Cydonia: Chapter Eleven: Mars: The Philosopher's Stone

On Mars, the crumbling remains of ancient civilizations may be found, mutely testifying to the one- [909] time glory of a dying world. --One of the founders of the British Interplanetary Society. Besides the world we inhabit there may be one or more other worlds peopled by beings different from ourselves. --Strabo The Ouroboros was a major symbol in the works of the mystery school of alchemy. The symbolic texts of alchemy hid the true meaning of the Ouroboros as the representation of the Milky Way. The significant role of the Ouroboros as the mechanism of the cosmic clock of the aions (life span or time between cataclysms) was generalized as a "symbol of latent power, the unformed materia, the opus [910] circulare of chemical substances in the hermetic vessel." The latent power of the Ouroboros is ultimately bestowed by Hermes according to the mystery schools. The alchemical symbol of the "philosopher's stone" was the power by which matter was [911] transformed. Alchemists simulated and emulated the process of divine creation. The process of [912] "creating," of imitating God's creative attribute, was called the "Great Work." In this symbolic process, a mysterious chaotic source material called materia prima, the "first matter" of the universe, was gradually guided towards a state of perfect harmony, the lapis philosophorum, or the philosopher stone. The alchemists also connected the philosopher stone with the blood of a slain dragon, an archetypical fiery serpent, and with the serpentine "leaping" salamander. [913] Alchemical writings described the Ouroboros as "the end and the return of the year, properly but vaguely linking the Ouroborus to its function as timekeeper of the celestial clock. Because the Ouroboros symbolized a literal object in the heavens--the Greek symbol for the Milky Way--it would be remarkable that the more famous alchemical symbol, the "Philosopher's Stone" would not also have been a representation of a physical celestial object. The ultimate expression of the symbols of alchemy not only encompassed many scientific or philosophic concepts but also represented literal and visible objects in the heavens. The epitome of alchemic wisdom, the red "philosopher's stone," represented the red planet. As the symbol for great knowledge, those schooled in the mysteries knew Mars was the key for unlocking a new Aion, or for entering the "other dimension" at the gateway to the Ouroboral duat. In the most basic of alchemical experiments designed to provide a physical example of this symbolism, mixing the elements mercury and sulfur with fire produced the philosopher's stone. These two elements when combined with fire produced the compound cinnabar, a red ore of mercury that was found [914] in nature. Cinnabar is a Persian word for "Dragon's Blood." "Transformation" through the symbolic killing of a serpent is repeated in the medieval story of St. George and the dragon. In the language of the mysteries, the slain dragon represents the outmoded idea that the "serpent" of the Garden of Eden was an evil creature. Those who metaphorically kill the serpent have embraced the idea that the serpent that tempted Eve in the Hebrew book of Genesis was--and is-- the source of wisdom. Modern mystery schools teach that the God in the Old Testament account of the Garden of Eden was jealous, and prevented man from attaining the knowledge of eternal life, which was about to be imparted by the serpent. This concept was also symbolized by the story of the origin of the [915] Greek oracle of Delphi, meaning "womb." Apollo the "sun god" (sulfur) killed the python (mercury) that guarded the hole in the earth at Delphi. Later Apollo became the god of the oracle of wisdom and prophecy. The ultimate understanding of the mystery school of Gnosticism is that the serpent that brings wisdom--but opposes the God of the Bible--is beneficial to mankind, enabling man to evolve and transform. The making of cinnabar was a popular alchemical undertaking. Early chemical treatises spoke often of its compounding as related to the creation of "the Philosopher's Stone." The Pythagorean theorem, combined with a hands-on chemical analysis, illustrated the interpretation of creating cinnabar among the initiates. In the 3-4-5 sides of the famous theorem's triangle, the square of 3, known to the old secret societies as the "Square of the Sun," occupies the upper left of the equation. The square of 4, known as the "Square of Mercury," is on the upper right. Mercury, known to some as the Greek God Hermes, carried the message of the light. Mercury represents Hermes or simply "Lucifer" the go-between or messenger god who carries and imparts illuminating knowledge to man from heaven. Sulfur