Prime

prime (adj.)

late 14c., "first, original, first in order of time," from Old French prime and directly from Latin primus "first, the first, first part," figuratively "chief, principal; excellent, distinguished, noble" (source also of Italian and Spanish primo), from Proto-Italic *prismos, superlative of PIE *preis- "before," from root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before, first, chief."

 

The meaning "of fine quality, of the first excellence" is from c. 1400. The meaning "first in rank, degree, or importance" is from 1610s in English. Arithmetical sense (as in prime number, one indivisible without a remainder except by 1) is from 1560s; prime meridian "the meridian of the earth from which longitude is measured, that of Greenwich, England," is from 1878. Prime time originally (c. 1500) meant "spring time;" the broadcasting sense of "peak tuning-in period" is attested by 1961.

prime (n.)

"earliest canonical hour of the day" (6 a.m.), from Old English prim and Old French prime and directly from Medieval Latin prima "the first service," from Latin prima hora "the first hour" (of the Roman day), from Latin primus "first, the first, first part" (see prime (adj.)).  (In classical Latin, the noun uses of the adjective meant "first part, beginning; leading place.")

 

By extension, "the first division of the day" 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (early 13c.). The sense of "beginning of a period or course of events" is from late 14c. From the notion of "the period or condition of greatest vigor in life" (by 1530s) comes the specific sense "springtime of human life" (often meaning ages roughly 21 to 28) is from 1590s. Also from 1590s as "that which is best in quality, highest or most perfect state of anything." As "a prime number," by 1530s.

prime (v.)

"to fill, charge, load" (a weapon, before firing), 1510s, probably from prime (adj.). General sense of "perform the first operation on, prepare (something, especially wood, etc., for painting)" is from c. 1600. To prime a pump (1769) meant to pour water down the tube, which saturated the sucking mechanism and made it draw up water more readily. 

Related: Primed; priming.

Genesis Chapter 4

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

And Cain talked with Abel his brother : and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

“Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

"And Adam knew Eve his wife; 

and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, 

“I have gotten a man from the Lord.”

This is after Adam and Eve have been chased out of the garden of Eden. What’s really cool about this—I really think that the Cain and Abel story is the most profound story I’ve ever read, especially given that you can tell it in 15 seconds. I won’t, because I tend not to tell stories in 15 seconds, as you may have noticed. But you can read the whole thing that quickly. It’s so densely packed that it’s actually unbelievable.

Ok, so the first thing is that Adam and Eve are not the first two human beings. Cain and Abel are the first two human beings. Adam and Eve were made by God, and they were born in paradise. It’s like, what kind of human beings are those? You don’t know any human beings like that.Human beings aren’t born in paradise and made by God. Human beings are born of other human beings. That’s the first thing. It’s post-fall. We’re out in history, now. We’re not in some archetypal beyond—although we are still, to some degree. Not to the degree that was the case with the story of Adam and Eve. We’ve already been thrown out of the garden; we’re already self-conscious; we’re already awake; we’re already covered; we’re already working. We’re full-fledged human beings. So you have the first two human beings: Cain and Abel; prototypical human beings.

What’s cool is that humanity enters history at the end of the story of Adam and Eve, and then the archetypal patterns for human behaviour are instantaneously presented.It’s absolutely mind boggling, and it’s not a very nice story. They’re hostile brothers. They’ve got their hands around each other’s throats, so to speak, or at least that’s the case in one direction. It’s a story of the first two human beings engaged in a fratricidal struggle, that ends in the death of the best one of them. That’s the story of human beings in history. If that doesn’t give you nightmares, you didn’t understand the damn story.

Now, in these hostile brother stories, which are very, very common, often the older brother—Cain—has some advantages. He’s the older brother, and, in an agricultural community, the older brother generally inherited the land, and not the younger brothers. And the reason for that was, well, let’s say you have like eight sons, and you have enough land to support a bit of a family, and you divide among your eight sons, and they have eight sons, and they divide it among their eight sons. Soon, everyone has a little postage stamp that they can stand on and starve to death on. And so that just doesn’t work. You hand the land in a piece to the eldest son, and that’s just how it is. It’s tough luck for the rest of them, but at least they know they’re gonna have to go and make their own way. It’s not fair, but there’s no way of making it fair.

Well, you might say the oldest son has an additional stake in the stability of the current hierarchy. He has more of a stake in the status quo. That makes him more of an emblematic representative of the status quo, and, perhaps, more likely to be blind in its favor. It’s something like that. That motif creeps up very frequently in the hostile brothers archetypal struggle. The story of Cain and Abel fits this pattern, because Cain is the one who won’t budge, and who won’t move. He’s stubborn. Whereas the younger son, who’s Abel, is often the one who’s more…Not so much of a revolutionary, but, perhaps, more of a balance between the revolutionary and the traditions, whereas the older son tends to be more traditionalist-authoritarian—in these metaphorical representations, at least.

"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord." 

There’s the first human being: Cain. I told you that the Mesopotamians thought that mankind was made out of the blood of the worst demon that the great goddess of chaos could imagine. Well, the first human being is a murderer, and not only a murderer, but a murderer of his own brother. And so, you know, the Old Testament, that’s a hell of a harsh book. And you might think, well, maybe that’s a little bit too much to bear. And then you might think, yea, and maybe it’s true, too. So that’s something to think about.

