman to Johnson on White House stationery are available through the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives Digital Collections website. They reveal a friendly relationship, with President Truman beginning his letters to Johnson by addressing him "Dear Mel."

Truman became a Freemason in 1909. By 1940, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. In 1945, Truman was created a 33rd degree Sovereign Grand Inspector General in the Scottish Rite's Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction. That same year, the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, awarded Truman its first Gourgas Medal, the Supreme Council's highest honor.

The letters in this collection include both those from Harry Truman as well as one written by his wife, Bess Truman (1885-1982). The majority of the correspondence in this collection consists of letters written by President Harry S. Truman to his friend and fellow Freemason, Melvin Maynard Johnson (1871-1957). Johnson served as the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction's Sovereign Grand Commander from 1933 to 1953.

For more about the friendship between Truman and Johnson, have a look at one of our earlier blog posts, A Mason Answers His Country's Call and Receives the Scottish Rite's Highest Award.

There are now over 750 items in the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives Digital Collections website. Be sure to visit and check them all out!

Caption:

Letter from President Harry S. Truman to Melvin M. Johnson, 1948 August 3. Collection of Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Lexington, Massachusetts. SC069.

https://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/harry-s-truman/

Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the U.S. and 33rd degree Freemason, in full occult regalia, in an official lodge portrait. Truman ordered the atomic incineration of two Japanese cities, killing at least 150,000 people, mostly women and children. Roosevelt's chief of staff, Admiral Leahy, admitted to Walter Trohan of the Chicago Tribune, that Japan was ready to surrender conditionally without an invasion by U.S. ground forces. It was Truman's insistence upon "unconditional surrender" that set the stage for Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare 

by Michael A. Hoffman II

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 

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

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

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The 1960 Summer Olympics (Italian: Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad (Italian: Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 (Italian: Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awarded the administration of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, the city had no choice but to decline and pass the honour to London. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals at the 1960 Games.

The 1st Paralympic Games were held in Rome in conjunction with the 1960 Summer Olympics, marking the first time such events coincided.

Host city selection

On 15 June 1955, at the 50th IOC Session in Paris, France, Rome won the right to host the 1960 Games, having beaten Brussels, Mexico City, Tokyo, Detroit, Budapest and finally Lausanne. Tokyo and Mexico City would subsequently host the proceeding 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics respectively.[2]

Toronto was initially interested in the bidding, but was automatically removed from consideration when it failed to return the IOC's mandatory questionnaire by the deadline. The questionnaire may have been mislaid in the confusion following the death of the Toronto bid's chief organiser, Robert Hood Saunders, in a plane crash weeks before the deadline.[3] This was the first of five unsuccessful attempts by Toronto to secure the Summer Olympics, the most recent being a bid for the 2008 Games.[4]

Highlights

Swedish sprint canoeist Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title.

Fencer Aladár Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event.

The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds (see 1976 Summer Olympics).

The United States men's national basketball team—led by promising college players Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West—captured its fifth straight Olympic gold medal.

Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. Others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Kaori Icho, Mijaín López and, if the Intercalated (Interspaced) Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry.

German Armin Hary won the 100 metres in an Olympic record time of 10.2 seconds. American Dave Sime also ran 10.2 s in the final, but was credited with silver after a controversial video review.

Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track. She was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world".

Jeff Farrell won two gold medals in swimming. He underwent an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials.[6]

Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon barefooted to become the first African and Ethiopian Olympic champion.

18-year-old Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal. Ramon "Buddy" Carr was his coach.[7]

Herb Elliott of Australia won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history.

Rafer Johnson defeated his rival, fellow U.C.L.A. Bruin and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest Decathlon events in Olympic history.[8]

Lance Larson of the United States was controversially denied a 100 metres freestyle swimming gold, despite showing the best time.

16-years-old phenom Chris von Saltza won four medals in women's swimming, three of them gold.

The future Constantine II, last King of Greece (abdicated and ended hybrid monarchy, 1973) won his country a gold in sailing: dragon class.

The Pakistani Men's Field Hockey team broke a run of Indian team victories since 1928, defeating India in the final and winning Pakistan's first Olympic gold medal.

Wrestlers Shelby Wilson, and Doug Blubaugh, who wrestled together growing up, won gold medals in their respective weight classes.

Lowlights

Danish cyclist Knud Jensen collapsed during the 100km team race because of heat stroke and later died in the hospital. It was suspected that he had been under the influence of Roniacol, a blood circulation stimulant.[9] The International Olympic Committee stated on its website that "drugs were implicated, although that was never proven."[10] It was the second time (and as of 2024, the most recent) an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.[11]

Historical landmarks

South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, by when apartheid in sport was being abolished.

Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, which was to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self-government a year earlier. Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category, which was the first time (and the only time until 2008) that an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal.

Non-medal winners

Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target, and in doing so he dropped from second place to fourth.

Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela.

The future Queen Sofía of Spain represented her native Greece in sailing events.

Broadcasting

CBS paid US$394,000 (equivalent to $3.11 million in 2023) for the exclusive right to broadcast the Games in the United States. This was the first Summer Olympic games to be telecast in North America. In addition to CBS in the United States, the Olympics were telecast for the first time in Canada (on CBC Television) and in Mexico (through the networks of Telesistema Mexicano). Since television broadcast satellites were still two years into the future, CBS, CBC, and TSM shot and edited videotapes in Rome, fed the tapes to Paris where they were re-recorded onto other tapes which were then loaded onto jet planes to North America. Planes carrying the tapes landed at Idlewild Airport in New York City, where mobile units fed the tapes to CBS, to Toronto for the CBC, and to Mexico City for TSM. Despite this arrangement, many daytime events were broadcast in North America, especially on CBS and CBC, the same day they took place.[12]

Venues

Olympic Stadium2 (Stadio Olimpico) – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian events

Flaminio Stadium1 (Stadio Flaminio) – football finals

Swimming Stadium1 – swimming, diving, water polo, modern pentathlon (swimming)

Sports Palace1 (Palazzo dello sport) – basketball, boxing

Olympic Velodrome1 – cycling (track), field hockey

Small Sports Palace1 (Palazzetto dello Sport) – basketball, weightlifting

Marble Stadium2 (Stadio dei Marmi) – field hockey preliminaries

Baths of Caracalla – gymnastics

Basilica of Maxentius – wrestling

Palazzo dei Congressi – fencing

Umberto I Shooting Range1 – modern pentathlon (shooting), shooting (pistol/ rifle)

Roses Swimming Pool1 (Piscina delle Rose) – water polo

Lake Albano, Castelgandolfo – rowing, canoeing

Piazza di Siena, Villa Borghese gardens – equestrian (dressage, eventing – jumping, jumping – individual)

Pratoni del Vivaro, Rocca di Papa – equestrian (eventing)

Gulf of Naples, Naples – yachting

Communal Stadium, Florence – football/soccer preliminaries

Communal Stadium, Grosseto – football/soccer preliminaries

Communal Stadium, L'Aquila – football/soccer preliminaries

Ardenza Stadium, Livorno – football/soccer preliminaries

Adriatico Stadium, Pescara – football/soccer preliminaries

Saint Paul's Stadium, Naples – football/soccer preliminaries

Campo Tre Fontane – field hockey preliminaries

Acqua Santa Golf Club Course – modern pentathlon (running)

Arch of Constantine – athletics (marathon finish)

Cesano Infantry School Range – shooting (300 m free rifle)

Lazio Pigeon Shooting Stand – shooting (trap shotgun)

Passo Corese – modern pentathlon (riding)

Grande Raccordo Anulare – athletics (marathon)

Via Appian Antica – athletics (marathon)

Via Cassia – cycling (individual road race)

Via Flaminia – cycling (individual road race)

Via Cristoforo Colombo – athletics (marathon), cycling (road team time trial)

Via di Grottarossa – cycling (individual road race)

1 New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. 2 Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Games

Participating National Olympic Committees

A total of 83 nations participated at the Rome Games. Athletes from Morocco, San Marino, Sudan, and Tunisia competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Athletes from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would represent the new (British) West Indies Federation, competing as "Antilles", but this nation would only exist for this single Olympiad. Athletes from Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia competed under the Rhodesia name while representing the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany would compete as the United Team of Germany from 1956 to 1964. Athletes from the People's Republic of China last competed at the 1952 Summer Games but had since withdrawn from the Olympic movement due to a dispute with the Republic of China over the right to represent China.[13] The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that each country contributed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Summer_Olympics

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid033vjrEWit3uLHuJRcNqt9ULUvsGVaz5Wp7aMyQjYEwgu2LwUtW2u7ZJ7pBpPkw8d3l

Galatians 2

1599 Geneva Bible

2 1 That the Apostles did nothing disagree from his Gospel, 3 he declareth by the example of Titus being uncircumcised, 11 and also by his . . . the same against Peter’s dissimulation. 17 And so he passeth to the handling of our free justification by Christ, etc.

1 Then [a]fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took with me Titus also.

2 And I went up by revelation, and declared unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but particularly to them that were the chief, lest by any means I should run, or had run [b]in vain:

3 But neither yet Titus which was with me, though he were a Grecian, was compelled to be circumcised,

4 To wit, for the [c]false brethren which were craftily sent in, and crept in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.

5 To whom we gave not place by [d]subjection for an hour, that the [e]truth of the Gospel might continue with [f]you.

6 But by them which seemed to be great, I was not taught (whatsoever they were in time passed, I am nothing the better: God accepteth no man’s person) for they that are the chief, did add nothing to me above that I had.

7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the Gospel over the [g]uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel over the circumcision was unto Peter:

8 (For he that was mighty by Peter in the Apostleship over the circumcision, was also mighty by me toward the Gentiles.)

9 And when James, and Cephas, and John, knew of the grace that was given unto me, which are [h]counted to be pillars, they gave to me and to Barnabas the right [i]hands of fellowship, that we should preach unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision,

10 Warning only that we should remember the poor: which thing also I was diligent to do.

11 ¶ And when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to his [j]face: for he was to be condemned.

12 [k]For before that certain came from James, he ate with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

13 And the other Jews played the hypocrites likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas was [l]led away with them by that their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw, that they went not the [m]right way to the [n]truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before all men, If thou being a Jew, livest as the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, why [o]constrainest thou the Gentiles to do like the Jews?

15 [p]We which are Jews [q]by nature, and not [r]sinners of the Gentiles,

16 Know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith [s]of Jesus Christ, even we, I say, have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law, because that by the works of the Law, [t]no flesh shall be justified.

17 [u]If then while [v]we seek to be made righteous by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is Christ therefore the minister of sin? God forbid.

18 For if I build again the things that I have destroyed, I make myself a trespasser.

19 For I through the Law am dead to the [w]Law, that I might live unto God.

20 I am crucified with Christ, but I live, yet not [x]I anymore, but Christ liveth in me: and in that I now live in the [y]flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for me.

21 [z]I do not abrogate the grace of God: for if righteousness be by the Law, then Christ died without a [aa]cause.

Footnotes

Galatians 2:1 Now he showeth how he agreeth with the Apostles with whom he granteth that he conferred touching his Gospel which he taught among the Gentiles, fourteen years after his conversion, and they allowed it in such sort, that they constrained not his fellow Titus to be circumcised, although some tormented themselves therein, which traitorously laid wait against him, but in vain: neither did they add the least iota that might be to the doctrine which he had preached, but contrariwise they gave to him and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship and acknowledged them as Apostles appointed of the Lord to the Gentiles.

Galatians 2:2 Unfruitfully, for as touching his doctrine, Paul doubted not of it, but because there were certain reports cast abroad of him, that he was of another opinion than the rest of the Apostles were, which thing might have hindered the course of the Gospel, therefore he labored to remedy this sore.

Galatians 2:4 Which by deceit, and counterfeit holiness crept in amongst the faithful.

Galatians 2:5 By submitting ourselves to them, and betraying our own liberty.

Galatians 2:5 The true and sincere doctrine of the Gospel, which remained safe from being corrupt with any of these men’s false doctrines.

Galatians 2:5 Under the Galatians’ name, he understandeth all nations.

Galatians 2:7 Among the Gentiles, as Peter had to preach it among the Jews.

Galatians 2:9 Whom alone and only, these men count for pillars of the Church, and whose name they abuse to deceive you.

Galatians 2:9 They gave us their hand in token that we agreed wholly in the doctrine of the Gospel.

Galatians 2:11 Before all men.

Galatians 2:12 Another most vehement proof of his Apostleship, and also of that doctrine, which he had delivered concerning free justification by faith only because that for this thing only he reprehended Peter at Antioch, who offended herein, in that for a few Jews’ sakes which came from Jerusalem he played the Jew, and offended the Gentiles which had believed.

Galatians 2:13 By example rather than by judgment.

Galatians 2:14 Word for word, with a right foot which he setteth against halting and dissembling which is backward.

Galatians 2:14 He calleth the truth of the Gospel both the doctrine itself, and also the use of doctrine, which we call the practice.

Galatians 2:14 He saith they were constrained, which played the Jews by Peter’s example.

Galatians 2:15 The second part of this Epistle, the state whereof is this: we are justified by faith in Christ Jesus without the works of the Law: which thing he propoundeth in such sort, that first of all he meeteth with an objection, (for I also saith he am a Jew, that no man may say against me, that I am an enemy to the Law) and afterward, he confirmeth it by the express witness of David.

Galatians 2:15 Although we be Jews, yet we preach justification by faith because we know undoubtedly, that no man can be justified by the Law.

Galatians 2:15 So the Jews called the Gentiles, because they were strangers from God’s covenant.

Galatians 2:16 In Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:16 No man, and in this word (flesh) there is a great vehemence, whereby is meant that the nature of man is utterly corrupt.

Galatians 2:17 Before he goeth any further, he meeteth with their objection, which abhorred this doctrine of free justification by faith, because say they, men are by this means withdrawn from the study of good works. And in this sort is the objection, If sinners should be justified through Christ by faith without the Law Christ should approve sinners, and should as it were exhort them thereunto by his ministry. Paul answereth that this consequence is false, because that Christ destroyeth sin in the believers: For so saith he do men flee unto Christ, through the terror and fear of the Law that being quit from the curse of the Law and justified, they may be saved by him, that together therewithall, he beginneth in them by little and little, that strength and power of his which destroyeth sin: to the end that this old man being abolished by the virtue of Christ crucified, Christ may live in them, and they may consecrate themselves to God. Therefore if any man give himself to sin after he hath received the Gospel, let him not accuse Christ nor the Gospel, but himself, for that he destroyeth the work of God in himself.

Galatians 2:17 He goeth from justification to sanctification, which is another benefit we receive by Christ, if we lay hold on him by faith.

Galatians 2:19 The Law that terrifieth the conscience, bringeth us to Christ, and he only causeth us to die to the Law indeed, because that by making us righteous, he taketh away from us the terror of conscience, and by sanctifying us, causeth through the mortifying of lust in us, that it cannot take such occasion to sin by the restraint which the Law maketh, as it did before, Rom. 7:10-11.

Galatians 2:20 The same that I was before.

Galatians 2:20 In this mortal body.

Galatians 2:21 The second argument taken of an absurdity: If men may be justified by the Law, then was it not necessary for Christ to die.

Galatians 2:21 For there was no cause why he should do so.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%202&version=GNV

"We Are Fighting For Islam, and We Will SURELY Win!"

Saviors' Day 

Nation of Islam

In a letter to Believers, followers and friends of the Nation of Islam, read by Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan urges: “Hold fast to your faith and hold tightly to the plow of Islam as taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And remember these words, ‘We are fighting for Islam, and we will surely Win with our Saviour Allah, the Universal King. We are united with our Nation and called by His Name so let us Rise Ye Muslims and Fight for Your Own!’”

“May Allah’s Peace, Blessings and Protection be with us as we close this chapter of our struggle and open a new chapter which begins with our being in what is called the ‘HEREAFTER.’”

https://new.finalcall.com/2024/02/27/our-saviour-the-mahdi-and-the-messiah-opening-plenary-sets-the-stage-for-the-nation-of-islams-saviours-day-weekend/

SHIRLEY Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.

Temple began her film career in 1931 when she was three years old and was well-known for her performance in Bright Eyes, which was released in 1934. She won a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer in motion pictures during 1934 and continued to appear in popular films through the remainder of the 1930s, although her subsequent films became less popular as she grew older.[1] She appeared in her last film, A Kiss for Corliss, in 1949.[2][3]

She began her diplomatic career in 1969, when she was appointed to represent the U.S. at a session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she worked at the U.S. Mission under Ambassador Charles Yost. Later, she was named U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, and also served as the first female U.S. Chief of Protocol. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star.[4] After her biography was published, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989–1992).

Temple was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She is 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female American screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema.

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

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]

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.

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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

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

Insight: Trump's 2024 Red Wave Explained In Graphs, And Where Harris Fell Short

One place that helps illuminate Trump's decisive victory is Maverick County, Texas. Its shift was bigger than that of any other county in the nation: Trump won it with 59% of the vote - a 28-point swing from four years ago. The last Republican to win Maverick County was Herbert Hoover in 1928.

Gregory Korte, Bloomberg

World News

Nov 09, 2024 19:09 pm IST

From New York to the Rio Grande Valley, across big cities like Miami and San Francisco, in college towns and subdivision-dotted exurbs, the US electorate this year shifted unmistakably rightward.

You can see it if you zoom in on a place like Robeson County, North Carolina, a majority-minority county with the state's largest Native American population, which swung 9 points toward Donald Trump. You can see it if you zoom out, with the reliably blue state of New Jersey favoring Kamala Harris by just 5 points only four years after President Joe Biden won it in a 16-point rout.

The trend cut across demographic groups, with the heavily Arab American city of Dearborn, Michigan, giving a plurality of its votes to the Republican. Latino men backed Trump by a 12-point margin, according to CNN exit polls - an outcome that would've been unimaginable to strategists from both parties as recently as 2012, when the GOP lost the presidency and said in its own autopsy of the contest that non-White voters "think that Republicans do not like them."

The strength of the right was apparent up and down the ballot, with Republicans taking control of the Senate and appearing on the cusp of holding a narrow majority in the House. While the extent of the carnage is still being tallied, Democrats lost their majorities in the lower houses of the Michigan and Minnesota legislatures.

And the shift was so broad that it left Democrats with hardly any silver linings. After claiming the popular vote in every election since 2008 - and lamenting the Electoral College as a quirky obstacle to what would otherwise be an era of assured political dominance - the party looks poised to lose that, too.

That came despite Democrats outspending Republicans and knocking on millions more doors, and after Harris' star-studded endorsements and meticulous ground game, which in the end fell short as Trump closed the deal with Joe Rogan and Elon Musk. Ultimately, Harris' truncated 107-day campaign after Biden's sudden exit couldn't shake off voter anxiety over the direction of the country, especially the state of the economy and immigration.

"The Democratic Party just has to come to terms with the fact that we were rejected en masse at the national level by the American electorate," said Evan Roth Smith, a Democratic pollster.

BORDER COUNTIES

One place that helps illuminate Trump's decisive victory is Maverick County, Texas. Its shift was bigger than that of any other county in the nation: Trump won it with 59% of the vote - a 28-point swing from four years ago.

The last Republican to win Maverick County was Herbert Hoover in 1928.

Maverick, where nearly 90% of the population speaks Spanish at home, has large numbers of Latino voters. Trump won Latino men outright nationwide, and while Latino women still broke for Harris, the Republican chipped away at her party's advantage with them.

The map gives hints about the issues that drove the shift. Eight of the 10 US counties with the largest lurch to the right were in Texas - all of them along the Rio Grande River that separates the US from Mexico. Maverick is home to Eagle Pass, a hotspot for border crossings that Trump promised to shut down.

Both campaigns shelled out on ads aimed at Latino voters, with the percentage of presidential election ads running on Spanish-language television and radio stations hitting a record this year.

"These people have always been conservative, they have just never had anyone knocking on their door and saying it's ok to vote this way," said Abraham Enriquez, founder of Bienvenido US, a Republican advocacy group that targeted Latino voters in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Texas during the election.

Betty Silva, a New York voter and daughter of Puerto Rican parents, is one voter who put aside personal dislike of Trump and cast her ballot for him. When the Republican was president, she said, "I could afford stuff."

Trump's victory this time has shown Republicans that a winning coalition can be built around populist appeals to multi-ethnic, working-class voting blocs - and that his 2016 win was no fluke.

Still, it remains to be seen how enduring Trump's MAGA movement will be in 2028, when he will be constitutionally barred from a third term. After all, voters already rejected him in 2020 as the pandemic upended the economy.

HARRIS COLLAPSE

The story of the 2024 election is as much about a Harris collapse as it was a Trump surge. With Arizona and Nevada still to be called, but leaning Republican, Trump could get as many as 312 electoral votes if he completes the sweep of all seven battleground states. That's more than the victor received in the last two elections, but well short of a landslide by historical standards: Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all received more.

In states with mostly complete results, Trump improved over his 2020 vote totals in roughly equal proportions in battleground and non-battleground states.

But Harris can't say the same. As of early Friday morning, she was 84,227 votes behind Biden's pace in five battleground states - but 2.7 million votes behind in 29 other states with more than 98% of expected vote counted. As Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray noted, her vote totals suffered most in states where Democrats usually win - a sign of flagging enthusiasm from her base.

Arizona voter Jennifer Linzy couldn't get behind Harris because of the vice president's stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Linzy, a 39-year-old progressive, left a Phoenix polling station on Tuesday saying she only voted in down-ballot races. "This is the first time I've abstained in my entire adult life in a presidential election," she said.

Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, is on track to have a 20% increase in these presidential "undervotes" this year compared to last time.

Of the US counties with more than 98% of the expected vote counted as of 12:00 a.m. Friday, Trump had improved his vote share in 2,380 of them. Harris improved over Biden's 2020 mark in just 231 of them. Many of those were the Georgia and North Carolina counties hardest hit by September's Hurricane Helene, suppressing turnout.

In Monroe County, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the Pocono Mountains, New York City expatriates have shaded local politics blue for the last two decades. But after a 7-point shift to the right, Trump is winning the county by 900 votes.

Trump's showing, coupled with Republicans taking control of the Senate and on track to keep the House, will give him a strong hand in negotiating with Congress on taxes, spending, immigration and trade. He's shown a willingness to use his endorsement to impose party discipline, giving him considerable influence over leadership in Congress.

And he's already appointed three justices to the Supreme Court in his first term - creating a six to three conservative majority - and with three justices in their 70s, he could have a chance to nominate even more.

"Voters of the United States of America decisively said we are not happy with what we've received under the Biden presidency, and we're ready to go in a different direction," said Jay Townsend, a bipartisan political consultant.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/insight-donald-trumps-2024-red-wave-explained-in-graphs-and-where-harris-fell-short-6981103

Name

Æthelred's first name, composed of the elements æðele, "noble", and ræd, "counsel, advice",[2] is typical of the compound names of those who belonged to the royal House of Wessex, and it characteristically alliterates with the names of his ancestors, like Æthelwulf ("noble-wolf"), Ælfred ("elf-counsel"), Eadweard ("rich-protection"), and Eadgar ("rich-spear").[3]

Æthelred's notorious nickname, Old English Unræd, is commonly translated into present-day English as "The Unready" (less commonly but more accurately "The Redeless").[n 2] The Anglo-Saxon noun unræd means "evil counsel", "bad plan", or "folly".[4] It was most often used in reference to decisions and deeds, but once in reference to the ill-advised disobedience of Adam and Eve. The element ræd in unræd is the same element in Æthelred's name that means "counsel" (compare the cognate in the German word Rat and Dutch raad). Thus Æþelræd Unræd is an oxymoron: "Noble counsel, No counsel". The nickname has also been translated as "ill-advised", "ill-prepared", thus "Æthelred the ill-advised".[5]

Because the nickname was first recorded in the 1180s, more than 150 years after Æthelred's death, it is doubtful that it carries any implications as to the reputation of the king in the eyes of his contemporaries or near contemporaries.[6][n 3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelred_the_Unready

The noble gases (historically the inert gases, sometimes referred to as aerogens[1]) are the members of group 18 of the periodic table: helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), radon (Rn) and, in some cases, oganesson (Og). Under standard conditions, the first six of these elements are odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low chemical reactivity and cryogenic boiling points. The properties of the seventh, unstable, element, Og, are uncertain.

The intermolecular force between noble gas atoms is the very weak London dispersion force, so their boiling points are all cryogenic, below 165 K (−108 °C; −163 °F).[2]

The noble gases' inertness, or tendency not to react with other chemical substances, results from their electron configuration: their outer shell of valence electrons is "full", giving them little tendency to participate in chemical reactions. Only a few hundred noble gas compounds are known to exist. The inertness of noble gases makes them useful whenever chemical reactions are unwanted. For example, argon is used as a shielding gas in welding and as a filler gas in incandescent light bulbs. Helium is used to provide buoyancy in blimps and balloons. Helium and neon are also used as refrigerants due to their low boiling points. Industrial quantities of the noble gases, except for radon, are obtained by separating them from air using the methods of liquefaction of gases and fractional distillation. Helium is also a byproduct of the mining of natural gas. Radon is usually isolated from the radioactive decay of dissolved radium, thorium, or uranium compounds.

The seventh member of group 18 is oganesson, an unstable synthetic element whose chemistry is still uncertain because only five very short-lived atoms (t1/2 = 0.69 ms) have ever been synthesized (as of 2020[3]). IUPAC uses the term "noble gas" interchangeably with "group 18" and thus includes oganesson;[4] however, due to relativistic effects, oganesson is predicted to be a solid under standard conditions and reactive enough not to qualify functionally as "noble".[3]

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

According to ancient and medieval science, aether (/ˈiːθər/, alternative spellings include æther, aither, and ether), also known as the fifth element or quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.[1] The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain several natural phenomena, such as the propagation of light and gravity. In the late 19th century, physicists postulated that aether permeated space, providing a medium through which light could travel in a vacuum, but evidence for the presence of such a medium was not found in the Michelson–Morley experiment, and this result has been interpreted to mean that no luminiferous aether exists.[2]

The word αἰθήρ (aithḗr) in Homeric Greek means "pure, fresh air" or "clear sky".[3] In Greek mythology, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the air breathed by mortals.[4] It is also personified as a deity, Aether, the son of Erebus and Nyx in traditional Greek mythology.[5] Aether is related to αἴθω "to incinerate",[6] and intransitive "to burn, to shine" (related is the name Aithiopes (Ethiopians; see Aethiopia), meaning "people with a burnt (black) visage").[7][8]

Aether (classical element) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)

Malcolm Little, alias “Malcolm X,” 1925 – 1965

Unknowingly controlled by the Order through the mulatto and “the honorable” Elijah Muhammad—the absolute Masonic dictator of the Nation of Islam (NOI) who was the obedient servant of the White Archbishop of Chicago, Albert Cardinal Meyer and later John Cardinal Cody—Malcolm bore all the marks of a Jesuit agitator including his detestation of Jews, White Anglo Saxon Protestants, the U.S. Constitution and the King James Bible. Surnamed “Big Red” due to his reddish-brown hair inherited from a White forefather, Malcolm’s racial views had been born out of deplorable crimes of White Catholic and White Masonic violence, including intolerable, hate-filled racism experienced in the Northern, Mafia-dominated, Jesuit-controlled, White Roman Catholic cities of Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., as well as the Second Ku Klux Klan’s gruesome murder of his father, Earl Little—an influential Baptist preacher and an outspoken advocate of Marcus Garvey’s Back-to-Africa Movement. In opposition to the Jesuit Order’s intended plan for a totally integrated North America thereby destroying the “heretic and liberal” White races, both Garvey and Malcolm seriously pursued the same policy of final separation and repatriation, as did Presidents Jefferson, Monroe and Lincoln. Malcolm advocated that Blacks should break away from Whites either by returning to Africa or by establishing a separate Black North American nation, which indeed is the correct and Biblical solution to the Black Pope’s international anti-White, Negro Agitation! Upon publicizing Elijah Muhammad’s fathering of nine illegitimate children to six teenage girls, and for exposing the collusion between the NOI and KKK leaders (whose cooperative extremism created “collective guilt” among all Whites—cunningly calculated to unite Catholics and Protestants pursuant to the ecumenical doctrines of the Second Vatican Council while destroying the God-given preference to one’s own race thus ensuring the success of the Civil Rights Movement), Malcolm became a threat to the Black Pope’s NOI and was silenced for ninety days. This resulted in his trip to Mecca during which: he was carefully watched by Cardinal Spellman’s CIA; he was converted to Orthodox Islam in spite of the brutal enslavement of African Blacks by Arab Muslims for centuries; he ceased to advocate Black separatism; and he finally broke with the NOI’s Masonic leadership which included FBI informers Wallace Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan. The eloquent and independent Malcolm X who was now preaching against the NOI could not be allowed to live, as the genocidal race-mixing plot of the Order’s Socialist-Communist Second Reconstruction, led by the wicked Black Martin Luther (Lucifer) King, Jr., championing the Order’s doctrine of “universal equality” as perfected on the Reductions of Paraguay, could not be allowed to fail again. Therefore, Malcolm became another victim of the Order’s Jesuit Oath and “leaden bullet,” savagely shot down on stage at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom by three NOI assassins, all of whom were aided by Cardinal Spellman’s CIA, FBI and New York City police.

