Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons: Sacred Mysteries, Rituals and Symbols Revealed - Jean-Louis de Biasi 2011

Initiatic Journey at the Washington DC Mall
Getting to Know The Powers in Washington DC

This practice is designed to be used at the Washington DC Mall (or in meditation, as described above). It is an initiatic journey that will allow you to ascend progressively to the light, using the Mall as a symbolic place as described and explained here. This journey requires the use of a Masonic grid, but every sincere person will also be able to use it. If you are already an initiate of Freemasonry, you can perform this ritual while holding the first step of Freemasonry in your mind. If you are not initiated, this journey will help you to understand what kind of inner experience the Freemasons are trying to achieve in their rituals—in other worlds, what the attempt to reach a higher level of consciousness is like. Of course, you may use the energies present in this ritual in precisely the same way.

This “pilgrimage” is based upon various destinations in the Mall. The morning is the best time to begin this journey, so that you reach the “fourth rest stop” at around midday. If you want to increase the inner power of this pilgrimage and you are already initiated into the Craft, you may perform this ritual on the anniversary of your initiation. You will find that this ritual can be a very powerful tool for the enhancement of your inner Great Work. If you are an initiate of another initiatic tradition, you will have an equally profitable experience by performing this spiritual journey on your initiation anniversary.

Remember that the complete journey required for this ritual is approximately 4.9 miles. If you are unable to walk that far, just grab a cab between the different rest stops.

Rest Stop 1. The first stop will be in front of the White House at the north point of this invisible temple. Of course, it isn’t easy to get inside the building itself.[3] Instead, begin by looking at the White House as a tourist would; just stand in front of it. Remain for a while, and just be aware of the importance this symbolic building has for millions of people everywhere. Imagine its visual presence all around the world. This building is one of the best known buildings in the world. Naturally, a large part of the invisible magnetism of this area is concentrated at this point. Think about someone in Asia, Africa, etc., focusing his or her thoughts on this special center of power. Imagine the energy in the air all around this place. This is an important center of power—not just political power, but spiritual power as well.

Turn right to face south. You may remember that the District of Columbia is oriented along this north/south axis. A hidden explanation for this orientation may be found if you look at some research that describes a grid surrounding the Earth. In 1951, the physician and radiesthesist Dr. Ernst Hartmann discovered a radiation grid surrounding the Earth. He called it the “global-net grid.” Today it is called the “Hartmann grid” or the “first grid.” This electromagnetic grid pattern consists of naturally occurring charged lines that are magnetically oriented, and they run along lines that form a north/south and east/west grid.[4] At this juncture, you are standing on a special magnetic line. Its power starts to become focused a few miles to the north, at the uppermost marker stone of the District of Columbia. Your first exercise involves connecting these two energies: one energy flowing from above (from the thoughts around the world that are focused on this special center), and the second energy flowing from below, coming up out of the earth and following the magnetic line along the north/south axis. In order to connect these powers, breathe rhythmically while you look to the south, toward the Jefferson Memorial. Your eyes should be slightly (half) closed. Relax for a while, breathing rhythmically and receiving this energy. In Freemasonry, the northwest or north is the place where the Great Architect of the Universe is invoked at the beginning of the initiation.

You are now standing in the place where you can invoke the Grand Architect with the following declamation (or any text with the same intention):

O Grand Architect of the Universe, I invoke you! Please hear my voice calling out to you, as I begin this spiritual journey. This special place was organized by the Founding Fathers of this nation and there are potent forces concentrated here. May the president of the United States receive an ample portion of your divine wisdom! May the Great Work I accomplish this day on the visible and invisible planes be an expression of my will to participate in the evolution of beneficence, truth, and justice for all human beings. So mote it be!

Visualize the power all around this place increasing and becoming more luminous and benevolent. Focus for a while on the necessity of everyone working for the highest good. Imagine that this energy is able to help that work and that it will increase and aid the president in having the right understanding of whatever work he is involved with. Do not specify any precise intentions; just organize the energy so that it is directing good and wisdom to this place.

