Assembly 39: Gray calls for accountability, Obermayr seeks action
By Jessica GarciaFriday, October 11, 2024
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Nevada Assembly District 39 incumbent Ken Gray and his opponent Silver City Advisory Board Chair Erich Obermayr have maintained a friendly history even if they disagree on many issues.
The candidates shared their diverse approaches to increasing access to health care, economic growth policies, education funding and safe drinking water in Lyon County during the Dayton Chamber of Commerce’s Candidates Forum on Oct. 8.
Gray and Obermayr spoke of community efforts for office at the Dayton Valley Community Center. Their discussion was moderated by Dayton High School juniors Jacklyn Kikuchi, Blake Palmer and Avaline Reardon.
Gray, a Republican, retired as a chief master sergeant after 26 years in the U.S. Air Force and as a medic in the National Guard. He entered public service and ran for Lyon County Commission district 3 in Dayton in 2016. He continued in the seat for two more terms. Among other work, Gray served as vice chairman of the Carson Water Sub-Conservancy District, Comstock Historic District commissioner and senior field representative for the U.S. House of Representatives for Nevada Congressional District 2 and helped in veterans and public lands issues.
“I've raised both my daughters here in our community, I've been here for 22 years now,” Gray said. “I'm talking about getting stuff done, I mean, from the day I just started I decided to throw my hat in the public elected ring and I decided that I was going to fight tooth and nail.”
He became assemblyman in 2022 with the objective to restore election integrity by repealing election laws passed in the previous legislative session and requiring voter identification. He also wanted to repeal laws infringing on Second Amendment rights and to help train more doctors for Nevada, among other issues.
Obermayr, a Democrat, was raised in southern Idaho and has lived in Silver City for 30 years with his wife Meg. He built his home there and raised a daughter who now works as a high school teacher in Indianapolis. Obermayr retired as an archaeologist and said he wished to run for the district 39 seat as a representative who will help to accomplish things for the state, including advocating for responsible gun ownership, opening the voting process to non-partisan voters by allowing them to participate in the party primary of their choice and supporting Question 6 on the Nevada ballot this election providing for a state constitutional right to an abortion.
“I'm running for district 39 because we need a representative who puts getting stuff done first,” he said. “This means working from the ground up, beginning with that will be getting with the basic questions. What will a bill do to make life better for my constituents?”
Obermayr referred to the Silver City Community Center, a two-room school established in 1867 that became a fire station and town hall but was lost to a fire in 2004. With group efforts, the Silver City Preservation Society in 2014 came together and worked to secure the Stagecoach Community Center to give the town a new place to meet and it helped Lyon County keep its current buildings operational.
“This took years, working with the county to overcome a reluctant insurance company,” Obermayr said. “We succeeded, so we're sitting down as one of the finest community centers in the state. … This never came up. This was never even mentioned. This is the kind of success we can have, you know, we put getting stuff done first, and this is what I will bring to the Legislature.”
The moderators asked how each would address Nevada’s fiscal challenges, and Gray replied the Silver State spends more than it brings in revenue.
“I’ll tell you the governor allocated — and we supported — more money to education than any other governor in the history of Nevada, and yet the other side of the aisle still, still wanted to increase beyond what we had in the budget, like $258 million,” Gray said.
Although it would be helpful to have this funding on hand, it will push the state over the fiscal cliff, Gray said, and cuts will be needed and tax increases will be necessary in the next legislative session.
Obermayr suggested looking at funding for education on a per-pupil basis and the state’s sources of revenue.
“So the fiscal problem in the state, of course, is where do we get the money from, and we have taxes on the casinos and taxes on the mining industry, and there's the sales tax, which is a pretty regressive tax,” Obermayr said. “So we have to look at where we can spend the money most efficiently and where we might be able to increase our funding.”
They also addressed ideas on what the Nevada Legislature could do to ensure a clean, safe drinking water supply, to which Gray touted his experience serving on the Carson Water Subconservancy and Dayton Valley Conservation districts. He suggested examining Southern Nevada, which uses reclaimed water, as well as water sent to Southern California’s water basins for waste.
“What we need to do is finish our water loop so there’s an uninterrupted supply in case there’s an emergency that can shut off the wells and not permanently, you know, in case of an contamination issue, and there will still be water for the public use,” Gray said.
Obermayr preferred looking to the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection’s oversight of water quality and said climate change has affected increased runoff into Lake Tahoe and surrounding reservoirs, and with more natural events such as fires expected, local agencies should be prepared.
“We need to be able to ensure that our water delivery systems have the capacity to deal with the periods of extreme rainfall and then fill in with drought times between those,” Obermayr said.
In closing remarks, Gray said he does not consider issues from a partisan view.
“I look at it from a constitutional view,” he said. “Is it constitutional? is it good for Nevada and if it's great for Nevada, I think that's the key thing when looking at legislation.”
Obermayr said whatever the outcome is, he and Gray share at least one opinion on the race.
“One of the things that I hear most recently is that people are sick and tired of the politics, they’re sick and tired of the lies, they’re sick and tired of the insults, and Mr. Gray and I have talked about this before,” he said. “On Nov. 6, I want to be able to wake up and be able to say that we put on a good election for you guys.”
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2024/oct/11/dayton-forum-gray-calls-for-accountability-obermayr-seeks-action/
1:30
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Kenneth Gray
the great ideal proclaimed by the
只:
Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united. FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM by MAX HEINDEL
https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items /freemasonryandca017137mbp /freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf
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(775) 220-1935
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Kenneth Gray
media group or something productive??? Ok,
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(775) 220-1935
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32
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Ken Gray
Republican
Residence: Dayton
Occupation: Assemblyman, Nevada Assembly District 39; Chief Master Sergeant (Ret.), U.S. Air Force
Age: 55
Contact: Phone: 775-220-1935; Email: Ken@Gray4Nevada.com; Website: www.Gray4Nevada.com
Record of Service:
• Assemblyman, Nevada Assembly District 39, 2022–Present
• Chairman, Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus Executive Committee
• Member of Legislative Committees: Judiciary, Health and Human Services, Revenue, Tahoe Regional Planning Oversight, Legislative Committee on Veterans and Adults with Special Needs
• Chairman, Lyon County Board of County Commissioners, 2016
• Lyon County Board of County Commissioners, 2016–2022
• Vice-Chairman, Carson Water Sub-Conservancy District
• Commissioner, Comstock Historic District
• Member, Nevada Local Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council
• Member, Quad Counties Legislative Committee
• Senior Field Representative, U.S. House of Representatives, Nevada Congressional District 2, handling military, veterans, public lands, and other issues
• Chief Master Sergeant (E-9, Ret.), U.S. Air Force, served two tours in Iraq and multiple overseas assignments, including in the Middle East and Europe
Education:
Chapman University: Extensive graduate work in Organizational Leadership and Human Resources
Excelsior College: Bachelor of Science
Community College of the Air Force: Associate of Applied Science Degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Technology, Allied Health Science, and Healthcare Management
Briefly describe the core duties of the position you are running for.
A state legislator I represent the interests of my district by creating, amending, and voting on state laws. I also help shape the state budget, address constituent concerns, and ensure effective oversight of government agencies to ensure laws and policies serve the public’s best interests.
A brief statement about your platform
As a staunch conservative, I believe in smaller government, lower taxes, and less governmental interference. I am committed to restoring integrity to our election process by repealing flawed election laws passed in the last legislative session, requiring voter ID, and limiting absentee ballots to valid reasons.
I will work to repeal legislation that infringes on Second Amendment rights and support a Constitutional Carry law.
Protecting the unborn is a priority, and I will strive to make adoption more accessible and affordable.
Parents must have control over their children’s education, and funding should follow the student. Critical Race Theory and Social Emotional Learning must be removed from public education.
Nevada’s doctor shortage can be addressed by training more doctors and encouraging them to practice here without lowering standards.
I am passionate about supporting law enforcement, especially in honor of my father-in-law, a police officer killed in the line of duty.
As a veteran and the father of two veteran daughters, I remain dedicated to supporting our military and veterans.
What makes me the most qualified candidate?
I am the most qualified candidate for re-election to Assembly District 39 because of my extensive leadership experience and proven commitment to serving our community, state, and country. My lifelong dedication to public service, from my time in the U.S. Air Force, where I achieved the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, to my service as a county commissioner and now as an assemblyman, has equipped me with the skills, knowledge, and leadership qualities needed to effectively represent our district in the Nevada Assembly.
Throughout my career, I have consistently demonstrated strong, decisive leadership, especially in challenging and high-pressure situations. Whether making critical decisions in hostile environments during my military service or navigating complex legislative issues, I have remained focused on serving the people. My track record shows that I stand firm on my principles, never bending to political pressure or special interests, and always prioritizing what’s best for my constituents.
As an assemblyman, I have been a clear and effective voice for District 39, fighting to reduce government overreach, protect constitutional rights, and ensure fiscal responsibility. My understanding of how state legislation impacts local government and taxpayers is unmatched, with firsthand experience in dealing with unfunded mandates that burden local communities.
In addition to my legislative work, I am deeply committed to safeguarding our freedoms, supporting law enforcement, advocating for veterans, and defending the core values we hold dear. My father-in-law, a police officer, was killed in the line of duty, and as a veteran myself and father of two veterans, I understand the importance of standing up for those who serve.
With a proven record of service, unwavering principles, and a focus on “We the People,” I am prepared to continue serving effectively in the Nevada Assembly. Experience matters—and I have it.
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2024/oct/15/2024-general-election-nevada-state-assembly-district-39/
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://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
On July 28, 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was declared to be “ratified” by the
Radicals in Washington. Since 1866 the Southern States had been under martial
law and divided into five military districts. The districts were governed by five
Union Generals beholden to the Jesuits, including General Benjamin F. Butler
known as “Butler the Beast.” The wicked, bigoted Thaddeus Stevens with his
“Reconstruction Act” of 1866 had implemented martial law. And why? Because
the Southern State governments, having ratified the Thirteenth Amendment,
refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. So the solution of the Radicals, to
the disgrace of the Protestant ministers and people of the North, was to suspend
the lawful State governments and impose martial law (absolutism). The only way
the Southern States could be re-admitted into this new “Union of North American
Socialist Republics,” thereby ending martial law, was to “ratify” this new
amendment. That is called “consent at the point of a bayonet” or rather, “forced
conversion of heretics.”
Why was the Fourteenth Amendment, forced on the South by the Radical,
Communist, Red Republican Jacobins of the North, so important to the Jesuits and
their despots of Europe, including apostate Protestant Queen Victoria of England
whose policies were dictated by her Jesuit-controlled Prime Ministers, Lord John
Russell and Viscount Palmerston? Section 1 of the Amendment reads:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein
they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States [which “privileges and
immunities” do not include ancient common law rights or the U.S. Constitution’s
Bill of Rights]; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws.” {15}
The coup d’etat is in the first sentence. It made all persons born in the United
States (excluding the Indian nations) citizens of the United States first and citizens
of a State secondly. This reversed the original American citizenship. Senator
James G. Blaine, one of the Order’s Temporal Coadjutors (according to 1883
author Edwin A. Sherman) and Radical Red Republicans of the day, explained:
“In the first place, we ask that they will agree to certain changes in the
Constitution of the United States; and, to begin with, we want them to unite
with us in broadening the citizenship of the Republic. The slaves recently
emancipated by proclamation, and subsequently by Constitutional
Amendment, have no civil status. They should be made citizens, and in making
this extension of citizenship, we are not confining the breadth and scope of
our efforts to the negro. It is for the white man as well. We intend to make
citizenship National. Heretofore, a man has been a citizen of the United States
because he was a citizen of some one of the States: Now, we propose to
reverse that, and make him a citizen of any State where he chooses to reside,
by defining in advance his National citizenship—and our Amendment declares
that ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States [first] and [secondly] of
the States [State] wherein they reside.’ ” {16} [Emphasis added]
Years later our Jesuit-controlled Supreme Court, in describing the effect of the
Fourteenth Amendment, would say the same as its radical authors.
“ ‘In reviewing the subject,’ [“Jesuitical”] Chief Justice White [according to our
hero Jeremiah Crowley] said in the Selective Draft Law Cases, 245 US 366, 377,
388-389, ‘ . . . it broadened the national scope of the Government under the
Constitution by causing citizenship of the United States to be paramount and
dominant instead of being subordinate and derivative, and therefore,
operating as it does upon all the powers conferred by the Constitution.’ ” {17}
[Emphasis added]
Simply put, by reversing American citizenship and making it “National,” all the
powers of the government, specifically granted by the Constitution, were greatly
increased. A new citizenship created a new government. All the executive,
legislative and judicial powers in Washington were “broadened.” So the radicals,
pretending to do good to the Black freedman, used these freedmen to centralize
and increase Rome’s power in Washington with the Fourteenth Amendment.
Vatican Assassins Wounded In The House of My Friends
Third Edition
by Eric Jon Phelps
https://dn790008.ca.archive.org/0/items/eric-jon-phelps-vatican-assassins-3rd-edition/Eric%20Jon%20Phelps%20-%20Vatican%20Assassins%203rd%20Edition.pdf
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
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
Giant Fractured Sphere at the Vatican
By Pinar Noorata on April 18, 2012
Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro is known to construct enormous spheres with layers of complexities. One of his monumental orbs stands tall as the centerpiece of the Courtyard of the Pinecone at the Vatican Museum. The structure titled Sfera con Sfera, translated as Sphere within a Sphere, is a bronze statue that appears golden as the sun shines down on it. It is 4 meters (a little over 13 feet) in diameter.
The Milan-based artist began his series of spheres in the 60's with Sphere no. 1 and has continued designing the globe-like pieces, each depicting a different map of destruction. Each tremendous ball is fractured, revealing an intricate interior that unveils yet another cracking orb. The design of the internal layers seem to mimicking the gears of a clock or the inner workings of a grand piano, making it appear very complicated.
Because of the sculptural installation's round shape, it also echoes the form of Earth. It isn't absolutely clear what the artist's intentions are, but it gives off the impression that it is reflecting the complexity of our world and how easily it can be torn apart.
https://mymodernmet.com/arnaldo-pomodoro-sphere-within-a-sphere
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
"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
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
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.
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."
Rose Cross Over The Baltic: The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing
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."
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing
About the future in store for the Sons of Cain and their followers the temple legend is also most eloquent. It states that from Cain descended Methuselah, who invented writing, Tubal Cain, a cunning worker in metals, and Jubal, who originated music. In short the Sons of Cain are the originators of the arts and crafts. Therefore when Jehovah chose Solomon, the scion of the race of Seth, to build a house for his name, the sublime spirituality of a long line of divinely guided ancestors flowered into conception of the magnificent temple called Solomon’s Temple, though he was only the instrument to carry over the divine plan revealed by Jehovah to David. But he was unable to execute the divine design in a material manner. Therefore it became necessary for him to apply to King Hiram, of Tyre, the descendent of Cain, who selected Hiram Abiff, the son of a widow, (as all Free Masons are called because of the relation of their divine progenitor with Eve). Hiram Abiff became then Grand Master of the army of construction. In him the arts and crafts of all the Sons of Cain who had gone before had flowered. He was skilled beyond all others in the work of the world, without which the plan of Jehovah must have remained a divine dream forever. It could never have become a concrete reality. The worldly acumen of the Sons of Cain was as necessary to the completion of this temple as the spiritual conception of the Sons of Seth, and, therefore, during the period of construction the two classes joined forces, the underlying enmity was hidden under a superficial show of amity. It was, indeed, the first attempt to unite them, and had that been accomplished the world history from then on would have been altered in a very material manner. The Sons of Cain, descended from the fiery Lucifer Spirits, were naturally proficient in the use of fire. By it they melted the metals hoarded by Solomon and his ancestors into altars, lavers and vessels of various kinds. Pillars were fashioned by workmen under his direction and arches to rest upon by them. The great edifice was nearing completion and Hiram Abiff made ready to cast the “molten sea,” which was to be the crowning effort, his masterpiece. It was in the construction of this great work that the treachery of the Sons of Seth became manifest and frustrated the divine plan of reconciliation when they tried to quench his fire with their natural weapon, water, and almost succeeded. The incidents which led up to this catastrophe, their meaning and the sequel will be related in the next chapter.
FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM
by MAX HEINDEL
https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf
Gussepi (sometimes referred to as Guiseppe of Joseph) Mazzini has been represented to the people by the controlled press as a great Italian patriot, as were Mackenzie King of Canada and General Albert Pike of the U.S.A., and many others since proved to be hypocrites. These men pretended to serve God, their country and humanity, while in reality they knowingly furthered the secret Luciferian plans. Documentary evidence definitely proves that from 1834 until he died in 1872, Mazzini directed the W.R.M.. throughout the world He used as revolutionary headquarters the Lodges of the Grand Orient, established towards the end of the 18th century by Weishaupt, and the Councils of Pike’s New and Reformed Palladian Rite, established the second half of the 19th century in all countries throughout the world. Mazzini was closely associated with one Dr. Breidenstine. After Mazzini’s death in 1872, a letter he had written to Breidenstine came to light. The contents fully illustrate what I mean when I say that not even the directors of the W.R.M. are permitted to know they further the secret plans of the Luciferian conspiracy, unless they have convinced those who constitute the Synagogue of Satan that they have finally and completely defected from God and are suitable and ready for initiation into the FULL, or FINAL SECRET Study of Mazzini’s ‘secret’ life proves that he actually accepted Satan as “Prince of the World.” He worshipped him as such. As Director of the W.R.M. he was admitted into the Synagogue of Satan, and yet, even as a member of that group, his letter to Breidenstine shows that he had not been initiated into the FULL SECRET, which is that Lucifer is God, the equal of Adonay (our God) and that the ultimate purpose of the W.R.M. is to bring about one form or another of a one world government, the powers of which the High Priests of the Luciferian Creed intend to usurp so they can then impose a Luciferian totalitarian dictatorship upon the people of this world. In the letter referred to, Mazzini wrote, “We form an association of Brothers in all parts of the Globe. We wish to break every yoke. Yet there is one that is unseen; that can hardly be felt, yet that weighs on us. Whence comes it? Where is it? No one knows, or at least no one tells. This association is secret even to us, the veterans of Secret Societies.
The fact that the FULL SECRET is known only to a very few people, is of the greatest importance. It means that as long as there is still time to make the TRUTH known. I proved this statement to be true by making known to Communist leaders in Canada in 1956 the fact that, according to Pike’s plan for the final stage of the Luciferian conspiracy, Communism is to be made to destroy itself, together with Christianity in the greatest social cataclysm the world has ever known, to be provoked for that specific purpose by those who direct the Luciferian conspiracy AT THE TOP This information caused the biggest split in the Communist International that has happened since Lenin usurped power on behalf of the Illuminati in 1917. During 1956-1957 the split in the Communist Party made headlines in the newspapers of the world, and explained WHY Molotov, Malenkov, and others were ousted. The same information has been made known to religious leaders of most Christian denominations, but so fax as we know they still refuse to accept the warnings as the TRUTH. When Mazzini died in 1872, Pike selected Adriano Lemmi, another alleged Italian patriot, to succeed him as Director of the W.R.M. He also was a confirmed Satanist. Pike had established the supervising or directing council of the Political Action section of the W.R.M. in Rome before Mazzini died. When Pike made his selection a strange situation developed. Lemmi was such a confirmed Satanist that he insisted that all members of Pike’s New and Reformed Palladian Rite worship Satan as “Prince of this World,” and as their God. He went so far as to have his friend, Brother Carducci, compose a hymn to his Satanic Majesty entitled, The Goddeal Mirror, which, to the great annoyance of Pike, Lemmit ordered to be sung at all Palladian Rite Banquets. This situation developed to the stage when Pike, to end the matter once and for all time, issued a ‘Letter of .Instruction: Pike, speaking as Sovereign Pontiff of the Luciferian Creed, made this very profound, and from the Christian viewpoint, ‘profane,’ pronouncement. He addressed it to the heads of the 26 councils of his (Pike’s) New and Reformed Palladian Rite, established all over the five continents as the secret headquarters of those he had selected to direct ALL aspects and phases of the W.R.M.., so that Communism, Nazism, Nihilism, and every other enemy of God and of His creatures, could be used to further the secret plans of those who directed the Luciferian conspiracy AT THE TOP Pike’s letter reads in part: (We quote a translation of it, taken from page 587 of A.C. DeRive’s book dealing with this subject, La Femme et l’enfant dans la France- Maconnerie Universale. “That which we must say to the ‘crowd’ is, ‘We worship God’ -but it is the God that one worships without superstition .... The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine ... if Lucifer were not God, would Adonay, whose deeds prove His cruelty, perfidy and hatred of men, barbarism, and repulsion for science would Adonay and His Priests, calumniate him? “Yes, Lucifer is God. And, unfortunately Adonay is also God. For the eternal law is that there is no light without shade; no beauty without ugliness; no white without black; for the absolute can only exist as two Gods .... THUS THE DOCTRINE OF SATANISM IS A HERESY; (emphasis added), and the true and pure philosophical religion is the belief in Lucifer, the equal of Adonay. But Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil.” We wish to point out that Pike’s letter, from which the above quotation has been taken, was translated into French by De Rive, and then translated back into English. Because I have studied this matter from many angles, I believe the word ‘crowd’ should have been translated as ‘Goyim’ or ‘Masses. I also believe the translator used the words Masonic Religion when he should have said, “the religion as practiced in the Lodges of the Grand Orient and the Councils of the New and Reformed Palladian Rite.” By using the word ‘Masonic,’ one may be misled, because study of contemporary literature of that time proves that the head of British Masonry had warned the Grand Masters of English Masonic lodges that they, and their members, were not, under any pretext or circumstance, to affiliate with, or associate with Grand Orient Masons, much less Pike’s New and Reformed Palladian Rite. Dom Paul Benoit, recognized as an authority on this subject, and author of La Cite Antichristienne (2 parts), and La France Maconnerie (2 vols.), says on page 449 ff Vol. I. Of FM, “The Reformed Palladian Rite has a fundamental practice and purpose, the adoration of Lucifer. It is full of all the impieties and all the infamies, of black magic. Having been established in the United States (by Pike), it has invaded Europe and each year it is making terrifying progress. All its ceremonial is full ... of blasphemies against God and against our Lord Jesus Christ.” Such is the guile, the cunning and deceit of those who direct the Luciferian conspiracy that they not only tolerate, but encourage Satanism in a(1 but the highest degrees. They direct their agentur to place the idea in the public’s mind that Freemasonry, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Communism, Nazism and any or all other organizations with international objectives, are secretly directing the W.R.M.., while all the time documentary evidence, and the events of history, prove that the Synagogue of Satan, controlled AT THE TOP by the High Priests of the Luciferian Creed use any and all of the movements whenever it is possible to further their own diabolical secret plans and ambitions. Lemmi, when head of Grand Orient Masonry in Italy and France, also belonged to Pike’s New and Reformed Palladian Rite. Before he was initiated into the FULL SECRET by Pike, Lemmi tried to bring about the destruction of the Vatican by his anticlerical campaigns.
