Albert Pike Statue in Washington D.C.

   

Albert Pike Statue
Albert Pike was the head of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the Masonic fraternity, and a leading Southern Democrat. His life-size statue has been accorded a prominent place at our Nation's Capital among the distinguished citizens of America.

On April 9, 1898, a joint resolution of Congress was enacted to set aside a site for the statue. This act was due, in large part, to the efforts of two prominent Scottish Rite members, Congressman James D. Richardson, 33°, from Tennessee and Senator Henry M. Teller, 33°, from Colorado. A nine member committee met with the Superintendant of Public Works in Washington, D.C., and the committee of the Library of the Senate and House of Representatives and selected a site at the intersection of Third and D Streets, N.W.

Albert Pike the man (1809 - 1891)

Pike was born in Boston, Massachusetts, son of Ben and Sarah (Andrews) Pike, and spent his childhood in Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. His colonial ancestors included John Pike (1613-1688/1689), the founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey. He attended school in Newburyport and Framingham until he was fifteen. In August 1825, he passed his entrance exams and was accepted at Harvard University though, when the college requested payment of tuition fees for the first two years, he chose not to attend. He began a program of self-education, later becoming a schoolteacher in Gloucester, North Bedford, Fairhaven and Newburyport.

In 1831 Pike left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in St. Louis and later moving on to Independence, Missouri. In Independence, he joined an expedition to Taos, New Mexico, hunting and trading. During the excursion his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining 500 miles to Taos. After this he joined a trapping expedition to the Llano Estacado in New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal, and after traveling about 1300 miles (650 on foot), he finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Settling in Arkansas in 1833, he taught school and wrote a series of articles for the Little Rock Arkansas Advocate under the pen name of "Casca." The articles were popular enough that he was asked to join the staff of the newspaper. Later, after marrying Mary Ann Hamilton, he purchased part of the newspaper with the dowry. By 1835 he was the Advocate's sole owner. Under Pike's administration the Advocate promoted the viewpoint of the Whig party in a politically volatile and divided Arkansas.

He then began to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837, selling the Advocate the same year. He was the first reporter for the Arkansas supreme court, and also wrote a book (published anonymously), titled The Arkansas Form Book, which was a guidebook for lawyers. Additionally, Pike wrote on several legal subjects, and continued producing poetry, a hobby he had begun in his youth in Massachusetts. His poems were highly regarded in his day, but are now mostly forgotten. Several volumes of his works were self-published posthumously by his daughter. In 1859 he received an honorary Ph.D. from Harvard, but declined it.


Albert Pike was impoverished by the Civil War and remained so much of his remaining life, often borrowing money for basic living expenses from the Supreme Council before the council voted him an annuity in 1879 of $1,200 a year for the remainder of his life.

   

In his left hand he holds a book,“Morals and Dogma."

"I cannot conceive of anything that could have induced Ashmole, Mainwaring, and other men of their class to unite themselves with a lodge of working Masons, except this - that as the Alchemists, Hermeticists, and Rosicrucians had no association of [their] own in England or Scotland, they joined the Masonic lodges in order to meet one another without being suspected, and I am convinced that it was the men who inherited their doctrine who brought their symbols into Masonry, but kept the Hermetic meanings to themselves. To these men we owe, I believe, the Master's degree. The substitute word means "the Creative Energy from the Father" - the Demiourgos and Hiram, I think, was made the hero, because his name resembled Hermes, "The Master of the Lodge"; the Divine Word (the Egyptian Thoth), the Mercury of the Alchemists." - Albert Pike

   

America's Plato

Albert Pike was considered by his peers during his time to a reincarnation of Plato, the Homer of America, and the Zoroaster of Asia.

"The True Word of a Mason is to be found in the concealed and profound meaning of the Ineffable Name of Deity, communicated by God to Moses; and which meaning was lost by the very precautions taken to conceal it."

Alhim 'elim (Hebrew) [plural of 'el god] One method of transliterating 'elim, although the insertion of the h is incorrect. The number-values of the letters of 'Elohim, transliterated as alhim are 13514: when used anagrammatically they may be read as 31415, the value of pi.

Elohim (n.) One of the principal names by which God is designated in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Observant Jews write down but do not pronounce the Tetragrammaton, because it is considered too sacred to be used for common activities. Even ordinary prayer is considered too common for this use.  The Tetragrammaton was pronounced by the High Priest on Yom Kippur when the Temple was standing in Jerusalem. Since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the Tetragrammaton is no longer pronounced, and while Jewish tradition holds that the correct pronunciation is known to a select few people in each generation, it is not generally known what this pronunciation is.  Instead, common Jewish use has been to substitute the name "Adonai" ("My Lord") where the Tetragrammaton appears.