Now you may walk, following the east side of the ellipse, toward the south. Follow 15th Street and continue your walk on the east side of the tidal basin until you reach the Jefferson Memorial. This involves a long walk (1.5 miles) so take your time and enjoy your experience of the area.

Rest Stop 2. When you have reached the Jefferson Memorial, walk around it clockwise, and then stand in front of it and spend some time in reflection. Remain standing in front of the Memorial for a while, concentrating on the dreams and hopes of people all around the world who think of this as a symbol of freedom. Even though it is less well-known than the White House, the spiritual energy flowing from north to south creates a special link between these two points. All those worldwide aspirations for greatness are now shared with this place, because the builders chose wisely and erected this memorial to Thomas Jefferson as a true archetype of these primary virtues.

Next, you will organize and focus the stream of thoughts that are present in this place. To do that, just walk into the building, just in front of the northern opening, facing the White House. Breathe for a while, visualizing this energy as coming from the north. Imagine that you are surrounded by this powerful flow of energy. It is part of you and it is part of this peaceful place.

Turn right and walk to the northeast panel (which is situated between the White House and the Capitol). Stop, breathe rhythmically, and, as a silent invocation to yourself, read the text, which is engraved on the wall:

God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This is the business of the state on a general plan.

Move clockwise so that you are facing the eastern opening. Breathe deeply and rhythmically for a while, without any specific thoughts; just feel the sensations received by your body in this beautiful place.

Continuing to move clockwise, stop in front of the southeast panel. Breathe deeply and rhythmically for a while, and then read the text engraved in the wall quietly to youself as a silent invocation. Adopt this text as your own.

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

Move clockwise so that you are facing the southern opening. Breathe deeply and rhythmically for a while, without any specific thoughts; just feel the sensations received by your body in this beautiful place.

Continue to move clockwise. Stop in front of the southwest panel. Breathe deeply and read the text engraved in the wall quietly to yourself as a silent invocation. Adopt this text as your own.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We solemnly publish and declare that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Move clockwise so that you are facing the western opening. Breathe deeply and rhythmically for a while, without any specific thoughts, and just feel the sensations received by your body in this beautiful place.

Continue moving clockwise; stop in front of the northwest panel. Breathe rhythmically and read the text engraved in the wall as a silent invocation to yourself. Adopt this text as your own.

Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens . . . are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion . . . No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.

Move clockwise to face the northern opening. Breathe deeply and rhythmically for a while, without any specific thoughts, and just feel the sensations received by your body in this beautiful place.

Turn toward the tidal basin and continue walking in this direction. Visualize the line you are walking on as linking the energies of the White House to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Visualize this energy flowing from the north point of the District of Columbia to the south point far behind you.

Rest Stop 3. You will now walk to the Lincoln Memorial, which is northwest of the tidal basin.

You should now be west of the Mall and for the first time in your spiritual journey you will be stopping on the axis of the Sun, facing east (toward the rising Sun). Take the time to visit this monument. When you are ready, sit down on the stairs that face east, toward the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Relax and breathe deeply and rhythmically for a while. You are in a very special place. You are facing east, just as the ancient Pythagoreans faced when they worshipped the rising Sun. The place where you are standing at this very moment is the central axis of the invisible temple you are walking through. This central axis is the place where all the forces you have been working with are to be balanced. This occurs both inwardly and outwardly.

The obelisk in front of you is the living symbol of the journey of your soul from heaven to earth and its return to the realm of nature. (You may review these concepts in Chapter Four, at the end of that chapter). High in the sky at the vertex of the Washington Monument, the forces are focused in the invisible pyramid created by the shape of the District of Columbia. Visualize these powers flowing up to the vertex of the Washington Monument and flowing directly from there to the Sun.

