The Entrance To Cheops - As overstudied as the Giza Plateau may be, no one up to now has been able to offer an explanation that fits the factual evidence that remains in modern times. One of the main reasons for this is that researchers of late have limited their work to modern methods without particular regard to the technology and instruments available to the builders. This, coupled with a propensity to fill knowledge gaps with religious speculations, has prevented even the most erudite and educated researchers from any agreement among themselves as to what actually did happen, and how. The key to the puzzle revolves around the observed fact that the special talents of the ancient Egyptians lay in being able to solve complex problems with simple solutions. This is the well known known map of the survey of the Giza Plain done by Sir Flinders-Petrie in the 19th century. As can be seen the monuments were surveyed ipso facto based on their current dimensions. Like all modern survey the reliance on triangulation is assumed to be the road to accuracy.

Conversation with Robert Bauval
on the Subject of Egyptian and Masonic Symbolism as Incorporated into the Master Plan of the District of Columbia

Robert Bauval is an accomplished author whose work is known to strike fear and loathing into the psyches of the closed minded wherever he goes. He participated in this interview on 20 minutes notice and spoke completely extemporaneously. He is an amazing person. Truly a man for all seasons.

Robert Bauval at the console. Jennis Strickland pyramids on both palms

OLD FARTS Incorporated

Jennis Strickland: The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C., the plan for which was primarily laid out by Master Masons. At least 50 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons. Mr. Robert Bauval, who, in addition to being a published author, is an expert on freemasonry and the republican movement has some particular theories which tie into the subject at hand.

Robert Bauval: If I am to understand what was happening in America, in particular to understand the ideologies which are behind the founding of Washington, D.C., we must appreciate the intellectual ideas of republicanism. The philosophical ideas have their roots and origins in France in what led to the French Revolution. There has been great debate whether there was a Masonic movement, and its undercurrents of the Masonic movement in the French Revolution. I very much believe that there was. We know that many of the protagonists were members of the fraternity. We know that the main protagonists of the Revolution... individuals led by Robespierre among others, were using the lodges prior to the deposition of the King as a meeting point... as an underground system to pass on ideologies... to track movements that finally exploded in the revolution.

We know that many of the American main players of the war of independence, after the war of independence, were based in Paris. We know for instance that Franklin spent a long time in Paris. We know that Franklin joined the Masonic Lodges in Paris, particularly the so called Nine Sisters Lodge which certainly had a great activity, and a hotbed of revolutionaries were there. We know that Jefferson was in Paris for quite a while when he replaced Franklin... and had contacts with the French revolutionists... in fact Jefferson got caught in the events of the revolution. We know that much of the intellectual ideologies were passed on and exchanged between the French protagonists and Tom Paine...( who was) probably the originator of the Declaration of Independence. So all this as a hotbed of ideologies has to be taken into account.

But what is often ignored is that the French Revolution carried another movement with it. This movement was an attempt to completely eradicate not just the monarchy, but to actually completely change the religious and cultural status of France. There was a de-Christianization movement that immediately picked up after the revolution. It came to a head in 1793 when the government of the revolution, practically outlawed Christianity and introduced the concept of the Supreme being.

Now the concept of the Supreme Being by merely its name, is implicit of Masonic ideologies. The concept of the Supreme being was headed by Robespierre and(a) rather odd, strange series of festivities took place in Paris in 1793. One of the strangest perhaps was a celebration at the Bastille which took place on the 10th of August, known as the feast of regeneration. There they had set a statue, a makeshift statue, of a goddess apparently representing the regeneration of France. Amazingly the statue that they chose... the goddess that they chose... was the Goddess Isis, the famous Egyptian Goddess. Why they did so deserves a complete study in itself. But the background was that many of the historians of the time, who were in fact the masons... many masons of the time, were supporting a belief that the origins of the city of Paris, the truth regarding the city of Paris had been the Goddess Isis. Napoleon himself was particularly interested in this movement, and in fact had commissioned an investigation to look this matter. And the commission reported to him that indeed that there was strong historical evidence of a link between the Goddess Isis and the City of Paris. And he instructed... this is the extraordinary thing... that he instructed by letter... we have the letter... it exists inside the Bibleoteque Nationale... that the coat of arms of Paris... which was traditionally a boat, the famous boat of Paris, should include a statue of the Goddess Isis at the prow.. With her star, which is the famous star... the five pointed star. So this is where we get the idea of the five pointed star that introduces itself into the iconography of the revolution. Of course Napoleon was the major follow up of the revolution. So taking this into account, it is not surprising that many of these ideologies perpetrated themselves into the movement in America. We know as Jennis is saying that many of the main players of the American Revolution, many of the signatories to of the Declaration of Independence were Masons...That when the idea came to design the city of Washington, many of these ideologies were taken on board.

