Phillis Wheatley arrived in America, from Africa, at the tender age of 7 years old, in chains, to become the slave of Boston’s John Wheatley. She had an amazing gift for poetry & a deep karmic tie with George Washington. Thomas Paine published her poem “To His Excellency, General Washington” in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1776:
“Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light,
Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring’s fate bemoan,
And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
See the bright beams of heaven’s revolving light
Involved in sorrows and veil of night!
The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel bind her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumber’d charms and recent graces rise.
Fix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails”.
And did you know that “Hail Columbia”, written in 1798, was our National Anthem, before it was changed to “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1931!?!
“Hail, Columbia, happy land,
Hail, ye heroes, heav’n born band,
O, Columbia! the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot’s devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemblev When Liberty’s form stands in view;
Thy banners make tyranny tremble
When borne by the Red, White and Blue!”
The name of our Capital is Washington – the District of Columbia. The fresco covering the dome is called “The Apotheosis of Washington”, & it shows our 1st president working with Columbia, encircled by the spirits of the 13 colonies, blessing him from the heavens.
In David Ovason’s book, The Secret Architecture of our Nation’s Capital, The District of Columbia & its Federal City were arranged, so that the constellation of Virgo, with its goddess symbolism, dominates the structure. The right triangle of the first magnitude stars that contains the constellation Virgo, Arcturus, Regulus & Spica, can be found in the plan of the Federal city marked by the location of the Capital, the White House & the Washington Monument. The consecration ceremonies for these sites, done by leaders in Freemasonry, all include prominent astrological connections to Virgo…
Benjamin Franklin, a Freemason, like many of the founding fathers, also admired & worked with the Iroquois traditions, adapting their ideas into the Albany Plan & the Articles of Confederation.
The Sons of Liberty took their name from the guiding spirit of this land. And as I showed in yesterday’s post, Columbia in her guise as Liberty, is often portrayed as an Indian Princess. Walt Whitman perpetuated that vision in his poem, As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario’s Shores
“AS I sat alone, by blue Ontario’s shore, As I mused of these mighty days, and of peace return’d, and the dead that return no more, A Phantom, gigantic, superb, with stern visage, accosted me; Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America—chant me the carol of victory; And strike up the marches of Libertad—marches more powerful yet; and sing me before you go, the song of the throes of Democracy. (Democracy—the destin’d conqueror—yet treacherous lip-smiles everywhere, And Death and infidelity at every step.)”
Whitman also saw the connection with Calliope & wrote about it in “Song of the Exposition”:
“She comes! this famous Female—as was indeed to be expected;
(For who, so-ever youthful, ’cute and handsome, would wish to stay in mansions such as those, When offer’d quarters with all the modern improvements,
With all the fun that ’s going—and all the best society?)
She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown;
I scent the odor of her breath’s delicious fragrance;
I mark her step divine—her curious eyes a-turning, rolling,
Upon this very scene.
The Dame of Dames! can I believe, then,
Those ancient temples classic, and castles strong and feudalistic,
could none of them restrain her?
Nor shades of Virgil and Dante—nor myriad memories, poems, old associations, magnetize and hold on to her?
But that she ’s left them all—and here?
Yes, if you will allow me to say so,
I, my friends, if you do not, can plainly see Her,
The same Undying Soul of Earth’s, activity’s, beauty’s, heroism’s Expression,
Out from her evolutions hither come—submerged the strata of her former themes,
Hidden and cover’d by to-day’s—foundation of to-day’s;
Ended, deceas’d, through time, her voice by Castaly’s fountain;
Silent through time the broken-lipp’d Sphynx in Egypt—silent those century-baffling tombs;
Closed for aye the epics of Asia’s, Europe’s helmeted warriors;
Calliope’s call for ever closed—Clio, Melpomene, Thalia closed and dead;
Seal’d the stately rhythmus of Una and Oriana—ended the quest of the Holy Graal;
Jerusalem a handful of ashes blown by the wind—extinct;
The Crusaders’ streams of shadowy, midnight troops, sped with the sunrise;
Amadis, Tancred, utterly gone—Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver gone,
Palmerin, ogre, departed—vanish’d the turrets that Usk reflected,
Arthur vanish’d with all his knights—Merlin and Lancelot and Galahad—all gone—dissolv’d utterly, like an exhalation;
Pass’d! pass’d! for us, for ever pass’d! that once so mighty World—now void, inanimate, phantom World!”
The eagle was also a symbol used by the Founding Fathers (Franklin wanted the national bird to be the humble turkey, which of course later became the symbol for the 1st Thanksgiving, uniting immigrants with those who were native to this land). The Eagle was also an emblem for ancient Rome, & it appeared with Columbia in Her aspect as Liberty, often clad in Athena’s Armor, protectress of the Republic, defender against tyranny & strife.
In the book “A Sanctuary for the Rights of Mankind”, Rick Spaulding & Maurice York, speculate that many of the Founding Fathers had earlier incarnations together in ancient Rome. And Chapter 8 is compelling in its description of “The Temple of Liberty” as being a manifestation of the Freemasonic tradition.
Abraham Lincoln, says in his Perpetuation of our Political Institutions “They (the founding Fathers) were the pillars of the Temple of Liberty and now, that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.–Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws: and, that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; that we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON.
Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Will we, as individuals, & as a people, take up this idea of self-development, in freedom? Like Percival we are called to search within for the grail castle, & re-build the Temple of Liberty.
Blessings on We the People, on this election day 2016
***
Join us TONIGHT for our Annual All Souls Festival
Especially scheduled this year on Election Night Tuesday 8 November 2016
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL.
Potluck 6pm
7pm Welcome with a Steiner verse
May love of hearts reach out to love of souls
May warmth of love ray out to Spirit-light
Even so would we draw near to you
Thinking with you Thoughts of Spirit
Feeling in you the Love of Worlds
Consciously at one with you
Willing in silent being.
Carolyn Arnett will read the names of the dead
Deborah Rogers will inscribe them on the board
All are invited to share the names of their beloved ones who have died this year
Then we will open it up for everyone to speak the names of those whose inspiration we want to call in: Like Rudolf Steiner & the Founding Mothers & Fathers…ETC…
Healing prayers for the Native Americans, & What of our Folk-Spirit Columbia?
After the chalice is full with the blessings of all these beloved spiritual beings, we will do the Hallelujah in eurythmy
We will then begin the Song Circle with Nancy Melvin, singing together old favorites like “This Land is Your Land”, “America the Beautiful”, “If I had a Hammer”…feel free to bring suggestions…
We will close with the Verse for the Michaelic Age
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror
Of what approaches us from the future.
We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations
About the future.
We must look forward with absolute equanimity
To whatever may come.
And we must think only that whatever comes
Is given to us by a cosmic guidance full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely,
To live without any security in material existence
And to live with pure trust in the ever-present help
of the spiritual world.
Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
For this let us seek awakening
To the reality of the spirit
From within ourselves,
Every morning and every evening. ~Rudolf Steiner
Contact Deborah Rogers with the names of your beloved ones who have died this year, to be read in the circle beewisdom33@yahoo.com
Hazel Archer Ginsberg
Alex Grey
