Esoteric geometry of the US capital

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L’Enfant’s sacred design for Washington DC

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The Cross of Divinity would be visualized from the East (Capitol), as in “Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back (Capricorn).

“He who faces the light and stands within its radiance is blinded to the issues of the world of men; he passes on the Lighted Way to the great Centre of Absorption. But he who feels the urge to pass that way, yet loves his brother on the darkened path, revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way.

“He faces towards the dark, and then the seven points of light within himself transmit the outward streaming light, and lo! the face of those upon the darkened way receives that light. For them the way is not so dark. Behind the warriors–twixt the light and dark–blazes the light of Hierarchy.”

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The Unfolding Cube
(Hexahedron, 6-sided Platonic Solid)

Let it evoke response from the bright centre, lying far ahead. -Fourteen Rules for Group Initiation ( Rule 3):

To this centre we give the name Shamballa, the component letters of which are numerically: S.H.A.M.B.A.L.L.A. or 1.8.1.4.2.1.3.3.1. This word equals the number 24 which in its turn equals 6. I would call your attention to the fact that the word has in it nine letters, and—as you know—nine is the number of initiation. The goal of all the initiatory process is to admit mankind into realisation of and identification with the will or purpose of Deity. The number 6 is the number of form or of manifestation, which is the agent or medium through which this realisation comes and by which the consciousness is unfolded so that it can become the foundation of the higher process which is instituted at the third initiation. That initiation is closely related to the third major centre, Shamballa; it is the third, from the angle of man’s perception and understanding, but the first from the angle of Deity Itself. Again, 6 being the number of the sixth ray, it is therefore the number of idealism and of that driving force which makes mankind move forward upon the path and in response to the vision and press upward towards the light. It is in reality devotion to an unseen goal, ever on ahead, and an unswerving recognition of the objective. Like all other divine qualities, it has its material counterpart, and that is why 666 is regarded as the number of the Beast or of materialism, the number of the [Page 80] dominance of the three worlds prior to the process of reorientation and the expression of developed idealism and purpose. The third aspect expresses itself through pure materialism, and hence the three sixes. In an ancient book on numbers the initiate is defined as “the one who has experienced and expressed 666 and found it naught; who has dropped the 6 and become the 66, and thus has found himself upon the WAY; later, again, he drops the 6 and becomes the perfected 6—form, the instrument and expression of spirit.”

The number 24 is of deep interest, expressing as it does the double 12—the greater and the lesser zodiac. Just as the number 6 expresses space, so the number 24 expresses time, and is the key to the great cycle of manifestation. It is the clue to all cyclic appearance or incarnation. Its two figures define the method of evolution; 2 equals the quality of love-wisdom, working under the Law of Attraction and drawing man from one point of attainment to another; whilst 4 indicates the technique of conflict and the achieving of harmony through that conflict; 4 is also the number of the human hierarchy, and 2 is the number of the spiritual hierarchy. Technically speaking, until the third initiation, the initiate is “occupied with the relationship of the 2 and the 4; these, when placed side by side, connote relation; and when placed the one above the other, the initiate passes from the 4 into the 2.” Needless to say, there is much more to say anent these figures, but the above will suffice to show the satisfactory nature of esoteric numerology—not numerology as understood today.

I would have you note that the sounds which compose the word “Shamballa” are predominantly along the line of will or power or of first ray energy. Of the nine letters, six are on the first ray line of force. 1.1.1.3.3.1.—spirit and matter, will and intelligence. Two of them are along the second line of force, 4 and 2. The number 8 inaugurates ever a new cycle, following after the number 7, which is that of a relative perfection. It is the number of the Christ-consciousness; just as 7 is the number of man, 8 is the [Page 81] number of the Hierarchy, and 9 is the number of initiation or of Shamballa. Forget not that, from the angle of the Hierarchy, the third initiation is regarded as the first major initiation.

Rays and Initiations

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City layout – City plan

https://www.britannica.com/place/Washington-DC/City-layout

Washington’s visionary planner was Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French army engineer who fought in the American Revolution. Two factors strongly influenced L’Enfant’s imagination as he planned the capital city: his understanding of 18th-century Baroque landscape architecture and his familiarity with the city of Paris and the grounds of Versailles. L’Enfant adapted the city’s formal plan to the area’s natural topography, carefully selecting important sites for principal buildings on the basis of the order of their importance, beginning with the U.S. Capitol building, which he placed on a high ridge. He then symbolically linked it, by way of Pennsylvania Avenue, to the presidential palace (the White House), on a slightly lower ridge.

Placing the Capitol at the centre of the street plan, L’Enfant drew surveyors’ lines through the building to the points of the compass, thereby separating the city into four sections: Northwest (the largest quadrant), Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. Three of the four surveyors’ lines became streets: North Capitol, East Capitol, and South Capitol streets. The fourth dividing line stretches west from the Capitol along the middle of the Mall to the Potomac River.

Washington’s streets are organized in a scheme of broad diagonal avenues overlain on a grid of wide north-south- and east-west-trending streets. Thus, an orderly web of wide tree-lined avenues creates great vistas and leads both to powerful focal points and open public spaces. The intersections of two or three diagonal avenues are punctuated with landscaped circles and squares, while their intersections with grid streets create triangular and trapezoidal lots and parks, resulting in interesting streetscapes.