I think most important is to realize something that is not often looked at is why in the first place Pierre L’Enfant was selected as the designer of the City. Now we know there was much debate in government as to where the Federal city should go. There were proposals of course to have it in Boston. There were proposals to have it in Pennsylvania. But ultimately in order to avoid clashes between factions, it was decided to have it in the native area where Washington had grown up. The choice of the location was definitely Washington’s. He selected the area... correct me if I am wrong... on the east bank of the Potomac at a very interesting position.

The original survey was passed on to Jefferson, but then suddenly almost out of the blue, the idea of having L’Enfant came to Washington through a letter he received from L’Enfant... directly from Pierre L’Enfant. L’Enfant immediately recognized that there hadn’t been a city in the western world designed from scratch. This was let alone a capital city, and let alone the first federal capital city for the new Republican movement. So clearly, whoever would be awarded this contract would enter history in a big way. The fact that it went to a relatively mediocre architect... he had worked on several buildings in Boston and New York... but really he was not well known for at all such a kind of a job. There is a curious letter that Washington receives which is very straight forward, L’Enfant says please give me the project. But the date on the letter has always intrigued me, especially these days, it is dated the 11th of September of 1789. It is the year of the revolution... we’re talking a few months after the French Revolution.

The French Revolution was very much in the minds of these activists. It is peculiar to me, particularly being from the construction industry, to realize that this enormous project was given single handedly to one man. Because that’s what happened. L’Enfant was given the full carte blanche to design as he pleased, of course with approval of the main people, from Washington and Jefferson at the time, to design the city of Washington. L’Enfant literally did what he wanted. And indeed we know the tremendous clash between L’Enfant and the committee that was set up by Washington and Jefferson in order to supervise the design of the city. [ L’Enfant quit and returned to France with his plans while the work was in progress.] But whatever happened there is no question in my mind that L”Enfant used strong Masonic ideologies incorporated in his plan. And that would not be at all surprising in view of the strong feelings that were building at the time that linked Freemasonry with the republican movement.

The alignment of roads is very obvious. The city of Washington’s main alignment is of course Pennsylvania Avenue, which links up Capitol Hill with the White House. Many people today think the main axis of the city is the Mall which runs from the White House all along the so called obelisk, the Washington Monument. Well, this may be so today, but in the plan of L’Enfant the main axis was what you call the Presidential Avenue, which of course is the road that joined the White House with the Capitol. This was the main axis of the city.

Now it is curious that the access was selected at an azimuth which at its face value seems to have absolutely no meaning. It is aligned approximately 22 degrees to the North of West and several people have pointed out that there is possibly a solar alignment in consideration here. There is a lot of work being done on this by a British author David Ovason. He has noted that the sun, on a particular day in August, is in alignment with Pennsylvania Avenue.

Now this attracted my attention because I knew from my own work that in modern days, and of course in the days of the time of Washington, there was a very prominent stellar alignment that took place in August, from which time immemorial was celebrated by the ancient Egyptians, which of course was the helical rising of the star Sirius. Now the star Sirius immediately rings a bell here because it is the oldest known five pointed star icon that we know in history. And there is very little doubt that five pointed stars that we see in Masonic lodges and Masonic iconography is pulled, is culled from this idea of the ancient Egyptians. Indeed many of the Mason’s historians confirm that that star, that five pointed star, which we see now on the American flag, which we see on just about everything, that has to do with American republicanism, that has to do in fact with Christianity because the star appears on Christmas trees and so forth, has its origins in the star of Sirius which the Egyptians identify with the Goddess Isis. So suddenly Isis comes in the picture again, or may come in the picture again, as we saw it in Paris.

Now the alignment of 22 degrees North of true West, which is the alignment of Pennsylvania Avenue, amazingly falls, if you extend it eastward... passed over the Capitol and extend it eastward... is the position at sunrise of the star Sirius. Now that this is a coincidence is highly unlikely. What they had in mind in not so clear, but it is almost certain that they wanted to incorporate not just Masonic symbolism in the actual layout of , actual monuments, symbolism of the monuments, like the White House, the Capitol and so forth, but they wanted somehow to tie it in to the astronomical or cosmological aspects of the symbols they were representing... predominantly this five pointed star.

Jennis: referencing the grid of the city where in the Northwest quadrant a series of circles was incorporated at the intersections of diagonal streets ( named after states.)

