47^TH PROPOSITION OF EUCLID

In a right-angled triangle, the square described on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares described on the other two sides. Which Plutarch described as revealing the Divine Trinity’s creative works.

SP0018

ABRAXAS, A GNOSTIC PANTHEOS

 Abraxas—A “ word symbol” consisting of seven letters which signify the creative powers or planetary angels recognized by the ancients. This plate is the enlargement and amplification of a Gnostic jewel, the original being only a trifle over an inch in height. Rings and other articles of jewelry were used by members of the order, a secret society, as means of identification, the designs were small and inconspicuous.

SP0005

ANCIENT OF ANCIENTS

In the Greater Holy Assembly it is written of the Ancient of Ancients that He is the Concealed of the Concealed Ones, the Eternal of the Eternal Ones, the Mystery of the Mysteries, and that in his symbols he is knowable and unknowable. He sits upon a throne of flaming light and the white light streaming from His head illumines four hundred thousand worlds. The glory of this light shall be given unto the just, who are called "the sacred fruits of the Tree of the Sephiroth."

SP0029

BIRTH OF BUDDHA

When queen Maya reached the Lumbini garden, she wished to stop there. As she stood holding a bough of a Sala tree, the throes of birth came upon her. The Bodhisattva appeared from the right side of the mother and was received at once by the gods and then by men. He came down from their hands, took seven steps and explained. 'I am the foremost of all. This is my last birth. I will cross the ocean of existence."

SP0056  16”x 20”

CASTING THE MOLTEN SEA

There is a strange Qabbalistic legend concerning CHiram to the effect that he was a descendant of Samael, the Spirit of Fire, and that among his ancestors was the immortal Tubal-cain, who invented the forge and first tempered metals…the masterpiece of CHiram’s handiwork was the Molten Sea—a magnificent laver of purification, carried by 12 oxen… thirty cubits in circumference.

SP0040

CELESTIAL VIRGIN WITH SUN GOD IN HER ARMS

The Madonna who gives birth to the Man Child signifies the priority of the mother aspect of Divinity, the maternal creative function being considered the highest expression of being. The Christ Child symbolizes Wisdom; the Virgin Mother, Faith. The figure declares that Wisdom, born of Faith, shall redeem the world encircled by the serpent of evil.

SP0012

CHERUB OF EZEKIEL

The cherubim described in Genesis signifies the clouds filled with phantomlike creatures which enveloped the Garden and hid it from view. Cherubim symbolize the fullness of wisdom and are the spiritual guardians of the four rivers of life flowing from the Creator. When the twelve tribes of Israel camped in the wilderness, the banners of Reuben (the man), Judah (the lion), Ephraim (the bull), and Dan (the Eagle) were placed at the four corners.

SP0033

CONSULTING THE ORACLE OF DELPHI

While the tripod and its base differ from the description of several authors, an attempt has been made to follow as closely as possible the symbolism concealed within the allegory of the oracle. The three legs symbolize the periods of time controlled by Apollo, the past, the present, and the future. So the Delphic Oracle, as the spiritual nature of man, is suspended over the abyss of oblivion by three golden threads of Divine power.

SP0015

CONSUMMATION OF THE MAGNUM OPUS

The great Rosicrucian, Robert Fludd, declared the universe to be a vast chemical laboratory and the various manifestations of life existing therein to be the result of alchemical processes analogous to evolution… The unfoldment of the Christ within each human soul is the magnum opus which elevates the philosopher to the exalted position of Father R. C., or a Knight of the Golden Stone.

SP0028

CONTENTS OF THE ZODIACAL EGG

With the signs of the zodiac shown according to the mystic arrangement of Jakob Boehme, the personifications of universal agencies. The four fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, are shown as the arms of great St. Andrews cross. Upon this cross the Solar Man is annually crucified, and by his death enters the grave of creation, that he may redeem the creatures dwelling within the shell of the world egg.

SP0013

COURTYARD OF THE TABERNACLE

As he goes about his daily life, every man—unknown to himself—is a priest of the Tabernacle; each individual is appointed by Jehovah to keep his own little world in order. Nature is the Tabernacle, Man is the priest, and the one God of all nations and all peoples dwells in every human soul behind the veil of the “Holy of Holies.”

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EMBLEMATIC CROSS

By artist Mihran K. Serailian

The Emblematic Cross symbolically depicts the forces awakened in the energy body of a fully initiated adept. The harmony and equilibrium of their operation is represented by the four elements, the seven traditional planets, the twelve houses of the Zodiac, and the jewel in the rose at its center.