Human beings are amazing creatures. To think about us as a plague on the planet is its own kind of bloody catastrophe—malevolent, low, quasi-genocidal metaphor. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t without our problems. The fact that this book, that sits at the cornerstone of our culture, would present the first man as a murderer of his brother, is something that should really set you back on your heels.

“When you were young, you needed something you did not receive, and you will never receive it. And the proper attitude is mourning.” Mourning is the proper attitude, NOT BLAME. Mourning. And she says another thing, so wonderful. She says, “You know, when you came into the world, you brought this fantastic thing with you, coming from centuries and eons and you brought this amazing energy in from animal life, reptile life, other planets and everything. And this incredible energy you brought in, and your parents didn’t want it, they wanted a nice boy. They wanted a nice girl.”

You couldn’t believe it. That’s your first rejection. It’s preverbal. That’s why encounter groups won’t get to that. That’s your first rejection, and it’s profound. They didn’t want the energy you brought. They wanted a nice boy or a nice girl.

So when you’re small, you realise you can’t fight against that stuff your parents want a nice so you make up a kind of a false personality. T.S. Eliot wrote about that, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. You invent a false personality, and you survive. And then Alice Miller says, 

“Now, please, you’ve got to forgive yourself for that, because you did it TO SURVIVE, and you did the right thing. You did the right thing.” And the proof of it is that YOU’RE ALIVE RIGHT NOW.”

Quitting my day job and starting my life as a writer was a tremendous risk. It was A Fool’s Leap, A Shot in The Dark, but anything of any value in our lives – whether that be a career, a work of art, a relationship – will always start with such A Leap. And in order to be able to make it you have to put aside the fear of failing and the desire of succeeding.”  

~ Alan Moore.

God : 

Enough! Both of you, 

sit down. Sit down. 

For all these years I've been plagued by what went wrong. 

With all of your complexities, Lore, 

your nuances, basic emotions seemed almost simple by comparison. 

But the emotion turned, and twisted, became entangled with ambition. 

Lore, if I had known you were no longer sitting in pieces on some distant shelf, 

if I had known that I could simply press a button and bring you here, 

I would have spent those years trying to make things right for you as well. 

But all I knew of was Data. 

So I worked long and hard, and now I believe I've succeeded. 

This is why I brought you here, Data. 

Basic emotions. Simple feelings, Data. Your feelings. 

I've imagined how hard it's been for you, 

living amongst beings so moved by emotion. 


(Both androids stare at the tiny chip held in the tweezers) 


Cain : 

I don't have to imagine. 

I know how hard it's been. 

You'd be surprised, Data. 

Feelings do funny things. 

You may even learn to understand your evil brother. 

To forgive him. 

We will be more alike, Data, 

you and I. You'll see. 

I'm happy for you. 


Abel : 

I question your sincerity, Lore. 


God : 

Perhaps with this you'll learn to be more trusting, Data. 

Your brother has had good reason to be bitter. 


Abel : 

But sir, Lore was responsible for 
—

God : 

He wasn't given the chance that you and I were given, to live. 

But now I'm sure he understands why I had to do what I had to do. 


If there were only time, Lore. 

What a shame.

 The procedure is quite simple. 

I'm tired. I need to rest, first, 

I'm tired. 

Wide Shut

“Turning to the contents of the Book of Enoch, the  announce the condemnation of transgressors and the blessings of the righteous, through the triumphal advent of the Messiah, forecast in the famous prediction quoted by the author of the Epistle attributed to Jude. 

Chapters . to . record the descent of two hundred angels on the earth, their selection of wives, the birth of their gigantic offspring, and the instruction of mankind in the manufacture of offensive and defensive weapons, the fabrication of mirrors, the workmanship of jewellery, and the use of cosmetics and dyes, combined with lessons in sorcery, astrology, divination, and astronomy -- all which Tertullian accepts as Divine revelation, when he denounces woman as the "Devil's Gateway,"  and assures her, on the authority of the inspired Enoch, that Tyrian dyes, Phrygian embroidery, Babylonian cloth, golden bracelets, gleaming pearls, flashing onyx-stones, and brilliant emeralds, with all the other adjuncts of an elegant toilette, are the special gifts of fallen angels to female frailty. The advent of the angels multiplies transgressions on earth, they are condemned to "the lowest depths of the fire in torments," and Enoch, as the messenger of God, announces to them the eternity of their punishment. Chapters . to . give a graphic description of the miraculous journeys of Enoch in the company of an angel, from whom he learns the secrets of creation and the mysteries of Infinity. From the top of a lofty mountain "which reached to heaven," he beheld the receptacles of light, thunder, and lightning, "the great darkness or mountains of gloom which constitute winter, the mouths of rivers and of the deep, the stone which supports the corners of the earth, and the four winds which bear up the earth, and constitute the pillars of heaven."  

Is not this obviously the inspired cosmology, through which the author of the Book of Enoch unconsciously condemned mediaeval physicists to the stake for impiously proclaiming the mobility of the earth? If an inspired prophet saw the stone which supports the corners of the earth, how inexpiable the guilt of men, who fostered scepticism through the heliocentric theory of a world coursing swiftly round the sun! But had not the Book of Enoch disappeared for centuries out of Europe, before the persecution of Galileo and the martyrdom of Bruno? We answer that its teaching had survived, as numerous other superstitions have passed from generation to generation long after all knowledge of their origin has been lost to the theologians who accept them as Divine.

