Most important...is Plato's discussion of the divine element or spark within us in his story of Atlantis. For many generations, Plato tells us, a 'divine element' in the nature of the hybrid children (of the gods and men) of Atlantis survived. They retained a greatness of mind and enjoyed a certain high standard of living and lives of impeccable character.
But, the divine element in them became weakened by frequent admixture with mortal stock and their human traits became predominant. They ceased to be able to carry their prosperity with moderation, says Plato. The degenerative strain began to covet power and unbridled ambition.
William Henry
Starwalkers ~ and the Dimension of the Blessed
.............
Every Mason knows that a broken vow carries with it a terrible penalty. Let him also realize that failure to live mentally, spiritually and morally up to one's highest ideals constitutes the greatest of all broken oaths.
His life is the only prayer acceptable in the eyes of the Most High. An impure life is a broken trust; a destructive action is a living curse; a narrow mind is a strangle cord around the throat of God.
Only those who have been weighed in the balance and found to be true, upright and square have prepared themselves by their own growth to appreciate the inner meanings of their Craft. To the rest of their brethren within or without the lodge their sacred rituals must remain, as Shakespeare might have said, "Words, words words."
Manley P. Hall
The Lost Keys of Freemasonry.
..............
The Templars showed a great reverence for Mary. Rule 306 states that 'the hours of Our Lady should always be said first in this house...because Our Lady was the beginning of our Order, and in her and her honour, if it please God, will be the end of our lives and the end of our order, whenever God wishes it to be.'
Templar novices, at their reception into the Order, made their solemn pledges to the Blessed Mary as well as to God, even as the preceptor instructed Gerard de Vaux to do in 1311:
'You should understand fully what we are saying to you: you should swear and promise to God and the Blessed Mary that you will always be obedient to the Master of the Temple.'
Templars imprisoned and awaiting death in the dungeons of the castle of Chinon after their arrests in 1307 composed a prayer dedicated to Our Lady, acknowledging St. Bernard as the founder of the religion of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Karen Ralls
The Templars and the Grail; Knights of the Quest
...............
The evangelical has a strong suspicion that the deepest roots of the Marian cultus are not to be found in the Christian tradition at all. The religious history of mankind shows a recurring tendency to worship a mother-goddess.
Geoffrey Ashe
The Virgin:
Mary's Cult and the Re-emergence of the Goddess
........
'Yet ANOTHER initiation?'
Daryl groused as he poured more brandy.
Silence. But traces of smiles lingered upon the faces of Volundar Kane, Sebastiao and Raimundo. Volundar Kane even laughed softly to himself.
'So many initiates...' he murmured, '...so few Maestros.'
Daryl directed his frown the smith's way, but said nothing, having learned, at last, from his dealings with Axelis and Yeats. He didn't even want to think of Thelene.
'Not so much an Initiation, as perhaps a Revelation,' Raimundo poured more coffee for himself and Daryl, pushing his cup toward him. 'Drink up. It could be a long evening.'
Daryl's frown switched focus to Raimundo, who remained calm and cool as ever, as he regarded Daryl.
'You have something to tell us, perhaps?' he asked.
All eyes now turned to Daryl in the hot seat.
'I...ah, yes, I do, actually,' Daryl had come here for this. He had rehearsed his tale, and had known that any excuses would not be countenanced here, so he resolved to stick to the facts. Such as he could understand them, at least.
Inhaling, he sighed and began: 'I...have renounced all travel,' his eyes searched theirs for acknowledgement of his dual meaning, 'and, as well, not only did I betray your trust and make use of...the Items, once more, but in a misguided attempt to travel, bypassing use of the Items, I...suffered rather a great, ah, setback ~'
(~ at which point, Volundar Kane barked out a robust 'Hah!' ~ which was courteously ignored by all.)
Daryl paused briefly, then continued, 'Ah, rather a serious setback,' he eyed Volundar critically, 'that nearly killed me,' he finished, reaching for his brandy glass.
Drinking deep, he then confessed, 'Also, Emlyn and I are, no longer engaged. Exactly what we are now, to one another, I have no idea...' He ran a shaky hand through his already disheveled hair, looking as unglued as he felt.
'I...believed I had only been gone overnight. But, it seems, I was actually away...four months.'
Sighing raggedly once more, he spurred himself on.
'I came to lay this all before you, and to admit my transgressions. Whatever judgement you wish to mete out, is probably nothing more or less than I deserve.'
No one said a word. Gazing about, Daryl noticed that the place had nearly cleared out, only a few tables held the odd couple or two finishing their drinks.
