Of skulls and bones: More secrets of the tomb

SS Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Wolff with Benito Mussolini.
Note Wolff's skull and cross bones 'totenkopf' on his hat

http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2523
Native Americans groups fight to recover lost skulls of Geronimo.

BY NOAM RUDNICK - 24th October 2003

An axe pried open the iron door of the tomb, and Pat[riarch] Bush entered and started to dig...Pat[riarch] James dug deep and pried out the trophy itself...I showered and hit the hay...a happy man...''

So recounts a document thought to be an internal record from the Skull and Bones Society. "Pat[riarch] Bush" is Prescott Bush, father of an American political dynasty. His "trophy" is the skull of Geronimo, the Native American spiritual and military leader laid to rest in 1909 at Fort Still, Oklahoma, where Bush and fellow Bonesmen were stationed nine years later.

Alexandra Robbins, ES '98, has researched Bush's secret society extensively. Her recent book, Secrets of the Tomb, has heightened interest in the activities of Skull and Bones. She attests to the legitimacy of the story, "The text looks to be an authentic Bones document describing Prescott Bush and other Bonesmen robbing Geronimo's grave and cleaning the skull with carbolic acid." In interviews with Robbins, Bonesmen have admitted that there is a skull in the tomb that they call Geronimo.

Current Members of Skull and Bones chose not to comment on the legitimacy of the allegations.

Apache tribal leader Ned Anderson was informed of the alleged theft in 1986. As an ancestor of Geronimo, Anderson petitioned the Federal Bureau of Investigations to force the return of the skull. Noting that Apaches have a "great fear and respect for death," Anderson said that he hoped to honor Geronimo's express wish to be laid to rest in "Arizona acorn country."

Unwilling to remove himself from the case entirely and yield all his evidence to the FBI, Anderson withdrew his request for action. Instead, he arranged to meet with George H. W. Bush's, DC '48, brother Jonathan in New York City. Anderson recounts that Bush sounded "very encouraging" during their initial meeting. Eleven days later, Bush presented the display case. Anderson refused to accept the skull because it appeared to belong to a small child. Bush acknowledged this fact but claimed that it was the only relevant artifact in the society's possession.

He urged Anderson to accept the display and sign a document verifying that the society was not in possession of Geronimo's skull. Anderson refused.

Since the meeting in Manhattan, no further efforts to recover the skull have been made. Anderson puts great faith in the Bonesmen. "I believe that those who are involved need to come clean on this," he said. "I think they'll come around and do what is appropriate."

Jim Adams, managing editor of Indian Country Today, provides an explanation for the notable absence of recovery efforts. "Apache tribal governments seem reluctant to raise the issue because it does violate taboos about speaking about the dead. This doesn't mean they're not concerned; rather they have their own laws of secrecy."

Native Americans are far from unconcerned. Adams' publication, the leading Native American news source, has run several articles on the secret society's alleged possession of the skull. On Oct. 6, 60 Minutes televised a segment on Skull and Bones that briefly addressed the society's posession of Geronimo's skull.

James Craven, an economics professor at Clark College, suggests that such media exposure is leading to action. "In the near future, there will finally be large groups of Natives showing up in front of 'the tomb' to protest this ugly racism and grave robbing by the Bones, and they will not be leaving until that skull and any other Native artifacts have been returned."

Adams expressed similar sentiments. "My sense is that American Indians in general are appalled—outraged by the accusation, but not surprised," he said. "Remains of ancestors have been exploited and desecrated for centuries in the name of anthropology or simply for idle curiosity. But even by these standards, it's bizarre and embarrassing that a supposedly elite group would use the remains of any human being for its own entertainment."

SS gruppenfuhrer Theodor Eicke, commander of the SS Totenkopf Division on the Eastern front 1942. Prior to being appointed to the command of the Totenkopf he was chief of the concentration camps. 'Papa' Eicke was shot down and killed in February 1943 near Orelka while visiting a forward unit in his Fieseler Storch

Supposing the grave-robbing allegations are true, why would the Skull and Bones be interested in the head of Geronimo? Robbins suggests that the answer lies in their name. "Bones as a society is preoccupied with death; skulls, skeletons, and artwork depicting death are prevalent in the tomb. When Bonesmen steal things they use the euphemism that they are taking 'gifts to the goddess' whom they honor within the tomb." The focus on death is not arbitrary. The society emphasizes mortality in order to illustrate the necessity of success.

Robbins, herself a member of Scroll and Key, attests to the centrality of ritualized stealing in many of the societies at Yale. Each class attempts to outdo its predecessor in the acquisition of valuables. In addition to Geronimo's skull, the Bonesmen's tomb is rumored to contain the skull of Pancho Villa and Adolf Hitler's silverware.