SP0059

EMERALD TABLET OF HERMES

Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom describes the Emerald Tablet of Hermes thus—“The Sense of this Table may sufficiently convince us that the Author was well acquainted with the Secret Operations of Nature, and with the Secret Work of the Philosophers; he likewise well knew and believed in the True God. It has been believed for several Ages that Cham, one of the Sons of Noah, is the Author of this Monument of Antiquity.”

SP0041

EYES OF BUDDHA

In this picture the Dhyani-Buddha Mahavairocana is presented in the feminine form of Locani (Butsugan Butsubo).  In this aspect is considered to be the mother of the Historical Buddha.  Locani is depicted crowned, seated on a lotus throne, which is placed in the midst of an open lotus. This flower has twenty-four petals arranged in three circles, each containing eight petals.  The inner circle has at the top Dainichi, accompanied by the seven star messengers.  On the eight petals of the next circle are eight Bodhisattvas.

SP0063

GROUP OF WORLD RELIGIONS

A grouping of western religions and the symbolic connections between them. To the left stands Mohammed, holding aloft pages from the Koran. At the lower right the Persian Sun God, Mithras. In the center stands the High Priest of Israel. In the heavens above Jupiter Ammon appears the mystery of the Apocalypse. The four creatures of Ezekiel's Vision surround an alter upon which is the Book of Seven Seals and the Lamb of God.

SP0002

HERALDIC ARMS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

“…from an original manuscript known as ‘Harleian Heraldic Manuscript No. 269’, the date of which is about A.D. 1180… According to the laws of heraldry, the drawing contains an accurate account of the achievements of Jesus the Christ.”

SP0047

HERMETIC & ALCHEMICAL FIGURES OF VALLIS NOVI

Double-sided—The Hermetic and Alchemical Figures of Claudius de Dominico Celentano Vallis Novi from a manuscript written and illuminated at Naples A.D. 1606.

Plate 1 -

SP0042  11”x 17” 

Plate 2 –  SP0043  11”x 17” 

Plate 3 –  SP0044  11”x 17”

Plate 4 –  SP0045  11”x 17”

IDEALISTIC DEPICTION OF THE ATLANTEAN MYSTERY TEMPLE

In the Critias, Plato describes the divine foundation of the Atlantean Empire, originally known as Poseidonis, when gods walked with men. Before the Atlantean continent was submerged, the initiates of the Atlantean Mysteries, carrying with them the secret doctrines entrusted to their keeping, immigrated into Egypt and other parts of the earth, safe from the impending catastrophe, their secret teaching preserved for subsequent ages.

SP0009

INITIATION CEREMONY OF THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES

The candidate and his aged initiator shown standing on the brink of a chasm dividing the world of the living from the dead. Above the yawning cleft hovers the figure of Ceres, carrying the two torches which light her way through the gloom of the nether world.  She pleads for the liberation of her daughter Persephone, whom Hades has abducted and would force to become his queen.

SP0006

INVOCATION OF MEPHISTOPHELES

Mephistopheles—the most notorious of the spirits of evil, is closely identified with the exploits of Dr. Faust. Goethe defines him as “part of the power that still works for good, while ever scheming for ill.” The majestic figure of the arch-tempter familiar to opera-goers is not the Mephistopheles of ceremonial magic, who rises from the invisible at the demand of the conjuror, limping into view as a grotesque dwarf, and woe to the unwary who falls under his control.

SP0026

KEY TO DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY

The topography of Dante’s Spiritual World—“…the earth is round, having a hemisphere of land, in the center of which stands Jerusalem. The other hemisphere originally contained land; but when Lucifer, hurled from Heaven, was about to fall upon it, the soil ‘veiled itself with the sea’ and came to the other side of the globe, making a hemisphere of land and a hemisphere of water. The interior of the earth also retreated before the descending Lucifer, leaving a vast conical-shaped cavity…”

SP0051

KING SOLOMON & THE SHEDD

King Solomon carried aloft by the Ashmedai, king of the Shedds.

SP0020

KOKUZO MANDARA

In Japan the Dhyani-Bodhisattva Akasagarbha is venerated under the name of Kokuzo.  This Bodhisattva  represents the etheric matrix within which the material world exists.  The fivefold manifestation of Kokuzo is said to represent the embodiment of five ancient Buddhas. Akshobhya (bottom); Ratna-sambhava (left), Mahavairocana (top), Amitayus (center); Amoghasidhi (right).  By yoga meditation the five vows associated with these figures will ennoble the character and discipline one's conduct.

