And so we rise again from the ashes, like the fabled Phoenix.
Gnosticism assigns a place of the highest honour to this sacred firebird, associated with the sun, the bestower of life and light. It was said that the True God, Abraxas, delivered coded messages to humanity via the holy Phoenix.
No matter what has happened to us in our lives, the Phoenix gives us hope that we can renew ourselves, start again, begin over. If things have not gone well for us, then, in the Age of the Phoenix, it is time for us to recreate ourselves. Too many of us let others define us. We see ourselves through their eyes, and we feel ashamed that we are not more successful, that our status isn’t higher, that we aren’t where we thought we would be in life. Self-disgust fills us. We enter a spiral of decline and despair.
But the Phoenix shows us that even if it seems as though our lives have been reduced to ashes, hope persists. New and more powerful life is still possible. “What does not kill me makes me stronger,” declared Nietzsche with his customary indomitable defiance of misfortune. In other words, if you’re still standing, if you’ve been thrown into a crucible of struggle and you haven’t perished, then, if you did but know it, you’re much stronger than before, a person who knows how to survive. Now you need only make that inner strength explicit. Dominate the world. Don’t let the world dominate you. In particular, don’t let the Old World Order – those who have enjoyed every conceivable benefit and privilege from Day One, who have been handed on a silver plate all the resources and advantages denied to you – keep their boot on your neck a moment longer.
All of those who have had to toil for everything, who have never had doors thrown open for them but, instead, have found every door closed because the Old World Order have rigged the system against them, have learned the tough lessons of life. They have taken the long, hard path. They know more downs than ups, more snakes than ladders. Yet all the time they have been learning the lessons of life. Now they are much stronger and battle-tested. Now they can crush those who have never had to break sweat. The privileged are weak and feeble in comparison, bloated, pampered, arrogant and complacent. They have no idea what hard work is. They can be swept aside like straw men. In Hegel’s master-slave dialectic, it is the slaves who grow more and more powerful, not the masters, and it is precisely their toil and travails that turn them into supermen, ready to be mastered no longer.
Samuel Beckett said, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” When you have “failed better” enough times, you will surely succeed because you have dialectically honed you skills to the level where you are vastly superior to your competitors. Knowing how to “fail better” is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities in life. As you learn the mistakes of each failure, your knowledge, resilience and talent grow enormously. Eventually you stand transformed, ready to be an astonishing success, tested in the fire, prepared to rise up from the ashes of defeat, to follow the wondrous Phoenix to the highest peaks.
It could be said of humanity that we are lying deep in the grave of the universe, all life and hope drained from us. Yet we all have an inner Phoenix. The fire of life burns in our veins. All of those who do not belong to the Old World Order can flame into life, soar into the sky to show the cosmos their glorious new plumage, and burn the old masters with the fiery exhaust they leave in their wake.
The Phoenix, the sacred bird of the ancient land of Phoenicia, is of unsurpassed beauty and renowned for its hypnotic song, so captivating that even the Sun stops to listen. A creature endowed with magical powers, the Phoenix is capable of healing any injury done to it, and has a lifespan of 500 years. The neck of the Phoenix has bright feathers all the colours of the rainbow, yet more vivid and brilliant than in any rainbow ever seen by human eyes. Its distinctive crest, beak and claws are purple, its eyes deep red. It symbolizes rebirth, freedom, magic and immortality. It is mortal yet immortal. Its plumage glistens and glints with a thousand shades of gold. The beauty of its scarlet and gold tail is unrivalled. The Phoenix represents everything highest and noblest. It is a cross between an imperious eagle and breathtaking peacock.
The symbol of the eagle is often a disguised Phoenix, the best example being the American Eagle on the Great Seal of the United States of America, which, to those who know, is and always has been the Phoenix, symbol of spiritual transcendence. In 1782, William Barton, one of those involved in the design of the Seal, submitted a preliminary sketch showing a Phoenix atop a nest of flames, to symbolize that America had risen from the ashes of domination by the Old World (in the shape of the British Empire). It was decided by a committee to transform this into an eagle as a more conventional symbol.
At the end of its life, the Phoenix builds a nest of aromatic spices, such as cinnamon and myrrh, on top of a pyre. At twilight, it sets the nest alight, plunges into the heart of the conflagration and burns itself to ashes in the blazing pyre. But no sooner have the ashes cooled than the Phoenix reconstitutes itself and rises to live anew.
The new Phoenix embalms the ashes of its cremated former self in an egg made of myrrh and gold then conveys the precious object to the holy Egyptian city of Heliopolis (the city of the sun) to deposit them on the high priest's altar as the most sacred offering to the Sun God, Ra. The high priests, over the long years, formed a collection of the world's most special and perfect eggs, and the register of dates showed that each new egg was deposited precisely five hundred years after the last.
In Greek mythology, the Phoenix was a sacred firebird living next to a well outside the city of Tyre in Phoenicia. The well was full to brimming with the water of immortality. At dawn, the bird drank from the well then sang a song more beautiful even than that of the Sirens who lured so many unwary sailors to their deaths with their enchanting voices. The majestic bird was an emanation of sunlight, and blazed with an inner glow, giving its body a translucent quality. It was said that the Phoenix could take the form of a human, but such a human as to resemble an angel of light. Lucifer himself was often depicted as Phoenix. The Phosters wear an emblem of a Phoenix blazing with light and fire.
The Phoenix is the firebird that undergoes self-immolation only to live again, more brilliantly than before. For the Illuminati, it represents the dialectic. A thesis is tested to destruction by the antithesis, but from the ashes emerges the synthesis, taking all that was best from the thesis and the antithesis, forming a higher synthesis - a Phoenix of even more brilliant plumage. Each time it goes through the process, it is reborn more gloriously than before, closer to perfection, to its Omega Point. Its inner light glows more brightly. Eventually, after many incarnations, it is pure light, free of all the burdens of the material world, and it swoops endlessly upwards until it circles the Throne of Light of Abraxas himself.