S represents the sun, illumination or the male principle and element. The square of 5, called the "Square of the Earth," is explained in alchemy to "assimilate all." This means that Mercury [a concealed name for Lucifer] delivers illumination, represented by the yellow element sulfur, to the Earth. Sulfur and mercury combine to produce cinnabar, the philosopher's stone. [916] Medieval mystics and alchemists found significance in the manufacture of synthetic cinnabar from mercury. As early as the 8th century, the mixing of sulfur to mercury, which had been extracted from cinnabar by roasting and condensation, was discovered to produce black amorphous mercuric sulfide. Further processing rearranged the molecules to produce a bright red that far surpassed the mineral cinnabar in purity. To philosophers, the mixing of the liquid "watery" quicksilver to the "fiery" sulfur to produce "earth," and then through heating and fire changed into "blood," was no less than the creation of life. The creation of Adam, in this Gnostic view, is therefore connected to the philosopher stone. The [917] name Adam in Hebrew mda means, "to be red." The familiar sign for "man"--Adam--is the very same astrological glyph for the planet Mars. The 3-4-5 triangle especially demonstrates the foundation for the combination of the two fundamental principles to produce knowledge that was given to mankind from above. A modern tenet of masonic mystery schools, which trace their origin to Egypt through Pythagoras, used the triangle as well. Mercury and sulfur combine to produce cinnabar, Isis and Osiris combine to produce Horus, male and female combine to create offspring, heaven and earth combine to produce the gods of the first knowledge. Even the most common symbols of freemasonry, the compass and square, represent the ancient formula of combining dualistic concepts. The compass, which is used to measure degrees in an arc, represents the male principle, the arch of heaven and knowledge. The square used by architects to measuring angles and direction represents the female principle, ignorance and the earth. The above connecting with the below, light with darkness, illumination with ignorance, and, most profoundly, the connection of Mars with the Earth. Alchemic symbology is integrally incorporated into the dogma of freemasonry. Many examples of the triangle and the compass, representing both Mars and the philosopher stone, exist. One amazing example of these symbols used to demonstrate the connection between Mars, the triangle, compass and the philosopher stone is found in Michael Maier's alchemical emblem book Atalanta Fugiens, first published in Latin in 1617. This illustrated book incorporated 50 emblems with epigrams and a [918] discourse. An English translation exists in the British Library. The discourse of the 21 emblem st described the philosopher's stone in a depiction of a sorcerer measuring a triangle in a circle with a large compass. The name, Atalanta Fugiens or Atalana's Run referred to the Greek myth of a mortal heroine of Arcadia, a legendary country closely associated with the island of Atlantis and the supposed birthplace of Hermes. Atalanta was an accomplished athlete and hunter (tzidon) but chose to remain a virgin, and claimed that she would only marry a man who could defeat her in a race on foot. In some myths, Atalanta would kill her suitors with a spear as she passed them in the race. The suitor Melanion (Hippomenes in some versions) won Atalanta in marriage with the aid of Aphrodite, who gave him three golden apples with which to beguile the heroine into stopping to collect the treasures. Occupied in seeking the golden [919] apples, Atalanta lost the race and became Melanion's wife. Golden apples consistently represent the lost knowledge of the ancients in Greek myth. Contemporary with the writing of Atalanta Fugiens in Europe, Galileo Galilei (b.1564) was making the first observations of the planets with his invention, the telescope. In 1609 he observed Mars and published his ideas of a heliocentric world in Siderius Nuncius, "Starry Messenger." Within the decade Matthias Hirzgarter, a Swiss mathematician actually drew Mars as a lopsided triangular rock. Belief in the transformation of blood-like cinnabar into gold dates from 133 BC when Li Shao-Chun appealed to the Emperor Wu Ti to support his investigations: Summon spirits and you will be able to change cinnabar powder into yellow gold. With this yellow gold you may make vessels to eat and drink out of. You will increase your span of life, you will be able to see the hsien of the P'eng-lai [home of the Immortals that is in the midst of the sea]. Then you [920] may perform the sacrifices fang and shang and escape death. Through the years, the Philosopher's