At last, Raimundo emptied the remaining brandy into their glasses and set down the empty bottle.
'No one here sits in judgement. We here are only men, like yourself. At most, we look within to seek compassion toward our fellows. As should all.'
'-- Ooh, I don't know...'
-- That impossibly familiar voice surely was not being heard here, Daryl desperately told himself. But the impossible voice continued:
'...From my experience in Sitka, I believe I can honestly say that I'd dealt with mules who were slightly less thickheaded.'
St.John appeared from behind Daryl's seat and taking a used saucer from the table, extinguished his cigar thoroughly and with relish, eyeing Daryl as though to say: 'See this? You're next.'
Mygods, St.John it was! Daryl thought. Indeed...
Here, in the (rather astounding) flesh, as it were.
Daryl merely stared, mouth slightly agape. His brain refused to run down this track. His brain-train was, indeed, about ready to jump the rails...
He was shaking his head slowly, as a sort of humming noise seemed to growl from his throat. It formed into a soft series of 'no, no, no, no's', and Daryl began to sweat at last, all chill of the outdoors dispelled.
St.John was frowning Daryl's way, as if trying to ascertain what had come over the man. Slowly he smiled, still frowning however, as he realised what an opportune shock his presence had created in his sweating, shaking colleague.
Suddenly, something seemed to have penetrated Daryl's shock. He sat up straight and slammed a hand upon the table, shaking its mesa.
'You!' He pointed at St.John, and then turned his head to Volundar Kane, 'And you!' he was nodding.
Then, to the amazement of all, he began to laugh. He leaned back in his chair, shaking his head and giggling, as everyone regarded his odd behavior with benign indulgence.
'Oh, do allow us lesser mortals the wisdom behind your enigmatic antics, dear boy...' St. John leaned over, took a chair and joined the others at table.
'Feel free to share!' He waved for more brandy and coffee as Daryl's quivering fits of amusement quieted.
'Aaahh...St.John...' Daryl said at last. 'You played it well. Masterful, that.' He nodded to the older man, as a new bottle of Armagnac and fresh coffee was delivered.
'And Volundar Kane!' His gaze went to the brawny smith.
He shook his head. 'How was it that I never recognised you as my shadow?' He accepted the proffered snifter of the amber liquor, and drank thankfully, closing his eyes.
'Of course. Of course....you both had to be in on it...so obvious! But, how could anyone have known?' Daryl was mumbling to himself now.
St.John and Kane eyed one another then leveled their gaze upon Daryl.
'I think we finally sent him round the proverbial bend,' Kane pronounced. 'No more brandy for him.'
St.John chuckled to himself, adding honey to his coffee, as well as the brandy.
'Oh, he'll come 'round. He's only just now trying to catch up with himself is all.'
Having caught up enough for now, Daryl eyed St.John with some suspicion.
'St.John, indeed...,' he paused to bend an elbow. 'You know, John the Baptist himself was at times made out to be other than the desert father and way-shower that most believed him to be. Some even thought that there was a conspiracy betwixt the followers of the Baptist and those of Jesus, and John's faction insisted the mantle of new Messiah was rightfully his.'
St.John merely sipped his cup with casual ease and regarded Daryl with heavy-lidded eyes.
'Why muddy clear waters?' He asked at last. Silence reigned for a tick, as the reference to 'clear waters' and the Baptist wasn't lost on this company.
'Some say they were cousins, although much is murky regarding family ties, in the New Testament at least.' St.John continued, 'I like to think that the masses of my countrymen are not so wrong in celebrating his feast day on June 24th, as did the Templars, marking it as one of their two divisions to the ancient year.'
Daryl looked wide-eyed at St.John then.
'You are, Quebecois?'
'Mais, oui,' Was St.John's uncharacteristic brief reply.
'Sacre bleu...' Daryl's exclamation brought chuckles all round. He dropped his head to both hands, shaking it slowly. 'I don't know what to think anymore,' he mumbled.
At last, he scratched his hair and then ran hands through it in a failed attempt to keep it kempt.
'San Sebastiao is the patron saint of Brazil,' Raimundo smiled as he put a hand upon Sebastiao's shoulder, who returned his smile.
Daryl returned his attention to Kane and regarded the smith narrowly then.
'What you don't realise, is that we nearly set our wolf pack loose upon you, Volundar Kane.'
It was now the smith's turn to look rather perplexed.
'We also have cannon,' Daryl couldn't help but add, attempting to recover his lost dignity.
'Ah, my dear boy, such exaggerated retaliation is hardly necessary.' St.John added more brandy to his empty cup.