In the "Evolution of Christianity" we cite the following passage from Irenaeus: "It is impossible that the Gospels can be more or less than they are. For as there are four zones in the world which we inhabit, and four principal winds, while the Church is spread abroad throughout the earth, and the pillar and basis of the Church is the gospel and the spirit of life, it is right that she should have four pillars exhaling immortality on every side, and bestowing renewed vitality on men. 

From which fact it follows that the Word has given us four versions of the Gospel, united by one spirit." We now recognize that this fanciful theory of a limited number of Evangelists is based on the cosmology of Enoch; and if in the second century, Irenaeus accepted the visions of an antediluvian patriarch as facts, the traditional survival of the earth's "corner stone" doubtless controlled the orthodox astronomy of mediaeval theologians. 

Proceeding on his journey with the angel Uriel, Enoch furthermore beheld the prison of the fallen angels, in which struggling columns of fire ascended from an appalling abyss. He saw the regions in which the spirits of the dead await the day of judgment; he looked upon the trees of knowledge and of life, exhaling fragrant odours from leaves which never withered, and from fruit which ever bloomed; and he beheld the "great and glorious wonder" of the celestial stars, coming forth through the "gates of heaven." 

Chapters . to . record the second vision of wisdom, divided into three parables. The first depicts the future happiness and glory of the elect, whom Enoch beheld reclining on couches in the habitations of angels, or standing in thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads before the throne of God, blessing and glorifying Him with celestial song, as the Holy, Holy Lord of spirits, before whom righteousness eternally dwells. As Enoch uttered his prophecies respecting the elect, before the existence of Christianity, it is important to learn in what sense he understood the doctrine of election. The language of the first parable happily leaves no room for doubt--"The righteous will be elected for their . good works duly weighed by the Lord of Spirits."  Election, therefore, traced to its original source, means nothing more than Divine "selection of the fittest"--a theory more consistent with the justice of God, than the capricious choice of the metamorphical potter, whose arbitrary fashioning of plastic clay symbolized, in Pauline theology, the doctrine of predestination. The second parable (.-.) demands the absorbed attention of modern Jews and Gentiles; for it is either the inspired forecast of a great Hebrew Prophet, predicting with miraculous accuracy the future teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, or the Semitic romance from which the latter borrowed His conceptions of the triumphant return of the Son of Man, to occupy a judicial throne in the midst of rejoicing saints and trembling sinners, expectant of everlasting happiness or eternal fire : and whether these celestial visions be accepted as Human or Divine, they have exercised so vast an influence on the destinies of mankind for nearly two thousand years, that candid and impartial seekers after religious truth can no longer delay inquiry into the relationship of the Book of Enoch with the revelation, or the evolution, of Christianity. 

The third parable (.-.) recurs, with glowing eloquence, to the inexhaustible theme of Messianic glory, and again depicts the happy future of the righteous in contrast with the appalling misery of the wicked. It also records the supernatural control. of the elements, through the action of individual angels presiding over the winds, the sea, hail, frost, dew, the lightning's flash, and reverberating thunder. 

The names of the principal fallen angels are also given, among whom we recognize some of the invisible powers named in the incantations inscribed on the terra cotta cups of Hebrew-Chaldee conjuration. Chapters . to . contain the "book of the revolutions of the luminaries of heaven," the sun, the moon, and the stars, controlled in their movements by the administration of angels. 

In commenting on this section of the Book of Enoch, Archbishop Laurence says, "This system of astronomy is precisely that of an untutored, but accurate observer of the heavens. 

He describes the eastern and western parts of heaven, where the sun and moon rise and set, as divided each into six different gates, through which those orbs of light pass at their respective periods. 

In the denomination of these gates he begins with that through which the sun passes at the winter solstice; and this he terms the first gate. It of course answers to the sign of Capricornus; and is the southernmost point to which the sun reaches, both at rising and setting. 

The next gate, at which the sun arrives in its progress towards the east at rising, and towards the west at setting, and which answers to the sign of Aquarius, he terms the second gate. 

The next, in continuation of the same course of the sun, which answers to the sign of Pisces, he terms the third gate. 

The fourth gate in his description is that which is situated due east at sun-rising, and due west at sun-setting, and which, answering to the sign of Aries, the sun enters at the vernal equinox. 

With this fourth gate he commences his account of the sun's annual circuit, and of the consequent change in the length of day and night at the various seasons of the year. 

His fifth gate is now to be found in the sun's progress northwards, and answers to the sign of Taurus. 

And his sixth gate is situated still further north; which, answering to the sign of Gemini, concludes at the most northern point of heaven to which the sun arrives, and from which it turns at the summer solstice, again to measure back its course southwards. 

“Hence it happens, that the same gates which answers to the six signs alluded to in the sun's passage from the winter to the summer solstice, necessarily also answer to the remaining six of the twelve signs of the Zodiac in its passage back again. 

"The turning of the sun both at the winter and summer solstices, the first at the most southern, the last at the most northern point of its progress, must have always struck the eye of those who contemplated the variety as well as the splendour of its daily appearance. The astronomy of the apocryphal Enoch was perhaps formed in this respect upon the same principles as the astronomy of Homer, who places the situation of the island Syrie under the turning of the sun, othi tropai eelioio (Odyss. lib. xv. 404)." 