I have always thought that this configuration of circles might represent a formation of a constellation, but I don’t know which. I also call your attention to a configuration between Massachusetts and Connecticut Avenues which is unmistakably an ankh ( the Egyptian symbol of eternal life,) But when you get into the Southeast quadrant, squares and rectangles replace circles at the intersections of diagonal streets. This seems very deliberate, but the true meaning is largely lost.

Bauval: Like I said, certainly David Ovason has wrote in a lot of stellar aspects of this design. He is very centered on the constellations like the Virgin, seeing links with the Masonic symbols. The point I was raising today with you is this... although today the main axis appears to be the central line leading from the obelisk to the...

( Jennis referencing map; the tip of the Washington Monument, the tip of the Capitol dome, and the tip of the Lincoln memorial are in perfect alignment.)

Bauval: As you can see very clearly it really is. But the original intent of L’Enfant was to centralize the actual layout of the city along the axis of Pennsylvania Avenue for practical reasons. There was a problem in ensuring the quick access of the President from the White House to the Capitol. So, but what has to be questioned is why did he choose this particular alignment ? And we know very little was left to hazzard. They would... laying a city is in a sense a very symbolic act. I mean if one chooses an alignment for a city, one must have a reason to do so either for strict practical reasons, or for meaningful reasons. I think there is a combination of both. But if you extend the axis going from the White House through the Capitol to the horizon it will be approximately, the angle of the alignment, will be approximately 22 degrees from due East-South. Now very quick calculation with astronomical software shows you that this is the position of the star Sirius. Now we know it is the quintessential five pointed star not only of the Masonic movement, but it was adopted as a major component of the symbolism of republicanism as you know. So it seems unlikely that this choice of axis was taken by hazzard.

Jennis: (describing huge pentagram star superimposed in the center of the city.)

The left descending axis of the star bisects the White House, the right descending axis bisects the Capitol. Its crossbar is formed by K Street. The diagonal descending cross bars of Maryland and Virginia Avenues complete the star. In addition, the White House reservation represents the Crown of the Goddess Hathor, which is sited atop an ankh formed by the Ellipse and Constitution Avenue. All of these are unmistakably Egyptian icons. But they only visible from above. So the question becomes who ever was to know they were there?

Bauval: The mere fact that they are there for people who are initiated into the idea, will work as a talisman. I mean, I see these kinds of city plans as being talismantic in the sense that they are like an artifact.

Jennis: I think you are very right. I also think it very ironic that the Presidents of the United States have lived and governed in that icon without one of them ever, if they knew about it, mentioning it. I don’t think they realize it.

Bauval: The other thing which has been suggested which I find particularly interesting, is that you can discern quite clearly ( referencing map,) that there is a kind of diamond shape. We know that this kind of layout is very typical of Masonic so called tracing boards where that represents a rather interesting idea which we know the Masons bear in mind in their very highest points of initiations, which is the idea of the Temple of Jerusalem. So as you know...

Jennis: That would be the Temple of Solomon?

Bauval: The Temple of Solomon is one of the foremost ideological beliefs in the Masonic movement, that the Temple of Solomon should be rebuilt. But the Masons would insist that the rebuilding is purely an intellectual one, a spiritual one, and that the Mason who initiates himself in the ultimate grades of Freemasonry is in a sense rebuilding the temple of Solomon within himself. But it may be that the idea of actually rebuilding the temple of Solomon is a physical reality, and that a plan to express the notion that there are links to Solomon’s Temple and Jerusalem, and the new founded republic is not impossible.

I mean we know the founding Fathers very much liked the idea. It has to be remembered that when the Declaration of Independence was signed, everybody that put his name on that document literally put his name on what could have become a death warrant. I mean if the revolution had failed, every single signatory on that document would have been hanged, that’s for sure. By signing that document they had committed high treason against the British, which was still ruling at the time. So the intensity of their belief is that not only were they ready to commit themselves in writing to that movement, but they must have seen the emergence of a new system of government, a new country, a new vision to rule, as something almost like a Biblical event. Many of them enjoyed the idea of being perceived as the founding Fathers of a new Israel, of a new Jerusalem. For these ideas were very, very common in Masonic circles at the time.