Robbins expresses outrage at Skull and Bones' behavior. "I think it's ridiculous that Bonesmen's sense of entitlement is broad enough to include items that allegedly don't belong to them. The items they supposedly steal as a prank or competition may be valuable and meaningful to the actual owners. It's appalling that proper authorities have not forced their way into the tomb to retrieve the items that don't belong in there."

The legality of Skull and Bones' behavior is dubious. According to Adams, members of Skull and Bones have violated laws preventing the desecration of graves and should be held responsible as felons. "If it is true that Skull and Bones and its corporate parent RTA Inc., continue to hold these skulls, my belief would be that they are participating in a continuing conspiracy to be in possession of stolen property." Many are quick to cite the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act as grounds for prosecuting Skull and Bones. Ironically, it was George H. W. Bush, DC '48, a member of Skull and Bones, who signed this bill into law in 1990. However, NAGPRA only applies to organizations that receive federal funding. The University, in fact, was forced to return certain artifacts previously held by its Peabody Museum in accordance with the bill. However, secret societies are not directly affiliated with the University, exempting them from NAGPRA jurisdiction.

Nato=Nazi link five - click here for next

"SS Oberstgruppenfuhrer Paul Hausser (seen here as an Obergruppenfuhrer while commanding the Das Reich Division in Russia, winter 1941) was unquestionably the ablest military commander in the Waffen SS. After the war he sought to re-establish the reputation of the SS and claimed that the foreign units of the SS were really the precursors of the NATO army. Hausser's skull and cross bones 'totenkopf' is on his hat."
by A.J. Barker

While the society's exemption from NAGPRA relies on financial independence from Yale, the two organizations are in fact closely intertwined. As Robbins emphasizes, the administration hasn't taken steps against the societies because administrators have historically been members. To this day, prominent figures on the Yale faculty and administration are members of Yale secret societies. There has always been a kinship between society men at the faculty, administration, and undergraduate levels. This close connection may explain Yale's failure to investigate the activity of certain students.

In addition to being high-ranking members of the Yale administration, members of Skull and Bones work in important governmental positions. The upcoming presidential election could potentially pit Bonesman against Bonesman.

George Bush, DC '68, and John Kerry, JE '66, both members of the society, could be hurt by their involvement in an organization that allegedly takes part illegal behavior. "I think these politicians are caught in a real conflict between their loyalty to Bones and their oaths as public servants if they don't take positive steps to return any human remains. The reports about Geronimo certainly poison relations between the Presidency and the tribes," Adams said.

Whatever the repercussions, many see the society's behavior as wholly reprehensible, particularly among those who would run for high public office. "[The theft] is a metaphor for something much bigger and even uglier. It is the ugly racism and hubris of the in-bred power elites who seek to infiltrate positions of power," Craven said.

http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2523


Skull And Bones

Oct. 5, 2003

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/02/60minutes/main576332.shtm

(CBS) There are secrets that George W. Bush guards at least as carefully as any entrusted to a president.

He's forbidden to share these secrets even with the vice president -- secrets he has held ever since his days as an undergraduate at Yale.

In his senior year, Mr. Bush - like his father and his grandfather - belonged to Skull and Bones, an elite secret society that includes some of the most powerful men of the 20th century.

All Bonesmen, as they're called, are forbidden to reveal what goes on in their inner sanctum, the windowless building on the Yale campus that is called "The Tomb."

There are conspiracy theorists who see Skull and Bones behind everything that goes wrong, and occasionally even right in the world.

Apart from presidents, Bones has included cabinet officers, spies, Supreme Court justices, statesmen and captains of industry - and often their sons, and lately their daughters, too.

It’s a social and political network like no other. And they've responded to outsiders with utter silence – until an enterprising Yale graduate, Alexandra Robbins, managed to penetrate the wall of silence in her book, “Secrets of the Tomb.” Correspondent Morley Safer reports.

”I spoke with about 100 members of Skull and Bones and they were members who were tired of the secrecy, and that's why they were willing to talk to me,” says Robbins. “But probably twice that number hung up on me, harassed me, or threatened me.”

Secret or not, Skull and Bones is as essential to Yale as the Whiffenpoofs, the tables down at a pub called Mory's, and the Yale mascot - that ever-slobbering bulldog.

Skull and Bones, with all its ritual and macabre relics, was founded in 1832 as a new world version of secret student societies that were common in Germany at the time. Since then, it has chosen or "tapped" only 15 senior students a year who become patriarchs when they graduate -- lifetime members of the ultimate old boys' club.