The word Phoenix, like Phoenicia, is derived from the ancient Greek word for purple. Purple cloth was perhaps the most renowned Phoenician commodity, exported for sale all around the civilized world. The purple cloth of Tyre, the leading city-state of Phoenicia, was especially prized by the Romans who associated it with nobility and royalty, and it became the imperial colour, draped around Roman emperors.
Every Phoenician loved the tales of their nation's astonishing bird, bearing their trademark purple colour on its crest, beak and claws, that could regenerate itself, start afresh with renewed life and vigour.
Phoenicia, part of the ancient land of Canaan, was a prosperous trading empire in the ancient world, famed for the skill and daring of its sailors. Its chief cities were Tyre and Sidon. In the first millennium BCE, it set up colonies in Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, France (Marseilles), Spain (Cadiz), and, most famously of all, Carthage in North Africa (in modern-day Tunisia). For a time, Carthage was the equal of Rome and, under its brilliant general Hannibal who inflicted several devastating defeats on the Romans, it came close to achieving mastery of the Mediterranean and becoming the dominant power of the time.
In the modern day, Phoenicia is the nation of Lebanon. Tragically, we typically hear about this beautiful and historic land only when one of the regular conflicts with Israel erupts. It is said that Lebanon has seven times passed through the cycle of destruction and rebirth, just like the ancient Phoenix that symbolizes this nation that refuses to lie down. Most people know next to nothing about this country which has played such an important role in world affairs, and which is inextricably linked with the history of the Illuminati.
The Phoenician Connection
What is the connection between King Solomon, the unofficial first Grand Master of the Illuminati, and Pythagoras, the first official Grand Master and acknowledged founder of the secret society that exists to this day. (Of course, the name "Illuminati", from the Latin word illuminatus meaning "enlightened one", wasn't one used by either Solomon or Pythagoras, who lived long before the Romans became a significant power in the world and their language of Latin had spread far and wide.) At first sight, it would seem implausible that a Hebrew king should be linked to a Greek philosopher.
King Solomon famously invoked the help of the Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre to build his holy temple in Jerusalem. King Hiram provided him with cedar logs, stonemasons and carpenters to build a wonder of the ancient world.
Phoenician master craftsmen were responsible for the entire construction project, and used wood, stone and metal from Lebanon, worked by the most skilled Phoenician artisans. The temple took seven years to build.
Solomon also had a beautiful palace built for him and called it "The Hall of the Forest of Lebanon" because it was fashioned from the famous cedar wood of Lebanon (the modern flag of Lebanon shows a Cedar tree). In this palace was The Throne Room, also called The Hall of Judgment, where Solomon pronounced his decisions in the cases that came before him, earning himself an eternal reputation for surpassing wisdom.
Of course, it was Solomon's connection with King Hiram, and with Phoenicia's greatest architect and master builder, also called Hiram (Abiff), that is central to the foundation myth and mystery of Freemasonry, which is fundamentally all about creating the perfect human temple from the raw material of one's own self. We are all Hirams, seeking to fashion the ideal design, and to resist those who seek to sabotage us and to render our holy temples mere shacks and hovels.
Solomon created the first recognizable Order of the Illuminati (called the Order of Solomon and dedicated to the destruction of Yahweh), but it didn't long survive his death. Israel descended into vicious faction fighting and civil war in the reign of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, resulting in the kingdom splitting in two, and the survivors of the Order of Solomon left Israel and settled in Phoenicia, in and around Tyre. This coastal city was in a perfect location, at the hub of the ancient world's "information superhighway".
They kept the traditions of the Illuminati alive, albeit not in an organized form since they had no agreed leader. It returned to what it was before Solomon: a loose confederation of wandering holy men, mystics and esotericists, passing in the night to exchange new secrets discovered in exotic lands.
Pythagoras' father was a Phoenician merchant called Mnesarchus, who settled in Samos, a Greek colony off the west coast of modern-day Turkey, near the great Greek city-state of Miletus (where philosophy was born) on what is now the mainland of Turkey. During a severe famine, Mnesarchus brought corn to the starving people of Samos and, as a mark of gratitude, was granted citizenship of Samos and a fine house.
Mnesarchus wasn't an Illuminatus, but he was aware of the secretive group of wise men thought to have magical powers and secret knowledge derived from the famous Solomon. He was fascinated by them, and often gave them passage on his ship, but retained a certain wariness towards them, born of fear.
While on business in the great Greek city of Delphi in Greece, home of the famous oracle of Apollo, Mnesarchus learned that his wife was pregnant. Keen to know what fate had in store for his child, Mnesarchus consulted the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo, who transmitted the oracles from the gods to men. (One of Apollo's names was Pythios, hence his priestess was called Pythia.)
The priestess told Mnesarchus that his child would be a son, surpassingly handsome and wise beyond all other men, destined to bestow great gifts on humanity.
The child was born on Samos (not at Sidon in Phoenicia, as some have claimed). Pythagoras was named after Apollo (Pythios), the Greek god of light. (Another of Apollo's names was Phoebus - the "shining one", and the sun was his symbol, making him a sun god.) Apollo was also the god of prophecy, of poetry and music, of healing, of intelligence and understanding: an ideal divine patron for the Illuminati. The second half of Pythagoras's name was derived from the ancient Greek word "agora" - the "marketplace" - and was to honour his father, who made his living from trading and selling in the agora.
Legends surround the birth of Pythagoras. It was said that he was not a human child, but an avatar of a god - a deity taking human form to walk amongst men to help and advise them and be their benefactor. Pythagoras was, according to most people who met him, an individual in whom the influence of divine inspiration was unmistakable and overwhelming. He was often called the Son of God, just like Jesus Christ centuries later. It was even suggested that Apollo was his real father, and he was immaculately conceived, in the manner later attributed to Jesus Christ. In fact a great deal of the stories concerning Jesus Christ seem like direct copies of those told of Pythagoras. It was said that Pythagoras met his death by crucifixion by his enemies, in an open field. His enemies, well aware of his reputation, watched his body for three days and nights to see if any trace of his soul would become visible as it departed his body, or if the gods would come to retrieve him, or if a creature would come into which he would transfer his soul. Last but not least, there was speculation that he might come back from the dead, such was his reputation for miracles.
