View allAll Photos Tagged Emblems
Olympus E-PL1 + Fujian 35mm f1.7
The sharpness of the cropped image is amazing for a TV lens that cost under $30.
Cormorant emblem
1951 Packard “300” with Ultramatic transmission. Completely original, nothing restored. A 3 owner car!!
Langley Good Times Cruise-In BC Canada
Artist Ken Gerberick 1990 took 2500 hours
Aprox. 6000 car & truck emblems attached with silicone and /or screws
1957 Pontiac Pathfinder
Unique to Canada, the Pontiac Pathfinder is an entry-level station wagon or full sized car that was based on a Chevrolet chassis but used most of the distinctive Pontiac styling parts. Engines were also produced by Chevrolet, another General Motors brand. The use of Chevrolet-based bodies resulted in shorter front and rear fenders and Canadian specific wheels and hubcaps. Interior trim often was also unique to Canada. The last Pathfinders were built in 1958 as Pontiac's (Canada) base model. Body styles included a sedan delivery. This car was Pontiac's last full-size sedan delivery. Also there was the station wagon model.
Seen on a 1966 BRISTOL Lodekka FLF Double Decker.
The FLF-Series was introduced in 1960, and were based on the Lodekka LD-Series, developed in 1949. 1867 items were built.
Bristol started already in the 1920s producing Double Decker busses.
This bus was untaxed since March 1, 1997. Seen on the Roma city camping site, where it was in use as a bar.
8,9L diesel engine.
Production Lodekka FLF: 1960-1968.
See also: www.wikiwand.com/en/Bristol_Lodekka
And: bcv.robsly.com/stw763d.html
Number seen: 2.
Roma/La Giustiniana (It.), Via della Giustiniana, April 23, 2016.
© 2016 Sander Toonen Amsterdam | All Rights Reserved
Seen on a 1972 Mercury Montego MX Station Wagon.
Found on the court yard of Fiction Factory.
8 cylinder engine runs on LPG,
2248 kg.
New Dutch license number April 26, 2001.
Amsterdam-N., Binairstraat, Jan. 5, 2015.
© 2015 Sander Toonen Amsterdam | All Rights Reserved
Found this old, rusting Buick on the side of the road between Cookeville, TN and Livingston, TN. This is a close-up of the grill and grill emblem. I believe it's a 1957...
The image is an HDR that was converted to B&W in Nik Silver Efex Pro and I painted the red and blue back into the emblem with PS.
testing out my new Canon 100mm Macro USM
wow, found out this made it to Explore (Highest Position: 325).. woohoo my first one on Explore!
The history of the Marine Corps emblem is a story related to the history of the Corps itself. The emblem of today traces its roots to the designs and ornaments of early Continental Marines as well as British Royal Marines. The emblem took its present form in 1868. Before that time many devices, ornaments, and distinguishing marks followed one another as official marks of the Corps.
In 1776, the device consisted of a "foul anchor" of silver or pewter. The foul anchor still forms a part of the emblem today. (A foul anchor is an anchor which has one or more turns of the chain around it). Changes were made in 1798, 1821, and 1824. In 1834 it was prescribed that a brass eagle be worn on the hat, the eagle to measure 3 1/2 inches from wingtip to wingtip.
During the early years numerous distinguishing marks were prescribed, including "black cockades, "scarlet plumes," and "yellow bands and tassels." In 1859 the origin of the present color scheme for the officer's dress uniform ornaments appeared on an elaborate device of solid white metal and yellow metal. The design included a United States shield, half wreath, a bugle, and the letter "M."
In 1868, Brigadier General Commandant Jacob Zeilin appointed a board "to decide and report upon the various devices of cap ornaments for the Marine Corps." On 13 November 1868, the board turned in its report. It was approved by the Commandant four days later, and on 19 November 1868 was signed by the Secretary of the Navy.
The emblem recommended by this board has survived with minor changes to this day. It consists of a globe (showing the Western Hemisphere) intersected by a foul anchor, and surmounted by a spread eagle. On the emblem itself, the device is topped by a ribbon inscribed with the Latin motto "Semper Fidelis" (Always Faithful). The uniform ornaments omit the motto ribbon.
The general design of the emblem was probably derived from the British Royal Marines' "Globe and Laurel." The globe on the U.S. Marine emblem signifies service in any part of the world. The eagle also indirectly signifies service worldwide, although this may not have been the intention of the designers in 1868. The eagle they selected for the Marine emblem is a crested eagle, a type found all over the world. On the other hand, the eagle pictured on the great seal and the currency of the United States is the bald eagle, strictly an American variety. The anchor, whose origin dates back to the founding of the Marine Corps in 1775, indicates the amphibious nature of Marines' duties.
ANZAC DAY April 25th - In Memory of my Uncle Tom McGrath
'ANZAC is the acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the formation created in December 1914 by grouping the Australian Imperial Force and New Zealand Expeditionary Force stationed in Egypt. Some time later it was taken on as the telegraph code word for the Corps. The Corps made it's operational debut, together with forces from Britain, India and France at Gallipoli on April 25th 1915, where they landed against stiff opposition from the Turks. In this fighting about one in five of the 3000 New Zealanders who landed on the first day became casualties. The small cove where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed was quickly designated "Anzac Cove" and the word was soon used to describe all Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought on the peninsula, and eventually any Australian or New Zealand soldier.'