 

  

Double-Headed Eagle of Lagash

"As the Adept knows, the double-headed eagle is a Hermetic Symbol, representing the Divine Generative Potency, and Productive Capacity of Nature. like the human figure with two heads, one male the other female, - God and Nature; the Egypian Osiris and Isis."

Long used as the insigne of a Scottish Rite Mason, the "Double Headed Eagle of Lagash" is now the accepted emblem in the United States of America of the 32 Degree. It is the oldest crest in the world. It was a symbol of power more than two thousand years before the building of King Solomon's Temple. No other heraldic bearing, no other emblematic device of today can boast such antiquity.

Triangle of Perfection (Wisdom, Power, and Beauty) - made to represent the Tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God. Yahweh is the Hebrew vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה.

The two headed eagles are the coming together of two houses (families), Abraham and Lot though Boaz and Ruth.

The Supreme Council awards the 33° as a way of honoring outstanding and selfless work performed in the Rite or in public life. At its annual session the Supreme Council elects members of the Rite to receive the degree. Members unanimously so elected become Honorary Members of the Supreme Council.

"On the 1st of May, 5786, The Grand Constitution of the Thirty-third Degree, called the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, was finally ratified by His Majesty King of Prussia, who as Grand Commander of the order of Prince of the Royal Secret, possesed Sovereign Masonic power over all the Craft." - Origin and Progress of the Supreme Council 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for England, Wales, the Dominions and Dependencies of the British Crown.

Gandaberunda (Gun-daa-bhae-rundaa, from Kannada) is an Indian mythological bird. It is always shown with two heads and beaks, and believed to possess magnificent strength. Ancient religious Hindu texts (Vishnu Puranas) annotate the Gandaberunda to be a personification of Lord Vishnu, the Mediator (one of the three primary Gods in Hinduism).

The double-headed eagle first originated in the mighty Sumerian city of Lagash. From cylinders taken from the ruins of this ancient city, the double-headed eagle seems to have been known to the kings of the time as the Storm Bird. From the Sumerians this symbol passed to the men of Akkad, from whom it was brought to the Emperors of the East and West by the Crusades.

Eagle, with a natural head, was an emblem of Jupiter, that is, god of moral. To the pagans, Eagle, with a natural head, was an emblem of Jupiter, that is, god of moral law and order, protector of suppliants and punisher of guilt. Among the Druids, Eagle was a symbol of their Supreme Being.

The double-headed eagle was adopted by emperor Isaakios Komnenos (1057-1059) being influenced from local traditions about such a beast (the haga) in his native Paphlagonia in Asia Minor. Local legends talked about this giant eagle with two heads that could easily hold a bull in its claws; the haga was seen as a representation of power, and people would often "call" it for protection.

There seem to be some who believe that the double-headed eagle may have been a Masonic symbol as early as the twelfth century, but, it probably was first known to Freemasonry in 1758, upon the establishment of the Council of Emperors of the East and West in Paris. This was a part of the Rite of Perfection, a rite of twenty-five degrees, from which was evolved a large part of the present system of Scottish Rite.

The successors today of the council of Emperors of the East and West, are the various Supreme Councils of the Thirty-third Degree throughout the world. They have inherited the insignia of the personal emblem of Frederick the Great, First Sovereign Grand commander, who conferred upon the rite the right to use in 1786; at which time seven additional Degrees were "Adopted" making thirty-two "Ancient" and "Accepted" Degrees to which was added a governing Degree, the 33rd.

   

The Goddess of Masonry

 

Love Athena only; the Divine

The Mithraic Mysteries

 

Minerva, was the Roman name for Athena

The Mysteries of Isis

The symbolism of Isis is celebrated as the ideal mother and wife, patron of nature and magic.

The idea of the Christian Hierophants (interpreters of the holy word of God) was to create a society devoted to abnegation (rejection of a belief) by solemn vows, protected by severe regulations; which should be recruited by initiation, and which, sole depositary of the great religious and social secrets, should make Kings and Pontiffs, without exposing it to the corruptions of Power.

 

Brigadier General Albert Pike

"Masonry will do all in its power, by direct exertion and cooperation, to improve and inform as well as to protect the people; to better their physical condition, relieve their miseries, supply their wants, and minister their necessities. Let every Mason in this good work do all may be in his power."

"Man advances only by degrees. The removal of one pressing calmity gives courage to attempt the removal of the remaining evils, rendering men more sensitive to them, or perhaps sensitive for the first time. Serfs that writhe under the whip are disquited about their political rights; manumitted from personal slavery, they become sensitive to political oppression. Liberated from arbitrary power, and governed by the law alone, the begin to scrutinize the law itself, and desire to be governed, not only by law, but by what they deem the best law. And when the civil or temporal despotism has been set aside, and the municipal law has been molded on the principles of an enlightened jurisprudence, they may wake to the discovery that they are living under some priestly or ecclesiastical despotism, and become desirous of working a reformation there also."