There was one other notion of what might be his fate; either the fabled Phoenix, to which Pythagoras often expressed his devotion, would swoop down and he would pass his soul into it, or he himself would transform into the Phoenix and fly away. In fact, at the hand of the three days, Pythagoras's body was said to have been struck by lightning, utterly consuming his body, leaving not a trace.
Soon after Pythagoras's birth, the Illuminati showed profound interest in Mnesarchus's dazzlingly talented and precocious son, a child prodigy if ever there was one. And Magi from the East appeared in Samos, seeking the "child of wonders".
From his tenderest years, Pythagoras sought and demanded knowledge. Above all, he loved to hear the strange stories told by his father of the mysterious men with whom he came into contact on his travels, particularly in the Phoenician coastal cities of Tyre, Sidon and Byblos. Young Pythagoras was transfixed, and vowed to find out every secret that existed in the world when he grew up. His father took him on many long journeys as part of his trading missions, and Pythagoras came into direct contact with the great sages of the world: in Egypt (land of the holy priests of Heliopolis, Memphis and Thebes), in Babylonia (land of Chaldean astronomy), in Persia (land of the Magi), and even as far as India and China.
The world's wise men found Pythagoras's abilities every bit as remarkable and unprecedented as was prophesied. He was such a remarkable person that he easily found his way into the company of the most secretive priests, magicians, and sages all across the civilized world. He swiftly learned their esoteric knowledge and was initiated into their innermost mysteries. All of them recognized him as a demi-god, and gave him all the assistance they could contrive. They directed him to others who could help, gave him glowing recommendations and references, and the whole world of esoteric knowledge opened up for him like a book. Pythagoras is often regarded as the first human to possess the same knowledge as Hermes Trismegistus. He is therefore the world's first "great initiate."
Pythagoras took everything he learned and turned it into a grand synthesis of all the mystical and esoteric knowledge then known in the world. He was the first person to refer to himself as a philosopher - a lover of wisdom - and he was most assuredly that. The subject he was interested in above all others was that of the Phosters - a mysterious group of individuals who were said to have been sent from the heavens to guide humanity towards the divine light. They were reputed to appear to only the most worthy human beings, and to have secret knowledge without limit, founded primarily on mathematics. They were able to see "things" as numbers, it was said, and to understand the precise equations that linked everything. In modern terminology, we would say that they had a Grand Unified Theory of everything, such as contemporary physicists pursue.
The distinguished philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote of Pythagoras, "He was intellectually one of the most important men that ever lived…Mathematics, in the sense of demonstrative deductive argument, begins with him, and in him is intimately connected with a peculiar form of mysticism…Pythagoras is one of the most interesting and puzzling men in history…His religion was embodied in a religious order, which, here and there, acquired control of the State and established a rule of the saints. In the society that he founded, men and women were admitted on equal terms; property was held in common, and there was a common way of life…It is natural to go further, and to argue that thought is nobler than sense, and the objects of thought more real than those of sense-perception. Mystical doctrines as to the relation of time to eternity are also reinforced by pure mathematics, for mathematical objects, such as numbers, if real at all, are eternal and not in time. Such eternal objects can be conceived as God's thoughts…Rationalistic as opposed to apocalyptic religion has been, ever since Pythagoras, and notably ever since Plato, very completely dominated by mathematics and mathematical method…The combination of mathematics and theology, which began with Pythagoras, characterized religious philosophy in Greece, in the Middle Ages, and in modern times down to Kant. Orphism before Pythagoras was analogous to Asiatic mystery religions. But in Plato, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz there is an intimate blending of religion and reasoning, of moral aspiration with logical admiration of what is timeless, which comes from Pythagoras, and distinguishes the intellectualized theology of Europe from the more straightforward mysticism of Asia. I do not know of any other man who has been as influential as he was in the sphere of thought. I say this because what appears to be Platonism is, when analyzed, found to be in essence Pythagoreanism. The whole conception of an eternal world, revealed to the intellect but not to the senses, is derived from him. But for him, Christians would not have thought of Christ as the Word; but for him, theologians would not have sought logical proofs of God and immortality."
Russell did not like Pythagoras, just as he disliked other radical thinkers such as Hegel and Nietzsche. Russell, a product of extreme English privilege and cynicism, completely lacking any spiritual component, simply could not understand either illiberalism (as in Nietzsche) or the ultimate journey towards union with God (Pythagoras and Hegel). In his commentaries, he scoffs at Pythagoras whenever he gets the chance, but, as we have shown, he is at least aware of the stunning significance of Pythagoras in world history.
The Illuminati are the intellectual soul of the world; sadly, humanity has chosen war, greed, selfishness, vanity and money, rather than the mind and spirituality, as its gods i.e. it has decided to worship the Demiurge instead of Abraxas. Read the Bible. You will find ZERO intellectual content, but you will be overwhelmed by tales of violence and greed, and the psychopathic cruelty of the evil god Yahweh, better known as Satan, to whom the majority of humanity genuflects. The earth is a planet of Devil worshippers. It was not for nothing that many Gnostics considered earth as hell itself.
As he reached maturity, Pythagoras was all too aware of the wickedness of men. He detested the corrupt, dishonest, immoral, treacherous tyrant Polycrates who ruled Samos. Polycrates had a vast navy that made Samos an influential player in regional affairs. However, he often used his fleet for piracy, and had a habit of changing sides whenever it suited him, making him a marked man. Not soon enough for Pythagoras, however, who left the island and made his way to the Greek colony at Croton in southern Italy, famous for its knowledge of medicine, where a group of Illuminists who had found a benign home there begged him to come. As for Polycrates, his luck ran out and he was captured by his enemies and crucified.
It has been suggested that the magic Mediterranean island in Shakespeare's play The Tempest was based on Samos, and the character of Prospero on Pythagoras himself. Certainly, Pythagoras was a figure of mystery and legend, a religious prophet and pure mathematician, a scientist and magician, a cross between Einstein and Merlin, striving to unite reason and mysticism, science and religion. Shaman, showman and genius, there has never been anyone like Pythagoras, a man of supernatural charisma. As for the Illuminati under Pythagoras, they were the precursor of all future secret societies.