Vatican Assassins Wounded In The House of My Friends by Eric Jon Phelps

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQl1CmWeLL87RWVtzKttGFKm0frSNR8D/view?usp=sharing 

The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957[1] and aired December 8 of that year.[2][3] Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk.

Its local re-broadcast in 2004[4] and appearance in the on-line Prelinger Archives attracted interest among local history buffs due to its extensive outside shots of the city, and the use of non-actor participants (local officials and broadcasters). Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture.[2]

On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight",[5][6] and the film is often misattributed to that year. Ford's narration, however, does make direct reference to the 1955 exercise."

The Day Called 'X' - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Called_%27X%27

"Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (Latin for To the Government of the Church Militant) was the papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, which gave a first approval to the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, but limited the number of its members to sixty."

Regimini militantis Ecclesiae - Wikipedia

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

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. "

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

Mallotus philippensis is a plant in the spurge family. It is known as the kamala tree or red kamala or kumkum tree, due to the fruit covering, which produces a red dye. However, it must be distinguished from kamala meaning "lotus" in many Indian languages, an unrelated plant, flower, and sometimes metonymic spiritual or artistic concept. Mallotus philippensis has many other local names. This kamala often appears in rainforest margins. Or in disturbed areas free from fire, in moderate to high rainfall areas.

It occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as Afghanistan and Australia. The southernmost limit of natural distribution is Mount Keira, south of Sydney. The species name refers to the type specimen being collected in the Philippines, where it is known as banato.

Description

A bush to small or medium-sized tree, up to 25 metres tall and a trunk diameter of 40 cm. The trunk is fluted and irregular at the base. The grey bark is smooth, or with occasional wrinkles or corky bumps. Small branches are greyish brown in colour, with rusty covered small hairs towards the end. Leaf scars evident.

Leaves are opposite on the stem, ovate to oblong in shape. 4 to 12 cm long, 2 to 7 cm wide with a long pointed tip. The upper surface is green without hairs, the underside pale grey in colour. With a magnifying glass, small red glands may be visible. Leaf stems 2 to 5 cm long, somewhat thickened at both ends. The first leaf vein on either side of the mid rib extends from the leaf base, to over half the length of the leaf. Veins raised and evident under the leaf.

Flowers, fruit and regeneration

Yellow-brown flowers form on racemes. Racemes up to 6 cm long. Male and female flowers grow on separate trees. New South Wales flowering period is from June to November. Flowering period in the Philippines is March to April. Fruit may appear at any time of the year, three months or so after flowering. Usually a three lobed capsule, 6 to 9 mm broad, covered in red powdery substance. This is soluble in alcohol, which produces a golden red dye suited to colouring of silk and wool.[1] One small black globular seed in each of the three parts of the capsule, seeds 2 to 3 mm in diameter.

Fresh seed is advised for germination.

It is a moderately growing tree.[2]

Uses

Mallotus philippensis is used to produce yellow dye and herbal remedies.[3] It produces rottlerin, a potent large conductance potassium channel opener.[citation needed]

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

The name Monita has its roots in India and is derived from the Sanskrit word manita, which means 'honored' or 'respected.' This ancient name reflects the cultural traditions and values of Indian society, where respect and honor hold great significance. Monita has been prominent in Indian history since ancient times, often given to those who were esteemed for their noble character and high social standing. In historical texts and scriptures, the name Monita is often associated with individuals who were recognized for their wisdom, integrity, and leadership qualities.

In modern-day usage, the name Monita continues to evoke a sense of honor and respect. It is a popular name choice among families who value tradition and wish to bestow upon their child a name that reflects these virtues. Monita is often given to female children, symbolizing the strength and dignity they possess. In some cases, the name Monita is also used as a name, further emphasizing the family's heritage and the importance they place on respect and honor.

Overall, the name Monita has a rich history rooted in Indian culture and embodies the values of honor and respect. From ancient times to the present day, this name has stood as a testament to the qualities that society holds in high regard and continues to be cherished by families who wish to pass on these values to future generations.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/monita 

Monita

A Latin word meaning "instructions":

Monita, work by Abbot Porcarius I of Lérins (c. 500)

Monita Secreta, an alleged code of instructions of the Jesuits

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

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]

Etymology

Part of a series on

Shaktism

History

Deities

Scriptures and texts

Schools

Scholars

Practices

Festivals and temples

Regional variations

 Hinduism portal

vte

Devi and deva are Sanskrit terms found in Vedic literature around the 3rd millennium BCE. Deva is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi.[4] Monier-Williams translates it as 'heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones'.[5][6] Etymologically, a cognate of devi is Latin dea.[7] When capitalised, Devi maata refers to the mother goddess in Hinduism.[8] Deva is short for devatā and devi for devika.[5]

According to Douglas Harper, the etymological root dev- means "a shining one", from *div-, "to shine", it is an Indo-European cognate of the Greek dios, Gothic divine and Latin deus (Old Latin deivos); see also *Dyēus.[9]

A synonym for the word Devi in the Vedas is Bhagavati. Bhagavatī (Devanagari: भगवती, IAST: Bhagavatī), is an Indian epithet of Sanskrit origin, used as an honorific title for goddesses in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, it is primarily used to address the goddesses Lakshmi and Durga. In Buddhism, it is used to refer to several Mahayana Buddhist female deities, like Cundā.[10]

History

The worship of Devi-like deities dates back to period of Indus Valley civilisation.[11][12]

The Devīsūkta of the Rigveda (10.125.1 to 10.125.8) is among the most studied hymns declaring that the ultimate reality is a goddess:[13][14]

I have created all worlds at my will without being urged by any higher Being, and dwell within them. I permeate the earth and heaven, and all created entities with my greatness and dwell in them as eternal and infinite consciousness.

— Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.8, Translated by June McDaniel[15][16]

The Vedas name numerous cosmic goddesses such as Devi (power), Prithvi (earth), Aditi (cosmic moral order), Vāc (sound), Nirṛti (destruction), Ratri (night) and Aranyani (forest); bounty goddesses such as Dinsana, Raka, Puramdhi, Parendi, Bharati and Mahi are among others are mentioned in the Rigveda.[2]: 6–17, 55–64  However, the goddesses are not discussed as frequently as gods (devas).[2] Devi appears in late Vedic texts dated to be pre-Buddhist, but verses dedicated to her do not suggest that her characteristics were fully developed in the Vedic era.[2]: 18–19  All gods and goddesses are distinguished in Vedic times,[2]: 18  but in post-Vedic texts, particularly in the early medieval era literature, they are ultimately seen as aspects or manifestations of one Devi, the Supreme Power.[17]

Devi is the supreme being in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism; in the Smarta tradition, she is one of the five primary forms of Brahman that is revered.[18][19] In other Hindu traditions, Devi embodies the active energy and power of Deva, and they always appear together complementing each other. Examples of this are Parvati with Shiva in Shaivism, Saraswati with Brahma in Brahmanism and Lakshmi with Vishnu, Sita with Rama and Radha with Krishna in Vaishnavism.[20][21][22]

Devi-inspired philosophy is propounded in many Hindu texts such as the Devi Upanishad, which teaches that Shakti is essentially Brahman (ultimate metaphysical Reality) and that from her arises prakṛti (matter) and purusha (consciousness) and that she is bliss and non-bliss, the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the unborn and all of the universe. Shakti is Parvati, Shiva’s wife. [23] She is also mentioned as the creative power of Shiva in Tripura Upanishad, Bahvricha Upanishad and Guhyakali Upanishad.[13]

Devi identifies herself in the Devi Upanishad as Brahman in her reply to the gods stating that she rules the world, blesses devotees with riches, that she is the supreme deity to whom all worship is to be offered and that she infuses Ātman in every soul.[23] Devi asserts that she is the creator of earth and heaven and resides there.[13] Her creation of the sky as father and the seas as the mother is reflected as the 'Inner Supreme Self'.[13] Her creations are not prompted by any higher being and she resides in all her creations. She is, states Devi, the eternal and infinite consciousness engulfing earth and heaven, and 'all forms of bliss and non-bliss, knowledge and ignorance, Brahman and Non-Brahman'. The tantric aspect in Devi Upanishad, says June McDaniel, is the usage of the terms yantra, bindu, bija, mantra, shakti and chakra.[13]

Among the major world religions, the concept of Goddess in Hinduism as the divine feminine has had the strongest presence since ancient times.[24]

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

Kamala Devi Harris (English: /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ,[1] 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 presidential nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in the United States Senate. Before that, she was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.

Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.

Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.

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

XLI

THE GODDESS OF FREEMASONRY-THE

WIDOW

PAGAN RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT TIMES HAD NO god without a goddess. If as we have seen Masonry is a modern 'caricature' of the ancient Barbêlônian and Eqyptian rites, then we should expect to find a goddess in Masonry.

Masons describe themselves in their literature as sons of the Widow'. Who is this Widow? And who is the Son?" The following question and answer explanation from Duane Washum, a Past

for the whole history of Manes rests on legends-, was born in The son of the Widow, a man called Manes, according to the legend- Babylonia about the year A.D. 216, and a slave who was redeemed from slavery by a rich Persian widow who freed and adopted him, thus making him the "son of the widow" a name which after him passed to the nich old woman the books of a Saracen named Scythianus (a all his followers and is still used in Masonic Lodges. He inherited from Combining the doctrines these books contained" [Nesta H. Webster, student of an Aristotle's teachings) on the wisdom of the Egyptians.

295

SHALL I BE A MASON?

concerning her, Isis is said to have conjured the invincible God of Eternities, Ra, to tell her his secret and sacred name, which he did. This name is equivalent to the Lost Word of Masonry." Thus Hall links Iss worship to Masonry. He intimates that Isis is the holder of the sacred name of Ra, the "ineffable name" of the god of Masonry (Abaddon, Apollyon, or Jahbulon).

Who as Isis? Isis was the Venus of Cyprus, the Minerva of Athens, the Cybele of the Phrygians, the Ceres of Eleusis, the Proserpine of Sicily, the Diana of Crete, the Bellona of the Romans, etc. And like the worhsippers of Isis, Freemasons in their ceremonies and initiations perform "the most abominable impurities," and those "initiated into them" are "obliged to take an oath of secrecy."

Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, p. 108.] Manicheism is the religion of the followers of Manes.

Edith Starr Miller Paget Queenborough (Baroness), Occult Theocrasy. Volumes 1-2. According to the Greek accounts, the immediate author of the new doctrines was not Manes, but Scythianus, a Saracen merchant, who in his distant journeys became acquainted with the Oriental and Greek philosophies. His heir and disciple was Terebinthus, who named himself Buddha, and boasted that he had been born of a virgin. The widow of Terebinthus appointed, as her heir, her slave Cubricus, acquainted with Christianity, he infused many ideas borrowed from it into his own system, that he might make it more acceptable to the Christians. These innovations in religion drew upon him a persecution in his native land, and he, therefore, retired to countries more to the east, to Hindostan, Turkestan, and Rhatai, the north of China. He returned to Persia; and he was executed by command of the schach, in 277: see, Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger, A history of the church Volume 1 (London: Published By C. Dolman, 61, New Bond Street, And By T. Jones, 63, Paternoster Row. 1840), p. 155.

Nesta H. Webster, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements. (Boswell: Palmdale, Calif., 1824).

Duane Washum may be reached at the following address: In Search of Light Ministries, Box 28702 Las Vegas, Nevada 89126, USA

Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, Companion to The Secret Teachings All Ages (New York Tarcher/Penguin Group, 2005), originally published

1929

Only at the level, or degree of The Royal Arch is where the Masonic "true ineffable name of god-Jahbulon, is conveyed.

Encyclopaedia Perthesis, or, Universal dictionary of Knowledge (With Supp. nd edition (EDINBURGH: John Brown, Anchor Close, 1816), p

364

1. Ibid, p. 363.

296

The Goddess of Freemasonry-The Widow'

Be of Secrecy and Goddess Fides

"Masonry," writes Freemason Robert Freke Gould, "is... the direct scendant, or as a survival of the mysteries... of ISIS AND OSIRIS in Sp.... Hence in the Master Mason degree, the All-seeing Eye is a ost important symbolism, representing the false Egyptian trinity of sins, Isis and Horus.

And Albert Pike confirms: "Masonry still retains among its emblems e of a woman [Isis] weeping over a broken column, holding in her d a branch of acacia, myrtle, or tamarisk... We need not repeat the pid and trivial explanation... given, of THIS REPRESENTATION OF IS, weeping at Byblos, over the column torn from the palace of the that contained the body of Osiris...."

The conclusion of the matter? The goddess of Freemasonry is Isis. ovanously called by the ancient Romans: Minerva, Venus (or Al zza in Islam), Aurora (the goddess who rode on a car drawn by four s), Diana (Artemis), or Diana Lucifera-being the feminine of ader (a statue of her is still housed, to this day, in the Vatican"). In

Robert Freke Gould (Past Senior Grand Deacon of England, Master of tuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076), History of Freemasonry, Its etiquities, Symbols, Constitutions, Customs, Vol. 1 (New York: John C.

forston & Co., Publishers, 1884) p. 13.

Morals and Dogma, op. cit., p. 379.

ol 4, op. cit., p. 74,

3.0. Heck, Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature, and Art, Camera di San Paolo (London: The Warburg Institute, Uni. of London, See, Erwin Panofsky, E. H. Gombrich, The Iconography of Correggio's 1961), H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic London: Thames and Hudson, 1981), pp. 97, 107.

297

SHALL I BE A MASON?

other cultures this same goddess was called Astarte, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Ishtar, Venus, Artemis, Lilith, Minerva, ISIS, Kwan-yin, Demeter, Gaia, Luna, Hectate, Aphrodite, Shing Moo, HOLY MOTHER, Shakti, Hera, Innanna, Kali (Dark Mother), Juno, Sophia, Ceres, Cybele, Persephone, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and Mary-It is for this reason that in ancient Egypt, Isis (Virgo, the Queen of Heaven) was known as the "goddess of a thousand names," and the Initiator into the Sexual Mysteries.

But by whatever name she is termed, she is the same still: Diana Lucifera! A female demon!

The venerated historian Mosheim confirms that 'Mary,' is the same as the Masonic Isis: "they transferred to the Virgin Mary the worship and offerings they had been accustomed to pay to the "Queen of Heaven"-the... Mother of the Babylonian false Messiah, worshipped throughout the ancient heathen world under the various names of Venus, Astarte or Ashtoreth, Juno, Diana, Vesta, Ceres, Cybele, Rhea..." (Mosheim, Ecel. Hist., vol. i, p. 410, quoting Schlegel).

And Alexander Hislop's The Two Babylons adds these facts And Alexander Hislop's The Two Babylons adds these facts:

The Babylonians, in their popular religion, supremely worshipped a Goddess Mother and a Son.... Beltis, therefore, as the title of the female divinity, was equivalent to "Baalti," which, in English, is "My Lady," in Latin, "Mea Domina,"... in Italian... corrupted into the well-known "[Black, or Dark] Madonna.

13 A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, or The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife (London: Houlston & Wright, 1862 edn.), p. 29. You can download the book from our site: www.luxverb.org.uk/arch/e-books_on_romanism vs protestantism.htm

298

Reader, after all of the revelations found in this book, who but a.... or will be a Mason?

Shall I Be A Mason? Life or Death...

by P.D. Stuart

Genesis 3

1599 Geneva Bible

3 1 The woman seduced by the serpent, 6 enticeth her husband to sin. 8 They both flee from God. 14 They three are punished. 15 Christ is promised. 19 Man is dust. 22 Man is cast out of Paradise.

1 Now the serpent was more [a]subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made: and he [b]said to the woman, Yea, hath God indeed said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, [c]lest ye die.

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not [d][e]die at all,

5 But God doth know that when ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, [f]knowing good and evil.

6 So the woman (seeing that the tree was good for meat, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired, to get knowledge) took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her, and he [g]did eat.

7 Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they [h]knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made themselves [i]breeches.

8 ¶ Afterward they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the [j]cool of the day, and the man and his wife [k]hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 Who said, I heard thy voice in the garden and was afraid: because I was [l]naked, therefore I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 Then the man said, The woman which thou [m]gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, Why hast thou done this? And the woman said, [n]The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 ¶ Then the Lord God said to the serpent, [o]Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and [p]dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

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.

16 ¶ Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy [t]sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 ¶ Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) [u]cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

18 [v]Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.

20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God [w]make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 ¶ And the Lord God said, [x]Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and [y]take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.

24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Footnotes

Genesis 3:1 As Satan can change himself into an Angel of light, so did he abuse the wisdom of the serpent to deceive man.

Genesis 3:1 God suffered Satan to make the serpent his instrument and to speak in him.

Genesis 3:3 In doubting of God’s threatenings she yielded to Satan.

Genesis 3:4 This is Satan’s chiefest subtlety, to cause us not to fear God’s threatenings.

Genesis 3:4 Hebrew, die the death.

Genesis 3:5 As though he should say, God doth not forbid you to eat of the fruit, save that he knoweth that if ye should eat thereof, ye should be like to him.

Genesis 3:6 Not so much to please his wife, as moved by ambition at her persuasion.

Genesis 3:7 They began to feel their misery, but they sought not to God for remedy.

Genesis 3:7 Hebrew, things to gird about them to hide their privities.

Genesis 3:8 Or, wind.

Genesis 3:8 The sinful conscience fleeth God’s presence.

Genesis 3:10 His hypocrisy appeareth in that he hid the cause of his nakedness, which was the transgression of God’s commandment.

Genesis 3:12 His wickedness and lack of true repentance appeareth in this that he burdeneth God with his fault, because he had given him a wife.

Genesis 3:13 Instead of confessing her sin, she increaseth it by accusing the serpent.

Genesis 3:14 He asked the reason of Adam and his wife, because he would bring them to repentance, but he asketh not the serpent, because he would show him no mercy.

Genesis 3:14 As a vile and contemptible beast, Isa. 65:25.

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.

Genesis 3:16 The Lord comforteth Adam by the promise of the blessed seed, and also punisheth the body for the sin which the soul should have been punished for; that the spirit having conceived hope of forgiveness, might live by faith.

Genesis 3:17 The transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse.

Genesis 3:18 These are not the natural fruits of the earth, but proceed of the corruption of sin.

Genesis 3:21 Or, gave them knowledge to make themselves coats.

Genesis 3:22 By this derision he reproacheth Adam’s misery, whereinto he was fallen by ambition.

Genesis 3:22 Adam deprived of life, lost also the sign thereof.

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

At least some deities received daily offerings of bread or flour, as attested in Hattusa and Nuzi.[62] One well known type of Hurrian offerings was keldi, translated as "peace offering"[137] or "goodwill offering."[138] It is also assumed that many monthly or seasonal festivals were observed by Hurrians, but very few of them are well documented, one exception being the hišuwa festival from Kizzuwatna, possibly originally celebrated in Syria.[62] It was meant to guarantee good fortune for the royal couple.[139] Deities who received offering during it included "Teššub Manuzi," Lelluri, Allani, Išḫara, two manifestations of Nupatik (pibithi - "of Pibid(a)" and zalmathi - "of Zalman(a)/Zalmat") and the Anatolian goddess Maliya.[139] Another Kizzuwatnean festival, which was dedicated to Išḫara, took place in autumn.[140]

A Hurrian ritual calendar is attested in documents from Nuzi.[141] In the earliest sources from the third millennium BCE, when the city was known as Gasur, the local calendar was similar to these from Ebla, Mari, Abu Salabikh and Eshnunna, and the month names used at the time originate in Semitic languages.[142] However, after Hurrians settled in the city, they started to use one of their own, which in some cases could be combined with the old calendar, as evidenced by a document combining month names from both into a sequence.[141] The Hurrian month names in Nuzi were Impurtanni, Arkuzzi, Kurilli, Šeḫali ša dIM (the logogram stands for the name of the god Teššub, while šeḫali might mean "festival"), Šeḫali ša Nergal, Attanašwe, Šeḫlu (followed by a month whose name is not preserved), Ḫuru, Mitirunni (mitirunnu was a festival involving a parade of divine statues) and Ḫutalši.[143] Only the names of a few of the etymologically non-Hurrian months are preserved: Ḫiaru (second; the name refers to a festival also known from northern and western Mesopotamia), Ḫinzuru (third), Tamūzu (fourth), Ulūlu (sixth), Sabūtu (seventh, as indicated by the name), Kinūnu (ninth; the name refers to a festival focused on a ritual brazier), Ḫegalla, Qarrāti and Ḫamannu (position in the calendar unknown).[144] Some Hurrian month names, including a possible cognate of Attanašwe, Atanatim, are also known from Alalakh.[145]

It is possible that Attanašwe, "month of the fathers," was connected to the cult of deceased ancestors, which is well documented in Nuzi.[34] Families apparently owned figurines representing their spirits.[34] In the west, references to "gods of the fathers," enna attanewena, can be found,[146] but it is not clear if they refer to similar customs,[34] and it is possible this term instead referred to nebulously defined ancestors of deities.[147] Funerary rites and other burial practices are poorly represented in known sources.[148] It possible that the term karašk-, known from one of Tushratta's letters to the Egyptian pharaoh referred to a type of mausoleum meant to honor a deceased relative.[148] A single text from Ugarit alludes to the dead being led to their destination by Nupatik, seemingly acting as a psychopomp in this case.[149]

Ritual texts are commonly accompanied by instructions pertaining to music which was supposed to be performed during celebrations, both choral and instrumental.[150] While some contain what is most likely the oldest instance of written musical notation, its decipherment is difficult.[151] One well known example of such a Hurrian hymn comes from Ugarit and is dedicated to Nikkal.[152] A genre of Hurrian songs whose name, zinzabuššiya, is derived from that of an unidentified bird, was associated with the worship of Šauška according to Hittite documents.[96]

Divination is well attested as an element of Hurrian religious practice.[153] Its most commonly employed method combined an inquiry aimed at a specific deity with extispicy, the examination of an animal's entrails.[64] Hepatoscopy, or examination of the liver, is mentioned particularly often.[154] A similar practice is known from Mesopotamia, where the examination of a sheep's liver was commonly understood as a way to gain answers to questions directed as the gods Shamash and Adad.[64] A method of divination involving a specific type of bird, the mušen hurri (Akkadian: "the cave bird" or perhaps "the Hurrian bird," possibly a shelduck or rock partridge) is also known, but it remains uncertain what this procedure entailed.[154]

Hurrian incantations are also well known, though they are often difficult to interpret, and many known examples are unprovenanced.[155] They were imported into Mari and Babylonia as early as in the Old Babylonian period.[155] A well-preserved corpus of such texts is also known from Hattusa.[155] Kizzuwatna was most likely the source of many incantations and other similar formulas.[155] Two examples are the itkalzi ("mouth-washing"[156]) and itkahi series of purification rituals.[155] It has been argued that the former most likely reflect a Mitanni tradition.[157]

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

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Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (27 April 1941 – 20 October 2024) was a Turkish Muslim scholar, preacher, and leader of the Gülen movement[8][9] who as of 2016 had millions of followers.[10] Gülen was an influential neo-Ottomanist,[11] Anatolian panethnicist,[clarification needed][12][13] Islamic poet, writer,[14] social critic, and activist–dissident developing a Nursian theological perspective[15] that embraces democratic modernity.[13] Gülen was a local state imam from 1959 to 1981[16][17] and he was a citizen of Turkey until his denaturalization by the Turkish government in 2017.[18] Over the years, Gülen became a centrist political figure in Turkey prior to his being there as a fugitive. From 1999 until his death in 2024, Gülen lived in self-exile in the United States near Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.[19][20][21]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fethullah_G%C3%BClen

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Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

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

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

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

The lamentations of Isis were so terrible that one of the royal children died of fright. Isis then brought the chest by ship to Egypt, where she opened it and embraced the body of her husband, weeping bitterly. Then she sought her son, Horus, in Lower Egypt, first having hidden the chest in a secret place. But one night Set, hunting by the light of the moon, found the chest, and, recognizing the body, tore it into FOURTEEN pieces, which he scattered up and down throughout the land. When Isis heard of this, she took a boat and gathered the fragments of Osiris's body. Wherever she found one, there she built a tomb.

https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100255831

"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]"

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

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

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

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

20. It is better and safer to make alliance and amity with [Moslem] Turks, [Communist] Infidels, or [Talmudic and anti-Torah, Zionist] Jews, than with [Reformation Bible-believing] Heretic Protestants [and Baptists], because they may draw us into the errors of their novelties. {1}

Absolutist Papal Maxims of the Jesuits

Qetesh (also Qodesh, Qadesh, Qedesh, Qetesh, Kadesh, Kedesh, Kadeš or Qades /ˈkɑːdɛʃ/) was a goddess who was incorporated into the ancient Egyptian religion in the late Bronze Age. Her name was likely developed by the Egyptians based on the Semitic root Q-D-Š meaning 'holy' or 'blessed,'[2] attested as a title of El and possibly Athirat and a further independent deity in texts from Ugarit.[3]

Due to lack of clear references to Qetesh as a distinct deity in Ugaritic and other Syro-Palestinian sources, she is considered an Egyptian deity influenced by religion and iconography of Canaan by many modern researchers, rather than merely a Canaanite deity adopted by the Egyptians (examples of which include Reshef and Anat)[4][5]

Character

In Egyptian religion, the functions of Qetesh are hard to determine due to lack of direct references, but her epithets (especially the default one, "lady of heaven") might point at an astral character, and lack of presence in royal cult might mean that she was regarded as a protective goddess mostly by commoners. Known sources do not associate her with fertility or sex, and theories presenting her as a "sacred harlot" are regarded as obsolete in modern scholarship due to lack of evidence.[6]

Her epithets include "Mistress of All the Gods", "Lady of the Stars of Heaven", "Beloved of Ptah", "Great of magic, mistress of the stars", and "Eye of Ra, without her equal".[7] A connection with Ptah or Ra evident in her epithets is also known from Egyptian texts about Anat and Astarte.[8][9]

Iconography

Stele of Qetesh / Kadesh, Dynasty XIX (1292–1186 BC), Museo Egizio

Qetesh wearing the headdress of Hathor and standing on a lion; she holds a lotus flower and a snake and is flanked by Min on the left and Resheph on the right (Louvre).

On a stele representing the deity, Qetesh is depicted as a frontal nude (an uncommon motif in Egyptian art, though not exclusively associated with her), wearing a Hathor wig and standing on a lion, between Min and the Canaanite warrior god Resheph. She holds a snake in one hand and a bouquet of lotus or papyrus flowers in the other.[10][11]

Origin

Early researchers attempted to prove Qetesh was simply a form of a known Canaanite deity, rather than a fully independent goddess. William F. Albright proposed in 1939 that she was a form of the "lady of Byblos" (Baalat Gebal), while René Dussard suggested a connection to "Asherat" (e.g. the biblical Asherah) in 1941. Subsequent studies tried to find further evidence for equivalence of Qetesh and Asherah, despite dissimilar functions and symbols.[12]

The arguments presenting Qetesh and Asherah as the same goddess rely on the erroneous notion that Asherah, Astarte and Anat were the only three prominent goddesses in the religion of ancient Levant, and formed a trinity.[13] However, while Ashtart (Astarte) and Anat were closely associated with each other in Ugarit, in Egyptian sources, and elsewhere,[14][15] there is no evidence for conflation of Athirat and Ashtart, nor is Athirat associated closely with Ashtart and Anat in Ugaritic texts.[16] The concept of Athirat, Anat and Ashtart as a trinity and the only prominent goddesses in the entire region (popularized by authors like Tikva Frymer-Kensky) is modern and ignores the large role of other female deities, for example Shapash, in known texts, as well as the fact El appears to be the deity most closely linked to Athirat in primary sources.[17][18] One of the authors relying on the Anat-Ashtart-Athirat trinity theory is Saul M. Olyan (author of Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel) who calls the Qudshu-Astarte-Anat plaque "a triple-fusion hypostasis", and considers Qudshu to be an epithet of Athirat by a process of elimination, for Astarte and Anat appear after Qudshu in the inscription.[19][20]

Modern egyptologists, such as Christiane Zivie-Coche, do not consider Qetesh to be a hypostasis of Anat or Astarte, but a goddess developed in Egypt possibly without a clear forerunner among Canaanite or Syrian goddesses, though given a Semitic name and associated mostly with foreign deities.[21]

In popular culture

Qetesh is the name given to the Goa'uld that once possessed Vala Mal Doran, a recurring and then regular character in Seasons 9 and 10, respectively of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.