After his initiation, which is said to have been conducted personally by Pike, his attitude and activities suddenly changed. While he outwardly remained anti-clerical and anti-Vatican, he no longer advocated the violent overthrow of the Vatican by force. Pike did with Lemmi what Karl Rothschild had had to do little more than a decade earlier with other Satanists when they stirred up so much anti-Vatican hatred that the governments of France and Italy were on the verge of destroying it. Karl Rothschild, an initiate of the Full Secret, stepped in to act as “Peacemaker” between the Vatican and her enemies. History relates how his intervention ‘saved’ the Vatican and made Karl Rothschild the ‘friend’ and ‘trusted adviser’ of the Pope. He reorganized the affairs of the Treasury and State Departments. But history has proved that Karl Rothschild was no true friend of the Vatican. Two World Wars, instigated by his family of moneylenders, and their international affiliates who direct the W.R.M.., have seen Christians of all denominations divided into opposing camps, been made to fight and kill each other off by the tens of millions. This has been done to bring Pike’s plan for the final social cataclysm nearer to fruition. Communism grew stronger as Christianity was weakened, until today, as Pike’s plan required, Communism has darkened the entire earth. While it would be inaccurate to deny that there have been ‘bad’ Popes, as there have been ‘bad’ Kings, it is only proper to point out that the ‘bad’ Popes and Kings were no worse than some of the other leaders of Christianity, when they became presidents of republics. Luciferianism demands that ALL temporal and spiritual authority be destroyed because of their alleged badness. Because the struggle in which we are involved, is against the spiritual forces of darkness, it stands to reason that there must be good and bad people in all walks of life; in all levels of government and in all religions. It is typical of all who serve the Devil’s cause that they always use destructive criticism aimed at those in authority, to undermine the confidence and loyalty of the individual in the remaining governmental and religious institutions. This policy helps those who direct the W.R.M. to at first weaken, and then destroy ALL remaining governments and religions. Let us never forget that there is nothing wrong with Christianity. Many things done in the name of Christianity were done by men who, knowingly or unknowingly, furthered the secret plans of the Luciferian conspiracy. What we need to do is clean upon and strengthen Christianity as God would wish. The above remarks are published to explain how it is that Satanists have always attacked the Popes and the Vatican, and advocated their destruction, while the High Priests of the Luciferian Creed have, to-date, always stepped in and prevented their doing so. The intervention of those who control the Synagogue of Satan AT THE TOP was not out of love or respect for the Pope of the Vatican. They intervened because, being initiated into the FULL SECRET, they knew that when their conspiracy reaches its final stage; after all temporal powers have been reduced in strength until they no longer remain World Powers; when a tired and weary people have been reduced to such a physical and mental condition that they became convinced that ONLY a One World Government can put an end to revolutions and wars, and give them peace, they must use the clash between Communism and Christianity to destroy ALL remaining religious institutions also. Gen. Albert Pike revealed how this was to be done in the letter he wrote Mazzini August 15,1871. That part which deals with this particular phase of the conspiracy reads as follows, “We shall unleash the Nihilists and Atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations (people of different nationalities), the effects of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens obliged to defend themselves against the world minority or revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will be from that moment without compass (direction), anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the TRUE LIGHT, through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view, a manifestation which will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and Atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time.” We ask the reader to study every word of this diabolically inspired document. According to Pike’s military blueprint, drawn up between 1859 and 1871, three global wars and three major revolutions were to place the High Priests of the Luciferian Creed in position to usurp world powers. Two World Wars have been fought according to schedule. The Russian and Chinese revolutions have achieved success. Communism has been built up in strength and Christendom weakened. World War Three is now in the making. If it is allowed to break out, all remaining nations will be further weakened, and Islam and political Zionism will be destroyed as world powers. The reader must not forget that the Arab world is made up of millions of people, many of whom are Christians; many are of the Jewish faith; many are Mohammedans, but all subscribe to belief in the same God Christians worship as the Creator of the Universe. The Koran of the Mohammedan faith is practically identical with the Bible, excepting only that the Mohammedan religion, while accepting Jesus Christ as the GREATEST of God’s prophets before Mohammed, does not permit its members to believe in the Divinity of Christ. The point we wish to make is this: Those who direct the Luciferian conspiracy AT THE TOP realize only too well that before they can provoke the final social cataclysm, they must first of all bring about the destruction of Islam as a world power, because if Islam were not destroyed, it would undoubtedly line up with Christianity in the event of an all out war with Communism. If that were allowed to happen, the balance of power would be held by Christianity, allied to Mohammedanism, and it would be very unlikely that both sides would conquer and exterminate each other. It is of the greatest of importance that these facts, which explain the political intrigue and chicanery now going on in the near, middle, and far East, be brought to the attention ofALL political and religious leaders so they may take action to prevent the last phases of the Luciferian conspiracy from being put into effect, and bring to fruition the prediction made in Chapter 20 of Revelations, i.e., that Satan shall be bound for a thousand years. The events of the past half century would indicate that we are rapidly approaching that period of the world’s history when, if it were not for the intervention of God, “No flesh would survive” (Matt. 24:22, Mark 13: 20). It is important that the general public know the diabolical fate being prepared for the whole of the human race. I cannot agree with some of the clergy of several denominations, with whom I have discussed this matter at considerable length, who say, “It is better that the public be left in ignorance of their pending fate. To tell them the truth will only alarm them and cause them to panic.” Even some Bishops, who are supposed to be the shepherds of their flocks, hold such views. This is beyond my comprehension. They are like physicians who advocate drugging a person they suppose to be dying at the first indication of pain. If the general public is told the whole TRUTH, knowledge of the TRUTH will certainly make the vast majority of people busy themselves about saving their immortal souls. Knowledge of the TRUTH regarding the diabolically inspired conspiracy will wake them up; it will put an end to lethargy and indifference. As Christ told us the TRUTH will set us free (spiritually) from the bonds with which we are being ever tighter bound, by the spiritual forces of darkness every day. What does it matter if Devil’s incarnate kill our bodies provided we prevent them deceiving us into losing our immortal souls? (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4). The TRUTH is that if World War Three is fought, the United States will be the only remaining world power after it is ended. Either ALL people will have to acknowledge that power, or they will clamour for, and demand a world government. And they will get it if the Luciferian conspiracy is allowed to be developed to its intended conclusion. Then, through the auspices of the United Nations, or some similar organization, a puppet King will be made World Sovereign, and he will secretly be under the influence and direction of the agentur of the Synagogue of Satan, who will have been appointed, not elected, to be his “Specialists,” “Experts,” and “Advisors.” The High Priests of the Luciferian Creed know they cannot usurp world power before the United States is ruined as the last remaining world power, so those who direct the W.R.M. ATTHE VERYTOP are arranging matters so the United States will, as Lenin stated, “Fall into our hands like an overripe fruit.” This is how events taking place today indicate the subjugation of the U.S.A. is planned. Pike’s plan requires that the final social cataclysm between the masses controlled by atheistic-communism and those who profess Christianity, be fought on a national as well as an international scale. That is the reason, and the only reason, that Communism is being tolerated, while being kept under restraint, in the remaining socalled Free Nations of the World. I have served in the higher levels of government, and in the naval forces, in positions that enabled me to realize that Communism in Canada and in the United States is tolerated, and is being controlled and contained, so its evil destructive force can be used on the national level, as well as the international level, when the final social cataclysm is provoked by those who direct the W RM. AT THE TOP I have tried to bring this great TRUTH to the attention of cabinet ministers since 1944, when I served on the staff of Naval Headquarters in Ottawa. The late Right Hon. Angus McDonald was then Naval Secretary. Admiral J.C. Jones was Chief-of-Naval Staff. I convinced both these chief executives regarding the TRUTH of what was going on BEHIND THE SCENES of government in Canada and the United States. I was ordered to submit these facts in the form of briefs, so they could be presented to the Canadian cabinet. I know these matters were presented to said cabinet, but Mackenzie King brushed them aside. Col. Ralston, Minister for the Army, and Major ‘Chubby’ Power, Minister for the Air Force, were so disgusted with Mackenzie King because of the manner in which he wielded autocratic power, that they both resigned from his government, even though it was war time. The Naval Minister told me personally, “Carr, the cabinet is full of the people you wish to expose. I intend to stick with the ship (Navy) until we win the war. Then I am going to resign from federal politics. What is going on is more than I can take ....” When I requested to be de-mobilized in Mayy, 1945 (after Germany collapsed), in order that I might start writing Pawns in the Game and Red Fog over America, Admiral Jones shook my hand as we said good-bye, and said, “I wish you luck with your new books. Publication of the TRUTH, as you have explained it to the Minister and myself, could do more to prevent World War Three than any defensive plan based on armaments.” Both of these men died suddenly shortly afterwards. In 1955 it required six times as many members of the RC.M.P and the F.B.I. to ‘contain’ Communism in Canada and the United States, as it did in 1945. In 1956 the Canadian Minister of Justice asked parliament to increase his budget by millions of dollars on the grounds that six RC.M.P officers were now required to keep check on Communists, where only one was required 10 years before. This was a superlative illustration of the double talk used by men who are involved in the W.R.M.. The Minister said: “To keep check on Communists.” What he should have said was: “To keep Communism in check until the time is ripe to use it.” I personally knew Inspector John Leopold who for many years headed the anti-subversive department of the RC.M.P We discussed these matters on many occasions. The RC.M.P and the F B.I. could arrest every Communist in Canada and the United States within twenty-four hours of the order being given by the heads of the respective departments of Justice, provided the Communists were not tipped off previously. It isn’t much of an exaggeration to say that John Leopold had one of his agents sleep with the Communist leaders every night. But the order to destroy the most destructive weapon the leaders of the Luciferian conspiracy possess, by legal means, was not given, and John Leopold retired from the RC.M.P a broken man, worn out bodily, mentally, and, I am sorry to say, spiritually, because of sheer frustration. The power of the United States can be destroyed only from within. The internal unrest now being fomented between citizens of different races, colors, and creeds is not so much the result of aggressive action taken by different groups as it is the result of rulings which have been passed by the Supreme Court. Their purpose was the creation of issues and troubles where previously no real issue or problem existed. I say with all gravity, fully realizing the seriousness of what I say, that if the day is allowed to come when those controlled by atheistic Communism are thrown at the throats of those who profess Christianity, on an international scale, over some real or cooked-up’ issue, then Communists in every one of the remaining socalled free nations will be released from the check-reins with which they are now being contained, and, as Pike boasted to Mazzini, the people will experience the worst social cataclysm the world has ever known. What I say is based on documentary evidence supported by historical facts, events which have taken place since the plans were laid. Everything Weishaupt planned between 1770 and 1776 to further the Luciferian conspiracy has developed EXACTLY as he intended. Everything Pike planned between 1859 and 1871 has occurred EXACTLY as he intended. We are now on the verge of World War Three, and about to enter the first stage of the conspiracy. But what is of even greater importance -the Holy Scriptures confirm what I say. All a person needs to do, to convince himself of this TRUTH, is to read Matt. 24:1-35 and Mark 13:1-30, and Luke 21: 25- 33. What abominations could the human mind conceive worse than those we know from experience happen when human beings fight civil wars? What could be worse than to use the atomic weapons and nerve gas? It seems that human beings are turned into devils incarnate when engaged in war, particularly civil war, because they practice every abomination upon each other that Dante in his Inferno describes as being practiced in Hell."
Satan Prince of This World by William Guy Carr
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view?usp=sharing
PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN It contains in it three times, and two to examine oneself. The first time is in the morning, immediately on rising, when one ought to propose to guard himself with diligence against that particular sin or defect which he wants to correct and amend. The second time is after dinner, when one is to ask of God our Lord what one wants, namely, grace to remember how many times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect, and to amend himself in the future. Then let him make the first Examen, asking account of his soul of that particular thing proposed, which he wants to correct and amend. Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make in the first line of the G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make. The third time: After supper, the second Examen will be made, in the same way, hour by hour, commencing at the first Examen and continuing up to the present (second) one, and let him make in the second line of the same G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. FOUR ADDITIONS FOLLOW TO RID ONESELF SOONER OF THAT PARTICULAR SIN OR DEFECT First Addition. The first Addition is that each time one falls into that particular sin or defect, let him put his hand on his breast, grieving for having fallen: which can be done even in the presence of many, without their perceiving what he is doing. Second Addition. The second: As the first line of the G------- means the first Examen, and the second line the second Examen, let him look at night if there is amendment from the first line to the second, that is, from the first Examen to the second. Third Addition. The third: To compare the second day with the first; that is, the two Examens of the present day with the other two Examens of the previous day, and see if he has amended himself from one day to the other. Fourth Addition. The fourth Addition: To compare one week with another, and see if he has amended himself in the present week over the week past. Note. It is to be noted that the first (large) G------- which follows means the Sunday: the second (smaller), the Monday: the third, the Tuesday, and so on.
GGGGGG
"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
TRANSLATED FROM
THE AUTOGRAPH
BY
FATHER ELDER MULLAN, S.J.
I.H.S.
NEW YORK
P.J. KENEDY & SONS
PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE
https://ia800303.us.archive.org/.../a588350800loyouoft.pdf
Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].
It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]
The Latin form Georgius had been rarely given in Western Christendom since at least the 6th century. The popularity of the name however develops from around the 12th century, in Occitan in the form Jordi, and it becomes popular at European courts after the publication of the Golden Legend in the 1260s.
The West Iberian form Jorge is on record in Portugal as the name of Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (1481–1550).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge
Its original Greek form, Georgios, is based on the Greek word georgos (γεωργός), 'farmer'. The word georgos itself is ultimately a combination of two Greek words: ge (γῆ), 'earth, soil' and ergon (ἔργον), 'work'. Aelius Herodianus (fl. 2nd century AD), a Roman-era Greek grammarian and writer, determined Georgios to be a theophoric name, or a name created to honor a deity, a nod to Zeus Georgos, or "Zeus the Farmer" in English. In the early stages of Greek mythology, before Zeus took on a major role in the Greek pantheon as ruler of all the gods and goddesses, he was sacrificed to as an agricultural god, a patron of crops and harvests.[6] The name took on religious significance to followers of Early Christianity in 303 with the supposed martyrdom of Georgios, a Roman soldier of Greek heritage. While the story's historical accuracy is subject to debate, his character took on real importance to the Christian Church, with Georgios and its variants being used as baptismal names and by religious officials and Christian monarchs, though it did not become common among the laity until after the Middle Ages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_(given_name)
Bergoglio
A surname from Italian.
Translations
±surname
Italian
Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Bergoglio
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /berˈɡɔʎ.ʎo/
Rhymes: -ɔʎʎo
Hyphenation: Ber‧gò‧glio
Proper noun
Bergoglio f
A village in Piedmont, Italy near Alessandria
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bergoglio
Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[b] 17 December 1936) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian Pope Gregory III.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
Borgo (sometimes called also I Borghi) is the 14th rione of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIV and is included within Municipio I.
Its coat of arms shows a lion (after the name "Leonine City", which was also given to the district), lying in front of three mounts and a star. These – together with a lion rampant – are also part of the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus V, who annexed Borgo as the 14th rione of Rome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgo_(rione_of_Rome)
Pope Alexander VI[Note 2] (born Rodrigo de Borja;[Note 3] 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) (epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian"))[6] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.
Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]
Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI
Pope Paul V (Latin: Paulus V; Italian: Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries.[2] In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.[3]
Trained in jurisprudence, Borghese was made Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII. He was elected as Pope in 1605, following the death of Pope Leo XI. Pope Paul V was known for being stern and unyielding, defending the privileges of the Church. He met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 and was involved in the controversy over heliocentrism. He canonized and beatified several individuals during his papacy and created 60 cardinals in ten consistories.
His insistence on ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to conflicts with secular governments, notably with Venice, which resulted in an interdict on the city in 1606. This disagreement was eventually mediated by France and Spain in 1607. Pope Paul V's diplomacy also strained relations with England, as his actions were perceived as undermining moderate Catholics in the country.
In Rome, he financed the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, improved the Vatican Library, and restored the ancient Roman aqueduct Aqua Traiana. Pope Paul V established the Banco di Santo Spirito in 1605 and is also known for fostering the rise of the Borghese family through nepotism. He died on 28 January 1621, after suffering from a series of strokes and was succeeded by Pope Gregory XV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_V
The Omega Point is a theorized future event in which the entirety of the universe spirals toward a final point of unification. The term was invented by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955).[1] Teilhard argued that the Omega Point resembles the Christian Logos, namely Christ, who draws all things into himself, who in the words of the Nicene Creed, is "God from God", "Light from Light", "True God from True God", and "through him all things were made".[2] In the Book of Revelation, Christ describes himself three times as "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end". Several decades after Teilhard's death, the idea of the Omega Point was expanded upon in the writings of John David Garcia (1971), Paolo Soleri (1981), Frank Tipler (1994), and David Deutsch (1997).[3][4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point
Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a Roman work of the entire Society, 304 §2"
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
English mantle and mantel both derive from the Latin word for "cloak," mantellum, which was adopted into Old English in the form mentel. The word eventually evolved to mantle under the influence of Anglo-French mantel—a derivative of the Latin term that was borrowed into early Middle English. Initially, mantle referred to a loose, sleeveless cloak or a protective garment or blanket. It then specified the long cloaks worn by royalty, dignitaries, and ecclesiastics as symbols of authority or preeminence. By the 17th century, this sense of mantle gained figurative use in contexts describing a transfer of power, with allusion to the allegorical passing of Elijah's mantle to Elisha in the biblical Books of Kings.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/usage-mantle-vs-mantel
Space Fence surveillance radar site declared operational
The $1.5 billion Space Fence can track tiny objects in low Earth orbit as small as a marble.
Sandra Erwin
March 28, 2020
WASHINGTON — The space surveillance radar site known as the Space Fence is ready for use after five years in construction, the U.S. Space Force announced March 27.
The $1.5 billion Space Fence — located on Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands — is a ground-based radar system that tracks satellites and space debris primarily in low Earth orbit. Lockheed Martin was selected as the prime contractor in 2014.
The Space Fence can track tiny objects as small as a marble. It also provides a search capability for objects at higher orbits. Data from the Space Fence will feed into the military’s Space Surveillance Network.
The Space Surveillance Network tracks about 26,000 objects. The addition of the Space Fence will increase the catalog size significantly over time, the Space Force said in a news release.
The Space Fence is operated by the 20th Space Control Squadron based in Huntsville, Alabama. The squadron provides data to the 18th Space Control Squadron located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, the unit responsible for maintaining the space object catalog.
“Space Fence is revolutionizing the way we view space by providing timely, precise orbital data on objects that threaten both manned and unmanned military and commercial space assets,” said Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond.
The solid-state S-band radar will detect closely spaced objects, breakups, maneuvers, launches, conjunction assessments and depleted rocket boosters.
https://spacenews.com/space-fence-surveillance-radar-site-declared-operational/
Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025
In 2025, US aerospace forces can own the weather by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war fighting applications. Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. It provides opportunities to impact operations across the full spectrum of conflict and is pertinent to all possible futures. The purpose of this paper is to outline a strategy for the use of a future weather modification system to achieve military objectives rather than to provide a detailed technical road map. A high risk, high reward endeavor, weather modification offers a dilemma not unlike the splitting of the atom While some segments of society will always be reluctant to examine controversial issues such as weather modification, the tremendous military capabilities that could result from this field are ignored at our own peril. From enhancing friendly operations or disrupting those of the enemy via small scale tailoring of natural weather patterns to complete dominance of global communications and counterspace control, weather modification offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary. Some of the potential capabilities a weather modification system could provide to a war fighting commander in chief CINC are listed in table 1. Technology advancements in five major areas are necessary for an integrated weather modification capability 1 advanced nonlinear modeling techniques, 2 computational capability, 3 information gathering and transmission, 4 a global sensor array, and 5 weather intervention techniques. Some intervention tools exist today and others may be developed and refined in the future."
Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025 (dtic.mil)
As early as 1990, weather force specialists at the U.S. Air Force Academy were hard at work studying how to chemically mix and lay “aerial obscuration” they called “chemtrails.” Project Cloverleaf began quietly enough (as all classified projects do) with the 1994 Hughes Aircraft patent for Welsbach Seeding For Reduction of Global Warming. Welsbach seeding called for spreading highly reflective materials in the atmosphere to reflect back into space 1–2 percent of incoming sunlight and thus slow down “global warming.” However, it was also about beginning to create a more conductive atmosphere in preparation for Bernard Eastlund’s High-frequency Active Auroral Research Project (HAARP) already under construction in Alaska. The reflective material (~10 microns) to be added to jet auxiliary fuel tanks was the highly conductive compound aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The jet’s main tanks would be reserved for takeoff and landing, and the auxiliary loaded with Al2O3 for cruising altitude. Lawrence Livermore National Labs priced the program at US$1 billion per annum (in 1994 dollars). By the late 1990s, aerial grids were being laid over chosen regions and cities of the U.S. and other NATO nations. In 1996, the military went public with two documents that obliquely referenced what Cloverleaf was up to: the Pentagon paper “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” in Air Force 2025,1 which called the chemical whitening effect “cirrus shielding”; and U.S. Space Command’s Vision for 2020 calling for full spectrum dominance of space, land, sea, and air.2 Air traffic controllers (ATC) at major airports were coached to re-route commercial air traffic around military craft engaged in “classified aerial operations” at 37,000–40,000 feet. ATC radar revealed a haze of aluminum and barium—Al2O3 for solar radiation management (SRM) geoengineering, barium stearate Ba(C18H35O2)2 for lubrication, radar imaging, and highpowered RF-microwave beam weapons.
A wide range of particles could be released into the stratosphere to achieve the SRM objective of scattering sunlight back to space. Sulfates and nanoparticles currently favored for SRM include sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, black carbon, and specially engineered discs composed of metallic aluminum, aluminum oxide and barium titanate. In particular, engineered nanoparticles are considered very promising. The particles would utilize photophoretic and electromagnetic forces to self-levitate above the stratosphere. These nanoparticles would remain suspended longer than sulfate particles, would not interfere with stratospheric chemistry, and would not produce acid rain. However, while promising, the self-levitating nanodisc has not been tested to verify efficacy, may increase ocean acidification due to atmospheric CO2 entrapment, has uncharacterized human health and environmental impacts, and may be prohibitively expensive.3
The truth is that the 10 billion SRM discs 10 micrometers across and 50 nanometers thick are engineered with a core of aluminum, a top layer of aluminum oxide, and a bottom layer of barium titanate—aluminum to reflect heat up, heavier barium purportedly to push the discs up (photophoresis). Introduce a magnetic component, then spray, and the nanoparticles will follow the Earth’s magnetic field into the upper atmosphere. By 1998, the Ontario Ministry of Environment (Canada) found 7X the safe limit for aluminum in rainwater samples. More and more citizens complained of sudden headaches, joint pains, dizziness, fatigue, acute asthma, gastrointestinal pain, coughs, and feverless flu symptoms. In 2000, Cloverleaf went public in an offhand way with a comment from an anonymous airline executive to independent scientist Clifford Carnicom, then the most visible scientist collecting data on the aerosol fallout over northern New Mexico. According to this “Deep Throat,” the purpose of Cloverleaf was “to allow commercial airlines to assist in releasing these chemicals into the atmosphere.”4 Military jets simply could not keep up with the “global dimming” now called solar radiation management (SRM), so the entire airline industry was being drafted in the name of national security."
Under An Ionized Sky: From Chemtrails To Space Fence Lockdown by Elana Freeland
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oneu_kEMMH5AeAffiWOR_7NJ0HptHJrC/view?usp=sharing
A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, with an orbital period the same as the Earth's rotation period. Such a satellite returns to the same position in the sky after each sidereal day, and over the course of a day traces out a path in the sky that is typically some form of analemma. A special case of geosynchronous satellite is the geostationary satellite, which has a geostationary orbit – a circular geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator. Another type of geosynchronous orbit used by satellites is the Tundra elliptical orbit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchronous_satellite
Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa];[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
As May 18 dawned, Mount St. Helens's activity did not show any change from the pattern of the preceding month. The rates of bulge movement and sulfur dioxide emission, and ground temperature readings did not reveal any changes indicating a catastrophic eruption. USGS volcanologist David A. Johnston was on duty at an observation post around 6 mi (10 km) north of the volcano: as of 6:00 am, Johnston's measurements did not indicate any unusual activity.[9]
At 8:32 am, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake centered directly below the north slope triggered that part of the volcano to slide,[31] approximately 7–20 seconds after the shock,[9] followed a few seconds later by the main volcanic blast. The landslide, the largest subaerial landslide in recorded history, traveled at 110 to 155 mph (177 to 249 km/h) and moved across Spirit Lake's west arm. Part of it hit a 1,150 ft-high (350 m) ridge about 6 mi (10 km) north.[9] Some of the slide spilled over the ridge, but most of it moved 13 mi (21 km) down the North Fork Toutle River, filling its valley up to 600 feet (180 m) deep with avalanche debris.[31] An area of about 24 sq mi (62 km2) was covered, and the total volume of the deposit was about 0.7 cu mi (2.9 km3).[9]
Scientists were able to reconstruct the motion of the landslide from a series of rapid photographs by Gary Rosenquist, who was camping 11 mi (18 km) away from the blast 46°18′49″N 122°02′12″W.[9] Rosenquist, his party, and his photographs survived because the blast was deflected by local topography 1 mi (1.6 km) short of his location.[32]
Sound of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, as heard from 140 miles away
Duration: 44 seconds.0:44
Amateur recording of a series of booms produced by the eruption, as heard from the town of Newport, Oregon (audio filtered and amplified).
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Most of St. Helens's former north side became a rubble deposit 17 mi (27 km) long, averaging 150 ft (46 m) thick; the slide was thickest at 1 mi (1.6 km) below Spirit Lake and thinnest at its western margin.[9] The landslide temporarily displaced the waters of Spirit Lake to the ridge north of the lake, in a giant wave about 600 ft (180 m) high.[33] This, in turn, created a 295 ft (90 m) avalanche of debris consisting of the returning waters and thousands of uprooted trees and stumps. Some of these remained intact with roots, but most had been sheared off at the stump seconds earlier by the blast of superheated volcanic gas and ash that had immediately followed and overtaken the initial landslide. The debris was transported along with the water as it returned to its basin, raising the surface level of Spirit Lake by about 200 ft (61 m).[9]
Four decades after the eruption, floating log mats persist on Spirit Lake and nearby St. Helens Lake, changing position with the wind. The rest of the trees, especially those that were not completely detached from their roots, were turned upright by their own weight and became waterlogged, sinking into the muddy sediments at the bottom where they are in the process of becoming petrified in the anaerobic and mineral-rich waters. This provides insight into other sites with a similar fossil record.[34]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens
Updated May 18, 2023 Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons Both the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the House Armed Services Committee’s bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force Report have identified directed energy as a technology that could have a significant impact on U.S. national security in the years to come. As the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to invest in directed-energy (DE) weapons, Congress may consider implications for defense authorizations, appropriations, and oversight. Overview DOD defines DE weapons as those using concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to “incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and/or personnel.” DE weapons include high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons; other DE weapons, such as particle beam weapons, are outside the scope of this In Focus. HELs might be used by ground forces in short-range air defense (SHORAD), counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), or counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missions. The weapons might be used to “dazzle” (i.e., temporarily disable) or damage satellites and sensors. This could in turn interfere with intelligence-gathering operations; military cmmunications; and positioning, navigation, and timing systems used for weapons targeting. In addition, HELs could theoretically provide options for boost-phase missile intercept, given their speed-of-light travel time; however, experts disagree on the affordability, technological feasibility, and utility of this application. In general, HELs might offer lower costs per shot and— assuming access to a sufficient power supply—deeper magazines compared with traditional munitions. (Although a number of different types of HELs exist, many of the United States’ current programs are solid state lasers, which are fueled by electrical power. As a result, the cost per shot is equivalent to the cost of the electrical power required to fire the shot.) This could in turn produce a favorable costexchange ratio for the defender, whose marginal costs would be significantly lower than those of the aggressor.