In 1861 Albert Pike successfully counseled on behalf of the Choctaw Nation to the Supreme Court of the United
States.

Just before the Civil War, Pike wrote a letter to the Northern States.

"I believe I can think dispassionately upon the question of slavery as I needed for household servants.... I am not one of those who believe slavery a blessing. I know it is an evil, as great cities are an evil; as the concentration of capital in a few hands, oppressing labor, is an evil; as the utter annihilation of free will and individuality in the army and navy is an evil; as in this world everything is mixed with evil and good. Such is the rule of God's providence, and the mode which he has chosen to arrange the affairs of the world.

The Negro race is advancing towards freedom, and climbing upward in the scale of humanity, as England's villeins and the peasantry of France did, as the Gypsy and Russian serf are doing, and the lower classes of Hindostan; but by a slower and more gradual process. Sit is that God brings about all great and beneficial results.

The ascent from brutality and barbarism to civilization, from servitude to freedom, is slow and painful. It is hardly perceptible in the compass of a single generation. Nature works slowly, to produce...The Negro will be free in God's good time; and the coming of that time we cannot hasten."

In 1861, Acting Confederate Secretary of State, Robert Tombs, suggested to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, that Albert Pike be appointed as Commissioner of Native American tribes. It is important to note that the Provisional Confederate Congress thought friendship with the Native American tribes was of tremendous of importance. It may be concluded that the secessionist tribes were fed up with the United States indifference to political equality.

"In pursuance of a resolution passed by Congress the 5th Day of March, 1861, I appointed Albert Pike, a citizen of Arkansas, Comissioner of this Government to all the Indian Tribes west of Arkansas and south of Kansas." - President Jefferson Davis.

Albert Pike was given plenary power to oversee treaties with slave holding tribes; Cherokee, Comanche, Osage, Quapaw, Senecas, and Shawnee nations.

"I have been appointed by the President of the Confederate States, a Commissioner to your Nation, and all other Nations and Tribes west of Arkansas; that I shall at the proper time come among you to counsel with you, and that I shall take your interests in charge, see that your title to your lands, and all annuities, and other moneys due to you by the United States are assumed and guaranteed by the Confederate States. On this you may implicitly rely; as it is the promise of one who never breaks his word." - Albert Pike letter to the Choctaw Nation, June 1861.

Like most other Rebel officers, Albert Pike was indicted for treason by the United States, but was subsequently restored to his civil rights.

Albert Pike - POET

The renowned Edgar Allan Poe praised him as America's greatest classic poet, and Pike's poetry was printed in every major literary magazine of the day.

Here is a Confederate war song, "Dixie," written by Albert Pike:

Southrons, hear your Country call you!
Up! lest worse than death befall you!
To arms! To arms! To arms! in Dixie!
Lo! all the beacon-fires are lighted,
Let all hearts to now united!
To arms! To arms! To arms! in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie!
Hurrah! hurrah!
For Dixie's land we take our stand,
And live or die for Dixie!
To arms! To arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie!
To arms! To arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie!

Hear the Northern thunders mutter!
Northern flags in South wind flutter;
[To arms, etc.
Send them back your fierce defience!
Stamp upon the accursed alliance!
To arms, etc.
Advance the flag of Dixie! etc.

Fear no danger! Shun no labor!
Lift up rifle, pike, and sabre!
to arms, etc.
Should pressing close to shoulder,
Let the odds make each heart bolder!
To arms, etc.
Advance the flag of Dixie! etc.

How the South's great heart rejoices,
At your cannons' ringing voices;
To arms! etc.
For faith betrayed and pledges broken,
Wrongs inflicted, insults spoken;
To arms! etc.
Advance the flag of Dixie! etc.

Strong as lions, swift as eagles,
Back to their kennels hunt these beagles;
To arms! etc.
Advance the flag of Dixie! etc.

Swear upon your Country's altar,
Never to submit or falter;
To arms! etc.
Till the spoilers are defeated,
Till the Lord's work is completed.
To arms! etc.
Advance the flag of Dixie! etc.

Halt not, till our Federation
Secures among Earth's Powers its station!
To arms! etc.
Then at peace, and crowned with glory,
Hear your children tell the story!
To Arms! etc.
Advance the flag of Dixie! etc.

If the loved ones weep in sadness,
Victory soon shall bring them gladness:
To arms! etc.
Exultant pride soon banish sorrow;
Smiles chase tears away to-morrow.
To arms! etc.
Advance the flag of Dixie! etc.

 

 

              

               

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