Stone of myth has taken on a wide range of powers; not only has it been called the "secret of life and health," but it also possesses spiritual significance. The alchemists of the thirteenth century sought the Philosopher's Stone while undergoing strict devotional ritual and purification. After completing spiritual rituals, the alchemist was thought worthy to perform his activities. Eventually the Philosopher's Stone was thought to signify the force behind the evolution of life and [921] the universal "binding power" which unites minds and souls. Famous mystery school initiate Eliphas Levi, considered one of the master occultists of all time, wrote authoritative works on freemasonry and ceremonial magic. Levi's most important work was The Dogma and Ritual of High Magic. This book was followed by A History of Magic, Transcendental Magic, and The Key of Great Mysteries. Levi believed in the existence of a universal "secret doctrine" of magic throughout history. The most widely read Masonic initiate, Albert Pike, clearly derived [922] inspiration from the works of Eliphas Levi. Pike's Morals and Dogma has been called the "Masonic Bible." This honored American Freemason was the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite when he took the Cabbalistic occult doctrine of Eliphas Levi and put it in his own book. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in London in 1888, adopted much of Levi's magic. Mystery school adept Aleister Crowley, a former [923] member, was born the year that Levi died and claimed to be the reincarnation of Levi. Eliphas Levi claimed to have summoned the magician Apollonius of Tyana from the dead. Apollonius (c.4 B.C.), and his legendary life imitated and counterfeited that of Jesus in the Bible. The parallels of Apollonius's life were so convincing that many were persuaded to see him as "a christ" himself. Noted mystery school initiate Manly P. Hall wrote in The Phoenix that the wizard Apollonius was such a good counterfeit of Christ that he was the first candidate worthy of the name anti-christ. Levi stated that he was influenced by an earlier writer and occultist Francis Barrett. In turn he influenced another writer and occultist Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, with whom he visited in London in 1861. Bulwer-Lytton wrote The Last Days of Pompeii and other occult books helping to make magic fashionable to the last of the 19th century. Francis Barrett, a practically unknown author of The Magus published in 1801. This was a concise handbook on the occult, dealing with the magic of herbs and stones, magnetism, talismanic magic, alchemy and other means of creating the philosopher's stone The Philosopher's Stone was first mentioned by Zosimos the Theban (c. 250-300) in the third century. In speaking of the Philosopher's Stone, receive this stone which is not a stone, a precious thing that has no value, a thing of many shapes that has no shape, this unknown which is known by all. Mars is the Philosopher's Stone. Mystery schools through the ages have sought this "unknown which is known by all." Modern initiates of the alchemical mysteries have created the NASA "space program," JPL etc. in the hopes of attaining the power that Mars is said to possess. The red planet is the goal and inspiration behind the names of the first space probes to circle the earth. The final acquisition of the great work before the coming of the "Golden Age" will be the comprehension of the planet Mars. The union of man with the lost knowledge from the red planet will be the end result of the transformative Great Work of the mystery schools through the ages. Though the modern organizations of space exploration seem, outwardly, purely scientific, a closer look at their origin and the people who helped create them reveals a different story. The traditions of the mystery schools of the ancient Pelasgians have continued to be preserved in such organizations as the Freemasons. The first manned space program, project Mercury-Redstone officially began October 7, 1958 carrying astronaut Alan Shepherd. The sole objective of this spacecraft was to complete "orbits," gyrus or circles around the earth in space. Mercury-Redstone was launched on the 5 day of the 5 month in 1961 at 9:33:00 A.M. or 13:33 th th [924] Greenwich mean time. It is not hard to see the illuminated numbers. Even the year 1961 fits the dualistic theme of conveying a higher message within symbolism. A 16 is a 19 turned upside down, and the Mercury-Redstone capsule itself was painted a tesselating black and [925] white. Alan Shepard later became the 5th man to walk on the moon. The name "Alan" is a French masculine version of "Helen" meaning "light"; the name of the primary participant in the space mission named for the Philosopher's Stone was literally the Shepherd of light . The NASA manager of the Apollo Program Command and Service Modules and Gemini program was 33° Scottish Rite Freemason Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, eldest son of Christian Frederick Klienknecht who himself has held the highest Scottish Rite office, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction, since 1985. The Masonic mystery schools have always been in the forefront of the scientific community, from the founding of the British Royal Society to today's NASA program in the United States. [926] Other NASA projects were connected to the mysteries through their names, dates and astronaut affiliations. Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin was a member of the Clear Lake Lodge Seabrook, Texas, taking part in Gemini 12 and Apollo 11. Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. of Mercury 7 and Gemini 5 was a brother of the Carbondale Colorado Lodge No. 82. John H. Glenn, Jr. belonged to the Concord Lodge, Ohio. Other freemasons who journeyed into the heavens for the sake of knowledge were: Virgil Grissom, Edgar D. [927] Mitchell, and Walter Schirra. The connection between the NASA space program and the occult organizations of the world, especially the progenitors of the post WWII political and scientific world, will be fully explained in the closing chapter of this book. The ultimate goal of these groups has long been the attainment of proof of the lost civilization of "the gods" on Mars. The Superman Who Fell to Earth Myth has preserved in symbolism--in a form designed to be remembered--the mysteries of Isis and the mirror of the heavens upon the earth. The time clock of the Ouroborus and the significance of Mars as the guardian of the gateway to another world are preserved as well. Themes from the Greeks as well as myths of medieval Europe can be found in modern American science fiction. Popular science fiction is a continuation of creating myths around truths. Science fiction themes reveal an undercurrent of ancient alchemical thought. Though many science fiction works are packaged as escapist fantasy for the young, works like those of Edgar Rice Burroughs have focused on the planet Mars with eerie accuracy. Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman, drew his inspiration from the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The origin of the comic book hero from another planet is mysteriously vague. According to the author, one summer night in 1934, Siegel came up with almost all of the Superman legend as we know it, wrote weeks of comic strips by morning, and had his friend Shuster drawing it all the next day. Siegel explains how he devised the character Superman: Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter was able to leap great distances while on Mars because the planet was smaller than Earth, and so he had great strength. I visualized the planet Krypton as a huge planet, much larger than Earth, so that whoever came to Earth from that planet would be able to leap [928] great distances and lift great weights. The secret of Superman's great strength, and his ability to leap tall buildings (like Remus leaped over the walls built by Romulus) in a single bound, was dependent on his planet of origin, Krypton (the hidden). "Leaping" is the distinctive and peculiar dance of the ancient Roman priests of Mars, the Salii. Astronomer Tom Van Flandern has theorized that "Planet K," the exploded planet--parent body of the asteroid belt and comets--was much more massive than earth. Planet Krypton of Siegel's myth was more massive than earth, and it exploded; sending a few of its superhuman inhabitants to seek refuge on Earth. It may be that this connection is a mere coincidence, after all, Superman would not be so super if he had to walk and run like every other human being. There is, however, a great deal more in the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, demonstrating that the source for his characters and stories must have come from some other, much older, knowledge. Burrough's writing shows an understanding of the mysteries, of the rituals involved in the mystery schools such as the "leaping Knossian dance of Samothrace" that was a key part of the ancient Roman Mars worship: Their speed and method of locomotion (of the Martians) were both remarkable, springing as they did in great leaps of twenty or thirty feet, much after the manner of a kangaroo. "They were rapidly disappearing when it occurred to me to follow them, and so, hurling caution to the winds, I sprang across the meadow in their wake with leaps and bounds even more prodigious than their own, for the muscles of an athletic Earth man produce remarkable results when pitted