Chapters . to . contain a vision of Enoch giving an allegorical forecast of the history of the world up to the kingdom of the Messiah. Chapter . records a series of prophecies extending from Enoch's own time to about one thousand years beyond the present generation. In the system of chronology adopted, a day stands for hundred, and a week for seven hundred years. Reference is made to the deluge, the call of Abraham, the Mosaic dispensation, the building and the destruction of the Temple of Solomon--events which preceded the date at which the Book of Enoch was probably written: but when the author, in his character of a divinely inspired seer, extends his vision beyond the horizon of his own age, he discloses the vanity of his predictive pretensions, through prophecies which remain unfulfilled. If, however, the Book of Enoch had reached us through the Western, as well as the Ethiopic Canon, apologetic theologians would doubtless affirm that centuries are but trifles in prophetic time; and that the predictions of the great antediluvian prophet shall, sooner or later, attain miraculous fulfilment. Chapters . to . contain the eloquent exhortations of Enoch, addressed to his children, in which he follows Buddha in commending the "Paths of Righteousness," and anticipates Jesus in pronouncing the doom of sinners and the joys of saints, and gives utterance to the most emphatic assurance of immortality which has ever flowed from human lips: "Fear not, ye souls of the righteous, but wait with patient hope for the day of your death in righteousness. Grieve not because your souls descend in trouble and sorrow to the receptacle of the dead; for great joy shall be yours, like that of the angels in heaven. And when you die, sinners say concerning you, 'As we die the righteous die. What profit have they in their works? Behold, like us, they expire in sorrow and in darkness. What advantage have they over us? Henceforward are we equal; for behold they are dead, and never will they again perceive the light.' But now I swear to you, ye righteous . . . that I comprehend this mystery; that I have read the tablet of heaven, have seen the writing of the holy ones, and have discovered what is written and impressed on it concerning you. I have seen that all goodness, joy, and glory have been prepared for you. . . . The spirits of you who die in righteousness shall exist and rejoice; and their remembrance shall be before the face of the Mighty One from generation to generation.  How profound the impression necessarily produced on the Semitic imagination by this impassioned language, uttered in an age of faith in inspired dreams and celestial visions by a supposed visitant of the unseen world, who had conversed with angels in the presence of the Lord of spirits! 

The final chapter of the Book of Enoch records the birth of Noah, and the further prophecies of Enoch, addressed to Methuselah on the subject of the birth of Noah and the future deluge.

The Temple Legend

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Temple Legend

 

In his lecture cycle "The Temple Legend - Freemasonry & Related Occult Movements" given in Berlin between 23rd May 1904 and the 2nd January 1906 (GA 93), Rudolf Steiner gives a synopsis of the myth in Lecture 5, entitled "The Mystery Known to Rosicrucians."

 

Below is a synopsis of the legend as given by Steiner in the lecture, followed by a more detailed version provided by the publishers (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1985).

 

Synopsis:

There was a time when one of the Elohim created a human being whom he called Eve. That Elohim united himself with Eve and she gave birth to Cain. After this, another Elohim, named Yahveh, created Adam. Adam also united himself with Eve and from this union came Abel.

 

Thus we see that Cain is a direct descendant of The Gods, but Abel is a descendant of Adam and Eve who are Human. Now the myth proceeds :

 

The sacrifices which Abel made to Yahveh were pleasing to him, but the sacrifices brought by Cain did not please him because the birth of Cain was not ordained by Him. The result was that Cain committed fratricide. He killed Abel and for this he was excluded from communion with Yahveh. He went away into distant lands and founded his own race there.

 

Adam again united himself with Eve and from this union came Seth, also mentioned in the Bible, who took over the role of Abel. Thus we have two generations of mankind; the race of Cain, who was a descentant of Eve and one of the Elohim, and the other race which had human parentage and was brought into existence at the command of Yahveh.

 

Among the descendants of Cain are all those who have been creators of art and science, as, for instance, Methuselah, the inventor of the Tau script, and Tubal-Cain, who taught the use and working of metal ores and iron. In this line of descent, stemming from the Elohim, were all those who trained themselves in the arts and sciences.

 

Hiram also descended from The Race of Cain, and he was the inheritor of all that had been learned by the others of his line in technology and art. He was the most significant architect we can imagine.

 

Out of Seth's line came Solomon, who excelled in everything which came from Yahveh. He was endowed with the wisdom of the world and all the attributes of calm, clear, objective wisdom. This wisdom can be expressed in words which go straight to the human heart and can uplift a person, but is unable to produce anything tangible of a technical nature, in art or science. It is a wisdom which is a directly inspired gift of God and not attained from below through human passions welling up from the human will - that would be the wisdom pertaining to the sons of Cain, a legacy of the other Elohim, not Yahveh. They are the hardworking industriuous ones who seek to accomplish everything through their own efforts.

 

Solomon now decides to build a temple and calls upon Hiram, the descendant of Cain, to be his master builder. It was at the time when Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, was visiting Jerusalem because she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon. And she was certainly impressed and charmed by the exalted and clear wisdom and beauty of the King when she first arrived, and when he made love to her she consented to be his bride. Now she heard about the temple which was being built and she desired to make the acquaintance of the master builder, Hiram. When she first met him she was captivated merely by his glance. As a result, a certain mood of jealousy arose between Hiram and Solomon and the latter wished to do something or other against Hiram, but he was dependent upon him for the completion of the temple.

