Gnosis: The Secret of Solomon’s Temple Revealed
All of this is perfectly natural. We are, after all, less-haired apes. We strive to be the alpha male and female; fit into the society or “tribe” that surrounds us. And often that society is just a bigger version of ourselves; it is created by groups of selves.
But, in times past, our ancestors saw all this and recognized that there was another way. They discovered that in order for the man to rise above the level of the tooth, he needed to alter his internal dialogue. Man needed to understand himself and the forces that drive him.
This unique understanding, that there might be a higher goal for humanity, either collectively or individually, evolved into what we now know as Gnosticism. Of course, this is an oversimplification and we must always keep in mind mystics, those who have experienced what we would call otherworldly emotions or visions. Also, regardless of popular perception, Christians were not the only gnostics and mystics. Gnostic comes from the Greek word gignoskein which means simply to know. It was applied to “a sect of the so-called philosophers in the early ages of Christianity.”
However, the term is now used more loosely and I personally see it slightly differently than others and probably in a controversial light.
For me, the Greek term implies all knowledge. This is a type of knowledge that is obtained in a similar way to connecting the mind to the world wide web and being able to download all the data in an instant. In the same way, the true gnostic, like the mystic, could understand all things in a unique way. Whether it is the mind accessing the collective unconscious, the Akashic records, or any other name given to the process, does not matter for the purposes of this article, the fact remains, it was believed. And because of this belief, physical manifestations of the inner belief system arose throughout the world. Thus, the temples of man were exactly that – Temples of Man.
Gnosis, then, means knowledge of the most esoteric kind and this is the story that has been hidden from our eyes for too long. This is the truth of secret societies that we on the outside are supposedly too mundane to understand.
The temple
So, let us now do our best to understand Solomon’s Temple, and in doing so, let us walk on sacred ground, trodden only by the initiated.
In the years of my own search there were times when I found myself at the feet of magicians, sitting and listening to the wise words of the Sufis, joining the debate in some Masonic Lodge. The whole time I was learning and watching the process with an open ear and an open eye, and at the same time balancing it all with knowledge of modern science and reductionism. Both worlds, that of the esoteric and that of science, are useless separately, both are necessary today if we really want to understand and believe.
And so even the facts about the Temple of Solomon. Well, unfortunately, we are sadly lacking in archaeological evidence, regardless of what you read on some literal fundamentalist website. What we are told is that in the tenth century BC, the wise King Solomon erected a great Temple to the Lord. Unfortunately, if any of this is true, then we actually find that it was a Temple, encompassing many pagan religions.
According to Professor James Pritchard in his book Solomon and Sheba (1974, p.35):
“…the so-called cities of Megiddo, Gezer and Hazor, and Jerusalem itself were actually more like villages… Inside were relatively small public buildings and poorly built dwellings with clay floors. The objects reveal a material culture which, even by ancient Near Eastern standards, they could not be judged sophisticated or luxurious.
In fact, and in the bright light of day, what we really have, and what most writers are afraid to say, is no evidence of Solomon’s Temple at all. In fact, we have no evidence for Solomon, apart from these peculiar Biblical texts. Nor do we have any evidence of the Queen of Sheba, or any of the other characters involved. Instead, there is more depth than could ever be imagined, more meaning than we would dare to believe.
John Michell in The Temple at Jerusalem: A Revelation, (Gothic Image) gives us an idea of the real meaning:
“Temple legends describe it as the instrument of a mystical priestly science, a form of alchemy by which the oppositely charged elements of earth and atmosphere were ritually united and married. The product of their union was a spirit that blessed and sanctified the people of Israel.”
How right is Michel. The Temple is an instrument of mystical and priestly science or even of magic. The secret is revealed before our eyes the more we learn. Look, the true Gnostic, the true or perfect disciple, must be a man or a woman of balance. He or she must unite the two sides of the mind, the masculine and feminine principles as they are called. We are all men and women and the alchemists used this concept of balance and revealed it in their images of the Hermaphrodite, half man and half woman.
Solomon was not a real man and Sheba was not a real woman. Instead, they were symbols of this internal and often external process. The entire story of Solomon, Sheba, and the Temple, which is the perfectly formed body, both physical and spiritual, is the story of our own psyche. It is an esoteric truth, misunderstood in its exoteric form.
hiram
Hiram was the son of a Jewish mother and a Phoenician father and is credited with decorating the Temple of Solomon. It is said that he was “the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali…he Cast two bronze pillars” 1 Kings 7:13-15.