against the lesser gravity [929] and air pressure of Mars. The meaning of the word "salii" is not hidden; English dictionaries show that it is the root for several common words. In heraldry, the term salient refers to a leaping "position." The most common use of the word salii in modern English is in the name salamander. The one symbol that best describes the existence of a Mars-Earth connection, having endured the expanse of time since the first civilizations of man to the present day, is the salamander. In alchemy the Mercurial or Hermetic spirit of the prima materia (first wisdom) is symbolized as a salamander, leaping or dancing in the fire. In medieval alchemy the Salamander was regarded as the Spirit of Fire. The amphibious salamander symbolized the merging of fire and water, revealing a common alchemical principle of unifying opposites. Mercury, or Hermes, was the serpentine salamander, able to leap out of the fire unharmed: he remained unchanged within it, as the alchemists explained, "rejoicing [930] like the salamander in the fire portion of God's spirit" The Greek salamandra meant a lizard-like [931] animal believed to have power over and hence to extinguish fire--or to produce it. The chemical symbol for mercury HG refers to the Greek word hydrargyrus. This word is usually translated in dictionaries "water-silver" with the pretense that word is a cognate of hydro, water and argyrum, silver. A hydra, the actual spelling of the prefix, is a snake and gyrus means "encircled." These words translated in English, are "serpent circles." The symbol of mercury is still represented in modern culture as a caduceus or rod with snakes encircling the rod; similar to the great celestial Ouroboros which is also associated with Mercury in occultic literature. It is salient that Hermes was associated with the salamander, which, in the greatest understanding of the occult philosophies, symbolizes the being who traveled to earth "leaping" from Mars after the cataclysmic explosion of the massive planet K. The ancient texts of the Egyptian temple of Edfu tell of a "serpent" called "the great leaping one" at whose appearance "the world was inundated by a deluge." The name Salii of the priests of Mars has come to mean "leapers" from the distinctive dance they performed every Roman new year in March. However the Salii originally drew their name from the goddess of health, Salus called Hugieia (Hygeia) by the Greeks. Salus's father was Aesculapius, the god of medicine who is often depicted with his rod encircled by serpents. The goddesses Salus and Venus were depicted on Roman coins holding a Quince in the right [932] hand and a branch with a serpent coiled around it in the left hand. These symbols of the origins of wisdom; the serpent in the tree; the woman and the fruit; were represented together on the coins of the Romans. The wielder of the "snake on a pole," the messenger god Mercury, was himself considered the inventor of medicine. As Salus Publica Populi Romani (goddess of the public welfare of the Roman people) Salus had a temple on the Quirinal, built in 302 BC. Offerings were given to Salus at her temple annually in hopes that she would protect the health and the safety of the emperor of Rome. Roman citizens and their Emperors believed themselves descended from the god Mars through Romulus. The Romans understood Salus, the god of health, as embodying the knowledge of Mars, thus making her the consort of Mars. The father of Salus, Aesculapius, was defined by Bishop Hislop as "the man taught by the snake": Aish-shkul-ape, from Aish, "man"; shkul, "to instruct"; and Aphe, or Ape, "a serpent." The Greek form of this name, Asklepios, and comes from A, "the" skl, "to teach," and hefi, "a snake," the Chaldean words being thus modified in Egypt. The name Aselepios, however, is capable of another sense, as derived from Aaz, "strength," and Khlep, "to renew"; and, therefore, in the exoteric [933] doctrine, Aselepios was known simply as "the strength-restorer," or the "Healing God." [934] According to the Aurgonata chronicler Apollodorus, the father of Ascalaphus was Ares. Ares is not recorded as his father in Orpheus or Apollonius Rhodius argonaut account; instead it is Apollo, whose name means "Destroyer" or "Apple-man." Roman depictions of Aesculapius combine him with a companion dog that is distinctly a Mars totem. It is probable that the Romans considered Aesculapius the "esoteric" son of Mars. Legend records that Aesculapius could restore the dead to life, which so offended [935] Zeus that he killed him with a thunderbolt. Similarly, the father of the Romans and son of Mars, Romulus, was also killed by a thunderbolt from heaven after which he was raised to god status as Mars [936] Quirinus. While holding an