Cornerstones, Magic and George Washington

Image Credit Wikipedia:
Washington laying the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in a photo reproduction of a painting

The dictionary defines a cornerstone as an important quality or feature on which a particular thing depends or is based OR a stone that forms the base of a corner of a building, joining two walls. As I see it certain moments in time form the cornerstones of our lives. Often have I mused about those moments and about choices we make. Should I turn right, left, go forward or back up? We carry this metaphorical cornerstone as we live, sometimes picking it up and moving it to an entirely different position and begin to rebuild. I suppose you might say the most lucky ones among us plant that stone and it remains indefinably as they remain happy with their chosen path building their life stone by stone and die blissfully satisfied. I could go on in this vein of thought but that would be a distraction from what I wanted to write about today.

It was on this day September 18th in 1793 that the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol was laid down by George Washington. Now here is where my mind went while thinking about this event. To begin with at this event were “three Worshipful Masters carrying sacrifices of corn, wine, and oil”. They also did a ritual and slaughtered an ox and chanted, reminiscent of animals sacrifices to the gods of many historical spiritual practices. What is a Worshipful Master? The Worshipful Master is the highest honor within a Masonic lodge. As a student of the occult I ventured deeper into questions that appeared in my mind.

A number of issues came up immediately beyond my occult interests. First, I have always been fascinated by the history of human architecture and when and how we started building homes. This is associated with my studies of homelessness. Also in my love of mythology, temples that humans have built for thousands of years wherein to worship gods and goddesses and the construction by Neolithic humans of monoliths, like Stonehenge, is equally fascinating.

Cornerstones and Masons are at the heart of this today. I could not find a great source in regard to the cornerstone, if any, for the Great Pyramid of Giza. There is extensive information about its capstone though. We consider this to be one of the oldest “buildings” ever built in general but the fact is it was built near 2560 BC but before that are buildings that date back as far as the Cairn of Barnenez which dates to 4800 BC. Here I could really go off on such things as the Zep Tepi Theory and the whole New Age religious thoughts regarding Ancient Aliens in regard to these monuments, but for now that is a secondary study. I wish to return to the Masons.

In what is considered conspiracy theory the Masons have an extensive litany. Do they want to form a New World Order being agents of the Illuminati? Is our government actually based on this conspiracy not on Christian values as many argue? If the Abrahamic God has a plan is this forming of the New World Order via the United States part of this plan? Were the Knights Templar also part of this? Books such as the The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown suggest this. Which brings me now to move on to Abrahamic religion and Masons. That would be the history of the the building of Solomon's Temple and Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This small area is one of the holiest sites in the world.

Many say that Solomon was the first Mason. Solomon is regarded by Jews, Muslims and Christians as a wise man blessed by God. I find it very curious though that they seem, for the most part, to overlook how Solomon built this temple. In Biblical texts they describes how Solomon was enabled to build his temple by commanding demons by means of a magical ring that was entrusted to him by the archangel Michael. Angels? Demons? Magical ring?

This starts perhaps with Benaiah who killed Solomon's enemies, and served as the chief of Solomon's army. It is told that Benaiah took Solomon's ring and captured Asmodeus, king of demons, who was forced to remain in Solomon's service. There are many tales of Solomon and Asmodeus like the one where Asmodeus brought a man with two heads from under the earth to show Solomon. Interesting.
 Or how Asmodeus stole the ring and threw it into the sea which was then eaten by a fish. This caused Solomon to wander eventually becoming cook for another king and falling in love his daughter. The king didn't like this so he banished them into the desert. They came to a coastal city and bought a fish to eat and lo and behold it was the fish that had Solomon's ring and he regained his power as king of Israel. It was with Asmodeus' help that the stones of the temple were moved. He also commanded angels to help against their will.

Here I like to mention another tool of Solomon. The shamir, a worm used by King Solomon to engrave gemstones. Apparently he used the blood of the shamir worm to make carved jewels with a mystical seal or design. This this led to the belief that gemstones so engraved would have magical virtues, and they often also ended up with their own powers or guardian angel associated with either the gem, or the specifically engraved gemstones. (Source Wikipedia) Perhaps Moses used the shamir to make the breastplate of the High Priest Aaron.

The Mason's god is called Jahbulon, Great Architect of the Universe. People say it is just another name for the Abrahamic god, but is it? Are they really demon worshipers? In a bit of trivia it has been suggested that the Rastafari word for God, Jah, comes from the term Jahbulon.

In a future post I want to talk about Solomon's Temple and the Temple Mount. Its history current and past are of great importance in regard to world peace. If I were more ambitious this post could be three times longer. So my friends, what do you think of all this surrounding our county's roots, Masons, cornerstones and magic? Please visit Kether Muse