Qetesh is also the name used in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith, and confirmed to be the humanoid species (also known as "soul-stealers") of Ruby White (the episode's villain) who feeds off excitement and heightened emotion and have stomachs that live outside their bodies.

Moreover is Qadesh, also called Qwynn, a character in Holly Roberds' fantasy novel "Bitten by Death", published in 2021.

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

What It Means:

"Kadosh" is the Hebrew word for "holy," but it goes beyond just being sacred or set apart. It signifies something that is entirely devoted to God, pure, and distinct from the ordinary.

Why It Matters:

This term is a cornerstone of the Hebrew Bible and frequently appears in passages that describe God’s nature and His expectations for His people. When God is described as "Kadosh," it emphasizes His ultimate purity and separation from all that is common. It's not just about reverence; it’s about living in a way that reflects God’s holiness in our own lives.

Fun Fact:

In Isaiah 6:3, the seraphim around God's throne declare, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty" ("Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh"). This triple repetition highlights the supreme and unparalleled holiness of God, making it a central aspect of divine praise. It’s as if they're shouting, "God is incredibly, utterly holy!"

In ancient Israel, the most sacred place ever is the Temple site in Jerusalem. Perched on a high hill in the heart of the holiest city, it was the ultimate example of setting something aside for special protection. Inside the Temple’s inner chamber, known as the Holy of Holies, was where the presence of the Lord was believed to reside.

What About You?:

Is there something special in your spiritual life that you cherish and want to protect? Maybe it’s a personal ritual, a cherished belief, or a special moment of connection that you hold dear?

Note 345.—'*As to the history of the Kadosh degree, it is said tg have been first invented at Lyons, in France, in 1743. where it appeared under the name of the Petit Elu. This degree, which is said to have been based upon the Templar doctrine heretofore referred to, was afterwards developed into the Kadosh, which we find in 1758 incorporated as the Grand Elect Kadosh into the system of the Council of Emperors of the East and West, which was that year formed at Paris, whence it descended to the Scottish Rite Masons. Of all the Kadoshes. two only ai*e now important, viz.: the Philosophic Kadosh, which Kas been adopted by the Grand Orient of France, and the Knight Kadosh, which constitutes the thirtieth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, this latter being the most generally diffused of the Kadoshes."—Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Article Kadosh.

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

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

I began by attending Fordham University in the Bronx, mostly because I wanted to be close to home. I got along very well with the Jesuits who ran the school, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in. At the time, if you were going to make a career in business, Wharton was the place to go. Harvard Business School may produce a lot of CEOs—guys who manage public companies— but the real entrepreneurs all seemed to go to Wharton: Saul Steinberg, Leonard Lauder, Ron Perelman—the list goes on and on."

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLcbnLrl6moQT7nGj1JitG6AiQ6qgK0y/view?usp=sharing

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

https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/university-of-scranton-welcomes-president-biden-gateway-lights/523-cdba68b1-822b-4747-94be-4cd7e4de9d67

"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

The centers of Hurrian religious life were temples, known as purli or purulle.[35] No separate exclusively Hurrian style of temple construction has been identified.[35] Of the few which have been excavated, these in the east, for example in Nuzi, follow the so-called "bent axis" model well documented in Mesopotamia from the third millennium BCE onward, while the western ones in Syria often adhere to a local plan with an axially arranged forecourt, a cella with a niche for a statue, and an antecella.[35] However, exceptions from the latter rule are known, as a temple from Alalakh, the temple of the weather god of Halab and a building from Ugarit often described as a Hurrian temple follow the bent axis model.[110] While typically temples were dedicated to major members of the Hurrian pantheon, such as Teššub, Allani or Išḫara, they often also housed multiple minor deities at the same time.[62]

The notion that specific gods could favor, and reside in, specific cities was present in Hurrian religion, and by extension is attested in Hittite rituals dedicated to Hurrian deities.[111] For example, Teššub was associated with Kumme,[22] Šauška with Nineveh,[20] Kušuḫ with Kuzina,[25][112] Nikkal with Ugarit,[25][97] Nabarbi with Taite,[113] and Išḫara with Ebla.[114] While Kumarbi's connection with Urkesh is well documented, in the earliest sources the city was seemingly associated with Nergal.[66] It has also been proposed that his name in this case served as a logographic representation of Kumarbi or perhaps Aštabi, but this remains uncertain.[53] A secondary cult center of Kumarbi was Azuhinnu located east of the Tigris.[66]

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

Pearl Harbor and our declaration of war put a temporary end to the political organization that Clerical Fascism was in the process of forging. Coughlin was just about to take over majority control of America First and form it into a political party, when war was declared.

He had already given hints, which were seconded by Philip LaFollette and the N. Y. Daily News. He was about to replace Catholic John T. Flynn of the strategic New York chapter with a more obedient lackey.

AMERICA FIRST, started by fascist minded business magnates, had at first been independent of Coughlin. But by infiltration the Coughlinites became the dominant element. Catholic church prelates gave it their enthusiastic approval.

At one of its mass meetings in Madison Square Garden in New York City, under the chairmanship of John T. Flynn, Cardinal O’Connell, dean of the American Catholic hierarchy and Bishop Shaughnessy of Seattle, formerly of the Apostolic Delegation in Washington, D.C., sent telegrams of congratulation which were publicly read.

Carlson (p. 260) quotes an official of America First to the effect that its membership was 80 per cent Coughlinite and would eventually be under Coughlin’s complete control. General Wood had at first objected to Coughlinite dominance but later ‘‘humbled himself before the reverend-dictator of Royal Oak?’ in a letter published in SOCIAL JUSTICE.

In addition to the Coughlinite majority, America First included large

numbers of the Ku Klux Klan element who in recent years have allied themselves with Catholic Fascists in a war on Jewry and ‘Communist’ unions. Louis B. Ward, one of Coughlin’s chief assistants, addressed the Pontiac chapter of America First four different times. This chapter was made up almost exclusively of Klan members. Garland Alderman, secretary of the National Workers League, a fascist organization of KKK members, said that he was nurtured in Fascism by Father Coughlin’s Social Justice and had also attended a series of ““special lectures’’ by Coughlin one winter. ( Under Cover, p, 305)

He named Coughlin as one of the Americans who in the opinion of his organization would negotiate with Hitler after the hoped-for world triumph of Nazism. pages 6-7

....

"Under the camouflaged name of ‘“Midtown Sporting Club’’ the Manhattan ‘Iron Guard Unit’ of the Christian Front drilled in Donovan’s Hall near the Paulist Catholic church mentioned above. Like Franco’s revolutionaries they took a secret oath that said, ‘‘I will look to God for guidance.’’ They were exhorted previous to the drill:

“You are soldiers of Christ. Men like you fought in Spain. Men like you will fight in America ... You are defenders of the Faith. Your duty is to fight for Christ and Country.”

On January 13, 1940, the FBI raided a Brooklyn ‘‘Sporting Club’’ of the Christian Front. A Federal court suit ensued. The Jesuit publication America, leading Catholic weekly in its issue of January 27, 1940, ridiculed the case, and called it a Jewish plot. Public masses were said for the ‘‘heroes on trial.’’ Carlson sums up the case and its foredoomed failure when he says that “‘the ‘big boys’ behind the scenes were never made public.’’ The verdict of the Catholic jury was a foregone conclusion. Father Curran, Coughlin’s

lieutenant in the East, slyly hinted at an acquittal celebration that a close relative of his was the jury foreman.

In 1926, in Germany, Hitler revolutionaries were similarly arrested and acquitted. As late as 1930 Thomas Mann said of the Nazis: ‘‘I regard the National Socialist Party as a flash-in-the which will soon be over,’’

The Christian Front is only temporarily under cover. Coughlin is biding his time. Father Edward Brophy of Brooklyn, a Christian Front leader at one of their meetings in June 1942 paid :

“‘The days are coming when this country will need a Coughlin and need him badly. We must get strong and keep organized

for that day.’’

In Social Justice of Sept. 1, 1939 Coughlin predicted that it would take seven to ten years to win control. He added :

“We predict that .. . the National-Socialists in America—organized under that or some other name—eventually will take control of the government on this continent. We predict, lastly, the end of democracy in America.”’

Even when he was put off the radio he confidently threatened:

"I have been retired temporarily . . .

Not until there is an opportunity for the pendulum of reaction to swing to the right will I resume my place before a microphone . . . I extend to them (‘men powerful in the field of radio and other activities’) my heartiest congratulations for all that the future holds in store for them." pages 8-9

....

"Clerical Fascism, driven underground during the war, is certain to rise again with a cry to ‘SAVE AMERICA for the Americans.’ Those who fail to realize this threat to our future should ponder well the following facts:

America First controlled by Coughlinites boasted of 15,000,000 members.

In one meeting in the Hollywood Bowl in California it drew a crowd of 100,000 ‘patriots.’ Gerald L. K. Smith, Fascist, polled 100,000 votes in Michigan last year. The Hearst-Gannett and the Mc-Cormick-Patterson newspaper chains have over 15,000,000 readers. Mrs. Finley J. Sheppard, daughter of the late Jay Gould, gave millions to American Fascists. Robert O’Callaghan, Irish- Catholic friend of Joe McWilliams and Ku Kluxer Edward Smythe, is doing confidential government work in the Chicago office of the Alien Property Custodian, Leo Crowley.

If America waits too long to wake up to its danger, it may ironically fulfill the words of Jesuit-trained Goebbels, spokesman for Catholic Hitler:

“IT WILL ALWAYS REMAIN THE BEST' JOKE MADE BY THE DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM THAT IT PROVIDED ITS DEADLY ENEMIES WITH THE MEANS TO DESTROY IT.” page 11

Clerical Fascism in America by J.J. Murphy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1glXjGioabYyJL0LN_Cr1u8d9JewFRP3J/view?usp=sharing 

Deadpool is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in New Mutants #98 (December 1990). In his comic book appearances, Deadpool is initially depicted as a supervillain of the New Mutants and X-Force, though later stories would portray him as an antihero. Deadpool is the alter ego of Wade Wilson, a disfigured Canadian mercenary with superhuman regenerative healing abilities. He is known for his tendency to joke incessantly and break the fourth wall for humorous effect.

The character's popularity has seen him featured in numerous other media outlets. In the 2004 series Cable & Deadpool, he refers to his own scarred appearance as "Ryan Renolds [sic] crossed with a Shar Pei".[7][8] Reynolds developed an interest in portraying the character after reading the comic,[9] which was ultimately realized in the X-Men film series, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Deadpool (2016), and its sequels Deadpool 2 (2018) and Marvel Cinematic Universe's Deadpool & Wolverine (2024),[10][11][12][13] in the latter of which Blake Lively, Matthew McConaughey, Paul Mullin, Nathan Fillion, Peggy, and Reynolds' children Inez and Olin portray alternate universe variants of Deadpool.

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

Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour[1] is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blunt, ironic, laconic, or apparently unintentional.

Etymology

The term deadpan first emerged early in the 20th century, as a compound word (sometimes spelled as two words) combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). It appeared in print as early as 1915, in an article about a former baseball player named Gene Woodburn written by his former manager Roger Bresnahan. Bresnahan described how Woodburn used his skill as a ventriloquist to make his manager and others think they were being heckled from the stands. Woodburn, wrote Bresnahan, "had a trick of what the actors call 'the dead pan.' He never cracked a smile and would be the last man you would suspect was working a trick."[2][3]

George M. Cohan, in a 1908 interview, had alluded to dead pans without using the actual term "deadpan". Cohan, after returning from a trip to London, told an interviewer that "the time is ripe for a manager to take over about a dozen American chorus girls and wake up the musical comedy game. The English chorus girls are dead–their pans are cold.”[4]

The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1928 New York Times article as having the first appearance of the term in print.[5] That article, a collection of film slang compiled by writer and theatrical agent Frank J. Wilstach, defines "dead pan" as "playing a role with expressionless face, as, for instance, the work of Buster Keaton."[6] There were several other uses of the term, in theater and in sports, between the 1915 Bresnahan article and the 1928 article in the Times.[3]

The usage of deadpan as a verb ("to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan") is recorded at least as far back as 1942.[5]

Examples

See also: List of deadpan comedians

Rat Pack comedians Joey Bishop and Brad Jewell, noted for their deadpan style, with Jennie and Terrie Frankel (Doublemint Twins), Sig Sakowicz, Tony Diamond, Sara Sue, Tippi Hedren and Mel Bishop

The English music hall comedian T. W. Barrett, working in the 1880s and 1890s, is credited with being the first to perform in a deadpan manner, standing completely still and without a smile.[7]

Early in his vaudeville days, Buster Keaton developed his deadpan expression. Keaton realised that audiences responded better to his stony expression than when he smiled, and he carried this style into his silent film career.[8] The 1928 Vitaphone short film The Beau Brummels, with vaudeville comics Al Shaw and Sam Lee, was performed entirely in deadpan.[9] The 1980 film Airplane! was performed almost entirely in deadpan;[10] it helped relaunch the career of one of its supporting actors, Leslie Nielsen, who transformed into a prolific deadpan comic after the film.[11] Actor and comedian Bill Murray is known for his deadpan delivery.[12]

Many popular American sitcoms use deadpan expressions to deliver dry humour, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, and My Name Is Earl. More recent examples are Andre Braugher as Captain Raymond Holt from the TV show Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing in Friends, Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson and Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation, Jennette McCurdy as Sam Puckett in iCarly, and Louis C.K. in Louie. Another example is the comedy of Steven Wright.[13]

Deadpan delivery runs throughout British humour.[14] In television sitcoms, John Cleese as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers and Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder in Blackadder are both frustrated figures who display little facial expression in their put-downs.[15] Atkinson also plays authority figures (especially priests) while speaking absurd lines with a deadpan delivery. Monty Python include it in their work, such as "The Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch.[16] For his deadpan delivery Peter Sellers received a BAFTA for Best Actor for I'm All Right Jack (1959). A leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, Peter Cook delivered deadpan monologues in his double act with Dudley Moore.[17] In his various roles Ricky Gervais often draws humour from an exasperated sigh.[18] While in his various guises such as Ali G and Borat, the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen interacts with unsuspecting subjects not realising they have been set up for self-revealing ridicule; on this The Observer states, "his career has been built on winding people up, while keeping a deadpan face."[19]

Dry humour is often confused with highbrow or egghead humour, because the humour in dry humour does not exist in the words or delivery. Instead, the listener must look for humour in the contradiction between words, delivery and context. Failure to include the context or to identify the contradiction results in the listener finding the dry humour unfunny. However, the term "deadpan" itself actually refers only to the method of delivery.

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

"The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which President Truman signed on July 26, 1947. The CIA officially came into existence on September 18th that same year, which is when we celebrate our birthday.

With the passage of the 1947 Act, Truman achieved his goals of modernizing and unifying America’s armed services, and, by creating a centralized intelligence agency, reformed our intelligence capabilities. To protect American’s civil liberties, he made sure to clearly divide intelligence roles between domestic and foreign: FBI would handle anything domestic, while CIA was limited to foreign intelligence only. Furthermore, the Act specified that CIA would have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers.

President Truman appointed Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter as the first CIA director, known as the Director of Central Intelligence. He had been the Director of one of our immediate “ancestors,” called the Central Intelligence Group. The CIG was a bureaucratic anomaly with no independent budget, no statutory mandate, and staffers assigned from other departments of the government. America needed a peacetime, centralized intelligence agency with its own budget and mandate. That’s why Truman replaced the CIG and created the CIA.

The 1947 Act loosely defined CIA’s mission into four broad tasks:

The 1947 Act was relatively unchanged until 2004. President Bush, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, made major updates to the 1947 act, including the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about what is called “the National Security Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of December 2004” on the DNI’s website.

The importance of the 1947 National Security Act cannot be overstated. It created our Nation’s first peacetime intelligence agency, reflected America’s acceptance of its position as a world leader, and it remained a cornerstone of our national security policy for 75 years… and counting.

~ Molly

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/ask-molly-the-national-security-act-of-1947/

Molly

fem. proper name, a diminutive of Moll, which is a familiar form of Mary.

molly (n.1)

a common 18c. colloquial term for "homosexual man" or "man who is deemed effeminate, a sissy," by 1707, perhaps 1690s. The fem. proper name Molly or Moll served as a type-name of a low-class girl or prostitute in old songs and ballads (perhaps in part for the sake of the easy rhymes).

But the colloquial word also resembles Latin mollis "soft," which also had been used classically in a specific pejorative sense in reference to men, "soft, effeminate, unmanly, weak," in Cicero, Livy, etc. A 1629 publication from the Catholic-Protestant theological disputes, "Truth's triumph ouer Trent," written in English with swerves into Latin, at one point describes the denizens of Hell as fideles fornicarios, adulteros, molles, and so forth, and molles is translated parenthetically in the text as "effeminate." Molly House as a term for a brothel frequented by gay men is attested in a court case from 1726.

also from 18c.

molly (n.2)

seabird, 1857, short for mollymawk, mallemuck, from Dutch mallemok, from mal "foolish" + mok "gull."

also from 1857

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

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

In 1973, a document referred to as the "Family Jewels"[2] was published by the CIA containing a reference to "Project Mockingbird", which was the name of an operation in 1963 which wiretapped two journalists who had published articles based on classified material.[3] The document does not contain references to "Operation Mockingbird".[4]

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

Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

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

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

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

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

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

Pope meets Jimmy Fallon and 105 other comics at Vatican

By Malu Cursino, BBC News

Pope Francis has met with more than 100 comedians from across the world, including Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock and Whoopi Goldberg, at the Vatican in Rome.

The Pope said comedians have the "power to spread serenity and smiles" in a world where people are immersed in "many social and personal emergencies".

"You unite people because laughter is contagious," he added.

The entertainers were hosted in the Vatican hours before the pontiff was expected in Puglia for the G7 summit.

During the audience with 107 comedians from 15 countries, the Pope praised their ability to make people smile.

"You can also laugh at God, of course, and that's not blasphemy," the pontiff told comedians, adding that "it can be done without offending the religious feelings of believers".

According to reports on US media, comedian Jimmy Fallon was seen larking around the front of the audience hall before proceedings got under way - he was reportedly quickly told take his seat as the pope was due to walk through the door.

Fallon was joined by other big names in the entertainment industry, including US comedian Chris Rock, Italy's Silvio Orlando, and British actor and comedian Stephen Merchant.

Comedian Whoopi Goldberg, well known for Sister Act, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, from hit-show Veep, were also in attendance.

The cultural event preceded the pope's appearance at the G7 in the southern Italian region of Puglia - the first time a leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics attends the summit of the world's seven largest advanced economies.

The 87-year-old pontiff has called for global regulation of AI, warning of its danger to ethics and human rights.

In reference to current global events, the pope told comedians that while communication today "often generates conflict," the entertainers are able to bring together diverse realities.

"How much we need to learn from you," he added.

After the audience the Pope met briefly with each comedian, exchanging a few words with each - though some interactions were somewhat one-way.

"Well it was brief, he spoke in Italian, so I'm not quite sure what was said," quipped late-night host Conan O'Brien.

"It was quick... I had a wonderful time," he added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722vd9274yo 

The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia [diˈviːna komˈmɛːdja]) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature[1] and one of the greatest works of Western literature.[2] The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language.[3] It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

The poem discusses "the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward",[4] and describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.[5] Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's journey towards God,[6] beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul's ascent to God (Paradiso). Dante draws on medieval Catholic theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy derived from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.[7] Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse".[8]

In the poem, the pilgrim Dante is accompanied by three guides:[9][4] Virgil, who represents human reason, and who guides him for all of Inferno and most of Purgatorio;[10] Beatrice, who represents divine revelation[10] in addition to theology, grace, and faith;[11] and guides him from the end of Purgatorio onwards; and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who represents contemplative mysticism and devotion to Mary the Mother, guiding him in the final cantos of Paradiso.[12]

The work was originally simply titled Comedìa (pronounced [komeˈdiːa], Tuscan for "Comedy") – so also in the first printed edition, published in 1472 – later adjusted to the modern Italian Commedia. The adjective Divina was added by Giovanni Boccaccio,[13] owing to its subject matter and lofty style,[14] and the first edition to name the poem Divina Comedia in the title was that of the Venetian humanist Lodovico Dolce,[15] published in 1555 by Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari.

Erich Auerbach said Dante was the first writer to depict human beings as the products of a specific time, place and circumstance, as opposed to mythic archetypes or a collection of vices and virtues, concluding that this, along with the fully imagined world of the Divine Comedy, suggests that the Divine Comedy inaugurated realism and self-portraiture in modern fiction.[16]

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

Both Mario and Maria (as well as their equivalents in other Romance languages) are derived from the Latin male name Marius. But, Maria was also the Latinised form of the name of Jesus' mother, which would have been, in Aramaic, מרים, or, in the Latin alphabet, Maryam or Miriam."

https://englishlanguagethoughts.com/2020/12/13/mario/#:~:text=Both%20Mario%20and%20Maria%20(as,Latin%20alphabet%2C%20Maryam%20or%20Miriam

Marius is a male given name, a Roman family name, and a modern surname.

The name Marius was used by members of the Roman gens Maria. It is thought to be derived from either[citation needed] the Roman war god Mars or from the Latin root mas or maris meaning "male". It may also derive from the Latin word mare meaning "sea", the plural of which is maria.

In Christian times, it was syncretized as a masculine form of the unrelated feminine given name Maria, from the Hebrew Miriam, Aramaic variant Mariam, and used alongside it.

Today, the name Marius is a common given name in Romania, Norway, and Lithuania. The name is also used in the Philippines, France, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Africa.

The Greek name Marios (Μάριος), the Italian and Spanish name Mario, the Polish name Mariusz, and the Portuguese name Mário are all derived from Marius."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marius_(name)

Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio[b] on 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State. Francis is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope from outside Europe since the 8th century papacy of Syrian pope Gregory III."

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

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 

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

MAGA Goes to Mars

Elon Musk wants to give Donald Trump the presidency. Trump wants to give Musk the universe.

By Marina Koren

November 5, 2024

If NASA’s current schedule sticks, the next American president will oversee the first moon landing since the Apollo era and preside over the agency’s plans for sending astronauts deeper into the solar system. Elon Musk, the CEO of the world’s most successful private-spaceflight company, has made clear who he thinks that president should be. This fall, he declared that Kamala Harris would doom humankind to an earthbound existence, whereas Donald Trump would fulfill SpaceX’s founding dream of putting people on Mars. Trump seems equally enthusiastic about Musk’s space plans. “Elon, get those rocket ships going, because we want to reach Mars before the end of my term,” he said on the campaign trail.

A Trump presidency could push America toward a new era of space travel, and Trump has demonstrated his enthusiasm for space exploration—as president, he created the Space Force. Otherworldly ambitions, though, can come with earthly costs.

The American government is already relying on SpaceX to fly astronauts to space, provide satellite internet for operations across the U.S. military, and help realize its plans to return to the moon. A Trump administration could increase that codependence, further embedding SpaceX—and its CEO—in the framework of American governance. NASA has always used private companies to fulfill its greatest ambitions, but Trump could essentially outsource the imagination driving the future of American spaceflight to Musk.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/11/musk-trump-mars-spacex/680529/

The name Mardi traces its origins to the French language and derives from the word for Tuesday. In French, mardi literally means Tuesday, which comes from the Latin term dies Martis, meaning day of Mars. As the planet Mars was associated with the Roman god of war, the name Mardi inherits a connection to the concept of war and bravery.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/mardi

Mardi Gras (UK: /ˌmɑːrdi ˈɡrɑː/, US: /ˈmɑːrdi ɡrɑː/;[1][2] also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.[3] Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of consuming rich, fatty foods in preparation for the Christian fasting season of Lent, during which the consumption of such foods is avoided.[4]

Related popular practices are associated with Carnival celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. In countries such as the United Kingdom, Mardi Gras is more usually known as Pancake Day or (traditionally) Shrove Tuesday, derived from the word shrive, meaning "to administer the sacrament of confession to; to absolve".[5]

Date Day before Ash Wednesday, 47 days before Easter, 2 days after Shrove Sunday

2025 date March 4

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

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. He won the 2024 presidential election as the nominee of the Republican Party and is scheduled to be inaugurated as the 47th president on January 20, 2025.

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

Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project[3]) is a political initiative published in April 2022 by the American conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. The project aims to promote conservative and right-wing policies to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power, originally under the premise that Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election.[4][5][6]

Project 2025 is the ninth iteration of the Mandate for Leadership series, published since 1981. The project asserts a controversial interpretation of the unitary executive theory, according to which the entire executive branch is under the complete control of the U.S. president.[7][8][9] It proposes reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers as political appointees in order to replace them with people loyal to the president.[10] Proponents of the project argue it would dismantle what they view as a vast, unaccountable, and mostly liberal governmental bureaucracy.[11] The project also seeks to infuse the government and society with conservative Christian values.[12][13] Critics have characterized Project 2025 as an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan to steer the U.S. toward autocracy.[12][14][15][16] Legal experts have said it would undermine the rule of law,[17] separation of powers,[5] separation of church and state,[18] and civil liberties.[5][17][19]

Project 2025 envisions sweeping changes to economic and social policies and the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes taking partisan control of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Commerce (DOC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and abolishing the Department of Education (ED), whose programs would be transferred or terminated.[20][21] It calls for making the National Institutes of Health (NIH) less independent, stopping it from funding research with embryonic stem cells, and reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor fossil fuels.[17][22][23][24] The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts,[25] but its writers disagree on protectionism.[26] The project seeks to cut Medicare and Medicaid,[27][28] and urges the government to explicitly reject abortion as health care.[29][30] It seeks to eliminate coverage of emergency contraception[27] and use the Comstock Act to prosecute those who send and receive contraceptives and abortion pills.[30][31] It proposes criminalizing pornography and imprisoning those who produce it,[32][33] removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,[33][34] and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs[5][34] while having the DOJ prosecute "anti-white racism" instead.[35] The project recommends the arrest, detention, and mass deportation of illegal immigrants living in the U.S.[36][37][38] It proposes deploying the military for domestic law enforcement.[39] It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of those sentences.[40][41] It hopes to undo "[al]most everything implemented" by the Biden administration.[42]

Although Project 2025 cannot legally promote presidential candidates without endangering its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, many contributors are associated with Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign.[43][44][45][46] The Heritage Foundation employs many people closely aligned with Trump,[47][48][49] including members of his 2017–2021 administration,[50] and coordinates the initiative with conservative groups run by Trump allies.[12] Some Trump campaign officials have had regular contact with Project 2025, and told Politico in 2023 that the project aligned well with their Agenda 47 program, although they have since said that it does not speak for Trump or his campaign.[11][51][52][53] Public disapproval of the project's controversial proposals led Trump and his campaign to distance themselves from it in 2024 although at a 2022 dinner for the Heritage Foundation Trump said that the group was "going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do … when the American people give us a colossal mandate",[54] when the negative reactions arose, Trump began to say that he knew "nothing about it" and that "some of the things [Project 2025 says] are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal".[47][55][56][57] The project's president, Kevin Roberts, said in response that no one at Project 2025 had "hard feelings" for Trump because they knew "he's making a political tactical decision there".[58] Critics dismissed Trump's claims, pointing to the various people close to Trump who helped to draft the project, the many contributors who are expected to be appointed to leadership roles in a future Trump administration, his endorsement of the Heritage Foundation's plans for his administration in 2022, and the 300 times Trump himself is mentioned in the plans.[59][60][61][54]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025

Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week.[1] According to many traditional calendars, however, Sunday is the first day of the week, so Tuesday is the third day of the week. In some Muslim countries, Saturday is the first day of the week and thus Tuesday is the fourth day of the week.

The English name is derived from Middle English Tewesday, from Old English Tiwesdæg meaning "Tīw's Day", the day of Tiw or Týr, the god of single combat, law, and justice in Norse mythology. Tiw was equated with Mars in the interpretatio germanica, and the name of the day is a translation of Latin dies Martis.

Etymology

See also: Names of the days of the week

The name Tuesday derives from the Old English Tiwesdæg and literally means "Tiw's Day".[2] Tiw is the Old English form of the Proto-Germanic god *Tîwaz, or Týr in Old Norse. *Tîwaz derives from the Proto-Indo-European base *dei-, *deyā-, *dīdyā-, meaning 'to shine', whence comes also such words as "deity".[3]

The German Dienstag and Dutch dinsdag are derived from the Germanic custom of the thing, as Tiw / Týr also had a strong connection to the thing.