If you are lucky, or have timed your journey well, the Sun will be directly in front of you. Stop and feel the power of the Sun on your body. Visualize its ability to transform the powers it has received from the energetic center of this Mall into good vibrations that empower and bring about the promises you have claimed as your own from the many declarations you have read.

You may exclaim the following hymn mentally, or you may substitute an equivalent hymn that has meaning for you:

O benevolent Sun, whose immortal eye shines down on all, hear me!

Your golden rays give life to all the earth; you are the brightest star in the firmament; you are immortal, tireless—a sweet vision to every living creature; hear my voice!

You orchestrate the harmonious clockwork of all the bodies in the cosmos.

You are the master of the beauty in all that we do; you are the youth who brings about the changes in the seasons.

You are the master of the universe, and the sound of your flute accompanies the lighting of the circle of fire.

O you bearer of light, dispenser of life, provider of the bountiful fruits of the land, hear my hymn!

You are the spherical eye of the cosmos, which spreads its beautiful rays of light to all who live on this earth.

Eye of justice; O light of life that rises daily in our sky, give to your initiates the sweet life they seek, and grant to the people in charge of our government, who are working at the center of this great nation, bravery, insight, and wisdom.

May your power bring enlightenment to the hearts and minds of the people all around the world!

So mote it be!

Figure 51: The Washington Monument as symbolic axis (gnomon) of the city

After a moment of silent meditation, you may continue your journey in an easterly direction, as you walk to the symbolic central altar, which is the Jefferson Pier Stone. From it, you will enter in the triangle formed by the White House, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Capitol Building.

Rest Stop 4. As you read earlier in this text, the Jefferson Pier Stone is a very special place. It is the meeting place of the two axes (north/south and east/west) and is at the center of the District of Columbia, which is surrounding you. This is a very good place to meditate on the symbol of the center, on the hidden stone, on your heart. This symbolic stone is interesting because its shape is a reminder of something Dan Brown emphasized in The Lost Symbol: the relationship between the cube and the unfinished pyramid.

Whether you are a Freemason or not, you can effectively associate this stone with the most sacred altar at the center of your inner temple. Visualize the sacred book that corresponds to your beliefs open atop this stone. Above the book, visualize the symbols of the Craft: the square and the compass. If you are a Freemason, you can visualize these tools intertwined, according to your level or degree. Breathe rhythmically for a while. Then, if you can do it discreetly, put the palm of your right hand on the top of the stone (if you are unable to do that, simply visualize this action). Visualize your palm as being in direct contact with the tools and your sacred book. Visualize the sunlight everywhere around you and then exclaim your Masonic obligation quietly to yourself. If you are not a Freemason, make this simple declaration: “May the divine light illuminate this place, giving wisdom, strength, and beauty to all people working for the good of humanity! May all the powers focused on this special space bring peace and insight to all the people around the world! So mote it be!” (If possible, remain in contact with the stone during your silent exclamation. In order to be discreet, you may withdraw a reasonable distance once you have made contact with the stone. After you withdraw, you may make the exclamation as a silent invocation in your mind.)

Rest Stop 5. Before you continue your journey back to the Capitol Building, which is the highest point of the Mall, stop at the Washington Monument. Walk clockwise around the obelisk while you think about the meaning of this symbol and the double square I described previously. The double square is the symbol that is drawn using eight points. (See Figure 51 on the previous paragraph).

Rest Stop 6. There is a special place to the east of the Mall. As I previously explained, a triangle is an important symbol and generally the letter G (or Yod) is written at its center in Masonry. According to the theory of radionics, the energy of this shape is focused on its center. The center of this letter “G” is on the central axis, just in front of the entrance to the Arts and Industries Building.

If the weather is good, it would be a good idea to sit on or near this point for a while, facing east. Once you are seated, meditate on the meaning of the triangle and the letter G, which is a half-square in the shape of the Greek letter Gamma ().