Similarly, HPM weapons could provide a nonkinetic means of disabling adversary electronics and communications systems. These weapons could potentially generate effects over wider areas than HELs, which emit a narrower beam of energy. As a result, some analysts have noted that HPM weapons might provide more effective area defense against missile salvos and swarms of drones. HPM weapons have also been considered for use as nonlethal “heat ray” systems for crowd control. Directed-Energy Weapons Programs A number of countries are investing in directed-energy weapons programs. This In Focus discusses a selection of unclassified DE weapons programs in three leading military powers: the United States, China, and Russia. United States DOD requested approximately $1 billion for unclassified DE programs in FY2024. (For additional information about specific U.S. DE weapons programs, see CRS Report R44175, Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Gun-Launched Guided Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress, by Ronald O'Rourke, and CRS Report R45098, U.S. Army WeaponsRelated Directed Energy (DE) Programs: Background and Potential Issues for Congress, by Andrew Feickert.) DOD does not currently have any DE programs of record. DOD directed energy programs are coordinated by the Principal Director for Directed Energy within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD[R&E]). The Principal Director for Directed Energy is additionally responsible for development and oversight of the Directed Energy Roadmap. According to OUSD(R&E), DOD’s current DE roadmap outlines DOD’s plan to increase power levels of DE weapons from around 150 kilowatts (kW—a unit of power), as is currently feasible, to 300 kW by FY2023, “with goal milestones to achieve 500 kW class with reduced size and weight by FY2025 and to further reduce size and weight and increase power to MW [megawatt] levels by FY2026.” For reference, although there is no consensus regarding the precise power level that would be needed to neutralize different target sets, some analysts believe that lasers of around 100 kW could engage unmanned aircraft systems, small boats, rockets, artillery, and mortars, whereas lasers of around 300 kW could additionally engage cruise missiles flying in certain profiles (i.e., flying across—rather than at—the laser). Lasers of 1 MW could potentially neutralize ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons. In addition to the DE roadmap, OUSD(R&E) manages the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), which former Principal Director for Directed Energy Dr. Jim Trebes notes is “to demonstrate laser output power scaling while maintaining or improving beam quality and efficiency.” HELSI is intended to strengthen the defense industrial base for potential future directed energy weapons by providing near-term prototyping opportunities for industry partners. Dr. Trebes additionally notes that OUSD(R&E) has completed a DOD-wide Laser Lethality Analysis Process Review to identify future needs for the Department and best practices for DE development and use. According to OUSD(R&E), DOD is also testing a Directed Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons https://crsreports.congress.gov Energy Lethality Database that is to serve as a searchable repository for the department’s DE analyses. China According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China has been developing DE weapons since at least the 1980s and has made steady progress in developing HPM and increasingly powerful HELs. China has reportedly developed a 30-kilowatt roadmobile HEL, LW-30, designed to engage unmanned aircraft systems and precision-guided weapons. Reports indicate that China is also developing an airborne HEL pod. According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, China is additionally pursuing DE weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors and possibly already has a limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors. China [has likely fielded] a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit spacebased sensors ... and by the mid-to-late 2020s, it may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of non-optical satellites. Russia Russia has been conducting DE weapons research since the 1960s, with a particular emphasis on HELs. Russia has reportedly deployed the Peresvet ground-based HEL with several mobile intercontinental ballistic missile units. Although little is publicly known about Peresvet, including its power level, some analysts assert it is to dazzle satellites and provide point defense against unmanned aircraft systems. Russia’s deputy defense minister Alexei Krivoruchko has stated that efforts are underway to increase Peresvet’s power level and to deploy it on military aircraft. Reports suggest that Russia may also be developing HPMs as well as additional HELs capable of performing antisatellite missions. Potential Issues and Questions for Congress Technological Maturity Directed-energy weapons programs continue to face questions about their technological maturity, including the ability to improve beam quality and control to militarily useful levels and the ability to meet size, weight, and power (SWaP) and cooling requirements for integration into current platforms. Some DE systems are small enough to fit on military vehicles, but many require larger and/or fixed platforms that could potentially limit deployment options and operational utility. In what ways, if any, are DOD technology maturation efforts reducing the SWaP and cooling requirements of DE systems? Weapons Characteristics Although HELs may offer a lower cost per shot than traditional weapons such as missiles, they are also subject to a number of limitations. For example, atmospheric conditions (e.g., rain, fog, obscurants) and SWaP and cooling requirements can limit the range and beam quality of HELs, in turn reducing their effectiveness. Traditional weapons, in contrast, are not affected by these factors. How, if at all, might HEL limitations be mitigated by technological developments, concepts of operation, or other methods? What impact might a failure to mitigate these limitations have on future military operations? Mission Utility Given the strengths and weaknesses of DE weapons, DOD is continuing to examine their role within the military. DOD is additionally conducting multiple utility studies to analyze potential concepts of operation for DE weapons and to assess the scenarios in which they might be militarily useful. How might Congress draw upon the conclusions of these analyses as it conducts oversight of DE weapons programs? What is the appropriate balance between DE weapons and traditional munitions within the military’s portfolio of capabilities? Defense Industrial Base Some analysts have expressed concerns that, in the past, DOD did not provide stable funding for DE weapons programs or sufficient opportunities for the DE workforce. According to OUSD(R&E), HELSI is intended to address these concerns by providing industry with assured prototyping opportunities. In what ways, if any, has HELSI strengthened the defense industrial base for DE weapons? What, if any, challenges does the base continue to face and how might they be mitigated?
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11882
ABC News — Volcano! The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens
ABC News's coverage of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, including the activity before the eruption, the destruction caused by the blast on May 18th, and the aftermath on the land and the people surrounding the mountain.
ABC News newscasters and reporters included in this video are Frank Reynolds, Max Robinson, Ted Koppel, Sam Donaldson, Hugh Downs, Tom Schell, Stephen Geer, Tom Jarrell, Ken Kashiwahara, Steve Fox, Royal Kennedy, June Massell, and John Martin. If you're a Forensics Files fan, you'll recognize narrator Peter Thomas's voice.
A part of the "ABC News Great TV News Stories" VHS series — watch more at • ABC News Great TV News Stories
00:00 Introduction
01:38 Wednesday, April 2, 1980 - Early activity
02:43 Friday, April 4, 1980
04:06 Monday, April 7, 1980
05:20 Sunday, March 30, 1980 - Interview with Harry Truman / local residents
06:18 Sunday, May 18, 1980 - The big eruption
07:56 Monday, May 19, 1980 - The day after
10:36 Tuesday, May 20, 1980
12:23 Thursday, May 22, 1980 - Pres. Jimmy Carter's Visit
14:02 Thursday, May 22, 1980 - Helicopter tour of the devastation
15:47 Thursday, May 22, 1980 - Ashfall impact on Washington
17:25 Thursday, May 22, 1980 - Nightline: Volcanoes
20:01 Friday, May 23, 1980 - Search for missing and recovery efforts
22:04 Friday, May 23, 1980 - Economic impact of May 18 eruption
23:28 Sunday, May 25, 1980 - The second major eruption
25:17 Wednesday, May 28, 1980
26:11 Thursday, May 29, 1980 - 20/20: Blast zone search and rescue
38:59 Sunday, June 15, 1980
41:21 Epilogue segment
41:59 Monday, May 18, 1981 — One year later
47:04 Credits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5izisUIqO2s
It's hard to see how the fishing industry will pick itself up again. Takeshi is moving away from the coast as is his neighbor and fellow fisherman. His wife has refused to return here since the tsunami hit. At the age of 77, he is unlikely to be able to start from scratch. But he picks up any remnants of his fishing gear he can find, just in case. What is left intact barely fills one small basket. His neighbor finds his clock. It has stopped at 3:22pm -- the exact moment his life changed and countless others ended." Misplaced trust: 30-foot tsunami wall didn't save Japanese village by Paul Hancocks
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/japan.tsunami.village/index.html
Skull and Bones, The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut."
"There is a secret that binds the two men who would be the next leader of the free world. President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry both spent a portion of their youth laying bare their sex lives in Gothic rituals presided over by a human skull and the skeletal remains of various other animal species in a windowless building known as the Tomb. They also formed an unusual attachment to the number 322, which holds a special resonance for the club's members." Skeletons in the closet
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/20/usa.internationaleducationnews
"It is perhaps worth noting, in light of George W.'s controversial episode at Bob Jones University and the specter of anti-Catholicism, that at one point in the proceedings every initiate kisses the slippered toe of the "Pope." At last the initiate is formally dubbed a Knight of Eulogia. Amid more raucous ritual he is cast from the room into the waiting arms of the patriarchs."
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/george-w-knight-of-eulogia/304686/
"A major landslide occurred 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oso, Washington, United States, on March 22, 2014 (3/22/2014), at 10:37 a.m. local time. A portion of an unstable hill collapsed, sending mud and debris to the south across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, engulfing a rural neighborhood, and covering an area of approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2). Forty-three people were killed and 49 homes and other structures destroyed."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide
Published: 10 October 1996
Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research
Carl Levitin
Moscow. The first official details have emerged in Moscow of ambitious research into 'tectonic warfare' carried out by the former Soviet Union and subsequently by the government of Russia, and involving atte mpts to stimulate 'artificial' earthquakes as weapons of destruction. According to documents obtained by the newspaper Moscow News, two research programmes, the first known as ' Mercury ' and the second as ' Volcano', were aimed at creating new earthquake epicentres by using underground nuclear explosions . Geophysicists are aware that impending earthquakes may be triggered by underground nuclear explosions . But Western geophysicists remain sceptical about tectonic warfare and have all but abandoned research after two unsuccessful phases of activity in the 1960s and 1980s, says Roger Clark, a lecturer in geophysics at the University of Leeds. Clark is not at all surprised that th e Russians tried to create earthquakes and control their location electromagnetically, however. "This sort of science is very much part of their heritage. We don't think it is impossible, or wrong , but past experience suggests it is very, very unlikely. "
The programme , which was secretly launched by the Communist rulers of the former Soviet Union in 1987, and has been unofficially known to Western geophysicists for several years, is now believed to have been abandoned. It would certainly contravene the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signe d at the United Nations in Geneva last month . The Mercury project was launched in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but came to a halt when the republic became independent. It was superseded by the Volcano project. Three underground nuclear tests are believed to have taken place at sites in Kyrgyzstan.
According to the documents, the Mercury project was launched by a secret decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The objective was to "develop a methodology for remote operation on an earthquake epicentre by using weak seismic fields and research possibilities of transferring the seismic energy of an explosion ".
The documents say that the Mercury project involved 22 scientific and industrial organizations, including the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku. The remit extended to developing the electronic equipment to be installed aboard space satellites that would control the tectonic weapon. The scientists were given three years to complete research, with testing planned for 1990.
During the research phase, Azerbaijani scientists grew increasingly confident and, according to the documents, were sure that " after [a] nuclear explosion, subterranean energy may accumulate at huge distances from the epicentre and reach massive capacity, after which the next directed explosion can release it all ".
Underground testing began at the town of Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and was directed by lkram Ke rimov , of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The documents say that scientists detonated an underground nuclear charge and tried to control the direction of seismic energy release d using British-built equipment known as 'system 9690 ' .
A report prepared by the Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute concluded that the test had been a success. But progress slowed considerably following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. At about this time , Russia embarked on a more comprehensive tectonic warfare programme known as the Volcano project. The Earth Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) became the project headquarters .
Research was scheduled to be completed in 1992, with underground testing beginning the following year. The final test was carried out at a place code-named S36NZ-0Kh; Moscow News believes the letters 'NZ' refer to Novaya Zemlya, where Soviet nuclear testing began in the 1950s."
https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0
Extrusive (Volcanic) Rock Classification
Volcanic rocks are classified based on their chemical composition as determined by analytical techniques that identify the proportion of major elements found in them. Unlike for plutonic rocks, it is not possible to classify volcanic rocks based on the minerals found in them.
Some volcanic rocks contain some crystals (phenocrysts) that grew in the magma chamber prior to eruption, but others contain no crystals at all or are volcanic glass (obsidian).
In addition to the mafic (low silica) basalt, and the silicic rhyolite, several subdivisions exist between the two compositional end members.
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/igneous.htm
Solar flares are not directly related to the Earth's mantle, but they can have a significant impact on Earth if they are directed towards it:
Explanation
Solar flares are explosions on the Sun that release magnetic energy and cause a burst of radiation. They can occur in active regions of the Sun, often around sunspots.
Classification
Solar flares are classified by their peak brightness in X-ray wavelengths, with X-class flares being the most intense and A-class flares being the least intense.
Effects on Earth
When a solar flare is directed at Earth, it can cause a geomagnetic storm that can interfere with power grids, communications, and navigation systems. The severity of the interference depends on the intensity of the storm.
Monitoring
NASA, NOAA, and the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) monitor the Sun for solar flares and their associated magnetic storms
https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+flares+mantle&oq=solar+flares+mantle&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDsyBggAEEUYOzIKCAEQABiABBiiBDIKCAIQABiABBiiBNIBCDM3ODNqMGoxqAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
A new order of the ages (is born)," is the meaning of the Latin phrase "novus ardo seclorum" which can be found on the back of a U.S. dollar bill. U.S. citizens are concerned with the passage of time, the near future, acting in a timely manner, and accomplishing tasks efficiently. These traits have become part of the national character. Efficiency is the U.S. cultural value that most explains the characteristic approach to business, allowing a desire for short-term profits to eclipse concern for long-term competitiveness. The reasons for this preoccupation with time and efficiency result from the birth and development of the United States as a nation. When the new world was first colonized, hard work and efficiency were essential for survival. One of the most influential faiths was Calvinism, which held that worldly prosperity was an outward sign of salvation. An influential later period in U.S. history was the time of frontier settlement, during which survival depended on getting necessary tasks done in an efficient and effective manner. Basic cultural values and attitudes change at a glacial pace, and the outlook of many U.S. citizens in the late 1980s continues to be that individual worldly success is morally desirable and there is no reason why a person should not attain it with maximum efficiency. (SM)
Novus Ordo Seclorum: Or Why Americans Handle Time in Peculiar Ways.
Grove, Cornelius Lee
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED291653
Why is the corona so dim?
The corona reaches extremely high temperatures. However, the corona is very dim. Why? The corona is about 10 million times less dense than the Sun’s surface. This low density makes the corona much less bright than the surface of the Sun.
Why is the corona so hot?
The corona’s high temperatures are a bit of a mystery. Imagine that you’re sitting next to a campfire. It’s nice and warm. But when you walk away from the fire, you feel cooler. This is the opposite of what seems to happen on the Sun.
Astronomers have been trying to solve this mystery for a long time. The corona is in the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere—far from its surface. Yet the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun’s surface.
A NASA mission called IRIS may have provided one possible answer. The mission discovered packets of very hot material called "heat bombs" that travel from the Sun into the corona. In the corona, the heat bombs explode and release their energy as heat. But astronomers think that this is only one of many ways in which the corona is heated.
Coronal loops and streamers
The surface of the Sun is covered in magnetic fields. This is the force that makes magnets stick to metal, like the door of your refrigerator.
The Sun's magnetic fields affect charged particles in the corona to form beautiful features. These include streamers, loops, and plumes. We can view these features in detail with special telescopes.
How does the corona cause solar winds?
The corona extends far out into space. From it comes the solar wind that travels through our solar system. The corona's temperature causes its particles to move at very high speeds. These speeds are so high that the particles can escape the Sun's gravity.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-corona/en/
La tiara papal es una corona que usan los papas de la Iglesia católica desde el siglo VIII hasta mediados del siglo XX. Fue utilizado por última vez por el Papa Pablo VI en 1963, y sólo al comienzo de su reinado.
El nombre tiara se refiere a todo el tocado, incluidas las diversas coronas, aros y diademas que lo han adornado a través de los tiempos,[1][2] mientras que la forma de tres niveles que adoptó en el siglo XIV también se llama triregno. [3][4] o la triple corona,[5] y en ocasiones como la triple tiara.[6][7][8]
De 1143 a 1963, la tiara papal se coloca solemnemente sobre la cabeza del Papa durante la coronación papal. Las tiaras papales supervivientes son todas de forma triple, la más antigua data de 1572. Una representación del triregno combinada con dos llaves cruzadas de San Pedro se utiliza como símbolo del papado y aparece en documentos, edificios e insignias papales, y en el Bandera de la Ciudad del Vaticano.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_tiara
Église St-Pierre de Montmartre
Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe
Montmartre & Northern Paris
All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.
Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests."
Église St-Pierre de Montmartre | Montmartre & Northern Paris, Paris | Attractions - Lonely Planet
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Revelation 17:5-6
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.
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
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
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
Firework mortars, gas cannisters stuffed inside Tesla that exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel
By TY O’NEIL and ANITA SNOW
Updated 7:55 PM PST, January 1, 2025
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters were found stuffed into the back of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel early Wednesday, killing a suspect inside the vehicle and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials said that a person died inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck and seven people nearby suffered minor injuries.
By late Wednesday afternoon, authorities were still working to get the body out of the vehicle and start processing the evidence inside. President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion.
“Our number one goal is to ensure that we have the proper identification of the subject involved in this incident,” said Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Las Vegas office, “Following that, our second objective is to determine whether this was an act of terrorism or not.”
Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said authorities know who rented the truck with the Turo app in Colorado, but are not releasing the name until investigators determine if it is the same person who died.
McMahill said video captured at Telsa charging stations provided by CEO Elon Musk helped authorities track the vehicle’s journey, arriving in Las Vegas about 7:30 AM. then driving about an hour later into the valet area of the Trump International Hotel, where it sat 15 to 20 seconds before the explosion occurred.
Video presented at an afternoon news conference showed a tumble of charred fireworks mortars, cannisters and other explosive devices crowded into the back of the pickup. The truck bed walls were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than to the sides.
Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
In an earlier post on the platform Musk said that his entire senior term was investigating the explosion, adding, “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Musk has recently become a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk were in Las Vegas early Wednesday. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s estate in South Florida.
Musk spent an estimated $250 million during the presidential campaign to support the former president. He was at Trump’s resort on election night and has been a frequent guest there. Trump has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
“This is a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump Tower,” McMahill said when reporters asked about possible political connections. “So there’s obviously things to be concerned about and it’s something we continue to look at.”
The truck explosion came hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack and police believe the driver was not acting alone.
“We are absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in New Orleans as well as other attacks that have been occurring around the world,” McMahill said. “We aren’t ruling anything out.”
In a statement, Turo said it was working with authorities.
“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” the statement said.
In Las Vegas, witness Ana Bruce, visiting from Brazil, said she heard three explosions.
“The first one where we saw the fire, the second one, I guess, was the battery or something like that, and the third was the big one that smoked the entire area and was the moment when everyone was told to evacuate and stay away,” Bruce said.
Her travel companion, Alcides Antunes, showed video he took of flames lapping the sides of the silver-colored vehicle.
The 64-story hotel is just off the Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Eric Trump, a son of the president-elect and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, posted about the fire on the social media platform X. He praised the fire department and local law enforcement “for their swift response and professionalism.”
___
Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Zeke Miller in Washington and Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report. Snow reported from Phoenix.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-hotel-vehicle-fire-las-vegas-ad4c171c7a6af64f08db93d9fdc2d749
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
The philosophy at the core of all the Mystery Schools is secular humanism, the foundation and the font of socialism/communism. Most socialists/communists don't have the slightest idea that they are puppets of an arcane philosophy bent upon world domination. They actually believe they will ultimately realize a world where everything is free courtesy of Big Brother and where all risk and worry has disappeared... any such world would only be a world of slaves dependent upon an elite class of "Masters".
The Knights Templar were an communist organization symbolized by the two knights riding one horse. Each initiate had to give up all wealth, property, and worldly goods to the Order. Each performed according to his ability and received according to the need of his position within the order. They were pledged to absolute and unquestioning obedience to their superior Knight or knights, the Grand Master, and the Order. In that respect every knight and every piece of property, all wealth, was totally owned and controlled by the Order.
According to MAJESTYTWELVE the Knights Templar have become the driving influence at the highest levels of all the secret societies among the adepts known as the Illuminati. The most accessible font of their influence will be found in the (Cecil Rhodes) Roundtable Group (The Group), The Royal Institute Of International Affairs, the Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City, the Council On Foreign Relations, the Jason Society, the Skull and Bones Society (Russell Trust), the Scroll and Key Fraternity, the highest Degrees of the York and Scottish Rites of Freemasonry, the Ancient Order of Rosae Crucae, and many other secret societies which collectively make up the modern equivalent of the "Brotherhood of the Snake" also known as (a.k.a.) the "Guardians," the "Builders," the "Philosophers of Fire," or the "Illuminati".
The Philosophy of the Mystery Schools is the Luciferian Philosophy as espoused by General (Christopher) Albert Pike, one of the founders of the KKK. But it is not his original thought... he just expounded upon it in forms that eventually became accessible to those who seek it out. Christopher means Christ-like. To the adept, Albert Pike achieved a mystical apotheosis in the Lodge of Perfection and brought forth the Christ within. He thus became Christed taking on the name Christopher.
Watch "StarTrek" from the beginning episodes up to the present, and you will begin to realize that it was an indoctrination into the concepts of socialism through subliminal initiation of the youth of the nation. The Captains James T. Kirk (JTK = K(nights) (of the) T(emple) (of) J(erusalem) and Christopher Pike are symbolic salutes to the Order of the Templars, and to the Brotherhoods greatest philosopher and probably its most prolific writer the Christed General Albert Pike. The Enterprise represents their great work or plan which if navigated properly will lead them to the realization of their dream of a united socialist utopian world.
"As nearly as I can concentrate on the question today, I believe I am God; certainly you are, I think we intelligent beings on this planet are all a piece of God, are becoming God." Interview with Gene Roddenberry in "Star Trek Creator" by David Alexander, Roc, an imprint of Dutton Signet a division of Penguin Books New York, page 568, par 1
Those who understand the symbolic language will have noticed that the most recent Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award Ceremony recognized the coming of the New Dawn. The rising Sun on the backdrop and the two triple crowns of the Mysteries representing the Trinity of Osiris, Isis, and the child Horus were revealing. Trooping before it were the Stars, some of the thousand points of light, who make the movies that mold the minds of the sheople, creating the future world.
Very simply the Luciferian philosophy is, "Adam and Eve were held prisoner in the bonds of ignorance by an unjust and vindictive God in the Garden of Eden. They were set free from their chains (Evolution through "Primordial Knowing") by Lucifer (Prometheus) through his agent Satan in the guise of a serpent (ancient symbol of Wisdom) with the gift of Intellect (Fire). Through the use of his intellect man will perfect the race (Anglo/Aryan) and will himself become God (promise of Satan to Adam and Eve)." Any religion, church, organization, or People who believe they are God, will become God, or are becoming God is practicing the Luciferian philosophy of the Mystery Schools, and are acting in furtherance of the conspiracy.
The Luciferian philosophy is a metaphor for the development of the perfected man (Marxist/Leninist) through the process of evolution by learning how to dominate and control nature (called science). The result (they say) will be the apotheosis of the race of mankind and the elimination of all who cannot make this paradigm shift in the coming New Age. The Soviet Union was the most perfect expression of illuminist secular humanist philosophy that has ever been presented before the eyes of an ignorant but gullible public. Now they strive for enslavement of the human race in the new utopia. This will be brought about through deception, manipulation, and psychological operations which make up the art of illusion called magic.
The Alchemists had the same religion but disguised it under the profane interpretation of the exoteric or outward expression of mutating lead into gold. The search for the philosophers stone was the attempt to perfect the race (Anglo/Aryan) and lead the evolution of what the Illuminati believe to be the inferior races of mankind, what they believe to be useless eaters.
Those who are attracted to the Mysteries who are unable to grasp the esoteric meaning of their education often take the exoteric interpretation to be truth. They often turn to Satan or Lucifer (Light) as their object of worship never understanding the metaphor for a much deeper philosophy. These Satan worshipers are useful. They furnish a diversion and are often a source of large sums of money. The Brotherhood has seldom found itself lacking in fools or funds. Ex-FBI operative Ted Gunderson is the hegelian tool in this instance pointing you off after Satanists, a cull-d-sac where you will chase your own tail round, and round, and round. I do not believe that Ted knows that he is being used in this regard. I may be wrong.
Shirley McClain understands the philosophy, though probably not in its correct interpretation. She is a member in good standing. "I am GOD," is her message.
Fire (Intellect, Light, Illumination) is the God of the Mysteries and its Priests are the Philosophers of Fire (Illumined Ones or Illuminati). They believe that any concept of creation must contain the idea that all things are manifestations of a supreme force (Pantheism). Since man is the only creation with intelligence and original thought, they believe that the combined, or collective consciousness of mankind, is the mind of the Great Architect of the Universe, ergo Man IS GOD. And that should "enlighten" you to the source of some of the more difficult to understand concepts of the New Age movement.
Please do not get the fool (profane = you) mixed up with the adepts, or Fraternitis Rex Mundi, or Brotherhood (Illuminati) of the king of the World (Lucifer or Satan). Those who cannot understand this philosophy through the occult language of symbology and make the shift in thinking for the coming millenium may be doomed to extinction. The spokespersons for the New Age make no secret of their intent in that regard.
This is the age of deception. The world is on the razor. One half is scheduled to be exterminated if these people have their way, and the other half is scheduled to be enslaved when the mystical union between the moon IS (Isis or Church) and the sun RA (Osiris or Doctrine) greets the Son of the morning EL (Horus or full body of Adepts) on the horizon (Horus risen) in the New Dawn (ISRAEL or realization of the New World Order). When the process is complete a new worldwide Soviet Union will emerge to thin the herd, shear the sheople, and march them off to enslavement or slaughter depending upon their individual ability to accept and adhere to their reeducation.
A prime illustration of the symbology of the Mystery Schools is the following Art Bell logo.