assembly outside the city of Rome, sudden and strange disorders filled the air and, the sun's light failing, night came upon the assembled with thunders and rain. When the storm had ceased and the multitude returned they sought for King Romulus without finding him. So in order to appease the people the nobles said that Romulus had been caught up into heaven, and was now to be a benevolent god just as before he had been a benevolent king. From that time Romulus has been worshipped as a god. In the story, some time after the event, Julius Proculus swore that, as he was traveling on the road, he had met Romulus, and that he had told him: It was the pleasure of the gods, from whom I came, that I should dwell again in heaven. Tell the Romans that if they practice self-restraint, and add courage to it, they will reach the utmost heights of [937] human power. And I will be your propitious deity Quirinus. The followers of Pythagoras called his sacred pentagram or Pentalpha the hugieia, for health. The Pythagoreans labeled the points or angles of the Pentagram with the Greek letters Upsilon Gama Iota Epsilon Iota Alpha, and also used "Be sound / whole / blessed" as their greeting or password. The [938] Pentagram was still used to mean Hugieia in the middle ages. The concept behind the modern military salute is the same. A salute was an acknowledgment of the influence of the goddess of health, Salus. Immortality, the ultimate form of health was what the worshipers of Mars in Rome would wish each other before battle. Dying in battle was the one assurance for the Roman soldier of achieving eternal [939] life in Elysium. The Roman historian Pausanias wrote that Aesculapius was particularly worshipped at the Mycean city Pergamos and was called the Pergamean god. Like Troy, Pergamos was a city founded by Dardanus of Samothrace, the ancestors of the Romans. Pausanius also wrote that Pergamos was sacred to the [940] Kabiri, the chief gods of the Pelasgians, founders of the mysteries. The elixir of life and the key to immortality and health were the hoped for by-products of the practice of alchemy. The practitioners of the Black Art had a saying, "aurum nostrum est non aurum vulgar" "Our gold is not base gold" which meant that the quest was for the gold of wisdom. Alchemists, also called Hermetic Philosophers, recognized Hermes as the legendary founder of their art. He was the Masonic version of the Old Testament Patriarch Enoch, the overseer of works of initiation concealing the archaic secrets of godlike-wisdom of the messenger of the gods. Like Osiris, Hermes/Mercury was also the conductor of souls to the netherworld and a god of mystical thinking and interpretations. These ideas also correspond exactly to the traits found in Lucifer. Hermes was identified with the ancient Egyptian God Tahuti (Thoth in the Coptic). The Egyptians associated Thoth with the Shebtiw creator-entities that descended from the sky during the Egyptian Zep Tepi "first time" according to the Sacred Book of Temples of Edfu. The Shebtiw Sages were the beings who created the sacred mounds at various places around the earth, which were to serve as templates for [941] the future construction of temples, and the eventual resurrection of the lost golden age. The first three volumes in the Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) originally appeared between 1912 and 1914. The fictional hero, John Carter, was somehow transported to the Planet Mars, or Barsoom as Edgar Rice Burroughs named it. Mystery school adept Blavatsky described the Barsoom as a branch of the tree of knowledge from the Garden of Eden, from bares (to grow upright) [942] derived from the Sanskrit barh. The Barsoom was synonymous with the wand of Hermes and the wand of the Magi, who were instructed in the Vendidad while offering up the sacrifice to Ahura Mazda, "to not leave off keeping his eyes upon it." Blavatsky stated that the barsum was taken from the tree [943] created by Ahura Mazda, the tree of occult and spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The Barsoom is also known in occult writings as the scepter of kings or a magic wand that a magician may be said to possess. It supposedly shows the force of temporal power as prototypes and [944] antitypes of a universal principle, metaphor for a profound mystery. The Barsoom staff becomes even more Martian by the fact that Romulus, son of Mars, was also a diviner and so carried for this [945] purpose the lituus, a crooked staff. Burroughs described the main character of the Tales of Barsoom, John Carter, as arriving in the middle of a Martian desert, naked and with no weapons. He had no knowledge of the inhabitant's customs or language. John Carter was taken prisoner, seemingly enslaved, but through acts of