Visualize your aura surrounding you. Feel a real connection to the energy of this place, a connection to the earth beneath your feet and the sky above you. Visualize this aura glowing with life and light and imagine that you are receiving the best energies available here. Each time you inhale, imagine that you are absorbing this energy. After a few minutes of enjoying your contact with the elements and feeling the glow of your aura pulsating with energy, mentally exclaim:

The Sun must always be at its zenith to spread the light of Freemasonry all around the planet. By the help of the Great Architect of the Universe, may this enlightenment be accomplished!

May the rays of the divine shed their benign influence upon me, and enlighten me in the paths of virtue and science! May the power of the mysterious word be manifested today in this place, in order that order may be victorious over chaos for the good of all people everywhere!

Extend your right hand directly in front of you. Imagine that you are engravingthe shining sacred letter G in the Greek shape of a square () into the aura of this place. In the same way, engrave a triangle of fire around this letter.

Relax and breathe rhythmically, without focusing on anything. Stand up and walk toward the Capitol. As you walk up this hill in reality, you are also accomplishing an important symbolic action. According to Vitruvius, this ascent is a symbolic illustration of the inner progression of your soul, emulating the Sun as it rises toward Mount Olympus, the residence of the divinities.

Rest Stop 7. You will now enter the Capitol Building. The final part of your spiritual journey requires that you walk along the vertical axis at the center of this building. First, walk to the crypt under the rotunda. As you will see, there is a golden star at the center. Relax, breathe rhythmically, and make one circle clockwise, encircling this room. If possible, walk into the center of the golden star. At the center of the star, project your consciousness deep into the earth so that you are connected to the powers of this place. When you are ready, look up above your head. Exactly above you is the center of the rotunda. Project your consciousness from the floor, ascending in your mind up the vertical axis towards the heavens. You will now mentally invoke the four guardians of the four directions in order to increase the potentiality of the energy where you are. Face east: the star on the floor will aid you in orienting.

Begin by saying (in your mind): “Tu es . . . Regnum . . . et potentia . . . et gloria . . . in saeculis.” On your right, to the south, visualize a brilliant red light with scintillating sparks of green and mentally invoke: “Ashiel.”

In the west behind you, visualize a sparkling blue light merging into highlights of orange. Mentally invoke: “Miel.”

On your left, to the north, visualize an indigo light that gleams with flashes of pale gold. Mentally invoke: “Auphiriel.”

Mentally exclaim:

“From the portal of earth to the portal of fire, from the portal of air to the portal of water, from the center of power to the encompassing adamant, let this sanctuary be established within the black rose. So mote it be!”

You may now respectfully leave this place and go upstairs to the rotunda. Take your time walking around the rotunda; then, if you can, walk to the center. Look above you at the painting of the apotheosis of George Washington surrounded by the Olympian divinities. This is not an easy place to perform a ritual practice. However, you can always visit the place and take the time to visualize and perform an inner ritual.

Stopping to contemplate the beauty of this place is very close to stopping to perform an inner visualization. So feel free to do this next part with tact and discretion.

Stop in the middle of the rotunda or any place that seems appropriate to you. Face east. Begin saying: “Tu es . . . Regnum . . . et potentia . . . et gloria . . . in saeculis.” Turn your thoughts toward your aspiration to ascend to the prime source of light and life. In this contemplation, allow your imagination to expand to a constantly increasing vastness as your desire is magnified in being and power by adherence to the object of this highest and inmost desire: union with the prime source. Imagine your body ascending to the sky, to the highest level of the dome. Holding this sense of vastness in your mind, visualize a powerful light radiating inwardly and outwardly. You are the cosmos! The bright light of the vertical axis is streaming through your body, linking the deepest levels of the earth to the uppermost levels of the sky.