SP0061

LAYOUT OF THE MAJOR TAROT TRUMPS

The Tarot consists of a deck of 78 curiously emblazoned cards of uncertain origin and date. The major trumps are in their accepted order: the Juggler, the High Priestess, the Empress, the Emperor, the Pope, the Lovers, the Chariot, Justice, the Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune, Strength, the Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, the Devil, the Tower, the Stars, the Moon, the Sun, Judgment, the World and the un-numbered Fool

SP0034

MACROCOSM & THE MICROCOSM

The double interlaced triangle of Solomon, represented by the two Ancients of the Qabbalah: the Macro-prosophus and the Micro-prosophus; the God of Light and the God of Reflection; Mercy and Vengeance. Out of the Sea of Eternity rises the Ancient and Holy One, whose inverted image is mirrored in the Deep. Thus the reflection of Deity is ever visible in Nature, but man mistakes the shadow for the substance.

SP0021

MAGICIAN INVOKING ELEMENTALS

The magician, having drawn his circle, is here shown invoking the various elemental beings, who are emerging from their respective haunts. From the earth come gnomes, from the water undines, from the fire salamanders, and from the air sylphs. A strange wraith-like demon also answers the magician's call.

SP0027

MARTYRDOM OF HYPATIA

“…the brightest star in the whole constellation of Neo-Platonism, and the most touching figure in the Alexandrian epoch of philosophy... The world fears a mind which thinks more rapidly and more accurately than its own: such an intellect it destroys in self-protection. Hence, to think is to be persecuted by the thoughtless; to have vision is to be hated by the visionless; to be wise is to be reviled by fools.”

SP0054

MITHRA IN THE FORM OF THE LEONTOCEPHALIC KRONOS

The figure symbolizes the inevitable victory of boundless Time (Eternity) over every creature and condition. The resurrection of the figure from the darkness of the tomb reveals the ascension of boundless duration from the narrow limitations of man-conceived time. The three kneeling figures are the limitations of the three-dimensional world—length, breadth, thickness—which bow before the limitless Æon

SP0004

MYSTERIES OF XIBALBA

Hunahptu and Xbalanque, the heroes of the second book of the Popul Vuh, are here depicted undergoing the ordeal of the Bat House in the Mysteries of Xibalba. Camazotz, the Lord of the Bats, emerging suddenly from the gloom, strikes with his great sword at the intrepid invaders of his domain. The animal soul of man is sometimes pictured as a bat because, like this creature, it is blinded and deprived of its power by the light of the spiritual, or philosophic, sun.

SP0053

OANNES, THE FISH MAN

The ancient teacher of Babylon…whose whole body (according to Apollodorus) was that of a fish; that under the fish’s head he had another head, with feet also below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish’s tail.  This Being gave man an insight into letters and sciences, and arts of every kind; in short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften manners and humanize their lives.

SP0022

ODIN, THE SCANDINAVIAN FATHER-GOD

Also called Woden, Wodan, Wotan, Wuotan, and Odinn… As Woden therefore means both “wood” and “wisdom” it does not require a great stretch of the imagination to see in this symbolic name an allusion to the tree of knowledge growing in O-DON (E-DON, or Eden), the garden of wisdom.

SP0007

OPENING THE THIRD EYE

by artist Mihran K. Serailian

This painting of the head of Minerva shows the activities of the pineal gland & pituitary body at the time of the phenomenon commonly termed "the opening of the Third Eye."  The Kundalini fire is seen rising upward through the spinal canal into the pons of the medulla oblongata.  The golden light radiating from the base of the brain, at the back, gradually increases in size and intensity until it forms the nimbus, or halo, of the saint.

SP0060 

OPENING THE TOMB OF FATHER C.R.C.

When the Brethren of the Rose Cross entered the vault of their illustrious founder they discovered engraved upon the circular brass altar top this inscription: “A.C.R.C. I made this compendium of the universe as a sepulcher for myself alone.” The sacred book T found in the hand of Father C.R.C. closed with the following words: "We are born of God; in Jesus we die; and in the Holy Ghost we live again."

SP0037

PARACELSUS PERFORMING THE EXPERIMENT OF PALINGENESIS

To the Stoics and Pythagoreans the term “palingenesis” was equivalent to metempsychosis or reincarnation. By reconstructing plants from their own ashes the alchemists sought to prove not only that consciousness and intelligence survive the annihilation of the physical structure, but they retain the individuality formerly possessed and remain as organized forces.

SP0039

PARSIFAL AND THE HOLY GRAIL

In the great temple on Mount Salvat stands Parsifal, the third and last king of the Holy Grail, holding aloft the scintillating green Grail Cup and the sacred spear. Before Parsifal kneels Kundry, the temptress, who, released from the spell of the evil Klingsor, adores the sacred relics of the Passion.

SP0049

PRINCE RAGOCZY OF TRANSYLVANIA —

COMTE DE ST.-GERMAIN

The great mysterious adept who termed himself the Comte de St.-Germain is generally supposed to have been born in 1710, but while the church register at Eckernforde contains a record of his death in 1784,  he was seen upon several occasions subsequent to that date, having attended a Masonic conference in 1785 and in Venice in 1788.  The last historical mention St.-Germain was in 1822, at which time he was on the eve of embarking for India.