At Croton, Pythagoras created the Illuminati as a formal secret society, with himself as its first Grand Master, with a specific mission to make themselves worthy of the Phosters, from whom they would surely learn the final secrets of existence.
So, that is the story of how Solomon and Pythagoras are linked, the kingdom of Israel to the Greek world, via Phoenicia. The Phoenix flew over all these lands, a symbol of the spreading of spirituality and the possibility of starting again, free of the shackles of the Demiurge.
The First Philosopher
Pythagoras was the first person to be known as a philosopher, the first to use that term to describe himself, the first pure mathematician and the first person to adopt a systematic, deductive, scientific method, making him the forefather of modern science.
Such was his renown that the phrase autos epha was coined, meaning, "he himself said it." This was later translated into a famous Latin phrase: ipse dixit. Anyone who wanted to end a debate, using Pythagoras as the ultimate authority, simply declared, "He himself said it." No one dared to challenge a direct pronouncement by Pythagoras.
Pythagoras was famed for his skill with the lyre, and, like Orpheus, he used music to help those who were ill and to calm wild animals. He was obsessed with music because it brought numbers to life. Music might be considered as aural mathematics; mathematics transformed into emotion. Social and political harmony are akin to beautiful music, while the chaotic opposite is music that has degenerated into discord.
Twenty-one of the central principles taught by Pythagoras to the inner circle of the Illuminati, known as the mathematikoi, were:
(1) Reality is mathematical at its deepest level.
(2) The cosmos is ordered because it obeys mathematical laws.
(3) If the cosmos were not mathematical it would be permanently chaotic and random. No form of organization would ever have emerged. No life could have arisen.
(4) Mathematics is the first language of the cosmos. Mathematics underlies reason, order, organization, pattern, logic, form.
(5) God is mathematics come to life.
(6) God is mathematical perfection.
(7) The mind, both human and divine, is born of mathematics.
(8) The mathematics of humanity can ascend to the mathematics of divinity: the latter is simply an inferior version of the latter.
(9) Through the understanding of mathematics, humans can comprehend the Mind of God and enter into union with God.
(10) The human soul reflects the mathematics of eternity.
(11) Mathematics and philosophy can purify the soul spiritually.
(12) The human soul can rise to union with the divine.
(13) Certain symbols have a mystical significance, via which the secrets of God are revealed.
(14) God has filled the cosmos with mathematical messages (codes) to the human race to provide the answers to all of our questions. We need only read the codes, but to do so we must learn to see through God's eyes.
(15) Good and evil have their origins in mathematics. Good is associated with those who wish to live in harmony with others; evil is the result of the desire to destroy harmony by treating others in a lesser way than one would be expected to be treated oneself. Good people seek harmony; evil people seek discord. Good people seek cooperation, evil people seek to put others down to raise themselves up.
(16) God wants all good people to join him. He rejects all evil people.
(17) Emotion is based on music, and music on mathematics. All of our emotions are reflected in music. Music can make us happy, sad, tearful, ecstatic. It can rouse us to dance. It can plunge us into despair. It can make us serene. It can make us restless. It can inspire us, or crush us. It can allow us to enter into communion with others. It can raise our minds to the level of the divine. Through perfect music, we can glimpse the perfect mind of God.
(18) All things have a profound inner grasp of mathematics. Even when they do not know it, all things are carried along in the eternal flow of mathematics, the river of enlightenment.
(19) Those who do not understand mathematics are those who have not had what is buried inside them brought into the light of reason.
(20) Light and sound are mathematical. In the afterlife, we hear the Music of the Spheres and see the infinitely dazzling light patterns of eternity.
(21) All Brothers and Sisters of the Order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy.
Twenty-one was a revered number because it was the product of two of the most sacred numbers: three and seven.
Consider the sophistication of Pythagoras's principles contrasted with the primitive and childish stories, parables, laws and commandments of the Torah, Bible and Koran. How could Jews, Christians or Muslims ever claim to have any real knowledge of anything at all? It is all superstition, fear and control.
"Bless us, divine number, who generated gods and men. Number contains the root and source of eternally flowing creation."
Pythagoras
"One cannot escape the feeling that these mathematical formulas have an independent existence and intelligence of their own, that they are wiser than we are…"
Physicist Heinrich Hertz
The soul, if it is to be at all meaningful in this scientific age, must be capable of a scientific and hence mathematical description. From the outset, Pythagoras treated the soul scientifically and mathematically. Any religion that fails to do so is no religion at all, but mere moonshine for simpletons.
This is not to say that the soul can be fully described and defined mathematically. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata can be analyzed mathematically, divided up into waveforms, amplitudes, sine waves, frequencies, wavelengths etc. That is, we can provide an exact mathematical analysis of the music, sufficient to allow us to copy it onto millions of plastic disks and transport it all around the world, where it will be reproduced exactly each time it is played. But how can mathematics define how the music makes us feel? The external mathematical definition of the soul does not and never can express what it is like to be a soul, how it feels, how it is experienced, what the inner nature of the soul is, its moral content. Mysticism, esotericism, intuition, insight, the inner eye, and, above all, gnosticism, can all help here. Even so, just as there would be no Moonlight Sonata without mathematics, nor could the soul exist without mathematics. The mathematical and scientific nature of the soul must be addressed by any credible religion. Any religion that cannot do so must be rejected as false. In fact, Einstein's special theory of relativity, Minkowski's 4D spacetime, and Quantum Mechanics, provide the ideal modern framework in which to define the soul, as we shall demonstrate in a future article. (And at the heart of all of these stands none other than Pythagoras' Theorem, known to every schoolchild). You will not find any religion other than Illumination that can achieve this. All other religions are fake, particularly the ludicrous Abrahamic faiths which directly contradict science and hence are simply unbelievable. These infantile religions must be consigned to the oblivion they deserve.
Plato's famous Academy, and Aristotle's Lyceum, the templates for modern universities, were based on Pythagoras's Illuminati school of mathematics, science, philosophy, religion and esoteric knowledge at Croton. In a sense, the whole education system enjoyed by the world today is in debt to the Illuminati. Yet the education system needs to be vastly more like Pythagoras' school at Croton if humanity is to fulfil its potential.