The Poppy is worn on ANZAC Day in remembrance and honour of all the New Zealand Men and Women who have fought and died in the service of their country in the many wars and conflicts since the original ANZAC Day - Gallipoli - April 25th 1915.
This poem by Monia Michael was written in 1918 - in response to a poem by Colonel John McCrae, a solider who didn't survive the war. She encouraged the wearing of the poppy to keep the faith and to honour those who served and died for their country....
"The Victory Emblem"
Oh! You who sleep in Flanders' fields
Sleep sweet - to rise anew;
We caught the torch you threw,
And holding high we kept
The faith with those who died.
We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valour led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders' fields.
And now the torch and Poppy red
Wear in honour of our dead
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We've learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders' fields.
April 25th 2012
Reposting this dedication once again today in Remembrance of my Uncle Tom and also my Father who both served in World Word II and with respect for all those who made huge sacrifices serving their country in War... We will Remember Them!
Cosplay'in Wesserling - Parc de Wesserling - Ecomusée textile
Cosplay by Wicked Titus' World
Photo: PMD Photograph
Assistant Light: Steeve
See more on www.pmdphotograph.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/pmdphotograph
Strobist infos:
_Top: elinchrom Ranger Quadra with Deep Octa 70cm
Inside the machine: Yongnuo Speedlite YN560-II with Red gel
trigered with elinchrom skyport transmitter
em·blem (noun) : a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge.....
King's College was founded in 1441 by Henry VI. The college, along with most others at the university, had been all-male since its foundation. The first women students arrived at King's in 1972. Comparing academic performance King's ranked thirteenth out of a total of twenty-nine rated colleges at the University of Cambridge in 2012.
Notable alumni of the college includes EM Forster, Frederick Sanger, Alan Turing (the 'Father of Theoretical Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence'), John Maynard Keynes (one of the founders of modern macroeconomics - Keynesian economics) and others. There are six Nobel laureates who were either students or fellows of King's including Frederick Sanger, the double Nobel laureate in Chemistry (1958, 1980).
The Route 66 Emblem in Waynesville, Missouri. Photography by Notley Hawkins. Taken with a Canon EOS R5 camera with a Canon RF24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM lens at ƒ/4.0 with a 1/2500-second exposure at ISO 400. Processed with Adobe Lightroom Classic.
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©Notley Hawkins. All rights reserved.
Copyright Robert W. Dickinson. Unauthorized use of this image without my express permission is a violation of copyright law.
Taken at the Highline Auto Show in northeast Phoenix on 2/3/24.
Olympus E-M5 Mark III and Olympus 75mm f1.8 lens with circular polarizer.
Early 1950 Fords had this emblem on the trunk lid. The hood emblem is the same style. The difference? There is not a metal bezel surrounding it. It has three plastic prongs.. This is NOS. If anyone has one for hood please contact me.
Pour finir cette visite de San Francisco...
L’emblème, le symbole, l’image même de San Francisco est représentée par le Golden Gate Bridge. Cet immense pont rouge un des plus célèbres au monde, que l’on voit dans les films fait évidemment partie des incontournables.
Pour la petite histoire, sa construction a pris quatre années et a débuté en 1933. Il relie alors San Francisco à Sausalito. Pour ce qui est de ses dimensions, sa longueur est de 1 970 mètres, pour une largeur de 30 mètres.
A shot to add to my collection of Automobile Emblems. I really dig the German ones most, like this one and the Benz, which I will also be working on today.
July 24, 2015 - PENTAX K-x- smc PENTAX-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL - 06-15-50 - 1-80 sec at f - 4.5 - ISO 100 - Aperture priority- 26 mm- 39 mm.
Zoo - Barcelona (Spain).
ENGLISH
The Catalan Donkey (Equus asinus var. catalana) is an ass breed (Equus asinus) original of the Catalan province of Girona. At the present time is in danger of extinction, reduced to only 400 specimens of which most is in Catalonia. The rest of Spain and the south of France welcome the other specimens.
This robust breed, of black hair and great head, is characterized by its great resistance. Its disappearance of Catalan rural means to the introduction of modern heavy machinery that makes it unnecessary for agriculture and the transport like was it long ago.
The Catalan donkey is very valued from 9th century. It has fame of being stronger and high than others. It can measure 1.65 meters in the cross.
There is one mainly who says, in Catalonia, that is the best donkey of the world, and in the United States they think the same since king Carlos IV sent a few specimens to president George Washington. Many more imported throughout 19th century and great part of the 20th, until in 50's, due to the mechanization of agriculture, it was not so necessary. Even so, the US Army took control of a last remittance of 300 specimens to improve the breed. It crossed the Catalans with North American horses and thus it was born the Kentucky-Catalan donkey, a donkey of great performance, genuine product of the love that feel the Americans by the outdoors life and the all-terrain vehicles.