SP0001

PYTHAGORAS OF CROTONA

Though Pythagoras excelled Plato in the profundity of his philosophic deductions, the transcendental element of his doctrines has provoked the ridicule of a materialistic modern science. Despite the world's being indebted to him for many of the basic theorems of mathematics, music, and astronomy. The Pythagorean doctrine of mathematical philosophy may yet be accepted as a system of thought able to cope with the riddle of existence.

SP0016

ROSICRUCIAN CRUCIFIXION

The Solar Crucifixion—an outstanding example of the astronomical knowledge possessed by the so-called prehistoric world—“…our solar system is located at the heart of the Divine Man of the skies.” Ignoring the crucifixion in the literal sense, the Gnostics considered only its cosmic import. The agony of the Savior is not the agony of death, but the agony of birth. Only to him who has found his life by losing it is the mystery comprehensible.

SP0050

ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHER

Father C.R.C (Christian Rosie Cross or Christian Rosencreutz)—considered not only as a personality, but also as a personification of the system of spiritual philosophy which he is reputed to have established—which explains why no authentic portrait of Father C.R.C. has ever been discovered. The Great Book of the Rose Cross lies unclasped upon the table, beside it an hour glass, intimating that in time all shall be revealed.

SP0036

SAITIC ISIS

“I, Isis, am all that has been, that is or shall be; no mortal man hath ever me unveiled. The fruit which I have brought forth is the “sun.” The face and form of Isis were covered by a veil of scarlet cloth, symbolic of ignorance and emotionalism standing between man and Truth. Isis lifts her veil and discovers herself to the true and wise investigator who unselfishly and humbly seeks to understand the mysteries which surround him in the universe; and warns Wise Men concerning the mysteries which they have seen: "If you know it, be silent."

SP0011

SEVEN SPINAL CHAKRAS

By artist Mihran K. Serailian

This painting of the Chakras is based upon drawings brought from India by Mr. Hall in 1924. Several symbols not generally included were added: (1) interlaced triangles behind the figure, the body of the yogi himself forming the upright triangle; (2) the beam of golden light rising from the Brahmarandra, or Gate of Brahma, in the crown of the head; and (3) the Sahasrara, or Thousand-Petaled Lotus, in the upper part of the brain, which is generally pictured as an inverted lotus-like cap, but here is shown as a great flower-like sunburst, with a white center and concentric rings of petals.

SP0063

SHAKESPEARE

Redrawn from the Droeshout Portrait of Shakespere. The crudeness of the portrait, which has provoked adverse criticism from Shakesperian enthusiasts for over three centuries, appears to be an essential part of the scheme to mutilate beyond possibility of recognition the features of Lord Bacon. The opening lines of Ben Jonson's verse, To the Reader, are a cipher that reads: "This figure, that thou here seest put, F. Baco for gentle Shakespeare cut."

SP0046

TAMA MANDARA

A pictorial representation of the Kwan-Muryoju-kyo Sutra.  The present painting shows the central section of the Mandara and depicts the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha.  He is enthroned with the Bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara (Kannon) and Mahastham-prapta (Dai-Seishi), in the midst of the glory of the Western Paradise.  The central section is divided into five horizontal levels.  The third level from the top contains the principal Buddha figures.  The level directly below shows the pond of sacred lotus flowers. This concept is especially venerated by members of The Pure Land Sect.

SP0062

THREE GRAND MASTERS OF THE LODGE OF JERUSALEM

The Hiramic legend can be interpreted according to symbols in the ancient Mysteries, revealing assumes a philosophical exposition of the redemption of the human soul. The three Grand Masters become the Causal Triad posited  as the triune foundation of existence. King Solomon (center), the one Eternal; King Hiram of Tyre (right), cosmic resources; CHiram Abiff (left), universal activity—the Dimiurgus.

SP0048

TREE OF SEPHIROTH

To the materialist the phenomenon of growth is a movement from within outward, for by this process form came into existence. To the philosopher, however, growth is a movement from without inward; not a contraction, but a directionalization of consciousness toward the center of being. The Qabbalistic tree of organized manifestation is not only a macrocosmic symbol but also the emblem of man himself.

SP0032

YGGDRASIL TREE

In Ginnungagap, the great cleft in space, All-Father created the huge world ash tree—Yggdrasil—the symbol of Life, Time and Destiny. The three roots are called the spiritual, the terrestrial, and the infernal. The spiritual root has its source in Asgard, home of the gods; the terrestrial root has its source in Midgard, the abode of men; the infernal root has its source in Nifl-heim, the abode of the dead.

SP0024