Piece Of Art

The Marine bandmaster John Philip Sousa became famous for his marches and inspired the sousaphone. Few people today realize that his Masonic links resulted in some of his most mysterious creations. What's below the surface? How about the often forgotten gem he composed during his life, Transit of Venus ? John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor important during the turn of the centuries, from the 19th to the 20th, particularly known for American military and patriotic marches. "The March King" is especially remembered for his "Semper Fidelis" (1888) (Official March of the United States Marine Corps) and "Stars and Stripes Forever" (1896) (National March of the United States). One year after the 1882 Transit of Venus, Sousa was commissioned to compose a processional for the unveiling of a bronze statue of American physicist Joseph Henry, who had died in 1878. Henry, who had developed the first electric...

I found the new Sherlock Holmes (2009) movie intriguingly multi-layered, with an incredible number of synchromystical symbols throughout, often tied to the Masons ("Temple of the Four Orders") and the Ripper case (see below). These are woven nicely within the plot and characters. Lord Blackwood (who wears a black trenchcoat most of the time ~ as have the spate of recent mass killers ), the secret society members, the plotting police, the usual bald giants, the ginger little people, the overly attractive prostitutes, and even the ever present ravens have a good deal to "say" to those watching this cinema closely. Needless to say, the Masonic elements have been mentioned by many reviewers and critics in the blogosphere, so no need to dwell on the straight and narrow there. Another "character" in the movie is the Tower Bridge , which is shown under construction. Actually, since it is known that the building of the Tower Bridge started in 1886 and took e...

The flag that Brother Mason Buzz Aldrin unfurled on the Moon on July 21, 1969, when he stated " our flags " were being planted on the lunar surface. July 21, 1961 – Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission – Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission). Grissom was scheduled to be the first man to walk on the Moon. Instead, Grissom was killed January 27, 1967, along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a training exercise and pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at the Kennedy Space Center. Grissom was born in Mitchell, Indiana. Grissom was a master Mason and member of Mitchell Lodge 228. July 21, 1969 – Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission. Buzz Aldrin is a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Masonic Knight Templar, and a Shriner. Buzz flew the Supreme Council's flag on the moon. That flag is now on...

July 20, 1969: The day that Freemasonry landed on the Moon. Now, it is definitely onward to Mars.

The cerebral and celibate (old meaning) hero of this film is Dr. John Watson, a reflection of Dr. Conan Doyle. Robert Downey Jr. brings the legendary detective to life as he has never been portrayed before. Jude Law stars as Holmes' trusted colleague, Watson, a doctor and war veteran who is a formidable ally for Sherlock Holmes. Rachel McAdams stars as Irene Adler, the only woman ever to have bested Holmes and who has maintained a tempestuous relationship with the detective. Mark Strong stars as their mysterious new adversary, Blackwood. Kelly Reilly will play Watson's love interest, Mary. Genres: Action/Adventure, Thriller, Adaptation and Mystery Release Date: December 25th, 2009 (wide) Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution Produced in: United States Actors: Robert Downey Jr. ... Sherlock Holmes Jude Law ... Dr. John Watson Rachel McAdams ... Irene Adler Mark Strong ... Blackwood Eddie Marsan ... Inspector Lestrade Kelly Reilly ... Mary Directed by: Guy Ritchie ++++...

An eighth person has died in the wake of the assassination attempt on the Dutch Royal Family. (See here for full details on the attack.) De Naald (in English The Needle ), is the obelisk monument in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn that became the final resting place for Karst Tates' automobile. A woman died of her injuries more than a week after a man plowed his car into a crowd during a parade, becoming the seventh victim of a failed attack (#8 when the attacker is counted) on the Dutch royal family, authorities said Saturday, May 9, 2009. The 46-year-old woman, whose identity was not released, was among about a dozen people struck down in the April 30 attack. Apeldoorn municipality spokesman Toon Schuiling said she died Friday night, May 8, 2009, in a hospital, the same evening as more than 1,000 people gathered for a memorial service. Five bystanders died on the day of the April 30 attack near Het Loo palace in Apeldoorn and another died the following day. The car's driver als...