The Latin name dies Martis ("day of Mars") is equivalent to the Greek ἡμέρα Ἄρεως (hēméra Áreōs, "day of Ares"). In most languages with Latin origins (Italian, French, Spanish, Catalan, Romanian, Galician, Sardinian, Corsican, but not Portuguese), the day is named after Mars, the Roman parallel of the Ancient Greek Ares (Ἄρης).

In some Slavic languages the word Tuesday originated from Old Church Slavonic word въторъ meaning "the second". Bulgarian and Russian Вторник (Vtornik) (Serbian: уторак utorak) is derived from the Bulgarian and Russian adjective for 'second' - Втори (Vtori) or Второй (Vtoroi).

In Japanese, the second day of the week is 火曜日 (kayōbi), from 火星 (kasei), the planet Mars. Similarly, in Korean the word Tuesday is 화요일 (hwa yo il), means literally fire day, and Mars the planet is referred to as the fire star with the same words, but this is unrelated to the Roman god Mars, which is referred to phonetically as Mars.

In the Indo-Aryan languages Pali and Sanskrit the name of the day is taken from Angaraka ('one who is red in colour'),[4] a style (manner of address) for Mangala, the god of war, and for Mars, the red planet.

In the Nahuatl language, Tuesday is Huītzilōpōchtōnal (Nahuatl pronunciation: [wiːt͡siloːpoːt͡ʃˈtoːnaɬ]) meaning "day of Huitzilopochtli".

In Arabic, Tuesday is الثلاثاء (al-Thulatha'), and in Hebrew it is יום שלישי (Yom Shlishi), meaning "third day". When added after the word يوم / יום (yom or youm) it means "the third day".

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

Early on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, nineteen hijackers took control of four commercial airliners (two Boeing 757s and two Boeing 767s).[107] Large planes with long flights were selected for hijacking because they would have more fuel.[108]

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

When Was Jesus Born?

It is established that the eclipse recorded in Josephus occurred on January 9, 1 B.C., and that it was not long before this that Herod interviewed the Magi concerning the appearance of the star (December of 2 B.C.). When Herod discovered that the Magi would not be returning, he arranged to have the children in Bethlehem killed, and specified that they must be “two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men,” Matthew 2:16 tells us. Herod would not have specified two years as the upper limit unless he knew from his diligent inquiry of the Magi that the child was born during 3 B.C.

Biblical, historical, and astronomical evidence converge on 3 B.C. as the year of Jesus Christ’s birth. Building on this information of 3 B.C. as the year of Christ’s birth, we can look at additional Biblical and astronomical testimony and determine with precision the date of Christ’s birth to the day and the hour. The twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation presents essential information for pin-pointing this exact time.

Revelation 12:1-5:

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Here in Revelation 12, events past and future are revealed regarding the spiritual warfare between the true God and the Devil. This passage describes a vision which God gave the Apostle John. The vision involves symbols and words full of great truths. Their meaning can be recaptured by a diligent search of God’s Word: first and foremost in the written Word and secondarily in the Word written in the stars. Parallel truths can be found in both. This entire passage in Revelation 12 takes on a profoundly significant dimension when analyzed in terms of astronomy.

Revelation 12:1 says, “there appeared a great wonder in heaven.” The word “wonder” is the Greek word s meion. In Greek literature s meion is used of any kind of sign, but a notable usage is in reference to a sign of the zodiac. This is particularly interesting in the context of Revelation 12 for the sign is said to have appeared “in heaven.”

The sign spoken of in verse 1 is a woman. And the only sign of the zodiac that could correspond to this description is the constellation Virgo.

Revelation 12 further specifies that the woman was “clothed with the sun,” another celestial body. The sun, as it appears to travel through the ecliptic each year, enters into the mid-body between the neck and the knees of the constellation Virgo, “clothing” her “with the sun,” for approximately a twenty-day period. So this one astronomical detail shown in John’s vision narrows down the astronomical event he is describing to a twenty-day period during any given year. In the year 3 B.C. the sun was in this position from August 27 through September 15.

The woman in Revelation 12 was not only “clothed with the sun,” but also the moon was “under her feet.” With these two specific details, the sun and moon found in Virgo, we can be very precise in our computation of time. In 3 B.C. this configuration of the sun and moon in Virgo occurred on one day only, and that was September 11. This configuration of the sun and the moon in the constellation Virgo was observable in Palestine between sunset and moonset, this twilight period being called “night.”2 On September 11, 3 B.C., sunset was at 6:18 P.M. and moonset at 7:39 P.M. Based on the information given in Revelation 12, it was during this eighty-one-minute period that Jesus Christ took his first breath of life and became a living soul, even as Adam did in Genesis 2:7, perhaps even at the beginning of this new day. The description given in Revelation 12:1 exactly chronicles the astronomical occurrence of the evening of September 11, 3 B.C.

Verse 2 of Revelation 12 describes the woman as being in labor, ready to give birth. Verses 3 and 4 recount symbolically the Adversary’s fall from heaven and his plan to slay the child as soon as he was born. In verses 4 and 5 the woman’s labor finishes and the child is brought forth. Verse 5 refers to the child’s birth and ascension to God’s throne. Clearly, from all these specifics the child can be none other than the Christ, the Messiah, the promised seed.

As if this were not enough evidence, there was yet another significant astronomical display on September 11, 3 B.C. From sunset of September 11 to sunset of September 12 was one day on the Hebrew calendar. Not only did the sign of Revelation 12:1 occur then, but also on this very day Jupiter and Regulus could be seen approaching conjunction before dawn. Although the precise astronomical conjunction occurred on September 14, the angle of observation and Jupiter’s slow apparent motion would have made their close rendezvous obvious as early as the predawn hours of Thursday, September 12, within hours of the Messiah’s birth. At this time the king planet (Jupiter) could be seen approaching the king star (Regulus) in the constellation of Leo, the sign of Judah from whose seed the Messiah, the promised seed, the ultimate ruler, came.

According to chronological tables, September 11, 3 B.C. fell on a Wednesday.4 Jesus Christ was born on the Hebrew day corresponding to our sunset September 11, Wednesday. Therefore Jesus Christ was born on Wednesday, September 11, 3 B.C., between 6:18 and 7:39 P.M., Palestine time. September 11 may appear to be of no particular significance to us, but in Biblical and Hebrew reckoning, this month and day held a special significance. On the evening of what we would call September 11, 3 B.C., the new moon first became visible in the west shortly after sunset. Since the Hebrew calendar months began on the evening that the new moon appeared, the evening of September 11 was the first day of a new month. The evening of September 11 to the evening of September 12 in 3 B.C. was the first day of the seventh month, the month of Tishri.

Hence, in Biblical terminology, Jesus was born on the first of Tishri, between 6:18 and 7:39 P.M. On this night the remarkable astronomical configuration described in Revelation 12:1 occurred: Virgo, the Woman, was clothed with the sun and the moon rested under her feet.

The “Great wonder” of Revelation 12:1 Sunset, 6:18 P.M., September 11, 3 B.C.

The diagram shows the sun half-way set. The sun is on the ecliptic, the dotted line, and the solid line is the celestial equator, which is directly overhead at the earth’s equator. At this point, the first thin crescent of the moon appears, marking the first of the new month, Tishri.

https://thelivingtruthfellowship.org/jesus-christ/when-was-jesus-born/

The Nauvoo Temple was the first Latter Day Saint temple to be crowned with a figure of an angel. This angel, not officially identified as Moroni, was a metal weathervane with gold leaf on the trumpet. It was designed by William Weeks (architect of the Nauvoo temple) and installed in January 1846.[43] This figure was positioned in a flying horizontal position holding an open book in one hand and a trumpet in the other.

Cyrus Dallin sculpted the first angel which was identified as Moroni. This angel was placed on the Salt Lake Temple during the capstone ceremony on April 6, 1892, one year to the day before the temple was dedicated. Dallin's design is a dignified, neoclassical angel in robe and cap, standing upright with a trumpet in hand. It stands 3.8 meters high, was molded in hammered copper from the plaster original, and was covered with 22-karat gold leaf. On March 18, 2020, the trumpet held by the statue of Angel Moroni on the Salt Lake Temple fell to the ground as a result of a 5.7 magnitude earthquake.[44]

Torleif S. Knaphus fashioned a replica of the Dallin angel in the 1930s, but the casting of his angel wasn't placed on a temple until many years later. In 1983, castings of this angel were placed on the Idaho Falls Temple (8th operating temple) and the Atlanta Temple (21st operating temple).[45]

Millard F. Malin's angel, which was placed on the Los Angeles Temple in 1953, is known as the second Angel Moroni statue. His angel was cast in aluminum, stands 4.7 meters high, and weighs 953 kilograms. It has Native American features, wears a Mayan style cloak, and holds the gold plates in its left hand.[46]

Avard Fairbanks sculpted the third Angel Moroni statue, which was placed on the Washington D.C. Temple, dedicated in 1974. This angel was created as a one-meter model which was sent to Italy where it was enlarged, cast in bronze, and gilded. The finished statue is 5.5 meters high and weighs over 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg). The Seattle Washington, Jordan River Utah, and México City México temples each have a 4.6 meter casting of this statue.[46]

Karl Quilter sculpted his first Angel Moroni in 1978. Two sizes were made, one three meters high, the other just over two meters. These statues were designed to reduce the cost and weight of the previous Angel Moroni statues, in order to become a standard part of the temple architecture. The Quilter angels are made of fiberglass and covered with gold leaf. In 1998, with the construction of many new smaller temples, Quilter was commissioned to create a new angel. This angel was similar in design to his previous angels, but he gave Moroni a slightly larger build, with his left hand opened and his body turned slightly to show more action. The Bern Switzerland Temple's Angel Moroni is patterned after Quilter's 1998 design. Quilter's Angel Moroni is now on over one hundred temples around the world.[47]

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

The Palazzo Moroni is a palace located on Via Porta #12 in the historic center of the upper town of Bergamo, Italy. The palace is a civic art museum, as well as used for cultural functions. The building, noted for its Baroque interior decorations, is presently managed by the Fondazione di Palazzo Moroni in conjunction with the city after a donation by Count Antonio Moroni.

The exterior is plain and faces a narrow steep street. Construction of the palace was commissioned by Francesco Moroni. The Moroni family had bought a homes at this site in the second half of the 16th century. After his marriage to Lucrezia Roncalli in 1631, he began construction of the Palace on the ground of Porta Penta. Construction went on until 1666.

In 1649 Francesco contracted Giovanni Giacomo Barbelli to fresco the rooms of the interiors. Over the next century, further decorations were added including ceilings depicting The Age of Gold, The Fall of the Giants, and Hercules on a Chariot. The main ball room depicts stories from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata. The entrance stairway was frescoed by Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini. Among the works displayed in the palace are works by Giovanni Battista Moroni, Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Giacomo Barbelli, Giuseppe Roncelli, and Cesare Tallone.

The interior opens up to an inner garden with terraces.[1]

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

Washington Terrace, is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. The population was 9,067 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Terrace,_Utah

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. "

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

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  

Mantua was settled in the mid-19th century when members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were sent by Lorenzo Snow to the valley to grow flax. The first group arrived in Mantua in 1863 (although a sign at the main entry route states "Founded 1864"),[6] and were all émigrés from Denmark led by Hans Jens Jensen. Snow was from Mantua, Ohio, and the town was named after the Ohio community in his honor. Due to Danish pronunciation the town's pronunciation was changed to ("man-Away") unlike Ohio's ("man-tooway")[7] Prior to receiving its current name, the community was called Box Elder Valley, Copenhagen, Flaxville, Geneva, Hunsaker Valley, Little Copenhagen, and Little Valley.[8][9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantua,_Utah

Lagoon is a family owned amusement park in Farmington, Utah, located about 18 miles north of Salt Lake City. Lagoon is divided into five main areas: The Midway, containing the majority of the rides; Pioneer Village, which has several exhibits displaying pioneer buildings and artifacts; Lagoon-A-Beach, a water park; Kiddie Land, an area with several rides for small children; and X-Venture Zone, featuring more extreme rides that are upcharge. Lagoon also offers an RV park, a campground, and a walking trail outside the park that stays open all year. Every autumn, the park offers Halloween-themed shows and attractions, collectively known as Frightmares.

Lagoon has eleven roller coasters, six of which are unique: Colossus the Fire Dragon, one of two remaining Schwarzkopf Double Looping coaster still in operation in the United States; Roller Coaster, one of the oldest coasters in the world, operating since 1921; Wicked, designed by Lagoon's engineering department and Werner Stengel in cooperation with ride manufacturer Zierer; BomBora, a family coaster designed in-house; Cannibal, built in-house with one of the world's steepest drops; and Primordial, an interactive dark ride coaster/3-D shooter game attraction inside an artificial mountain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_(amusement_park)

VENICE AND GENOA COMBINE 

For Venice, so far so good: Florence, Naples, and Milan had been ruined. But ironically, the same dumb Valois and Hapsburg giants which had taken out three dangerous rivals were now to turn like Frankenstein’s monsters on the wily new Romans. Venetian manipulations were about to boomerang in the form of an alliance of all of Europe against Venice. This was the famous crisis of the War of the League of Cambrai, which was assembled in 1508-1509. The opposing coalition was made up of the pope (by then the Genoese Giuliano della Rovere, as Julius II), the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, France, Spain, Savoy, Mantua, and Ferrara. The announced purpose of this alliance was to expunge Venice from the face of the earth. It nearly worked. At Agnadello, near the Adda River, the Venetian mercenary army was crushed by an army composed predominantly of Frenchmen. The Venetians were driven all the way down the Po Valley to Padua, and they soon lost that as well. Machiavelli exulted that on the day of Agnadello, the Venetians lost everything that they had conquered in more than 800 years. Machiavelli was himself engaged in operations against Venice, bringing a grant of Florentine cash to the aid of the Franco- Imperial forces holding Verona. With nothing left but the lagoons, the Venetian position was desperate. The doge sent a message to the pope asking for mercy, and announcing that Venice would vacate territory taken in the past from the Papal States. Inside Venice, Agnadello brought on an orgy of hysterical self-flagellation among the terrified patricians. The banker Girolamo Priuli wrote in his diary that Agnadello had been a punishment for the sins of the Venetian nobility, among which he numbered arrogance, violation of promises, lechery in nunneries, sodomy, effeminate dress, and luxurious and lascivious entertainments. Antonio Contarini, newly appointed patriarch of Venice, gave a speech to the Senate in which he characterized the Serenissima as a thoroughly amoral city. The defeat was a punishment for the city’s sins, he said. Nunneries were catering to the sexual needs of the rich and powerful. Homosexuality was so widespread that female prostitutes had complained to him that they had earned so little during their youth that they had to keep working far into their old age. But more significantly, the shock of Agnadello set into motion a strategic review in the Venetian intelligence community which led to very far-reaching conclusions, some of which were not obvious before several decades had gone by. The first Venetian ploy was to attempt to dismember the Cambrai coalition. They started with Pope Julius II. This pontiff was, as already noted, Genoese. Genoa and Venice had engaged in a series of highly destructive wars up till about the end of the fourteenth century, but after that, Genoa gravitated toward the status of junior partner and close associate of the Venetians. The Venetians had bested the Genoese by virtue of superior connections in the East, but otherwise their was a broad area of agreement. The symbol of Genoa was St. George the dragon-slayer, in reality no saint at all but a thinly disguised version of Perseus saving Andromeda by slaying the sea monster, a legend that is centered on the coast of Lebanon. The “George” is said to come from the Gorgon Medusa, whose head Perseus was carrying. Perseus is in turn nothing but a westernized variant of Marduk, the Syrian Apollo, a deity associated with the most evil forces of ancient Assyria and Babylon. The Venetians had their own Marduk cult, although subordinated to St. Mark, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, home of a Dominican monastery and today of the Cini Foundation, one of the highest level think tanks in the world. The modern British preference of Gorgons is too well known to need comment. What probably accounted more directly for Julius II’s decision to reverse his alliances was a deal mediated with the Venetians by Agostino Chigi, the Siena Black Guelph banker from whose financial empire the infamous Siena Group of today derives. He proposed that the Venetians stop buying alum, needed in textile and glass manufacture, from the Turks, but contract for a large shipment at higher prices from the alum mines at Tolfa in the Papal States – mines for which he, Chigi, was acting as agent. To sweeten the pot, Chigi offered the Venetians tens of thousands of ducats in much-needed loans. 

The Venetians, fearing a rapid French offensive, accepted. Their own state finances were in total shambles. Only the Chigi loan allowed them to hire enough Swiss mercenaries to hold out against the French and the Imperial Landsknechte. To provide a plausible cover for his move, Julius II suddenly discovered that the real issue was not Venice after all, but the need to expel the barbarians (primarily the French) from Italy. Julius stipulated an alliance with Venice. He then set up the slogan of Fuori Barbari! (Kick the Barbarians out!) which is still recorded by credulous writers of Italian school books as the beginning of the struggle to unify Italy. Even the Venetian mercenaries, mostly Swiss, began using the battle cry of “Italy and Freedom!” Thus the post-Agnadello crisis was overcome. Some years later the Venetians tried the same tactic in reverse, this time with more lasting success. By 1525 the prevalent barbarians in Italy were the forces of Emperor Charles V, who had defeated the French at Pavia, capturing King Francis I. The French lost their hold on Naples and Milan. At this point Doge Andrea Gritti, whose portrait by Tiziano speaks volumes about his personality, decided to agitate once again the banner of Italian freedom. This took the form of the Holy League of Cognac “for the restoration of Italian liberty,” uniting France, Venice, Milan, Florence, and the Papal States under Pope Clement VIII Medici. After having set up this alliance, designed to play the French against Charles V once again to destroy Medici-controlled Rome, the last intact Renaissance center, the Venetians retired into defensive positions to await the outcome. Venetian capacities to manipulate Charles V were formidable indeed. The emperor’s bankers and intelligencers were the Fuggers of Augsburg, a banking house and a city that must be regarded as Venetian satellites, within a context of very heavy Venetian control of the cities of the Danube valley. Virtually every young male member of the Fugger family, and of their colleagues the Welsers as well, was sent to Venice for a period of apprenticeship at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. This was the case with Jacob Fugger the Rich. Venice was the pivot for Fugger metals trading, especially toward the East. Thus, the Venetians stayed in their phony war posture against Charles V, while the imperial army of Lutheran Lanzi under Georg Frundsberg devastated Italy. The sack of Rome in 1527 was the direct outcome of this combined Venetian diplomacy and manipulation. To make Charles V’s triumph complete, the Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria, commanding the French fleet, defected to the imperial side. A Doria coup in Genoa then established a permanent de facto alliance with Venice. In 1530, Charles V was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy in a ceremony at Bologna. Garrisons of imperial troops were shortly stationed in every major city. Thanks to the tenacious policy of the Venetians, the main centers of the Renaissance had been subverted or destroyed. Venice was the only major Italian state which had retained real sovereignty. With the end of the Renaissance, Venice could feel free to start a delphic Renaissance among the throngs of intellectuals seeking asylum in the lagoons. 

THE CREATION OF THE JESUITS 

The “long autumn of the Italian Renaissance in Venice” during the rest of the sixteenth century was only one deployment among several. Another was the promotion of the Protestant Reformation. The more immediate controllers of Martin Luther have yet to be identified, but this is something of a secondary matter. Luther’s agitation in Wittenberg was merely one more example of protests against the papacy and the Curia that had been chronic and endemic for decades. What gave Luther and the rest of the Protestant reformers real clout was a publicity and diffusion of their ideas that owed much to the Venetian publishing establishment. The Venetian presses quickly turned out 40,000 copies of the writings of Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, and the heresiarch Juan Valdes, especially popular in Italy. Pope Leo X publicly denounced the University of Padua as the hotbed of inspiration of the German disease of Lutheranism. Clearly, Venetian interest was well-served by a schismatic movement that would embroil Germany, France, and the rest of Europe in a series of easily profiled conflicts. In addition, a conflict between reformers and counter- reformers, all owing allegiance to Aristotle, would severely undercut the influence of Erasmus and others like him. Venetian influence on both Reformation and Counter- Reformation can be seen most clearly in the remarkable career of Gasparo Contarini, who did not let the fact that he was a Protestant in theology, well before Luther, prevent him from founding the Society of Jesus. Contarini was the scion of one of Venice’s most prestigious Longhi families. The Contarinis had produced seven doges, and Gasparo had his sights set on being the eighth, before he was tapped to serve Venice as a member of the College of Cardinals. He served the Serene Republic as ambassador to the court of Charles V, and as ambassador to the Vatican, where he took a role in setting up the Medici Pope Clement VII for the 1527 sack of Rome. Toward the end of his life, Contarini was sent as papal legate to the Imperial Diet at Regenburg, where he represented the Roman point of view in debates with schismatics like Melancthon. There, he had a hand in destroying any compromise between the Lutherans and the Emperor Charles, which would have helped to end the bloodshed and dissension of the Reformation years. What does this sublime Venetian patrician have to do with the founding of the Jesuit order by that itinerant and deranged mystic, Ignatius of Loyola? Ignatius was the creature of Venice, and of Contarini in particular. In 1521, Ignatius was wounded while fighting the French in one of the wars of Charles V. During his convalescence, he underwent his much-touted mystical crisis, after which he took up the life of a hobo. Making his way around Europe seeking funding for a pilgrimage to the holy land, Ignatius found his way to Venice, where he camped out in St. Mark’s Square and lived by begging. One evening the Venetian oligarch Marcantonio Trevisan was sleeping in his golden palace, and had a vision. An angel came to him asking, “Why are you sleeping so soundly in your warm bed, while in the square there is a holy man, a poor pilgrim who needs your help?” Trevisan rushed downstairs to find Ignatius, who became his house guest, fleas and all. After that, Ignatius was given an audience with the doge, Andrea Gritti, who offered him passage to Cyprus on a Venetian warship as first leg of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Ignatius continued his travels, but soon returned to Venice to develop relationships with other members of the oligarchy. These included Gasparo Contarini’s nephew Pietro, who became a recipient of Ignatius’ patented brainwashing treatment, the Exercitationes Spirituales. Then Ignatius made his way to Rome. Here he became the protégé of Gasparo Contarini, who had been appointed to the College of Cardinals by Pope Paul III Farnese. The cardinal took the Exercitationes Spirituales, and appointed Ignatius his personal confessor and spiritual advisor. By 1540, Contarini had personally interceded with the pope against Ignatius’ enemies within the church hierarchy to ensure the founding of the Society of Jesus as a new Church order. In June 1539, Contarini personally traveled to the pope’s summer residence at Tivoli, and prevailed on the pontiff to let him read aloud the statutes of the new order composed by Ignatius. The pope must have been favorably impressed by something. His approving comment Hic est digitus Dei, (”Here is the finger of God”), has become a feature of the turgid Jesuit homiletics. 

The Venetian Conspiracy

« Against Oligarchy

Webster G. Tarpley

https://ia600902.us.archive.org/1/items/pdfy--vMPBwiHw_IDIeob/Against%20Oligarchy%20by%20Webster%20Griffin%20Tarpley.pdf 

Romney gushes over Trump after posh dinner

By HENRY C. JACKSON and ALEX ISENSTADT 11/29/2016 10:56 PM EST Updated 11/29/2016 11:12 PM EST

Mitt Romney showered Donald Trump with uncharacteristic praise on Tuesday night, minutes after polishing off a dinner of frog legs, scallops and lamb chops with the president-elect at the tony Jean-Georges restaurant in Trump International Hotel in New York.

"I had a wonderful evening with President-elect Trump," Romney, who is under consideration to be Trump's secretary of state, told reporters. "We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I've had with him have been enlightening, and interesting, and engaging."

Romney, who savaged Trump as a "con man" during a speech in March, took a markedly different tone following the meal, which was joined by Reince Priebus, the incoming White House chief of staff.

The former Massachusetts governor praised Trump's victory speech, noting that he'd accomplished something Romney hadn't in two failed presidential bids: "He won."

And he said Trump had promoted "a message of inclusion and bringing people together," just hours after the president-elect threatened to jail or revoke the citizenship of anyone burning American flags.

Ticking through Trump's Cabinet picks (who he lauded as "solid, effective, capable people"), Romney said he was "impressed by what I've seen in the transition effort."

In his March speech, Romney painted a picture of a dark future under a President Trump, with a looming global recession and the end of Ronald Reagan’s vision of America as a “shining city on a hill.”

But on Tuesday, Romney had a sharply different take.

“I happen to think that America's best days are ahead of us,” he said. “And what I've seen through these discussions I've had with President-elect Trump, as well as what we've seen in his speech the night of his victory, as well as the people he's selected as part of his transition, all of those things combined give me increasing hope that President-elect Trump is the very man who can lead us to that better future.”

Romney is competing with a number of other contenders to lead Foggy Bottom, including retired general David Petraeus, Senate Foreign Relations chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Several sources who have been in direct communication with the president-elect say they believe Giuliani’s prospects had seriously faded. The former mayor has been damaged by scrutiny into his business ties and by the perception that he’d been openly campaigning for the job, something that has angered Trump. Should Giuliani, a loyal Trump backer, not get the secretary of state job, the sources said, he might be offered another, lower-profile job as a consolation prize of sorts.

Many of Trump’s closest advisers, including incoming chief strategist Steve Bannon, have loudly urged him against picking Romney. Some of them have gone so far as to warn the president-elect that tapping the former governor would make him look weak.

During the dinner, Trump’s transition team allowed a pooler in for a glimpse -- Trump flashed a thumb’s up when asked how things were going -- and CNN correspondent Jim Acosta happened to be eating a few tables away. And then duly live-tweeted what he saw, including some notes on body language. (“Trump crossing his arms for a good while now as Romney smiles and speaks.”)

Per the pool report, Trump and Priebus had sirloin steaks for entrees. Romney chose lamb chops. The appetizer, per the pool, was young garlic soup with thyme and sautéed frog legs as well as “diver scallops with caramelized cauliflower and a caper raisin emulsion.”

Whatever was discussed, there was agreement on dessert: Everyone had chocolate cake.

Here is the full statement Romney made after leaving his dinner with Trump and Priebus:

"I had a wonderful evening with President-elect Trump. We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I've had with him have been enlightening, and interesting, and engaging. I've enjoyed them very, very much. I was also very impressed by the remarks he made on his victory night. By the way, it's not easy winning. I know that myself. He did something I tried to do and was unsuccessful in. He won the general election and he continues with a message of inclusion and bringing people together and his vision is something which obviously connected with the American people in a very powerful way. The last few weeks he's been carrying or a transition effort and I can tell you I've been impressed by what I've seen in the transition effort. The people he's selected as members of his Cabinet are solid, effective, capable people. Some of them I know very well. Nikki Haley and I go way back. She's an outspoken, strong, powerful leader. Tom Price is someone who actually came to my office before he had run for Senate and we spent time talking about healthcare. What an expert and solid thinker in that arena and others. Jeff Sessions is someone who I knew through my campaigns, helped me very early on, he has a distinguished record in the Senate. And, of course many others, Betsy DeVos and a long list of people, very impressive individuals. I happen to think that America's best days are ahead of us. I think you're going to see America continue to lead the world in this century. And what I've seen through these discussions I've had with President-elect Trump, as well as what we've seen in his speech the night of his victory, as well as the people he's selected as part of his transition, all of those things combined give me increasing hope that President-elect Trump is the very man who can lead us to that better future. Thank you."

https://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/11/dinner-for-3-trump-romney-and-reince-231976

Romney congratulates Trump, says course ahead will have challenges

by Tara Suter - 11/06/24 1:44 PM ETSen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Wednesday congratulated President-elect Trump on his projected win in the 2024 presidential election.

“Ann and I extend congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump and to Vice President-elect J.D. Vance,” Romney said in a post on the social platform X.

“Congratulations, as well, to the new members of the U.S. Senate and House,” he added. “The people have spoken. It is now up to these leaders to thoughtfully chart the course ahead, as it is not without challenges. May God bless our great United States.”

Trump secured another four years in the White House on Wednesday, defeating Vice President Harris in the presidential election, according to projections from Decision Desk HQ.

Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, has been a strong critic of Trump in recent years. He has previously voted to convict the former president in two impeachment trials: one in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and another related to Trump and funding for Ukraine.

Describing his reasoning behind his vote to convict following the Capitol riots, Romney said in a statement at the time that he thinks “an attempt to corrupt an election to keep oneself in power one of the most reprehensible acts that can be taken by a sitting president.”

