| If you seek the material Temple of Solomon then you | | | | crumbled, as it did when Guinevere cheated on Arthur. |
| are reading the wrong article. If you instead seek the | | | | The land became infertile and the people descended |
| Inner Self and wish to understand the secret teachings | | | | into the abyss. This is a warning to us all - that once |
| of the ancients, then you are in the right place and time. | | | | we have achieved balance, we must strive to maintain |
| For this tale I am about to tell is one learned from | | | | it. |
| ancient sources. This is a truth revealed, a truth held | | | | And so it appears, the teachings of the ancients and |
| sacred for many generations and clouded in the literal | | | | even the medieval writers of the Arthurian tales, were |
| ramblings of biased criticism. | | | | really working through a psychological process of inner |
| In our search for the Holy Grail [1] we discovered an | | | | balance and giving us this teaching in the only way |
| ancient universal serpent cult. Known variously as | | | | they knew - analogy built around their own world view. |
| Ophites, Adders and even Gnositics, these ancient | | | | These concepts also had to be hidden, for there were, |
| peoples, from before the time of Christ, worshipped | | | | and still are, those who hold power - be they religious |
| the serpent on many levels. We traced the origins of | | | | or political - who do not and have never wanted man |
| this cult right back through time and into ancient | | | | to be fully free. It will be these people who argue |
| Sumeria where the traditions of it emerged as a | | | | against this very interpretation. |
| symbol of the much discussed enlightenment | | | | But, can we be sure that there was no Temple? |
| experience. From Osiris and Isis to Abraham and | | | | According to Professor James Pritchard in his book, |
| Sarah, from Christ and Mary to Arthur and Guinevere | | | | Solomon and Sheba (1974, p.35): |
| - we discovered deep-rooted links to the serpent | | | | ".. the so-called cities of Megiddo, Gezer and Hazor, |
| worship of wisdom. | | | | and Jerusalem itself were in reality more like villages.. |
| You see, in all of these tales, we have the secret right | | | | Within were relatively small public buildings and poorly |
| before our eyes - that of balance. The fact is that our | | | | constructed dwellings with clay floors. The objects |
| ancestors told us of the duality of our minds - when | | | | reveal a material culture, which, even by the standards |
| the first man was split to create Adam and Eve | | | | of the ancient Near East, could not be judged |
| (meaning Female Serpent). This is not a literal tale. | | | | sophisticated or luxurious. The 'magnificence' of the |
| They claim quite simply that we are split personalities - | | | | age of Solomon is parochial and decidedly lackluster, |
| that we constantly argue within ourselves and that this | | | | but the first book of Kings implies exactly the |
| dual nature affects us on many levels. It is to the | | | | opposite." |
| re-uniting of these dual natures that the ancient sought | | | | Again we find the author David Rohl in his book A |
| - joining Christ with Mary, Arthur with Guinevere, and all | | | | Test of Time: The Bible from Myth to History (1995, |
| in the symbolic representation of the entwined | | | | p.174) claiming the same thing: |
| serpents we see on the infamous Caduceus or the | | | | "when it comes to the Iron Age (which is purportedly |
| Indian Kundalini. | | | | the time of Solomon and his ally, Hiram of Tyre) there |
| But, what does this tell us about the Temple of | | | | are no stone buildings.... How then did Solomon acquire |
| Solomon? This cannot be done in just a few words,[2] | | | | building expertise from Phoenicia if the Phoenicians did |
| however, try to follow the reasoning of the dualities | | | | not have the skill or resources to build stone structures |
| and we shall be half way there. | | | | for themselves." |
| Solomon was a strong and wise King, but he was also | | | | So, there was no Temple of Solomon and there is |
| blunt and over zealous - taxing his people to the point | | | | very little evidence that there was even a Solomon. |
| of breaking. He was so arrogant that he believed the | | | | We are left with only one solution: that the whole story |
| whole world must know of his wisdom. That was until | | | | - and many others like it - are symbolic. With new |
| the hoopoe bird told him about the Queen of Sheba. | | | | eyes, I now challenge each of us to take a new look |
| We discovered Sheba to be the "land of serpents" | | | | at the paradoxes of the ancient world and see if we |
| and so the Queen was no different to the Queen of | | | | can now solve the puzzle. I also challenge all of us to |
| Serpents known in Arthurian tales as Guinevere. In this | | | | seek true balance and build our own Temple. |
| respect then, the hoopoe bird, is the internal dialogue, | | | | Notes |
| letting the "male" dominated side of our minds know | | | | 1 The Serpent Grail by Philip Gardiner with Gary |
| that there is also a "female" side and bringing them | | | | Osborn, Watkins, 2005 |
| together. Once these two sides joined together the | | | | 2 For a more in-depth view see Gnosis: The Secret of |
| true Temple of the united self could be built. | | | | Solomon's Temple Revealed by Philip Gardiner, Radikal |
| Rid of arrogance, strong and wise, we stand in glory. | | | | Books, 2005, UK. |
| But when Sheba left Solomon, the whole thing | | | | |