Gnosticism assigns a place of the highest honour to this sacred firebird, associated with the sun, the bestower of life and light. It was said that the True God, Abraxas, delivered coded messages to humanity via the holy Phoenix.
No matter what has happened to us in our lives, the Phoenix gives us hope that we can renew ourselves, start again, begin over. If things have not gone well for us, then, in the Age of the Phoenix, it is time for us to recreate ourselves. Too many of us let others define us. We see ourselves through their eyes, and we feel ashamed that we are not more successful, that our status isn’t higher, that we aren’t where we thought we would be in life. Self-disgust fills us. We enter a spiral of decline and despair.
But the Phoenix shows us that even if it seems as though our lives have been reduced to ashes, hope persists. New and more powerful life is still possible. “What does not kill me makes me stronger,” declared Nietzsche with his customary indomitable defiance of misfortune. In other words, if you’re still standing, if you’ve been thrown into a crucible of struggle and you haven’t perished, then, if you did but know it, you’re much stronger than before, a person who knows how to survive. Now you need only make that inner strength explicit. Dominate the world. Don’t let the world dominate you. In particular, don’t let the Old World Order – those who have enjoyed every conceivable benefit and privilege from Day One, who have been handed on a silver plate all the resources and advantages denied to you – keep their boot on your neck a moment longer.
All of those who have had to toil for everything, who have never had doors thrown open for them but, instead, have found every door closed because the Old World Order have rigged the system against them, have learned the tough lessons of life. They have taken the long, hard path. They know more downs than ups, more snakes than ladders. Yet all the time they have been learning the lessons of life. Now they are much stronger and battle-tested. Now they can crush those who have never had to break sweat. The privileged are weak and feeble in comparison, bloated, pampered, arrogant and complacent. They have no idea what hard work is. They can be swept aside like straw men. In Hegel’s master-slave dialectic, it is the slaves who grow more and more powerful, not the masters, and it is precisely their toil and travails that turn them into supermen, ready to be mastered no longer.
Samuel Beckett said, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” When you have “failed better” enough times, you will surely succeed because you have dialectically honed you skills to the level where you are vastly superior to your competitors. Knowing how to “fail better” is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities in life. As you learn the mistakes of each failure, your knowledge, resilience and talent grow enormously. Eventually you stand transformed, ready to be an astonishing success, tested in the fire, prepared to rise up from the ashes of defeat, to follow the wondrous Phoenix to the highest peaks.
It could be said of humanity that we are lying deep in the grave of the universe, all life and hope drained from us. Yet we all have an inner Phoenix. The fire of life burns in our veins. All of those who do not belong to the Old World Order can flame into life, soar into the sky to show the cosmos their glorious new plumage, and burn the old masters with the fiery exhaust they leave in their wake.
The Phoenix, the sacred bird of the ancient land of Phoenicia, is of unsurpassed beauty and renowned for its hypnotic song, so captivating that even the Sun stops to listen. A creature endowed with magical powers, the Phoenix is capable of healing any injury done to it, and has a lifespan of 500 years. The neck of the Phoenix has bright feathers all the colours of the rainbow, yet more vivid and brilliant than in any rainbow ever seen by human eyes. Its distinctive crest, beak and claws are purple, its eyes deep red. It symbolizes rebirth, freedom, magic and immortality. It is mortal yet immortal. Its plumage glistens and glints with a thousand shades of gold. The beauty of its scarlet and gold tail is unrivalled. The Phoenix represents everything highest and noblest. It is a cross between an imperious eagle and breathtaking peacock.
The symbol of the eagle is often a disguised Phoenix, the best example being the American Eagle on the Great Seal of the United States of America, which, to those who know, is and always has been the Phoenix, symbol of spiritual transcendence. In 1782, William Barton, one of those involved in the design of the Seal, submitted a preliminary sketch showing a Phoenix atop a nest of flames, to symbolize that America had risen from the ashes of domination by the Old World (in the shape of the British Empire). It was decided by a committee to transform this into an eagle as a more conventional symbol.
At the end of its life, the Phoenix builds a nest of aromatic spices, such as cinnamon and myrrh, on top of a pyre. At twilight, it sets the nest alight, plunges into the heart of the conflagration and burns itself to ashes in the blazing pyre. But no sooner have the ashes cooled than the Phoenix reconstitutes itself and rises to live anew.
The new Phoenix embalms the ashes of its cremated former self in an egg made of myrrh and gold then conveys the precious object to the holy Egyptian city of Heliopolis (the city of the sun) to deposit them on the high priest's altar as the most sacred offering to the Sun God, Ra. The high priests, over the long years, formed a collection of the world's most special and perfect eggs, and the register of dates showed that each new egg was deposited precisely five hundred years after the last.
In Greek mythology, the Phoenix was a sacred firebird living next to a well outside the city of Tyre in Phoenicia. The well was full to brimming with the water of immortality. At dawn, the bird drank from the well then sang a song more beautiful even than that of the Sirens who lured so many unwary sailors to their deaths with their enchanting voices. The majestic bird was an emanation of sunlight, and blazed with an inner glow, giving its body a translucent quality. It was said that the Phoenix could take the form of a human, but such a human as to resemble an angel of light. Lucifer himself was often depicted as Phoenix. The Phosters wear an emblem of a Phoenix blazing with light and fire.
The Phoenix is the firebird that undergoes self-immolation only to live again, more brilliantly than before. For the Illuminati, it represents the dialectic. A thesis is tested to destruction by the antithesis, but from the ashes emerges the synthesis, taking all that was best from the thesis and the antithesis, forming a higher synthesis - a Phoenix of even more brilliant plumage. Each time it goes through the process, it is reborn more gloriously than before, closer to perfection, to its Omega Point. Its inner light glows more brightly. Eventually, after many incarnations, it is pure light, free of all the burdens of the material world, and it swoops endlessly upwards until it circles the Throne of Light of Abraxas himself.
The word Phoenix, like Phoenicia, is derived from the ancient Greek word for purple. Purple cloth was perhaps the most renowned Phoenician commodity, exported for sale all around the civilized world. The purple cloth of Tyre, the leading city-state of Phoenicia, was especially prized by the Romans who associated it with nobility and royalty, and it became the imperial colour, draped around Roman emperors.