Napoléon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821. The 5 feet, 7 inches of his height was normal for his time, but the British newspaper cartoonists had him shown as much smaller for political reasons. His famous "hidden hand" images were a broadcast signal of his links to the Freemasonry Brotherhood. The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries , by Jacques-Louis David, 1812. Below, when he was younger. The following drawing demonstrates the "Sign of the Master of the Second Veil," (7th Degree Mason) from Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor , 1866. View other "hidden hand" examples, here and here . John W. Booth, whose membership among Masons is today mostly expunged. George Washington, whose Freemasonry membership is celebrated. "The evidence in favor of a Masonic initiation previous to Napoleon’s assumption of the imperial title is overwhelming: The initiation took place in the body of an Army Philadelphe Lodge of the — Ecossais — Primitive Rite ...

The man who drove his car into a crowded Dutch royal parade, targeting Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, had shaved his hair into a Mohawk, like the homicidal anti-hero of the film Taxi Driver before launching the attack. Investigators are focusing on the theory that 38-year old Karst Tates, who died of his injuries on April 30th, had embarked on a mission of vengeance against society after losing his job as a night-shift security guard earlier this year. His neighbors and locals in the town of Huissen have described an isolated but polite man whose dress resembled that of Travis Bickle, the loner played by Robert de Niro in the 1976 film Taxi Driver , in which he plots to assassinate Senator Palantine, a candidate for the American presidency. "He wore rolled trousers with high black boots. His hair was often very short and totally shaved at the sides," said one neighbor, according to the London Telegraph . It will be recalled that the film Taxi Driver formed part of the de...

Famous Freemasons and baseball go hand in glove. Rogers "The Rajah" Hornsby, an original member of the Baseball Hall of Fame is listed on Masonic sites among the famous. The baseball stars are a who's who of famed Freemasons: Grover Alexander, Ty Cobb, Carl Hubbell, Branch Rickey, Honus Wagner, and Cy Young, to name a few. It is no mystery that some leaders of their time would be Masons. But what of the question, were the initial symbolic foundations of baseball Masonic? I'm talking about baseball here because I am a guest on Tim Binnall's The 3rd Annual BoA: Audio Baseball Special for Sunday, April 5, 2009, on Binnall of America (also featuring Greg Bishop, Adam Gorightly, Richard Dolan, and Paul Kimball). For the broadcast, go to: BoA Audio Baseball Special . Opening day for Major League Baseball will soon be upon us, although, with the international tournament catching on fire, the World Baseball Classic has created a new world order, so to speak. One can ...

Slumdog Millionaire reopened in American theaters on March 20, 2009. It's time to take a look at one thread in the film and where it leads us. An intriguing undermentioned synchromystic element of the award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire is its references throughout to The Three Musketeers ( Les Trois Mousquetaires , 1844). The movie's hero Jamal refers to his brother Salim and himself as Athos and Porthos, and the female of his attention Latika as the third Musketeer. The book is shown in flashbacks of the orphanage's classroom and in importance to the ending sequence regarding the last question asked on "So You Want To Be A Millionaire?" The Three Musketeers ( Les Trois Mousquetaires ) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to 'Senior' in English). It recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. d'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; ...

Adam Gorightly's newest book documents the remarkable phantasmagoria that was the person named James Shelby Downard, an American theorist and pamphleteer who shared his thoughts about conspiracies, coincidences, synchronicity, and symbolism. James Shelby Downard's Mystical War was released by Virtual Bookworm Publishing, in November 2008. The subject of the book, Downard, lived from March 13, 1913 to March 16, 1998 , unless, of course, his death was a disappearing act and he's still alive somewhere, writing under an assumed name. (I'm joking, right?) Downard appeared on the scene when many of my contemporaries and I were just beginning to have lexilinked thoughts and overlapping insights into coincidences. His influence, as Gorightly notes, today has spread far beyond this strange man's life and death. I easily understand the reach of Downard's impact within my own life from this twilight realm. In the 1960s and 1970s, first in correspondence, and then later...