“The second impeachment resulted from the president’s continued effort to do just that. The president’s conduct represented an unprecedented violation of his oath of office and of the public trust,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4977026-romney-congratulates-trump-presidential-election/

Please, wear this on Christmas!

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This is a Black Friday Deal

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On this Black Friday, we have a LIMITED TIME offer for President Trump’s Official Christmas Stocking at a new low price!

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When Was Jesus Vega Born?

Was it really on December 25th?

By Dr. David R. Reagan

According to Luke 1:24-26, Mary conceived Jesus in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. This means that Jesus was born 15 months after the angel Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth’s husband, Zacharias, and informed him that his wife would bear a child.

According to Luke 1:5, Zacharias was a priest of the division of Abijah. Luke 1:8 says that Gabriel appeared to Zacharias while he was serving as a priest in the Temple.

We know from the Talmud and other sources that the division of Abijah served as priests during the second half of the fourth month of the Jewish religious calendar — which would have put it in late June (the Jewish religious calendar begins in March with Passover).

Fifteen months later would place the birth of Jesus in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. That would be in the fall of the year, in either late September or early October. His conception, not His birth, would have occurred in December of the previous year.

The seventh month of the Jewish calendar is the month of the Feast of Tabernacles. John 1:14, speaking of Jesus as the Word, says: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” The word “dwelt” that is used here is the Greek word “skenoo” which literally means “to tabernacle”!

So, when God came to earth to tabernacle among Men it appears that He timed His arrival in the Bethlehem manger to coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles. That was only appropriate, for the Feast of Tabernacles is the most joyous of all the Jewish feasts. It is, in fact, their feast of thanksgiving.

The total meaning of that feast will not be fulfilled until the Lord returns again to tabernacle among Men for a thousand years while He reigns over the earth from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. Isn’t the Word of God marvelous?

https://christinprophecy.org/articles/when-was-jesus-born/

President William Howard Taft made the West Wing a permanent building, doubling its size by expanding it southward, and building the first Oval Office.[14] Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth and completed in 1909, the office was centered on the building's south facade, much as the oval rooms in the White House are. Taft wanted to be more involved with the day-to-day operation of his presidency, and intended the office to be the hub of his administration. The Taft Oval Office had ample natural light from its three windows and skylight. It featured a white marble mantel, simple Georgian Revival woodwork, and twin glass-doored bookcases. It also was likely the most colorful presidential office in history; its walls were covered with vibrant seagrass green burlap.[15]

On December 24, 1929, during the first year of President Herbert Hoover's administration, a fire severely damaged the West Wing. Hoover used this as an opportunity to create additional space, excavating a partial basement for staff offices. He restored the Oval Office, upgrading the quality of trim and installing air conditioning. He also replaced the furniture, which had undergone no major changes in twenty years. 

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

Elon Musk breaks silence on Twitter, posts a picture with the pope

By Reuters

July 2, 20226:13 AM PDT Updated 2 years ago

July 2 (Reuters) - Elon Musk on Friday night broke his nine-day silence on Twitter, the social media platform he is trying to buy for $44 billion, posting a picture of him meeting Pope Francis on Thursday.

The world's richest person tweeted a picture where he can be seen standing next to the pope, captioning it: "Honored to meet @pontifex yesterday."

Musk's four teenage boys are also pictured, but not his 18-year-old transgender daughter who, on June 20 sought to change her name and sever ties with him. Musk has a total of eight children. read more

The purpose and location of Musk's meeting with the pope were not immediately clear.

Last month, Musk said there were "still a few unresolved matters" on the deal to buy Twitter, including the number of spam users on the system and the coming together of the debt portion of the deal.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-breaks-silence-twitter-posts-picture-with-pope-2022-07-02/

Pontifex Maximus

Introduction

The head priest of the Roman state religion was the Pontifex Maximus, or the greatest of the college of pontifices. While an obviously important and prominent position within the ranks of the Roman system, the Pontifex Maximus was not considered a magistrate comparable to a Consul, Praetor, etc.

During the Republic, the Pontifex was elected by the Comitia Tributa and served for life, while during the Empire, the position was generally held by the Emperor himself.

Originally, the Ponifices were Patrician only, but the social conditions and changes during the late Republic allowed for Plebeian election as well. These men were responsible for the oversight of the state religious cult as a whole and didn't really oversee particular godly cults, though they could if necessary.

By the Imperial period there were 16 pontifices under the high priest, 15 flamines, who were special priests of the main deities, and the Rex Sacrorum (king of the sacrifices) who performed the religious acts that the king had usually done. Perhaps most importantly, he was he was also responsible for the 18 Vestal Virgins.

The main duty of the pontifices was to provide the pax deorum, or the 'peace with the gods'. Interpreting omens, sometimes through augures, controlling and keeping the official calendar, and the oversight of funerals all fell under the domain of the Pontifex Maximus.

He was responsible for an enormous collection of omens (annales maximi); that would be recorded and collected on a nearly constant basis. These heavenly signs would be written down along with accompanying events, and used to determine the divine favor of the gods. Doing so allowed following generations of priests and magistrates to understand the historic will of the gods and interpret future events against past patterns.

Today, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, is still called the Pontifex Maximus. It's a political or governing office that has been in existence and in perpetual use for nearly 3,000 years.

Pontifex Maximus List

Roman Office of the Pontifex Maximus

Year

Pontifex

Notes

712 BC

Numa Pompilius

The office was said to begin during the tenure of the Kings of Rome. However, very little recorded evidence exists. This name has been recorded as Numa Marcius and it is difficult to determine if it was a different person, or the actual second king of Rome.

509 BC

Papirius

Complete dates in office unknown.

449 BC

Furius

Complete dates in office unknown.

431 BC

Cornelius Cossas

Complete dates in office unknown.

420 BC

Minucius

Complete dates in office unknown.

390 BC

Follius Flaccinator

Complete dates in office unknown.

332 - 304 BC

Cornelius Callissa

 

304 - ? BC

Cornelius Scipio Barbatus

Complete dates in office unknown.

254 - 243 BC

Tib. Coruncanius

First Plebeian Pontifex Maximus

243 - 221 BC

Caecilius Metellus

 

217 - 213 BC

Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus

 

212 - 183 BC

Licinius Crassus Dives

 

183 - 180 BC

Servilius Geminus

 

180 - 152 BC

Aemilius Lepidus

 

152 -150 BC

No Pontifex Maximus

 

150 - 141 BC

Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum

 

141 - 132 BC

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio

Described by Plutarch as the first Pontifex to break the religious law not allowing him to leave Italy.

132 - 130 BC

Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus

Also noted as the first to leave Italy, during the social disorder of the Gracchi Brothers. After which, it became increasingly common and certainly not against the law for the Pontifex to leave Italy.

? - 115 BC

P. Mucius Scaevola

Complete dates in office unknown, but assumedly shortly after his predecessor.

114 - 103 BC

Caecilius Metellus Delmaticus

 

103 - 89 BC

Domitius Ahenobarbus

 

89 - 82 BC

Q. Mucius Scaevola

 

81 - 63 BC

Caecilius Metellus Pius

 

63 - 44 BC

Gaius Julius Caesar

 

44 - 13 BC

Aemilius Lepidus

 

12 BC

Augustus

With the accession of Augustus, the election of the Pontifex Maximus ceased as each successive emperor held the office. In 382 AD, when the Eastern emperor Theodosius established Christianity as the official religion of the empire, the Western Emperor Gratian relinquished the office to the Christian Popes of Rome, who have held it since that time.

Did you know...

Julius Caesar was elected pontifex maximus in 63 BCE and kept the office until his death. The house where he spent the night before he was killed, was the domus publica.

https://www.unrv.com/culture/pontifex-maximus.php 

Fire as the agent of Truth

Asha Vahishta is closely associated with fire. Fire is "grandly conceived as a force informing all the other Amesha Spentas, giving them warmth and the spark of life."[27] In Yasht 17.20, Angra Mainyu clamours that Zoroaster burns him with Asha Vahishta. In Vendidad 4.54-55, speaking against the truth and violating the sanctity of promise is detected by the consumption of "water, blazing, of golden color, having the power to detect guilt."

This analogy of truth that burns and detecting truth through fire is already attested in the very earliest texts, that is, in the Gathas and in the Yasna Haptanghaiti. In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda dispenses justice through radiance of His fire and the strength of aṣ̌a. Fire "detects" sinners "by hand-grasping" (Yasna 34.4). An individual who has passed the fiery test (garmo-varah, ordeal by heat), has attained physical and spiritual strength, wisdom, truth and love with serenity (Yasna 30.7). Altogether, "there are said to have been some 30 kinds of fiery tests in all."[28] According to the post-Sassanid Dadestan i denig (I.31.10), at the final judgement a river of molten metal will cover the earth. The righteous, as they wade through this river, will perceive the molten metal as a bath of warm milk. The wicked will be scorched. For details on aṣ̌a's role in personal and final judgement, see aṣ̌a in eschatology, below.

Fire is moreover the "auxiliary of the truth," "and not only, as in the ordeal, of justice and of truth at the same time."[11] In Yasna 31.19, "the man who thinks of aṣ̌a, [...] who uses his tongue in order to speak correctly, [does so] with the aid of brilliant fire". In Yasna 34-44 devotees "ardently desire [Mazda's] mighty fire, through aṣ̌a." In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda "shall come to [Zoroaster] through the splendour of [Mazda's] fire, possessing the strength of (through) aṣ̌a and good mind (=Vohu Manah)." That fire "possesses strength through aṣ̌a" is repeated again in Yasna 43.4. In Yasna 43.9, Zoroaster, wishing to serve fire, gives his attention to aṣ̌a. In Yasna 37.1, in a list of what are otherwise all physical creations, aṣ̌a takes the place of fire.

Asha Vahishta's association with atar is carried forward in the post-Gathic texts, and they are often mentioned together. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, each of the Amesha Spentas represents one aspect of creation and one of seven primordial elements that in Zoroastrian tradition are the basis of that creation. In this matrix, aṣ̌a/arta is the origin of fire, Avestan atar, which permeates through all Creation. The correspondence then is that aṣ̌a/arta "penetrates all ethical life, as fire penetrates all physical being."[12]

In the liturgy Asha Vahishta is frequently invoked together with fire. (Yasna l.4, 2.4, 3.6, 4.9, 6.3, 7.6, 17.3, 22.6, 59.3, 62.3 etc.). In one passage, fire is a protector of aṣ̌a: "when the Evil Spirit assailed the creation of Good Truth, Good Thought and Fire intervened" (Yasht 13.77)

In later Zoroastrian tradition, Asha Vahishta is still at times identified with the fire of the household hearth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha 

The Sphere (officially Große Kugelkaryatide N.Y., also known as Sphere at Plaza Fountain, WTC Sphere or Koenig Sphere) is a monumental cast bronze sculpture by German artist Fritz Koenig (1924–2017).[2]

The world's largest bronze sculpture of modern times stood between the Twin Towers on the Austin J. Tobin Plaza of the World Trade Center in New York City from 1972 until the September 11 attacks. The work, weighing more than 20 tons, was the only remaining work of art to be recovered largely intact from the ruins of the collapsed Twin Towers. After being dismantled and stored near a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the sculpture was the subject of the 2001 documentary Koenig's Sphere. Since then, the bronze sphere has become a memorial for the attacks.

The sculpture was installed in Battery Park between 2002 and 2017, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey moved it to Liberty Park, overlooking the September 11 Memorial and its original location.[2] The sculpture, rededicated at its permanent location on August 16, 2017, has been kept in the badly damaged condition it was found in after the September 11 attacks.

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

Spaceship Earth is a dark ride attraction at the EPCOT theme park at the Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. The geodesic sphere in which the attraction is housed has served as the symbolic structure of EPCOT since the park opened in 1982.

The 15-minute ride takes guests on a time machine-themed experience, demonstrating how advancements in human communication have helped to create the future one step at a time. Riding in Omnimover-type vehicles along a track that spirals up and down the geodesic sphere, passengers are taken through scenes depicting important breakthroughs in communication throughout history—from the development of early language through cave paintings, to the use of hieroglyphs, to the invention of the alphabet, to the creation of the printing press, to today's modern communication advancements, including telecommunication, mass communication, and the internet.

An opening day attraction, the ride has been updated three times—in 1986, 1994, and 2007. A fourth update of the attraction was planned for the early 2020s but was indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2][3][4]

Structure

The structure is similar in texture to the United States pavilion from Expo 67 in Montreal but, unlike that structure, Spaceship Earth is a complete sphere, supported by three pairs of legs. The architectural design was conceived by Wallace Floyd Design Group.[5][6] The structural designs of both Expo 67 and Spaceship Earth were completed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts.

Geometrically, Spaceship Earth is derived from the Class 2 geodesic polyhedron with frequency of division equal to 8. Each face of the polyhedron is divided into three isosceles triangles to form each point. In theory, there are 11,520 total isosceles triangles forming 3840 points. In reality, some of those triangles are partially or fully nonexistent due to supports and doors; there are actually only 11,324 silvered facets, with 954 partial or full flat triangular panels.[7]

The appearance of being a monolithic sphere is an architectural goal that was achieved through a structural trick. Spaceship Earth is in fact two structural domes. Six legs are supported on pile groups that are driven up to 160 feet into Central Florida's soft earth. Those legs support a steel box-shaped ring at the sphere's perimeter, at about 30 degrees south latitude in earth-terms.[8] The upper structural dome sits on this ring. A grid of trusses inside the ring supports two helical structures of the ride and show system. Below the ring, a second dome is hung from the bottom, completing the spherical shape. The ring and trusses form a table-like structure which separates the upper dome from the lower. Supported by and about three feet off the structural domes is a cladding sphere to which the shiny Alucobond panels and drainage system are mounted.

The cladding was designed so that when it rains, no water pours off the sides onto the ground. All water is collected through one-inch gaps in the facets into a gutter system, and the water is channeled into the World Showcase Lagoon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth_(Epcot)

What meaneth the altar, with its mysterious lights?

What mean the candles of the Catholic worship, burning even by day, borne in the sunshine, blazing at noon? What meaneth this visible fire, as an element at Mass, or at service at all? Wherefore is this thing, Light, employed as a primal witness and attestation in all worship? To what end, and expressive of what mysterious meaning,—surviving through the changes of the faiths and the renewal of the Churches, and as yet undreamt,—burn the solemn lamps in multitude, in their richly worked, their highly wrought, cases of solid gold or of glowing silver, bright-glancing in the mists of incense, and in the swell or fall of sacredly melting or of holily entrancing music? Before spiry shrine and elaborate drop-work tabernacle; in twilight hollow, diapered as into a “glory of stone” and in sculptured niche; in the serried and starry ranks of the columned wax, or in rows of bossy cressets,—intertwine and congregate the perfumed flames as implying the tradition eldest of time! What meaneth, in the Papal architectural piles, wherein the Ghostly Fire is enshrined, symbolic real fire, thus before the High Altar? What speak those constellations of lights? what those “silvery stars of Annunciation”? What signifieth fire upon the altar? What gather we at all from altars and from sacrifice,—the delivering, as through the gate of fire, of the first and the best of this world,—whether of the fruits, whether of the flocks, whether of the primal and perfectest of victims, or the rich spoil of the “world-states”? What mean the human sacrifices of the Heathen; the passing of the children through the fire to Moloch; the devotion of the consummate, the most physically perfect, and most beautiful, to the glowing Nemesis, in that keenest, strangest, yet divinest, fire-appetite; the offered plunder, the surrendered lives, of the predatory races? What signifies the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the burning of living people among the Gauls, the Indian fiery immolations? What is intended even by the patriarchal sacrifices? What is the meaning of the burnt offerings, so frequent in the Bible? In short, what read we, and what seem we conclusively to gather, we repeat, in this mystic thing, and hitherto almost meaningless, if not contradictory and silencing, institution of sacrifice by fire? What gather we, otherwise than in the explanation of the thing signified by it? We speak of sacrifice as practised in all ages, enjoined in all holy books, elevated into veneration, as a necessity of the highest and most sacred

kind. We find it in all countries,—east, west, north, and south;—in the Old equally as in the New World." 

"CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. DRUIDICAL STONES AND THEIR WORSHIP."

THE ROSICRUCIANS THEIR RITES AND MYSTERIES 

by Hargrave Jennings

https://dn720002.ca.archive.org/0/items/rosicruciansthei00jenn_0/rosicruciansthei00jenn_0.pdf

The Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe is a basilica located in Orlando, Florida at 8300 Vineland Avenue. It was built to service the large number of Catholic tourists who visit the attractions in the Greater Orlando area. While it is a 2,000-seat church of the Diocese of Orlando and provides Mass for the faithful, it has also become a regional tourist attraction. In 2009, it was designated as the 63rd minor basilica in the United States. Since it is not a parish only the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist are celebrated. No weekly bulletins are distributed.

The Shrine consists of the main church, the Rosary Garden, the Mother & Child Outdoor Chapel, the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, the Shrine Museum, and a gift shop.

History

After the grand opening of Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the Diocese of Orlando determined that the thousands of Catholics visiting from around the world needed a place to attend Mass. The Diocese arranged for Masses at several area hotels, and in the spring of 1975 Bishop Thomas Grady placed Father Fachtna Joseph Harte in charge of tourism ministry. With projections predicting over 30 million annual visitors to Greater Orlando in the 1970s, Fr. Harte and Bishop Grady worked to establish a permanent location. In 1979, property was purchased for a new facility, named under the patronage of the Virgin Mary.[1]

On December 8, 1984, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, enough funds had been raised to break ground for the first phase of construction. Within two years, the initial facility was completed and on November 23, 1986, the Feast of Christ the King, the first phase was blessed by Archbishop Pio Laghi, Papal Nuncio to the United States. Phase one included landscaping, a building to use as a church and offices, and a bell tower.

On August 22, 1990, the Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ground was broken for a main church that would seat as many as 2,000 people. “We want the shrine to be a temple, a sacred place to give glory to God and honor our mother,” said Bishop Norbert Dorsey. “Above all we want it to be a spiritual home, a real hearth.”[1]

At long last, on January 31, 1993, the first Mass was celebrated in the new church.  And on August 22, 1993, the church was dedicated. Archbishop Pio Laghi was once again present. Bishop Dorsey proclaimed “a day of great rejoicing” and asked God’s grace upon all who would be drawn to the Shrine.[1]

The use of the title "Mary, Queen of the Universe" is drawn from section 59 of Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church issued in 1964 by the Second Vatican Council, which stated: "Finally, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all guilt of original sin, on the completion of her earthly sojourn, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and the conqueror of sin and death."[2] This usage could reflect Orlando's connection to nearby Cape Canaveral, the liftoff point for America's crewed space program, as spaceflight was likely the inspiration for the term. Cape Canaveral is part of the Diocese of Orlando.

In 2004, Archbishop Thomas Wenski petitioned the USCCB to ask for the Shrine to be elevated from a diocesan to a National Shrine. The petition was granted and “National” was added to the name.[1]

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops held their spring convocation here in 2008.[3] On July 17, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI declared the Shrine a minor basilica because of its ministry to the estimated half million pilgrims and tourists.[4]

Facts

The fourteen aisle windows are entitled "The Magnificat Windows"

It also ministers to Catholic workers at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort.

It is the nearest Catholic church to Walt Disney World.

The Outdoor Chapel features a bronze sculpture of the Mother and Child by Jerzy Kenar

The Museum displays Church art from around the world

The Shrine contains an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) sculpture featuring Mary and Baby Jesus bearing the same name "Mary, Queen of the Universe" sculpted by Jill Burkee of white marble from Carrara, Italy.

In 2015, Bishop John Noonan designated the central door as a Holy Door as part of the celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, and opened it on December 13.[5]

Rectors of the Basilica

Msgr. F. Joseph Harte, 1975 - 2007

Fr. Edward McCarthy, 2007-2011

Fr. Paul Henry, 2011 - 2020

Fr. Robert Webster, 2020 - 2022

Fr. Anthony Aarons, 2022-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Mary,_Queen_of_the_Universe

Min, in ancient Egyptian religion, a god of fertility and harvest, embodiment of the masculine principle; he was also worshipped as the Lord of the Eastern Desert. His cult originated in predynastic times (4th millennium bce).

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Min-Egyptian-god

Minnie Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue (or pink or red) polka-dotted dress, white bloomers and yellow low-heeled shoes occasionally with ribbons on them.

The comic strip story "Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers" (published September 22 – December 26, 1930) introduced her father Marcus Mouse and her unnamed mother, both farmers. The same story featured photographs of Minnie's uncle Milton Mouse with his family and her grandparents Marvel Mouse and Matilda Mouse. Her best-known relatives, however, remain her uncle Mortimer Mouse (Mortimer was almost the name of Mickey) and her twin nieces, Millie and Melody Mouse, though most often a single niece, Melody, appears. In many appearances, Minnie is presented as the girlfriend of Mickey Mouse, best friend of Daisy Duck[11] and a friend to Clarabelle Cow.

In honor of her 90th anniversary, on January 22, 2018, she joined the ranks of other animated celebrities by receiving her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[12] She was the sixth Disney character to receive this honor. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Winnie the Pooh, Tinker Bell and Snow White have already received this distinction.

History

Origins of the character

Minnie was initially created to be the love interest of Mickey Mouse, concept art for Mickey showed a female mouse alongside him.[13]

Minnie was designed in the fashion of a flapper girl. Her main outfit consisted of a short flapper girl dress that often revealed her distinctive patched knickers. In the 1929 cartoon The Karnival Kid, it was also revealed that she wears black stockings which were also fashionable among flapper girls. Her shoes are probably her most distinctive article of clothing. For comedic effect, she wears oversized high heeled pumps that are too big for her feet. Her heels often slip out of her shoes and she even loses her shoes completely in The Gallopin' Gaucho. When she walked or danced, the clip clop of her large pumps was usually heard clearly and often went with the rhythm of the music that was played in the background. Along with Mickey, she was redesigned in 1940. Her hat was replaced with a large bow and bows were added to her shoes as well. Her eyes were also given more detail. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, her look and personality became more conservative. Minnie almost always wears red or pink, but in her early appearances, she could be seen wearing a combination of blue, black or green (when not depicted in black and white).

Minnie's early personality is cute, playful, musical and flirtatious. She often portrays an entertainer like a dancer or a musician whose affection Mickey is trying to win. Part of the comedy of these early shorts is the varying degree of success Mickey has in wooing Minnie. Unlike later cartoons after the redesign, Minnie often becomes a damsel in distress whom Mickey tries to rescue. She is also subject to a lot of slapstick and rubber hose animation gags. Over the course of the 1930s, Minnie's and Mickey's relationship solidified and they eventually became a steady couple.

Minnie was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short Plane Crazy.[14] Minnie is invited to join Mickey in the first flight of his aircraft. She accepts the invitation but not his request for a kiss in mid-flight. Mickey eventually forces Minnie into a kiss, but this only results in her parachuting out of the plane. This first film depicted Minnie as somewhat resistant to the demanding affection of her potential boyfriend and capable of escaping his grasp.[15]

Their debut, however, featured the couple already familiar to each other. The next film featuring them was The Gallopin' Gaucho.[16] The film was the second of their series to be produced, but the third to be released and was released on December 30, 1928. We find Minnie employed at the Cantina Argentina, a bar and restaurant established in the Pampas of Argentina. She performs the Tango for Mickey the gaucho and Black Pete the outlaw. Both flirt with her, but the latter intends to abduct her while the former obliges in saving the Damsel in Distress from the villain. All three characters acted as strangers first being introduced to each other.

Minnie Mouse in Steamboat Willie, using a goat to play the song "Turkey in the Straw".

But it was their third cartoon that established the definitive early look and personality of both Mickey and Minnie, as well as Pete. Steamboat Willie[17] was the third short of the series to be produced, but was released first, on November 18, 1928.[18] Pete was featured as the Captain of the steamboat, Mickey as a crew of one and Minnie as their single passenger.[19] The two anthropomorphic mice first star in a sound film and spend most of its duration playing music to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw". 

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

HOTT Transcript

Hermetic Marriage

Updated : Sunday, April 17, 2005 2:40 PM

Hermetic Marriage

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.

Good old Walt.  You've been leading your children to his lessons in The

Mysteries and the philosophic indoctrination into the philosophy of fire

for many years.  And you didn't even know it.

Thoth--Hermes--the ibis-headed, was the Egyptian god of wisdom,

learning, literature, and science--"gnosis", if you will.

The "G" in the center of the compass and square of the Masonic emblem

does not stand for "God" or "geometry".  It means "gnosis"--knowledge.

Those who know.

Thoth--Hermes--is accredited with being the first to reveal the art of

writing to the present human race.  According to the records available,

he lived in Egypt as a contemporary of Moses.  Some authorities even

claim that Moses and Hermes were one and the same person.

The Greek name "Hermes" is taken from an ancient root, "herm", which

means the active, or positive, radiant principle of nature; sometimes

translated as "vitality" or "generative force"; and known to ancient

freemasonry--or the sons of light, the free "macon"--as "the cosmic

fire", Hiram, and later as Hiram Abif.

Hermes Trismegistus, often called "Mercurius Termaximus" dominated the

philosophical and literary thought of the ancient world.  His very name,

ladies and gentlemen, became a synonym of wisdom.  In fact, he was

revered as the personification of philosophy and erudition.  He was

regarded as the first cabalist, the first physician, the first

alchemist, and the first historian. The actual life of this demagogue

and king of the ancient double empire of the Nile is obscured by that

twilight which hides the origin of all peoples.  And those who think

they know, you can be assured, do not.

By reason of his great wisdom and magical powers, Thoth was listed among

the gods until today many believe that he never existed at all outside

of mythology.  But if action and reaction are equal, then something more

substantial than a mere legend must be the foundation for the towering

super-structure of the hermetic arts.

During the early periods of human growth, when the intelligence of man

was scarcely above that of the animal--according to the theory of

evolution--all education was controlled by the priest craft, just as I

have outlined to you on many episodes of "The Hour of the Time".

The ancient priests were called "the shepherds of men"--the analogy is

that men are sheep or cattle--for the shepherds guarded the flocks of

primitive human beings as the shepherd does his sheep.

Are you beginning to have a flicker of understanding?

Both science and philosophy were outgrowths of religion.  In fact, all

our present day wisdom came originally into the world from between the

pillars of the sanctuaries, the temples, what today you call cathedrals

or churches.  And it came from the priesthood, from the priests.

Hermes was to ancient philosophy what Jesus is to Christianity:  its

light, its inspiration, and of course, its impetus.

The Egyptian initiates of the Temple of Isis claimed, therefore, that

Hermes was actually the writer of all books on philosophical and

religious subjects, that the supposed human authors were merely

amanuenses who wrote down upon parchment or velum the thoughts which

this god impressed upon their consciousness.  Sort of like channeling.

In scriptural terms, they were the pens; and he, the ever-ready writer.

During his lifetime--if indeed he lived--Hermes Trismegistus is supposed

to have actually written 42 books.  Some, however, are probably the work

of the ancient Egyptian priests, for in their glory, these

serpent-crowned hierophants represented the wisest group of philosophers

that ever lived upon this planet.

Clemens Alexandrinus states that these hermetic books were divided into

six parts, each dealing with a separate subject under such headings as

astronomy (and its inseparable companion--astrology), medicine,

geography, the hymns to the gods, and, of course, other titles.

During the ages that have past, Hermes has come to be acknowledged as

the godfather of science, particularly its chemical and medical

branches.  And even after the Christian Era, numerous works dealing with

religious and philosophical subjects were dedicated to him and to him

alone.  And the general term "hermetic art" has been applied to

practically all the abstruse sciences of the ancient, medieval, and

modern worlds.

"The Divine Pymander", more commonly known as "The Shepherd of Men", and

"The Smerigdine<?> Tablet" found in the Valley of Hebron, are the most

famous of the hermetic fragments.

You may reference this in a book by Manley P. Hall entitled "The Lost

Keys of Freemasonry".

And these two works are probably authentic and contain many keys to the

universal science of life as held by The Mysteries--not necessarily me

or anyone else--of which Hermes was a master.

Nearly all hermetic thought was an elaboration of the principle of

analogy contained in the great hermetic axiom--and you have heard me

propound upon this before--and I quote verbatim:

"That which is above is like unto that which is below.  And that which

is below is like unto that which is above."

Now at the present time, nearly all the so-called hermetic writings are

said to be lost.  Only a few isolated remnants remain of what once must

have been a magnificent collection of philosophical, medical, and

religious wisdom.

During the Middle Ages, one particular branch of hermetic

thought--alchemy--gradually came into prominence, and for several

hundred years dominated all other branches, and was held under that

ancient name:  "The Rosy Cross"--for those of you not familiar with the

subjects covered on this broadcast.