“Skull and Bones is so tiny. That's what makes this staggering,” says Robbins. “There are only 15 people a year, which means there are about 800 living members at any one time.”

But a lot of Bonesmen have gone on to positions of great power, which Robbins says is the main purpose of this secret society: to get as many members as possible into positions of power.

“They do have many individuals in influential positions,” says Robbins. “And that's why this is something that we need to know about.”

President Bush has tapped five fellow Bonesmen to join his administration. Most recently, he selected William Donaldson, Skull and Bones 1953, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Like the President, he's taken the Bones oath of silence.

Ron Rosenbaum, author and columnist for the New York Observer, has become obsessed with cracking that code of secrecy.

“I think there is a deep and legitimate distrust in America for power and privilege that are cloaked in secrecy. It's not supposed to be the way we do things,” says Rosenbaum. “We're supposed to do things out in the open in America. And so that any society or institution that hints that there is something hidden is, I think, a legitimate subject for investigation.”

His investigation is a 30-year obsession dating back to his days as a Yale classmate of George W. Bush. Rosenbaum, a self-described undergraduate nerd, was certainly not a contender for Bones. But he was fascinated by its weirdness.

“It's this sepulchral, tomblike, windowless, granite, sandstone bulk that you can't miss. And I lived next to it,” says Rosenbaum. “I had passed it all the time. And during the initiation rites, you could hear strange cries and whispers coming from the Skull and Bones tomb.”

Despite a lifetime of attempts to get inside, the best Rosenbaum could do was hide out on the ledge of a nearby building a few years ago to videotape a nocturnal initiation ceremony in the Tomb's courtyard.

“A woman holds a knife and pretends to slash the throat of another person lying down before them, and there's screaming and yelling at the neophytes,” he says.

Robbins says the cast of the initiation ritual is right out of Harry Potter meets Dracula: “There is a devil, a Don Quixote and a Pope who has one foot sheathed in a white monogrammed slipper resting on a stone skull. The initiates are led into the room one at a time. And once an initiate is inside, the Bonesmen shriek at him. Finally, the Bonesman is shoved to his knees in front of Don Quixote as the shrieking crowd falls silent. And Don Quixote lifts his sword and taps the Bonesman on his left shoulder and says, ‘By order of our order, I dub thee knight of Euloga.’"

It’s a lot of mumbo-jumbo, says Robbins, but it means a lot to the people who are in it.

“Prescott Bush, George W's grandfather, and a band of Bonesmen, robbed the grave of Geronimo, took the skull and some personal relics of the Apache Chief and brought them back to the tomb,” says Robbins. “There is still a glass case, Bonesmen tell me, within the tomb that displays a skull that they all refer to as Geronimo.”

“The preoccupation with bones, mortality, with coffins, lying in coffins, standing around coffins, all this sort of thing I think is designed to give them the sense that, and it's very true, life is short,” says Rosenbaum. “You can spend it, if you have a privileged background, enjoying yourself, contributing nothing, or you can spend it making a contribution.”

And plenty of Bonesmen have made a contribution, from William Howard Taft, the 27th President; Henry Luce, the founder of Time Magazine; and W. Averell Harriman, the diplomat and confidant of U.S. presidents.

“What's important about the undergraduate years of Skull and Bones, as opposed to fraternities, is that it imbues them with a kind of mission for moral leadership,” says Rosenbaum. “And it's something that they may ignore for 30 years of their life, as George W. Bush seemed to successfully ignore it for quite a long time. But he came back to it.”

Mr. Bush, like his father and grandfather before him, has refused to talk openly about Skull and Bones. But as a Bonesman, he was required to reveal his innermost secrets to his fellow Bones initiates.

“They're supposed to recount their entire sexual histories in sort of a dim, a dimly-lit cozy room. The other 14 members are sitting on plush couches, and the lights are dimmed,” says Robbins. “And there's a fire roaring. And the, this activity is supposed to last anywhere from between one to three hours.”
What’s the point of this?

”I believe the point of the year in the tomb is to forge such a strong bond between these 15 new members that after they graduate, for them to betray Skull and Bones would mean they'd have to betray their fourteen closest friends,” says Robbins.

One can't help but make certain comparisons with the mafia, for example. Secret society, bonding, stakes may be a little higher in one than the other. But everybody knows everything about everybody, which is a form of protection.

“I think Skull and Bones has had slightly more success than the mafia in the sense that the leaders of the five families are all doing 100 years in jail, and the leaders of the Skull and Bones families are doing four and eight years in the White House,” says Rosenbaum.

