The Gallows By Robert Gordon KilleAd ob e Lod g e XLI

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I know that I hung,On a Wind-Rocked Tree,Nine whole nights,With a spear wounded,And to Odin offered,Myself to myselfOn that tree,Of which no one knowsFrom what root it springs

Bread no one gave me,nor a horn of drink,downward I peered,to runes applied myself,wailing learnt them,then fell down thence. Potent songs ninefrom the famed son I learnedof Bölthorn, Bestla’s sire,and a draught obtainedof the precious mead,drawn from Odhrærir.

Then I began to bear fruit,and to know many things,to grow and well thrive:word by wordI sought out words,fact by factI sought out facts.

Runes thou wilt find,and explained characters,very large characters,very potent characters,which the great speaker depicted,and the high powers formed,and the powers’ prince graved:

Excerpt: Odin´s Rune-song

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Not so long ago I was speaking with Most Worshipful about the origin of the Zohar or Jewish Kabbalah and that I had heard or read somewhere that it was a

channeled work written by some guy in a cave, somewhere in or about Spain. On my bookshelves you’ll find many a channeled volume and in my reading of them; having personally witnessed channeling in action, I have given them a general receptivity that may or may not be justified as according to Most Worshipful, I had not done the work of research to validate the general reception given, at least in the instance of the Zohar.

As many of you may surmise, Most Worshipful went into a lengthy dissertation on the written history of the Kabbalah. Where and how it was supposed to be written down and by whose hands. I was even given a book plucked off his bookshelf that gave the full account of his generalized version just rendered from memory. Now to be intellectually honest, just cause something was written down doesn’t make it true; that is,.. without bias, fraud or half truths, all designed from carefully thought out premises to favor one direction over another.

To illustrate my point, Moses may not be Jewish as most history books claim. He certainly received training in the Egyptian Mysteries and almost all written Biblical history claims him to be of Jewish stock. But there is another written history of Moses, one written in the stones and monuments of Egypt, one that did not have the slightest interest in making Greeks or Romans believe that the man called Moses by the Jews belonged to their race. This cannot be said of the Jews who must in some way, by hook or crook, make the founder of their nation a man of the same blood as themselves.

Let’s not dawdle where a sudo reference will do. Tons Brun’es “The secrets of ancient Geometry, chapter 8 - Book of Exodus: Ritual Significance of Moses’ Tabernacle.” Here-in he makes a reference to a work of translation to support the Egyptian linage. This is a great book and one that should be in your personal library, by hook or crook. The way in which Tons reasons out such things as the Tabernacle is a thing of beauty and every chapter worth the cost of the whole. This two volume set would be one that’s worth the trouble of self printing and binding. Last time I looked it was over $400 to buy it new.

In getting back to the point of the matter and the Gallows that await, I would first like to thank Most Worshipful for bringing me back to a little more historical frame of mind

when choosing new reading material, (Strange Survivals by S. Baring-Gould Chapter XI The Gallows), as I have been off balance in this regard for to long.

Now I have to ask? Does it matter if there is a competing story as to the race of Moses? Does it change your opinion of what you thought you knew of the man? Will it change your view of the instruction and guidance that was attributed to him?

For me personally, a man’s race, skin color or gender has never been a consideration in the reception of new ideas, ideas new to me anyway. This my Brothers is where we have to be able to separate the ideas from the messenger. To use our faculties of discernment in proper relation to our own perceived importance of what is in fact, factual. In other words, when the gist of the message is the important part, does it really matter who the messenger is, was, or was supposed to be? Again, that depends. Does any of this other stuff convey meaning, such as the messenger, the time, place, or names when looked at in a new way? Think back to my explanation on reading the parables of Christ, in a new way.

For instance the word or name: Israel, or the phrase: Children of Israel, The people of Is-rael etc. etc. If you have not delved into the meaning of the word Israel - the three in One aspects of it, how would you ever be able to understand what is meant by it and whether or not, looking at it’s use and context; if there may be a new way of seeing a deeper mean-ing or understanding. ( The language of the Birds )

In order to underscore a previous point of the value of doing your own work, let’s take a look at the struggles of Jacob who alone wrestled with the Angel until the Day broke - whereby he received or acquired a new name, Israel. The Angel during their match, having touched the hollow of his thigh made him lame, never to walk again in the earthly realm with the same step as before. Meaning..., he could not un-see, un-experience what he had seen, his whole standpoint had been altered and those around him with his previ-ous standpoint, no longer understood him. Thus, it was said that he walk lamely.