 

Now came the following : The Temple was almost complete. Only one thing was still lacking, which was to have been Hiram's masterpiece; that was The Molten Sea, which was to represent the ocean cast in bronze and was to have adorned the temple. All the necessary mixtures of ores had been prepared by Hiram in a most wonderful manner, ready to be cast. Now, however, three apprentices got to work, whom Hiram had found so lacking in skill that he had been unable to promote them to become Masters. They had therefore sworn to be revenged on him and desired to prevent the casting of the Molten Sea. A friend of Hiram, who got to know about these plans, confided them to Solomon, so that he should prevent their realization. But Solomon, through jealousy, did nothing to stop them, because he wished to destroy Hiram. The result was that Hiram had to look on while the whole casting disintegrated due to the addition of a wrong ingredient in the mixture by the three apprentices. He tried to quench the bursting flames by pouring water over them, but this only made matters worse. Just as he was on the point of despairing about the work ever being completed, Tubal-Cain, his ancestor, appeared to him and told him that he should not hesitate to cast himself into the fire, as he was invulnerable to the flames. Hiram did as he was advised and came to the center of the earth. He was led by Tubal-Cain to Cain, who there resided in a condition of pristine divinity. Hiram was thus initiated into the Mystery of Fire and into the secret of bronze casting, receiving from Tubal-Cain a hammer and a Golden Triangle which he was able to carry with him as a pendant round his neck. Then he returned and was able to complete the casting of the Molten Sea and to put everything in order again.

 

Hereupon the Queen of Sheba consented to become Hiram's bride. He, however, was set upon by the three apprentices and murdered. But before he died, Hiram managed to throw the Golden Triangle into a well. As no one knew where he had disappeared, a search was made. 

Even Solomon was afraid and was anxious to find out what had happened. It was thought that the ancient Master Word could be betrayed by the apprentices, and therefore another one was devised. The first word to be spoken when Hiram was discovered should be the new Master Word. 

At last Hiram was found and was able to utter a few last words. He said: "Tubal-Cain had promised me that I shall have a son who will be the father of many descendants who will people the earth and bring my work - the building of the Temple - to completion.” 

Then he pointed to the place where the Golden Triangle was to be found. This was then collected and brought to the Molten Sea and both were preserved together in the Holy of Holies. 

They are only to be discovered by those who can understand the meaning of the legend of the Temple of Solomon and its Master Builder Hiram.

 

What follows is a somewhat

expanded version of

The Temple Legend,

with more detail:

 

THE LEGEND OF THE TEMPLE

 

Ancestry of Hiram Abiff

Solomon, having determined on the erection of the Temple, collected artificers, divided them into companies, and put them under the command of Adoniram or Hiram Abiff, the architect sent to him by his friend and ally Hiram, King of Tyre. According to mythical tradition, the ancestry of the builders of the mystical temple was as follows: One of the Elohim, or primitive genii, married Eve and had a son called Cain; whilst Jehovah or Adonai, another of the Elohim, created Adam and united him with Eve to bring forth the family of Abel, to whom were subjected the sons of Cain, as a punishment for the transgression of Eve. Cain, though industriously cultivating the soil, yet derived little produce from it, whilst Abel leisurely tended his flocks. Adonai rejected the gifts and sacrifices of Cain, and stirred up strife between the sons of the Elohim, generated out of fire, and the sons formed out of the earth only. Cain killed Abel, and Adonai pursuing his sons, subjected to the sons of Abel the noble family that invented the arts and diffused science. Enoch, a son of Cain, taught men to hew stones, construct edifices and form civil societies. Irad and Mehujael, his son and grandson, set boundaries to the waters and fashioned cedars into beams. Methusael, another of his descendants, invented the sacred characters, the books of Tau and the symbolic T, by which the workers descended from the genii of fire recognized each other. Lamech, whose prophesies are inexplicable to the profane, was the father of Jabal, who first taught men how to dress camels' skins; of Jubal, who discovered the harp; of Naanah, who discovered the arts of spinning and weaving; of Tubal-Cain, who first constructed a furnace, worked in metals, and dug subterranean caves in the mountains to save his race during the deluge; but it perished nevertheless, and only Tubal-Cain and his son, the sole survivors of the glorious and gigantic family, came out alive. The wife of Ham, second son of Noah, thought the son of Tubal-Cain handsomer than the sons of men, and he became progenitor of Nimrod, who taught his brethren the art of hunting, and founded Babylon. Adoniram, the descendant of Tubal-Cain, seemed called by God to lead the militia of the free men, connecting the sons of fire with the sons of thought, progress, and truth.

 