Bones is not restricted to the Republican Party. Yet another Bonesman has his eye on the Oval Office: Senator John Kerry, Democrat, Skull & Bones 1966.

“It is fascinating isn't it? I mean, again, all the people say, ‘Oh, these societies don't matter. The Eastern Establishment is in decline.’ And you could not find two more quintessential Eastern establishment, privileged guys,” says Rosenbaum. “I remember when I was a nerdy scholarship student in the reserve book room at, at the Yale Library, and John Kerry, who at that point styled himself ‘John F. Kerry’ would walk in.”

“There was always a little buzz,” adds Rosenbaum. “Because even then he was seen to be destined for higher things. He was head of the Yale Political Union, and a tap for Skull and Bones was seen as the natural sequel to that.”

David Brooks, a conservative commentator who has published a book on the social dynamics of the upwardly mobile, says that while Skull & Bones may be elite and secret, it's anything but exciting.

“My view of secret societies is they're like the first class cabin in airplanes. They're really impressive until you get into them, and then once you're there they're a little dull. So you hear all these conspiracy theories about Skull and Bones,” says Brooks.

“And to me, to be in one of these organizations, you have to have an incredibly high tolerance for tedium 'cause you're sittin' around talking, talking, and talking. You're not running the world, you're just gassing.”

Gassing or not, the best-connected white man's club in America has moved reluctantly into the 21st Century.

“Skull and Bones narrowly endorsed admitting women,” says Robbins. “The day before these women were supposed to be initiated, a group of Bonesmen, including William F. Buckley, obtained a court order to block the initiation claiming that letting women into the tomb would lead to date rape. Again more legal wrangling; finally it came down to another vote and women were admitted and initiated.”

But Skull & Bones now has women, and it’s become more multicultural.

“It has gays who got the SAT scores, it's got the gays who got the straight A's,” says Brooks. “It's got the blacks who are the president of the right associations. It's different criteria. More multicultural, but it's still an elite, selective institution.”

On balance, it may be bizarre, but on a certain perspective, does it provide something of value?

“You take these young strivers, you put them in this weird castle. They spill their guts with each other, fine. But they learn something beyond themselves. They learn a commitment to each other, they learn a commitment to the community,” says Brooks. “And maybe they inherit some of those old ideals of public service that are missing in a lot of other parts of the country.”

And is that relationship, in some cases, stronger that family or faith?

“Absolutely,” says Robbins. “You know, they say, they say the motto at Yale is, ‘For God, for country, and for Yale.’ At Bones, I would think it's ‘For Bones.'”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/02/60minutes/main576332.shtm


Symbolism of the Skull and Crossbones, otherwise known as the Deaths Head

http://bks.ark11.net/symbdeathshead.htm
A brief overview- by Parplethlon

The image of the Skull and Crossbones is recognised in the popular imagination the world over first and foremost as the flag flown by pirates on the high seas going about their business of looting, rape and murder - it seemingly being nothing more than a device meant ot strike fear into the hearts of those who saw a ship flying the dreaded flag bearing down on them. And though not complete bull-shit, being the effect would have been existent in those on the receiving end of the banner bearing the Skull and Crossbones, there is a whole lot more to the origin, use and meanings of the symbol; such a simple explanation doesn’t suffice.

To begin with, the very image of a legendary pirate captain appears to confirm a greater, deeper meaning. Going out on a limb, firstly the wearing of a patch - being one-eyed is of major significance when we recall Odin/Wotan, the chief of the Gods of the Norse, Tuetonic peoples, and Horus, the Hawk-headed son of the resurrected Osiris, who ‘sets things to right’, are both one-eyed - or at the least have lost an eye; Odin sacrificing an eye for wisdom, while the eye of Horus was lost battling Set (cosmic destructive energies). Then of course there is the obligatory bird on the pirates shoulder; here we might bring to mind Odins ravens, his eyes in the sky, Huginn and Muninn, and their portrayal in John Boorman’s excellent film ‘Excalibur’ accompanying Merlin, or perhaps the Egyptian rendition of a persons soul as a bird - the Ba bird. If one was really game, one could draw comparisons between a pirates wooden leg - bared below the knee with the trouser leg rolled up, and the candidate for 3 rd degree, that of a Master Mason, in Freemasonry being similarly attired… and even further, maybe at the extreme limit of where only Fool’s don’t fear to tread, is the pirates hunt, seizure and secreting away of treasure - just as legend ascribes to the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon - the Knights Templar.

