Ashes, Resurrection & the Phoenix

http://littleguyintheeye.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/lent/

A phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (sun city in Greek).

Manly P. Hall The Phoenix: An Illustrated Review of Occultism and Philosophy

“Among the ancients a fabulous bird called the Phoenix is described by early writers … in size and shape it resembles the eagle, but with certain differences.  The body of the Phoenix is one covered with glossy purple feathers, and the plumes in its tail are alternately blue and red.  The head of the bird is light in color, and about its neck is a circlet of golden plumage.  At the back of its back the Phoenix has a crest of feathers of brilliant color … The Phoenix, it is said, lives for 500 years, and at its death its body opens and the new born Phoenix emerges.  Because of this symbolism, the Phoenix is generally regarded as representing immortality and resurrection … The Phoenix is one sign of the secret orders of the ancient world and of the initiate of those orders, for it was common to refer to one who had been accepted into the temples as a man twice-born, or reborn.  Wisdom confers a new life, and those who become wise are born again.” [p. p. 176-77]

Barbara Walker Now Is The Dawning , p. 281

“Egyptians believed that the Phoenix was the representative of a god who “rose to heaven in the form of a morning star, like Lucifer, after his fire-immolation of death and rebirth …”

William Schnoebelen, in his book, Satan’s Door Revisited , p. 4.  “The Phoenix, of Bunnu is believed to be a divine bird going back to Egypt … This Phoenix destroys itself in flames and then rises from the ashes.  Most occultists believe that the Phoenix is a symbol of Lucifer who was cast down in flames and who … will one day rise triumphant.  This [belief] also relates to the raising of Hiram Abiff, the Masonic ‘christ’.”

Manly P. Hall The Lost Keys of Freemasonry pg 108

“These were the immortals to whom the term ‘phoenix’ was applied, and their symbol was the mysterious two-headed bird, now called an eagle , a familiar and little understood Masonic emblem .”

Biederman’s Dictionary explains the symbolism of the eagle: “In ancient Syria, the eagle was associated with the sun-god. It was said to be capable of rejuvenation, like the phoenix.”

Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark pg 265

“They {Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton} knew that the Stone {Philosopher’s Stone} was directly related to higher degrees of consciousness and perception, while being represented by the legendary Phoenix which rises from destruction in a blaze of rebirth and new light.”

Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark pg 27

“In the romance of Parzival by the Bavarian knight Wolfram von Eschenbach, we read: ‘Around the end of the stone, an inscription in letters tells the name and lineage of those, be they maids or boys, who are called to make the journey of the Grail.  No one needs to read the inscription, for as soon as it has been read it vanishes.’  The stone being discussed here was said to be the ‘perfection of earthly paradise,’ with remarkable healing and anti-ageing properties.  It was called Lapis Elixis, a variant of Lapis Elixir, the alchemical Philosopher’s Stone.  The text continues: ‘By the power of that stone the Phoenix burns to ashes, but the ashes speedily restore him to life again.  Thus doth the Phoenix Destiny.”

Albert Pike associates the Great Secret with the discovery of the Alchemists “Philosopher’s Stone.”

Morals and Dogma pg 64
…Grand Arcanum,…that secret whose revelation would overturn Earth and Heaven.  Let no one expect us to give them its explanation!  He who passes behind the veil that hides this mystery, understands that it is in its very nature inexplicable, and that it is death to those who win it by surprise, as well as to him who reveals it.  This secret is the Royalty of the Sages, the Crown of the Initiate whom we see redescend victorious from the summit of Trials, in the fine allegory of Cebes. The Grand Arcanun makes him master of gold and the light, which are at bottom the same thing, he has solved the problem of the quadrature of the circle, he directs the perpetual movement, and he possesses the philosophical stone. Here the Adepts will understand us. There is neither interruption in the toil of nature, nor gap in her work. The Harmonies of Heaven correspond to those of Earth, and the Eternal Life accomplishes its evolutions in accordance with the same laws as the life of a dog. “God has arranged all things by weight, number, and measure,” says the Bible; and this luminous doctrine was also that of Plato.

Azoth was considered to be a ‘universal medicine’ or ‘universal solvent’ sought in alchemy, its symbol was the Caduceus (the rod of Hermes) and so the term, which being originally a term for an occult formula sought by alchemists much like the philosopher’s stone, became a poetic word for the element Mercury.

As the works of more of the alchemists have come to light, it becomes clear that the philosopher’s stone wasn’t really a stone at all—even though it is always referred to as such. Sometimes the catalyst of transmutation is described as a divine child, an angel, a dragon, an elixir, a tincture, or an as-yet unknown chemical compound.

Many alchemists began to consider that somehow the philosopher’s stone was not a thing at all, but a system of knowledge. Once the alchemist truly perceived the reality that lay behind the symbols, he would achieve an intellectual and spiritual level wherein he would become one with the power that existed within the mysterious goal for which he searched so long. Once he understood what the philosopher’ stone represented, he would have found it at last—and he would have become one with it.

