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