Notice the hidden messages, A.L. and R.T. Bel? Can you decipher them? Notice that a capstone is in place? Did you notice Bel is placed above the capstone by the flying arrow? Do you know what that means? Did you spot the all seeing eye?
Here is a clue... A.L. is the abbreviation for the Latin which translates Year of Light referring to the year 6,000 when the Illuminati believe Prometheus, Lucifer, Baal, Bel, Satan, the angel of light who was cast out of heaven, will triumph over God and mount the throne in the north (A metaphor for the triumph of socialism over religion, nation states, and the common herd). A.L. can be found by adding 4,000 to the current year, 1998 + 4000 = 5998. All who say they are Light Workers are engaged in the battle against God on Lucifer's behalf.
I have long recognized that Art Bell is a shill for the New World Odor. It is confirmed in his book . World government is, in fact, the theme of the book.
Did you know that the sea (mare or Mary) is a symbol of vast numbers of People, the masses in Marxist symbology? Did you notice that the pyramid rises from the sea (People) and dominates the scene as a promise, or savior? Did you know the pyramid missing the capstone represents the Great (unfinished) Work of the Mystery School? Did you know that the Great Work represents social engineering (socialism) working toward the apotheosis of the race (perfected man, sixth root race) as promised to Adam and Eve by Satan, and a New World Order? Did you notice that the name Art Bell straddles the capstone signifying that he is the Light Worker, or Illumined Man, or Master Mason, or Horus, or perfected god-Man, or Savior, who completes the Great Work? Did you notice the Bright Star fallen from heaven just above the capstone? Do you know who or what it represents? Do you see the Thousand Points of Light working in silence behind the veil (clouds) in the heavens. Illuminism is Marxism. It is a false promise that the human race will be perfected bringing a perfect utopian society through social engineering. This is a brainwashing mechanism whereby an ignorant slave race may be created to be ruled by a totalitarian socialist world government.
Art Bell is a Freemason. He is a member of the Illuminati. Art Bell's book The Quickening is one of the most blatant, in your face, pieces of new world order propaganda that I have ever seen. In it Art Bell, claiming to be a patriotic American, shamelessly advocates the formation of a world totalitarian socialist government.
"Will there be a global government with a benevolent dictator, overseeing global law, global police and a global judiciary in an attempt to make the world cleaner, peaceful and prosperous? If that's what it takes to achieve these ends, so be it." -- from The Quickening by Art Bell, page 309
The Art Bell Overnight and Dreamland radio shows dish up nightly servings of ridiculous, outrageous, and fantastic conspiracy fantasies. Occasionally Bell stirs in legitimate, real and dangerous conspiracies. Although Art Bell pretends to be serious, the mix of incredulous fantasy with fact serves to debunk all conspiracies. Bell effectively implants the idea that anyone who believes in any conspiracy is a whacked out nutcase that should be locked up in a mental institution. He is a most effective change agent operating on behalf of our enemies.
The conspiracy is racist, considering Blacks, Hispanics, and Aboriginal Peoples to be inferior races of useless eaters. They believe or at least profess that the Anglo/Aryan race is the true Israel (British Israel and Christian Identity for the dupes and an Anglophile Secular Humanism for the leaders) and thus the Master race. They have convinced the so-called useless eaters that they are friends, benefactors, and protectors. In the meantime they plan to enslave these poor People under socialism or eliminate them altogether. The Illuminati has convinced them that Karl Marx is their savior, and the sheople follow this Judas goat eagerly.
There will be no individual Rights only privileges. These will be granted or denied at will by the world supra government. All property is to be owned by the State. There will be a redistribution of wealth. They plan to eliminate class differences and reduce the standard of living to a lower level in the advanced nations, such as the united States, and to a higher standard of living in the so-called third world nations. This leveling of the standard of living will be accomplished through a global economic collapse which is in its beginning stages. The economic collapse will fulfill the goal of Marx and Engles' Communist Manifesto mandating the elimination of the middle class. The graduated income tax was the first implementation of this process and is one of the planks of the Communist Manifesto. NAFTA and GATT are a part of this process encouraging industry to move into third-world nations in order to exploit cheap labor.
All existing religions will disappear. The only religion will be the state religion (humanism or illuminism).
All County and State governments will be eliminated and replaced with regional government. These regional governments (Home Rule) are already in place. Regionalism is gradually taking control throughout America.
There will be no more cash. Trade will be accomplished by a system of computer credits with accounts accessed through debit cards or computer chip implants. The cards or implants will also serve as personal identification, drivers license, and etc. When this is completed the human race will be shackled to a computer in a never ending cycle of debt. No action or movement will ever again be private.
The plan for the creation of a socialist world government is protected by an artificial extraterrestrial threat from space. The entire UFO phenomenon and the uFOOLogy movement has been created to further the protection and activation of the plan.
Within MAJESTYTWELVE is Operation Majority justifying the plan by presenting an extraterrestrial threat as the reason for the necessity for world government ala "Who speaks for planet Earth... Argentina?" Exactly the manner in which Stanton T. Friedman ends his UFOs Are Real lectures.
Operation Majority is named after the original Bolshevik party which sparked the Russian Revolution. Bolshevik means the majority. The plan claims that if the American people are ever told of this extraterrestrial presence aliens will destroy the United States. All who have access to the plan or who inadvertently discover the plan are silenced by that warning. They believe in the government and thus believe the extraterrestrial lie. These dupes do not know that the Illuminati are the aliens who plan to destroy the United States of America in any event.
The natural skepticism of reporters insures that anyone who believes in extraterrestrial visitation or who links the so-called alien threat with the coming world government will be ridiculed and discredited.
When I saw Operation Majority while serving in the Navy I believed the alien threat was real just like everyone else. It was not until I had performed many years of research that I was able to fully understand exactly what it was that I had seen. It was extremely difficult for me to believe that my government and the United States Navy had used me, especially since I had dedicated my life to government and military service. Most government and military personnel cannot and will not believe such and idea.
The plan is real. The extraterrestrial threat is artificial. The threat is presented through the use of secret technology originally developed by the Germans in their secret weapons programs during WW-II, by geniuses like Nikola Tesla, and many others.
Military and government personnel who have access to this material believe it is real. None of them, however, has ever seen any evidence of the existence of any extraterrestrial creature nor any advanced technology other that that of human origin. It is not what they see that convinces them it is extraterrestrial in origin but the manner in which it is presented. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Top Secret government or military documentation could be lies. It is trust in government by men and women who have given their lives in its service that keeps this monumental lie a alive.
All so-called leaks are intentional misinformation projects designed to promote the alien threat scenario while allowing for complete deniability on the part of government. The antics of Vicki (Cooper) Ecker (CIA), Donald Francis Ecker III (Dupe), William Moore, Jaime Shandera, Stanton T. Friedman, Bruce Maccabee (CIA, ONI), Barry Taff PhD.(Pneuropsychiatric Institute of UCLA worked with recently deceased Dr. Louis Jollyn "Jolly" West), Whitley Strieber, Bud Hopkins (CIA), John Lear (CIA), Linda Moulton Howe Order of the Eastern Star and American Federation of Human Rights (American co-masonry), Art Bell (Freemason), Glen Campbell, George Knapp (Freemason), Colonel Philip Corso (CIA, a monumental liar now Deceased), Richard Hoagland and his Face on Mars, the so-called alien autopsy film, NASA and the Apollo Moon Missions, the so-called Mars Meteorite which was fraudulently promoted as containing fossil evidence of life on Mars, the War Of The Worlds, and many other people and events are projects of this type. Some (very few) of these People are unwitting accomplices in the charade and truly believe in the extraterrestrial threat.
Most of those named, and others not named, are active, and with full knowledge, agents of illuminism/socialism. The most well known are active Fellow Travelers, communist agents of the KGB, the Central Intelligence Agency, or one of the many psychological warfare agencies founded by the Rhodes Round Table Group (The Group), the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and the Council On Foreign Relations.
MAJESTYTWELVE by William Cooper Copyright © 1997 William Cooper All Rights Reserved
HOTT - MAJESTYTWELVE (hourofthetime.com)
https://www.hourofthetime.com/majestyt.htm
Feb 18-19, 2023
SD ROCKET CON
San Diego Rocket Con is coming up on it's 5th Annual show, February 18th and 19th. This 2 day show is full of various vendors with all kinds of collectibles, comics, toys, and other items fans love! Meet voice actors from your favorite anime such as Dragonball Z, My Hero Academia, and even Naruto, or take a picture with real life Power Rangers! Maybe you want a special sketch of your favorite superhero drawn by famous artists from Marvel and DC. Participate in our cosplay contest and see if you have what it takes to win. There's something for everyone at San Diego Rocket Con!
February 18-19, 2023
Scottish Rite Event Center
10am—6pm — Saturday
10am—5pm — Sunday
https://sdrocketcon.com/
THE NEW AGE
GOD'S PLAN IN AMERICA C. WILLIAM SMITH, New Orleans, La. September 1950
THERE are three plans in action in America today and they all have different purposes. The first plan is God's plan, a nonsectarian plan; the second is the Roman Catholic plan, and this is a denominational or sectarian plan, and the third is the Communistic plan, an anticapitalist plan.
God's plan is dedicated to the unification of all races, religions and creeds. This plan, dedicated to the new order of things, is to make all things new-s new nation, a new race, a new civilization and a new religion, a nonsectarian religion that has already been recognized and called the religion of "The Great Light."
Looking back into history, we can easily see that the Guiding Hand of Providence has chosen the Nordic people to bring in and unfold the new order of the world. Records clearly show that 95 percent of the colonists were Nordics-Anglo-Saxons.
Providence has chosen the Nordics because the Nordics have prepared themselves and have chosen God. They are not church worshippers, for they worship God's word-the Holy Bible. The Nordics are. the great Bible-reading people of the world today, and the Nordics-Anglo-Saxons -were the first people to print the Holy Bible in great quantity, and they were known as the people of a book, that book being the Holy Bible.
But, in order to read the Bible, it is necessary to know how to read. In the Nordic race there is no illiteracy. In Norway there has been no illiteracy for more than a hundred years. Another fact that shows clearly that the Nordics are God's chosen people this time is they are always looking for more light on the mission of life.
Looking at their station of life, these great Bible-reading people should open the eyes of the world, King Gustaf of Sweden is a great light in the nonsectarian Masonic Brotherhood, and King Haakon of Norway is a Masonic light in Norway.
The late King Christian of Denmark was a Masonic spirit in his Denmark; also King George of England is a Masonic light to his Anglo-Saxon people. Just as Providence has chosen the Jewish race-the children of Israel-to bring into the world righteousness by carrying the "Ten Commandments" which emphasize 'Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy," so also Providence has chosen the Nordic race to unfold the 'New Age" of the world-a "Novus Ordo Seclorum." One of the first of the Nordics to reach the New World was the Viking, Leif Ericsson. He sailed from Norway to bring his people in Iceland a new message, the message of the Chritian God. But Providence moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform, and so Leif the Lucky was sent by Providence to the New World. From the abundance of grapes found there Leif Ericsson called the place Vinland. It is easy to sense that Leif Ericsson was sent by the Guiding Hand of Providence to bring the Norse spirit of the "All-Father" to the shores of the New World.
The Nordics are the highest branch of the fifth Aryan Civilization.; The Latins are of the fourth Aryan Civilization, and the American race will be the sixth Aryan Civilization. This new and great civilization is like an American Beauty rosebud, ready to open and send its wonderful fragrance to all the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Paine and many others of the founders of the New World were Nordics. Thomas Paine, the spark plug of the American Revolution, loved God but hated sectarianism. In 'These Are the times," he wrote: "We have it in our power to begin the world all over again! A situation familiar to the present hath not happened since the days of Noah, till now. The birthday of a New World is at hand."
As stated before, God's Plan in America is nonsectarian plan. Our Constitution is nonsectarian. Our great American Public Schools-God's chosen schools-are nonsectarian. The Great Spirit behind this great nation is nonsectarian.
Our great American Public Schools have never taken away from any child the freedom of will, freedom of Spirit or freedom of mind. That is the divine reason that Great God our King has chosen the great American Public Schools to pave the way for the new race, the new religion and the new civilization that is taking place in America.
Any mother, father or guardian who is responsible for taking away of freedom of mind, freedom of will or freedom of spirit is the lowest criminal on this earth, because they take away from that child the God-given right to become a part of God's great plan in America for the dawn of the New Age of the world."
The Official Organ of The Supreme Council 33° A. & A. Scottish Rite of Freemasonry S. J. U. S. A. PUBLISHED AT 1735 SIXTEENTH STREET N, W. WASHINGTON, D. C.
Sunday August 13, 1961 continued
The ride into Jackson was uneventful. It was dark and few people noticed our being sirened through all the traffic lights by our escort of police cars. The Masonic Temple is located in the middle of downtown Jackson, on Lynch Street. When we entered, it was almost full, a sea of Negro faces (although I became aware later that there were some whites among them, even some Jackson whites, particularly from Temple Beth Israel, the Jewish congregation in Jackson). As we filed to the seats reserved for us, the people of Jackson stood up and cheered us. I felt very strange; I had never been the guest of honor at a larger meeting before, and even sharing the limelight with almost two hundred others, it gave me a feeling of mixed humility and pride.
The opening invocation was given by Freedom Rider who was a rabbi from San Francisco, Joseph Gumbiner, and I was at this point introduced to on of the strangest (to me) aspects of southern Negro audience, their habit of responding aloud to sentiments with which they are pleased. As the rabbi repeated some of the most common and familiar (to me) phrases of Jewish ritual, I heard choruses of "That's right," "We believe," and "A-men!" At first I could not help feeling that this was impolite and inappropriate, but as it continues through the evening I began to get into the spirit too and to shed some of my northern reserve. The speeches, by Reverent C.T. Vivian, Jim Farmer, and various other leaders of the movement from all over the country."
page 113
Chapter 12 "Events"
Freedom Rider Diary
by Carol Ruth Silver
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ySwr5Z2ARlgLZc67EyuyjUR9B7iorZM8/view
In 1843, New York Reform Jews founded the exclusively Jewish Masonic Lodge, B'nai B'rith.
Their institutions and influence grew. At the turn of the 20th century, the B'nai B'rith founded the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress and Federations of Jewish Charities.
According to Rabbi Antelman, Reform #Jews who became lawyers were, and still are, active in the subversively oriented National Lawyers Guild. In addition these lawyers were instrumental
in founding the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Once the Frankist-Reform Jews were well established in the illuminated Masonic Lodges, they pushed for civil rights for the downtrodden, primarily for Blacks, according to Antelman, "to
exploit them for their own ends." He further remarks on their influence on the events of the 1960s:
"I have found their descendants in the United States to be very active in Marxist-Leninist and Third World activities. They have attempted to convert the Civil Rights movement into a Black
revolution, and are attempting to further polarize this country by promoting women's liberation. Their children who are prominent in the SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] organize and recruit for the El Fatah, and have succeeded in destroying synagogues and
Jewish institutions by instigating Black radicals mostly concentrated in nine urban centers in the U.S."
Rabbi Antelman lists three steps Reform Jews plan to use to eliminate all Jewry: "The initial thrust was philosophically Karaitic, an attack on the Talmud. [The Karaites were a Jewish sect founded in Babylonia toward the end of the 8th century, who denied the authority of the Oral Law and the Talmud.] The intermediate stage was complete apostasy, an attack on the Torah.
However, the final state is even worse": a complete reversal of all Biblical law. Antelman, writing in 1974, said the Reform "has followers today who are now calling for abolition of capital punishment in our society, who endorse abortion, who seek to justify the tolerance of criminal elements, who approve of adultery and illicit sexual relations and who have even incorporated homosexual congregations into their structure and praise for 'atheistic' rabbis...."
The Reform's planned destruction of traditionally Jewish and #Christian society through Masonic revolution was premeditated. Antelman states that "when attempts were made by the Illuminati,
Jacobins and Frankists to infiltrate the Masons.. .their infiltration did not mean that they harbored any particular love for Freemasonry. On the contrary, they hated it with a passion and only wished to utilize the cover of Freemasonry as a means of spreading their revolutionary doctrines and to provide a place where they could covertly meet without arousing suspicion."
Antelman wrote eight years before the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail exposed Freemasonry as a front for both Sion and the Templars. Now we know that instead of taking over #Freemasonry, as many conspiracy researchers have thought, the Illuminati-Frankist Jews were absorbed, then exploited, by the more powerful Masonic Lodges. Freemasonry learned well the Frankist doctrines and usurped their Reform system to destroy the existing order. Jews such as Moses Mendelssohn, and later Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky, were used by Freemasonry to replace the old order with their own Gentile Masonic New World Order. Should
the conspiracy be exposed, the doctrinally subversive Frankist/Reform Jews would be the scapegoat."
Chapter 8 "The Jewish Connection"
Scarlet and the Beast
by John Daniel
https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf
Wednesday, May 31, 1961
In the afternoon mail today I received the material from CORE, some descriptive little pamphlets and a mimeographed form to be signed and returned to them. For the first time I began to learn just who and what CORE is. Actually I never herd of the organization until the beginning of the sit-in demonstrations last year, and I got the impression then that it had been formed not more than a year or so ago, with participation in the sit-ins its primary activity.
On the contrary, CORE has been around for something like twenty years. In the beginning it was a small organization dedicated to bettering race relations by applying Gandhian techniques although I could not get quite clear about what exactly this entailed). Its current ASCENDANCY began with the beginning of the sit-in demonstrations. These broke out like a highly CONTAGIOUS rash over the face of the South after having been started (more or less) by a small group in Greensboro, North Carolina. The students had gone up to a lunch counter together, sat down, and waited for service. The lunch counter closed up.
CORE came in as those in jail or otherwise in need of help. And some of its local chapters began challenge segregation by organizing their own lunch counter sit-ins, or wade-ins at beaches and public pools, stand-ins at movie ticket lines, read-ins at libraries and the like. The method used in all cases was nonviolent resistance, with Martin Luther King, Jr's bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, as the prime example."
page 9
Freedom Rider Diary
by Carol Ruth Silver
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ySwr5Z2ARlgLZc67EyuyjUR9B7iorZM8/view
Chapter 43 The Jesuits — 1960 – 1963 1455 A. Philip Randolph Leading Black Civil Rights Leaders, 1964
Here sit the greatest traitors to American Black People who ever disgraced the sad, tragic history of this generally servile and downtrodden race. With no true Black men loyal to their race allowed to advocate a “Back to Africa” movement or the establishment of a new Black nation in North America—to the exclusion of all White people—, these Jesuit-ruled, Masonic “Uncle Toms” of the Black Pope championed an integrationist agitation that has only antagonized the relationship between American Whites and Blacks for the last sixty years—while further centralizing executive power in Washington! Massive unconstitutional socialism, such as President Johnson’s “War on [Black] Poverty” igniting a sky-rocketing national debt, has given rise to huge, easily-agitated, welfare-dependent, savage, inner-city, Black populations whose bent to illegitimacy, vice and Black-on- White crime has been continually stoked by the Company’s CIA/Mafia gunrunners, illicit drug trade, Jesuit/Knight of Malta-controlled Hollywood theater movies and now “gangster rap.” From the Order’s NAACP headquarters in New York City we see (L-R): Bayard Rustin, co-founder of the Rockefellerfunded University of Chicago’s Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Jewish Jack Greenberg, NAACP New York lawyer; Masonic Whitney M. Young, Jr., National Urban League executive director; James Farmer, cofounder and national CORE director; Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the NAACP later awarded St. Louis University’s “Sword of Ignatius Loyola” in 1976; Martin Luther King, Jr. (groomed for the movement while a student at the all-Blackmale Morehouse College by its Masonic president, Benjamin Elijah Mays) president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; John Lewis, radical chairman of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee; Masonic A. Philip Randolph, “the Chief;” and Courtney Young of Lewis’ student group. Socialist Martin King with his White Master, Pope Paul VI, 1964 #612 Archbishop Paul Marcinkus gazes at King after an “audience” with the Pope. SMOM Henry R. Luce’s Time magazine named King “Man of the Year” in 1964 on orders from Cardinal Spellman, furthering Rome’s Civil Rights agitation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4737372.stm "
Vatican Assassins Third Edition
by Eric Jon Phelps
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQl1CmWeLL87RWVtzKttGFKm0frSNR8D/view?usp=sharing
The advertisement billed the December 2 benefit gala as “A Struggle Against Oppression.” Scheduled speakers included rising Assemblyman Willie Brown as the master of ceremonies and funnyman Dick Gregory as the keynote. Supervisor Harvey Milk and other movers and shakers of an oft moved and shaken city crammed their big names into a small font on the flyer. For the bargain of $25—and “tax deductible” at that—influence seekers could seek to influence the mighty of a great American city. In addition to mingling with such power brokers as Brown and Milk, they could corner Sheriff Eugene Brown, physician and newspaper publisher Carlton Goodlett, and Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver at San Francisco’s Hyatt Regency. And doing well meant doing good. The dinner’s proceeds subsidized the Peoples Temple Medical Program.
The Hyatt ballroom remained empty on December 2, 1978. Two weeks earlier, the small staff of the Peoples Temple Medical Program had mixed cyanide with Flavor Aid and administered the poisonous, sugary elixir to hundreds of people in faraway Guyana. The smiling seniors and racial rainbow of children touting the wholesomeness of the agricultural commune in the fundraiser’s promotional literature rotted in piles in the steamy South American jungle. On an airstrip in nearby Port Kaituma, five people, including Congressman Leo Ryan, lay dead, gunned down by Peoples Temple assassins. Others, including future congresswoman Jackie Speier, State Department official Richard Dwyer, and San Francisco Examiner reporter Tim Reiterman, nursed bullet wounds. In Guyana’s capital city, a former Harvey Milk campaign volunteer slashed her children’s throats.
The Reverend Jim Jones, the darling of the San Francisco political establishment, orchestrated the murders and suicides of 918 people on November 18, 1978. The man-made cataclysm represented the largest such loss of civilian life in American history until 9/11 and the largest mass suicide of the modern age. Nothing before or after struck Americans as so bizarre.
The event shocked the world. But the small world surrounding Peoples Temple predicted it—loudly and repeatedly. Not every utterance from Jonestown’s namesake, after all, proved as cryptic as the one block-quoted on the “Struggle Against Oppression” promotional literature: “We have tasted life based on total equality and now have no desire to live otherwise."
https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/socialists-in-the-kool-aid/
To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute."
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
In a punch bowl, combine KOOL-AID Soft Drink Mix, Splenda Sweetener, and water; stir until granules are dissolved. Stir in pineapple juice.
https://www.splenda.com/recipe/kool-aid-paradise-punch/
Few national cemeteries can compete with the dramatic natural setting of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The "Punchbowl" was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Honolulu period of secondary volcanic activity. A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Koolau Mountain Range.
Although there are various translations of the Punchbowl's Hawaiian name, "Puowaina," the most common is "Hill of Sacrifice." This translation closely relates to the history of the crater. The first known use was as an altar where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods and the killed violators of the many taboos. Later, during the reign of Kamehameha the Great, a battery of two cannons was mounted at the rim of the crater to salute distinguished arrivals and signify important occasions. Early in the 1880s, leasehold land on the slopes of the Punchbowl opened for settlement and in the 1930s, the crater was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National Guard. Toward the end of World War II, tunnels were dug through the rim of the crater for the placement of shore batteries to guard Honolulu Harbor and the south edge of Pearl Harbor.
https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/nmcp.asp
The ankh or key of life is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol used to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself.
The ankh has a T-shape topped by a droplet-shaped loop. It was used in writing as a triliteral sign, representing a sequence of three consonants, Ꜥ-n-ḫ. This sequence was found in several Egyptian words, including the terms for "mirror", "floral bouquet", and "life". The symbol often appeared in Egyptian art as a physical object representing either life or related life-giving substances such as air or water. Commonly depicted in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, sometimes being given by them to the pharaoh, it represents their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife.
The ankh was a widespread decorative motif in ancient Egypt, also used decoratively by neighbouring cultures. Copts adapted it into the crux ansata, a shape with a circular rather than droplet loop, and used it as a variant of the Christian cross. The ankh came into widespread use in Western culture in the 1960s, appearing as a symbol of African cultural identity, Neopagan belief systems, and later, the goth subculture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh
The crucifixion darkness is an event described in the synoptic gospels in which the sky becomes dark in daytime during the crucifixion of Jesus for roughly three hours.[1][2][3] Most ancient and medieval Christian writers treated this as a miracle, and believed it to be one of the few episodes from the New Testament which were confirmed by non-Christian sources. Modern scholars have found no contemporary references to it outside the New Testament.[4]
In his Apologeticus, Christian apologist Tertullian in AD 197 considered this not an eclipse but an omen, which is recorded in Roman archives. In his apologetic work Contra Celsum, the third-century Christian scholar Origen offered two natural explanations for the darkness: that it might have been the eclipse described by Phlegon of Tralles in his Chronicle or that it might have been clouds. In his Chronicle of Theophanes the fifth-century chronicler George Syncellus quotes the History of the World of Sextus Julius Africanus as stating that a world eclipse and an earthquake in Judea had been reported by the Greek 1st century historian Thallus in his Histories.
Modern scholarship, noting the way in which similar accounts were associated in ancient times with the deaths of notable figures, sees the phenomenon as a sign of God's displeasure with the Jewish people, or a literary invention that attempts to convey a sense of the power of Jesus in the face of death. Scholars have also noted the ways in which this episode appears to draw on accounts of darkness from the Old Testament.