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Washington D.C. was established in 1790 when an act of Congress authorized a federal district along the Potomac River, a location offering an easy route to the western frontier (via the Potomac and Ohio River valleys) and conveniently situated between the northern and southern states.

President Washington chose an area of land measuring 100 square miles where the Eastern Branch (today’s Anacostia River) met the Potomac just north of Mount Vernon, his Virginia home. The site already contained the lively port towns of Alexandria and Georgetown, but the new nation needed a federal center with space dedicated to government buildings.

Washington asked L’Enfant, by then an established architect, to survey the area and recommend locations for buildings and streets. The Frenchman arrived in Georgetown on a rainy night in March 1791 and immediately got to work.

L’Enfant placed Congress on a high point with a commanding view of the Potomac, instead of reserving the grandest spot for the leader’s palace as was customary in Europe. Capitol Hill became the center of the city from which diagonal avenues named after the states radiated, cutting across a grid street system.

In 1901, the Senate formed the McMillan Commission, a team of architects and planners who updated the capital based largely on L’Enfant’s original framework. They planned an extensive park system, and the Mall was cleared and straightened. Reclaimed land dredged from the river expanded the park to the west and south, making room for the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. The Commission’s work finally created the famous green center and plentiful monuments of today’s Washington.

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Why do people say the National Mall is built on a swamp?

The National Mall was built on low, flat land surrounded by three waterways: the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, and until the 1870s, Tiber Creek. During the 1800s, heavy rains and flooding frequently saturated the landscape, sometimes creating puddles the size of small ponds. Residents and visitors described the area as a swamp, particularly before the monuments and museums were built. A myth grew that the National Mall was built on swamp when, in fact, only part of the Mall was originally marshland or tidal plain.

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THE TECHNIQUE OF LIGHT

The Technique of Light is more closely related to the mind and signifies the method whereby the illumination which flows from the soul (whose nature is light) can irradiate not only ideals but life, circumstances and events, revealing the cause and the meaning of the experience. When the power of the disciple to illumine is grasped, he has taken the first step towards dispelling glamour; and just as the technique of the Presence becomes effective upon the mental plane, so this technique produces powers which can become effective on the astral plane and eventually bring about the dissipation and the disappearance of that plane.

FORMULA FOR THE DISSIPATION OF WORLD GLAMOUR

(Technique for a Group)

The Preparatory Stages.

1. The naming of the group members, followed by ten minutes silence.
2. The Protective Formula: The group members say in unison:

“As a soul I work in light and darkness cannot touch me.
I take my stand within the light.
I work and from that point I never move.“

As these words are uttered, each group member makes the sign of the Cross of Divinity.

3. The three preparatory stages:

• a. Focussing the dual light of matter and mind.
• b. Meditation on soul contact and recognition of soul light.
• c. The fusion of the two lesser lights with soul light.

4. On a signal from the leader, the group says together:

“The light is one and in that light shall we see light. This is the light that turns the darkness into day.“

O M. O M. O M.

The Formula.

5. Then together the group says:

“Radiance are we and power. We stand forever with our hands stretched out, linking the heavens and the earth, the inner world of meaning and the subtle world of glamour.

We reach into the light and bring it down to meet the need. We reach into the silent Place and bring from thence the gift of understanding. Thus with the light we work and turn the darkness into day.“

As these words are said, the group members visualise the great searchlight they have created turning its light upon the astral plane.

6. A pause follows and then comes the invocation of the spiritual will. When this has been done the group says:

“With power upon its beam, the light is focussed on the goal.“

7. The glamour to be dissipated is named and the light is thrown upon it. The Words of Power are uttered :

“The power of our united light prevents the appearance of the glamour of… (naming it).

The power of our united light negates the quality of the glamour from affecting man.

The power of our united light destroys the life behind the glamour.“

8. Visualisation of the light, penetrating into the glamour and producing its weakening and dissipation.
9. Five minutes of silence and intensity of purpose whilst the work is seen proceeding. Then the group members refocus themselves upon the mental plane, turning their attention away from the astral plane. The searchlight of the soul is shut off.
10. The sounding of the OM individually and aloud by each member.

Source: Glamour: A World Problem

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The Great Invocation (1940)

Let the Lords of Liberation issue forth.
Let them bring succour to the sons of men.
Let the Rider from the Secret Place come forth,
And coming, save. Come forth, O Mighty One.

Let the souls of men awaken to the light.
And may they stand with massed intent.
Let the fiat of the Lord go forth: The end of woe has come!
Come forth, O Mighty One.
The hour of service of the saving force has now arrived.
Let it be spread abroad, O Mighty One.

Let Light and Love and Power and Death
Fulfill the purpose of the Coming One.
The WILL to save is here.
The LOVE to carry forth the work is widely spread abroad.
The ACTIVE AID of all who know the TRUTH is also here.

Come forth, O Mighty One, and blend these three.
Construct a great defending wall.
The rule of evil NOW must end.

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