The Templars, formed in 1118 and ‘disbanded’ in 1307, are surrounded by myth and legend, from searching and reputedly finding the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, sacred Gnostic texts even more dangerous than those found by the Dead Sea or at Nag Hammadi in Egypt, to the disappearance of their naval fleet from La Rochelle just before King Phillipe of France moved to have all Templars arrested and their assets seized. Some say if it wasn’t the first, then one of the trips the Templare made across the Atlantic to various locations in North America(1). And others, while agreeing the Templars most probably did make a couple of trans-Atlantic crossings prior to Columbus famed journey of 1492, the La Rochelle fleet more likely found a sage haven in Scotland(2) as the nation and its King, Robert the Bruce, were excommunicated by Rome at the time and therefore somewhat beyond the reach of Papal Bulls and Edicts. In fact, Baigent and Leigh, and Knight and Lomas agree, contend the very Scottish victory over the English at Bannockburn in 1314, that which ended English designs on Scotland, was due to a mounted charge of Templars throwing themselves into the fray late in the day(3). The connection here with the Skull and Crossbones is that it was the Templars marine battle flag. The Scottish destination of the Templars in 1307 is further implied by the tale relating that Robert the Bruce’s remains were placed in such a ‘skull and crossbones’ manner(4), though the more concrete evidence is that of a large number of Templar gravestones found in Scotland(5), not to mention the very existence of Rosslyn Chapel(6). Whatsmore, the concentration of these anonymous, spartan gravestones, as the centuries go by gradually develop more elaborate, florid and decidedly Masonic, incorporating both the Masonic square and compass and on some examples, the skull and crossbones itself in place of the single, undated flat stones bearing the outline of the particular knights sword(7). That Masonry has roots in the Templars is a matter beyond the scope of the present piece, is dealt with thoroughly elsewhere and considering the above is undoubtedly a certainty. The use of the Skull and Crossbones in Freemasonry beyond that already mentioned on some headstones, is nearly as prevalent as the aforementioned ubiquitous square and compass; being a feature of the hilt of ceremonial swords, embroidered on the aprons or sashes worn by brethren or most impressively, stirringly employed in the ritual of the 3 rd degree, from whence on completion a Mason is thereafter a Master Mason. The 3 rd degree is a ritual raising from the dead following the candidate’s re-enactment of the first Mason - Hiram Abiff’s death at the hands of the traitors Jubela, Jubelo and Jubelum(8), the three Juwees.

Already noted is the strange attire worn during the ceremony, which is exactly as a condemned heretic was brought to the gallows in the Middle Ages(9). The Skull and Crossbones themselves are placed on the death shroud from which the brother is raised, the ‘Worshipful Master’(a masonic ‘master of ceremonies’) then explains the bones are ‘emblems of mortality’, from which this rite of initiation could be speculated to be a revelation of the illusory nature of the material realm, as well as being a figurative death within the brother of those elements of his person rooted in the physical world and our five most basic senses used to interact and interpret it - eternity awaits…

A more completely modern usage of the Skull and Crossbones, in this instance referred to as the Death’s Head, was among the SS of Nazi era Germany. Apart from its most visible use on the officers caps, it is probably most famously, or infamously, prominent use was the very highly regarded Totenkopfring/Deaths Head Ring awarded to SS officers in recognition of their “…personal achievement, devotion to duty, and loyalty to the Fuhrer and his ideals.”(10) Though to say what reasons the SS had for adopting the Deaths Head/Skull and Crossbones beyond a connection with the past German military units who too used the symbol in their insignia(11), an ongoing tradition, would be pure guesswork, the reverence with which the Totenkopfrings were held intimates something greater than mere military insignia. Upon death or on leaving the SS, the officers rings were retuned to officialdom whereon they were sent to the SS castle of Wewelsburg in Wesphalia where they were placed in a particular chest kept in the castle’s main tower(12,13). Though rarely more than a footnote in history books, Wewelsburg was ultimately of more import to the SS; it was to be reconstructed as the most sacred temple of the SS, emulating Camelot of the Knights of the Round Table(14). At the centre of the Wewelsburg complex, the castle said to house the Holy Grail and/or the Ark of the Covenant(15). Essentially, the castle, moreso than the surrounding planned township, was conceived to be the mystical axis of the world(16) - in an esoteric sense, the centre from which all universal creative movement is imparted.