Biblical accounts
The oldest extant references to the crucifixion darkness are found in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). The majority view among scholars is that Matthew was a product of the last quarter of the 1st century.[5][Notes 1] The majority also believe that Mark was the first gospel to be composed and that Matthew (who includes some 600 of Mark's 661 verses) and Luke both drew upon it as a major source for their works.[6][7] Matthew did not simply copy Mark, but used it as a base, emphasizing Jesus' place in the Jewish tradition and including other details not covered in Mark.[8]
Composition of the Gospel of Mark is usually dated through the eschatological discourse in Mark 13. Most scholars interpret this as pointing to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–74 AD) that would lead to the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, with the composition of Mark taking place either immediately after the destruction (the majority position) or during the years immediately prior.[9] Earlier dates in the range AD 35–45 are sometimes proposed,[10] but are usually dismissed.[11]
The text of the Gospel of Matthew reads: "From noon on, darkness came over the whole land [or, earth] until three in the afternoon."[12] The author includes dramatic details following the death of Jesus, including an earthquake and the raising of the dead, which were also common motifs in Jewish apocalyptic literature:[13][14] "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised."[15]
The Gospel of Mark concurs with the timing of events, stating that, on preparation day (the eve of the Sabbath), Jesus was crucified at "the sixth hour", or around noon, and darkness fell over all the land, or all the world (‹See Tfd›Greek: γῆν, translit. gēn can mean either) from around noon ("the sixth hour") until 3 o'clock ("the ninth hour").[16] It adds, immediately after the death of Jesus, "The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom",[17] but does not mention an earthquake or the opening of tombs.
The Gospel of Luke concurs with the length and timing of the darkness but also does not mention an earthquake or the opening of tombs. Contrary to Matthew and Mark, however, the text mentions the tearing of the Temple veil prior to the death of Jesus,[18] and provides the obscuring of the Sun as the cause of the darkness:[19][20]
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land [or, earth] until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed [or, the sun was eclipsed]; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.[21]
It appears that Luke may have originally explained the event as a miraculous solar eclipse. The majority of manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke have the Greek phrase eskotisthe ho helios ("the sun was darkened"), but the earliest manuscripts say tou heliou eklipontos ("the sun's light failed" or "the sun was in eclipse").[22] This earlier version may have been amended by later scribes to correct what they assumed was an error, since Passover occurs during a full moon but a solar eclipse occurs during a new moon.[23][24] Furthermore, a total eclipse provides darkness at one location during totality for a maximum of seven and a half minutes,[25] whereas the gospel texts state that the darkness covered the land for roughly three hours. For these reasons, one early Christian commentator suggested that the early text attributing the event to an eclipse had been deliberately corrupted by opponents of the Church to make it easier to attack on naturalist grounds.[26]
In the account of the crucifixion given in the Gospel of John,[27] which is generally accepted to have been written much later and which focuses on different themes, events, and sayings than the synoptic gospels, there is no mention of darkness, the tearing of the veil, the earthquake, or the raising of the dead.[28]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_darkness
2030-2031 APPARITION CHARACTERISTICS
Another general rule for predicting oppositions of Mars is from the following: the planet has an approximate 15.8-year periodic opposition cycle, which consists of three or four Aphelic oppositions and three consecutive Perihelic oppositions. Perihelic oppositions are also called "favorable" because the Earth and Mars come closest to each other on those occasions. We sometimes refer to this as the seven Martian synodic periods. This cycle is repeated every 79 years (± 4 to 5 days) and, if one were to live long enough, one would see this cycle nearly replicated in approximately 284 years. The 2031 Mars apparition is considered Transitional (between Aphelic and Perihelic) because the orbital longitude at opposition will be 68.4° from the aphelion longitude of 70° Ls and 111.6° Ls from perihelion (250° Ls).
NOTE: Ls is the planetocentric longitude of the Sun along the ecliptic of Mars’ sky. 0° Ls is defined as that point where the Sun crosses the Martian celestial equator from south to north, that is the planet’s northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The other Ls values that define the beginnings of Martian northern hemisphere seasons are: summer, 90° Ls; autumn, 180° Ls; and winter, 270° Ls. For Mars’ southern hemisphere these values represent the opposite seasons. Distance (A.U.) - Distance from Earth to Mars in astronomical units, where one (1) A.U. equals 92,955,807.267 miles or 149,597,870.691 km.
Opposition occurs 11 months after conjunction when Mars is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At that time, the two planets will lie nearly in a straight line with respect to the Sun, or five weeks after retrogression begins. Opposition will occur at 1157 UT on May 04, 2031 (138.4° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.7 arcsec. Mars will remain visible for more than twelve months after opposition and then become lost in the glare of the Sun around May 31, 2032 as it approaches the next conjunction (July 11, 2032). The cycle is complete in 780 Earth days.
Closest approach occurs at 0350 UT on May 12, 2031 (142.1° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.9 at a distance of 0.5533578 astronomical units (AU) or 51,437,823 miles (82,781,152 km). During closest approach in 2031 the apparent diameter of Mars will be 2.4 arcsec larger than it was at the same period in 2029; however, it will be 17.1 degrees lower in the sky - not quite as good for observing the Red Planet for observers in the northern hemisphere. It should also be noted that closest approach between Earth and Mars is not necessarily coincident with the time of opposition but varies by as much as two weeks.
https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2031_MARS.htm
Grammar - Conjunction Junction - Schoolhouse Rock
With lyrics by Bob Dorough, Jack Sheldon providing lead vocal and Terry Morrell backing vocal, "Conjunction Junction" is another great "Schoolhouse Rock!" short animated musical that entertains while educating about the importance of "hooking up words and phrases and clauses" with and, but, or. The leading character is a train conductor who has those words printed on the side of the train cars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjdCFat9rjI
Philalethes, who in his Entrke ouverte au Palais ferd du Roi has dealt at greatest length on the practice of the Work, mentions the hermetic star and infers the cosmic magic of its appearance.
'It is the miracle of the world, the assembly of superior virtues in the inferior ones. That is why the Almighty has marked it with an extraordinary sign. The Wise Men saw it in the east, were struck with amazement and knew at once that a King most pure had been born into the the world.
'As for you, as soon as you see his star, follow it to the Cradle, where you will see the lovely Child." Then the Adept reveals the manner of operating :
'Let four parts be taken of our fiery dragon, which hides our Preface to the Second Edition 15 magic steel in its belly, and nine parts of our lodestone; mix them together, by burning Vulcan, in the form of mineral water, on which a scum will float which must be removed. Throw away th crust, take the inner part, purge three times, by fire and by salt, which will be done easily if Saturn has seen his image in the mirror of Mars.'
Finally Philalethes adds :
'And the Almighty sets his royal seal on the Work and adorns it specially therewith.'
Fulcanelli
Mystery of the Cathedrals
http://www.mtanthony13.org/library/Fulcanelli%20-%20The%20Mystery%20of%20the%20Cathedrals.pdf
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
Social Park USA
November 15 at 9:11 AM
The Sphere and the North Tower 🇺🇸
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02Ggy86MmsLCbJAubHGqxADhb5N4Au3hWPsHkTKjXqKuZbsb2wuZGWHHutJUST59r3l&id=61555655113607
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
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
The Shabaka Stone, sometimes Shabaqo, is a relic incised with an ancient Egyptian religious text, which dates from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.[1] In later years, the stone was likely used as a millstone, which damaged the hieroglyphs. This damage is accompanied by other intentional defacements, leaving the hieroglyphic inscription in poor condition.
Provenance
Historical origins
Originally erected as a lasting monument at the Great Temple of Ptah in Memphis in the late eighth century BCE, the stone was at some point removed (for unknown reasons) to Alexandria.[2] From there, it was transported by a navy vessel from Alexandria to England. It was brought back as ballast along with a capital of an Egyptian column, fragments of a Greco-Roman black basalt capital, two fragments of quartzite lintel of Senwosret III, and a black granite kneeling statue of Ramesses II.[3] In 1805, the stone was donated to the British Museum by George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758–1834), who was First Lord of the Admiralty and since 1794 the trustee of the museum.[4] In 1901, the stone was deciphered, translated, and interpreted for the first time by the American Egyptologist, James Henry Breasted.[5] The monument has remained at the museum to the present day.[2]
Dating
The stone's dedicatory introduction claims that it is a copy of the surviving contents of a worm-ridden, decaying papyrus found by the pharaoh Shabaka in the Great Temple of Ptah.[6] Homer W. Smith dates the original text to the First Dynasty, calling it "the oldest written record of human thought".[7]
Breasted, Adolf Erman, Kurt Sethe, and Hermann Junker all dated the stone to the Old Kingdom.[8] The stone is archaic, both linguistically (its language is similar to that used in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom) and politically (it alludes to the importance of Memphis as the first royal city).[8] As such, Henri Frankfort, John Wilson, Miriam Lichtheim, and Erik Iversen have also assessed the stone to be from the Old Kingdom.[8] However, Friedrich Junge and most other scholars since then have argued that the monument was produced in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.[8] Today, scholars feel it is clear that it cannot predate the Nineteenth Dynasty.[9]
Composition
The stela is around 137 centimetres (54 in) wide, with the left side height estimated at 91 centimetres (36 in) and the right side about 95 centimetres (37 in).[10] The written surface is 132 centimetres (52 in) in width and on average, 66 centimetres (26 in) in height.[10] The rectangular hole in the center is 12 by 14 centimetres (4.7 by 5.5 in), with eleven radiating lines ranging in length from 25 to 38 centimetres (9.8 to 15.0 in).[10] The area of the surface which has been completely worn-out measures 78 centimetres (31 in) across.[10]
In 1901, James Henry Breasted identified the stone as a rectangular slab of black granite.[11] While other scholars postulated that the monument was a slab or basalt or a conglomerate stone, a recent analysis by a scientist of the British Museum revealed the stone to be green breccia originating from Wadi Hammamat.[12]
Content
Detail of hieroglyphic inscription
The text includes two main divisions with a short introduction and an ending summary. The first division relates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Ptah works through Horus to accomplish this unification. The other is a creation myth, the "Memphite Theology" or "Memphite Drama",[7] that establishes Ptah as the creator of all things, including gods.
The text stresses that it is in Memphis that the unification of Egypt took place.[13] The inscription also states that this town was the burial-place of Osiris, after he drifted ashore.[13]
Introduction and titulary of the King
The first line of the stone presents the fivefold royal titulary of the king: "The living Horus: Who prospers the Two Lands; the Two Ladies: Who prospers the Two Lands; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Neferkare; the Son of Re: [Shabaka], beloved of Ptah-South-of-His-Wall, who lives like Re forever."[14] The first three names emphasize the king's manifestation as a living god (especially of the falcon-headed Horus, patron god to the Egyptian kings), while the latter two names (the king's throne name and birth name) refer to Egypt's division and unification.[6]
The second line, a dedicatory introduction, states that the stone is a copy of the surviving contents of a worm-eaten papyrus Shabaka found as he was inspecting the Great Temple of Ptah.[6]
The Unification of Egypt
Lines 3 to 47 describe the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the god Horus at Memphis.[14] The text first declares the political and theological supremacy of the Memphite god Ptah, the king of both Upper and Lower Egypt, and the creator of the Ennead.[15] The inscription then describes how Horus, as a manifestation of Ptah, initially rules Lower Egypt while his rival Set rules Upper Egypt.[16] However, Horus receives Upper Egypt from Geb, becoming the sole ruler of the land.[16]
The Memphite Theology
Lines 48 to 64 recount the creation myth known as the Memphite Theology.[14] Ptah, the patron god of craftsmen, metalworkers, artisans, and architects was viewed as a creator-god, a divine craftsman of the universe who was responsible for all existence.[17] Creation was first a spiritual and intellectual activity, facilitated by the divine heart (thought) and tongue (speech/word) of Ptah.[18] Then, creation became a physical activity carried out by Atum, who, created by Ptah's teeth and lips, produced the Ennead from his seed and hands.[18]
Thus it is said of Ptah: “He who made all and created the gods.” And he is
Ta-tenen, who gave birth to the gods, and from whom every thing came
forth, foods, provisions, divine offerings, and all good things. Thus it is
recognized and understood that he is the mightiest of the gods. Thus Ptah
was satisfied after he had made all things and all divine word. . . . Indeed,
Ptah is the fountain of life for the gods and all material realities.
Summary
Lines 61 through 64 summarize the text as a whole.[14]
Purpose
According to Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad, there are three theories on the possible purpose of the Shabaka text:
To assert the supremacy of the Memphite theological system over the Heliopolitan
To claim the hegemony of the Memphis and its priesthood over Heliopolis and its priesthood
To present an ontology.[19]
As a temple text written down and set up in the temple of Ptah, it is likely that the Shabaka Stone served a religious, cultic-theological purpose, placing its subject matter within a cultic frame of reference.[19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabaka_Stone
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
The Black Arts adepts who wear police badges, occupy judge's seats and media editor's desks are not simply "crazed" nor are such intensely publicized ritual murders merely superstitious sacrifices to some kooky devil-god. The Son of Sam murders were a brilliantly orchestrated ritual whose ceremonial aspects were as precise and detailed as the internal workings of a clock. This theater of death began as a ritual for the cult-members themselves and ended as a giant magical ceremony for the processing of the entire nation, because in the worldwide broadcast of the Son of Sam murders was also broadcast the magical symbols of the "Wicker Man" and of Eliphas Levy (see for example Newsweek, Aug. 22, 1977, p. 19). This is the alchemical psychodrama for the transformation of humanity. We are processed just by reading or watching "the news," associating death and terror, power and potency, with an old demonic symbol by a 19th century adept of Black magic whose illustration of the hermaphroditic demon of the Knights Templars, Baphomet, is perhaps the most widely recognized occult symbol in modern history. Readers of the New York Daily News learned to associate "The Wicked King of Wicker" with murder and terror. At the thought of King Wicker, millions felt fear. This fear was imprinted on their minds. This is the same control process hundreds of peasants were put through a thousand years ago while standing in front of a giant wicker effigy, inside of which was caged a doomed human sacrifice destined for burning. The only difference is that the peasants knew that their leaders wanted them to fear an occult image. Modern people imbibe occult fear-technology while imagining that there is no such thing. The imprint's impact is doubled when veiled under such ignorance."
Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare by Michael A. Hoffman II
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YbfOrEm17Ufz4hihXALlINVkjZUbLiJY/view?usp=sharing
Happy National Bird Day - Koko B. Ware sings "Bird Bird Bird": Prime Time Wrestling, Sept. 11, 1989
WWE
98.6M subscribers
78,363 views Jan 5, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvBEvG8XShY
"Fulcanelli’s main strategy, the key to unraveling the mystery, lies in an understanding of what he calls the “phonetic law” of the “spoken cabala,” or the “language of the birds.” This punning, multilingual wordplay can be used to reveal unusual and, according to Fulcanelli, meaningful associations between ideas. “What unsuspected marvels we should find, if we knew how to dissect words, to strip them of their bark and liberate the spirit, the divine light which is within,” Fulcanelli writes. He claims that in our day this is the natural language of the outsiders, the outlaws and heretics at the fringes of society. (See appendix A, “Fulcanelli on the Green Language,” for the complete text of this chapter.) 6 This spoken cabala was also the “green language” of the Freemasons (“All the Initiates expressed themselves in cant,” Fulcanelli reminds us) who built the art gothique of the cathedrals. “Gothic art is in fact the art got or art cot —χοτ—the art of light or of the spirit,” Fulcanelli informs us. Ultimately the “art got,” or the “art of light,” is derived from the language of the birds, which seems to be a sort of Ur-language taught by both Jesus and the ancients." The Mysteries of the Great Cross by Jay Weidner
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vrxcBcn4h7RRM2SA3X1SS1DsooSxfitI/view?usp=sharing
How to Speak Ignatian: Common words and phrases of the Society of Jesus
Adapted from “How to Speak Loyola,” a glossary developed by the Office of Mission &
Identity, Loyola University, Chicago.
Microsoft Word - How to Speak Ignatian.doc (jesuithighschool.org)
https://www.jesuithighschool.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/how_to_speak_ignatian_0.pdf
IF WE LOOK AGAIN TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL, this time to chapter 8, verse 25, the prophet foretold that Anti-Christ would cause "craft" to prosper: "And through his policy also he shall cause 'craft" to prosper in his hand: and he shall magnify himself..." What is "kraft"? Strong's Concordance defines the word craft (#4820) as meaning "fraud, deceit, and treachery." Thus, Anti-Christ "through" craft, deceit and treachery (viz., deception) would advance its position, influence and agenda.
But how do we know that this entity (referred to by Daniel) is indeed the dreaded Anti-Christ? We know this entity is Anti-Christ because it opposes and magnifies itself against Jesus Christ: "he shall magnify in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes" (latter part of Dan. 8: 25).
Earlier in verse 23 of Daniel 8 it says "he" shall also understand dark sentences." Strong's Concordance tells us that the word for dark is the same word for sentences (#2420). Both words mean "a puzzle," or "trick" saying. The expression "dark sentences" comes from the root word meaning "to put forth (#2330)." Thus, Antichrist would put forth, or utter dark sentences-language not readily understood by the unintiated, which language will have a double meaning designed to trick or mislead the hearer. The "puzzle, or trick" in these "dark sentence" will be the issuing of double meaning in the same statements. In other words, reader, Anti-Christ would have a double rule-"one for its private and particular use, and another to flaunt with before the world."
The agents, or spokesmen of Anti-Christ will speak with mental reservation and amphibologies. That is to say, with double sensed or ambigous words, or to use the words of Constantine Labarum "justification of the means by the end, and many other maxims,
+I say agents of Anti-Christ, because no sensible individual could really believe that Anti-Christ is a single man, for Paul says Anti-Christ (its early manifestation) was already in existence in his day and would continue till the end of time.+
subversive of honesty and morality." In short, Anti-Christ would be a system of unscrupulous duplicity, of impostors, of wolves in sheep's clothing!
Have we any example in the long anals of history of such a duplicitous system using "craft" "deceit" "fraud" and "treachery" as it crept into power over the world? William Tyndale, the great English Reformer, in his Practice of Prelates, speaks of the rise of this phenomenon by the following graphic parable:-
"To see how the holy father came up, mark the ensample of the ivy. First it springeth up out of the earth, and then awhile CREEPETH ALONG BY THE GROUND, till it finds a great tree, and creepeth up a little and a little, fair, and softly. At the begininning, while it is yet thin and small, the burden is not perceived; it seemeth glorious to garnish the tree in the winter. BUT IT HOLDETH FAST WITHAL, AND CEASETH NOT TO CLIMB UP TILL IT BE AT THE TOP, AND EVEN ABOVE ALL. And then it sendeth its branches along by the branches of the tree, and overgroweth all, and waxeth great, heavy, and thich : and sucketh the moisture so sore out of the tree and his branches that choaketh and stifleth them. And then THE FOUL, STINKING IVY waxeth MIGHTY in the stump of the tree, and becometh a seat and a nest for all unclean birds, and for blind owls, which hawk in the dark, and dare not come to the light. EVEN SO THE BISHOP OF ROME, NOW CALLED THE POPE, AT THE BEGINNING CROPE ALONG UPON THE EARTH...."
How accurate is William Tyndale's description of the rise of the pope and the popedome as predicted by prophet Daniel: "in the latter time... a king.. understanding dark sentences, shall stan up... and shall he cause craft to prosper" "and shall prosper, practice, and shall destroy..." (Dan. 8:23,24,25).
Yeah, with what clearness and boldness, and considerable amount of historical learning, does Tyndale trace the way by which the supremacy of the pope arose. It has been said of this passage by one learned author that there is "probably nowhere in the English language any passage superior in force and graphic skill o the well-known description of the rise of the Pope." And we may add here that like the stinking ivy-which plant is almost impossible to entirely kill-it is also very difficult to rid our world of popery: this requires a lot of hard work, courage and persistence, and still the dead stump may yet shoot up again.
Said historian Henry Grattan Guinness, "In the fourth century, with the the fall of paganism, began a worldly, imperial Christianity, wholly unlike primitive apostolic Christianity, a sort of Christianized heathenism: and in the fifth and sixth centuries sprang up the Papacy, in those career the apostasy culminated later on. The mighty Caesars had fallen; Augustus, Domitian, Hadrian, Diocletian were gone; even the Constantines and Julians had passed away. The seat of sovereignty had been removed from Rome to Constantinople. Goths and Vandals' had overthrown the western empire; the once mighty political structure lay delivered into broken fragments. The imperial government was slain by the Gothic sword. The Czesars were no more, and Rome was an actual desolation Then slowly on the ruins of old imperial Rome an actual desolation. Then slowly on the ruins of an old imperial Rome rose another power and another monarchy-a monarchy of loftier aspirations and more resistless might, claiming dominion, not only within the omits of the fallen empire, but throughout the entire world. Higher and higher [like the stinking ivy] rose the Papacy, till in the dark ages all Christendom was subject to its sway...."
The 'craft' of Rome, both in medieval times and today, is the art of fabrication and daring falsehoods: "Like the successive strata of the earth covering one another, SO LAYER AFTER LAYER OF FORGERIES AND FABRICATIONS HAS BEEN PILED UP IN THE CHURCH |OF ROME|," bolstered by a Jesuitical "literaryand academic flexibility and elastic versatality of pen hitherto confined to journalism." "Anti-Christ Would Use "Craft" And Deceit To Prosper" Codeword Barbelon book Two by P.D. Stuart
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid02jDqwhcuosGxKf9kJx7ACfTVWy5efnMJHY3Jba2kumGupry5rb3g3WcaZQgLgTyPxl
8° We must therefore have an operative freedom: open, adaptable, even eager for any mission that may be given us. Our desire is an unconditional consecration to mission, free of all worldly interest and free to serve all men and women. Our mission extends to the creation of this same spirit of mission in others.[17]
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary 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
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic trait or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual organism, that is maintained and has evolved through natural selection.
Historically, adaptation has been described from the time of the ancient Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Aristotle. In 18th and 19th-century natural theology, adaptation was taken as evidence for the existence of a deity. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace proposed instead that it was explained by natural selection.
Adaptation is related to biological fitness, which governs the rate of evolution as measured by changes in allele frequencies. Often, two or more species co-adapt and co-evolve as they develop adaptations that interlock with those of the other species, such as with flowering plants and pollinating insects. In mimicry, species evolve to resemble other species; in mimicry this is a mutually beneficial co-evolution as each of a group of strongly defended species (such as wasps able to sting) come to advertise their defences in the same way. Features evolved for one purpose may be co-opted for a different one, as when the insulating feathers of dinosaurs were co-opted for bird flight.
Adaptation is a major topic in the philosophy of biology, as it concerns function and purpose (teleology). Some biologists try to avoid terms which imply purpose in adaptation, not least because they suggest a deity's intentions, but others note that adaptation is necessarily purposeful.
History
Main article: History of evolutionary thought
Adaptation is an observable fact of life accepted by philosophers and natural historians from ancient times, independently of their views on evolution, but their explanations differed. Empedocles did not believe that adaptation required a final cause (a purpose), but thought that it "came about naturally, since such things survived." Aristotle did believe in final causes, but assumed that species were fixed.[1]
In natural theology, adaptation was interpreted as the work of a deity and as evidence for the existence of God.[2] William Paley believed that organisms were perfectly adapted to the lives they led, an argument that shadowed Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who had argued that God had brought about "the best of all possible worlds." Voltaire's satire Dr. Pangloss[3] is a parody of this optimistic idea, and David Hume also argued against design.[4] Charles Darwin broke with the tradition by emphasising the flaws and limitations which occurred in the animal and plant worlds.[5]
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed a tendency for organisms to become more complex, moving up a ladder of progress, plus "the influence of circumstances", usually expressed as use and disuse.[6] This second, subsidiary element of his theory is what is now called Lamarckism, a proto-evolutionary hypothesis of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, intended to explain adaptations by natural means.[7]
Other natural historians, such as Buffon, accepted adaptation, and some also accepted evolution, without voicing their opinions as to the mechanism. This illustrates the real merit of Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, and secondary figures such as Henry Walter Bates, for putting forward a mechanism whose significance had only been glimpsed previously. A century later, experimental field studies and breeding experiments by people such as E. B. Ford and Theodosius Dobzhansky produced evidence that natural selection was not only the 'engine' behind adaptation, but was a much stronger force than had previously been thought.[8][9][10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation
The Phenomenon of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
By:
H. James Birx
Year:
1999
Volumn:
33
Number:
1
Abstract
During the first half of the twentieth century, famous geopaleontologist and controversial Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) tried to reconcile scientific evolutionism with his religious beliefs. A devoted spiritualist, he presented a mystical interpretation of cosmic evolution in his major work, The Phenomenon of Man, but he was silenced by the Roman Catholic Church for his unorthodox view of our species within dynamic reality. Nevertheless, Teilhard's bold vision of this evolving universe introduced the fact of evolution into modern theology and religion.
Introduction
Are science and theology reconcilable in terms of evolution? As both an eminent scientist and cosmic mystic, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) presented a dynamic worldview. He argued that our species does occupy a special place within a spiritual universe, and that humankind is evolving toward an Omega Point as the end-goal of converging and involuting consciousness on this planet.
With his steadfast commitment to the fact of pervasive evolution, Teilhard as geopaleontologist and Jesuit priest became a very controversial figure within the Roman Catholic Church during the first half of this century. Actually, because of his bold interpretation of our species within earth history and this cosmos, he was silenced by his religious superiors for taking an evolutionary stance at a time when this scientific theory was a serious threat to an entrenched orthodox theology. Going beyond Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Teilhard even maintained that evolution discloses the meaning, purpose and destiny of our species within life, nature and this universe.
