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That's right -- to the everlasting shock and dismay of fundamentalist Xtians, many of the White people who settled in the New World and built America were as Pagan as the Native Americans whose lands pious Xtians stole ... as Pagan as the Africans whom pious Xtians enslaved ... as Pagan as the Chinese whom pious Xtians swindled into building their railroads. And those Pagans brought their pre-Xtian traditions with them.
Since time immemorial, people have erected "omphali" ("navel" stones) at the crossroads of their towns and marketplaces -- outwardly to mark that place as a "center", and inwardly as a kind of axis to focus, harmonize and stabilize the currents of psychic energy that swirl through any active community of human beings.
When the Xtians conquered Europe, they erected crosses or steeples atop many of these ancient omphali. But you will not find these crosses on the navel stones of American towns. (If you do, call the ACLU!) The very First Amendment of the Bill of Rights establishes that (unlike the country against whom we rebelled) the USA is not a church-ruled nation. It's no accident that, whereas the state architecture of England (which does have a state religion, Anglicanism) derives from the architecture of Gothic cathedrals, the state architecture of America is based on classical Greek and Roman temples. And at the omphalos of our capital rises a huge obelisk -- the Washington Monument -- built according to the ancient Egyptian proportions.
Like many of the founding fathers -- such as the Unitarian Thomas Jefferson, who chopped up and re-compiled the Bible to suit his rationalist beliefs --, George Washington was no orthodox Christian. Like the first several presidents that followed him, he was a Freemason -- a member of a secret society that kept occultism and mystery religion alive from the Burning Times of the 17th century through the materialism of the 18th and 19th centuries, till the modern renaissance of the Olde Ways. At Washington's funeral, fellow Masons threw sprigs of acacia onto his coffin as it was lowered into the grave, to represent the rebirth of Osiris. When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid, it was dedicated with wine, grain and salt in a very Pagani Masonic ceremony.
Our own obelisk in Asheville was erected by local Masons in the 1890s -- and dedicated at the Winter Solstice, to judge by the date carved on its cornerstone. Its 33 courses of stone probably symbolize the 33 degrees of Freemasonry. Beneath it -- as if to balance its Solar height with Lunar depth -- are two underground restrooms that have been sealed off and buried since Pack Square was remodeled in the1940s. (The city plans to remodel the Square once again in coming years, reducing the pond and adding benches and greenery to restore its original character and make it an inviting downtown gathering place. Don't worry -- Asheville's most prominent symbol will not be touched.)
As we circle and energize Asheville's obelisk with our pride as Pagans and our freedom from religious tyranny as Americans, we are sympathetically energizing its counterpart in Washington -- like one radio antenna communicating our message to another.
Spread the word: Religious intolerance is un-American. (Hey, fundamentalists -- if you want a theocracy, move to Afghanistan!)
-- *Diuvei, 8/25/2001