Alchemy was the androgynous parent of chemistry.

Notice I said androgynous.  This parent of chemistry, which was

separated from its sire by the speculations of Roger Bacon and Baal.

While chemistry as a science dealt only with minerals, medicines, and

essences, alchemy, ladies and gentlemen, struggled with the more

profound elements of macrocosmic and microcosmic relationships, and had

absolutely nothing--nothing--to do with what you have traditionally been

taught.

Alchemy undoubtedly originated in Egypt; for there, for there--the old

legends go--the secrets of transmuting base metals into gold, and of

prolonging the life of the physical body indefinitely, were thoroughly

understood by the priest craft.  But this explanation was of the

exoteric, and not the esoteric, meaning which literally dealt with the

soul and not the body, not the base metal.  For it had nothing to do

with metal.

It was about elevating oneself above the animal, above the baseness of

the human condition, to the purity of the consciousness of the soul, and

thus, a direct communication with God.

Ancient records tell us that the Chaldean sages knew how to rebuild

their bodies, many of them living to be over a thousand years old--and

then this again is a metaphor.

Many of the processes by which this was accomplished were concealed

under the sacred Egyptian rituals such as "The Book of Coming Forth By

Day", which E. A. Wallis Budge has called "The Book of the Dead".  The

correct title is "The Book of Coming Forth By Day", not "The Book of the

Dead".

In the Middle Ages, when religion, divorcing philosophy, was wed to

blind faith, there was a renaissance of the alchemical and hermetic

arts.  They were revived by that type of mind which demands reason,

logic, and philosophy, as well as hymns and prayers.

Alchemy won numerous converts in Germany, France, and England.  The

long-ignored works of the Arabian magicians--or the Magi--enjoyed wide

popularity, and from them was extracted the greater part of modern

astrology.  The ancient philosophies of the Jewish patriarchs were also

revived and cabalism became a universal topic of consideration.

Paracelsus, the great Swiss physician (sometimes called "the second

Hermes"), undoubtedly rediscovered the ancient Egyptian formulae of the

Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life, and around him rallied a

coterie of medieval philosophers who today stand out strongly against

the dun-colored background of medieval culture.  They are, in fact, some

of the most interesting men of that period of history.

In back of this revival of interest in ancient Egyptian philosophy, we

may find the master minds and guiding hands of three great philosophical

movements who now control the world:

  1.  One is known as the Order of the Illuminati, represented by

Muhammad, prophet of Islam; Roger Bacon, father of chemistry; and

Paracelsus, father of modern medicine.  Remember, The Mysteries--or the

Religion of Illuminism--came from the Middle East, and thus, properly

belongs exactly where it is placed, represented by Muhammad, the prophet

of Islam.  For it is from the Islamic faith that the Knights Templars

brought The Mysteries from the Middle East into Europe.  It is an

interesting fact that the present buildings and school of Rudolf

Steiner, the German mystic, are located in the grounds of the old estate

of Hohenheim where Paracelsus lived;

  2.  The Order of Freemasons, represented by the great Robert Flood,

master of symbolism and alchemy, and Elias Ashmole, the unique

philosopher; and

  3.  The Rosicrucians, a sacred organization founded by the mysterious

Father C.R.C. after his return from Arabia.  You see, in the

mythological city of Demcar, he had been educated in alchemy and

astrology by Arabian adepts, according to the story.  After him came Sir

Francis Bacon, the remodeler of British law.  And then Count Cagliostro,

the sublime adventurer.  And last and greatest of all, the great Compte

de St. Germaine, probably the world's greatest political reformer, and

alchemist by fire, and one of the greatest frauds that has ever lived.

These superlative minds leavened the loaf of materiality.  And,

according to those who study The Mysteries, kept alight the flame of

Hermes during the medieval centuries of religious intolerance and

bigotry.

Concealed beneath chemistry--the science of relating chemicals and

elements--these minds discovered the ancient Egyptian arcana, long

hidden by the crafty priests of Ra and Amon, and further concealed by

that great Mystery School known as The Vatican.  Alchemy, thereupon,

became the chemistry of the soul.  For under the material symbol of

chemistry was concealed The Mystery of the Coming Forth By Day.

Now, these ancient wisemen taught that the world was a great laboratory;

that living essences were the chemicals; that the span of life was a

period of time given to the mind in which to experiment with the great

agencies of nature; and that to the thoughtful came wisdom from their

labors, while for the thoughtless life held only foolishness and sorrow.

In this great laboratory, man learned how to combine the living

chemicals of thought, action, and desire, and by learning the ways of

nature, became the master of nature.

According to those who believe, he became a god by actually becoming a

man.  You see, in the words of the great Paracelsus, and I quote:

"The beginning of wisdom is the beginning of supernatural power."

Of all the hermetic mysteries, none is more perplexing than the

so-called "hermetic marriage".  A post-Christian interpretation of an

ancient Egyptian ritual, supposedly written 200 years earlier, was

published to the modern world in the first part of the seventeenth

century under the name of "The Chemical Nuptials of Christian

Rosencruits".  Little, if anything, has been discovered concerning the

origin either of this book or the "Fama Fraternitatis" which appeared

about the same time.

The exalted order of Rosicrucian philosophers, which today is known as

The Rosy Cross, has been very reticent concerning its members and their

works.  And even today it is difficult to prove, from a strictly

material viewpoint, that the order ever existed--unless of course, you

listen to "The Hour of the Time", for we have proved it repeatedly,

cited book, paragraph, chapter and verse.

Concealed under that quaint wording of the alchemical marriage can be

plainly traced a series of mysterious formulae concerning the

transmutation of base metals into gold.  And I have already explained

the esoteric meaning of that.

The alchemists taught that man contained within himself all the elements

of nature, both human and divine, and that by special culture, the base

elements of his nature could be transmuted into the spiritual gold

called "the soul".

In discussing this, Paracelsus makes plain that these philosophers did

not wish to leave the impression that something could be made from

nothing; rather they emphasized the fact that each individual thing

contains all other things, and that the alchemical process of making

gold was merely to culture the germ of gold which is contained in every

base substance--to bring it to the top, so to speak--above the baseness

of human nature.

Modern science substantiates the alchemical point of view by stating

that it expects to extract gold from mercury by taking out, or

isolating, the electron of gold which is one of the constituents of

every mercurial atom.

Taking the chemistry of human relationships as a basis therefor, we have

prepared the following thesis concerning the true preparation of a

Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life, according to the

fundamentals laid down by Hermes and the ancient Egyptian priest craft.

It is known as the Hermetic Anatomy.

A theory of natural creation has been generally accepted by the faiths

of the world, with the possible exception of Christianity.  You see, to

the ancients, everything in nature was alive.  Therefore, they accepted

the human body as symbolic of the universe.

The Hebrews called this prototype "adam-qadmon" or, in translation, the

"grand man", in whose mold all things were made.  Every system of

cosmogony, except the Christian, makes the universe a living thing.

Instead of a God separated from his creation, the Brahmins, Jews,

Persians, and Chinese have conceived their god as being completely

involved in his creation.  They have accepted more literally than the

Christians the idea that man dwells in God, that in God he actually

lives, moves and has his being.  They call this god, "Macroprosopis"--or

translated, "the spirit of the grand man", or more commonly known to all

of you as "the soul".  From his body was made the macrocosm consisting

of suns, moons, planets, meteors, ethers, gases, and the sundry parts of

creation.

In the Scandinavian edas, the universe was formed from the body of Emir,

the Frost King.

In India, the universe was constructed from the person of Brahma, whose

members became the various bodies of the visible cosmos.

The hermetists, therefore, said, quote:

"Man, know thyself.  For thou, like God, art all wisdom, and all power,

and the shadow bearing witness unto the eternal."

Unquote.  An anonymous alchemist, writing in the Middle Ages stated, and

I quote again:

"God has given man three ways whereby he may learn the infinite will:

(1) nature, for in the stars that twinkle in the sky, the planets in

their thundering march, and the earth with its multitude of laws, are

concealed the laws of God;  (2)  holy writ, the inspired word of saints

and sages unnumbered; and (3) anatomy, the structure of our own bodies,

wherein is concealed the structure of the universe, for all things are

made by one mold."

End quote.

The electron revolving around its nebular center obeys the same law that

moves planets around the sun.  In this we see the truth of the great

hermetic axiom:

"As above, so below.  As with the lesser, so with the greater."

This was believed by all of these ancient philosophers.

The hermetists spent much time studying the intricate construction of

man and, like the Brahmans of Indian, they divided him into three major

parts.

In India, this trinity of basic parts is called "Adeh", "Buddhi" and

"Manis", meaning literally, "spirit", "soul" and "body".  Their Trimurti

corresponds to the Trinity of Christian theology.  Each of these three

major parts of a god, a man, or a universe, was personified as an

individual.

The "adeh" or spirit, was called "the divine cause" or "the father".

"Manis," or matter, was called "the divine effect", being known in India

as "Shiva" and in Christendom as the Holy Spirit.

Between these two stood "Buddhi", the mediator, the god-man, the Mercury

of the Latins, the messenger of the gods.  By some, this intermediary is

considered synonymous with soul.  By others it is called "mind" because

mind is the uniting link between life and the sense of energy and death

and the sense of inertia.  And to the pagans and hermetists, all things

in nature, the ethers, the air, minerals, even the earth itself, were

endowed with intelligence, consciousness and feeling.

All was linked and gave rise to what you know today and what is known as

the New Age Movement as the Ghia Principle.

The Adeh-Buddhi-Manis constitution of man, as represented by the

alchemists under the symbolism of the Philosopher's Stone and its three

important constituents:  salt, sulfur and mercury.

According to alchemy, salt is the substance of all things.  It is the

body, the form, the dense crystallized particles from which all physical

things are manufactured.

Sulfur is symbolic of fire, the divine agent.  Fire is defined by the

hermetist as the life of all things and is the Adeh of the Brahman

Trimurti.

Mercury, the universal solvent, becomes synonymous with Buddhi, the

mind, the thing which absorbs all experience into itself, the link

between God and nature.

And now maybe you are beginning to understand how all of these esoteric

thoughts, the religion of The Mysteries, can be hidden behind symbology.

Those of you who would read a book concerning the alchemists of the

medieval times would have actually believed that they were attempting to

create gold from lead.  And you would have gained the exoteric

interpretation concealing--or re-veiling--the true esoteric meaning of

the verse.

And we're not through.

Before this hour is out, you are going to be absolutely and totally

amazed, for I have just begun.

All the great world saviors have come, it seems, as personifications of

Buddhi, as I have just explained its meaning.  Or the universal

mediator.

Like the Indian Vishnu, they have sought to bring God and man closer

together, whether as Christ, Prometheus, Zoroaster, Krishna, or Buddha,

they have come to bear witness to the Father and, being made in the

semblance of man but imbued with the spirit of God, they have become

personifications of the universal solvent represented as mercury.

To the hermetists, man has always been considered androgynous.  And they

created the god, Hermaphrodites, to represent the duality of all living

things.

This word is coined from "Hermes", fire or vitality, and Aphrodite, the

goddess of water.  The great hermetic and alchemical adage was, quote:

"Make the fire to burn in the water and the water to feed the fire.  In

this lies great wisdom."

End quote.

It was the purpose of the pouring of the molten sea.

It is the goal of The Mysteries to reconcile fire and water:  the

conflict between God and Lucifer.

Are you beginning to understand?  There are deep meanings held in these

metaphors.

To the public was given one meaning.  To the priesthood was given the

truth.

The ancient Rosicrucians taught that the eternal feminine was not

extracted from the nature of man, as Moses would have us think; but was

rather made subservient to the opposite side of its own nature.  They

believed, you see, that every creature was essentially male and female.

But for reasons which we will discuss later, only one phase of that

nature manifested at a time.

By fire, these philosophers taught that there was but one life force in

the human body, and that man used it in the furtherance of all his

labors; that he digested his food with essentially the same energy with

which he thought, and reproduced his species with the same forces which

he used in physical exercise.  This force personified was said to be the

builder of the universal temple. It became the Hiram Abif of Masonry,

the builder of the eternal temple.

In Egypt, this force is symbolized by a serpent and it is worthy of note

that in ancient Hebrew, the words "serpent" and "savior" are

synonymous.  And that should be a great revelation to many of you out

there.

Now, remember, I'm not asking that you believe any of this.  I am merely

revealing the esoteric meaning behind the stories that you have heard

and read about in your education, in college, in your private life, in

the movies, all your life.  And yes, even in your churches.

In ancient Hebrew, "serpent" and "savior" are synonymous.

In the stanzas of Diezen<?>, an ancient Tibetan fragment, it is stated

that at one time a shower of serpents fell upon the earth.  Now, this is

understood esoterically to represent the coming of the great world

teachers who have long been called "serpents" or "the gift to man of

intellect" by Lucifer through his agent, Satan.

You see.  For the basis of all of these esoteric Mystery religions is

the Luciferian philosophy.

The savior of the Aztecs and Incas was called "gatzalcotl" and this name

means "feathered serpent".  From the serpent kings of Egypt to the

feathered serpents of Tibet, the serpent is symbolic of the vital

energies of the human body and is, in fact, a metaphor for the

intellect, knowledge, gnosis.

Moses raised the brazen serpent in the wilderness and all who gazed upon

it lived.  Those who gained knowledge, who learned, survived.  Those who

did not, perished.

Christ, whom they called "the serpent reborn" says, quote:

"...I, if I be lifted up..., will draw all men unto me." [John 12:32]

Unquote.  The simile, folks, is obvious, yet few ever understand it.  To

the ancients, the magic wand was the spinal canal.  Through this canal

runs a sacred liquid which they called in those days "fire oil".

Remember, these are the philosophers of fire.

In Greek, "christos", the "savior", or "redeemer of things".  And

"christos" are those who believed in this were called "christians" long

before the birth of Christ.

In Greek, "christos", the "savior" or "redeemer of things".

This same thought has been preserved for freemasonry under the heading,

quote, "the marrow of the bone", unquote.

The hermetic philosophers recognized this essence in man as a

distillation of universal life derived from the atmosphere, the

sunlight, the rays of the stars, and food.

This universal vitality upon which all living things draw is probably

the origin of the myths of the gods who died for mankind.  It is

undoubtedly the origin of the legend of the Last Supper, for man

eternally maintains himself upon the body and the blood of this spirit

of universal energy--according to those who follow The Mysteries.

If this energy, which passes through the conduit of the spine, is

drained off by various parts of the body, it stands to reason that waste

will ultimately result in want.

They knew--or thought they knew--that it was very undesirable to do

heavy thinking directly after eating.  Just as today they tell you,

"Don't go swimming right after eating," for at such times the vital

energies are digesting food and cannot safely be diverted to other

channels.  The admonition that you cannot go swimming directly after

eating is a leftover legacy of this belief.

By analogy, one-pointedness is the basis of success, for when the bodily

energies are divided against each other, they cannot perform their

proper functions.  The ancients, you see, taught that the normal

individual had two distinct avenues of expression:  the first mental and

spiritual; the second, emotional and physical.

The mental faculties were radiant, powerful, dominating, and strong--but

often cruel and cynical.  The mind was called the positive pole of the

soul, while the heart was called the negative pole.  And we have been

taught that the spirit expresses itself through the mind; the soul and

the body through the heart.

The ancient alchemists called the mind "the sun", and the heart "the

moon", for to them strength, reason, and logic were masculine, paternal,

solar powers; while love, beauty, intuition, and kindliness were

feminine, maternal, lunar qualities, reflecting the pure light of their

master.  Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, love, beauty,

intuition, and kindliness reflect the dominance of the strength, reason,

and logic.

Now, this will probably make clear why gold and silver had to be blended

in the great alchemical enterprises, for the gold and silver of the

alchemists were not dead metals, but living qualities in human life.

The marriage of the sun and moon was, therefore, the marriage of the

mind and heart, or the two halves of every nature.  It was the union of

strength with beauty; courage with inspiration; and in its greater

sense, the union of science with theology, or God with nature.

The urgency of this alliance is evident in the world today where cold,

intellectualism, and commercialism need the finer sentiments of

friendliness and altruism to offset their heartlessness.

On the other hand, fanaticism, blind faith, and ungoverned emotionalism

require the strong hand of logic and reason to steer them away from the

rocks of insanity and death.

Perfect equilibrium in human nature is very, very seldom found.  In

fact, it is nature's greatest rarity.  A person with that perfectly

balanced viewpoint, however, is the living Philosopher's Stone, for he

has the strength matched with kindliness, and justice tempered with

mercy.

Hermetic Anatomy teaches that there are two small bodies in the brain

which are identified with the living "yin" and "yang" of China--or the

positive and the negative, the male and the female.  In the same way,

every person has a masculine nature and a feminine nature; and never do

we find these two entirely disassociated.

It may be that East Indian philosophy gives us our best light on this

rather perplexing subject--pun absolutely intended--for both the Hindus

and the alchemists agree that the spirit, like God, is androgynous,

being both father and mother.  And--bear with me--it states in Genesis,

quote:

"...God created man in his own image,...; male and female created he

them." [Genesis 1:27]

End quote.  So, while the creation is singular within the creation,

there is two.  Listen to it again and listen very carefully.

"...God created man in his own image,...; male and female created he

them." [Genesis 1:27]

We would infer from this that God is both male and female.  And indeed,

if male and female both came from God, then this must be true, as God is

all things.  All things emanated from God and from nowhere else.

And as the spirit of man is of God, it must partake of the androgynous

nature of its parent.  And in harmony with the eastern sages, sex exists

no more in spirit than it does in the embryo before the third month of

prenatal life.

Sex, you see, is a polarization of the body, a manifestation of spirit.

The fetus, at one point in its development, can go either way, can be

male or female.  And all fetuses, up to that point, are exactly the same

in their anatomy.  But the germ of life itself is capable of projecting

both the positive and the negative rays.

So, we now become involved in a still more perplexing problem, namely:

what governs the sex which the animal being is to manifest during life?

Well, many people will tell you many different things.  The ancient

philosophers would turn to the eastern sages and they would say,

"Evolution is the continuity of form appearing in cycles and gradually

unfolding from a simple cell to a complex organism."

If a form evolves, it is not absurd to suppose that the cause of that

form is also evolving.

The oriental philosophy solves one of the western world's greatest

problems by the law of reincarnation--something which has never been

proven to be a reality by anyone, and can be traced to its origin at a

point in Indian history where the poor threatened rebellion over the

wealthy rulers, and all of a sudden, this theory of reincarnation and

Karma cropped up to keep the poor, lower classes, in their place.

I haven't got time to go into that.

This doctrine--which was removed from the Christian faith in A.D. 550 at

the Council of Constantinople--taught that the spirit, or life, is

immortal; that it descends into gross matter not once, but many times,

in order that it may ultimately gain that perfection which no living

creature has ever yet gained in one appearance in the world.

They say.

Again, you must understand, none of this has ever been proven to be

true.  No one, on the other hand, can prove it to be false either.

This doctrine also taught that the consciousness, thus descending into

form, does not always appear in one sex, but alternates, first appearing

in a masculine body and then in a feminine, in this way developing both

sides of the nature symmetrically.

Now, if you accept this doctrine, it will go far toward solving a number

of problems concerning heredity and the so-called injustice and

inequality in the world.  Even without it, hermeticism can still stand.

With its aid, however, the alchemical philosophies become far more

clarified.

And, of course, you have the option of rejecting it outright.

The ancient wisdom teaches that the circle of the creative forces in the

human body is broken at the present time.  One end of this broken ring

is in the brain where it furnishes the power or vitality which is the

basis of brain function.  The other end of this circle is located in the

generative system where it furnishes the means of reproducing the

species.

At a time remote in history, man was a complete creative unit in

himself--they say--being capable of procreating his species like certain

of the lower orders of animals of today.  And if you believe in the

theory of evolution, then this could be true.  However, there is no

proof of it whatsoever anywhere.  There's no proof that the theory of

evolution is correct, as a matter of fact.

At that time, however, when these philosophies bore fruit, and at the

time when man existed--they say--in this state, he had no mind.

According to mythology, the raising of the brazen serpent, therefore,

gave him a mind--remember the gift of intellect by Satan in the Garden

of Eden--but broke the creative circuit.

In the masculine sex, the positive pole of the life force is in the

brain.  The negative pole is used for generative purposes.

In the feminine sex, the negative pole is in the brain, the positive

pole is used for generative purposes.

And again, this is the belief of those who follow the hermetic

philosophy.

As a direct outgrowth of this condition--temporarily maintained in order

that man may think and develop his higher nature and at the same time

offer opportunity for other lives to come into manifestation--the

institution of marriage was established.

I bet you thought I'd never get there, didn't you.

Marriage, folks, is therefore the hermetic symbol of the ultimate

reunion of the two halves of each individual's nature, when, after

repeated appearances and associations, equilibrium between these

masculine and feminine qualities is established.

You see, the wedding ring was accordingly symbolic of the golden ring of

the spirit fire which connected the spiritual and material natures of

every individual.  And these beliefs, and these marriages, and this ring

existed long before Christianity was ever the remotest thought in any

human mind upon this earth.

Ultimately, the present methods of reproduction will be abolished--they

say--and both halves of the spirit fire will again be turned into the

brain.  One of them now finds its polarity in the pituitary body, and

the other in the pineal gland.  These two tiny ductless bodies, while an

enigma to modern science, were recognized by the ancients as organs of

great significance.

The ancient wisdom teaches that the pineal gland was the original organ

of vision, namely the third eye, called in the Sanskrit, "dangma" or

"the eye of Shiva".  It is the all-seeing eye of the Freemasons, and the

meaning of the word "Buddha".  And uniting its spark with the pituitary

body, this gland fuses the broken circle, and thus consummates the

hermetic marriage whereby, through an immaculate conception in the

brain, the great light, the shining one, Lucifer, is born as a luminous

spark in the third ventricle which is the master mason's chamber in the

ancient and accepted rite.

Today, students of the ancient wisdom are seeking to prepare themselves

for this peculiar work.  The hermetic marriage is, therefore, an

individual matter involving the attainment of individual completeness,

requiring of the aspirant a sincere effort to be balanced, sane, and

consistent in everything he does.

In the alchemical retorts and vials, we recognize the bodies' glands and

organs of man; and in the chemicals, the essences and forces coursing

through the body.  With these, the individual consciousness must labor

until it is capable of combining them according to the perfect formula.

And now, Walt Disney.

What child does not grow up in a fairyland, extending from the first

glimmer of understanding to the time when the grim realities of maturity

tear down the dream world and replace it with hopelessness and despair?

Hearts are broken all the way through this tragic pageantry of

existence:  the loss of innocence.  But the first heartbreak is when the

fairy stories and their wonderful little people are given up, and those

beautiful beings with which we have peopled the world of our fancies

give way to heartless human creatures and real existence.

Man thoughtlessly destroys not only the dreams of others, but makes his

own world a nightmare peopled with hobgoblins of selfishness and

egotism.

The fairies of childhood are always benevolent, kindly, helpful, serving

the poor in distress, righting wrongs, and doing many beautiful things;

while the realities of later life are generally malevolent and

productive of all the miseries that the fairies of childhood sought to

heal with silver-tipped wands and rainbow dreams.

And there is a double meaning.  As in the teachings of The Mysteries and

the fairy tales, there is an exoteric and an esoteric.

Walt Disney, a 33rd degree Freemason of the Scottish Rite, a very famous

Anglophile, a priest of The Mystery Religion of Babylon, has been

teaching this esoteric meaning to your children throughout their life.

In the great game of life, why can we not still preserve some of the

beauty and romance of fairyland?

This is what you see.  The world of pixies, gnomes, and fairy godmothers

in a Walt Disney movie is just as real in childhood as the grinding,

commercial system is during later life.

You see, economics would suffer no injury, nor would standards collapse

if dreams were perpetuated and man instructed how to build solid

foundations under his castles of air; for human beings are ever children

at heart.  For you, too, the parents, watch these movies and enjoy them.

Man grows old, but he never grows up.  Like Peter Pan, he is childlike

from the cradle to the grave.  Life, for the average person, has an

insufficiency of beauty or sweetness with which to combat the sordid

grind of modern things and therefore, these esoteric teachings can be

presented to a receptive mind.  And here and there, one lives a whole

life in a fairyland of poetry, art or music, and may be called a

dreamer.

But in the case of Disney, it is a message, an inculcation--a

brainwashing, if you will.

For will any child ever forget Cinderella and her wonderful glass

slipper; how she met and won the beautiful prince while her envious

sisters and cruel step-mother gnashed their teeth in rage?  The story is

part of childhood.

But with the coming of years, poor little Cinderella is forgotten.  The

rag dolls are thrown in the corner.  The toy blocks are covered with

dust.  For the dream world of childhood is faded from the mind.  And

little pattering feet, once running hither and thither, have given place

to slow uncertain steps.

Yet the romance finds another setting.  Prince Charming becomes a soda

fountain clerk or a floor walker in a downtown store, while Princess

Beautiful sells ribbons in some little country shop.

The lives of people are really fairy stories in which they play out the

comedies and tragedies of their lives, seeking for something today to

take the place of the shattered dreams of yesterday.  And so, they

relish and absorb these movies, for they have a counterpart in nature.

The world about us is filled with ugly step-mothers and half-sisters who

cannot wear glass slippers.

Do you remember Beauty and the Beast, how, in spite of the sorcery that

had turned the handsome prince into a hideous monster, the coming of

Beauty into his life restored him again to human form and happiness?

Through the lack of beauty in his own heart, many an individual has

become a horrible, hideous beast who, while still in human shape, has

all the attributes of a ferocious animal.

How often the sense of beauty is the thing that redeems.  Beauty of soul

and beauty of life bring back happiness to the beast.  The whole world

is a romance of beauty and the beast.

We see it on the battle field of Flanders where flowers are springing up

in the shadows of the trenches.

In nature we ever see beauty redeeming the beast.  Out in the forest:

the dark, dead trees, gaunt and bare.  But nature, with her magic wand,

covers the tree with creeping vines, decking its gaunt limbs with

mantles of flowers.

Have you read the story of Sleeping Beauty?  If not, go straight to the

library and visit the children's room.  Sit down in one of those little

chairs about ten inches from the floor.  Get out the book with its

colored pictures and much-thumbed pages and go with the Prince to the

great forest of nettles and thorns which surrounds the palace of

Princess Beautiful.

The Princess is under a spell which causes her to sleep until she is

awakened by the handsome prince, who passes through all the obstacles in

life in order to claim her as his own.

The soul.

The mating.

The bringing together of the masculine and the feminine, after passing

through the degrees, the trials, the tribulations of initiation in The

Mysteries.

And I could go on and on and on and on and on, ladies and gentlemen.

But unfortunately, we're out of time.

Good night.  God bless you all.   ...And think of the magical lamp of

Aladdin:  the lamp of illumination.

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

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

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

History and development

Floor and table designs

In the eighteenth century Masonic lodges met chiefly in private rooms above taverns, and the symbolic designs used in catechesis were chalked on the table or floor in the centre of the hired room, usually by the Tyler or the Worshipful Master.[2] Evidence suggests that a simple boundary was drawn (usually a square or rectangle, or sometimes a cross) within which various Masonic symbols were added, often of a geometric type (such as a circle or pentagram). In many lodges the boundary shape may have been drawn by the Tyler, with the Master adding the symbolic detail. Later various symbolic objects were incorporated, examples including a ladder, a beehive, and an hourglass, and sometimes drawings were interchangeable with physical objects.[3] At the end of the work a new member was often required to erase the drawing with a mop, as a practical demonstration of his obligation of secrecy.

Though the various Grand Lodges were then generally hostile to the creation of any physical representations of the ritual and symbols of the Craft, the time-consuming business of redrawing the symbols at every meeting was gradually replaced by keeping a removable "floor cloth" on which the various symbols were painted. Different portions might be exposed according to the work being executed.[4] By the second half of the eighteenth century the Masonic symbols were being painted on a variety of removable materials ranging from small marble slabs to canvas, to give a more decorative and elaborate symbolic display.