As a geopaleontologist, Teilhard was very familiar with the rock and fossil evidence that substantiates the fact of evolution. As a Jesuit priest, he was acutely aware of the need for a meta-Christianity that would contribute to the survival, enrichment and fulfillment of humankind on this planet in terms of both science and faith. Sensitive to the existential predicament of our species, with its awareness of endless space and certain death, Teilhard as visionary and futurist ultimately grounded his personal interpretation of evolution in a process philosophy, natural theology and cosmic mysticism that supported panentheism (the belief that God and the World are in a creative relationship of progressive evolution toward a future synthesis in terms of spirit).
Galileo Galilei had endured humiliation and was put under house arrest, as a result of his claiming that the earth does in fact move through the universe; a discovery that the aged astronomer was coerced into recanting by his dogmatic persecutor, Pope Urban VIII (formally Cardinal Maffeo Barberini), under the intolerant Jesuit inquisitor, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine.
As a direct result of the conservative standpoint taken by his religious superiors, Teilhard would suffer alienation and discouragement because he rightly claimed that species (including our own) evolve throughout geological time, or they become extinct; his daring evolutionism discredited fixity and essentialism in biology and philosophy.
Discovering Evolution
As a child, Teilhard showed an interest in both natural science and religious mysticism. Sensitive to his beautiful Auvergne surroundings in France, and particularly drawn to the study of rocks, Teilhard found delight in a plowshare which he supposed was an enduring object free from change and imperfection. However, after a storm, the youth discovered that his ìgenie of ironî had rusted. Teilhard tells us that he then threw himself on the ground and cried with the bitterest tears of his life. As a result of this devastating experience, he would have to seek his ìone essential thingî beyond this imperfect world of matter and corruption.
To be ìmost perfectî (as he put it), Teilhard at the age of 17 entered the Jesuit society in order to serve God. Even so, he intensified his interest in geology on the channel island of Jersey. Throughout his entire life, the scientist-priest would never abandon his love for science, concern about human evolution, and devotion to mystical theology (especially eschatology).
In 1905, as part of his Jesuit training, Teilhard found himself teaching at the Holy Family College in Cairo, Egypt. This three-year experience offered him the unique opportunity to do research in both geology and paleontology, expanding his knowledge of earth history. It also exposed this priest to a rich multiplicity of cultures, both past and present, that surely jarred him from European ethnocentrism. Following this teaching obligation, he then finished his theology studies at Hastings in England.
It was during his stay in England that Teilhard read Henri Bergson's major book, Creative Evolution (1907). This metaphysical work had an enormous influence on the scientist-priest, since it resulted in his lifelong commitment to the brute fact of evolution. It is worth emphasizing that it was not Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) or The Descent of Man (1871) but rather Bergson's interpretation of evolution that convinced Teilhard that species are mutable, including our own, throughout organic history.
While on one of his field trips, Teilhard unfortunately became involved in the discovery of the controversial Piltdown skull (later determined to be a fraud). Although he had questioned the validity of this fossil evidence from the very beginning, one positive result was that the young geologist and seminarian now became particularly interested in paleoanthropology as the science of fossil hominids.
After his stay in England, Teilhard returned to France where, during World War I, he was a stretcher bearer at the front lines. It is remarkable that he emerged from his horrific experiences in the war trenches even more optimistic that evolution had been preparing the earth for a new direction and final goal in terms of the spiritualization of the human layer of this planet. In fact, during the global war, Teilhard had several mystical experiences which he recorded for posterity. It was this emerging mysticism that would eventually allow him to reconcile science and theology within an evolutionary vision of a converging and involuting spiritual reality (as he saw it).
In 1923, as a result of an invitation, Teilhard next found himself as a geologist participating in a scientific expedition into inner Mongolia. A year in China gave the Jesuit a splendid opportunity to begin his career as a specialist in Chinese geology. It was during this time, while in the Ordos Desert, that Teilhard essayed ìThe Mass on the Worldî (a mystical account of his offering up the entire world as a Eucharist to a Supreme Being as the creator, sustainer, and ultimate destiny of an evolving universe). He expresses his dynamic Christology when he writes: "I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labors and sufferings of the world....You know how your creatures can come into being only, like shoot from stem, as part of an endlessly renewed process of evolution."1
It is to Teilhard's credit that he never took seriously a strict and literal interpretation of Genesis as presented in the Old Testament. Instead, he will continue to devote his life to synthesizing science and theology in terms of the indisputable fact of pervasive evolution.
Returning to France, Teilhard ran into serious problems with the Roman Catholic Church because of his unorthodox beliefs. In Paris, he began giving public lectures on and teaching about evolution. This priest was even bold enough to offer a personal interpretation of Original Sin in terms of cosmic evolution and the emergence of our own species in a dynamic but imperfect (unfinished) universe; he saw this cosmos as a cosmogenesis moving from chaos, multiplicity and evil to order, unity and perfection.
When a copy of his controversial essay fell into the hands of some Jesuits, Teilhard was immediately silenced by his superiors. They, of course, had a failure of nerve in not facing head-on the fact of evolution and its ramifications for understanding and appreciating the place of humankind within nature. Because his audacious vision challenged Christian dogma, Teilhard was censored by the Church: he could no longer teach or publish his own theological and philosophical views, and furthermore he was even exiled from France by the Jesuit order (finding himself back in China).
Nevertheless, the ostracized scientist-priest wrote his first book, The Divine Milieu (1927), a spiritual essay on the activities and passivities of the human being. In this work, he argues that a personal God is the divine Center of evolving Creation. His position is in sharp contrast to biblical fundamentalism or so-called scientific creationism: views that hold the creation of this entire universe to be a completed event that happened only about ten thousand years ago! Teilhard writes: "We may, perhaps, imagine that the creation was finished long ago. But that would be quite wrong. It continues still more magnificently, and at the highest levels of the world."2
Fortuitously, Teilhard now found himself a member of the Cenozoic Laboratory at the Peking Union Medical College. Starting in 1928, geologists and paleontologists excavated the sedimentary layers in the Western Hills near Zhoukoudian. At this site, the scientists discovered the so-called Peking man (Sinanthropus pekinensis), a fossil hominid dating back at least 350,000 years but now relegated to the Homo erectus phase of human evolution. Teilhard became world-known as a result of his popularizations of the Sinanthropus discovery, while he himself made major contributions to the geology of this site. Likewise, Teilhard's long stay in China gave him more time to think and write about evolution, as well as continue his scientific research.
The Phenomenon of Man
Bringing his scientific knowledge and religious commitments together, Teilhard now began writing a synthesis of facts and beliefs. He aimed to demonstrate the special place held by our species in this dynamic universe. After two years, writing several paragraphs each month, Teilhard completed his major work, The Phenomenon of Man (1938-1940, with a postscript and appendix added in 1948). For other religionists, his evolutionary synthesis was a threat to traditional theology and, consequently, the Vatican denied its publication. In retrospect, it is with bitter irony that this book was so controversial because it does offer an earth-bound, human-centered, and God-embraced interpretation of spiritual evolution that seems more-or-less conservative from today's perspective. The work is primarily an ultra-anthropology grounded in a phenomenology of evolution in terms of the structures and intentionality in emerging consciousness (spirit).
In The Phenomenon of Man, Teilhard writes:
Is evolution a theory, a system or a hypothesis? It is much more: it is a general condition to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must bow and which they must satisfy henceforth if they are to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow....The consciousness of each of us is evolution looking at itself and reflecting upon itself....Man is not the center of the universe as once we thought in our simplicity, but something much more wonderfulóthe arrow pointing the way to the final unification of the world in terms of life. Man alone constitutes the last-born, the freshest, the most complicated, the most subtle of all the successive layers of life....The universe has always been in motion and at this moment continues to be in motion. But will it still be in motion tomorrow?....What makes the world in which we live specifically modern is our discovery in it and around it of evolution....Thus in all probability, between our modern earth and the ultimate earth, there stretches an immense period, characterized not by a slowing-down but a speeding up and by the definitive florescence of the forces of evolution along the line of the human shoot.3
For Teilhard, the Mosaic cosmogony is replaced by an emergent evolution within which the biblical Adam and Eve become fossil apelike forms! Not surprisingly, the evolutionary stance taken by this Jesuit priest in The Phenomenon of Man resulted in the condemnation of this unorthodox book by the dogmatic religionists of his time.
Teilhard argues that this universe is a cosmogenesis. Essentially, the unity of this universe is grounded not in matter or energy but in spirit (the within-of-things, or radial energy); thereby he gives priority to dynamic spirit rather than to atomic matter (the without-of-things, or tangential energy). Moreover, Teilhard was a vitalist who saw the personalizing and spiritualizing cosmos as a product of an inner driving force manifesting itself from material atoms, through life forms, to reflective beings. He discerned a direction in the sweeping epic of this evolving universe, particularly with the emergence of humankind. However, his alleged cosmology is merely a planetology, since the scientist-priest focuses his attention on this earth without any serious consideration of the billions of stars in those billions of galaxies that are strewn throughout sidereal reality.
Of primary significance, Teilhard argues that the assumed order in nature reveals a pre-established plan as a result of a divine Designer, who is the transcendent God as the Center of creation or Person of persons; the general direction in evolution is a result of the process law of complexity-consciousness. Teilhard was deeply interested in and concerned about the infinitely complex that would emerge in the distant future as a spiritual synthesis, rather than occupying himself with the infinitely great and the infinitely small.
For Teilhard, this cosmic law of increasing complexity and consciousness manifests itself from the inorganic atoms through organic species to the human person itself. Or, this process law has resulted in the appearance of matter, then life, and finally thought. Evolution is the result of ìdirected chanceî taking place on the finite sphericity of our earth. Teilhard emphasized that evolution is converging and involuting around this globe: first through geogenesis, then biogenesis, and now through noogenesis. The result is a geosphere surrounded by a biosphere, and now an emerging noosphere (or layer of human thought and its products) is enveloping the biosphere and geosphere. For this Jesuit priest, noogenesis is essentially a planetary and mystical Christogenesis, i.e., the evolution of Christ to God-Omega as the divine destiny of humankind.
Unlike the iconoclastic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), who prophesied the coming of the superior overman as a creative intellect independent of society, Teilhard envisioned the emergence of a collective humankind that would advance to a spiritual union with a personal God in the distant future. Interestingly enough, several Marxist philosophers appreciated Teilhard's emphasis on the collective and directional evolution of our species; of course, as pervasive materialists, they could never accept Teilhard's spiritual and mystical interpretation of dynamic reality.
The idea of a developing noosphere was also explored in the writings of the Russian scientist Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863-1945). Similar to Teilhard's comprehensive orientation, Vernadsky had presented a holistic view of life on earth in his major work, The Biosphere (1926). Even so, it was Teilhard who seriously considered the long-range ramifications of noogenesis.
Teilhard stressed that the process of evolution has not been a continuum: from time to time, evolution has crossed critical thresholds resulting in the uniqueness of both life over matter and thought over life; a person represents an incredible concentration of consciousness or spirit, resulting in the immortality of the human soul. Consequently, the Jesuit priest claimed that the human being is ontologically separated from the great apes (orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo).
For Teilhard, the ongoing spiritual evolution of our species is rapidly moving toward an Omega Point as the end-goal or divine destiny of human evolution on this planet. His theism maintains that God-Omega is one, personal, actual and transcendent. In the future, God-Omega and the Omega Point will unite, forming a mystical synthesis.
Grounded in agapology and centrology, Teilhard's interpretation of evolution claims that the human layer of consciousness engulfing our earth is becoming a collective brain and heart; in the future, as a single mind of persons, this layer will detach itself from the globe and, transcending space and time, immerse itself in God-Omega. As such, the end-goal of evolution is a final creative synthesis of the universal God-Omega with a spiritualized and united humankind. Thus, his panentheism becomes (at least in part) a mystical pantheism. Yet, the Jesuit priest did not take exobiology and exoevolution seriously, e.g., the possibility that Omega Point events have happened or will happen elsewhere in this universe.
Tragic Consequences
After The Phenomenon of Man was denied publication by his superiors, Teilhard then wrote Man's Place in Nature: The Human Zoological Group (1950). This book is a more scientific statement of his interpretation of evolution. With controlled enthusiasm but focusing on our species, he writes: "Man is, in appearance, a ëspecies,í no more than a twig, an offshoot from the branch of the primatesóbut one that we find to be endowed with absolutely prodigious biological properties....Without the earth could there be man?"4
Unfortunately, the publication of Teilhard's third book was also denied along with his request to teach in Paris. In fact, on August 12, 1950, Pope Pius XII issued the Encyclical Letter Humani generis; obviously, this Papal warning from the Vatican was (at least in part) a direct result of Teilhard's unsuccessful request for the publication of his slightly revised version of The Phenomenon of Man written in 1948, as well as his 1950 work on human evolution.
Leaving Paris for New York City, Teilhard spent the last years of his life reflecting on both human evolution and his mystical vision of a spiritual future for our species. Of particular interest is the fact that the secular humanist Sir Julian Huxley was sympathetic to Teilhard's religious humanism. However, Huxley the biologist could never accept Teilhard's overall commitment to spiritual transcendence rather than seeing evolution as a strictly naturalistic process.
While in New York City, Teilhard had the opportunity to visit twice the fossil hominid sites in South Africa. Unfortunately, at the end of his distinguished life, he became removed from the new developments in evolutionary science, e.g., the discovery of the DNA molecule and population genetics research. For the evolutionist as materialist, organic creativity is grounded in chance genetic variation, necessary natural selection, and historical contingency (not teleology and spiritualism). And even though he espoused a geological perspective and saw our species continuing to evolve for millions of years, Teilhard still held that humankind would never leave this planet. Instead, he offers a myopic vision in which our species is nailed to the earth and absolutely alone in this universe. Of course, this suffocating centrology was necessary in order for him to believe in the formation of an unique Omega Point at the end of human evolution on earth. If he were alive today, then what would Teilhard think about the far-reaching ramifications of space exploration and genetic engineering?
To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute."
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
No doubt, one finds it very disconcerting that the aged Teilhard wept and was depressed about his pathetic ordeal within the Jesuit order. And, one may find it somewhat unsettling that, as a Jesuit priest, he spent considerable time traveling and communicating with several beautiful women whose friendship he encouraged, even though they could never find a lasting intimate relationship with this spiritual and mystical man who gave preference to a transcendent God over those individuals who loved him in this world. Of course, Teilhard was a man of flesh and blood who, struggling with his own beliefs and commitments within an intellectually hostile environment, no doubt needed that human companionship provided by those who found him attractive in every way.
On Easter Sunday, April 10, 1955, Teilhard died of a sudden stroke in New York City. He was buried at Saint Andrew's on the Hudson, in the cemetery of the Jesuit novitiate for the New York Province (as such, his earthly remains are far removed from France). By the fall of that year, the first edition of The Phenomenon of Man was published in its author's native language.
In 1962, a Monitum decree issued by the Holy Office on Teilhard's works went as far as to warn bishops and heads of seminaries about those doctrinal errors that were held to be inherent in the Jesuit scientist's evolutionary and mystical interpretation of humankind within nature. In fact, as his writings were published posthumously, Teilhard became more controversial in death than he had been while he was alive.
Teilhard's hopefulness seems to have overlooked the extensive roll that extinction plays throughout organic evolution (not to mention the excessive evil in the world): those mass extinctions, that caused all the trilobites, ammonites and dinosaurs to vanish forever, should tarnish the unbridled optimism of any rigorous evolutionist. Furthermore, Teilhard's vision will not convince many serious thinkers that it was inevitable for our species to appear in this universe. An obvious expression of wishful thinking, the anthropic principle represents anthropocentrism in its most extreme form.
Claiming that everything that rises must converge, Teilhard grounds his philosophy of evolution in teleology and spiritualism: the movement of matter, then life, and finally thought is both forward and upward to a mystical union with God-Omega (the beginning and end of cosmic evolution). For the Jesuit priest, the chaos and probability throughout nature are giving way to order and certainty. But most scientists will not accept Teilhard's directional interpretation of this evolving universe.
Teilhard's severest critic was the British zoologist Sir Peter Medawar, a Nobel laureate who found the mystic's evolutionism to be not only preposterous but also an attempt at self-deception. Furthermore, the Harvard paleontologist Steven Jay Gould even claims that Teilhard was directly involved with the infamous Piltdown hoax. It is surprising and disappointing that Gould has besmirched the international reputation of a distinguished natural scientist and virtuous human being by suggesting that the Jesuit priest had been a conspirator in the Piltdown fraud, without there being a single thread of incontestable evidence to support such a damaging accusation. Invoking ìinnocent until proven guiltyî and in light of his reputation as a most commendable person, it seems only fair to assume that Teilhard is blameless of any wrongdoing in this singularly outrageous perpetration of a false discovery in human evolution research.
Some Final Thoughts
Teilhard was committed to science, evolution and optimism despite his daring speculations and mystical orientation. He was a religious humanist: a visionary and futurist who foresaw the collective consciousness of our global species increasing in terms of love, information and technology as a result of God's existence. Surely, Teilhard would be delighted with the Internet, seeing it as a planetary force that is uniting the consciousness and spirituality of humankind. It is to his lasting credit that he introduced into modern theology the fact of organic evolution at a time when this scientific theory was rejected by many who saw it as a threat to their religious beliefs and traditional values. Unfortunately for him, in trying to reconcile the natural with the supernatural, this Jesuit priest satisfied no intellectual community. Even today, although wisely not opposed to the fact of evolution, the Roman Catholic Church offers no comprehensive and detailed evolutionary explanation for the origin and history of life or the emergence and future of humankind.
Teilhard focused exclusively on the earth and gave special attention to our own species. In this respect, he was not in step with those modern thinkers who offer a truly cosmic perspective in which humankind is merely a fleeting event in this material universe.
Surprisingly, on October 23, 1996, Pope John Paul II issued a statement to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in which he endorsed evolution as being ìmore than just a theoryî; thereby both biblical fundamentalism and so-called scientific creationism were dealt yet another blow to their vacuous claims about the origin of this universe and the history of life forms on our earth. With bitter irony, it was the silenced Teilhard who had committed himself to the fact of evolution as well as the indisputable powers of science, reason and free inquiry (albeit within a theological framework).
Today, a rigorous evolutionist sees reality grounded in energy (not spirit) and manifesting no evidence of a divine plan unfolding throughout cosmic history. Our species is linked to material nature, and it is presumptuous to claim that a mystical destiny awaits it at the end of planetary time. Even so, through science and technology, humankind is more and more able to direct the future of organic evolution (including our own species) on earth and elsewhere.
Teilhard was a unique human being of intelligence, sensitivity and integrity. He experienced both the agony and ecstasy of time and change. His optimistic commitment to cosmic evolution flourished while he served on the blood-stained battlefield of a war-torn humanity, researched among the rocks and fossils of a remote past, and reflected in the deepest recesses of his profound soul on the meaning and purpose of human existence. As such, Teilhard himself exemplifies the phenomenon of man.
https://huumanists.org/publications/journal/phenomenon-pierre-teilhard-de-chardin
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
Meaning of Numbers: The Number 9
The English word "nine" used for number 9 appears 50 times in 49 King James Bible verses. While the word occurs 45 times in the Old Testament, it is only written 5 times in the New Testament. The Old Testament writings that use the word the most are Genesis (12 times) followed by Joshua (6). The New Testament books that use the word are Luke (3 times) then Matthew (twice).
The number 9 symbolizes divine completeness or conveys the meaning of finality.
See Outline of Book of Revelation!
Christ died at hour 9 of the day, or 3 p.m., to make the way of salvation open to everyone. The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the only one of God's annual Feast days of worship that requires believers to fast. This special day, considered by many Jews to be the holiest of the year, begins at sunset on day 9 of the seventh Hebrew month (Leviticus 23:32).
The number 9 also represents the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. These fruits are faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, joy, kindness, long suffering, love, peace and self-control (Galatians 5:22 - 23).
Appearances of the Number Nine
The Scriptural chapters that have exactly 9 verses are Joshua 20, 2Chronicles 27, Psalm 8, 20, 28, 47, 52, 98, 99, 113, 122, 137, 149, Isaiah 15, 31, Hosea 14 and Zechariah 13. The book of the minor prophet Amos is the only one in God's word that has nine chapters.
Hoshea, who was Israel's last king before the kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 723 B.C., reigned for just 9 years (732 to 723 B.C.).
In was at hour 9 of the day that a Roman Centurion named Cornelius was told, in a vision, to contact the Apostle Peter. Cornelius would eventually be baptized and receive God's spirit, becoming the first recorded Gentile convert to Christianity (Acts 10).
The Ministry of Jesus
Jesus, in the early part of 30 A.D., is traveling south through Samaria when he runs into ten leprous men. After the men cry out to be healed, they are sent to show themselves to the priests. On their journey they are miraculously healed of their wasting disease! Yet of the ten men only one of them returned to thank the Lord.
Then one of them, seeing that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. . . Jesus said, "Were not ten cleansed? But where are the other nine? Are not any found returning to give glory to God except this stranger?" (Luke 17:15, 17 - 18).
Friday March 31 in 30 A.D. (Nisan 9 on the Hebrew calendar) fell within the last week of Jesus' earthly life. It was the day he threw the moneychangers and other crooks out of the temple just like he had done at the start of his ministry (Luke 19:46). It was also the day children shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" when they saw him (Matthew 21:15).
Jesus appeared alive on 9 separate occasions after he was resurrected from the dead. He appeared once to Mary Magdalene and once to two men traveling to Emmaus, a group of 500 believers and his half-brother James. He miraculously showed himself five other times to various groupings of the apostles.
Number 9 and Sorcery
In the Old Testament there are at least 9 groups or individuals who practiced sorcery. Although modern culture and entertainment tends to paint those who practice such 'black arts' in a benign or positive light, the motives of Old Testament sorcerers were evil to the core.
1) God promised to punish the Egyptians and to destroy the counsels of their charmers, conjurers, magicians and those who cast spells (Isaiah 19:3,11 - 12).
2) Egypt's Pharaoh called upon his sorcerers and magicians to confront the miracles God was doing through Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7,18).
3) Balak employs the services of Balaam, who is a well-known soothsayer, to curse the newly freed Israelites (Numbers 22, 23).
4) Jezebel, the wife of Israel's evil King Ahab, used witchcraft and the evil arts to get her way (2Kings 9:22).
5) God promised to punish Nineveh for enticing a number of their neighbors like a "mistress of witchcrafts" to indulge in idolatrous practices (Nahum 3).
6) The Babylonians were well-known for using the services of magicians, astrologers and sorcerers (Isaiah 47:9 - 13, Daniel 2:2,10, 27).
7) Belshazzar called upon his astrologers and wise men to interpret the "handwriting on the wall" done by the finger of God (Daniel 5:7,15).
8) God warns his people not to be troubled by "the signs of heaven" as the pagans are with their astrologers (Jeremiah 10:2, Micah 3:6 - 7).
9) False prophets use divination to deceive others into thinking that they are speaking for God (Jeremiah 14:14, 27:9, Ezekiel 13:6 - 9).
Adam and Jesus
The Greek word adam, Strong's Concordance #G76, is recorded 9 times in 7 Greek New Testament verses. The word, left untranslated in the King James Bible, is the name of the first human created by God. The gospel writer Luke traced Jesus' lineage, through his mother Mary, all the way back to Adam.
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God (Luke 3:38, KJV).
The Greek word Melchisedek (Strong's #G3198) is written 9 times in 9 New Testament verses. It is translated as "Melchisedec" in the King James and "Melchizedek" in other translations.
Melchisedec was the mysterious King of Salem and Priest of God who greeted Abraham after his victory over Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14). The Apostle Paul states that Jesus is a priest after "the order of Melchisedec."
As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec . . . Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 5:6, 10, KJV).
Interestingly, Jesus is also referred to as "the last Adam" by Paul (1Corinthians 15:45).
More Info on Biblical Meaning of 9
One of the many kings the ancient Israelites had to overcome to claim their Promised Land inheritance is Og of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:11). Og was a giant of a man who needed a bed that was 9 cubits long (roughly 13 1/2 feet or 4.1 meters) by 4 cubits wide (6 feet or 1.8 meters)!
The total destruction of Jerusalem's temple began on Ab 9 on the Hebrew Calendar. It was also on this day that the second (also known as Herod's) temple was burned to the ground by the Romans in 70 A.D.
There are 9 people recorded in the Bible as having leprosy. They are Moses, Miriam, Naaman, Gehazi, King Azariah and the four lepers of Samaria found in 2Kings 7:3.
The act of executing a criminal through stoning is believed to have originated with the ancient Hebrews. The witnesses of the crime were required to cast the first stone (John 8:7).
The first 7 of 9 people recorded in Scripture as being stoned are a Sabbath-breaker (Numbers 15:36), a blasphemer (Leviticus 24:14), Abimelech (Judges 9:53), Achan (Joshua 7:25), Zechariah (2Chronicles 24:21), Adoram (1Kings 12:18) and Naboth (1Kings 21:10). The two New Testament people stoned were Stephen (Acts 7) and the Apostle Paul (Acts 14:19).
The English word "thanksgiving" or its plural occurs nine times in nine King James New Testament verses.
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God (2Corinthians 4:15, KJV).