courage and skill as a military officer, John Carter attained the position of "Warlord of Mars." He returned to planet Earth for a few years, but then returned again to Barsoom. In Burroughs's later works the descriptive adventures became bizarrely symbolic. John Carter attained the somewhat lesser title of the "Prince of Helium" [946] (Helium is the main city and metropolis of Barsoom). Helium is a variation of the name Helios, the Greek sun god who drives the chariot of the sun across the sky. He is generally identified with Apollo or Phoebus, sol in Latin, Osiris in Egyptian. Burroughs also described a goddess of Barsoom, Issus, "whom all Mars worships and reveres." The name John Carter preserves a tenet of the mystery schools. The name "Carter" is from the Greek chartes, a leaf of paper or written document. A "John Chartes" was something written on paper, and the name John Carter connotes the greatest "John writing" known, the book of Revelation. A literary work designed to distribute symbol and allegory of the mystery schools is a "book of revelation," and the name John Carter was a cue that the written document contained more than a literal meaning. The tales of Barsoom are not scientific fantasy but a literary exercise of the art of alchemy. In the first book, The Princess of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs stated that he personally knew Captain John Carter and that he had left his entire estate and writings of his strange life to him. Burrows states that John Carter was often seen standing in the moonlight with his arms outstretched to the heavens in some kind of [947] "appeal." On the morning of March 4, 1886, Captain Carter was found dead with his arms outstretched in the snow at full length, the same allocation that John Carter was seen previously with his outstretched arms in supplication to the heavens. According to the instructions left to Edgar Rice Burroughs by Captain Carter, his body was to be removed to Virginia without embalming, and was to be laid in an open coffin within a tomb that was previously constructed by John Carter. The descriptions of E.R. Burroughs of his main character parallel exactly the initiation rites performed by members of the greatest illumined fraternities of modern times. One such secret fraternity, the Skull and Bones, includes a ceremony of induction and initiation modeled on the death and resurrection cult of Osiris in ancient Egypt. The Satanic American Priest Anton LaVey stated, in his book, The Satanic Rituals: Companion To The Satanic Bible: The ceremony of rebirth takes place in a large coffin. This is similar to the coffin symbolism that… [948] is found in most lodge rituals. The character John Carter died through the convolutions of the alchemical process, was transported to another world called Barsoom in an open sepulcher, and was described as "naked," in the manner of the initiates undergoing the rebirth ritual in the Masonic mystery schools. The candidate was immured in the representation of a tomb; and when released, goes in search of the body of Balder (the sun god in Norse mythology, or Helium), and finds him, at length, restored to life, and seated upon a throne. He was obligated upon a naked sword (as is still the custom in the Rit [949] Moderne), and sealed his obligation by drinking mead out of a human skull. Burroughs was not the first to connect the planet Mars with the theme of rebirth or intellectual awakening. In 1890, twenty-two years before the first book of Burroughs was published the astronomer Camille Flammarion wrote the fiction Uranie in which a man awakes on Mars and meets the [950] reincarnation of himself. In a nonfiction work The Unknown Flammarion reasoned that souls of men [951] traveled to other planets in the solar system after death. The author Louis Pope Gratacap wrote in 1903 The Certainty of a Future Life in Mars which described the reincarnation of a man of earth to the [952] planet Mars and the messages he sent back to his son on earth. In the first books of Barsoom, John Carter became a "Prince of Helium" having returned from his "initiation" on earth to the planet Mars. Today one can find on a map of Mars supplied by United States NASA a feature named for the man who inspired so many to yearn for secret knowledge, the E. R. Burroughs Crater On Barsoom at the illuminated 72.5 S Latitude 243.1 W Longitude. Interestingly E.R. Burroughs designed a map of Mars that maintained the longitudinal measure as on the earth with only 180 degrees west and east for illustration of his books. On his map the Crater named in his honor would reside on 72.5S and 144W (twice 72), signature numbers of a pentagon. The Mars of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the creation of its characters laid