We should also note something of interest mentioned in 1 Kings 16:
“Then he made two capitals of cast bronze, to put them on top of the columns. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. He made a lattice net, with chain garlands, for the capitals that were on the columns: seven chains for one capital and seven for the other capital”.
These pillars became known as Jachin, meaning “he establishes” and Boaz, meaning “in him is strength”, and are now familiar to most modern Masons as central elements of their own Lodge or Temple. Copies of these can be clearly seen in the infamous Rosslyn Chapel, as we’ll find out.
But, what is interesting here is the original text on these pillars. Firstly, bronze is used for the capitals, just as bronze is used for the “Bronze Serpent” of Moses and is indicative of the fiery aspect of the serpent as one of the channels in the Kundalini process. Their “heights” were 5 cubits, matching the five hooded cobras seen throughout India and atop many pillars, although the Bible calls them lilies, which are symbols of balance anyway.
Leading up to these capitals were “crowns” of “chains”, seven on each pillar. Strangely, these chains were “for the capitals”, so we concluded that these seven level chains (whorls) pointed towards the head (capital) just as Kundalini serpents do.
There are more real links between Hiram and the snake. For example, we noted above that he was from the Naphtali Tribe. The banner of the Tribe of Naphtali, according to Jewish tradition, is a serpent or basilisk and this could have Egyptian origin, since Jewish tradition states that Naphtali was Joseph’s brother, chosen to represent the family before Pharaoh.
“And now I have sent a clever man, endowed with understanding, Hiram [Hiram] my teacher [father] craftsman, (son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre), skilled in working gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson, and to make any recorded and to carry out any plan that was given to him, with your skills and with the skills of my lord David your father.” 2 Chronicles 2:13-14.
Here, Hiram is said to be a son of the tribe of Dan and even the tribe of Dan had an emblem, which surprisingly was also the serpent, this time with a horse.
Unbelievably, there is also a hidden truth and repeating pattern to this little statement about the actual abilities of this literary character. Follow this pattern:
Hiram is an expert in:-
1 gold and silver,
2 bronze and iron,
3 stone and wood,
4 purple and blue,
5 fine and scarlet linen,
6 and to make any engraving
7 and to carry out any plan given to him.
Notice that there are seven ‘balanced’ elements in the ability of the man who will build the Temple! In fact, this is a real clue to the secret of the Temple.
According to this book of Chronicles, Hiram was a cunning man (word used for snake) endowed with understanding, skilled as we can see in working with gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. But he was also credited with certain tools that could pierce stone. The stone, as I show in Gnosis, is a symbol of wisdom and foundation. Therefore, Hiram’s tool pierced the veil or even the very root of wisdom.
According to the book of Kings, the Temple was built of stone (or wisdom) before it was brought to the site. Sort of like a prefab building. It was said by tradition that neither a hammer nor an ax was used in the construction, nor any iron tool. So how was it built? This in itself is a paradox, which can only be answered by revealing the true secret of the Temple.
According to rabbinical teaching, the prefabrication of the Temple was carried out by the Shamir, a giant worm or snake that could cut stones (by the way, worm means snake). Not unlike the Norse and Celtic beliefs where Valhalla and Camelot were built with the fire of the dragon and in China where the energy of the serpent helps build.
This is a universal concept, as can be seen in India, where it was the fabled serpentine-laced Nagas who escaped their country and took architectural wisdom abroad with them. The architect gods, like Thoth of Egypt, are strongly linked with the wisdom of the serpent because they are linked with building “Temples of Wisdom” within ourselves.
The Shamir, according to one legend, had even been placed in the hands of the Prince of the Sea (Shamir by Wilhelm Bacher and Ludwig Blau), who is of course a symbol of the Prince of Wisdom.
In essence, what we really have here is the Temple of Wisdom that is being built by the serpent and that serpent is none other than the internal Kundalini, or similar to it, which will later develop in Kabbalah. This is a psychological training manual; a method of self-improvement; a path for society to become One; a multi-layered method to get closer to the deity that resides in each and every one of us; a deity, which the ancients saw as the same in each of us.
The entire process is repeated over and over again throughout the Bible. The Temple is reduced (like the alchemical method) and remade. Then again and again, until finally the Christ is the Temple that is reduced (killed) and then resurrected for the last time. And now, according to the texts, we can all meet this Christ and we can all have the knowledge. We just need to understand that the true Christ is all and in all.
But this was not the end of the story…