Still aware of this splendor, look at the symbolic apotheosis of George Washington, who is the archetype of your own ascent to your own divinity. Maintaining the extension of your consciousness (if you memorized it), you may now mentally exclaim the hymn to all the gods by Proclus, by which you will be worshipping the divinities protecting this place, this Capitol, and this nation. (If you don’t know this text, print it out beforehand.) Maintain this feeling and read this text anywhere in the rotunda that seems appropriate:

O Gods, You who hold the rudder of sacred wisdom, who light in our human souls the flame of return, bring us back among the Immortals, and by the inexpressible initiations of the Hymns, give us the capacity to escape from our dark caves and to purify ourselves. Grant this to me, O powerful liberators! Grant me, by knowledge of the Divine writings, by dispersing the darkness which surrounds me, a pure and holy light. Allow me to perfectly know the incorruptible God, and the man [or woman] that I am.

May a wicked djinn never overcome me by pains, or indefinitely hold me captive under the rivers of oblivion.

May I never be held captive in the jail of life, for the frightening expiation, with my soul fallen in the icy flows of the river of regeneration, where I never want to wander too long.

So, O gods, sovereigns of the radiant wisdom, grant to me and reveal to one who hastens on the ascending path of return, the holy ecstasies and the initiations which are at the heart of the divine words!

Figure 52: Symbolic structure of the Library of Congress

At the conclusion of your ascension, mentally exclaim: “E pluribus unum!”[5] Put your right hand on your solar plexus and go meditate in silence for a while.

Figure 53: Pavement of the Great Hall of the Library of Congress

Rest Stop 8. The Library of Congress will be the final stop on this spiritual pilgrimage. Since this eighth step is a different level of the previous step of ascension of the soul, you may choose to complete it at another time. To do so, simply return to this place at another time and complete this part. Of course, if you wish, you may finish it now, right after your experience at the Capitol.

As I mentioned in Chapter Four, the Jefferson Memorial is really a temple of Hermes, which integrates many elements from the Hermetic and Ogdoadic Tradition. Its architecture reminds us of this inheritance.

The first step will be your walk through the Great Hall. Following the old traditions, you must circumnavigate the zodiac that is set into the floor. Naturally, you will begin at Aries, continuing around with Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. You will stop at each sign of the zodiac. When you stop at these signs, breathe rhythmically and take time to relax during your circumambulation. When you come back to Aries, turn and walk to the central golden sun. Face east, in the direction of the Main Reading Room. Mentally exclaim the Ogdoadic oath: “En Giro Torte Sol Ciclos Et Rotor Igne!” Visualize a pulsating golden aura all around you. You are at the center of the Sun, which is shining from the core of your own being.

Figure 54: General view of Capitol Hill

Breathe and walk to the east, where you will enter a corridor to the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress.[6] After acquiring a book, for example the Corpus Hermeticum, sit down and relax. You are in the center of a beautiful traditional octagon. For thousands of years, this shape has been associated with the Hermetic Tradition. Above your head, Isis raises her veil. If you have the Corpus Hermeticum in front of you, open it to Book 13, which is titled The Secret Discourse. Raise your consciousness to Hermes Trismegistus and mentally exclaim the text called “The Secret Hymn”:[7]

Ye powers that are within me, hymn the One and All; sing with my Will, Powers all that are within me!

O blessed Gnosis, by thee illumined, hymning through thee the Light that mind alone can see, I joy in Joy of Mind. Sing with me praises all ye Powers!�

If you have this book with you, you should now read the complete section on “The Secret Hymn” 17—18. After this reading, take some time for meditation. Mentally say:

Konx Om Pax! My spiritual pilgrimage has been achieved. May the divine powers I solemnly invoked today participate in my spiritual enlightenment and bring about the establishment of peace and wisdom all over the world. So mote it be!

Now might be a good time for you to write some personal notes about this experience and this real pilgrimage. This experience is an amazing way to make personal contact with the egregore of the Capitol Building and to participate inwardly in the growth of the light around the world.