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/9.html
Sin (/ˈsiːn/) or Suen (Akkadian: 𒀭𒂗𒍪, dEN.ZU[1]) also known as Nanna (Sumerian: 𒀭𒋀𒆠 DŠEŠ.KI, DNANNA[2]) is the Mesopotamian god representing the moon. While these two names originate in two different languages, respectively Akkadian and Sumerian, they were already used interchangeably to refer to one deity in the Early Dynastic period. They were sometimes combined into the double name Nanna-Suen. A third well attested name is Dilimbabbar (𒀭𒀸𒁽𒌓). Additionally, the name of the moon god could be represented by logograms reflecting his lunar character, such as d30 (𒀭𒌍), referring to days in the lunar month or dU4.SAKAR (𒀭𒌓𒊬), derived from a term referring to the crescent. In addition to his astral role, Sin was also closely associated with cattle herding. Furthermore, there is some evidence that he could serve as a judge of the dead in the underworld. A distinct tradition in which he was regarded either as a god of equal status as the usual heads of the Mesopotamian pantheon, Enlil and Anu, or as a king of the gods in his own right, is also attested, though it only had limited recognition. In Mesopotamian art, his symbol was the crescent. When depicted anthropomorphically, he typically either wore headwear decorated with it or held a staff topped with it, though on kudurru the crescent alone serves as a representation of him. He was also associated with boats.
The goddess Ningal was regarded as Sin's wife. Their best attested children are Inanna (Ishtar) and Utu (Shamash), though other deities, for example Ningublaga or Numushda, could be regarded as members of their family too. Sin was also believed to have an attendant deity (sukkal), Alammuš, and various courtiers, such as Nineigara, Ninurima and Nimintabba. He was also associated with other lunar gods, such as Hurrian Kušuḫ or Ugaritic Yarikh.
The main cult center of Sin was Ur. He was already associated with this city in the Early Dynastic period, and was recognized as its tutelary deity and divine ruler. His temple located there was known under the ceremonial name Ekišnugal, and through its history it was rebuilt by multiple Mesopotamian rulers. Ur was also the residence of the en priestesses of Nanna, the most famous of whom was Enheduanna. Furthermore, from the Old Babylonian period onward he was also closely associated with Harran. The importance of this city as his cult center grew in the first millennium BCE, as reflected in Neo-Hittite, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources. Sin's temple survived in later periods as well, under Achaemenid, Seleucid and Roman rule. Sin was also worshiped in many other cities in Mesopotamia. Temples dedicated to him existed for example in Tutub, which early on was considered another of his major cult centers, as well as in Urum, Babylon, Uruk, Nippur and Assur. The extent to which beliefs pertaining to him influenced the Sabians, a religious community who lived in Harran after the Muslim conquest of the Levant, is disputed.
Names
While it is agreed that the two primary names of the Mesopotamian moon god, Nanna and Sin (Suen), originated in two different languages, respectively Sumerian and Akkadian, it is not possible to differentiate between them as designations of separate deities, as they effectively fully merged at an early date.[3] Gebhard J. Selz [de] points out this phenomenon is already attested in sources from Lagash from the Early Dynastic period, where the name Nanna does not appear, and Sin is the form used in both Sumerian and Akkadian context.[4] The process of conflation presumably started prior to the invention of cuneiform.[5] Sometimes the double name Nanna-Suen was used,[6] as evidenced for example by a short theological text from the Ur III period listing the main deities of the official pantheon.[7] It is sometimes used to refer to this god in modern Assyriological publications too.[8][9][10]
Nanna
The precise etymology of the name Nanna is unknown,[3] though it is agreed that it is not a genitive construction.[11] It is first attested in the Uruk period.[12] In earliest cuneiform texts from Uruk and Ur it was written as (d)LAK-32.NA, with NA possibly serving as a phonetic complement.[3] The name of the city of Ur (Urim) was accordingly written as LAK-32.UNUGki (𒋀𒀕𒆠), "residence of Nanna", per analogy with toponyms such as Zabalam, INANNA.UNUGki.[1] In later periods LAK-32 coalesced with ŠEŠ (the ideogram for "brother"), and Nanna's name came to be written as dŠEŠ+KI or dŠEŠ.KI, though phonetic spellings such as na-an-na are attested too, for example as glosses in lexical lists.[3]
In early Assyriological scholarship it was often assumed that the variant form Nannar was the standard form of the name, but further research demonstrated that it does not predate the Old Babylonian period.[11] The writing dna-an-na-ar is attested in Akkadian and Elamite texts, and was the result of linguistic contamination between the theonym Nanna and the common Akkadian noun nannaru, "light".[3] As an epithet, nannaru could be used to address the moon god, but also Ishtar and Girra.[13]
It is uncertain if the theonym Nanum attested in a theophoric name from Umma is a derivative of Nanna, while Nanni worshiped in Mari and in the kingdom of Khana was a female deity and might be related to Nanaya rather than the moon god.[1]
Sin
In Akkadian the moon god was called Sin (Sîn) or Suen (Su’en).[1] The former is the standard reading of the name from the Old Babylonian period onward, while the latter was presumably the older uncontracted pronunciation.[14] The etymology of this name remains uncertain.[15] One of the inscriptions of Gudea from the third millennium BCE refers to Sin as a god "whose name nobody can explain", which might be an indication that his name was already unclear and a subject of scribal speculation during his reign.[16]
The name Sin was typically written in cuneiform as dEN.ZU, as possibly already attested in a text from the Uruk period, though oldest certain examples, such as entries in the god lists from Fara and Abu Salabikh, only date back to the Early Dynastic period.[1] Most likely it initially developed as a rebus meant to graphically resemble the names of gods whose names had Sumerian etymologies and contained the element EN, for example Enlil.[15] Various phonetic spellings are also attested, for example sú-en, sí-in, si-in and se-en.[17] The large variety of these variants might indicate that the first sibilant was difficult to render in cuneiform.[14]
A variant form of Sin's name, Suinu, is also attested in texts from Ebla.[18] It has been pointed out that an Eblaite lexical list with the entry sú-i-nu is the oldest available attestation of a phonetic spelling of the name.[1] However, the logogram dEN.ZU was also used in this city.[19] Additionally, in a translation of an Akkadian text written in the Ugaritic alphabetic script the name is rendered as sn (KTU 1.70, line 4), while in Aramaic the variants sn, syn and šn are attested.[15] In the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible Sin's name is rendered as san in the theophoric names Sennacherib (Sîn-aḫḫe-erība) and Sanballat (Sîn-uballiṭ).[15] Alfonso Archi argues that the theonym syn attested in a number of inscriptions from South Arabia should be interpreted as a variant of Sin's name too, and suggests vocalizing it similarly to the Eblaite form of the name.[18] However, Manfred Krebernik [de] concludes that no certain cognates of Sin's name have been identified in other Semitic languages, and syn (or sn), who according to him is only known from Thamudic inscription from Hadhramaut, should instead be interpreted as Sayin, the local sun god.[15]
From the Old Babylonian period onward Sin's name could be represented by the logogram d30 (𒀭𒌍), derived from the cuneiform numeral 30, symbolically associated with him due to the number of days in the lunar month.[1] It was originally assumed that an even earlier example occurs in the writing of a personal name from the Ur III period, but subsequent research demonstrated that this was the result of erroneous collation.[20] In the first millennium BCE d30 became the most common writing.[21] For example, in the text corpus from Neo-Babylonian Uruk only a single text, a kudurru inscription of Ibni-Ishtar, uses dEN.ZU instead of d30.[22] Uncommonly dNANNA was used in Akkadian texts as a sumerogram meant to be read as Sin.[1]
Dilimbabbar
Next to Sin and Nanna, the best attested name of the moon god is dAŠ-im4-babbar (𒀭𒀸𒁽𒌓).[15] It was originally assumed that it should be read as Ašimbabbar, though it was subsequently proved that this depended on an erroneous collation.[23] By 2016 the consensus view that Dilimbabbar is the correct reading was established based on the discovery of multiple passages providing phonetic syllabic spellings.[24] The name can be translated as "the shining one who walks alone".[25] This meaning was originally established based on the now abandoned reading of the name, but it is still considered a valid translation.[24] An alternate proposal relying on homophony of the element dilim and the logogram dilim2 (LIŠ) is to explain Dilimbabbar as "the shining bowl".[26] The term dilim2 was a loan from Akkadian tilimtu, "bowl".[27] Piotr Steinkeller notes that it is not impossible both proposals regarding the meaning of Dilimbabbar are correct, and that the scribes might have intentionally created puns depending on the well attested tradition of referring to the moon as a unique or solitary celestial body.[28]
Dilimbabbar is already attested in the Early Dynastic god list from Abu Salabikh.[15] The Zame Hymns from the same period link this title with the worship of the moon god in Urum (Tell Uqair).[29] It is not certain if at this point in time it was understood as a title of Sin or as the name of a distinct deity of analogous character.[30] Mark Glenn Hall notes that the absence of theophoric names invoking the moon god under this name from available sources might indicate that if Dilimbabbar was ever understood as a distinct deity this tradition disappeared very early on.[31] However, Manfred Krebernik and Jan Lisman point out that in the Temple Hymns (hymn 37) Dilimbabbar is addressed as a shepherd of Sin, which they argue might be a relic of an intermediate stage between the existence of two independent moon gods and their full conflation.[32]
For unknown reasons the name Dilimbabbar is absent from all the other known Early Dynastic sources, as well as these from the subsequent Sargonic and Ur III periods, with the next oldest attestation being identified in an inscription of Nur-Adad of Larsa from Ur from the Isin-Larsa period, which might reflect a rediscovery of the name by scribes under hitherto unknown circumstances.[26] It remained in use through subsequent periods, down to the first millennium BCE.[33]
The Akkadian epithet Namraṣit was considered analogous to Dilimbabbar, as attested in the god list An = Anum (tablet III, line 26).[34] It can be translated as "whose rise is luminous".[25] Steinkeller points out that it is not a direct translation of Dilimbabbar, as it effectively leaves out the element dilim.[24] Bendt Alster assumed that the equivalence was the result of late reinterpretation.[35]
Character
Sin was understood both as an anthropomorphic deity representing the moon, and as the astral body itself.[36] He was responsible for providing light during the night.[37] His luminous character could be highlighted with epithets such as "the luminary of the heavens and earth" (nannār šamê u erṣeti) or "the luminary of all creation" (nannār kullati binīti).[38] The growth of the moon over the course of the month was reflected in comparing Sin to the growth of fruit (Akkadian inbu, Sumerian gurun) as attested in Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources, especially hemerologies.[39] However, it was not applied consistently as a designation for a specific phase of the moon.[40] Lunar eclipses were believed to be the result of Sin being surrounded by seven evil utukku sent by Anu.[41]
Next to his astral aspect, Sin's other main role has been described as that of a pastoral deity.[42] He was associated with cattle and with dairy products.[43] This link is reflected in his secondary names Abkar, "shining cow", and Ablulu, "the one who makes the cows abundant".[44] He could be addressed as a herdsman in astral context, with stars being poetically described as his herd.[45] In addition to cows, he could also be associated with sheep and with wild animals inhabiting steppes, especially ibexes and gazelles.[46]
Sin was perceived as a benign deity who could be petitioned for help.[6] He was responsible for guaranteeing abundance and growth, especially in Ur and Harran, which most likely reflects the well attested phenomenon of locally assigning such a role to tutelary deities of specific areas.[47] It was also believed that he could provide people with offspring, as evidenced by prayer in which he is asked for that by childless worshipers, both men and women.[48] He was also believed to aid pregnant women, both during the beginning of pregnancy and in labour.[49] This aspect of his character is highlighted in the incantation Cow of Sîn, which states that he would send a pair of lamassu goddesses to help mothers with difficult births.[50] The common epithet of Sin, "father" (a-a),[51] underlined his ability to cause growth and bring abundance.[47] However, it also reflected his role as a senior member of his pantheon, as well as his authority over deities regarded as his children or servants.[52] It has also been suggested that it metaphorically referred to him as the divine representation of the full moon, with texts instead describing him as a youthful god instead reflecting his role as the new moon.[6] Another epithet commonly applied to him was lugal ("king").[51] Presumably it constituted an implicit reference to his status as the tutelary god of Ur.[53] In the first millennium BCE, as the god of Harran he could be called Bēl-Ḫarrān (dEN.KASKAL), "lord of Harran".[54] This title appears particularly commonly in theophoric names.[55]
Sin could also function as a divine judge in the underworld,[56] as attested for example in the so-called First Elegy of the Pushkin Museum, in which a man named Ludingira hopes that he will proclaim a good verdict for his deceased father.[57] This role might have originally developed as a way to explain why the moon is not visible for a part of each month.[56] The composition in mention states that his judgment took place on the day of the disappearance of the moon (Sumerian u4-ná, Akkadian ūm bubbuli).[58] However, Dina Katz argues that in contrast with the frequent assignment of a similar role to Shamash, Sin was usually not associated with judgment of either the living or the dead.[59] References to both of them acting as judges are nonetheless known from Old Babylonian inscriptions.[60]
In Mesopotamian medicine skin diseases, especially leprosy (saḫaršubbû), as well as epileptic symptoms, could be interpreted as a manifestation of Sin's wrath.[61] The former are also mentioned in curse formulas as a punishment he could inflict upon oath breakers.[62]
As the head of the pantheon
A number of sources attest the existence of a tradition in which Sin was regarded as the sole head of the Mesopotamian pantheon or a deity equal in rank to the traditional kings of the gods, Anu and Enlil.[63] According to Wilfred G. Lambert, most of the evidence for this view postdates the reign of Meli-Shipak II, and indicates it might have been particularly popular in Harran.[64] An Old Babylonian literary composition written in Sumerian describes Sin as the head of the divine assembly (Ubšu’ukkin),with Anu, Enlil, Inanna, Utu, Enki and Ninhursag serving as his advisers.[65] Two of his titles known from the god list An = Anum, dUkkin ("the assembly") and Ukkin-uru ("mighty assembly"), might reflect this portrayal.[51] Some Old Babylonian theophoric names might also be connected to the view that Sin was the head of the pantheon, namely Sîn-bēl-ili ("Sin is the lord of the gods"), Sîn-šar-ili ("Sin is the king of the gods") or Sîn-il-ili ("Sin is god of the gods").[66] Lambert notes that while similar names invoking other gods, for example Shamash and Adad, are also known, Sîn-bēl-ili is ultimately the most common.[64]
Examples of texts elevating Sin's rank are known from Ur from the period of the Neo-Assyrian governor Sîn-balāssu-iqbi's reign.[67] The moon god was in this case seemingly reinterpreted as a "local Enlil”, acting as the king of the gods in Ur.[68] It has been argued that the view that Sin was the supreme god was later particularly enthusiastically supported by the last Neo-Babylonian ruler, Nabonidus.[64] In one of his inscriptions from Harran Sin is described as the "lord of the gods" who possessed "Enlilship", "Anuship" and "Eaship".[69] However, Melanie Groß stresses that Nabonidus' devotion should for the most part not be treated as an unusual phenomenon, save for the fact that Harran was not the center of his empire.[70] She notes that the elevation of city deities significant for specific rulers to the top of the pantheon of the respective states is well documented for example in the case of Marduk and Ashur.[71] Aino Hätinen points out that in Harran similar formulas were used to refer to Sin by Ashurbanipal, and are thus not unique to Nabonidus and do not necessarily indicate elevation of this god during his reign.[72] She suggests both Nabonidus and Ashurbanipal relied on so-called "Theology of the Moon", a concept well attested in explanatory texts from the first millennium BCE according to which Sin possessed divine powers (Sumerian ĝarza, Akkadian parṣū) equal to these of Anu, Enlil and Ea during the first half of the lunar month.[73]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_(mythology)
The Sun and Moon allegory is used to depict a medieval political theory of hierocracy which submits the secular power to the spiritual power, stating that the Bishop of Rome is like the Sun, the only source of his own light, while the Emperor is like the Moon, which merely reflects lights and has no value without the Sun. It was espoused by the Catholic Church of Innocent III and instantiated to some extent in medieval political practice. It was among the first ambitions of papal domination of Europe.
Description
Finding this imagery in the Book of Genesis, the Allegory images authentic spiritual authority as the Sun and any and all civil, or political or secular, authority as the Moon. By doing so, it illustrates that the Roman Catholic Pope, as "Supreme Pontiff", "Vicar of Christ", et cetera, and therefore the supreme universal spiritual authority on Earth, is like the Sun that is the one source of light for itself and all other celestial bodies orbiting it; while the Holy Roman Emperor, as symbolic and intended supreme civil, political, and secular authority on Earth, and having theoretically received his authority from and at the pleasure of the Pope, is like the Moon – that is, dependent upon the Sun for any illumination, merely reflects solar light, and ultimately has no light without the Sun. This theory dominated European political theory and practice in the 13th century.[1] It is related to the general theory of Papal supremacy and "plenitudo potestatis" as articulated by the Roman Catholic Church.
LETTER OF INNOCENT III re-affirming primacy of the Pope's authority over civil powers. November 3, 1198:
To the noble man Acerbus and to the other leaders of Tuscany and of the Duchy.
Just as God, founder of the universe, has constituted two large luminaries in the firmament of Heaven, a major one to dominate the day and a minor one to dominate the night, so he has established in the firmament of the Universal Church, which is signified by the name of Heaven, two great dignities, a major one to preside--so to speak--over the days of the souls, and a minor one to preside over the nights of the bodies. They are the Pontifical authority and the royal power. Thus, as the moon receives its light from the sun and for this very reason is minor both in quantity and in quality, in its size and in its effect, so the royal power derives from the Pontifical authority the splendour of its dignity, the more of which is inherent in it, the less is the light with which it is adorned, whereas the more it is distant from its reach, the more it benefits in splendour. Both these powers or leaderships have had their seat established in Italy, which country consequently obtained the precedence over all provinces by Divine disposition. And therefore, as it is lawful that we should extend the watchfulness of our providence to all provinces, we must especially and with paternal solicitude provide for Italy where the foundation of the Christian religion has been set up and where the pre-eminence of the priesthood and kingship stands prominent through the primacy of the Apostolic See.
We therefore admonish and exhort you all in the Lord through this Apostolic letter, enjoining that since you receive a true and firm assurance from us who--as it is fitting for the Apostolic dignity--intend to do more for you than we want to promise, you should always endeavour to act in a way which would add to the honour and growth of the Roman Church so as to deserve and strengthen the pledge of her favour and friendship.[2]
In 1215, this concept was reflected in Canon 3 of the Fourth Lateran Council regarding heretics:
...if a temporal ruler, after having been requested and admonished by the Church, should neglect to cleanse his territory of this heretical foulness, let him be excommunicated by the metropolitan and the other bishops of the province. If he refuses to make satisfaction within a year, let the matter be made known to the supreme pontiff, that he may declare the ruler's vassals absolved from their allegiance and may offer the territory to be ruled by Catholics, who on the extermination of the heretics may possess it without hindrance and preserve it in the purity of faith; the right, however, of the chief ruler is to be respected as long as he offers no obstacle in this matter and permits freedom of action.[3]
While this theory of papal sovereignty in temporal as well as spiritual matters was, by the fourteenth century, generally rejected as out-of-date,[4] it entered into canon law and was reinforced by the Allegory of the Two Swords in the bull of Pope Boniface VIII entitled Unam Sanctam. Dante Alighieri argued contrarily to the Allegory of the Sun and Moon in his De Monarchia. In this work, he explicitly rejects the allegory of the sun and the moon, and defends that the Emperor is the supreme authority on secular matters, while the Pope is the supreme authority in spiritual matters, none of them having precedence or supremacy over the other. For some time, the work was placed on the Index due to this heterodox conception of Catholic politics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_and_Moon_allegory
Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."
The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
What is a SIN?
A Social Insurance Number (SIN) is a 9-digit number that you need to work and be paid in Canada and access government programs and benefits. It is also used to file taxes.
If you are not eligible for a SIN, you can apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) for tax purposes.
You are responsible for protecting your SIN. Ensure that you store documents containing your SIN and personal information in a safe place. For more information about protecting your SIN, please visit here.
International students get a SIN starting with the number ‘9,’ which lets employers know that you are a temporary resident in Canada.
https://international.northeastern.edu/ogs/student-support/global-campuses/canada/social-insurance-number/
Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."
TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW
https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html
A novena (from Latin: novem, "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks.[1] The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena
'As per numerology, 666 when added comes to 9, a tricky number that stands for greediness, and natural disasters. But 9 (6+6+6+18=1+8=90 is also the number of Mars (Mangal) which means extra energy which can either make or break. It is impulsive, restless, stubborn and inflexible,' adds Jumaani."
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad-times/666-the-devil-or-cupid/articleshow/1621141.cms#
"[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
Revelation 13:16-18
New International Version
"16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A16-18&version=NIV
Ultramontanism was a school of thought of the Catholic Church which promoted supreme papal authority in matters of spirituality and governance. Ultramontanism rejected modern ideals in favour of the supremacy of Catholicism and the Catholic Church in public life. This school of thought was particularly influent in the French-Canadian society during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ultramontanism
William FRANCIS Dunn IV
Social Security Number: 557-73-0018
ROME Survey Page
https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/lp/landing-page-rome.html
The Roman salute, also known as the Fascist salute, is a gesture in which the right arm is fully extended, facing forward, with palm down and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it is held out parallel to the ground. In contemporary times, the former is commonly considered a symbol of fascism that had been based on a custom popularly attributed to ancient Rome.[1] However, no Roman text gives this description, and the Roman works of art that display salutational gestures bear little resemblance to the modern so-called "Roman" salute.[1]
Beginning with Jacques-Louis David's painting The Oath of the Horatii (1784), an association of the gesture with Roman republican and imperial culture emerged. The gesture and its identification with Roman culture were further developed in other neoclassic artworks. In the United States, a similar salute for the Pledge of Allegiance known as the Bellamy salute was created by Francis Bellamy in 1892. The gesture was further elaborated upon in popular culture during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in plays and films that portrayed the salute as an ancient Roman custom. These included the 1914 Italian film Cabiria whose intertitles were written by the nationalist poet Gabriele d'Annunzio. In 1919, d'Annunzio adopted the cinematographically depicted salute as a neo-imperial ritual when he led an occupation of Fiume.
Through d'Annunzio's influence, the gesture soon became part of the rising Italian Fascist movement's symbolic repertoire. In 1923, the salute was gradually adopted by the Italian Fascist regime. It was then adopted as the Nazi salute and made compulsory within the Nazi Party in 1926 and gained national prominence in the German state when the Nazis took power in 1933. It was also adopted by other fascist, far right and ultranationalist movements.
Since the end of World War II, displaying the Nazi variant of the salute has been a criminal offence in Germany, Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, and Poland. Legal restrictions on its use in Italy are more nuanced and use there has generated controversy.[2][3] The gesture and its variations continue to be used in neo-fascist, neo-Nazi, and Falangist contexts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_salute
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
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
A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts
THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES
SAINT LOUIS, 1996
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
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
Luke 21:24
1599 Geneva Bible
24 And they shall fall on the [a]edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Read full chapter
Footnotes
Luke 21:24 Word for word, mouth, for the Hebrews call the edge of a sword the mouth, because the edge biteth.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2021%3A24&version=GNV
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
"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
"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
Mollie Steimer (Ukrainian: Моллі Штаймер; November 21, 1897 – July 23, 1980) was a Ukrainian anarchist activist. After settling in New York City in 1913, she quickly became involved in the local anarchist movement and was caught up in the case of Abrams v. United States. Charged with sedition, she was eventually deported to Soviet Russia, where she met her lifelong partner Senya Fleshin and agitated for the rights of anarchist political prisoners in the country. For her activities, she and Fleshin were again deported to western Europe, where they spent time organising aid for exiles and political prisoners, and took part in the debates of the international anarchist movement. Following the rise of the Nazis in Europe, she and Fleshin fled to Mexico, where they spent the rest of their lives working as photographers.
Early life and activism
On November 21, 1897, Mollie Steimer was born in Dunaivtsi, a village in the south-west of the Russian Empire.[1] At the age of 15, she and her family emigrated to the United States, settling in a ghetto of New York City and setting to work at a garment factory.[2] At this time, she started to read radical political literature, such as Women and Socialism by August Bebel and Underground Russia by Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinsky.[1]
By the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Steimer had gravitated towards anarchism, inspired by the works of the Russian anarchists Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman.[3] Together with other Jewish anarchists, Steimer helped form a clandestine collective called Der Shturm ("The Storm"), which published radical works in the Yiddish language. Following some internal conflict, in January 1918, the group reorganized and launched a new monthly journal titled Frayhayt ("Freedom"),[4] which published articles by Jewish radicals such as Georg Brandes and Maria Goldsmith.[5] The journal's motto was a Henry David Thoreau quote: "That government is best which governs not at all" (Yiddish: Yene regirung iz di beste, velkhe regirt in gantsn nit).[6]
Several of the collective's members, including Steimer, lived and worked together in a six-room apartment on Harlem's East 104th Street.[7] Due to the political repression brought by the Espionage Act of 1917 and the tense political climate that preceded the First Red Scare, the collective was forced to distribute Frayhayt in secret,[8] as it had been among the papers banned by the federal government for its anti-war and far-left political stances.[9] By the summer of 1918, the group had drawn the attention of the authorities after they had begun distributing leaflets denouncing the allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and calling for a social revolution in the United States by means of a general strike.[10]
Arrest, trial and imprisonment
Steimer herself distributed thousands of leaflets around New York.[11] On August 23, 1918, she distributed copies around the factory she worked in and threw a handful of the leaflets out of an upper window, which alerted the police.[12] Steimer was arrested after police received information from an informant within the Frayhayt group. Their apartment was subsequently raided and a number of their other members were arrested, on charges of conspiracy, under the Sedition Act of 1918.[13] During their trial, which came to be known as the case of Abrams v. United States, Steimer gave a speech in which she declared:[14]
By anarchism, I understand a new social order, where no group of people shall be governed by another group of people. Individual freedom shall prevail in the full sense of the word. Private ownership shall be abolished. Every person shall have an equal opportunity to develop himself well, both mentally and physically. We shall not have to struggle for our daily existence as we do now. No one shall live on the product of others. Every person shall produce as much as he can, and enjoy as much as he needs—receive according to his need. Instead of striving to get money, we shall strive towards education, towards knowledge. While at present the people of the world are divided into various groups, calling themselves nations, while one nation defies another — in most cases considers the others as competitive — we, the workers of the world, shall stretch out our hands towards each other with brotherly love. To the fulfillment of this idea I shall devote all my energy, and, if necessary, render my life for it.