Every Phoenician loved the tales of their nation's astonishing bird, bearing their trademark purple colour on its crest, beak and claws, that could regenerate itself, start afresh with renewed life and vigour.
Phoenicia, part of the ancient land of Canaan, was a prosperous trading empire in the ancient world, famed for the skill and daring of its sailors. Its chief cities were Tyre and Sidon. In the first millennium BCE, it set up colonies in Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, France (Marseilles), Spain (Cadiz), and, most famously of all, Carthage in North Africa (in modern-day Tunisia). For a time, Carthage was the equal of Rome and, under its brilliant general Hannibal who inflicted several devastating defeats on the Romans, it came close to achieving mastery of the Mediterranean and becoming the dominant power of the time.
In the modern day, Phoenicia is the nation of Lebanon. Tragically, we typically hear about this beautiful and historic land only when one of the regular conflicts with Israel erupts. It is said that Lebanon has seven times passed through the cycle of destruction and rebirth, just like the ancient Phoenix that symbolizes this nation that refuses to lie down. Most people know next to nothing about this country which has played such an important role in world affairs, and which is inextricably linked with the history of the Illuminati.
The Phoenician Connection
What is the connection between King Solomon, the unofficial first Grand Master of the Illuminati, and Pythagoras, the first official Grand Master and acknowledged founder of the secret society that exists to this day. (Of course, the name "Illuminati", from the Latin word illuminatus meaning "enlightened one", wasn't one used by either Solomon or Pythagoras, who lived long before the Romans became a significant power in the world and their language of Latin had spread far and wide.) At first sight, it would seem implausible that a Hebrew king should be linked to a Greek philosopher.
King Solomon famously invoked the help of the Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre to build his holy temple in Jerusalem. King Hiram provided him with cedar logs, stonemasons and carpenters to build a wonder of the ancient world.
Phoenician master craftsmen were responsible for the entire construction project, and used wood, stone and metal from Lebanon, worked by the most skilled Phoenician artisans. The temple took seven years to build.
Solomon also had a beautiful palace built for him and called it "The Hall of the Forest of Lebanon" because it was fashioned from the famous cedar wood of Lebanon (the modern flag of Lebanon shows a Cedar tree). In this palace was The Throne Room, also called The Hall of Judgment, where Solomon pronounced his decisions in the cases that came before him, earning himself an eternal reputation for surpassing wisdom.
Of course, it was Solomon's connection with King Hiram, and with Phoenicia's greatest architect and master builder, also called Hiram (Abiff), that is central to the foundation myth and mystery of Freemasonry, which is fundamentally all about creating the perfect human temple from the raw material of one's own self. We are all Hirams, seeking to fashion the ideal design, and to resist those who seek to sabotage us and to render our holy temples mere shacks and hovels.
Solomon created the first recognizable Order of the Illuminati (called the Order of Solomon and dedicated to the destruction of Yahweh), but it didn't long survive his death. Israel descended into vicious faction fighting and civil war in the reign of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, resulting in the kingdom splitting in two, and the survivors of the Order of Solomon left Israel and settled in Phoenicia, in and around Tyre. This coastal city was in a perfect location, at the hub of the ancient world's "information superhighway".
They kept the traditions of the Illuminati alive, albeit not in an organized form since they had no agreed leader. It returned to what it was before Solomon: a loose confederation of wandering holy men, mystics and esotericists, passing in the night to exchange new secrets discovered in exotic lands.
Pythagoras' father was a Phoenician merchant called Mnesarchus, who settled in Samos, a Greek colony off the west coast of modern-day Turkey, near the great Greek city-state of Miletus (where philosophy was born) on what is now the mainland of Turkey. During a severe famine, Mnesarchus brought corn to the starving people of Samos and, as a mark of gratitude, was granted citizenship of Samos and a fine house.
Mnesarchus wasn't an Illuminatus, but he was aware of the secretive group of wise men thought to have magical powers and secret knowledge derived from the famous Solomon. He was fascinated by them, and often gave them passage on his ship, but retained a certain wariness towards them, born of fear.
While on business in the great Greek city of Delphi in Greece, home of the famous oracle of Apollo, Mnesarchus learned that his wife was pregnant. Keen to know what fate had in store for his child, Mnesarchus consulted the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo, who transmitted the oracles from the gods to men. (One of Apollo's names was Pythios, hence his priestess was called Pythia.)
The priestess told Mnesarchus that his child would be a son, surpassingly handsome and wise beyond all other men, destined to bestow great gifts on humanity.
The child was born on Samos (not at Sidon in Phoenicia, as some have claimed). Pythagoras was named after Apollo (Pythios), the Greek god of light. (Another of Apollo's names was Phoebus - the "shining one", and the sun was his symbol, making him a sun god.) Apollo was also the god of prophecy, of poetry and music, of healing, of intelligence and understanding: an ideal divine patron for the Illuminati. The second half of Pythagoras's name was derived from the ancient Greek word "agora" - the "marketplace" - and was to honour his father, who made his living from trading and selling in the agora.
Legends surround the birth of Pythagoras. It was said that he was not a human child, but an avatar of a god - a deity taking human form to walk amongst men to help and advise them and be their benefactor. Pythagoras was, according to most people who met him, an individual in whom the influence of divine inspiration was unmistakable and overwhelming. He was often called the Son of God, just like Jesus Christ centuries later. It was even suggested that Apollo was his real father, and he was immaculately conceived, in the manner later attributed to Jesus Christ. In fact a great deal of the stories concerning Jesus Christ seem like direct copies of those told of Pythagoras. It was said that Pythagoras met his death by crucifixion by his enemies, in an open field. His enemies, well aware of his reputation, watched his body for three days and nights to see if any trace of his soul would become visible as it departed his body, or if the gods would come to retrieve him, or if a creature would come into which he would transfer his soul. Last but not least, there was speculation that he might come back from the dead, such was his reputation for miracles.