After several years without receiving attention, the Catalan donkey jumped to the stardom of unexpected form in 2004, when two young people of Banyoles, Jaume Sala and Álex Ferreiro decided to create a sticker for the car with the silhouette of this animal, with the objective, means playfully means serious, to call the attention on the danger that this breed disappeared and to facilitate its conservation. The logo drawn by Ferreiro was made enormously popular in Catalonia in the next months, getting to appear in all type from stickers, t-shirts and other objects.
Later it became of unexpected form an emblem of the Catalans, since it has been considered that as other species are due to protect and of this form Catalonia is related to the ecology. At the moment the emblem of the Catalan Donkey is used by some people how claiming symbol of the Catalan nationalism, in opposition to the Osborne's Bull.
----------------------
CASTELLANO
El Burro Catalán (Equus asinus var. catalana) es una raza de asno (Equus asinus) originaria de la provincia catalana de Girona. En la actualidad se encuentra en peligro de extinción, reducido a sólo 400 ejemplares de los que la mayor parte se encuentran en Cataluña. El resto de España y el sur de Francia acogen a los demás ejemplares.
Esta raza robusta, de pelo negro y gran cabeza, se caracteriza por su gran resistencia. Su desaparición de los medios rurales catalanes se debe a la introducción de maquinaria pesada moderna que lo hacen innecesario para la agricultura y el transporte como lo era antaño.
El burro catalán está muy valorado desde el siglo IX. Tiene fama de ser más fuerte y alto que otros. Puede llegar a medir 1,65 metros en la cruz.
Hay quien dice, sobre todo en Catalunya, que es el mejor burro del mundo, y en Estados Unidos piensan lo mismo desde que el rey Carlos IV le envió unos cuantos ejemplares al presidente George Washington. Muchos más importaron a lo largo del siglo XIX y buena parte del XX, hasta que en los años 50, debido a la mecanización de la agricultura, no fue tan necesario. Aún así, el ejército de Tierra se hizo con una última remesa de 300 ejemplares para mejorar la raza de los suyos. Cruzó a los catalanes con caballos norteamericanos y así nació el Kentucky-catalan donkey, un burro de grandes prestaciones, producto genuino del amor que sienten los estadounidenses por la vida al aire libre y los vehículos todo terreno.
Tras varios años sin recibir atención alguna, el burro catalán saltó al estrellato de forma inesperada en 2004, cuando dos jóvenes de Banyoles, Jaume Sala y Álex Ferreiro decidieron crear una pegatina para el coche con la silueta de este animal, con el objetivo, medio en serio medio en broma, de llamar la atención sobre el peligro de que esta raza desapareciera y facilitar así su conservación. El logo dibujado por Ferreiro se hizo enormemente popular en Cataluña en los meses siguientes, llegando a aparecer en todo tipo de pegatinas, camisetas y otros objetos.
Posteriormente se convirtió de forma inesperada en un emblema de los catalanes, ya que se ha considerado que como otras especies se debe proteger y de esta forma se relaciona Cataluña con la ecología. Actualmente el emblema del Burro català lo utilizan algunas personas cómo símbolo reivindicativo del nacionalismo catalán, en oposición al Toro de Osborne.
Más info: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equus_asinus_var._catalana, www.lavanguardia.es/premium/publica/publica?COMPID=512438...
Seen on the back of a 1969 Fiat 500F.
The world famous Fiat Nuova 500 was designed by Dante Giacosa.
Besides this sober 500F the more luxury 500L was introduced in Aug. 1968.
Production of the Fiat 500 lasted for eighteen years.
Till a few years ago these tiny 500s were very popular in the Amsterdam city center. Now they're getting rare.
The Dutch car registration authorities claim that this tiny 1969 500 is a 500R but that's not correct. The 500R was introduced late 1972. The R stands for 'Rinnovata', which means renewed.
The emblem on the back says 'Abarth', but that's certainly not the case.
Private import, but for sale at the moment I discovered it.
594 cc 2 cylinder air-cooled boxer engine.
511 kg.
General production Fiat Nuova 500: July 1957-1975.
Production Fiat 500F: March 1965-Oct. 1972.
Original first reg. number: June 30, 1969.
New Dutch pseudo-historical reg. number: May 8, 1992.
Exported one month after I took these photos (after April 12, 2017).
Lijnden, Hoofdweg, March 16, 2017.