On October 25, 1918, Steimer and her co-defendants were found guilty, with Steimer herself being sentenced to 15 years in prison and a $500 fine (equivalent to $10,000 in 2023).[15] With support from both radicals and liberals, notably including Zechariah Chafee and other legal scholars of Harvard University,[16] the sentence was appealed and the defendants were released on bail.[17] Steimer returned to activism, for which she was arrested multiple times over the following year.[18] On March 11, 1919, during a police raid against the Russian People's House on New York's East 15th Street, Steimer was arrested on charges of incitement and subsequently transferred to Ellis Island.[19] Following a hunger strike against the conditions of her solitary confinement, Steimer was released before she could be deported, although the government kept her under surveillance. Back in New York, she met Emma Goldman, with whom she developed a lifelong friendship.[20]
On October 30, 1919, Steimer was arrested again and imprisoned on Blackwell's Island. For six months, she was again held in solitary confinement,[21] which she likewise protested with another hunger strike and by loudly singing revolutionary songs. When the Supreme Court upheld her conviction, her co-defendants informed her of a plan to flee the country into exile, but Steimer herself refused to cooperate, as she did not want to dishonor the workers who had paid her $40,000 in bail (equivalent to $703,000 in 2023).[22] In April 1920, Steimer was transferred to Jefferson City, Missouri, where she was held for a year and a half.[23] For her penal labor, she was required to manufacture 100 jackets per day. She found this task difficult, injuring her arm while attempting to fulfil the quota, but persevered to not bring "further persecution" against her family.[24]
During her time in prison, Steimer's brother died from influenza and her father from shock.[25] She attempted to support her mother and surviving siblings, but her appeal for compassionate release was rejected by the Supreme Court. Instead, the Workers' Defense Union established a relief fund in her name, raising $1,000 (equivalent to $20,000 in 2023) for her family.[26]
On August 22, 1920, two years after her arrest for anti-war agitation, she celebrated news of an international mass strike against the allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, declaring: "At last our great hope, our beautiful ideal of international workers solidarity for the coming good of humanity, is coming true!"[27] She also wrote letters inquiring about the condition of her fellow imprisoned anarchists, although she remained pessimistic about the possibility of their release.[28]
Her lawyer managed to secure her release, on the condition of her deportation. But she initially refused to accept this, due to her staunch opposition to state borders and her concern for fellow political prisoners of the United States.[29] Nevertheless, after some convincing, she arrived back at Ellis Island, where she eagerly awaited her chance to participate in the Russian Revolution.[30]
Deportation and exile
On November 24, 1921, Steimer and her co-defendants were deported to the Russian Soviet Republic on the Estonia.[31] By the time they arrived in Moscow, on December 15, 1921, they found that the Russian anarchist movement had been thoroughly repressed.[32] Emma Goldman had left for exile,[33] Peter Kropotkin had died of old age and both the Kronstadt rebellion and the Makhnovist movement had been suppressed by the Red Army, while hundreds more anarchists were still held in the prisons of the Cheka.[32] Despite the climate of political repression, Steimer made a new home in Petrograd, where she met and fell in love with Senya Fleshin, a veteran of the Makhnovist movement.[34] Together they established an organization to aid political prisoners in Russia,[35] for which they were arrested on November 1, 1922, and sentenced to exile in Siberia. But after they carried out a hunger strike, they were released on November 18, on the condition that they remain in Petrograd and report regularly to the authorities. Despite these conditions, they continued their activities, and were again arrested on July 9, 1923. Following another hunger strike and protests made to Leon Trotsky by anarcho-syndicalist delegates of the Profintern, they were again released, although this time they were to be deported.[36] When ACLU founder Roger Nash Baldwin received news of Steimer's treatment, he declared himself "moved humanly to condemn both governments involved [the United States and Soviet Union] and to give her such aid as I can."[37]
On September 27, 1923, Steimer and Fleshin were deported to Germany,[38] where they were reunited with Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman in Berlin. From the German capital, Steimer wrote articles about her experiences in Russia for the British anarchist newspaper Freedom, to which she denounced the authoritarianism of the Communist Party.[39] The couple also continued their activities in aiding Soviet political prisoners, now as members of the International Workers' Association. In 1924, they joined their fellow exile Volin to Paris, where they established a mutual aid society for anarchist exiles from all countries and participated in the debate around the Platform, which Steimer criticised as authoritarian.[40] During this period, Steimer also met a number of other anarchists, including Harry Kelly, Rose Pesotta, Rudolf Rocker and Milly Witkop, and was briefly reunited with her co-defendants Jack and Mary Abrams, who had also left Russia out of disillusionment with the Revolution.[41]
In 1929, the couple briefly returned to Berlin, where Fleshin worked as a photographer.[42] However, following the ascent to power of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in 1933, they returned to Paris to escape rising antisemitism.[43] In the wake of the invasion of France by Nazi Germany, on May 18, 1940, Steimer was sent to a concentration camp,[44] on account of her Jewish heritage and her anarchist political beliefs.[45] She remained at Camp Gurs for six months before finally being released. She then fled south from Nazi-occupied France to the area controlled by the collaborationist French State.[46] Once she was reunited with Fleshin in Marseilles, the couple escaped across the Atlantic to Mexico.[45]
Later life
In Mexico City, the couple operated a photographic studio, became close with a group of Spanish anarchist exiles and were once again reunited with Jack and Mary Abrams. In 1963, Steimer and Fleshin retired to Cuernavaca, where they kept up with the development of the international anarchist movement and received visitors from the United States. In the late 1970s, Steimer was interviewed by a number of film crews about Emma Goldman and her anarchist convictions, to which she remained a stalwart into her old age.[47]
Steimer died of heart failure in her Cuernavaca home on July 23, 1980, aged 82.[48] Fleshin died less than a year later.[47]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollie_Steimer
The Rose-Croix Adepts respected the dominant, hierarchical, and revealed religion. Consequently they could no more be the enemies of the Papacy than of legitimate Monarchy; and if they conspired against the Popes and Kings, it was because they considered them personally as apostates from duty and supreme favorers of anarchy. What, in fact, is a despot, spiritual or temporal, but a crowned anarchist? One of the magnificent pantacles that express the esoteric and unutterable part of Science, is a Rose, of Light, in the centre of which a human form extends its arms in the form of a cross. Commentaries and studies have been multiplied upon the Divine Comedy, the work of Dante, and yet no one, so far as we know, has pointed out its especial character. The work of the great Ghibellin is a declaration of war against the Papacy, by bold revelations of the Mysteries. The Epic of Dante is Johannite and Gnostic, an audacious application, like that of the Apocalypse, of the figures and numbers of the Kabalah to the Christian dogmas, and a secret negation of every thing absolute in these dogmas. His journey through the supernatural worlds is accomplished like the initiation into the Mvsteries of Eleusis and Thebes. He escapes from that gulf of Hell over the gate of which the sentence of despair was written, by reversing the positions of his head and feet, that is to say, by accepting the direct opposite of the Catholic dogma; and then he reascends to the light, by using the Devil himself as a monstrous ladder. Faust ascends to Heaven, bv stepping on the head of the vanquished Mephistopheles. Hell is impassable for those only who know not how to turn back from it. We free ourselves from its bondage by audacitv. His Hell is but a negative Purgatory. His Heaven is composed of a series of Kabalistic circles, divided by a cross, like the Pantacle of Ezekiel. Tn the centre of this cross blooms a rose, and we see the symbol of the Adepts of the Rose-Croix for the first time publicly expounded and almost cateeoricallv explained.
For the first time, because Ouillaume de Lorris, who died in 1260, five years before the birth of Alighieri, had not completed KNIGHT KADOSH. 823 his Roman de la Rose, which was continued by Chopinel, a half century afterward. One is astonished to discover that the Roman de la Rose and the Divina Commedia are two opposite forms of one and the same work, initiation into independence of spirit, a satire on all contemporary institutions, and the allegorical formula of the great Secrets of the Society of the Roses-Croix.
The important manifestations of Occultism coincide with the period of the fall of the Templars ; since Jean de Meung or Chopinel, contemporary of the old age of Dante, flourished during the best years of his life at the Court of Philippe le Bel. The Roman de la Rose is the Epic of old France. It is a profound book, under the form of levity, a revelation as learned as that of Apuleius, of the Mysteries of Occultism. The Rose of Flamel, that of Jean de Meung and that o'f Dante, grew on the same stem.
Swedenborg's system was nothing else than the Kabalah, minus the principle of the Hierarchy. It is the Temple, without the keystone and the foundation.
Cagliostro was the Agent of the Templars,- and therefore wrote to the Free-Masons of London that the time had come to begin the work of re-building the Temple of the Eternal. He had introduced into Masonry a new Rite called the Egyptian, and endeavored to resuscitate the mysterious worship of Isis. The three letters L.\ P.'. D.\ on his seal, were the initials of the words "Lilia pedibus destrue;" tread under foot the Lilies [of France], and a Masonic medal of the sixteenth or seventeenth century has upon it a sword cutting off the stalk of a lily, and the words "talem dabit ultio messem," such harvest revenge will give.
A Lodge inaugurated under the auspices of Rousseau, the fanatic of Geneva, became the centre of the revolutionary movement in France, and a Prince of the blood-royal went thither to swear the destruction of the successors of Philippe le Bel on the tomb of Jacques de Molai. The registers of the Order of Templars attest that the Regent, the Due d' Orleans, was Grand Master of that formidable Secret Society, and that his successors were the Due de Maine, the Prince of Bourbon-Conde, and the Due de Cosse-Brissac.
The Templars compromitted the King; they saved him from the rage of the People, to exasperate that rage and bring on the catastrophe prepared for centuries ; it was a scaffold that the vengeance of the Templars demanded. The secret movers of the French Revolution had sworn to overturn the Throne and the Altar upon the Tomb of Jacques de Molai. When Louis XVI. was executed, half the work was done; and thenceforward the \rmy of the Temple was to direct all its efforts against the Pope. Jacques de Molai and his companions were perhaps martyrs, but their avengers dishonored their memory. Royalty was regenerated on the scaffold of Louis XVI., the Church triumphed in the captivity of Pius VI., carried a prisoner to Valence, arid dying of fatigue and sorrow, but the successors of the Ancient Knights of the Temple perished, overwhelmed in their fatal victory.
Morals and Dogma
by Albert Pike
https://ia800902.us.archive.org/20/items/MoralsAndDogmaAlbertPikeTheCouncil1871/Morals%20and%20Dogma%2C%20Albert%20Pike%2C%20The%20Council%20%281871%29.pdf
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.
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."
Rose Cross Over The Baltic: The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing
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."
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing
The history of the Giglio of Florence
August 16, 2013 9:25 am 27018
Giglio of Florence: The story behind the lily that turned out not be a lily at all.
The city of Florence has proudly carried the Giglio of Florence on her coat of arms for almost a thousand years. The origin of the lily symbol however is even more ancient and can be traced back to the ruling class of the Roman Empire. It is possible that the Florentine version was derived from that symbol, but there are also other legends surrounding the origin.
One of the stories tells that Florence was founded in 59 BC by the Romans in the period of the flower celebrations in honor of the goddess Flora and another that the city was named after its founder Florinus da Cellino: Florentia (Latin for flowering).
The simplest explanation for the symbol of Florence is that it was derived from the flower that traditionally grows in the area around the city: Iris Fiorentina.
One thing is certain: the Giglio of Florence (Florentine lily) is not a lily, but a stylized iris.
This beautiful white flower was first applied to the city’s coat of arms in the 11th century; it was white on a red background. After the bloody battle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, which ended in 1250 with a victory for the Guelphs, they switched the colors as a sign of their power, thus creating the famous symbol of the red giglio on a white background.
In the Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri describes the eve of this event as follows: ‘The lily of the flagpole was not yet reversed and not colored red by division…’
The new arm was so important to Florence that in 1252 it graced the first Florin that was ever created.
In 1811, Napoleon tried to banish the giglio from Florence, but this led to such violent protests that he soon decided to give the Florentines their beloved symbol back.
Il Giglio Fiorentino can be found on countless places in the city. On old coats of arms on historic buildings, but also on the numerous (company) logos like that of the municipality of Florence, the Fiorentina football club and the ice cream parlor around the corner from my home.
Florence and her giglio have been inseparable for 10 centuries and that is not going to change any time soon.
https://www.intoflorence.com/history-giglio-florence/
The oldest written evidence of rose cultivation comes from a tablet discussing the Akkadian king Sargon I’s military campaign to the west. Sargon brought rosebush saplings with him on the campaign so rose cultivation could begin in these newly acquired territories soon after his conquest. It was an act of supreme confidence and evidence of roses’ importance to Akkadian culture.
https://deathscent.com/2022/02/18/rosalia/
Sargon
SARGON sär’ gŏn (סַֽרְגֹ֖ון; Akkad. šarrukēn, “the king is legitimate”).
The name is found only once in the Bible (Isa 20:1) where it refers to Sargon II of Assyria (721-705 b.c.). This Sargon was the son of Tiglath-pileser III, successor to his brother Shalmaneser V, and father of Sennacherib. His reign is amply known from his inscrs. at Khorsabad and from letters and historical texts found at Nineveh and Nimrud. Although he is named only once in the OT, his campaigns are of importance for understanding the historical background of the prophecies of Isaiah.
Sargon II claimed the fall of Samaria (721 b.c.), which had been besieged by his predecessor Shalmaneser V for three years (2 Kings 17:5, 6) until his death in 722 b.c. According to Sargon’s records, he deported 27,290 people from the area of Samaria to Mesopotamia. During the first part of his reign he faced serious domestic problems which were settled only by grant of privileges to the citizens of Assur. In the following year (720 b.c.) Ilu-bihdi of Hamath led Arpad, Damascus, and Pal. into revolt. Sargon defeated this anti-Assyrian coalition near Qarqar in N Syria. In 720 b.c. the kingdom of Judah, under Ahaz, together with Philistia, Edom, and Moab, submitted to vassalage and paid tribute. In the following years, people deported from Babylonia, Hamath, and elsewhere were resettled in Samaria; these, with others brought in later, mingled with the surviving Israelite population, and their descendants years later were known as the Samaritans.
Sargon had scarcely completed the reduction of Samaria when he was greeted by a rebellion in Babylonia in 720 b.c. led by the Chaldean prince Marduk-apal-iddina (Biblical Merodach-baladan who ruled 721-711 b.c.) in Babylonia not simply as a barbarian chieftain but as a great Mesopotamian monarch who left behind traces of his building activities in various cities. Although backed by Humbanigash, king of Elam, an indecisive battle was fought at Der, between the Tigris and the Zagros, making it expedient for Sargon to leave Merodach-baladan as king in Babylonia. Thus Sargon lost control of Babylonia and did not regain it for c. twelve years.
Meanwhile, other campaigns claimed his attention. In Asia Minor, Mita (Midas), king of the Phrygian Mushki, proved a troublesome foe. A rebellion by the vassal state of Carchemish in Syria (717 b.c.) provoked Sargon to destroy that ancient center of Hitt. culture and deport its population, and subsequently to make various campaigns into Asia Minor. Sargon also turned on Urartu, already weakened by Tiglath-pileser III and now gravely threatened by the incursions of an Indo-Aryan barbarian people called the Cimmerians who were moving down from the Caucasus. Seizing the opportunity, Sargon broke the power of Urartu completely, thus removing an ancient rival—and Assyria’s strongest dike against the barbarian tide at the same time.
After 720 b.c. Sargon conducted no major campaign in Pal. This may have encouraged the restless vassals to imagine that he was a man who could be trifled with. By 713 b.c. Ashdod rebelled and other Philistine towns were drawn into the revolt and, as Sargon told it, Judah, Edom, and Moab were invited to join. That Egyp. aid had been promised is clear both from the Assyrian texts and the Bible (Isa 20). In fact, according to Isaiah 18, ambassadors of the Ethiopian king himself waited on Hezekiah, hoping to enlist his cooperation. Opinions were divided in Judah: to go or not. Isaiah was bitterly opposed, both calling on his king to give the Ethiopian envoys a negative answer, and symbolically illustrating (Isa 20) the folly of trusting in Egypt by walking about Jerusalem barefoot and clad only in a loincloth.
Sargon at this time was at the peak of power and preparing to reconquer Babylon. Ashdod, the center of revolt, was quickly taken by storm, and Judah, Moab, and Edom paid homage to the conqueror. The expected Egyp. aid failed completely to materialize and Judah was held in subjection. Later Hezekiah revolted against Sargon’s son, Sennacherib.
At the beginning of 710 b.c., Sargon was everywhere victorious. The whole of Syria-Pal. and most of the Zagros range were firmly in Assyrian hands; Urartu was dressing its wounds; the Egyptians were friendly; the Elamites and Phrygians were hostile but peaceful. Babylon, under Merodach-baladan, remained a thorn in the side of Assyria, and in 710 b.c. Sargon attacked it for the second time in his reign. It was a smashing victory, with Merodach-baladan fleeing to Elam for refuge, and the fame of Sargon continued to grow. The repeated efforts made by its enemies to undermine the Assyrian empire had been of no avail; at the end of Sargon’s reign it was larger and apparently stronger than ever.
As a war chief, Sargon liked to live in Kalḫu (Nimrud), the military capital of the empire, where he occupied, restored, and modified Ashurnasirpal’s palace. Moved by great pride, he soon decided to have his own palace in his own city. In 717 b.c. he laid the foundations of “Sargon’s fortress,” Dur-Sharrukin, a hitherto virgin site twelve m. NE of Nineveh, near the modern village of Khorsabad.
Ten years later the workmen completed a town which was square in plan, each side measuring c. one in. The palace itself stood on a sixty-ft. high platform overriding the city wall and comprised more than 200 rooms and thirty courtyards. The royal abode was richly decorated and the gates of the town were guarded by colossal bull-men. Evidence, however, indicates that the city was scarcely inhabited and almost immediately abandoned at the king’s death. One year after Dur Sharrukin was officially inaugurated, Sargon was killed (705 b.c.). His successors preferred Nineveh, and Khorsabad, deserted, fell slowly to ruins.
Bibliography Malamat, “The Historical Setting of Two Biblical Prophecies on the Nations,” IEJ, 1 (1950/51), 150ff.; G. Roux, Ancient Iraq, 257-262; H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq, 17 (1955), 146-149; H. Tadmor, “The Campaigns of Sargon II of Assyria,” JCS 12 (1958), 22-40; 77-100; W. W. Hallo, “From Qarqar to Carchemish: Assyria and Israel in the Light of New Discoveries,” BA, 23 (1960), 50-56.
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Sargon
Isaiah 20
1599 Geneva Bible
20 2 The three years captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia described by the three years going naked of Isaiah.
1 In the year that [a]Tartan came to [b]Ashdod, (when [c]Sargon king of Assyria sent him) and had fought against Ashdod, and taken it,
2 At the same time spake the Lord by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the [d]sackcloth from thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years as a sign and wonder upon Egypt, and Ethiopia,
4 So shall the king of Assyria take away the captivity of Egypt, and the captivity of Ethiopia, both young men and old men, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5 And they shall fear, and be ashamed of [e]Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their [f]glory.
6 Then shall the inhabitants of this [g]isle say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we be delivered?
Footnotes
Isaiah 20:1 Who was captain of Sennacherib, 2 Kings 18:17.
Isaiah 20:1 A city of the Philistines.
Isaiah 20:1 The Hebrews write that Sennacherib was so called.
Isaiah 20:2 Which signifieth that the Prophet did lament the misery that he saw prepared, before the three years that he went naked and barefooted.
Isaiah 20:5 In whose aid they trusted.
Isaiah 20:5 Of whom they boasted and gloried.
Isaiah 20:6 Meaning, Judea, which was compassed about with their enemies, as an isle with waters.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2020&version=GNV
2 Kings 17
1599 Geneva Bible
17 3 Hoshea King of Israel is taken, 4 And he and all his realm brought to the Assyrians, 18 for their idolatry. 25 Lions destroy the Assyrians that dwelt in Samaria. 29 Every one worshippeth the god of his nation, 35 Contrary to the commandment of God.
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel, and reigned nine years.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, [a]but not as the kings of Israel, that were before him.
3 And Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
4 And the king of Assyria found treason in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present unto the king of Assyria, [b]as he had done yearly: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and put him in prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went against Samaria, and besieged it three years.
6 ¶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and put them in Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the [c]Medes.
7 For when the children of Israel [d]sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and feared other gods,
8 And walked according to the fashions of the Heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel, and after the manners of the kings of Israel, which they used,
9 And the children of Israel had done secretly things that were not upright before the Lord their God, and throughout all their cities had built high places, both from the tower [e]of the watch, to the defensed city,
10 And had made them images and groves upon every high hill, and under every green tree,
11 And there burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen, whom the Lord had taken away before them, and wrought wicked things to anger the Lord,
12 And served idols: whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall do no such thing,
13 Notwithstanding the Lord testified to Israel, and to Judah [f]by all the Prophets, and by all the Seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments, and my statutes, according to all the Law, which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the Prophets.
14 Nevertheless they would not obey, but hardened their necks, like to the necks of their [g]fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.
15 And they refused his statutes and his covenant, that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies (wherewith he witnessed unto them) and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the heathen that were round about them: concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16 Finally they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the [h]host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they made their sons and their daughters [i]pass through the fire, and used witchcraft and enchantments, yea, [j]sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to anger him.
18 Therefore the Lord was exceedingly wroth with Israel, and put them out of his sight, and none was left but the tribe of Judah [k]only.
19 Yet Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked according to the fashion of Israel, which they used.
20 Therefore the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his [l]sight.
21 [m]For he cut off Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat King: and Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, and departed not therefrom,
23 Until the Lord put Israel away out of his sight, as he had said [n]by all his servants the Prophets, and carried Israel away out of their land to Assyria unto this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought folk from Babylon, and from [o]Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: so they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
25 ¶ And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they [p]feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew them.
26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent Lions among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the Priests whom ye brought thence, and let him go and dwell there, and teach them the manner of the God [q]of the country.
28 So one of the Priests, which they had carried from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
29 Howbeit, every nation made their gods, and put them in the houses of the high places, which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
30 For the men of Babylon made [r]Succoth Benoth: and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 And the Avites made Nibhaz, and Tartak: and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech, and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 Thus they feared the Lord, and appointed out Priests out of themselves for the high places, who prepared for them sacrifices in the houses of the high places.
33 They [s]feared the Lord, but served their gods after the manner of the nations whom they carried thence.
34 Unto this day they do after the old manner: they neither fear God, neither do after [t]their ordinances, nor after their customs, nor after the Law, nor after the commandment, which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob whom he named Israel,
35 And with whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Fear none other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
36 But fear the Lord which brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power, and a stretched out arm: him fear ye, and worship him and sacrifice to him.
37 Also keep ye diligently the statutes and the ordinances and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, that ye do them continually, and fear not other gods.
38 And forget not the covenant that I have made with you, neither fear ye other gods.
39 But fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hands of all your enemies.
40 Howbeit they obeyed not, but did after their old custom.
41 So these [u]nations feared the Lord, and served their images also: so did their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
Footnotes
2 Kings 17:2 Though he invented no new idolatry, or impiety as others did, yet he sought for help at the Egyptians, which God had forbidden.
2 Kings 17:4 For he had paid tribute for the space of eight years.
2 Kings 17:6 For at this time the Medes and Persians were subject to the Assyrians.
2 Kings 17:7 He setteth forth at length the cause of this great plague and perpetual captivity, to admonish all people, and nations to cleave to the Lord God, and only worship him for fear of like judgment.
2 Kings 17:9 Meaning, throughout all their borders.
2 Kings 17:13 Hebrew, by the hand of.
2 Kings 17:14 So that to allege the authority of our fathers or great antiquity, except we can prove that they were godly, is but to declare that we are the children of the wicked.
2 Kings 17:16 That is, the sun, the moon, and stars, Deut. 4:19.
2 Kings 17:17 Read 2 Kings 16:3.
2 Kings 17:17 Read of this phrase, 1 Kings 21:20, 25.
2 Kings 17:18 No whole tribe was left but Judah, and they of Benjamin and Levi, which remained, were counted with Judah.
2 Kings 17:20 Out of the land where he showed the greatest tokens of his presence and favor.
2 Kings 17:21 That is, God cut off the ten tribes, 1 Kings 12:16, 20.
2 Kings 17:23 Hebrew, by the hand of.
2 Kings 17:24 Of these peoples came the Samaritans, whereof mention is so much made in the Gospel, and with whom the Jews would have nothing to do, John 4:9.
2 Kings 17:25 That is, they served him not: therefore, lest they should blaspheme him, as though there were no God, because he chastised the Israelites, he showeth his mighty power among them by this strange punishment.
2 Kings 17:27 That is, how to worship him: thus the wicked rather than to lose their commodities will change to all religions.
2 Kings 17:30 Meaning that every country served that idol, which was most esteemed in that place whence they came.
2 Kings 17:33 That is, they had a certain knowledge of God, and feared him because of the punishment, but they continued still idolaters as do the Papist, which worship both God and idols: but this is not to fear God, as appeareth verse 34.
2 Kings 17:34 He meaneth this by the Israelites to whom God had given his commandments.
2 Kings 17:41 That is, these strangers which were sent into Samaria by the Assyrians.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20kings%2017&version=GNV
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