Focussing directly on the Skull and Crossbones or Death’s Head, that is the constituent parts to the whole, a further wealth of value may be revealed to us. The Skull and the two human thigh bones crossed are in some instances ascribed the astrological rulership of the first zodiacal sign Aries and the 9 th sign Sagittarius(17), both positive, Fire signs, the former cardinal - more dominant, while the latter is mutable - passive. The combination of Aries and Sagittarius, ruled by Mars and Jupiter respectively, brings together leadership and courage with profound philosophical thought. There is however another system that ascribes the rulership of the entire skeleton, and the skin as well, to Capricorn(18), which puts things into quite a different perspective. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, whom in a shallow sense is more or less just that old scythe carrier, the Grim Reaper or plain old ‘Death’. However, looking at the picture in its entirety, the death signified by Capricorn, which is the physical death, is at once the beginning of the path to incarnation, the re-birth itself being the domain of Capricorn’s opposite Cancer(19). This death and re-birth is carved into the very fabric of the great medieval cathedrals; Capricorn - death - situated at the portal/doorway, running up the nave through the zodiac to a Cancerian re-birth at the altar(20).

The skeleton of Capricorn finds further significance in the form of the ‘Mithraic Cap’; its form at once imitating the sigil of Capricorn - the cap itself being the fish tail while the very skull it is placed on is the head of the goat… this being the case, it serves to bring the head, ruled by Aries in touch with the feet of Pisces(21), the first and last signs of the zodiac. The significance of uniting the first and last - Alpha to Omega - that of completion, initiation, enlightenment is further enhanced by Capricorn’s sexual connotations; the sigil being both soft and hard is the phallus while Capricorn’s opposite, Cancer, is entirely soft - the vulva, kteis, yoni, cunt(22). The combination of which while engendering life, a Horus to Isis and Osiris, is also the uniting of male and female, the melding of opposites that tantrically(sex magic) is required to attain a state of enlightened initiation - nirvana. Alchemically, of the 3 great principles of Sulphur, Mercury and Salt, it is Salt by way of a well known sigil hints at further revelations in this area; “…this widely used sigil [salt sigil] was derived from the capital letter, the theta, of the Greek Thanatos which meant ‘death’”(23). Salt in this direction is connected with the thought processes of man(24), the very seat of thought - the grey matter of the brain housed by the skull is the very veil to be pierced(25) to gaze upon the true nature of reality/Isis unveiled. In this sense then, Salt is “…the dross left over when life has fled, it is the skull, the death’s head; it is the white powder left behind when the gold is extracted, It is the ash of thought.”(26) Be that as it may, the skull is not so much a ‘sentence of death’, but as Hedsel reveals its position in the old mythologies “…tend to present the image of the head as a castle, from which the soul, or princess, peers out from one of the windows. In the fairy lore, the castellated head is the guardian of our spiritual activity. A comely knight rides out of the castle in search of the Holy Grail.”(27) This quest for the ultimate truth being no less than coming to grips with, understanding the nature of the cosmos, and hence in turn oneself - essentially a godlike acquisition of profound knowledge, the root of all religious concepts and philosophies(28).

Further, a flower being “…the glorified reflection of last years sun…that flower is not a product of the present years Earthly and Spiritual activity…[but is] a manifestation of forces engendered in the previous year…”(29), the implication of drawing an analogy with humans is the “…the head-forces of man are the transformed forces carried over from a previous growth into the present lifetime.”(30) This transmission through incarnations occurs via the thigh-bones, wherein it is the Alchemical ‘fixed salt’ thus situated where a person’s being, their very essence is recorded(31). The femur is thus an ‘inheritor’ and an ‘organ of generation’, the intimation though is obviously not sexual, for the ‘indestructible nucleus’ that is “…the fixed salt transports the conciousness acquired by an individual demanding a modification of form in order to provide his conciousness the means of expressing itself.”(32) Goes a long way in explaining a ‘ritual cannibalism’ such as in the inbibing of the host in Christian churches and perhaps was the reason behind the quasi-masonic group ‘Skull and Bones’, numbering among them Prescott Bush - George Dubya’s grandfather, raiding the Native American leader Geronimo’s grave and taking his remains back to their lodge.(33)

Whatever the case, a wealth of meaning encapsulated by the Skull and Crossbones/Deaths Head, and whatsmore, this is just the briefest of outlines.
Notes:

1. Micheal Baigent, Richard Leigh “The Temple and the Lodge” 1996 and Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas “The Hiram Key” 1997

2. Baigent & Leigh, 1996; p 98-116

3. Ibid, p 61-65, Knight & Lomas 1997; p 388

4. Baigent & Leigh, 1996; p 68-9

5. Ibid, p 24-35

6. Rosslyn Chapel, built circa 1440-80, is an elaborately decorated ‘chapel’ not far from Edinburgh, Scotland. Although it is literally covered with carvings, the iconography contains no Christian elements, rather they are Templar, Masonic and Celtic.