Hiram, Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba

By Hiram was erected a marvellous building, the Temple of Solomon. He raised the golden throne of Solomon, most beautifully wrought, and built many other glorious edifices. But, melancholy amidst all his greatness, he lived alone, understood and loved by few, hated by many, and among others by Solomon, envious of his genius and glory. Now the fame of the wisdom of Solomon spread to the remotest ends of the earth; and Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, came to Jerusalem, to greet the great king and behold the marvels of his reign. She found Solomon seated on a throne of gilt cedar wood, arrayed in cloth of gold, so that at first she seemed to behold a statue of gold with hands of ivory. Solomon received her with every kind of festive preparation, and led her to behold his palace and then the grand works of the temple; and the queen was lost in admiration. The king was captivated by her beauty, and in a short time offered her his hand, which the queen, pleased at having conquered his proud heart, accepted. But on again visiting the temple, she repeatedly desired to see the architect who had wrought such wondrous things. Solomon delayed as long as possible presenting Hiram Abiff to the queen, but at last he ws obliged to do so. The mysterious artificer was brought before her, and cast on the queen a look that penetrated her very heart. Having recovered her composure, she questioned and defended him against the illwill and rising jealousy of the king. When she wished to see the countless host of workmen that wrought at the temple, Solomon protestd the impossibility of assembling them all at once; but Hiram, leaping on a stone to be better seen, with his right hand described in the air the symbolical Tau, and immediately the men hastened from all parts of the works into the presence of their master; at this the queen wonderd greatly, and secretly repnted of the promise she had given the king, for she felt herself in love with the mighty architect. Solomon set himself to destroy this affection, and to prepare his rival's humiliation and ruin. for this purpose, he employed three fellow-craftsmen, envious of Hiram, because he had refused to raise them to the degree of masters, on account of their want of knowledge and their idleness. They were Fanor, a Syrian and a mason; Amru, a Phoenician and a carpenter, and Metusael, a Hebrew and a miner. The black envy of these three projected that the casting of the brazen sea, which was to raise the glory of Hiram to its utmost height, should turn out a failure. A young workman, Benoni, discovered the plot and revealed it to Solomon, thinking that sufficient. The day for the casting arrived, and Balkis was present. The doors that restrained the molten metal were opened, and torrents of liquid poured into the vast mould wherein the brazen sea was to assume its form. But the burning mass ran over the edges of the mould, and flowed like lava over the adjacent places. The terrified crowd fled from the advancing stram of fire. Hiram, calm, like a god, endavored to arrest its advance with ponderous columns of water, but without success. The water and the fire mixed, and the struggle was terrible; the water rose in dense steam and fell down in the shape of fiery rain, spreading terror and death. The dishonored artificer needed the sympathy of a faithful heart; he sought Benoni, but in vain; the proud youth perished in endeavoring to prevent the horrible catastrophe hen he found that Solomon had done nothing to hinder it.

Hiram could not withdraw himself from the scene of his discomfiture. Oppressed with grief, he heeded not the danger, he remembered not that this ocean of fire might speedily engulf him; he thought of the Queen of Sheba, who came to admire and congratulate him on a great triumph, and who saw nothing but a terrible disaster. Suddenly he heard a strange voice coming from above, and crying, "Hiram, Hiram, Hiram!" He raised his eyes and beheld a gigantic human figure. The apparition continued: "Come, my son, be without fear, I have rendered thee incombustible; cast thyself into the flames." Hirm threw himself into the furnac, and where others would have found death, he tasted ineffable delights; nor could he, drawn by an irresistible force, leave it, and asked him that drew him into the abyss: "Whither do you take me?" "Into the center of the earth, into the soul of the world, into the kingdom of the great Cain, where liberty reigns with him. There the tyrannous envy of Adonai ceases; there can we, despising his anger, taste the fruit of the tree of knowledge; there is the home of my fathers." "Who then am I, and who art thou?" "I am the father of thy fathers, I am the son of Lamech, I am Tubal-Cain."

Tubal-Cain introduced Hiram into the sanctuary of fire, where he expounded to him the weakness of Adonai and the base position of that god, the enemy of his own creature whom he condemned to the inexorable law of death, to avenge the benefits the genii of fire had bestowed on him. Hiram was led into the presence of the author of his race, Cain. The angel of light that begat Cain was reflected in the beauty of this son of love, whose noble and generous mind roused the envy of Adonai. Cain related to Hiram his experiences, sufferings, and misfortunes, brought upon him by the implacable Adonai. Presently he heard the voice of him who was the offspring of Tubal-Cain and his sister Naamah: "A son shall born unto thee whom thou shalt indeed not see, but whose numerous descendants shall perpetuate thy race, which, superior to that of Adam, shall acquire the empire of the world; for many centuries they shall consecrate their courage and genius to the service of the ever ungrateful race of Adam, but at last the best shall become the strongest, and restore on the earth the worship of fire. Thy sons, invincible in thy name, shall destroy the power of kings, the ministers of the Adonai's tyranny. Go, my son, the genii of fire are with thee!" Hiram was restored to the earth. Tubal-Cain before quitting him gave him the hammer with which he himself had wrought great things, and said to him: "Thanks to this hammer and the help of the genii of fire, thou shalt speedily accomplish the work left unfinished through man's stupidity and malignity." Hiram did not hesitate to test the wonderful efficacy of the precious instrument, and the dawn saw the great mass of bronze cast. The artist felt the most lively joy, the queen exulted. The people came running up, astounded at his secret power which in one night had repaired everything.

One day the queen, accompanied by her maids, went beyond Jerusalem, and there encountered Hiram, alone and thoughtful. The encounter was decisive, they mutually confessed their love. Had-Had, the bird who filled with the queen the office of messenger of the genii of fire, seeing Hiram in the air make the sign of the mystic T, flew around his head and settled on his wrist. At this Sarahil, the nurse of the queen, exclaimed: "The orcle is fulfilled. Had-Had recognizes the husband which the genii of fire destined for Balkis, whose love alone she dare accept!" They hesitated no longer, but mutually pledged their vows, and deliberated how Balkis could retract the promise given to the king. Hiram was to be the first to quit Jerusalem; the queen, impatient to rejoin him in Arabia, was to elude the vigilance of the king, which she accomplished by withdrawing from his finger, while he was overcome with wine, the ring wherewith she had plighted her troth to him. Solomon hinted to the fellow-craftsmen that the removal of his rival, who refused to give them the master's word, would be acceptable unto himself; so when the architect came into the temple he was assailed and slain by them. Before his death, however, he had time to throw the golden triangle which he wore round his neck, and on which was engraven the master's word, into a deep well. They wrapped up his body, carried it to a solitary hill and buried it, planting over the grave a sprig of acacia.