Many scholars have since insisted that the true alchemists sought not to turn base metals into gold, but to transform the dense material of their physical bodies into a spiritually evolved immaterial entity. In this perspective, the philosopher’s stone becomes the Holy Spirit that mystically transmutes humans into true manifestations of God on Earth.

Saturn, Hexagram connection

The Talisman of Saturn became known as the Seal of Solomon.click here

From James Fausset Brown commentary on Amos 5:26
the star of your god — R. Isaac Caro says all the astrologers represented Saturn as the star of Israel. Probably there was a figure of a star on the head of the image of the idol, to represent the planet Saturn; hence “images” correspond to “star” in the parallel clause. A star in hieroglyphics represents God (Num_24:17). “Images” are either a Hebraism for “image,” or refer to the many images made to represent Chiun.

John Gill commentary on Amos 5:26

Holy Blood Holy Grail pg 297
Quoting from Perlesvaus pg. 359
“Well I know that many brave knights dwell with the Grail at Munsalvaesche.  Always when they ride out, as they often do, it is to seek adventure.  They do so for their sins, these templars, whether their reward be defeat or victory.  A valiant hose lives there, and I will tell you how they are sustained.  They live from a stone of purest kind.  If you know not know it, it shall here be named to you.  It is called lapsit exillis. By the power of that stone the phoenix burns to ashes, but the ashes give him life again.  Thus does the phoenix molt and change its plumage, which afterward is bright and shining and as lovely as before. There never was a human so ill but that, if he on day sees that stone, he cannot die within the week that follows.  And in looks he will not fade.  His appearance wills tay the same as when the best years of his life began, and though he should see the stone for two hundred years, it will never change, save that his hair might perhaps turn gray.  Such power does the stone give a man that flesh and bones are at once made young again.  The stone is called the Grail.”click here

“Lapsit exillis might be a corruption of lapis ex caelis– ‘stone from the heavens.’ It might also be a corruption of lapsit ex caelis – ‘it fell from heaven’; or of lapis lapsus ex caelus- ‘a stone fallen from heaven; or, finally, of lapis elixir -the fabulous Philosopher’s Stone of alchemy.”…The Philosopher’s stone will need to be discussed in more detail in a future study, but it points to the ‘evolution of man’ into a ‘god.’  DNA is a stone, when it is mixed with the ’stone’ from heaven the ‘Holy Grail’ or transformation is attained.  This is what Christmas is a foreshadow of.  The return of the age of Saturn.  The age of Aquarius.  The golden age of the ‘gods.’

Guardians of the Grail pg 43-44

“Trevor Ravenscroft writes in the Cup of Destiny that Percival rides through the constellations of the zodiac in his quest for the golden cup.  His destination is Aries, where lies the castle of the Holy Grail.  According to the doctrine of the ancient mystery cult, as he enters the Grail castle, he is entering the mystery world of the human body, the brain.  It is there that ‘the stone of light’ resides.  The stone is supposedly the pineal gland, located at the base of the brain.  It is at the so-called ‘center of man’s consciousness’.”

This ‘magic square of the sun’ is associated with the ‘The Philosophers stone’

The Philosopher’s stone is associated with the hexagram…a symbol that comes up over and over again in connection with the number 666.

The Hexagram of Earth represents the Solar energy that makes concrete matter that we can move and touch, in short, The Philosophers Stone.

Dr. John Dee, the court astrologist of Queen Elizabeth I, in his book Hieroglyphic Monad, includes the following quote:

“‘Mahatma Letters,’ page 345: ‘The double triangle viewed by the Jewish Kabbalists as Solomon’s Seal is…the Sri–Antana of the Archaic Aryan Temple, the Mystery of Mysteries, a geometrical synthesis of the whole occult doctrine. The two interlaced triangles are the Buddham-Gums of Creation. They contain the ‘squaring of the Circle,’ the ‘Philosophers’ Stone,’ the great problems of Life and Death–the mystery of Evil. The Chela who can explain this sign from every one of its aspects is virtually an Adept.’”John Dee, Hieroglyphic Monad, Dr John Dee, WEISER BOOKS, Boston MA/York Beach, ME, page 76

Albert Pike associates the Great Secret of Freemasonry with the discovery of the Alchemists “Philosopher’s Stone.”

The philosopher’s stone is a legendary substance, allegedly capable of turning inexpensive metals into gold. It was sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. In the view of spiritual alchemy, making the philosopher’s stone would bring enlightenment upon the maker and conclude the Great Work. It is also known by several other names, such as ‘materia prima.’  Ultimately, it is about bringing heaven down to earth.  Or the Sun (father) joining with the earth (mother) according to occult belief.