LE SERPENT ROUGE
"How strange are the manuscripts of this Friend, great traveller of the unknown, they appeared to me separately, yet they form a whole for him who knows that the colours of the rainbow give a white unity, or for the Artist for whom the black springs out from under his paintbrush, made from the six colours of his magic palette." -- Aquarius, Le Serpent Rouge, Williamson translation.
"This Friend, how to introduce him to you? His name remained a mystery, but his number is that of a famous seal. How to describe him to you? Perhaps like the pilot of the indestructible [imperishable] ark, impassive like a column on his white rock scanning towards the south [midday] beyond the black rock." -- Pisces, ibid.
"... They shall worship thy name, foursquare, mystic, wonderful, the number of the man; and the name of thy house 418." -- AL.II.78, second sentence.
"9. It is like the oak that hardens itself and bears up against the storm. It is weather-beaten and scarred and confident like a sea-captain." -- Liber A'ash vel Capricorni Pneumatici sub figura CCCLXX.
LE SERPENT ROUGE is familiar to most as the name of one of the "Prieuré Documents". That may be, but we see it as the authors of HBHG came to view it: as a bloodline, a secret bloodline, a secret tradition, an underground stream tradition. In the context used presently, it shall be as the genealogy of the Authentic Tradition. But first, we have another side detour to make, this time from an interesting Masonic author from the early 20th Century c.e.
Dr. Albert Churchward, in The Arcana of Freemasonry, (1922), speaks of Chaldean Priests who brought the "Lesser Mysteries" to the Builders (pp. 113ff.)
"As regards the Roman College of Artificers, Krause, in his work, endeavoured to prove that Masonry originated in the associations of operative Masons. These associations may have sprung from the building corporations of the Romans. The initiates of the Architectural Colleges of the Romans did not, however, call themselves 'Brothers'; they were styled Collega or Incorporatus. These Colleges held 'Lodges' wherever they established themselves, had signs, symbols, tokens, and passwords, which they had LEARNED AND RECEIVED FROM THE CHALDEAN MAGICIANS who had flocked to Rome at the beginning of the Christian Era. THESE CHALDEAN PRIESTS, NEVERTHELESS, WERE OF INFERIOR ORDER [OUR NOTE: See above note, to Clegg.], WHO WERE INITIATED INTO PART OF THE LESSER MYSTERIES OF THE EGYPTIANS ONLY, SO THAT AT BEST THESE COULD ONLY BE CARRIERS OR A CONNECTING LINK IN THE MIDDLE AGES WITH THE MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENTS.
"...These Chaldean Magicians were Turanians, old Stellar Mythos people, who originally came out of OR left Egypt at the end of their Totemic sociology..."
Churchward wrote at a time when it was still standard procedure to consider the Egyptians superior to (and more ancient than) the Mesopotamians. Sure, the traditions that made their way into the Necronomicon, for example, are debased by comparison to the more authentic versions preserved on clay tablets.
[Author's Note: We wrote this in 1997, before we had gained access to a Computer, and to the Internet. We were unaware of the book's editor, "Simon"'s career. Nor were we aware of the numerous articles that have come out regarding the work. Too bad, it still contains powerful Magick that has worked for us. Perhaps the Magick of Adam Weishaupt is either just as and/or more powerful than that of the Necro. Coupled with the Magick of the Z2 Formulae, and the real Magick of Thelema, Weishaupt's Magick is a real power drink when it comes right down to it. Recently the "secret" teachings of a spurious "order" came to our attention, showing a sloppy melding of the Necronomicon with Thelema in a manner that demonstrates why some people aren't really Magicians at all. A good corrective for this, and other wrongs, is to acquire The Code of the Eternal, when and/or if it becomes available.]
This is what time does to the transmission of ideas. But, the "inferior" Chaldean traditions are at the roots of the Gnostic Tree, and are more sublime than the Jewish Traditions (at least until we get to the period of the development of the Kabbalah proper, in the Languedoc), the Christian Traditions (save for a few exceptions), and most of the rest, for that matter. Well, Indian Tantrikism, and Tibetan Tantrik Buddhism, can be singled out as exceptions, and some of the traditions we see in the Near East, as survivals, as well. The Phoenicians spun a good yarn or two as well.
The Egyptian Traditions which Churchward claims to be superior, ultimately depend upon the "inferior" Chaldean traditions.
If we juggle the dates, we could see the Priests of OPIS moving to Pergamon, then to Rome, circa 133 BCE, and imparting their knowledge to Temple Builders.
THE OPHITES are said by some, such as "saint" Jerome, to come from the heresy of the Nicolaitans. Legge (Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity), informs us of his opinion:
"...we may gather that the 'Heresy' of the Ophites was, even as early as 230 AD, a very old one, which may have appeared EVEN BEFORE Christianity began to show its power, and that it was probably born in Asia Minor and owed much TO THE PAGAN RELIGIONS THERE PRACTISED AND LITTLE OR NOTHING TO ANY DOMINANT PERSONALITY AS DID THE SYSTEMS OF SIMON MAGUS..." (Vol. 2, page 26.)