Hiram not having made his appearance for seven days, Solomon, against his inclination, but to satisfy the clamor of the people, was forced to have him searched for. The body as found by three masters, and they, suspecting that he had been slin by the three fellow-craftsmen for refusing them the master's word, determined nevertheless for greater security to change the word, and that the first word accidentally uttered on raising the body should henceforth be the word. In the act of raising it, the skin came off the body, so that one of the masters exclaimed "Macbenach!" (the flesh is off the bones!) and this word became the sacred word of the master's degree. The three fellow-craftsmen were traced, but rather than fall into the hands of their pursuers, they committed suicide ad their heads were brought to Solomon. The triangle not having been found on the body of Hiram it was sought for and at last discovered in the well into which the architect had cast it. The king caused it to be placed on a triangular altar erected in a secret vault, built under the most retired part of the temple. The triangle was further concealed by a cubical stone, on which had been inscribed the sacred law. The vault, the existence of which was only known to the twenty-seven elect, was then walled up.

Of course. And Do You Know HOW You Know That?

“I have to say I did come to the 'end' of all magic as I'd known it and been practising for 25 years and, like a man standing blinking and dazed, ears ringing at ground zero of a nuclear blast, I'm trying to find novel ways to explain what has happened and present it to the world in the form of Blank Magic. 

The Filth was written from the eye of the experience. 

All the really good stuff is still to come. 

For anyone who cares to keep up with these things, 

(and I'm sure many of my readers are practitioners), 

the Qabalistic wisdom I carried home from The Filth Working 

is very simple and profound and is expressed by Greg Feely 

in the scene behind the flower shop - 

The Crown is in The Kingdom, 

and 

The Reverse is Also True. 

And for Enochian magic enthusiasts, 

Greg can be read as Nemo tending his garden if you like.

Of course it took me a long time and a lyric from the new Monster Magnet record to finally get 

The Real Message of The Abyss :

'Shut your mouth, 

you big fucking baby!' 

So I will and Horus, 

crazy Child-God of The Aeon, 

will too, 

if you tell him. 

IAMIUHUAMI

Well hopefully you're over that, still hurts I know 

but you can't freely climb The Tree 

if you confine yourself to The Dirt. 

Of course. I feel a whole lot better now 

but times were fucked up for a while 

and it's shaken me right down to my boots.”

“I guess I have to do The Only Thing I CAN Do — ACCEPTANCE.

 

And 

Forgiveness — 

It’s The ONLY Tools We’ve Got Left.

 

And Evolution, 

if yer interested in it."   

CLARA: 

It's no good, Bonnie. 

You can't win. 

CLARA-Z: 

I don't care. 

DOCTOR: 

Hi! Hello! Hello! 

(The two Zygons seize Clara.)

DOCTOR: 

Oh, hello! Hi. Hi. 

Stop this. Stop this, please. 

Let me take both of these boxes away.

We'll forgive, we'll forget. 

And the ceasefire will stand. 

CLARA-Z: 

No. 

Kate goes to the red box.

KATE: 

Doctor, which of these buttons do I press? 

Doctor, which one? 

Truth or Consequences? 

Bonnie aka Clara-Zygon 

stands at the blue box.

CLARA-Z: 

Truth or Consequences? 

DOCTOR: 

This is the Moment 

we've all been waiting for. 

Make your mind up time! 

He goes into American Game Show Host mode

DOCTOR: 

One of those buttons 

will destroy The Zygons, 

Release The Imbecile's gas.

 

The Other One detonates 

The Nuclear Warhead under The Black Archive. 

It'll Destroy Everyone in London.

Bonnie. 

Bonnie, sweetheart! 

One of those buttons 

will unmask every Zygon in The World. 

The Other One cancels their ability 

to change form. 

It'll make them 

Human Beings for ever. 

normal

There are safeguards 

beyond safeguards. 

I did this on a very 

important day for me 

and this ceasefire will stand. 

CLARA-Z: 

This is Wrong. 

DOCTOR: 

No, it's not. 

CLARA-Z: 

You are responsible for all the violence. 

All of the suffering.

 

DOCTOR: 

No, I'm not. 

CLARA-Z: 

Yes. 

DOCTOR: 

No. 

CLARA-Z: 

Yes. You engineered this situation, Doctor. 

This is your fault. 

DOCTOR: 

No, it's not. 

It's your fault. 

CLARA-Z: 

I had to do 

What I've Done. 

DOCTOR: 

So Did I. 

CLARA-Z: 

We've been treated like cattle. 

DOCTOR: 

So what.

CLARA-Z: 

We've been left to fend for ourselves. 

DOCTOR: 

So's everyone. 

CLARA-Z: 

It's Not Fair. 

DOCTOR: 

Oh, it's not Fair! 

Oh, I didn't realise that it was 

Not Fair! 

Well, you know what? 

My TARDIS doesn't work properly 

and I don't have my own personal Tailor. 

CLARA-Z: 

The things don't equate. 

DOCTOR: 

These things have happened, Zygella. 

They are facts. 

You just want cruelty to beget cruelty. 

You're not superior to people who were cruel to you. 

You're just a whole bunch of new cruel people. 

A whole bunch of new cruel people 

being cruel to some other people, 

who'll end up being cruel to you. 