the foundation for multitudes of science fiction and fantasy authors that followed, The Gods of Mars second in the Barsoom series was the first science-fiction work initiated scientist and author Dr. Carl Sagan read: I can remember as a child reading with breathless fascination the Mars novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs… . I can remember spending many an hour in my boyhood, arms resolutely outstretched in an empty field, imploring what I believed to be Mars to transport me there. (Carl Sagan, Cosmos) [953] [Edgar Rice Burroughs] greatest gift was teaching me to look at Mars and ask to be taken home. I went home to Mars often when I was eleven and twelve and every year since, and the astronauts with me, as far as the Moon to start, but Mars by the end of the century for sure… . We have commuted because of Mr. Burroughs. Because of him we have printed the Moon. Because of him and men like him, one day in the next five centuries, we will commute forever, we will go away… And never [954] come back… .And so live forever. (Ray Bradbury) The evidence of a Mars-earth connection has existed in literature in one form or another for thousands of years. Symbol and ritual, in groups and societies designed for its preservation have maintained the information repetitively so that the understanding could be achieved by those initiates worthy--and persistent enough--to connect all the clues. Civilization was learned from Mars, or more accurately, from those who came from Mars. These beings built their own civilization throughout the solar system, reigning on Mars and earth until the "parent planet" of the culture--Rahab--like Superman's Krypton, exploded. Burroughs was also famous for his stories of Tarzan, Lord of the apes. This character like John Carter also overcame great odds in a foreign and dangerous environment where he conquered through superior intellect and breeding. Tarzan is the combination of the words Tar, from Latin terra meaning "earth." The root tar also [955] yields the word "tree," and Zan, from the Persian verb meaning "knowledge." Blavatsky linked the word Zan with Zend, Zensar, the mystery-language of the initiates. Zend also means "The rendering of the esoteric into exoteric sentences, the veil used to conceal the correct meaning [956] of the Zen-(d)-zar texts, the sacerdotal language in use among the initiates of archaic India." Tarzan and John Carter are the symbolic "high initiate" learned in the secrets of the Mysteries. These characters move through trials of intellectual and emotional development all the while dwelling among the ignorant and common human masses of the earth. There have been other examples of inexplicable yet accurate knowledge of Mars that can be found in literary works written during the last 200 years. Mars has two moons. The are named Phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic); appropriate companions for Mars, the God of War. Over 150 years before the discovery of the moons, by Asaph Hall in 1877, the British writer and satirist Jonathan Swift predicted their existence in the book we now know as Gulliver's Travels. He described Phobos' orbital period as 10 hours (very close to the real figure of 7.6) and Deimos' as 21.5 (close to the real 30.2). They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars; whereof the innermost is distant from the centre of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, and the outermost, five; the former revolves in the space of ten hours, and the latter in twenty-one and a half; so that the squares of their periodical times are very near in the same proportion with the cubes of [957] their distance from the centre of Mars. Gulliver's Travels--Jonathan Swift--1726. How was it possible for such an accurate description of orbital periods of both moons of Mars before it was possible to observe them? It is revealing to examine the name "Gulliver," the main character of Swift's novel. Gullveig, Gultweig (Icelandic) from gull "Gold" + veig "thirst, drink." The Norse Edda's principal poem, Voluspa, contains a cryptic allusion to Gullveig as "thrice burned, thrice reborn, yet still she lives." Speared by the gods, "thirst for gold" arose each time from her baptism of fire more beautiful than before. She was the cause of the first war in the world when the aesir (creative gods) were [958] ousted from their heavenly abode by the vanir (superior gods), the latter remaining in Asgard. Did Swift and Burroughs possess knowledge given them from an organized repository of sacred wisdom, or were they merely skilled at making guesses? The former scenario explains the prescient literary works incorporating both scientific statistics and knowledge of the mysteries of the planet that obsessed the ancients.