© 2017 Sander Toonen Amsterdam/Halfweg | All Rights Reserved
All over the capital, the Arirang adverts (« Grand mass gymnastic and artistic performance », « Welcome to Pyongyang » and so on) warn the profane…Between August and October, takes place one of the biggest and most impressive performances in the world. The tone is set : even the Beijing Olympics ceremony can’t compete with the mass games organized by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The show is held several times a week and welcomes tourists from all over the World, including the US, in one of the most isolated and despised country on earth. The well-called « mass games » are designed to emphasize group dynamics rather than individual performances as the supreme emblem of communism. Prepared by hundred of thousands performers all along the year, after their classes for the youngest of them, they are entirely dedicated to the NK’s leader Kim Jong Il and his deceased father Kim Il Sung, considered as the « Eternal president » and « sun of the 21st century »…
In the surroundings of Pyongyang's May Day giant Stadium, two girls are running to perform for the Arirang show. They are already dressed in their gymnastic outfits, as well as some 100,000 others who participate to the performance. They all come to honour their self-proclaimed « dear leader » Kim Jong Il, after a very hard and gruelling training, since their earliest age. Yet, it has been many years that Kim Jong Il has not shown up, formally for business reasons. But officials now admit the western medias’ assertions of illness. Anyways, Kim Jong Il or not, the mass games are held every year in Pyongyang, as a means for the regime to show to the entire world the country’s strength and good shape. To reach this sole purpose, not less than 100,000 people are involved in a choreographed show of simultaneous dancing and gymnastics. Many symbols are displayed by thousands of trained athlets, whether they are adults or even children. Hand over their heart, the young pupils sing in chorus "We are the happiest children in the world", one of the famous propaganda songs in North Korea. Many dancers make movements either with ribbons or colourful flowers named « kimjonglias » after the leader Kim Jong Il. All along the show, a live band plays a ceremonious music.
On the background, some 20,000 young koreans sit on the terraces, facing the spectators. They flip coloured cards at a high speed to form a fresco of animated and detailed images, changing from one to another. Each time they turn the page to create a new giant picture, they cry out. It creates a awe-inspiring atmosphere, as the shout is mixed with the noise of thousands of pages turned at the same moment. The figures are stunning : to compose these images, 2000 children are needed to make only one soldier, 20,000 for a north korean flag. Hiding a much more grim reality, the panels represent Pyongyang enlightened by night, wheat fields ready for harvest, scientists at work, atoms as symbols of the nuclear bomb and others for the reunification of two Koreas. One of the North Korea’s myths (history according to them) is recounted by the means of a huge image made by thousands of children. It represents the two pistols reportedly used by Kim Il Sung, when he founded the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army in 1932. When the pistols appear, the audience applauses loudly. Among them, many soldiers attend the show as the ultimate award after years of good and faithful service.The thousands and thousands of boys and girls involved create a giant mass movement in the stadium which leaves the public stunned. These talented performers are used to that kind of performance: in North Korea they have to dance, sing, jump and spin around as many times as there are celebrations, always in praise of their leaders. There are mainly two sorts of shows. The first one is the classical artistic show, named "Arirang" after the famous korean folk song (whose story sometimes changes, but most often recounts the legend of a disappointed woman who hopes that her lover will return to her –metaphor of the break-up with South Korea). The second one is a more political show, which was untitled in 2008 "Prosper our country" and intended to show the country’s greatest achievements and its struggle against the foreign oppressors.
The show continues in the same way for one hour. Thereafter, the thousands of people present vanish in the dark and silent streets of Pyongyang, which contrast with the flood of lights and music in the stadium. Within the space of a few hours, it gives us a a strange feeling, between the real and unreal, of another universe both terrifying and fantastic.
Dans toute la ville, les publicités d’Arirang (« Grande représentation gymnastique et artistique de masse », « Bienvenue à Pyongyang » etc.) mettent le profane en garde …Entre août et octobre, a lieu l’une des plus grandes et impressionnantes représentations au monde. Le ton est donné : pas même la cérémonie des Jeux de Pékin ne peut rivaliser avec les mass games organisés par la République Démocratique Populaire de Corée (RDPC). Le spectacle se tient plusieurs fois par semaine et accueille des touristes du monde entier, y compris des Etats-Unis, dans l’un des pays les plus isolés et méprisés sur terre. Les biens nommés mass games (« mouvements de masse») sont conçus pour mettre en avant les dynamiques de groupe plutôt que les performances individuelles comme emblème suprême du communisme. Préparés par des centaines de milliers d’artistes tout au long de l’année, après les cours pour les plus jeunes d’entre eux, les jeux sont entièrement dédiés au leader de la Corée du Nord, Kim Jong Il, et feu son père Kim Il Sung, considéré comme l’ « Eternel président » et « soleil du 21ème siècle »…
Aux environs du Stade géant May Day de Pyongyang, deux filles courent pour participer au spectacle de Arirang. Elles sont déjà en costume de gymnastique, tout comme quelque 100 000 autres qui participent à la représentation. Tous viennent pour honorer leur autoproclamé « cher leader » Kim Jong Il, après un très difficile et éprouvant entraînement, depuis leur plus jeune âge. Pourtant, cela fait plusieurs années que Kim Jong Il ne s’est pas montré, formellement pour des raisons professionnelles. Mais des officiels admettent les assertions des médias occidentaux sur sa maladie. Quoi qu’il en soit, Kim Jong Il ou pas, les jeux de masse ont lieu chaque année à Pyongyang, comme moyen pour le régime de montrer au monde entier la puissance et bonne santé du pays. Pour atteindre ce seul but, pas moins de 100 000 personnes sont engagées dans une chorégraphie de danses et gymnastiques synchronisées. De nombreux symboles sont affichés par des milliers d’athlètes entraînés, qu’il s’agisse d’adultes ou même d’enfants. Main sur le cœur, les jeunes élèves chantent en chœur « Nous sommes les enfants les plus heureux du monde », l’une des chansons de propagande les plus connues en Corée du Nord. De nombreux danseurs font des mouvements avec des rubans ou avec des fleurs colorées appelées « kimjonglias », du nom du leader Kim Jong Il. Tout le long du spectacle, un orchestre joue une musique solennelle.