There was one other notion of what might be his fate; either the fabled Phoenix, to which Pythagoras often expressed his devotion, would swoop down and he would pass his soul into it, or he himself would transform into the Phoenix and fly away. In fact, at the hand of the three days, Pythagoras's body was said to have been struck by lightning, utterly consuming his body, leaving not a trace.
Soon after Pythagoras's birth, the Illuminati showed profound interest in Mnesarchus's dazzlingly talented and precocious son, a child prodigy if ever there was one. And Magi from the East appeared in Samos, seeking the "child of wonders".
From his tenderest years, Pythagoras sought and demanded knowledge. Above all, he loved to hear the strange stories told by his father of the mysterious men with whom he came into contact on his travels, particularly in the Phoenician coastal cities of Tyre, Sidon and Byblos. Young Pythagoras was transfixed, and vowed to find out every secret that existed in the world when he grew up. His father took him on many long journeys as part of his trading missions, and Pythagoras came into direct contact with the great sages of the world: in Egypt (land of the holy priests of Heliopolis, Memphis and Thebes), in Babylonia (land of Chaldean astronomy), in Persia (land of the Magi), and even as far as India and China.
The world's wise men found Pythagoras's abilities every bit as remarkable and unprecedented as was prophesied. He was such a remarkable person that he easily found his way into the company of the most secretive priests, magicians, and sages all across the civilized world. He swiftly learned their esoteric knowledge and was initiated into their innermost mysteries. All of them recognized him as a demi-god, and gave him all the assistance they could contrive. They directed him to others who could help, gave him glowing recommendations and references, and the whole world of esoteric knowledge opened up for him like a book. Pythagoras is often regarded as the first human to possess the same knowledge as Hermes Trismegistus. He is therefore the world's first "great initiate."
Pythagoras took everything he learned and turned it into a grand synthesis of all the mystical and esoteric knowledge then known in the world. He was the first person to refer to himself as a philosopher - a lover of wisdom - and he was most assuredly that. The subject he was interested in above all others was that of the Phosters - a mysterious group of individuals who were said to have been sent from the heavens to guide humanity towards the divine light. They were reputed to appear to only the most worthy human beings, and to have secret knowledge without limit, founded primarily on mathematics. They were able to see "things" as numbers, it was said, and to understand the precise equations that linked everything. In modern terminology, we would say that they had a Grand Unified Theory of everything, such as contemporary physicists pursue.
The distinguished philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote of Pythagoras, "He was intellectually one of the most important men that ever lived…Mathematics, in the sense of demonstrative deductive argument, begins with him, and in him is intimately connected with a peculiar form of mysticism…Pythagoras is one of the most interesting and puzzling men in history…His religion was embodied in a religious order, which, here and there, acquired control of the State and established a rule of the saints. In the society that he founded, men and women were admitted on equal terms; property was held in common, and there was a common way of life…It is natural to go further, and to argue that thought is nobler than sense, and the objects of thought more real than those of sense-perception. Mystical doctrines as to the relation of time to eternity are also reinforced by pure mathematics, for mathematical objects, such as numbers, if real at all, are eternal and not in time. Such eternal objects can be conceived as God's thoughts…Rationalistic as opposed to apocalyptic religion has been, ever since Pythagoras, and notably ever since Plato, very completely dominated by mathematics and mathematical method…The combination of mathematics and theology, which began with Pythagoras, characterized religious philosophy in Greece, in the Middle Ages, and in modern times down to Kant. Orphism before Pythagoras was analogous to Asiatic mystery religions. But in Plato, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz there is an intimate blending of religion and reasoning, of moral aspiration with logical admiration of what is timeless, which comes from Pythagoras, and distinguishes the intellectualized theology of Europe from the more straightforward mysticism of Asia. I do not know of any other man who has been as influential as he was in the sphere of thought. I say this because what appears to be Platonism is, when analyzed, found to be in essence Pythagoreanism. The whole conception of an eternal world, revealed to the intellect but not to the senses, is derived from him. But for him, Christians would not have thought of Christ as the Word; but for him, theologians would not have sought logical proofs of God and immortality."
Russell did not like Pythagoras, just as he disliked other radical thinkers such as Hegel and Nietzsche. Russell, a product of extreme English privilege and cynicism, completely lacking any spiritual component, simply could not understand either illiberalism (as in Nietzsche) or the ultimate journey towards union with God (Pythagoras and Hegel). In his commentaries, he scoffs at Pythagoras whenever he gets the chance, but, as we have shown, he is at least aware of the stunning significance of Pythagoras in world history.
The Illuminati are the intellectual soul of the world; sadly, humanity has chosen war, greed, selfishness, vanity and money, rather than the mind and spirituality, as its gods i.e. it has decided to worship the Demiurge instead of Abraxas. Read the Bible. You will find ZERO intellectual content, but you will be overwhelmed by tales of violence and greed, and the psychopathic cruelty of the evil god Yahweh, better known as Satan, to whom the majority of humanity genuflects. The earth is a planet of Devil worshippers. It was not for nothing that many Gnostics considered earth as hell itself.
As he reached maturity, Pythagoras was all too aware of the wickedness of men. He detested the corrupt, dishonest, immoral, treacherous tyrant Polycrates who ruled Samos. Polycrates had a vast navy that made Samos an influential player in regional affairs. However, he often used his fleet for piracy, and had a habit of changing sides whenever it suited him, making him a marked man. Not soon enough for Pythagoras, however, who left the island and made his way to the Greek colony at Croton in southern Italy, famous for its knowledge of medicine, where a group of Illuminists who had found a benign home there begged him to come. As for Polycrates, his luck ran out and he was captured by his enemies and crucified.
It has been suggested that the magic Mediterranean island in Shakespeare's play The Tempest was based on Samos, and the character of Prospero on Pythagoras himself. Certainly, Pythagoras was a figure of mystery and legend, a religious prophet and pure mathematician, a scientist and magician, a cross between Einstein and Merlin, striving to unite reason and mysticism, science and religion. Shaman, showman and genius, there has never been anyone like Pythagoras, a man of supernatural charisma. As for the Illuminati under Pythagoras, they were the precursor of all future secret societies.