7. Op cit

8. Knight & Lomas 1997; p 11-21

9. Ibid, facing p 176

10. Robin Lumsden “SS Regalia” 1995; p 57

11. Ibid, p 32

12. Ibid, p 57-8

13. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke “Occult Roots of Nazism” 1992; p 187

14. Peter Moon “The Black Sun” 1997; p 67-8

15. Ibid, p 68 & 109

16. Goodrick-Clarke 1992; p 188

17. Emille Grillot de Grivy “Sorcery, Magic and Alchemy” 1991; p 241-2

18. Mark Hedsel “The Zelator” 1999; p 350

19. Ibid, p 351

20. Ibid

21. Ibid, p 353-5

22. Ibid, p 356-7. Of interest, Aleister Crowley’s spelling of ‘magick’ with its ‘k’ is said by some to derive from the ‘kteis’ - note also Crowley’s self- nomination as the Great Beast 666(the number of Sorath, the demon of the Sun), and his aim of mating with Babalon(the moon) - conjoining of polarities.

23. Hedsel 1999; p 120

24. Ibid

25. Ibid, p 45

26. Ibid, p 120

27. Ibid, p 341

28. A good study of the meaning of the Grail is “The Mystery of the Grail” by Julius Evola, Inner Traditions International, 1994

29. Op cit, p 340

30. Ibid, p 341

31. Andre Vandenbrock “Al-Kemi - A Memoir” 1987; p 172-7

32. Ibid, p 285

33. Moon 1997; p 275-7

http://bks.ark11.net/symbdeathshead.htm


Death's Head: Piracy, Plunder and Foreign Policy

by Douglas Herman - May 22, 2003

http://www.strike-the-root.com/

Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills? ~ Kahlil Gibran

Piracy is a poor type of foreign policy.

The lawless practice of seizing ships for commercial gain that plagued the coasts of the Americas in the late 17th century seems to have evolved into the outright seizure of ships of state in the 21st century. When Bartholomew Roberts, a man of some principle, captured 400 ships in four short years of piracy before being killed in battle, he skirted the law of man, preemptively striking his prey, yet doubtful he ever justified his actions before God.

Blackbeard flourished for one short year toward the end of the Golden Age of Piracy (1689-1718), seizing some 40 ships before being killed in bloody, hand-to-hand battle at Ocracoke Inlet in 1718. Perhaps had he been born later and served aboard the USN aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, for example, Captain Edward Teach could have helped capture an entire vassal state without so much as risking his neck (he was beheaded). One man’s act of piracy for selfish gain is another man’s grand, patriotic act.

“The line between officially sanctioned acts and actual piracy was always a fine one,” said Libby Klekowsli, a biologist researching Captain Kidd’s excursion into the Connecticut River . Historical documents list well over 500 English “pirates, buccaneers, corsairs” independently attacking “targets of opportunity.” Privateers like Morgan and Drake acted under the sanction of sovereign states, ostensibly raiding enemy shipping under the aegis of exploration while sharing the plunder with king or queen. That fine line between legality and acts of piracy often got a man knighted—Sir Francis Drake, Sir Henry Morgan—or hung from the neck, if not beheaded in battle.

The conquest of Iraq by seizing command of the skies and seas, surrounding her and outgunning this lumbering warship of a country with broadsides represents the capture of a trophy ship by a buccaneer. The treasure beneath the sands of Iraq —black gold in the form of billions of barrels of oil--exceeds in value all the gold from all the fleets of Spanish galleons that ever sailed. Seen from the perspective of a 17th century buccaneer, the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld foreign policy of plundering countries on the high seas makes good economic sense. All that is lacking is legality and a suitable pirate banner.

The glyphic devices of Christopher Moody’s banner (pictured above), while designed in the early 18th century, perhaps best symbolizes occupied Iraq . The winged hourglass symbolizes the fleeting notion of liberty, or, if you prefer, the insistent, never-ending search for WMD. The upraised arm symbolizes tyranny both past, present and to come, while the grinning skull symbolizes victims, both American and Iraqi, of depleted radiation poison or perhaps only the mocking of our moral ambiguity.

The black flag, death’s head, jolly Roger or skull and crossbones still flies prominently—although hardly visibly—from the ship of American foreign policy as she plows through uncharted waters. Truthfully, the days of swashbuckling pirates never really died in North America but became more secretive, sinister and—some say—far more dangerous. The flag of convenience hoisted by our captains of industry, banking, law, military and media (or propaganda) resembles not Old Glory but the death’s head pictured to the left (322). While you and I sing garbled stanzas to the Stars and Stripes, the most powerful men in America salute the death’s head banner of a secret society at Yale University in Connecticut.