À l’arrière-plan, quelque 20 000 jeunes coréens sont assis sur les gradins, faisant face aux spectateurs. Ils retournent des cartes colorées à une grande vitesse pour former une fresque d’images animées et détaillées, changeant de l’une à l’autre. Chaque fois qu’ils tournent la page pour créer une nouvelle illustration, ils crient. Cela crée une atmosphère impressionnante, le cri étant mêlé avec le bruit de milliers de pages tournées au même moment. Les chiffres sont stupéfiants : pour composer ces images, 2000 enfants sont nécessaires pour faire un seul soldat, 20 000 pour un drapeau de la Corée du Nord. Cachant une réalité bien plus dure, les panneaux représentent Pyongyang éclairée la nuit, des champs de blé prêt à être récolté, des scientifiques au travail, des atomes comme symboles de la bombe nucléaire et d’autres pour la réunification des deux Corées. L’un des mythes de Corée du Nord (ou histoire selon eux) est relaté au moyen d’une image gigantesque faite par des milliers d’enfants. Elle représente les deux pistolets que Kim Il Sung aurait utilisés quand il a fondé l’armée de guérilla populaire anti-japonaise en 1932. Lorsque les deux pistolets apparaissent, le public applaudit bruyamment. Parmi eux, de nombreux soldats assistent au spectacle comme récompense ultime après des années de bons et loyaux services. Les milliers et milliers de garçons et de filles participant créent un mouvement de masse géant dans le stade, qui laisse le public ébahi. Ces artistes talentueux sont coutumiers de ce type de représentation : en Corée du Nord ils doivent danser, chanter, sauter et virevolter autant de fois qu’il y a de célébrations, toujours à la gloire de leurs chefs. Il existe principalement deux sortes de spectacles. Le premier est le spectacle classique artistique, appelé « Arirang » d’après la célèbre chanson folklorique coréenne (dont l’histoire quelques fois change, mais qui raconte le plus souvent la légende d’une femme déçue qui espère que son amant lui reviendra –métaphore de la séparation avec la Corée du Sud). Le second est un spectacle plus politique, qui était intitulé en 2008 « Que prospère notre pays » et qui tentait de montrer les plus grandes réalisations du pays et sa lutte contre les oppresseurs étrangers.
Le spectacle continue de cette façon pendant une heure. Ensuite, les milliers de personnes présentes disparaissent dans les rues sombres et silencieuses de Pyongyang, ce qui contraste avec le déluge de lumières et de musique dans le stade. En l’espace de quelques heures, cela nous donne un étrange sentiment, entre le réel et l’irréel, d’un autre univers à la fois terrifiant et fantastique.
© Eric Lafforgue
Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul, which sometimes helps me and sometimes opposes me.
Al-Ghazali
At first glance, the comparison of these two monuments seems only to be a source of antithesis; however contradictory the suggestion may seem, it will only be a question of analogies. In an ingenious and documented study, Mr Knauth, architect of Strasbourg Cathedral, demonstrated that, under an absolutely different appearance, the basilica entrusted to his care and the Great Pyramid of Egypt, known as Cheops, were designed according to an identical formula.
After the work of Colonel Howard Vyse and John Taylor, Piazzi Smyth did further research. At the entrance to the antechamber of the royal tomb, in the middle of a granite slab, a round button protrudes a fifth of its thickness. Smyth claims to find there the unit of measurement of the master builder of the pyramid; he calls the meter pyramidal five times the thickness of this button, that is to say a measure of 0.6356 m, and for this meter he adopts a division into twenty-five inches of pyramid; this mysterious detail would thus have a thickness of five inches and a projection of one inch. "It is hardly doubtful, writes Smyth, that this measure served as a unit to the builder as well in his project as in the execution, because all the measurements of lanes and chambers give rise to the most surprising relations, if they are carried out by means of this measure. "The pyramidal metre represents exactly the twenty millionth part of the earth's diameter. The latter has 12 712 178 meters[8]. The pyramidal metre is therefore worth 0.6 356 089 metre.Faced with these similarities, one naturally begins to wonder whether certain architectural principles dating back to the highest antiquity have not been perpetuated by tradition through the ages. As a result of the frequent surveys required by the floods of the Nile, the Egyptians were familiar with the surveying and geometric layouts; the Gothic masters were not inferior on these points; the marvellous monuments of all sizes they left us prove this overabundantly.
Were the rules put into practice kept by each other in the construction workshops as mysterious secrets? So many questions that it is easier to ask than to solve.
Thus reduced to his mathematical data alone, Mr. Knauth's work takes on a categorical appearance that he does not have in the original work. The eminent architect does not attempt to draw absolute and reckless consequences from his study. He only hopes that the same surveying process will be applied to other medieval édifices. In the future now to tell us if new experiences will come confirmer his thesis.