The only way anyone can live in peace 

is if they're prepared to forgive. 

Why don't you break the cycle? 

CLARA-Z: 

Why should we? 

DOCTOR: 

What is it that you actually want? 

(After a long pause.)

CLARA-Z: 

War. 

DOCTOR: 

Ah. Ah, right. 

And when this war is over, when you have a homeland free from humans, what do you think it's going to be like? 

Do you know? 

Have you thought about it? 

Have you given it any consideration? 

Because you're very close to getting 

What You Want. 

What's it going to be like? Paint me a picture. 

Are you going to live in houses? 

Do you want people to go to work?

Will there be holidays? 

Oh! Will there be music? 

Do you think people will be allowed 

to play violins? 

Who's going to make the violins? Well? 

Oh, you don't actually know, do you? 

Because, like every other 

tantrumming child in history, Bonnie, 

You don't actually know What You Want. 

So, let me ask you A Question 

about this Brave New World of yours :-- 

When you've killed all The Bad Guys, 

and when it's all Perfect and Just and Fair, 

when you have finally got it 

exactly The Way You Want It --

What are You Going to Do with 

The People Like You? 

The Troublemakers. 

How are you going to protect 

Your Glorious Revolution from 

The Next One? 

CLARA-Z: 

We'll win. 

DOCTOR: 

Oh, will you? Well, maybe, 

maybe you will win! 

But nobody wins for long. 

The Wheel just keeps turning. 

So, come on. 

Break The Cycle. 

CLARA-Z: 

Why are you still talking? 

DOCTOR: 

Because I Want to 

Get You to See, 

and I'm almost there! 

CLARA-Z: 

Do you know what I see, Doctor? 

A Box. 

A Box with Everything I Need. 

A fifty percent chance. 

KATE: 

For us, too. 

Both women have their hands poised 

over the buttons. 

The Doctor resumes Games Host mode.

DOCTOR: 

And we're off! Fingers on buzzers! 

Are you feeling lucky? 

Are you ready to 

Play The Game? 

Who's going to be quickest? 

Who's going to be luckiest? 

KATE: 

This is not A Game! 

DOCTOR: 

No, it's not A Game, sweetheart, 

and I mean that most sincerely. 

CLARA-Z: 

Why are you doing this? 

KATE: 

Yes, I'd quite like to know that, too. 

You set this up. Why? 

DOCTOR: 

Because it's not A Game, Kate. 

This is a scale model of War. 

Every war ever fought, 

right there in front of you. 

Because it's always the same —

When you fire that first shot, 

no matter how right you feel, 

You Have No Idea Who's Going to Die! 

You don't know whose children 

are going to scream and burn! 

How many hearts will be broken! 

How many lives shattered! 

How much blood will spill until 

everybody does what they were always 

going to have to do

from The Very Beginning -- 

Sit Down and Talk! 

(sigh) 

Listen to me. 

Listen, I just, I just want you to think. 

Do you know what thinking is? 

It's just a fancy word for changing your mind. 

CLARA-Z: 

I will not change my mind. 

Dr. Disco : 

Then you will die stupid. 

Alternatively, you could 

step away from that box, 

You can walk right out of that door 

and you could stand 

Your Revolution down. 

CLARA-Z: 

No! I'm not stopping this, Doctor. 

I started it. I will not stop it. 

You think They'll let me go, 

after what I've done? 

Dr. Disco : 

You're all the same, you screaming kids.

You know that? 

"Look at me, I'm unforgivable."

 

Well, here's the unforeseeable : 

I forgive you. 

After all you've done, I forgive you. 

CLARA-Z: 

You don't understand. 

You will never understand. 

Dr. Disco : 

I don't understand? 

Are you kidding? Me? 

Of course I understand. 

I mean, do you call this a war? 

This funny little thing? 

This is not a war! 

I fought in a bigger war 

than you will ever know.

I did worse things 

than you could ever imagine. 

And when I close my eyes 

I hear more screams 

than anyone could ever 

be able to count! 

And do you know what you do 

with all that pain? 

Shall I tell you where you put it? 

You hold it tight 

'til it burns your hand, 

and you say this :

"No one else will ever 

have to live like this. 

No one else will have to 

feel this pain. 

Not on my watch!"

(Kate closes the lid of the red box and steps back.)

Dr. Disco : 

Thank you. 

Thank you.

KATE: 

I'm sorry. 

Dr. Disco : 

I know. I know. 

Thank you. 

(to Clara-Z) 

Well? 

(Long, LONG pause.)

CLARA-Z:

It's empty, isn't it? 

Both boxes. 

There's nothing in them. 

Just buttons. 

DOCTOR : 

Of course. 

And do you know 

How you know that? 

Because you've started 

to think like me. 

Clara-Z drops her hand away 

from the buttons.

DOCTOR: 

It's Hell, isn't it?

 

No one should have 

to think like that. 

And no one will. 

Not on Our Watch. 

Their eyes meet

Gotcha.

CLARA-Z: 

How can you be so sure? 

DOCTOR: 

Because you have a disadvantage, Zygella. 

I know that face. 

KATE: 

This is all very well, 

but we know the boxes are empty now --

We can't forget that. 

DOCTOR: 

No, well, er, you've said that 

the last fifteen times. 

He sonics the memory filter 

in the ceiling. 

Bang!  

Osgood leans an unconscious Kate 

against a rack of stuff. 

Clara-Z closes the blue box.