Shield Guide Ritual of the Portal 11

Page 11 - THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR AND THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

Shrouded in mystery is the financing and building of Chartres, involving the Knights Templar, the last order of the Grail Knights. The mystery involves how the Templars found the knowledge as early as the 12th century CE to build such a magnificent cathedral. The answer to this mystery lies in the quest the Knights undertook in traveling to Jerusalem. They hoped to gain secret knowledge believed to be held there in the Ark of the Covenant, which was rumored to be buried under Solomon's Temple. Because their first quarters in Jerusalem adjoined a building known at the time as Solomon's Temple, the Knights became known as the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or Knights Templar.

The Ark of the Covenant was a wooden chest (arca) in which the Jews kept the tablets of the Law. In Jewish synagogues and temples an ark is a cabinet for housing holy scrolls. The Ark mosaic in Israel at the Beth Alpha Synagogue, built during the Greco-Roman period, portrays the Ark of the Covenant designed like the light-matrix in which are contained the Holy Scrolls of the Law. The Ark is comprised of three pillars, negative on the left, positive on the right and neutral in the middle. To the right and left of the middle pillar are 4 cubes stacked vertically with designs like light codes. These are the drawers which contain the Holy Scrolls, 4 on the right and 4 on the left. The top of this Ark finishes in an acute triangle, pointed like a cathedral spire. Hanging from the center of the spire is a lantern. To the right and the left of this Ark are Menorah (candelabras). Lions of Judah eat of the fruit of this Kabala (hidden) Tree of life, astrological symbols can be seen, and to the far right a curtain has been pulled aside (a veil is rent) by a crab so we may have a rare view of this sacred, celestial object of Light.

What is the Law contained by the Holy Scrolls? The Law contained within the Ark of the Covenant is the secret knowledge the Knights Templar sought at Solomon's Temple. It is the knowledge with which they built Chartres Cathedral. I believe this knowledge is the Law of Polarity, the first principle of creation; the plain of truth; the hearth of the universe, easily seen demonstrated in a section of a Gothic arch. Since ancient times (6,000 BCE) polarity has been studied as the three pillars of the Three Primordial Principles, defined as positive, negative and neutral. The right positive pillar is Jachin, the name of the right pillar of Solomon's Temple. The left negative pillar is Boaz, the left pillar of Solomon's Temple. The right pillar is defined as positive in Hermeticism; as Male in Kabalism; as Light in Gnosticism; as Ohrmuzd or Endless Light in Zoroastrianism; as Light in Greek philosophy; and as Father of Greatness dwelling in the Light in Manichaeism. The left pillar is defined as negative in Hermeticism; Female in Kabalism; Darkness in Gnosticism; Ahriman or Endless Darkness in Zoroastrianism; Dark in Greek philosophy; and King of Darkness in Manichaeism.

With the addition of the third principle, the central and neutral pillar, comes the concept of transcendence of polarity. With the third principle polarity becomes dimensional and gains a plane surface (that which has length and breadth). The plane surface, formed by the triangle, was called the "plain of truth" by the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece because it is the Three Primordial Principles expressed in geometry as a triangle. According to the Pythagoreans, the plain of truth is the "hearth of the universe." The central pillar is neutral in Kabalism; Androgynous in Alchemy; Hermaphroditic in Hinduism; Intermediate Spirit in Gnosticism; Void-Negative Space in Zoroastrianism; Air-Fate in Greek philosophy; and Shadow between like a Wedge in Manichaeism.

With their knowledge of sacred geometry based upon the geometry of light, most likely gained from their association with Jewish Rabbis and mystics who studied Kabala, the Knights Templar returned to France in 1128, after 10 years of study in Jerusalem, and began construction of Chartres, a small model of the universe and the archetypal Gothic cathedral and light-matrix in stone.

While the Templars were in Jerusalem defending Christians against the "infidel" (Muslims) they regularly transmitted money and supplies from Europe to Palestine, and they developed an efficient banking system on which the rulers and nobility of Europe came to rely. The knights gradually became bankers for a large part of Europe and amassed great wealth. They used this money to establish the first large, community service organization and held communal prayers and rituals in hospices they founded all over France. Giving up all personal property and wealth, they took vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, and became warrior-monks. They upheld their vows but became immensely wealthy anyway because of estate donations, some of which the Roman Catholic Church and the King of France would likely have received.

About 200 years after the construction of Chartres, the Catholic church assisted King Philip the Fair of France in condemning the enormously wealthy Knights as heretics. 64 Templars were burned at the stake and their wealth seized by the King and by the church. When the Templars died, they refused to give out any of their secret knowledge, even about Baphomet whom they were accused of worshipping, whom they admitted worshipping, and whom they were burned for worshipping. The mystery of Baphomet was solved recently when it was discovered that the Knights knew the Atbash Cipher, a system of cryptography involving the written Hebrew language. Evidence exists indicating Jesus was familiar with the Atbash Cipher, found in a number of Dead Sea Scrolls. In the Atbash Cipher, Baphomet decodes itself perfectly into "Sophia," Greek for Wisdom. The Knights Templar were burned as heretics for worshipping Wisdom.

"Precisely because orthodox religion was defective in the wisdom component, any modality which contained it was, ipso facto, heresy." (Walter Lang, "Introduction," Le Mystere des Cathedrales)

But Sophia is much more than Greek for Wisdom. Sophia is the Queen of Heaven, the Divine Mother, The Virgin of Light, Our Lady of Chartres Cathedral - a Lady worth dying for.