The 73rd Psalm gives a description of Israel which implies a singleness of purpose in the right direction, if read in a new way or right direction. It can be said that the distinctive characteristic of the name or term Israel is the concentration of right effort or Guided direction towards gaining the victory, the acquisition of the name, Israel...

FOR OURS I S THE V I C T OR IOUS L I FE . . .

Odin, the subject of the Gallows at hand, was said to have plucked out one of his eye’s to obtain Wisdom. Thus implying a single I, or single unified direction of right action. Odin hanging from the tree upside down (illustrated ), gives us another example of singleness of purpose. The Buddhist who we’ll get to shortly, call this singleness of purpose, “one-pointedness”. The one eye reference can be extended to the mythical one eyed Cyclops and to the Egyptian God Horus who loses an eye in his battle with Set/Seth thereby symboli-cally becoming one of a single I.

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This characteristic of one I, indicates the sort of mental character of one-pointedness or as I like to say, the paradoxical direction which we must adhere our thoughts to, until

the Day breaks. Higher thoughts, nobler deeds and greater achievements... The Three Points of Entrance inculcated within us, provides for a small pathway to the breaking Day.

I alluded to the three aspects in One within the of name Israel, and since I don’t want to cheat you out of the value of chewing on a hard bone, I won’t go to deep into the subject. I also know that if I’m to get you to even pick up the bone, you’ll need a clue to get you started. The name Israel has three syllables Is - ra - el. Is = Isis Ra = Sun El = Ala

Ancient Egyptian mythology of the three aspects in One... A t u m - R a - P t a h

Three modes of Being - physical, psychic and spiritual. Three in One. Ready, set, wrestle!

If the history of a word, subject or story, must be absolutely correct; and all the links in the chain accounted for to make you whole in your beliefs, you still have to ask who was doing the writing, and doing the accounting. As we should all know by now, recorded life is but a translation of personal perception; the process of creating records is always at the hand of the personal or cultural bias thus enjoyed by the recorder or editor.

One of the most ancient records of the life of Gautama Buddha is chronicled in the Chhandogya Upanishad. Buddha left no written documents or instructions of any kind which left it to the various Buddhist sects to invent as they liked, themselves doing the accounting, as in all religions of man. The most significant parts however, of Buddha’s teachings were to come from the direct experience of doing the work, of following the path to one-pointedness.

All sects however did agree that Gautama Buddha was raised a Hindu. They disagree however on which caste he was born into. Even tho the Chhandogya Upanishad re-cords his birth into the Brahmin caste; the largest sect of Buddhists in India today, the Mahayana, have come to believe he was born of the Kshatriya caste, the caste of warriors and princes. The caste system is basically a social hierarchy still in use in India. The caste system represents a divi-sion of labor based on birth right justified by moral and religious concepts.

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It consists of the Brahmin or priest class, the Kshatriya or warrior cast, the Vaishyas or skilled traders and merchants cast, and the Shudras or unskilled workers cast.

My objective in writing this paper is two fold; firstly to reinforce the reality that the writ-ten record may not always be correct and should always be viewed with skepticism with an eye towards the manifold significations surrounding the record. In other words, don’t believe everything you read as fact, do a little digging in the right direction to retrieve the dog.

Just a short aside; to bury the dog so to speak is to write with intended omissions, or somewhat in the form of a parable using words with double meanings; making it neces-sary to retrieve the dog by converting the words or considering the omissions, by degree my Brothers, into their psychological or higher meanings to make sense of the passage in the intended right direction.

To work on yourself, rightly directed for a just experience.

“Spare me please!” I hear Most Worshipful springing forth from the back of my mind. “How would anyone understand what you mean by right direction, rightly directed or, a just experience, as you’ve written it above?”

So... Let’s go over right direction once more. Right direction is tied directly to the place you would affirmatively like to be - such as... The Victorious Life. Rightly directed, has a double meaning, one: Guidance - the other correlating with a “just experience” is not as easily understood unless one has already been exposed to the idea of an impartially directed self observance to the innermost conscious struggle between “Yes” and “No”. This friction created by the conscious choice of right direction over sensory or illusionary wants creates the heat necessary to fuse the two choices or directions into a state beyond choice. A state where the many I’s or wants become One in purpose. This fu-sion, is the “just experience” realized in wrestling with the Angel, whereby Jacob received or acquired a new name.., Israel. One-pointedness.

This self suffering friction until final fusion will produce a corresponding measure of just experience directly in proportion to the successful sustained efforts. In other words your Being and benefits will change accordingly to your efforts, rightly directed.