Painted boards

During the nineteenth century there was a rapid expansion of the use of permanent painted tracing boards, usually painted on canvas and framed in wood. Many artists produced competing designs, and most lodges commissioned sets of bespoke boards which were therefore of a unique design, despite following common themes. Some designs became particularly popular, leading to some repetition of favoured design features. Boards by John Cole and Josiah Bowring were examples of popularly recurring designs.[5]

The English artist John Harris was initiated in 1818 and produced many different series of tracing boards, including a miniature set of 1823 which became popular after Harris dedicated the design to Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE).[6] Eventually the Emulation Lodge of Improvement sought to bring a measure of standardisation in tracing board design, and organised a competition in 1845, to which many different designs were submitted. Harris himself submitted at least two different sets to the competition, but one of his designs was the winner. Harris revised the designs in 1849, and these "Emulation" tracing boards are today considered a definitive design within British and Commonwealth Freemasonry.[7]

Contemporary use

In lodges under the UGLE, and many jurisdictions derived from English Freemasonry, tracing boards are an essential part of lodge furniture, sometimes displayed flat on the floor, and sometimes vertically against a pedestal or on the wall. Sets of three boards, usually of older designs, may often be found in special cases for storage and display within lodge rooms. There are sometimes tracing boards in other degrees.[8] The Royal Arch tracing board has fallen into disuse in most places, and examples are now rare. In the Mark Master Mason and Royal Ark Mariner degrees as administered from London, the tracing boards have experienced a great revival in popularity from the end of the twentieth century, and official rituals for the explanations of these tracing boards are again in regular use in English lodges.

As different Masonic jurisdictions established official, or standard, degree rituals the creation of new tracing boards by artists waned, and has since largely disappeared in favour of standard designs. Nonetheless, some masonic artists have experimented with very modern designs for the twenty-first century.[9]

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

The Esoteric Meaning of the Twin Pillars Boaz & Joachim

Masonic Life  Masonic News  Within the craft

From a presentation given at a meeting of the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitabus Foederatis in 2017.

By: R∴W∴Robert Palazzo, DDGM

The one thing about Freemasonry which both attracts and repels is Freemasonry’s ostensible connection with all things esoteric. It has become both a blessing and a curse, which in itself is ironic as the pillars are also said to have a dual purpose. They represent opposing forces.

In the early days, the accusation against Freemasonry being esoteric is two-fold. First, that its members engage in esoteric practices, second that the Masons engage in esoteric study. It was during this religious insurrection that Freemasonry was thought of as heretical or satanic. When the word esoteric in its most simple term is translated into "Hidden from Sight". Certainly, anything esoteric is not necessarily evil.

Freemasonry came into its present form during the Age of Enlightenment and its members were considered the free thinkers of their time. It has also been said that the Fellow Craft degree symbolizes the intellectual awakening of the candidate and his mature development as a thinker. You will also find that the Fellow Craft degree draws heavily upon the symbolism of Jewish mystical thought and on the symbols of alchemy. It was also during this Age of Enlightenment that several important symbols surfaced within the 2nd section of the Fellow Craft degree and none more important than the powerful and complex pillars of Boaz and Jachin.

To begin with, these pillars were either brass or bronze. In either case they came from a combination of "Sun" metal, that being copper and "Moon" metal that being either tin or zinc. This mixture of Sun and Moon expressed harmony and balance. Passing through these pillars represents a chance for a new beginning. The fact that these pillars were hollow made an opportune vehicle to store one’s baggage of the past, as the lodge does not regard or remember the faults of a novitiate prior to joining the lodge.

In addition, the pillars may be seen representing two out of the three pillars of the "Tree of Life", the Jewish mystical symbol for the creation of the universe. The names of the 3 pillars of the Tree of Life were often seen as strength and wisdom with the third pillar being harmony, placed between them. Thus, when a candidate passed between them, he in essence becomes harmony, and enters a life in which the spiritual dominates the physical.

"II Chronicles 17" states "behold, and he raised up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left and called the name of that on the right Jachin and that upon the left Boaz".

Since the dawn of civilization, two pillars have guarded the entrance of sacred and mysterious places. Whether in art or architecture, twin pillars are archetypal symbols representing an important gateway or passage toward the unknown. In Freemasonry, the pillars Boaz and Jachin represent one of the brotherhood’s most recognizable symbols and most times is prominently featured in Masonic art, documents, and buildings.

The concept of the twin pillars standing at the gate of sacred places can be traced back to the ancient civilizations of antiquity. In ancient Greece, the Pillars of Hercules was the name applied to the promontories that flank the entrance to the straights of Gibraltar. According to Plato’s account, the lost realm of Atlantis was located beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in effect, placing them in the realm of the unknown. Tradition says the pillars bore the warning; "Nec Plus Ultra" meaning "nothing further beyond", and served as a warning to sailors and navigators to go no further. Symbolically speaking, going beyond the Pillars of Hercules meant leaving the foulness of this world into the realm of higher enlightenment.

In Freemasonry, the Masonic usage of the terms Boaz and Jachin originates from the Biblical account of King Solomon’s Temple. The master builder of the temple was Hiram Abiff a prominent figure in all our teachings. "1 Kings Chapters 6,7, and 8," describe the dimensions, construction, and dedication of the Temple. One passage in particular specifically describes the twin pillars in front of Solomon’s Temple and I quote:

"For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece, and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about."

"And he made two chapiters of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars. The height of the one chapiter was five cubits and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits."

"The nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars, seven for one chapiter and seven for the other chapiter."

"And he made the pillars, and two rows upon the one network to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates and so he did for the other chapiter."

"And the lily work upon the top of the chapiters were of four cubits."

And as the right pillar was set up he named it Jachin and as he set up the left pillar he named it Boaz and so the work of the pillars was finished.

The account of Solomon’s Temple is of great importance to Freemasonry as each detail of the building holds an important esoteric meaning. As mentioned before the Pillars act as a portal to the mysterious. According to the ancient Rabbis, Solomon was an initiate of the Mystery schools and the Temple in which he built was actually a house of initiation containing a mass of pagan, philosophic, and phallic emblems. The pomegranates, the palm headed columns, the pillars before the door, coupled with the arrangement of the chambers and draperies all indicate the Temple to have been patterned after sanctuaries of Egypt and Atlantis.

Albert Pike had his own description and I quote, "you entered the lodge between two columns. They represent the two which stood on the porch of the Temple, one on each side of the great eastern gateway. These pillars of bronze were four fingers breadth in thickness according to the most accurate account, eighteen cubits in height with a capital of five cubits high. The shaft of each was four cubits in diameter. A cubit being one foot and 707/1000s, that is, the shaft of each was a little over thirty feet eight inches in height. The capital was a little over eight feet six inches in height, and the diameter of the shaft six feet ten inches. The capitals were enriched with pomegranates of bronze covered by bronze net-work and ornamented with wreaths of bronze, and appear to have imitated the shape of the seed-vessel of the lotus or Egyptian lily, a sacred symbol to the Hindus and Egyptians. Both these columns as you may be aware have a Hebrew translation from the Old Testament. The etymology can thus be explained, the word "Jachin" in Hebrew was pronounced Ya-Kayan, meaning firm, upright, or stable. Boaz on the other hand is "Baaz" meaning power or might. The one on the right means, "He Shall Establish" and the second, "in it is strength." One thing you may not be aware of is that these columns were imitations created by Khurum the Tyrian artist, and similar columns stood at the entrance of the famous Temple of Malkarth in the city of Tyre.

Another fact that may have slipped your notice unless your day is spent dealing in the occult is that the High Priestess of the Tarot, "La Papessa" or the "Popess" wearing her Triregnum or Papal Tiara sits between the pillars Boaz and Jachin. As with most occult symbols the twin pillars conceal multiple layers of meaning, some intended for the profane others divulged in the higher degrees of Freemasonry. However viewed, the pillars as stated earlier represent the equilibrium of two opposing forces. Aside from their dimensions, in York Rite Masonry the pillars are most often seen with a ball or globe placed on top. In essence the pillars most likely had a bowl, one containing fire and the other water. The celestial globe or fire bowl surmounting Jachin symbolized the divine man, the terrestrial globe or water bowl symbolized the earthly man. The pillars also connote the active and passive expressions of divine energy, the sun and the moon, sulphur and salt, good and bad, etc. The door placed between them leads to the House of God and standing at the gates of Sanctuary they are reminded that Jehovah is both androgynous (both male and female) and an anthro-pomorphic (having human qualities) deity. The parallel columns also denote the zodiac signs of Cancer and Capricorn, which were formerly placed in the chamber of initiation to represent birth and death, the extremes of physical life. Freemasons know them to represent the summer and winter solstices or a more modern comparative appellation would be the two Saints John.

The twin pillars also showed up at the Kabalistic Temple of Solomon. In the Kabalah these pillars explained all the mysteries of antagonism, whether natural, political, or religious. They elucidate the procreative struggle between man and woman. According to the laws of nature, the woman must resist the man, and he must entice or overcome her. Such is the significance of the two pillars, they are distinct and separate, contrary in appearance. Separately their power is one joined, and they would destroy one another. And for precisely the same reason the spiritual power is weakened when it attempts to usurp the temporal and the temporal becomes victim if it encroaches on the spiritual. Human equilibrium requires two feet, the world gravitates by two forces and generations need two sexes.

When the two pillars find equilibrium, it is said to generate a third pillar, one in the middle, which esoterically represents man or mankind. It will also signify the union of Sushumna and the Kundalini, this sacred marriage will create and radiate throughout the human body filling it with divine light. It is then that humanity will become the third column, Wisdom.

In Qabbalistic teachings the pillars represent Sepiroth, the Tree of Life and symbolize mercy and severity. When interpreted Qabbalistically, the name of the two pillars mean, "In strength shall my house be established." In the splendor of mental and spiritual illumination the High Priest stood between the two pillars as a mute witness to the perfect virtue of equilibrium, that hypothetical point equidistant from all extremes. Thus, he personified the divine nature of man, the mysterious Pythagorean Monad in the presence of Duad. The column on the right, Jachin, has its foundation on Chochmah, the outpouring Wisdom of God. The three globes suspended from it are all masculine potencies. The column on the left, Boaz has three globes suspended from it, which have feminine receptive potencies. It is acknowledged that the three pillars are ultimately united in Malchuth in which all the powers of the superior worlds are manifested. The teachings of the "Tree of Life" are a very heady subject and to understand them, one must study intensely to understand their purpose.

In pop culture the pillars are sometimes used for other reasons, other than decorative and take on an esoteric meaning. The simple act of standing between or passing through them symbolically represents a transformation or initiation. This symbol is cleverly disguised and can be found in music, film and literature. One such place it can be found is in the first book of the Harry Potter series, where he first discovers he is a wizard. His initiation is visually portrayed on the cover as him going through two pillars. One might not know that the original title for the book was "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone." The Philosopher’s Stone being an ancient alchemical concept representing illumination. In the music world, rapper Kayne West stands in the middle of twin pillars in his highly symbolic video, "Power." Among the plethora of esoteric symbols found in the 2009 fantasy film "the Imagination of Doctor Parnassus", the twin pillars adorn both sides of the stage as the leader of a traveling theatre group having made a bet with the devil takes them through a magical mirror to explore their imagination and present them with a choice of self-fulfillment or gratifying ignorance.

In today’s world, two pillars stand in front of the IRS building in New Carrollton, Maryland. The IRS being the most despised institution in America, constructed a state of the art building, but it’s not the building that gets all the attention, it’s the odd work of art which profoundly guards the entrance. To most people the art displayed means nothing, but to those versed in secret society symbolism, the implications are manifold and profound. Two black and white pillars made of the highest quality marble; denoting Masonic duality guard the gateway. They are topped by two hands pointing skyward, known as the "Hands of Mystery". Between the two pillars is a dark pyramid with a metallic capstone on which is written "We the People." This 1997 work is called "Vox Poluli," which is Latin for "the voice of the people". As for why this symbol appears at the IRS, there is a basic and usually unsatisfactory meaning given to the masses. Additional pillars can also be found in the city of Astana, Khazakhstan whose architecture and layout contain numerous occult elements.

Very likely many of us have wondered from time to time what the true meaning of the pillars are and why the strange names; and just as easily dismissed the subject as one of those inexplicable things handed down from the Bible from old times which have no practical meaning in today’s world. Nevertheless, these strange names are not without purpose. They contain the key to the entire Bible and to the whole order of nature.

The meaning of Boaz is clearly seen in the Book of Ruth. There, Boaz appears as the kinsman exercising his right of pre-emption, so familiar to those versed in Oriental Law. The right of pre-emption, has for its purpose the maintenance of the family as a social unit; the right to purchase back property to return it to the family it once belonged. In the story, Boaz brings the alienated estate into the family not only as a matter of law but because of his membership in the family and his motive for doing so is his love for Ruth. So, there should not be a reason why the name of Boaz is attached to the mysterious pillar when we seek it’s meaning. Thus, the two pillars typify Unity and the redeeming power of love. St. Paul speaks of the "Unity" of the spirit which is the "Bond of Peace", and "Love" which is the "Bond of Perfectness." It is what St. Paul alludes to when he calls God the Father from whom every family in Heaven and on Earth is named.

In closing, these two pillars, therefore, stand for the great spiritual principals that are the basis of all life: Jachin typifying the Unity resulting from being, and Boaz, typifying the Unity resulting from Love. This Dual-Unity we find is the key or evolution of Spirit, and the reason that these two ancient pillars has been preserved in our scriptures. They contain infinite meanings, which appear to be the most meaningless, but will be found to contain the deepest significance.

https://www.rimasons.org/freemasonry-community-rhode-island/masonic-news/14-within-the-craft/334-the-esoteric-meaning-of-the-twin-pillars-boaz-joachim

The Two Pillars

@emmandhook posted a very interesting analysis of Killian and Henry positioned as two pillars to Emma, which motivated me to make a quick research on the imagery and symbolism of it. I found such a rich material with so many possibilities, I’m impressed and will share some of them here (I find the High Priestess between two Pillars particularly endearing and fascinating)

“The concept of twin pillars standing at the gates of sacred places can be traced back to ancient civilizations of Antiquity (some claim from Atlantis, the lost source of Hermetic knowledge).

A Gateway

The symbol of the twin pillars have, since time immemorial, guarded the gateways to holy places and mysterious realms. They mark the passage towards the unknown and the otherworldly. In ancient Greece, The Pillars of Hercules was the phrase that was applied to the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar is the Rock of Gibraltar in the British territory of Gibraltar.

The Pillars of Hercules guarding the passage towards the unknown.

According to Plato’s account, the lost realm of Atlantis was situated beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in effect placing it in the realm of the Unknown. Renaissance tradition says the pillars bore the warning Nec plus ultra (also Non plus ultra, “nothing further beyond”), serving as a warning to sailors and navigators to go no further. Symbolically, going beyond the Pillars of Hercules can mean leaving the foulness of the material world to reach a higher realm of enlightenment.

The two columns called the “Pillars of Hercules” in Ancient Greece stood at the gateway to the sphere of the enlightened

The frontispiece of Francis Bacon’s “New Atlantis” featuring the Pillars of Hercules as a gateway to a new world. According to occult lore, Atlantis is the civilization from which all hermetic knowledge emerged. The rebirth of this lost kingdom has been the dream of Mystery schools for centuries.

“The city of the philosophic elect rises from the highest mountain peak of the earth, and here the gods of the wise dwell together in everlasting felicity. In the foreground are the symbolic pillars of Hercules which appear on the title page of Bacon’s Novum Organum, and between them runs the path which leads upward from the uncertainties of earth to that perfect order which is established in the sphere of the enlightened.”

In Freemasonry

The Masonic usage of the terms Jachin and Boaz originates from the Biblical account of King Solomon’s Temple. The master builder of the Temple of Solomon was Hiram Abiff, a prominent figure in Masonic ritual. The verses 1 Kings 6:1-38, 1 Kings Chapter 7, and Chapter 8 describe the dimensions, the construction and the dedication of the Temple under Solomon. One passage describes more specifically the twin pillars standing in front of King Solomon’s Temple.

15 For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.

16 And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:

17 And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.

18 And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.

19 And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.

20 And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.

21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.

22 And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

– 1 Kings Chapter 7

The account of Solomon’s Temple is of great importance in Freemasonry as each detail of the building holds an important esoteric meaning. The Twin pillars act as a “portal to the Mysteries” by standing on each side of the entrance to a sacred place.

“According to the ancient Rabbins, Solomon was an initiate of the Mystery schools and the temple which he built was actually a house of initiation containing amass of pagan philosophic and phallic emblems. The pomegranates, the palm-headed columns, the Pillars before the door, the Babylonian cherubim, and the arrangement of the chambers and draperies all indicate the temple to have been patterned after the sanctuaries of Egypt and Atlantis.” 

For this reason, Jachin and Boaz are prominently featured on Masonic buildings, monuments and documents. Here is Albert Pike’s description of the pillars in a text intended for new Masons:

“You entered the Lodge between two columns. They represent the two which stood in the porch of the Temple, on each side of the great eastern gateway. These pillars, of bronze, four fingers breadth in thickness, were, according to the most authentic account–that in the First and that in the Second Book of Kings, confirmed in Jeremiah– eighteen cubits high, with a capital five cubits high. The shaft of each was four cubits in diameter. A cubit is one foot and 707/1000. That is, the shaft of each was a little over thirty feet eight inches in height, the capital of each a little over eight feet six inches in height, and the diameter of the shaft six feet ten inches. The capitals were enriched by pomegranates of bronze, covered by bronze net-work, and ornamented with wreaths of bronze; and appear to have imitated the shape of the seed-vessel of the lotus or Egyptian lily, a sacred symbol to the Hindus and Egyptians. The pillar or column on the right, or in the south, was named, as the Hebrew word is rendered in our translation of the Bible, JACHIN: and that on the left BOAZ. Our translators say that the first word means, “He shall establish;” and the second, “In it is strength.”

These columns were imitations, by Khurum, the Tyrian artist, of the great columns consecrated to the Winds and Fire, at the entrance to the famous Temple of Malkarth, in the city of Tyre. It is customary, in Lodges of the York Rite, to see a celestial globe on one, and a terrestrial globe on the other; but these are not warranted, if the object be to imitate the original two columns of the Temple. The symbolic meaning of these columns we shall leave for the present unexplained, only adding that Entered Apprentices keep their working-tools in the column JACHIN; and giving you the etymology and literal meaning of the two names.

The word JACHIN, in Hebrew, probably pronounced Ya-kayan, and meant, as a verbal noun, He that strengthens; and thence, firm, stable, upright.

The word Boaz is Baaz which means Strong, Strength, Power, Might, Refuge, Source of Strength, a Fort. The prefix means “with” or “in,” and gives the word the force of the Latin gerund, roborando–Strengthening The former word also means he will establish, or plant in an erect position–from the verb Kun, he stood erect. It probably meant Active and Vivifying Energy and Force; and Boaz, Stability, Permanence, in the passive sense.”

The High Priestess of the Tarot sitting between Boaz and Jachin.

Esoteric Meaning

As with most occult symbols, the Masonic twin pillars conceal multiple layers of meaning, some intended for the profane and others divulged in higher degrees of Freemasonry. However, it is generally accepted that the Jachin and Boaz represent the equilibrium between two opposite forces.

“These were the names [Jachin and Boaz] of the two pillars cast from brass set up on the porch of King Solomon’s Temple. They were eighteen cubits in height and beautifully ornamented with wreaths of chainwork, nets, and pomegranates. On the top of each pillar was a large bowl – now erroneously called a ball or globe – one of the bowls probably containing fire and the other water. The celestial globe (originally the bowl of fire), surmounting the right-hand column (Jachin), symbolized the divine man; the terrestrial globe (the bowl of water), surmounting the left-hand column (Boaz), signified the earthly man. These two pillars respectively connote also the active and the passive expressions of Divine Energy, the sun and the moon, sulfur and salt, good and bad, light and darkness. Between them is the door leading into the House of God, and standing thus at the gates of Sanctuary they are a reminder that Jehovah is both an androgynous and an anthropomorphic deity. As two parallel columns they denote the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capricorn, which were formerly placed in the chamber of initiation to represent birth and death – the extremes of physical life. They accordingly signify the summer and the winter solstices, now known to Freemasons under the comparatively modern appellation of the ‘two St. Johns.’”

“Alef is man; Bet is woman; 1 is the principle; 2 is the word; A is the active; B is the passive; the monad is BOAZ; the duad is JAKIN. In the trigrams of Fohi, unity is the YANG and the duad is the YIN.

BOAZ and JAKIN are the names of the two symbolical Pillars before the principal entrance of Solomon’s Kabalistic Temple. In the Kabalah these Pillars explain all mysteries of antagonism, whether natural, political or religious. They elucidate also the procreative struggle between man and woman, for, according to the law of Nature, the woman must resist the man, and he must entice or overcome her. The active principle seeks the passive principle, the plenum desires the void, the serpent’s jaw attracts the serpent’s tail, and in turning about upon himself, he, at the same time, flies and pursues himself. Woman is the creation of man, and universal creation is the bride of the First Principle.”

The permanent alliance of reason and faith will result not from their absolute distinction and separation, but from their mutual control arid their fraternal concurrence. Such is the significance of the two Pillars of Solomon’s Porch, one named JAKIN and the other BOAZ, one white and the other black. They are distinct and separate, they are even contrary in appearance, but if blind force sought to join them by bringing them close to one another, the roof of the temple would collapse. Separately, their power is one; joined, they are two powers which destroy one another. For precisely the same reason the spiritual power is weakened whensoever it attempts to usurp the temporal, while the temporal power becomes the victim of its encroachments on the spiritual. Gregory VII ruined the Papacy; the schismatic kings have lost and will lose the monarchy. Human equilibrium requires two feet; the worlds gravitate by means of two forces; generation needs two sexes. Such is the meaning of the arcanum of Solomon, represented by the two Pillars of the Temple, JAKIN and BOAZ.”

The union of the two pillars is said to generate a third pillar, one in the middle, which esoterically represents man and mankind.

“When the two columns find equilibrium between them it will signify the union of the Sushumna and the Kundalini. This sacred marriage will create a “Fire-Mist” to radiate throughout the human body, filling it will divine Light. It is then that humanity will become the third column of the Temple Wisdom. He/She will be a column formed by the combined forces of Strength (Jachin) and Beauty (Boaz). This act forms the Lost Word in the vibratory system of the soul’s physical embodiment.”

Qabbalistic Meaning

In Qabbalistic teachings, Jachin and Boaz represent the two pillars of Sepiroth, the Tree of Life.

“In the mysterious Sephirothic Tree of the Jews, these two pillars symbolize Mercy and Severity. Standing before the gate of King Solomon’s Temple, these columns had the same symbolic import as the obelisks before the sanctuaries of Egypt. When interpreted Qabbalistically, the names of the two pillars mean “In strength shall My House be established. “In the splendor of mental and spiritual illumination, the High Priest stood between the pillars as a mute witness to the perfect virtue of equilibrium – that hypothetical point equidistant from all extremes. He thus personified the divine nature of man in the midst of his compound constitution – the mysterious Pythagorean Monad in the presence of the Duad. On one side towered the stupendous column of the intellect; on the other, the brazen pillar of the flesh. Midway between these two stands the glorified wise man, but he cannot reach this high estate without first suffering upon the cross made by joining these pillars together. The early Jews occasionally represented the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, as the legs of Jehovah, thereby signifying to the modern philosopher that Wisdom and Love, in their most exalted sense, support the whole order of creation – both mundane and supermundane.

The column on the right, which is called Jachin, has its foundation on Chochmah, the outpouring Wisdom of God; the three globes suspended from it are all masculine potencies. The column at the left is called Boaz. The three globes upon it are feminine and receptive potencies, for it is founded in Understanding, a receptive and maternal potency. Wisdom, it will be noted, is considered as radiant or outpouring, and Understanding as receptive, or something which is filled by the flowing of Wisdom. The three pillars are ultimately united in Malchuth, in which all the powers of the superior worlds are manifested.”

https://freechoicedreamer.tumblr.com/post/151623585409/the-two-pillars

Pope Francis Visits For Historic Multireligious Gathering

Pope Francis was joined by leaders from various religious traditions in a historic Multireligious Meeting for Peace at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Friday, September 25, 2015.

“I feel many different emotions standing here at ground zero, where thousands of lives were taken in a senseless act of destruction," said Pope Francis. “Here grief is palpable."

Pope Francis arrived just before 11:15 a.m. and met with a group of relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 victims on the 9/11 Memorial and offered condolences and prayers for healing. Pope Francis was then welcomed into the museum’s foundation hall by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York. Standing adjacent to the last column and with the slurry wall as his background, a symbol of this country’s resilience after 9/11, Pope Francis addressed the crowd with a prayer of remembrance for the victims of the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 terror attacks.

Pope Francis said, "God of love, compassion and healing look on us, people of many different faiths and religious traditions, who gather today in this hallowed ground, the scene of unspeakable violence and pain, we ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here: the heroic first responders: our firefighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel, along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy simply because their work or service brought them here on September 11, 2001."

As part of the program, reflections and meditations were read by a group of selected religious leaders. The Young People’s Chorus of New York City performed the song “Let there be peace on Earth.”

Before leaving the Museum, the Pope viewed some inspirational artifacts within the museum's historical exhibition, including an intersecting steel column and crossbeam known as the Cross at Ground Zero.

After lunch, Pope Francis will head to Our Lady Queen of Angels School in east Harlem where he will meet schoolchildren. He will then proceed through Central Park before conducting mass at Madison Square Garden. On Saturday, the Pope is scheduled to depart from NYC for Philadelphia.

By Hannah Coffman, Digital Content Manager

https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/pope-francis-visits-historic-multireligious-gathering

Ignatius Loyola, a Catholic Priest, theologian and founder of the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church in the 16th Century, said, among his many inspiring sayings, “Go forth and set the world on fire."

Inferno (Italian: [iɱˈfɛrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno describes Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen".[1] As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)

A Look at the Museum’s Memorial Hall 

“No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time.”

This quote from Book IX of "The Aeneid" by the Roman poet Virgil suggests the transformative potential of remembrance and is indicative of the museum’s mission to honor and remember the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. Each letter was forged from pieces of recovered World Trade Center steel by New Mexico artist Tom Joyce.These words are part of a larger art installation in the 9/11 Memorial Museum created in 2014 by artist Spencer Finch, titled “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning.” The installation is the focal point for Memorial Hall, the area between the two main exhibitions at bedrock in the museum.Every one of the 2,983 watercolor squares is its own shade of blue – one for each of the 2001 and 1993 attack victims – and the artwork as a whole revolves around the idea of memory. Our own perception of the color blue might not be the same as that of another person. But, just like our perception of color, our memories share a common point of reference.By Jordan Friedman, 9/11 Memorial Research and Digital Projects Associate "

A Look at the Museum’s Memorial Hall | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org)

https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/look-museums-memorial-hall

Rosicrucianism is a theosophy advanced by an invisible order of spiritual knights who in spreading Christian Hermeticism, Kabbalah, and Gnosis seek to enliven and to preserve the memory of Divine Wisdom, understood as a feminine flame of love called Sofia or Shekhinah, exoterically given as a fresh unfolded rose, yet, more akin to the BLUE fire of alchemy, the BLUE virgin. Rosicrucians have no organisation and there are no recognizable Rosicrucian individuals, but the order makes its presence known by leaving behind engrammatic writings in the genre of Hermetic-Platonic Christianity.1 The historical roots of Hermeticism is to be located in Ancient Egypt. Long before the rise of Christianity, Hermetic texts were structured around the belief that organisms contain sparks of a Divine mind unto which they each strive to attend. Things easily transform into others, thereby generating certain cyclical patterns, cycles that periodically renew themselves on a cosmic scale. These transformations of life and death were enacted in the Hermetic Mysteries in Ancient Egypt through the gods Isis, Horus, and Osiris. In the Alexandrian period these myths were reshaped into Hermetic discourses on the transformations of the self with Thot, the scribal god. These discourses were introduced in the west in 1474 when Marsilio Ficino translated the Hermetic Pimander from the Greek. The story of Christian Rosencreutz can be seen as a new version of these mysteries, specifically tempered by German Paracelsian philosophy on the Lion of the darkest night, a biblical icon for how the higher self lies slumbering in consciousness.2" Rose Cross Over The Baltic by Suzanne Ackerman

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing

Around 1530, more than eighty years before the publication of the first manifesto, the association of cross and rose already existed in Portugal in the Convent of the Order of Christ, home of the Knights Templar, later renamed Order of Christ. Three bocetes were, and still are, on the abóboda (vault) of the initiation room. The rose can clearly be seen at the center of the cross.[34][35] At the same time, a minor writing by Paracelsus called Prognosticatio Eximii Doctoris Paracelsi (1530), containing 32 prophecies with allegorical pictures surrounded by enigmatic texts, makes reference to an image of a double cross over an open rose; this is one of the examples used to prove the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross" existed far earlier than 1614.[36]"

Rosicrucianism - Wikipedia 

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

“Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to). This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

Rosa jesuitica, oder, Jesuitische Rottgesellen (1620) - Google Drive 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view 

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) 

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

The Order of Calatrava (Spanish: Orden de Calatrava, Portuguese: Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164. Most of the political and military power of the order had dissipated by the end of the 15th century, but the last dissolution of the order's property did not occur until 1838.'