In the records of the city of London, the term "alchemy" appears as early as 1375. In those days, this referred to working fith fire permitted to freely travel the country at a time when the feudal system shackled most peasants closely to the land. They gathered in groups to work on large projects, moving from one finished castle or cathedral to the planning and building of the next. For mutual protection, education, and training, they bound themselves together into a local lodge - the building, put up at a construction site, where workmen could eat and rest. Eventually, a lodge came to signify a group of macigians based in a particular locality. The premier alchemist lodge was formed in England in 1717, the official date of the organization of the various lodges and the start of Alchemy proper. Although the style of Alchemic ritual suggest Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Templar, Rosicrucian and qabalistic origins, nothing less is true. A historical link cannot be established and given the fact that in those days no alchemists was able to read Egyptian, no direct connection with Egyptian spirituality was available. Unmistakably, the Founding Fathers of Alchemy incorporated Egyptian symbols in their various rituals and grades, as every one dollar bill makes clear. These archaisms prove the need of Alchemy to root its teachings and practices in a nonexistent, fictional historical past in order to give itself, its rituals and precepts an air of antiquity. This is especially the case in the Romantic era, when exotic tastes became fashionable. With egyptomania no longer served isolated individuals & groups, but fed the ruling classes, who were desperately trying to cope with the antagonisms and lack of humanity of emergent capitalism and the religious wars raging in Europe since the days of Luther (1483 - 1546). Alchemy and its founding myth was deemed the alternative of the educated. The God of revelation was also the "Great Architect", and in every lodge a Bible or a Koran was present. This to show the "God of the philosophers" was not a priori in conflict with the God of revelation. But the Roman Church was antagonistic, as could be expected. As a system of personal growth within a closed community of kindred spirits, alchemy survived to this day, divided between those who accept God and those who do not, between those who see symbols as instruments of growth and those who use them as gates to occult regions of the universe. Alchemy has become (or has always been ?) conservative and opaque. Its non-transparant and non-democratic (military) features may run against non-strategic, open communication, which is the foundation of social-economical justice and equality. Philosophy is more of an interest group than a spiritual organization, although some lay claim to precisely the opposite. As none of the original Egyptian teachings were available to its Founding Fathers, Alchemy, in order to accommodate the new times ahead, is bound to be reformed.
► the Rosicrucian Order...As a system of belief, Rosicrucianism came to the notice of the general public in the 17th century. In the two Rosicrucian Manifestoes, a mysterious personage called "Christian Rosenkreutz" is mentioned. But according to legend, the symbolism of the Rose and the Cross was first displayed in 11th century Spain. During a fierce battle against the Moors, an Aragonese Knight named Arista saw a cross of light in the sky with a rose on each of its arms. A monastery to commemorate his victory was erected and time later an Order of Chivalry with the emblem of these Roses and the Cross founding the monastery. The Rose and the Cross appeared in the banner of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse when he tried to defend the Cathars against the armies of Pope Innocent III. It was in the form of a cross, described as "de gueules à la croix et pommettée d'or" ("gueule" means "red", derived from the Arabic "gul", which means "rose"). The emblem of the Cross with the red Rose in the middle square became the emblem of the Rosicrucian movement and its many orders, lodges and societies. In the Fama Fraternitatis (or Laudable Fraternity of the Rosy Cross), Christian Rosenkreutz is said to have journeyed to Damascus, Damcar, Egypt and Fez. He met those in possession of "secret teachings". He synthesized the best of these teachings and went to Spain. Finally, he returned to Germany and chose three men with whom he founded an order, meant to instruct its members in the knowledge he had obtained in the Middle East. So the typical founding myth goes. After the publication of the Manifestos, the Rosicrucians influenced the culture of Western Europe. Rosicrucianism developed along two lines, on the one hand, the scientists, intellectuals and reformers in the social, political and philosophical fields (like Descartes and Boyle) and, on the other hand, those (like Fludd, Dee, Comenius and Ashmole) concerned with occultism and mysticism (cf. the distinction between philosophical and technical Hermetica). In France, Rosicrucianism had a revival climaxing in the early 19th and the first years of the 20th century. Especially Martinez de Pasqually (1727 - 1774), Louis-Claude de Saint Martin (1743 - 1803) and Papus (1865 - 1918) are noted. ► the Golden Dawn...In 1865, and Englishman named Robert Wentforth Little founded an esoteric society, the Rosicrucian Society in Anglia. Membership was limited to Master Masons. When Little died in 1878, three men took over, a retired medical doctor, William Woodman (1828 - 1891), a coroner, Wynn Westcott (1848 - 1925) and Samuel Liddell "MacGregor" Mathers (1854 - 1918), who, as a young man, spent much of his time in the British Museum, working through piles of dusty manuscripts. He translated three Medieval magical texts : The Greater Key of King Solomon, The Kaballah Unveiled and The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. In 