'But, I suppose, "We have to distrust each other, it's our only defense against betrayal".'
Daryl dropped all posturing at that. If St.John's presence here hadn't completely unstrung him, this last pronouncement of his just had; for the quote he'd given voice to was by the author Tennessee Williams.
.............
Emlyn and Athena had helped the others arrange chairs about the hefty round oak table in the back room after the ceremony, and now the door opened to admit Evangeline and another woman bringing in trays of small tarts and fruit, while a large punchbowl on a cart was wheeled in as well.
Athena took it upon herself to keep the fire stoked, while the ladies set out the comestibles, then all joined together about table.
Taking each other's hands, Celine led them in the goddess's blessing:
'We are all Gaia's children, and as such, give thanks to our Earth Mother for her bounty. Blessed Be.'
As the women helped themselves to the feast before them, Emlyn looked around at the faces ringed about her with the recurring prickle of remembrance tickling her waking consciousness.
'Yes!' Madame Celine spoke to her then. 'That is it, is it not? Here and Now, not all of us are known to each other, at least not on mundane time. In Dreamtime, we are, of course, all well-known to one another.' She smiled. 'Do try the little cherry tarts, they are so tasty...'
Emlyn did, noting the wee pentacles carved on the pie crusts, symbol of the goddess. She sighed in contentment, being able to honor the goddess, and womanhood, after centuries of repression neath the Iron Heel of the Church.
'Umm. They are a delight! Who made them all?' Emlyn took another tart.
'We did,' Alice answered, 'All of us. We come together on such occasions, to teach, to learn, and to enjoy and commune with one another...'
'-- And bake!' A raven-haired woman added. 'Ah, women and kitchens, still an acceptable pairing. Whereas, a woman and a laboratory, not so much? But, where, indeed, is the difference?'
Emlyn remembered her name now, Lilith, it was, the lady with the long dark hair. She was one of the more outspoken ones there Em thought, as Lilith continued:
'One is either a cook or an alchemist, but not both? Of course, one must be either a healer, or a witch, and certainly not both. At least, not in the mundane world.'
'Emlyn and I meet up together in Dreamtime rather often,' Athena offered as she ladled punch for herself and Em. Emlyn shifted a glance Alice's way to find her gaze upon them both.
'Indeed?' Lilith queried. 'I shall look for you both there.' She winked.
'Do you work with chemistry, in a lab, then, Lilith?' Emlyn asked.
'I do,' answered that good lady. 'Although it may look like a kitchen to most.' She smiled, as chuckles sounded from the gathering. 'At present, I am trying to cook up a charm to keep our country's politicians from inciting more wars...'
'Good luck with that,' groused another, older lady. What was her name...? Gretchen, that was it. 'Still, as long as one must "Do No Harm, And Do What Thou Wilt", I suppose a simple charm would be all we could offer, and not the plague of boils and a pox upon the warmongers which would be so much more...biblical, in its effects?'
'You don't want to resort to anything having Yahweh's stink about it,' Lilith commented, to more appreciative laughter.
'This punch has quite a punch,' Athena was staring down her nose into the bowl. 'Tasty, too.' She ladled another cupful into her glass.
'There's magic in it,' stated a young red-haired lass, grinning, 'and abit of brandy and rum. And nutmeg, clove, and ginger of course.' She paused.
'And mandrake.'
All looked her way.
'Kidding!' The girl waved away any implication.
'There's really no way anyone working in a kitchen could be anything other than a witch, obviously,' Athena added, 'it's all chemistry or alchemy however you slice it.'
'Hear! Hear!' Emlyn raised her glass, and the Sisters joined her in a toast. 'To witches, alchemists, chemists and cooks -- long may they make their magic!'
All drank to this.
The other Sisters then went about lighting the wall candles and standing candelabras, giving the room a warm and cosy ambiance.
'Back in my time...'Athena began, her eyes searching the others for understanding, 'there was a brief resurgence of acknowledgement of Mary Magdalene.'
'Ah.' Madame Celine nodded, and sighed. 'It was too little, and, alas, much too late.'
Lilith muttered to herself somewhat before rasping out, 'To say the least! Oh, don't get me started on all that!' She got up from the table and zero'd in on the punchbowl.
Celine went on: 'It was a terrible thing, this reimagining doctrine. Such a thing, gone so wrong.
Claiming that only men were created and women were an afterthought, only, and evil at that.' She clicked her tongue, shaking her head slowly.
'Anyone who claims that religion is of no consequence and can simply be ignored, has no grasp of reality,' said Lilith, still standing guard over the punch.
