New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
| Color of the day: Orange
Incense of the day: Sage On July 4 in the year 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, and the thirteen former English colonies eventually became the United States of America. Many of the men who signed the document belonged to the mystical brotherhood of Free-masons, and in forming this new nation they were realizing an ideal that had been forming in the imaginations of their order for a century. That is, the Freemasons helped to create a new society in which all men were equal under the law, where the people selected their leaders, and where religious freedom was protected by the "separation of church and state." To protect these mystical ideals, a national amulet was created called the Great Seal of the United States. On its front, the national heraldic animal, the bald eagle, clutches thirteen arrows and an olive branch with thirteen leaves and thirteen olives. Above his head are thirteen five-pointed stars, or pentagrams, that are grouped to form one six-pointed star, the mystical seal of Solomon. The olive branch and the arrows show that the eagle is in control of love and peace, strife and war, or the dual forces of the universe that stem from Pythagorean philosophy. The thirteen stars represent the thirteen original American colonies-each a star on its own, but together a greater star, or a nation, and thus a very potent magical design. That thirteen units in this design emphasize the magical power of a group of thirteen. Further, the unity of these stars is reiterated by the motto, E pluribus unum, or "out of many, one is formed." On the reverse of the seal, there is a pyramid with thirteen physical levels and an immaterial capstone formed of a triangle containing the all-seeing eye of God, or the Platonic One. The base of the pyramid is inscribed with the date 1776 in Roman numerals- to indicate when this structure was formed. Again the thirteen units form one structure, and this structure is shown to be patterned after the geometric harmony that is the divine One-a design that again stems from Pythagorean mysticism. All of this is the visual equivalent of the alchemical axiom: "As above, so below." By creating a physical entity that is the manifestation of the divine plan, the founders were achieving an alchemical great work and one of the greatest magical acts of all time. Other mottos read anuit coeptis, "he has approved," and novus ordo seclorum, "a new order of the ages." Together, these symbols and words indicate that the divine "he" is one with this new "of the ages" creation. We can honor our ideals on this day by exercising our freedom, practicing our religion, and by expressing our opinions. |