At Croton, Pythagoras created the Illuminati as a formal secret society, with himself as its first Grand Master, with a specific mission to make themselves worthy of the Phosters, from whom they would surely learn the final secrets of existence.
So, that is the story of how Solomon and Pythagoras are linked, the kingdom of Israel to the Greek world, via Phoenicia. The Phoenix flew over all these lands, a symbol of the spreading of spirituality and the possibility of starting again, free of the shackles of the Demiurge.
The First Philosopher
Pythagoras was the first person to be known as a philosopher, the first to use that term to describe himself, the first pure mathematician and the first person to adopt a systematic, deductive, scientific method, making him the forefather of modern science.
Such was his renown that the phrase autos epha was coined, meaning, "he himself said it." This was later translated into a famous Latin phrase: ipse dixit. Anyone who wanted to end a debate, using Pythagoras as the ultimate authority, simply declared, "He himself said it." No one dared to challenge a direct pronouncement by Pythagoras.
Pythagoras was famed for his skill with the lyre, and, like Orpheus, he used music to help those who were ill and to calm wild animals. He was obsessed with music because it brought numbers to life. Music might be considered as aural mathematics; mathematics transformed into emotion. Social and political harmony are akin to beautiful music, while the chaotic opposite is music that has degenerated into discord.
Twenty-one of the central principles taught by Pythagoras to the inner circle of the Illuminati, known as the mathematikoi, were:
(1) Reality is mathematical at its deepest level.
(2) The cosmos is ordered because it obeys mathematical laws.
(3) If the cosmos were not mathematical it would be permanently chaotic and random. No form of organization would ever have emerged. No life could have arisen.
(4) Mathematics is the first language of the cosmos. Mathematics underlies reason, order, organization, pattern, logic, form.
(5) God is mathematics come to life.
(6) God is mathematical perfection.
(7) The mind, both human and divine, is born of mathematics.
(8) The mathematics of humanity can ascend to the mathematics of divinity: the latter is simply an inferior version of the latter.
(9) Through the understanding of mathematics, humans can comprehend the Mind of God and enter into union with God.
(10) The human soul reflects the mathematics of eternity.
(11) Mathematics and philosophy can purify the soul spiritually.
(12) The human soul can rise to union with the divine.
(13) Certain symbols have a mystical significance, via which the secrets of God are revealed.
(14) God has filled the cosmos with mathematical messages (codes) to the human race to provide the answers to all of our questions. We need only read the codes, but to do so we must learn to see through God's eyes.
(15) Good and evil have their origins in mathematics. Good is associated with those who wish to live in harmony with others; evil is the result of the desire to destroy harmony by treating others in a lesser way than one would be expected to be treated oneself. Good people seek harmony; evil people seek discord. Good people seek cooperation, evil people seek to put others down to raise themselves up.
(16) God wants all good people to join him. He rejects all evil people.
(17) Emotion is based on music, and music on mathematics. All of our emotions are reflected in music. Music can make us happy, sad, tearful, ecstatic. It can rouse us to dance. It can plunge us into despair. It can make us serene. It can make us restless. It can inspire us, or crush us. It can allow us to enter into communion with others. It can raise our minds to the level of the divine. Through perfect music, we can glimpse the perfect mind of God.
(18) All things have a profound inner grasp of mathematics. Even when they do not know it, all things are carried along in the eternal flow of mathematics, the river of enlightenment.
(19) Those who do not understand mathematics are those who have not had what is buried inside them brought into the light of reason.
(20) Light and sound are mathematical. In the afterlife, we hear the Music of the Spheres and see the infinitely dazzling light patterns of eternity.
(21) All Brothers and Sisters of the Order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy.
Twenty-one was a revered number because it was the product of two of the most sacred numbers: three and seven.
Consider the sophistication of Pythagoras's principles contrasted with the primitive and childish stories, parables, laws and commandments of the Torah, Bible and Koran. How could Jews, Christians or Muslims ever claim to have any real knowledge of anything at all? It is all superstition, fear and control.
"Bless us, divine number, who generated gods and men. Number contains the root and source of eternally flowing creation."
Pythagoras
"One cannot escape the feeling that these mathematical formulas have an independent existence and intelligence of their own, that they are wiser than we are…"
Physicist Heinrich Hertz
The soul, if it is to be at all meaningful in this scientific age, must be capable of a scientific and hence mathematical description. From the outset, Pythagoras treated the soul scientifically and mathematically. Any religion that fails to do so is no religion at all, but mere moonshine for simpletons.
This is not to say that the soul can be fully described and defined mathematically. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata can be analyzed mathematically, divided up into waveforms, amplitudes, sine waves, frequencies, wavelengths etc. That is, we can provide an exact mathematical analysis of the music, sufficient to allow us to copy it onto millions of plastic disks and transport it all around the world, where it will be reproduced exactly each time it is played. But how can mathematics define how the music makes us feel? The external mathematical definition of the soul does not and never can express what it is like to be a soul, how it feels, how it is experienced, what the inner nature of the soul is, its moral content. Mysticism, esotericism, intuition, insight, the inner eye, and, above all, gnosticism, can all help here. Even so, just as there would be no Moonlight Sonata without mathematics, nor could the soul exist without mathematics. The mathematical and scientific nature of the soul must be addressed by any credible religion. Any religion that cannot do so must be rejected as false. In fact, Einstein's special theory of relativity, Minkowski's 4D spacetime, and Quantum Mechanics, provide the ideal modern framework in which to define the soul, as we shall demonstrate in a future article. (And at the heart of all of these stands none other than Pythagoras' Theorem, known to every schoolchild). You will not find any religion other than Illumination that can achieve this. All other religions are fake, particularly the ludicrous Abrahamic faiths which directly contradict science and hence are simply unbelievable. These infantile religions must be consigned to the oblivion they deserve.
Plato's famous Academy, and Aristotle's Lyceum, the templates for modern universities, were based on Pythagoras's Illuminati school of mathematics, science, philosophy, religion and esoteric knowledge at Croton. In a sense, the whole education system enjoyed by the world today is in debt to the Illuminati. Yet the education system needs to be vastly more like Pythagoras' school at Croton if humanity is to fulfil its potential.