We know that the same ideologies, incidently, were advocated at a certain time in England when a new city was on the verge of being designed. Now, long before the city of Washington came into existence, in fact to be clear essentially before, let me get this right... that’s right.. two centuries before...the opportunity had arisen to redesign from scratch, the city of London. Now... there have been many studies of what was going on at the time. We know that in the events that led finally to this opportunity to redesign the city of London was, of course, the restoration of the British monarchy in 1660. The restoration of the Stuarts on the throne of England after the civil war was followed by a disaster, and that disaster was the burning of the city of London. Four fifths of the city had burned completely. And suddenly many individuals who were prominent in advising the King as to how to redesign the city, emerged from the Royal College. Several of them, we know, were part of the Masonic movement, and it is curious that the plans they presented were, I suppose one could call, plans associated with the ideologies behind Jerusalem. We see for example not just the plan of Washington, but in the plan of London that was proposed. It was never built but it was proposed, ideas of laying out the streets in the form of the cabalistic Tree of Life, which was very, very much the kind of symbolism used to express the idea of Jerusalem in Masonic circles.

So to see that this kind of ideologies again emerge 200 years later and actually acheived in designing a city, the city of Washington, is very interesting. Could Pierre L’Enfant have been influenced by these ideas that were going on both in London at a time of the great fire, and in Paris at the time of the revolution? Well yes! We know that L’Enfant was a great admirer and student of the architect Christopher Wren, who designed the city of London. And we know that he had studied under the authority and teachings of the famous Lenoche, who was very much instrumental in the designing of the city of Paris.

So here we have a very curious situation. The design of the city of Washington is handed to a man who is of French origin, who is clearly schooled with ideologies which come from European city plans, and who has a clean slate. So to me it is extremely likely that he would have grabbed the opportunity and pushed the ideologies that were in his mind, and in the mind of those who commissioned him; Washington, Jefferson and others.

Jennis: So in actuality the Masonic influence we are looking at here extends both to Egypt and to Jerusalem ?

Bauval: Well we know there are two... that’s what makes Washington so interesting.. is that there are two strands in the Masonic movement. One clearly is what we call the Templar strand, or a Hebraic strand; i.e. that much of the ideologies and symbolism comes from Hebraic origins.... The idea of rebuilding the Temple of Solomon, the symbology that goes around there, the death and rituals of Hiram Abiff and so forth, these are very Hebraic ideologies. I am sure they are historical, but nonetheless, linked to Hebraic ideologies.

But we also know that there is another strand that I suppose we can call Hermetic, or Egyptian. And this strand comes specifically from France. France at the time of the revolution, Freemasonry was intensely Egyptian. They say that even characters... characters like... main characters that played a part in the revolution were not just part of that movement, but actually heads of the lodges of the so called Egyptian Masonic Lodges. So it is not surprising that these two strands, Hebraic and Hermetic Egyptian are expressed not just in the iconography of the Lodges, but finally are exploded, on a massive scale of the city plan. We spot them everywhere. You can spot them not just in Washington, but there are many monuments in Paris for example, that are very clearly of Masonic Egyptian ideology. There is a pyramid in front of the Louvre. There is obelisks that we know were placed... that were originally from Egypt... that were placed in strategic spots in the city that are linked to actions... directions. All this clearly invites investigation in seeing not only why these ideas were put in place but where did they come from? And if one traces the stream across history... you’re inevitably going to get back to ancient Egypt.

Jennis: That’s the question. The stream throughout history is so long and its was so steady, and so unbroken ... but the life span of a man may only be 75 years, so how did this master plan flow through people who were only going to be here for a short temporary time? Because it is flowing through. It’s religious, it’s philosophical, it’s political, it’s scientific, it’s all of these things, and it started 3 or 4 thousand years ago, and it’s continuing today. The question is ‘how is that possible?’

Bauval: Well I think the question is, and one has to see first... first I don’t see a physical survival of tradition. What we see is that tradition itself is self perpetrating through its symbols, through its texts, and through its monuments. Millions of people have gone to Egypt simply because they are attracted to these ancient monuments. The monuments are there. The monuments have their influence that in a sense is how talismans work. An object can have an influence even though the people who put them there are not there anymore. We know how important certain objects are not to just individuals, but to a whole nation... such as the Cross... or the Islamic crescent. These are very obvious talismans.

But the city itself becomes a talisman. We see in America... we see how the whole American nation has been affected when one of their major cities, and in particular a major icon in that city, and a particular building was hit. It has a tremendous psychological affect on individuals who are linked to the city, and the ideologies that the city proclaimed. So we know the Egyptians designed monuments with the intention to do this. The Pyramids were designed with this intention. The temples of Egypt were designed with this intention. They are not pretty monuments just to please the eye. They were monuments that were designed to affect and have a strong psychological and spiritual affect on those who came to see them... particularly those who were initiated. So in a sense it is not surprising at all that the cult survived.... but why does it link itself up to republicanism? In a sense one has to understand... that in a sense republicanism was the opposition to the existing system of rule.