'The Church fathers simply handed to males, the strongest and most aggressive of beasts, so-called divine right of being the only creatures made in God's image. And, they said, God hath deemed woman to be evil and it is right that she should suffer! And so, girl children are killed like unwanted kittens, and old women are left to die on the streets alone. This is 'God's will'! Well, women do neither want nor need such a 'god'. But we're left to clean up his decidedly unholy mess.'
The young redhead was pensive. 'I just feel so badly for women who actually believe all that rot!
That, is true evil! To throw away women's minds, hearts, souls...utterly wasted...'
Madame Celine put a hand upon the girl's shoulder.
'We are strong like an oak. No one knows the limit of a woman's strength. And we have persevered. And, change is coming.' She looked at Emlyn and Athena, nodding.
'Once upon a time,' Celine continued, 'it was supposed to have been part of the reason for the
story as it might have been played out...that is to say, Jesus and Mary Magdalene, were meant to have changed all the old Letter-of-the-Law of Yahweh, into the Spirit in which it was made.
'They could have been the divine couple, divine not because of a virgin birth, but because the two of them were pure of heart. It was a good story. It could have been, The Greatest Story...'
'Yes!' Athena chimed in. 'There was, I recall, in some of the gnostic scriptures, Nag Hammadi in particular, something about Mary being the 13th disciple, and Peter being a complete ass over it...'
'Yes, and he was admonished by others to not be jealous, and to shut up, already!' Lilith smiled like a cat content.
'"Levi answered, speaking to Peter: 'Peter, you have always been a wrathful person. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries."' It was Gretchen who voiced this quote. 'From the Gospel of Mary.'
Celine was nodding and smiling. 'Indeed. And in these same scriptures, the others were asking why Jesus loved Mary the most, and why "he would often kiss her on the lips."'
'-- Not the brightest of lights, our disciples...' Lilith mused, slowly pacing the room.
'"For the companion of Jesus was Mary Magdala. Jesus loved her more than all the disciples and kissed her often on her mouth.
And the disciples asked, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?'
Jesus answered and said to them, 'Why don't I love you like her? If a blind person and one who can see are both in darkness, they are the same. When the light comes, one who can see will see the light, while the one who is blind will see only darkness.'" Gretchen paused. 'Gospel of Phillip.'
'Gretchen used to be a nun.' Lilith was looking at her with a kind of awe. 'But she got well.'
There were soft chuckles and a couple of 'ahems!' heard about the table at that.
'And so,' Celine continued, 'it was to have happened in this sense, that people adhering to the male dominator religions of Judaism and Islam, were to have been given a completely different choice to have followed a divine couple, more in keeping with the old gods of the harvest, the God and Goddess of the fields, and fertility of flora and fauna.'
'Io, Pan!' Cried Lilith, raising her glass.
'And, this was to have been the Great Correction.' Celine spread her hands. 'All could connect with the old tried and true reflections of the natural world and what people themselves experience, reflected by a man and a woman, and their children. This, is the true trinity. As below, so Above.'
Celine clasped her hands. 'But, alas, men in high places, always crave more. More power. Which begets more corruption.'
'It is written, that Jesus said "I came for the Jews",' Gretchen mentioned. 'Perhaps he wished to release his people from the stranglehold of the Laws of Yahweh.'
Lilith resumed her seat. 'Which brings us to where we are now. Most women are so buggered-up by religion they're either kept mindless drudges by their 'beliefs' or want nothing to do with anything but the sterile, masculine world of reason and logic alone.'
'Except for women like us,' The young redhead ventured.
'Indeed, Rhiannon.' Celine smiled. 'And there are more and more like us daily. Just because the church fathers are blind and deaf to Her, does not mean that the Goddess is no longer here with us.'
'The Goddess is alive and magic is afoot!' Athena gave out the old siren's song.
'To Us!' Lilith raised her glass, 'To Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, and Innana!'
'-- And all of us!' Added Emlyn.
'And so say all of us!' The women cheered. Alice shot Emlyn a wink and a grin.
Madame Celine drank her toast and then stood.
'I believe that now is a good time to join with our brothers and celebrate with music and dance. Thus have our sisters and brothers celebrated this world and all the many others, for time out of mind, as equals, and in caring and joy.'
Alice came about to Emlyn's other side and slipped her arm through hers. 'That sounds about right to me.'
'Me, too,' Em answered. 'Alice, me, too.'
...........
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH AND LISTEN:
El Amor Brujo - Danza Ritual del Fuego & Canción del Fuego Fatuo
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