1887, so the story goes, Westcott received from Reverend Woodward, an elderly parson and author on Alchemy, a set of cipher manuscripts. He asked the clairvoyant and inspired Mathers to assist him (one legend says both men forged the document, in another Westcott found it on a bookstall in Farringdon Street, and in yet another the document was inherited). Both men found the code of the cipher was contained in a work of Trithemius, the influential Steganographia extolled by John Dee (1527 - 1608), the Elizabethan scholar and astrologer of Queen Elisabeth I. It concerned "angel-magic" and Dee had secured a copy of it in Antwerp. They uncovered skeletons of rituals and Mathers expanded them. Together they started the Golden Dawn (GD), a secret Victorian society aiming to harbor true Rosicrucianism and allow its members to accomplish the Great Work. A complete system of ritual magic based on the history of Western occultism was practiced. In contrast with the Theologic policy of the Rosicrucian Society, the order admitted women members as equals. Its members were recruited from every circle of life. In these rituals, Egyptian, Jewish, Greek & Christian elements were combined. However, the combination of these various traditions led to depletion. A spiritual tradition is as strong as it is pure, i.e. devoid of notions, ideas, concepts, symbols, beliefs, rituals etc. foreign to it. Although syncretism may be intellectually satisfying, it hinders spiritual emancipation. This is certainly true if the elements combined are very different, as is the case here. Because Mathers was unable to read Egyptian texts, he could not make the crucial distinction between the Egyptian approach and the Hellenistic view (incorporated in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hermetism and Hermeticism). Neither could he isolate the native Egyptian elements present in historical Hermetism. By nevertheless incorporating Egyptian deities (in particular the Osiris-cycle), the GD walked the path of egyptomania.
► Aleister Crowley...Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947) entered the GD in 1898, introduced to the order by George Cecil Jones (1873 - 1953). The influence of this "Hermetic Order" shaped his life. He continued to ferment the teachings of the GD until he died. In fact, he considered himself and his Thelemic Order of the Silver Star to be its lawful heir. The problems between Crowley and the Adepts of the order started in December 1899 (the first time he met Mathers), i.e. by the time he had taken his Portal grade, the preliminary to the crucial Adept Minor degree. When, in September 1900, he applied to be advanced to the level of Adepthood, the College of Adepts refused. They disliked Crowley, his attitudes and way of life. Some of them probably did not believe an adept should drink, have fun, fornicate and raising hell with enthusiasm. His scandalous reputation won the disapproval of his seniors, who were in their right to refuse him. So, in the same month, Crowley went to Paris, and was initiated in the Ahathoor Temple by Mathers himself ! Between Paris and London a deep schism had been in the making and now tensions truly exploded. When the London adepts heard Mathers had initiated him, the breach was complete. When applying for the lectures he was now entitled, he was again refused and physically thrown out. To Florence Farr, Yeats and many others, Crowley was an outcast, an opportunist who had endangered the link with Mathers. He promptly notified Mathers and the latter arranged a meeting with the "rebels" in London. Crowley acted as Mathers' plenipotentiary, and to protect himself, dressed up in the garb of Highland chieftain, concealing his face with a heavy black mask. Clearly Mathers had been a poor judge of characters, raising lunatic power freaks to Adepthood ...The GD did not recover from the insanity and within a few years became a dispersed organization, with several Temples conducted by different groupings of men, each appointing their own Chiefs. Waite kept the Isis-Urania Temple, but in 1914 he closed it down. Next, Crowley invented his own egyptomanic movement. In Cairo in 1904, the "minister" of Re dictated a new revelation to him, the "Book of the Law" ! Crowley became the "prophet" of the New Age of Horus ! The two major Egyptian deities he incorporated were the sky-goddess Nut and Horus of Edfu ("Hadit"). Had he known the cults of Ancient Egypt well enough, he would have realized they had no revelation or dogma, and certainly no "holy" books (for hieroglyphic writing itself was sacred). Was Crowley's "law" a concoction of his own power driven subconscious mind ? In 1909, he called in the "demon of demons" and turned Satanic. The psychosis had become irreversible ...Do these highlights show the scope of the phantasies, fictions and lies incorporated into the Western Tradition since the start of the Renaissance ? Indeed, to identify the backbone of this Tradition with the Qabalah was the outstanding mistake prompted by the fraud of Moses de Leon. This has perturbated thousands of excellent minds, causing them to constantly replay their own illusions, and loose, unlike Rabbi Akiba, after entering the "garden of delights", their sight, reason or faith in God. "The impeding turn of the millennium nourishes hopes of a new spiritual light for humankind in the aspirations of many. Egypt will surely play a role in such developments in both its forms : pharaonic Egypt and the esoteric-Hermetic Egypt. There has been increasing talk of the relevance of the Hermetic Weltanschauung as a point of view that can contribute to making sense of our modern world by seeking a direct connection with the original wisdom of the oldest cultures and with the core idea of all esoteric thought, according to which the ancient wisdom continues to be valid even in a world that has been transformed."