“Those on the inside know it as The Order. Others have known it for more than 150 years as Chapter 322,” said Antony C. Sutton, author of the book, America ’s Secret Establishment, a revealing look inside the Skull and Bones Society. “It was also once known as ‘The Brotherhood of Death’,” Sutton added. “The power of the place remains unmistakable . . . . To rival institutions and academic reformers there was something irritating and disquieting about old Yale College .”

Disquieting? Consider our last three presidents, whether Republican or Democrat, attended Yale and, not coincidentally, the “terror expert” governing Iraq , Paul Bremer III, is another Yale insider. Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who lauded the approach of "World War IV," John Bolton and Lewis Libby, all Yale. All powerful. Disquieting.

The elite and powerful, some say altogether sinister, cult of the Skull and Bones Society—think of the masked revelers in the movie “Eyes Wide Shut"--traces its origins back to Germany . From there the philosophy of an all-powerful state, sharing many of the same tenets and rituals of the Third Reich, took root with the WASPs of New England, many of whom could trace their roots, ironically, to buccaneer brethren. Not surprisingly, the Nazis adopted a parallel vision, decorating the military badges (shown at left) of their SS special forces with a death’s head lifted, as was that of Yale’s Skull and Bones Society, from the existing flags and symbols of piracy, murder and mayhem.

While many Bonesmen of Yale downplay the symbolism and fascist pageantry that occurs in the windowless meeting hall--known as “The Tomb”--as nothing more than youthful merriment and harmless initiation rites, some critics see a darker side, suggesting the “double cross” of the black flag signifies a truer ambition, similar to the more explicit motto of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad—“By way of deceit, thou shalt make war.”

Examples of subverted, occupied, undermined or double-crossed nations lend weight to those who contend a US conspiracy for unlimited global power is well underway. “Between 1945 and now, the US has never stopped being at war with the world. For 58 years, there has never been a single year in which it has not bombed and occupied another country, and in most years, it has attacked two or more countries at the same time,” said Professor of English literature, Uzma Khan. “I haven’t even touched upon America ’s non-military, CIA-backed interference in the governance of sovereign countries all over the world,” she added.

Doug Henwood, author of Spooks In Blue, said, “There is something profoundly undemocratic about the culture . . . . The CIA’s Yale is the Yale of secret societies, like the infamous Skull and Bones, whose alumni fill the Agency.” By contrast to the eastern elites playing at pirate, playing at spy, helming a ship with a madman’s eye, let us pause to consider a buccaneer who actually lived and died by a code, by principles yet foreign to our jingoist’s mode of saluting the death’s head, but usually attired in black tie while lesser worlds explode.

Article 1—“Every man has a vote in affairs of moments; has equal title to the fresh provisions, or strong liquors at any time seized, and may use them at pleasure, unless a scarcity makes it necessary, for the good of all, to vote a retrenchment,” wrote Bartholomew Roberts in his Articles. Notice the almost Jeffersonian phrases at beginning and end. Recall that these Articles--eleven in all--were written long before the US Constitution, and since then have not been improved upon but rather eroded by those who would sail us into a war in the name of God, while play-acting at pirate.

Will we Americans simply be remembered by the world as just another band of pirates? Bigger but no better? Toward the end of the Golden Age of Pirates, the repercussions of resentment by land dwellers eventually overtook most of these buccaneers; those not killed in battle were captured and hung. Bartholomew Roberts, killed in 1722. Blackbeard 1718. Captain Kidd, hung by the neck and then allowed to rot, in 1701. The difference between pirates and those who play at being pirates is that the swashbuckler risked his own neck. Antony Sutton said of the modern pretender: “These prominent men are really immature juveniles at heart. The horrible reality is that these little boys have been dominant in world affairs. No wonder we have wars and violence.”

Nowadays we may find ourselves charmed by the legends of buccaneers while overlooking the reality, and yet some legends offer a colorful story and a moral lesson as well. While the banner of Calico Jack Rackham (left) resembles the flag of the world champion NFL Buccaneers of Tampa Bay (home of CentCom), Calico Jack became known as much for his crew as for his exploits. Legendary lady pirate, Ann Bonny, a quick-triggered cutthroat attired in trousers, fought alongside Jack and may have been his mistress. When their ship was attacked in 1720, Rackham and many of his men fled to the hold while Ann Bonny and another woman, Mary Read, remained on deck and resisted their captors. Pregnant, the two women avoided the gallows, and Bonny witnessed the execution of Calico Jack. “I’m sorry to see you here, Jack,” she said, “but if you’d have fought like a man you needn’t hang like a dog.”

And perhaps if we conducted ourselves like men, instead of spoiled, rich kids playing at pirate, the world wouldn’t snarl at us like dogs.

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