SOPHIA, QUEEN OF HEAVEN

When in the presence of the Divine Mother called Sophia, the early Gnostics of the 1st-4th centuries CE wondered why they were so fortunate to be near her. They held a dim view of physical life, calling it a prison from which escape was made possible only by death. Therefore, if a divinity such as Sophia could be among us, then they reasoned it must be because she was a "fallen" divinity. So they told a mythological story about the fall of Sophia, and this explains her nearness to earth and her desire and willingness to help us.

Sophia, meaning Wisdom, in her exalted state is the Virgin of Light. She is like the Persian divinity Anahita, mistress of the waters that flow from a heavenly source in the region of the stars. The sad story of the fall of the Virgin of Light from her exalted position in the celestial realms above is mirrored in the events of humanity below. This story reveals the strong negative thoughts of the ancient Gnostics regarding life on this planet and their desire for escape or rescue. Conversely, the Knights Templar worshipped Sophia and built a cathedral to her. Her merciful, healing energy inspired them to build hospices all over Europe to care for the poor and sick.

In the Gnostic account of Sophia, she is the Virgin of Light who judges souls worthy to be passed through the portals to the Treasury of Light. The Virgin of Light weighs the merits of the souls and dispenses justice according to the souls' spiritual accomplishments while physical. This is like the Egyptian god Thoth, who weighs the soul against the weight of a feather. When the Virgin finds the souls wanting in spiritual attainment, she sends them into the rotation of the spheres or down through the body of the constellation Draco, whose tail descends into the abyss. Draco is formed by the long and winding procession of the souls on the way to the abyss.

If the souls are worthy, they receive from the Virgin the seals, mysteries and baptisms necessary for their journey into the upper realms. The Virgin of Light passes those perfect souls who are to ascend to the upper realms to the Treasury of Light. Judging them worthy, she releases them from the birth-rebirth cycle, the dance of death, by sealing them against the powers of the spheres (planets). Joyfully, the souls ascend to the heavenly realms.

The Virgin of Light becomes filled with a longing to reunite herself with the Treasury of Light and the supernal entities of the higher celestial realms. She envies those souls whom she sends upwards to merge with the Light. Her strong emotions of envy and desire weigh her down, just as they weigh us down. She falls from her exalted position as the portal to the upper realms down into the lower heavens to dwell in the 8th sphere. When she falls she becomes Sophia, the "Portal of Life," the door of birth into the physical world. She wears a crown of 12 stars and these symbolize the universe she fashions with her great powers. All the material world is born through her. She is the Divine Mother, the Matawil, Our Lady of Chartres, the Queen of Heaven. Her throne is the universe. She sits on the Holy Scrolls of the Law.

How does the Divine Mother look? In some accounts of her, she is pink and gold spiral energy. Historically, she is painted as human. In one representation of her in Chartres she is the Blue Virgin at Chartres.

SETTING UP YOUR PORTAL

I hope we can all start on time and do the ritual together. If not, perform this ritual when you can. On the same day or the 7th or the 9th would be great. About 400 of us will be participating all over the planet, some actively and others in mind and idea. In this ritual we will call upon the Divine Mother to create with us the Cross of Light in the vault of the Northern Hemisphere, to bring into Chartres Cathedral the Celestial Orders of the Prophets of the Golden Masons, and to bestow the golden ring and silver cape symbolizing the power of Spirit with the wealth of the planet.

Set up your portal anyway you like, as a circle, as an altar, as a specific design. I plan to construct mine as a circle of milky quartz with a cross in the center. To create Concourse of the Forces I will be using candles for Fire and Air, and bowls of Water and bowls of Earth. These will be used during a certain part of the ritual. Using Tarot of the Spirit tarot cards I will make the Cross of Light in the shape of the Latin Cross (high horizontal bar). Use anything magical you like to design this cross, runes, quartz, whatever you have that is special for you. Place a candle at the four corners of the Cross of Light. In the north position of the cross place an extra candle, so that five candles will be used. Inside the circle and around the cross I will be using all my crystals as well as sacred objects.

We will be using Divine Mother portal disk and/or Shri Yantra portal disk. Use the one you resonate with or use both. Yantra is the path of union with God thorough geometric visualization. A yantra is a geometric design. It is a highly efficient tool for contemplation, concentration, and meditation. This type of yoga might also be called Mandala Yoga. The Buddhist are masters of this type of yoga as can be seen in their mandalas, icons, tankas, and sand paintings. The American Indians used this type of yoga, also. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life might be put in this category as well. By tuning into the different aspects of a yantra you can tap into certain deities or creative force centers in the universe.

The yantra is like a microcosmic picture of the macrocosm. It is a focusing point and an outer and inner doorway. The yantra are often focused on a specific deity. They can be drawn on paper, wood, metal, or on the Earth itself or they can be three-dimensional. The yantra provides a focal point that is a window into the absolute. The idea is to make the yantra so real, inwardly and outwardly, that it becomes alive. In that way it absorbs the practitioner's complete attention, and [s/he] can no longer tell if the yantra is within [him/herself] or if [s/he] is within the yantra. The most celebrated yantra in India is the Sri Yantra, or Auspicious Wheel. It is a symbol of the entire cosmos that serves to remind the practitioner of the nondifference between subject and object." (Joshua David Stone)

Shri Yantra helps us transcend the I/Thou archetype of our bipolar world and helps us join with the Divine Mother.

AETHER RITUAL TO INSTALL THE GREAT CROSS OF LIGHT