Secondly, to illustrate the difference between the religion of Moses (Judeo Christian), and the religion of Buddha in regards to what is called or is meant by the term, the Soul of Man. In the case of the religion of Moses a man’s Soul is considered to be Fallen - damned from birth and must be saved somehow, mostly with the churches help of course. In the case of the religion of Buddha and Ancient Egypt, a man has the potential for a Soul Body which must be constructed by the man himself, ( the temple not made by hands ). To the degree that he, this separate something he believes himself to be; no longer recurs in this world anew for another crack at further development, but reincarnates intact at Will, into whatever circumstances so desired... The Victorious Life. 5

We’ll get back to our Soul searching in a minute or two, I promise. Right now I’d like to dive into how it is that despite the written record of Buddha being born into the

Brahmin priestly caste that the Mahayana sect of India claim him to be of the Kshatriya or warrior caste.

Both claims are right and both claims are wrong. The solution to the argument is found in something called the Law of Three. I will not here, pretend to give you a complete explana-tion of this Law, but will only tease you with two examples of it in action. Gautama was born a Brahmin and was thus trained, but through his training affirmed by the Chhandogya Upani-shad with King Pravahana he became a warrior of the Kshatriya caste. By the combination of the effects of these different areas of training (psychic and physical), rightly directed, he trans-formed, was reborn as something more - an enlightened one with a fully developed Soul body. In some sense we can further elucidate the axiom, “Down is the way Up”, discussed previously.

By degree/friction/heat - my Brothers, that same process according to the Law of Three ap-plies to you yourselves. Your future progress relies on the influences of both types of training, rightly directed.

Now I have come to my own convictions on recurrence / reincarnation and what it means to have a Soul or Soul Body, and would encourage you to do you own work. To figure out for yourselves if you’re in the camp of Moses or the camp of Buddha when it comes to your deep, or superficial, beliefs on the matter. I say superficial in the context of those who haven’t really thought it through from the standpoint of the Ray of Creation and man’s true purpose.

To have a deep belief you need to have a grasp on the basic foundations of Creation, the how and the why of it, before you can fit the puzzle piece of man’s Soul into your understanding of who you are and why you are here. Creation theory, myth and stories are abundant and in many ways give similar descriptions of the Law of Three, and the Law of Seven - if looked at in a new way. Your mission if you choose to accept it, is to ferret out these similarities and coalesce them into a personal understanding thereby answering the question of the damned Soul, or the seed/potential of a Soul Body, ( the temple not made by hands ).

Thirdly; Ok I lied, the paper is threefold in keeping with the subject of the Law of Three. I wish to hammer home with all thy heart felt intent, with the force of Mjölnir... implied in a lesson given in a bygone and, not as comes well recommended work...

Ontological BalderdashFor a Masonic example to reinforce the absolute need for you to do your own work to succeed in gaining the Victorious Life. Rudyard Kipling, a Mason of some worth, wrote something profound on this very subject, “The Palace”. This is an incredibly dense work of Masonic thought as various interpretations suggest, and a simple one at the same time.

King and a Mason - Priest and a Warrior Rightly directed - Two becomes something more... 6

T H E P A L A C E 1111When I was a King and a Mason -- a Master proven and skilled --I cleared me ground for a Palace such as a King should build.I decreed and dug down to my levels. Presently under the silt,I came on the wreck of a Palace such as a King had built.

There was no worth in the fashion -- there was no wit in the plan --Hither and thither, aimless, the ruined footings ran --Masonry, brute, mishandled, but carven on every stone:“After me cometh A Builder. tell him, i too hAve known.”

Swift to my use in my trenches, where my well-planned ground-works grew,I tumbled his quoins and his ashlars, and cut and reset them anew.Lime I milled of his marbles: burned it, slacked it, and spread:Taking and leaving at pleasure the gifts of the humble dead.

Yet I despised not nor gloried; yet, as we wrenched them apart,I read in the razed foundations the heart of that builder’s heart.As he had risen and pleaded, so did I understandThe form of the dream he had followed in the face of the thing he had planned.

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When I was a King and a Mason -- in the open noon of my pride,They sent me a Word from the Darkness -- They whispered and called me aside.They said -- “The end is forbidden.” They said -- “Thy use is fulfilled.Thy Palace shall stand as that other’s -- the spoil of a King who shall build.”

I called my men from my trenches, my quarries, my wharves, and my sheers.All I had wrought I abandoned to the faith of the faithless years.Only I cut on the timber -- only I carved on the stone:“After me cometh A Builder. tell him, i too hAve known! Rudyard Kipling

If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Matthew 6:227