Modern TimesIn 1931, once again unilaterally, the Second Spanish Republic suppressed the Spanish Orders. To survive, they had to resort to the Ley de Asociaciones Civiles ("Law of Civil Associations"), leading a precarious existence until the Concordat of 1953 recognized the Priory. Afterward, by the papal bull Constat militarium, the Priory was reduced to a mere title of the Bishop of Ciudad Real.In 1980, upon request by his august father, who was appointed Dean President of the Council, King Juan Carlos I by royal initiative caused the rebirth of the Orders. Under the Apostolic Pastoral Tertio millennio adveniente, the Spanish Orders began their renewal in 1996.Today, the aim of the Spanish Orders is basically the same as they had when founded: the defense of the Catholic faith. The sword has been put aside, but their doctrine, example, self-sanctification, and divine worship remain active, aside from their cultural and social activities.Their two hundred and fifty members guard the spirit and life of the Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa under their Grand Master, King Felipe VI, and the Real Consejo de las Órdenes (Royal Council of the Orders) presided over by his Royal Highness Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria.[4]The Swiss luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe took the cross of the order in 1887 and established it as its company logo as a tribute to the knights, which remains until today.[5][6]""

Order of Calatrava - Wikipedia 

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

The Oculus was positioned as part of the World Trade Center masterplan by Daniel Libeskind and designed by SANTIAGO CALATRAVA. The structure’s white metal-clad steel ribs reach up and out in a monumental move symbolic of a hand releasing a dove.The structure's orientation serves as a lasting reminder of the attacks of September 11, 2001. It is in alignment with the sun’s solar angles on each September 11, from 8:46 am, when the first plane struck, until 10:28 am, when the second tower collapsed. Its central skylight fits this alignment and washes the Oculus floor with a beam of light."

World Trade Center Oculus 

50 Church Street New York, NY 10007

Oculus Transportation Hub | World Trade Center (officialworldtradecenter.com) 

https://www.officialworldtradecenter.com/en/local/learn-about-wtc/oculus-transportation-hub.html 

Eataly NYC Downtown - Italian restaurant

101 Liberty St

New York, NY 10007

Bread-themed branch of the famed Italian market, offering counters, restaurants & cooking demos.

(212) 897-2895

Closed ⋅ Opens 7 AM Sat 

Eataly: authentic Italian products, restaurants, cooking classes | Eataly https://www.eataly.com/us_en

Todd Morgan Beamer was an American passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was one of the passengers who attempted to regain control of the aircraft from the hijackers."

"Following this, the passengers and flight crew decided to act.[1] According to accounts of cell phone conversations, Beamer, along with Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick, formed a plan to take the plane back from the hijackers.[10] They were joined by other passengers, including Lou Nacke, Rich Guadagno, Alan Beaven, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, Linda Gronlund, and William Cashman, along with flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles, in discussing their options and voting on a course of action, ultimately deciding to storm the cockpit and take over the plane.[1] Beamer told Jefferson that the group was planning to "jump on" the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground before the hijackers' plan could be followed through.[7][8] Beamer recited the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm with Jefferson, prompting others to join in. Beamer requested of Jefferson, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them." After this, Jefferson heard muffled voices and Beamer clearly answering, "Are you ready? Okay. Let's ROLL." These were the last words spoken by Beamer heard by Lisa Jefferson.[1][8][9]"

Todd Beamer - Wikipedia 

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

Jefferson Airplane - House at Pooneil Corners - Manhattan Rooftop Concert (1968) - YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuwMEiNg3B8 

Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" is an assertion made by September 11th, 2001 attack conspiracy theorists that the burning fuel from crashed planes would not have been able to melt the supporting beams of the World Trade Center. The claim is widely mocked online for being based on flawed evidence."

Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams | Know Your Meme 

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jet-fuel-cant-melt-steel-beams 

Six months after the Twin Towers fell, they returned in the form of two blue beams of light illuminating the Manhattan skyline. Since then, they have lit the sky annually as a Sept. 11 commemoration known as Tribute in Light. The tradition will continue this year to remember the 14th anniversary of the attacks."

A Look at Tribute in Light | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org) 

https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/look-tribute-light 

A Blue Mass is a Mass celebrated annually throughout the United States[1] in the Catholic Church for those employed in the "public safety field" (i.e. police officers, firefighters, correctional officers, 911 operators and EMS personnel).[2] The color blue relates to the blue-colored uniforms predominantly used by these services.[3] Similar to the Red Mass, the service honors those who have died in the line of duty and those currently serving as first responders.[4] The Mass is an opportunity for the community to show gratitude to first responders and their families.[5]"

Blue Mass - Wikipedia 

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

The story behind this image of slain Davis police officer Natalie CORONA

By Lisa Fernandez and KTVU Published January 12, 2019 Updated December 28, 2020 California KTVU FOX 2

DAVIS, Calif. (KTVU) - In the image, she's wearing a royal BLUE gown, carrying a black-striped American flag with a thin blue line streaked across it.

Her heels are high. Her hair is done. Her smile is beaming. And she's standing in the middle of Leesville Grade Road next to a field in Williams, Colusa County, population 21,000, in California's Central Valley, where her father was a sheriff's deputy and now a county supervisor.

It's this compelling photograph of slain Davis police officer Natalie Corona that circulated throughout the country on Friday, hours after the 22-year-old was shot to death by a suspect identified on Saturday as Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, 48. A note found on his bed inside his home, where he later killed himself, stated that he believed Davis police bombarded him with ultrasonic waves." 

The story behind this image of slain Davis police officer Natalie Corona (ktvu.com) 

https://www.ktvu.com/news/the-story-behind-this-image-of-slain-davis-police-officer-natalie-corona 

Serge Monast (1945 – 5 or 6 December 1996[1][2]) was a Canadian investigative journalist, poet, essayist and conspiracy theorist. He is known to English-speaking readers mainly for the originating the conspiracy theory Project BLUE BEAM, which concerns an alleged plot to facilitate a totalitarian world government by destroying traditional religions and replacing them with a new-age belief system using NASA technology.[3][unreliable source?]"

Serge Monast - Wikipedia 

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

SEPTEMBER 11, 1990 | CLIP OF PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS ON PERSIAN GULF 

George H.W. Bush describes the New World Order in his address to the US Congress on the Crisis in the Persian Gulf.

User Clip: George Bush defines the New World Order | C-SPAN.org 

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4528359/user-clip-george-bush-defines-world-order 

ROLLback of governments hostile to the U.S. took place during World War II (against Fascist Italy in 1943, Nazi Germany in 1945, and Imperial Japan in 1945), Afghanistan (against the Taliban in 2001), and Iraq (against Saddam Hussein in 2003). When directed against an established government, rollback is sometimes called "regime change".[2]"

Rollback - Wikipedia 

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

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

Compare Abaddon to Abbottabad, where Osama Bin Laden's compound was located . 

Ab-ad-don

Abbott-Ab-ad. 

English and Scottish: from Middle English abbott 'ABBOT' (Old English abbod) or Old French abet 'PRIEST'. Both the Old English and the Old French term are derived from Late Latin abbas 'priest' (genitive abbatis), from Greek abbas, from Aramaic aba 'father'."

"After James Abbott; literally Abbott's town, Abbott +‎ -abad.""

"What does abad mean?"

"Spanish: nickname from abad 'priest' (from Late Latin ABBAS 'PRIEST', genitive abbatis, from the Aramaic word meaning 'father')."

Abbas, literally 'stern', 'austere'. ? Abbas was the name of an uncle (died 652) of the Prophet Muhammad, the ancestor of the Abbasid dynasty (see Abbasi). German: Latinized form of Abt 'ABBOT'. Similar surnames: Abbasi, ABAD, Akbar, Bras, Atlas, Abrams, Bas, Baas, Abbe, Alban."

Abbas (also Abbass; Arabic: عباس‎) means "LION" in Arabic The name traces back to Al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (an uncle of Muhammad) and Abbas ibn Ali, a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who participated in the battle of Karbala alongside his master and Imam of the time Husayn ibn Ali. Abbas ibn Ali is revered by Shia Muslims, some of whom are named Abbas in remembrance and tribute to him. There is an Arabian tribe of the same name, the Banu Abbas."

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_(name)

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.507679/posts/837493047200796

Osama (Arabic: أسامة ‎, Usāmah), alternatively Ausama and Usama, is an Arabic masculine given name. The name derives from the Arabic stem اسم A-S-M Alif Sin Mim "name" and means more or less the one with a name and is one of many Arabic male given names for "LION", the lion being considered as an animal with fame."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_(name)#:~:text=Osama%20%28Arabic%3A%20%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9%20%E2%80%8E%2C%20Us%C4%81mah%29%2C%20alternatively%20Ausama%20and,lion%20being%20considered%20as%20an%20animal%20with%20fame.

In Revelation 9:11, Abaddon is described as "Destroyer", the angel of the Abyss, and as the king of a plague of locusts resembling horses with crowned human faces, women's hair, LIONS' teeth, wings, iron breast-plates, and a tail with a scorpion's stinger that torments for five months anyone who does not have the seal of God on their foreheads." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaddon

In an effort to further enhance public understanding of al-Qa'ida, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on 1 November 2017 released additional materials recovered in the 2 May 2011 raid on Usama Bin Ladin's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

With the release of these materials, the information remaining in the collection that has not been released publicly includes materials that are protected by copyright; sensitive such that their release would directly damage efforts to keep the nation secure; pornography; malware; blank, corrupted, and duplicate files. The entire collection has been available to the US Intelligence Community and Department of Defense organizations for years.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) previously released documents from the collection on 20 May 2015, 1 March 2016, and 19 January 2017 after an interagency review spearheaded by the CIA. The releases align with ODNI initiatives for increased transparency - consistent with national security prerogatives - and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the ODNI to conduct a review of the documents for release.

CIA's 1 November 2017 release includes additional al-Qa'ida letters, videos, audio files, and communications, as well as routine family correspondence. As a result, it builds on the ODNI releases that provided material relevant to understanding the plans and workings of terrorist organizations. The material is posted in its original Arabic format and in as close to the original form as possible, modified only so the files cannot be edited."

https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/index.html

Isis and Osiris are twin flames which is expressed mythologically as they are both husband and wife and brother and sister, hence sharing the same soul DNA. According to the myth of Isis and Osiris, Osiris is murdered by his dark brother Set and dismembered. Isis collects all of Osiris’ parts and resurrects him long enough to create Horus. Osiris then becomes ruler of the land of the dead.

The dismemberment of Osiris is a metaphor for the fragmentation of the soul. Its time to heal that fragmentation. The risen energy of the divine feminine is healing those fractures through unconditional love, just as Isis healed the fractures of Osiris and as they are TWIN FLAMES, THEY WERE RETURNED TO ONENESS. Oneness requires a shift in our perspective so that we bring love, compassion and forgiveness to self and others then we can let go of us versus them, fear based polarity consciousness, and ascend."

-Isis and Osiris Conjunction Fall 2018: Return to Oneness 

by Marla Kelly

https://twinstrology.com/isis-and-osiris-conjunction-fall-2018-return-to-oneness/

The "Pillars of Creation" Have Been, Are Being, and Will Be Destroyed

They're part of the Eagle Nebula, and they're one of the most iconic images ever taken by the Hubble telescope.

The CruxBy Sarah ScolesJanuary 6, 2015 10:00 AM

The “Pillars of Creation,” a photograph of part of the Eagle Nebula, is one of the most iconic images ever taken by the Hubble telescope. Yesterday, astronomers released a bigger, better, sharper version of the pillars, taken almost two decades after the first.

But an ironic twist — and what we didn’t know twenty years ago — is that the Pillars might have been long ago torn apart by a distant explosion. The photos we snap of them today are high-tech and modern but their subject is clouded by thousands of light-years of remove. Like the post-mortem photography of the Victorian era, the resulting images are lifelike, and beautiful, and sad.

Circle of Life

The Eagle Nebula is an attractive cloud of gas. This gas groups itself together, becoming denser and denser until it clumps into spherical objects that turn hydrogen into helium. We like to call them stars. But as these stars grow up, they irradiate the region with ultraviolet light.

A gang of these young stars lives just above the Pillars. Their UV radiation bakes the beautiful gas and strips its electrons away. Their winds, made of high-energy particles, slam into the Pillars. And like a sandstorm battering a building, this process erodes the edges. Someday, there will be nothing left to erode. Even the ruins will be gone.

It’s tragic. A nebula births and nurtures stars. Then stars turn around and demolish the nebula, steadily deforming it as they wear it down and down and down. The nebula will die, and the stars will beat on.

But then the stars will die, exploding into new nebulae, inside of which new stars will gestate, which will then turn around and demolish the nebulae. This is what it means to be a universe.

Pillars of Creation, 1995 and 2014 - NASA

The original 1995 photo of the Pillars, left, and the 2014 update, right. (Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)/J. Hester, P. Scowen (Arizona State U.))

Back to the Future

But the Pillars may be gone already, and not just because of young, ungrateful stars. Around 6,000 years ago, a blast wave from a nearby supernova likely crashed into them, grinding them down and washing them away in concert with the young stars.

But we won’t be able to watch them dim and disappear until the year 3015 (give or take).

You see, the Pillars live 7,000 light-years away from Earth. The light we see from them — the light that Hubble Space Telescope scientists used to make the new image — departed from the nebula in the year 4985 B.C.E., traveled at the speed of light toward us, and arrived here 7,000 years later. We thus see the nebula as it looked 7,000 years ago.

And 7,000 years ago, the Pillars were fine. But images taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope, and released in 2007, appear to show their imminent demise. Almost off-screen, a wavefront from a supernova explosion is stopped in still-frame, screaming along a path straight toward the Pillars. The image is like a horror movie scene in which the protagonist doesn’t know the killer is in the house, but you do. “He’s right behind you!” you yell at the screen. But it doesn’t do any good.

Pillars of Creation, Spitzer - NASA

The infrared image captured by the Spitzer telescope. Red represents hotter dust, and the Pillars are outlined and inset. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale)

Based on the blast wave’s speed, it crashed into the Pillars, perhaps toppling them, around 6,000 years ago. The Pillars of Creation, which we continue to swoon over, might not even exist anymore.

We won’t know how much damage was done until 1,000 years from now, when the light from the crash finally reaches us.

Trapped Alone in the Present

There is no way for us to see what the Pillars of Creation — or anything in the universe — look like now. We see galaxies 3 billion light-years away as they looked 3 billion years ago. We see the Sun as it looked 8.5 minutes ago. If you were standing one foot in front of me, I would see you as you looked 1.01670336 nanoseconds ago, which is the time it would take for the light to reflect from your face to my pupil. While our brains live in their present, we see everything else in its past tense.

In the case of the Pillars of Creation, then, we’re lucky to have caught in this part of its history. These are good years, the kind whose photo albums you want to page through. But even the brand-new additions are faded with age.

https://web.archive.org/web/20201112022917/http://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/the-pillars-of-creation-have-been-are-being-and-will-be-destroyed

ABADDON

A Hebrew word ab-ad-done, signifying destruction. By the Rabbis it is interpreted as the place of destruction, and is the second of the seven names given by them to the region of the dead.

In the Apocalypse (Revelation ix, 11) it is rendered by the Greek word Apollyon, and means the destroyer. In this sense it is used as a significant word in the high degrees." -phoenixmasonry

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." 

Revelation 9:11

"The Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated, Vol. 1, p.453 confirms the use of these secret codes of initiation: "Touch Tyler's forehead, hen answers by putting his hand on your forehead, Password: Jubulon, Sacred word-Abbadon." Why is this significant? This not just significant, it is huge! These words, Jah-Bul-On and Abbadon give us the true identity of the Masonic deity.

Firstly, Abbadon. In the Satanic Bible, by Anton Le Vey, p. 145-146, we read: "Abbadon and Apollyon are the names of Lucifer."

What are we to make of this, reader? Are the names Abbadon, Apollyon, and Jah-Bul-On really the names of of Satan, or Lucifer?

The terms Abaddon and Apollyon are used in the Bible (see Revelation 9:11) in reference to an angel called "the angel of the bottomless pit"-viz., the Prince of Darkness, who is described in another place as the "Dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan." (Reve 12:9). (Rev 9:11; Reve 12:9). These verses in the book of Revelation independently established the link between the Masonic terms Abbadon, Apollyon and the Biblical names: dragon, devil, and Satan, and show that they refer to the same being. For instance, according to the Strong's concordance (Strong, James (2001), James New Strong's Exhaustive concordance, Nashville [see Christmas morning 2020]: Thomas Nelson Inc.), the Greek word for 'Abbadon' is spelt exactly like it is in the English 'Abaddon' (except that it has a bar above the 'o'), and is defined as: 3. Abaddon, ab-ad-dohn; of Hebrew; or a destroying angel:-Abaddon.

Now look at Revelation 9:11 mentioned above. It reads: "They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abbadon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon." (RSV).

Recall what world renowned Satanic High priest Anton Le Vey said in the Satanic Bible, p. 145-146: "Abaddon and Apollyon are the names of Lucifer." So, the "angel of the bottomless pit" or "the Dragon" also called Satan and the Devil, which were the names given to Lucifer after his fall from heaven, are alternative appellations to Abaddon and Apollyon. Why have the Master of the Masonic Lodge lifted, or borrowed those appelations, or pedigrees of Satan (Abbadon and Apollyon)? And why do they refer to him as the God of light, when the Bible calls him the "angel of the bottomeless pit" and the "destroying angel? page 268-269 

Shall I Be A Mason? Life or Death... chapter 35 

"Christianity and the Lodge"

by P.D. Stuart

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.507679/posts/794261604857274

Revelation 9

1599 Geneva Bible

9 1 The fifth Angel bloweth his trumpet, 3 and spoiling locusts come out. 13 The sixth Angel bloweth, 16 and bringeth forth horsemen, 20 to destroy mankind.

1 And the [a]fifth Angel blew the trumpet, and I saw a [b]star fall from heaven unto the earth, [c]and to him was given the key of the [d]bottomless pit.

2 [e]And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose the smoke of the pit, the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun, and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.

3 [f]And there came out of the smoke Locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4 [g]And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree: but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

5 And to them was commanded that they should not kill them, but that they should be vexed five months, and that their pain should be as the pain that cometh of a scorpion, when he hath stung a man.

6 Therefore in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

7 [h]And the form of the locusts was like unto horses prepared unto the battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns, like unto gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.

8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

9 And they had habergeons, like unto habergeons of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots when many horses run unto battle.

10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months.

11 [i]And they have a king over them, which is the Angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is named Apollyon, that is, destroying.

12 [j]One woe is past, and behold, yet two woes come after this.

13 ¶ [k]Then the sixth Angel blew the trumpet, [l]and I heard a voice from the [m]four horns of the golden altar, which is before God,

14 Saying to the sixth Angel, which had the trumpet, [n]Loose the four Angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

15 [o]And the four Angels were loosed, which were prepared at an hour, at a day, at a month, and at a year to slay the third part of men.

16 And the number of horsemen of war were twenty thousand times ten thousand: for I heard the number of them.

17 And thus I saw the horses in a vision, and them that sat on them, having fiery habergeons, and of hyacinth, and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths went forth fire, and smoke, and brimstone.

18 Of these three was the third part of men killed, that is, of the fire, and of the smoke, and of the brimstone, which came out of their mouths.

19 For their power is in their mouths, and in their tails: [p]for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads wherewith they hurt.

20 [q]And the remnant of the men which were not killed by these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood, which neither can see, neither hear, nor go.

21 Also they repented not of their murder, and of their sorcery, neither of their fornication, nor of their theft.

Footnotes

Revelation 9:1 The first execution upon the wicked men inhabiting the earth (as a little before the Angel said) wrought by the infernal powers, is declared in this place unto the eleventh verse. And after the sixth execution thence unto the nineteenth verse. And lastly is showed the common event that followed the former execution in the world, in the two last verses.

Revelation 9:1 That is, that the Angel of God glittering with glory, as a star fell down from heaven. Whether thou take him for Christ, who hath the keys of hell himself, and by Princely authority, Rev. 1:18, or whether for some inferior Angel, who hath the same key permitted unto him, and occupieth it ministerially, or by office of his ministry, here, and Rev. 21, so the word falling, is taken, Gen. 14:10, and 24:64, and Heb. 6:6.

Revelation 9:1 The key was given to his star. For those powers of wickedness are thrust down into hell, and bound with chains of darkness: and are there kept unto damnation, unless God for a time do let them loose, 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6, and of this book, Rev. 20:20, the history of which chapter hath agreement of time with this present chapter.

Revelation 9:1 By the bottomless pit, he meaneth the deepest darkness of hell.

Revelation 9:2 Unto this is added, the smoke of the hellish and infernal spirits, all dark, and darkening all things in heaven and in earth. The spiritual darknesses are the causes of all disorder and confusion. For the devil at a time certain (whereof the fifth verse) sent these darknesses into his kingdom, that he might at once and with one impression overthrow all things, and pervert if it were possible the elect themselves. By this darkness all spiritual light, both active as of the Sun, and passive, as of the air which is lightened by the Sun, is taken away: and this is that which goeth before the spirits: it followeth of the spirits themselves.

Revelation 9:3 A description of the malignant spirits invading the world, taken from their nature, power, form and order. From their nature, for that they are like unto certain locusts, in quickenness, subtlety, hurtfulness, number, and such like in this verse. From their power, for that they are as the scorpions of the earth, of a secret force to do hurt. For our battle is not here with flesh and blood, but with powers, etc., Eph. 6:12. This place of the power of the Devils generally noted in this verse, is particularly declared afterwards in the three next verses.

Revelation 9:4 Here that power of the devils is particularly described according to their actions and effects of the same. Their actions are said to be bounded by the counsel of God: both because they hurt not all men, but only the reprobate (for the godly and elect, in whom there is any part of a better life, God guardeth by his decree) whom Christ shall not have sealed, in this verse: and also because they neither had all power not at all times, no not over those that are their own, but limited in manner and time, by the prescript of God, verse 5. So their power to afflict the godly, is none, and for the wicked is limited in act and in effect by the will of God: for the manner was prescribed unto them that they should not slay, but torment the wretched world. The time is for five months or for an hundred and fifty days, that is, for so many years in which the devils have indeed mightily perverted all things in the world: and yet without that public and unpunished license of killing, which afterward they usurped when the sixth Angel had blown his trumpet, as shall be said upon verse 13. Now this space is to be accounted from the end of that thousand years mentioned, Rev. 20:3, and that is from the Popedom of that Gregory the seventh, a most monstrous Necromancer, who before was called Hildebrandus Senensis: for this man being made altogether of impiety and wickedness, as a slave of the devil, whom he served, was the most wicked firebrand of the world: he excommunicated the Emperor Henry the fourth: went about by all manner of treachery to set up and put down empires and kingdoms as liked himself: and doubted not to set Rodolph the Swedon over the Empire instead of Henry before named, sending unto him a Crown with this verse annexed unto it: Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rodolpho: that is, The Rock to Peter gave the crown, and Peter Rodolph doth renown. Finally, he so finely bestirred himself in his affairs, as he miserably set all Christendom on fire, and conveyed over unto his successors the burning brand of the same: who enraged with like ambition, never ceased to nourish that flame, and to enkindle it more and more: whereby Cities, Commonwealths, and whole kingdoms set together by the ears amongst themselves by most expert cut-throats, came to ruin, whiles they miserably wounded one another. This term of an hundred and fifty years, taketh end in the time of Gregory the ninth, or Hugolinus Anagniensis (as he was before called) who caused to be compiled by one Raimond his chaplain and confessor, the body of Decretals, and by sufferance of the Kings and Princes to be published in the Christian world, and established for a law. For by this sleight at length the Popes arrogated unto themselves license to kill whom they would, whiles others were unawares: and without fear established a butchery out of many of the wicked Canons of the Decretals, which the trumpet of the fifth Angel had expressly forbidden, and had hindered until this time. The effects of the bloody actions are declared upon the sixth verse: that the miserable world languishing in so great calamities, should willingly run together unto death, and prefer the same before life, by reason of the grievousness of the miseries that oppressed them.

Revelation 9:7 The form of these hellish spirits and administers, is shadowed out by signs and visible figures in this sort: that they are very expert and swift: that wheresoever they are in the world, the kingdom of theirs: that they manage all their affairs with cunning and skill, in this verse, that making show of mildness and tender affection to draw on men withal, they most impudently rage in all mischief: that they are most mighty to do hurt, Verse 8, that they are freed from being hurt of any man, as armed with the color of religion, and sacred authority of privilege, that they fill all things with horror, Verse 9, that they are fraudulent: that they are venomous and extremely noisome, though their power be limited, Verse 10. All which things are properly in the infernal powers, and communicated by them unto their ministers and vassals.

Revelation 9:11 The order of the powers of maliciousness: that they are subject to one infernal King, whom thou mayest call in English, The Destroyer: who driveth the whole world both Jews and Gentiles into the destruction that belongeth unto himself. And I cannot tell whether this name belongeth unto the Etymological interpretation of Hildebrand, by a figure often used in the holy Scripture: which albeit it may otherwise be turned of the Germans (as the sense of compound words is commonly ambiguous) yet in very deed it signifieth as much as if thou shouldest call him the firebrand, that is, he that setteth on fire those that be faithful unto him.

Revelation 9:12 A passage unto the next point, and the history of the time following.

Revelation 9:13 The sixth execution done upon the world by the tyrannical powers thereof working in the four parts of the earth, that is in most cruel manner executing their tyrannous dominion through the whole world, and killing the miserable people without punishment, which before was not lawful for them to do in that sort, as I showed upon the fourth verse. This narration has two parts: a commandment from God, in verse 14, and execution of the commandment, in the verse following.

Revelation 9:13 The commandment given by Christ himself, who is governor over all.

Revelation 9:13 He alludeth to the altar of incense, which stood in the Court which the Priests were in, over against the Ark of the Covenant, having a veil betwixt them.

Revelation 9:14 As if he should have said, These hitherto have been so bound by the power of God, that they could not freely run upon all men as themselves lusted, but were stayed and restrained at that great flood of Euphrates, that is, in their spiritual Babylon (for this is a Paraphrase of the spiritual Babylon by the limits of the spiritual Babylon long since overthrown) that they might not commit those horrible slaughters which they long breathed after. Now go to: let loose those four Angels, that is, administers of the wrath of God, in that number that is convenient to the slaughtering of the four quarters of the world: stir them up and give them the bridle, that rushing of that Babylon of theirs, which is the seat of the wicked ones, they may fly upon all the world, therein to rage, and most licentiously to exercise their tyranny, as God hath ordained. This was done when Gregory the ninth by public authority established for law his own Decretals, by which he might freely lay trains for the life of simple men. For who is it that seeth not that the laws Decretal most of them are as snares to catch souls withal? Since that time (O good God!) how great slaughters have there been? how great massacres? All histories are full of them: and this our age aboundeth with most horrible and monstrous examples of the same.

Revelation 9:15 The execution of the commandment is in two points: one, that those butchers are let loose, that out of their tower of the spiritual Babylon they might with fury run abroad through all the world, as well the thief of that crew which are most prompt unto all assays, in this verse: as their multitudes, both most copious, of which a number certain is named for a number infinite, Verse 16, and in themselves by all means fully furnished to hide and to hurt, Verse 17, as being armed with fire, smoke and brimstone, as appeareth in the color of their armor, which dazzleth the eyes of all men: and have the strength of Lions to hurt withal, from which (as out of their mouth) the fiery, smoky, and stinking darts of the Pope are shot out, Verse 18. The other point is, that these butchers have effected the commandment of God by fraud and violence, in the two verses following.

Revelation 9:19 That is, they [are] harmful every way: on what part soever thou put thine hand unto them or they touch thee, they do hurt. So the former are called Scorpions, Verse 3.

Revelation 9:20 Now remaineth the event (as I said upon the first verse) which followed of so many and so grievous judgments in the most wicked world: namely an impenitent affirmation of the ungodly in their impiety and unrighteousness, though they feel themselves most vehemently pressed with the hand of God: for their obstinate ungodliness is showed in this verse: and their unrighteousness in the verse following. Hitherto hath been the general history of things to be done universal in the whole world: which because it doth not so much belong to the Church of Christ, is therefore not so expressly distinguished by certainty of time and other circumstances, but is woven, as they say with a slight hand. Also there is none other cause why the history of the seventh Angel is passed over in this place, than for that the same more properly appertaineth unto the history of the Church. But this is more diligently set out according to the time thereof, Rev. 11 and 16, as shall appear upon those places.

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