Legge shows us, in his work, that the Ophites were established first in Phrygia, home of many Jews of the Diaspora, and that these Ophites were the first to create a blend of traditions, by fusing the various Mediterranean cults with that of the Christians. While Legge doesn't see a connection between the Traditions that came from Samaria and Judea, i.e., the Dositheans, Simonians, Valentinians, etc., there is a definite connection. The same school that eventually found itself seated in Pergamon, was once in Egypt.
What follows are some diagrams we developed to show depict this transmission graphically. This is part of the TimeLine of the Authentic Tradition.
In this set of skeleton key diagrams, one thing becomes apparent. Although not traced in as much detail as the tradition we are covering, both Judaism and Islam fit into this system. Even the Iranian, Indian, and Chinese religions and philosophical systems fit into the diagrams. But, what city isn't on the map?
Orthodox Christianity and all the systems which emerged as a result of it. From the Churches established by Peter, Paul and the rest of the apostles, to the Catholics and most of the more popular Eastern Churches. The Egyptian and some of the Syrian and Mesopotamian Churches are exceptions. But just about everything else, and all the various denominations, sects, cults, splinter groups, etc., are completely off the board. They cannot fit. (Except through affiliations with Freemasonry, the R+C, Knights Templar, or the Roman State Religion, which, though related is only as related to our system as Naziism was related to Nordic Paganism, Teutonic Philosophy, Zoroastrianism, or any of the other Aryan - derived religious and philosophical systems).
Now, this is the point we have noticed scholars reach before, and they are presented with a choice.
1) They can proceed to discredit all traditions save their own particular sect of Christianity or Atheism;
2) They can go where the research takes them; or
3) They can cover up their tracks and try to debunk it, or claim that Joseph of Arimathea brought the "Grail" to Britain, claim that Jesus was taught in Tibet, that Moses was Akhnaten, and that the Israelites camped at Hathor's Temple in the Sinai; or some other tall tale.
At this point we are still convinced of the validity of Option #2. Indeed, there is a Christian Tradition in the most "Heathen" of Traditions. Indeed, our heritage depends more upon Egypt, Syria, Samaria, Sumer, than it does on Bethlehem, Jerusalem, or any of the other dangerous tourist spots in that tortured landscape. The essence of True Christianity relies not on Virgin or Pigeon! Or miracle oak trees, or holy relics, or even the pseudo-historical narrative that has been edited over the years. We do recommend "The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read" if it is available anywhere. The pure tradition, the Authentic Tradition, "the origines" of which Pike wrote about, so many pages back.
While the sources we possess on the History and Doctrines of the Gnostics in general, and the Ophites in particular, may be outdated, for the most part; what recent material that we do possess, and that which we have consulted in Libraries, on the Internet, and in other places conforms fairly well to our Thesis, laid before the reader in the pages above. For the most part, with some exceptions, we get confirmations of the Authentic Tradition. There are those who are convinced that all the research leads to a vindication of the Orthodox Story, but that story is not even a fairy tale! If anything the traditions which must come under close scrutiny are those which are considered Official - the "Accepted" Traditions, religious and secular. Only the passing of time and the political circumstances of the day, happened to allow the slave religions and ideologies to remain dominant over humankind as long as they have. And, humankind, the majority of which [in the so-called civilized world at least] has remained ignorant as to these matters, wittingly or unwittingly. It has allowed itself to be ruled by false and irrational belief systems and slave creeds that are an immense aid to its shepherds. And, even though our work throughout the centuries has been responsible for setting the majority of these civilizations, cultures, religious groups into motion, tearing them down and replacing them with something else; even though we have always pointed the way to humankind that shows it how to find itself, as we have found ourselves, it, for the most part, has chosen to remain asleep, and let itself be ruled by tyrants and belief systems (religious and/or secular) that have done nothing but damn the entire human race. It has found compliance with pretended mandatory codes necessary in order to feel safe. Party, sect, cult, team, brand name, neighborhood, it's all the same. It assumes it is free, so it chooses to let its shepherds force the choice their way.
Rather than awakening from the slumber of ignorance, through willed self discipline, to discover one's essential self nature, and recognize it, thereby achieving Gnosis (or Liberation, in the classic Buddhist sense), humankind is more interested in drinking more carbonated sodas, eating name-brand junk food that expedites the decay process, producing more and more offspring, acquiring more and more possessions, until the pursuit finally wears them down and they end up dying as the result of trying to hang on to it all, then they can leave it to their children to fight and die over some day too; and they can go through the AfterLife, ignorant of its import, and be forced to reincarnate, and start it all over again, like a ride at a theme park, or like the game over try again message in a computer or video game. We'll be right back, after a message from our sponsors.
[CONTENTS] | [PREVIOUS] | [NEXT] | [BACK TO THE SERPENT ROUGE]