The existing system of rule was monarchy. Monarchy... the authority of European monarchy, in particular the French monarchy, and the British monarchy was authority through Divine rule. In short the religion, the church, the Pope provided the authority to the state, or the monarchy, and therefore in a sense it is not surprising to see an anti-religious movement, or an anti-Catholic movement in France when there was a modernizing movement.

Jennis: One other thing you said which is a major interest is that the city of Washington might have been designed as a lodge itself.

Bauval: Well it certainly makes sense to me... is that what was happening then, let’s be clear...is that the revolutions had succeeded. Those who had staked their lives now were in command. The risk was over, and therefore coming out with republicanism, and coming out with Masonic ideologies way in the open was o.k. And therefore that the lodge itself wanted to completely come out on such a scale is not surprising.

I think the idea behind it was that these new, huge cities, in particular Washington D.C., being the city, the federal city, the federal capital that was going to gather the new republic and extend its ideologies... because remember the movement was not restricted to the United States. Napoleon was on a huge rampage in Europe to export the revolution. And therefore this federal city was going to serve as the headquarters for that kind of long term global movement, that it itself became a gigantic lodge where the leaders and rulers of this movement are housed in this city, and that the city dwellers are part of the movement makes sense. That you would be constantly... somebody has described it... and I think it appeals to me... as a huge perpetual prayer. When you are in a church or cathedral, you are in a state of prayer. When you are in one of the cities which has been designed as a gigantic temple, you are in a state of prayer... or let’s put it this way, a state of republicanism, and these kind of ideologies are permanently in your mind. It becomes your reminder, you are reminded by the symbols you see. And if you are initiated specifically in those symbols then your mind is perpetually activated to take you in that direction. That’s how a talisman works.

So it obviously works because the movement is taught on tremendous motivation and even more so now, where we are pushing nations who have resisted this movement to the extreme... like Saudi Arabia and some of the gulf states... [ This statement was made prior to the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. ] are now even considering and giving consideration to ideologies, even democracy into their governing systems. So it is quite extraordinary from that point of revolution it finally takes shape into a global system. And therefore the symbols will be those symbols and hence why there is a great awareness and resistance to changing symbols. You find that symbols that represent these ideologies, or are opposing these ideologies are floated in a big way, especially these days.

Jennis: I certainly agree. One of the ideas regarding the United States is that the intent is to lead by example. By and large we have pretty well done that over a 200 year period of Time. I think it is a commentary on the state of education in the United States that hardly anyone here can elucidate the situation as you just did, including all of the Presidents who have ever lived on the White house reservation inside the glyph, inside the icon, without any conscious awareness of doing so at all.

Bauval: The problem is that it’s kind of tabu to discuss these matters. It does appear to be a bit ridiculous these days because you look in them in the light of the modern world. But it was very real at the time that Washington was designed. So what is to project your investigation in the context of when these things happened? And the context was as volatile euphoria, a volatile regeneration, a volatile rebirth of the human race. I mean this is how they served. And therefore it would be strange if they didn’t take into account the dominant ideologies which had infiltrated the republican movement.

And there is no question at all that Masonic ideologies were very much the backbone of ideas like the Declaration of Independence and the Rights of Man. And to deny this...to deny this is odd. So although we may find it strange and bizarre that we find Egyptian symbolism and the Masonic symbolism in these city plans. They weren’t strange at the time.

Now, we were talking about the movement, the global movement which is essentially a democratization movement of our world which has, in a sense, republicanism. I find it very odd in America that you have two parties, which is republican and democratic but they are not holding hands. Democracy is merely the ideology of republicanism. But that this movement has grafted itself through the Masonic ideologies... biblical ideologies... and this is where I find it a little bit awkward, because clearly we’re seeing that the activity that is going on at the moment... seen from that perspective of a much deeper perspective... has incorporated the tension that is going on between the Arab world and Israel...which is intensely biblical.

Jennis: In Israel you have a church and state that has a synonymous identity. Probably the two greatest principles incorporated into the Constitution was the elimination of royalty and hereditary titles along with the separation of the interests of the State from religion. Political alliances between church and state are the bane of mankind’s existence. When people can be made to kill in the name of religion there is no end to war.

Bauval: Sadly, we haven’t seen the elimination of war.

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TALISMAN Gnostics, Freemasons, Revolutionaries, and the 2,000 year-old-conspiracy at Work in the World Today by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval was published two years after this interview.

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