Can we today turn the page ? Can a spiritual movement emerge which focuses on a thematical reconstruction of Ancient Egyptian spirituality, and this based on the evidence of contemporary science regarding Ancient Egyptian religious practice in general and its basic ritual matrix in particular ? Several individuals work along those lines, coupling study with ritual practice (Hope, 1986, Schueler, 1989, Clark, 2003, Draco, 2003). In such a "Kemetic" reconstruction, no Jewish, Greek, Hermetic, Christian or Hermeticist elements should persist. Is this really possible, and if so, is such spirituality indeed the true backbone of our Western Tradition ? The advantage being the isolation of a tradition untouched by what today may be called "foreign elements". Such an exercise is not easy (not to speak of the contextual limitations of any author). For Hermetism did retain parts of the Egyptian Mystery Tradition, and in a lesser degree, the same goes for Hermeticism, and yes, even for the revealed religions, Christianity first. The thematical reconstruction sought is approached in two steps :
the influence of Egyptian spirituality on Alexandrian Hermetism ; the form of the basic matrix of native Egyptian religion.
In this paper, the first step is dealt with. The second will only be touched in the Epilogue. In the following ten paragraphs, we study ten basic notions of Hermetism (in other forms present in the mix of Hermeticism and in the "mystical" traditions of the religions). We try to find their Ancient Egyptian equivalent "in embryo" :mentalism : the gods, the world and humanity are the outcome of Divine thought ;correspondence : the same characteristics apply to each unity or plane of the world ;
change : nothing remains the same, everything vibrates, nothing is at rest ; polarity : everything has two poles, there are two sides to everything ; rhythm : all things have their tides, rise and fall, advance and retreat, act and react ; cause & effect : everything happens according to law, there is no coincidence ; gender : male and female are in every body and mind, but not in the soul ; timing : everything happens when the time is ripe, things start at the right time ; intent : nature works according to a purposeful plan, pure will masters the stars ; transformation : everything can be transformed into something else, opposites meet. In earlier studies, the special cognitive features of Ancient Egyptian thought, language & literature have been explained. Grosso modo, these imply the difference between rational thought, initiated by the Greeks, and ante-rationality. The latter is the mode of thought of pre-Greek Antiquity and of societies untouched by the linearizing streak of the Hellenes. Before the advent of rationality, three modes of thought prevailed, as Piaget, genetical epistemology and neurophilosophy made clear. These are mythical, pre-rational and proto-rational thought, in which the Ancient Egyptians excelled. Clearly Hermetism was codified using Greek conceptual rationality (giving birth to the influential systems of Plato and Aristotle). Hence, if we try to correlate these concepts with their native Egyptian equivalent, this cognitive difference has to be taken into account, and the multiplicity of approaches characterizing Egyptian thought has to be made an integral part of the equation. So because of this crucial difference, in all my translations of Egyptian texts and commentary, terms related to the Divine are not capitalized (i.e. god, gods, goddess, goddesses, divine, and pantheon), while in Hermetism and all rational discourses they are. This in accord with the contextualizing feature of anterationality, while rationality always puts context between brackets, and by doing so articulates an abstract, theoretical concept of the Divine.
Both Memphis and Alexandria underline the importance of the spoken and written word. Already in the Old Kingdom, Pharaoh was the Great Speech and his magic powerful, and dreaded, even by the deities. But in Late Ramesside Memphite theology, Ptah was the true primordial "god of gods", superceding Atum, in who's "image" (of totality) the universe was created (as demiurge), and establishing the supremacy of the divine word and speech. Memphite theology is explicit : every thing was made by Ptah's mind and spoken words.
Likewise, in Hermetism, the Divine Logos is the "son of God" coming forth from the Light of the Divine Nous, the teacher who, not unlike the one evoked in the Maxims of Good Discourse, gives his pupil access to the Divine Nous, a direct experience (gnosis) of the Godman Hermes. The idealist notion of the universe as a mental creation of The All, making all mind, being typical for Hermetism. The fact this teacher is "Ogdoadic" and not "Hebdomadic" (as was Pharaoh), may refer to the Greek escape from fate and the physical world (whereas the Egyptians saw the divine at work in all planes of creation).
The magical power of words is acknowledged by both traditions. Magic involves the power of efficiency (effectiveness) and the ability to counter every possible inertia and opposition, executing intent to its full capacity.
Especially Pharaoh is the "Great Magician", who is able, like the gods, to create by means of speech. He alone was the "son of Re", divine and able to encounter the deities face to face. His voice-offerings to Maat ensured the continuity of creation. By speaking the right words, the whole of creation could be rejuvenated. Likewise (but on another ontological level), the "son of God", the Ogdoadic teacher, brings the pupil directly in contact with the Enneadic Light of Nous.
The parallels drawn do not allow for an identification of both traditions, as major category-shifts occur. Indeed, together with the rejection of the physical bodyn (cf. infra), mentalism is an outstanding feature of the Hermetica. Nevertheless, in the overall semantic pattern major points overlap. The mentalism of Hermetism was not implanted on the native Egyptian intellectuals part of the Hermetic lodge "from above", but could make use of the available, longstanding verbal tradition of Egypt, linearize and "perfect" it in Greek style ...and more later in Strassburg and suitable in the city of London?