By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, a.k.a. “Cosmic Ray,” author of the international, awards-winning Venus Rising series of books, available on amazon.com, while supplies last
Venusian scoutship hovers over Rosslyn Chapel, startling the monks. Drawing courtesy of Tri-County UFO Group, Sebring, Ohio, in Keller Venus files.
Origins and Purpose of the Rosslyn Chapel
There were nine Crusaders who established the Order of the Knights Templar. These intrepid gentlemen were continuously excavating under the ruins of the temple that once stood in the heart of Jerusalem. Jesus the Christ once prophesized its destruction; and in 70 C.E. Roman legionnaires leveled the structure to the ground, thus fulfilling the words of the Savior.
From some of the older rituals of Freemasonry, we understand that the Knights Templar, while undertaking these digs, recovered certain documents from the first and second centuries of the Common Era pertinent to the establishment of Christianity as a world religion. It is widely rumored that these papers provide key insights into the personal life of Jesus and his family, connecting his ministry to a more Gnostic gospel that defined a greater role for Mary Magdalene, and hence women generally. Perhaps they also contain information establishing Mary Magdalene as the Lord’s wife and the mother of his children.
In any case, the Knights Templar brought them back with them in 1140 C.E. and entrusted these documents to the patriarchs of the St. Clair family in Kilwinning, Scotland, who were the owners of vast estates. Three centuries and one year later, in 1441 C.E., on a small rise above Roslin Glen in the village of Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland, William Sinclair, recognized as the First Earl of Caithness in the Scoto-Norman Sinclair family, began constructing the Rosslyn Chapel, which wasn’t completed until 49 years later. Interestingly, the ground plan of the chapel matches the layout of King Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem, the one that the Romans looted and destroyed. Originally known as the Collegiate Chapel of St. Matthew, the edifice served as a center of study and illumination. It was open to all sincere seekers of the light of truth and attracted pilgrims the world over. Many of the Sinclair men in later generations went on to become hereditary Grand Master Masons.
Role of Venus in the Masonic Lodge
The Knights Templar, originally known as the Poor Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, were formally established in 1128 C.E. In less than a century and a half, they had become the wealthiest and most powerful group in the world. The political and ecclesiastical leadership of Europe became worried about the spectacular growth of the Knights and kept a watchful eye on all of their activities. Feeling threatened economically, militarily and theologically by the amassed money, power and secret knowledge acquired by the Knights, King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V in Rome joined forces in 1307 C.E. and managed to destroy most of them. They justified their actions by declaring that the Knights Templar were, “conducting strange rituals” and therefore “were not Christians.”
These “strange rituals” were intimately connected to the motion of the planet Venus, known by the Masons as the “Eastern Star,” or sometimes the “Blazing Star,” since Venus, apart from the Sun and Moon, is the brightest object in the heavens. As Venus orbits the Sun 13 times matching 8 Earth orbits, following a Fibonacci sequence, there are five close approaches to the Earth that can be traced in a near-perfect pentagram along the circle of the Zodiac on the plane of the ecliptic. To the ancient Egyptians, this pattern was recognized as the “hieroglyph of the night.” It was later adopted by King Solomon of Israel as the representation of magical wisdom. In a religious sense, it has since been carved on synagogues, churches and mosques as a protection against “un-Earthly forces.”
Pentagram of King Solomon
In the Theosophical Lodge, and among other esoteric societies, Venus is regarded as the “most powerful and occult of all worlds.”
With the arrival of the Age of Enlightenment, and the ascent of Freemasonry, the symbol of the pentagram had long been associated with the advancement of humankind through illumination, magic and wisdom. The rites enacted in the Masonic Lodge can best be described as a “peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” The primary symbol of the Freemasons is the so-called “Five Points of Fellowship,” indicative of its ethical code of fraternity. The five points are illustrative of points on the human body, whence the initiate to the lodge is lifted up to illumination, standing before the pillars of Boaz and Jachin as the Blazing Star of Venus appears just before the Sun rises in the east. Here further knowledge and truth is imparted.
Since the Masonic Lodge is a society with secrets, to proceed in greater detail would not be appropriate or respective of the Craft. However, for further information on the pentagram and other Venus connections to the ancient world, please check out my Venus Rising: A Concise History of the Second Planet (Terra Alta, WV: Headline Books, 2015, 2016), available at https://www.amazon.com/Venus-Rising-Concise-History-Second/dp/1882658310.