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Keepers of Secrets
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Three can keep a secret,
if two of them are dead.
- Benjamin Franklin
undead undead undead
- Bauhaus
Bela Lugosi’s Dead
their dead bodies had told their secrets
in dreams to the first men,
who formed a cult which had never died.
- H.P. Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulhu
Shipbuilding was connected with some dimension of this activity,
but in a way unknown to almost everyone.
Clandestinely the ships raised their sails,
the swimmers continued to teach swimming
- Idries Shah
The Sufis
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Lost in a languid daydream about a raven-haired Phoenix, Louis leaned against The Brew D'Agon's mizzenmast. Without warning he bolted upright and spun in circles, his neck craned backward, almost losing his balance trying to identify the mysterious occupant of the crows’ nest. He'd been certain he’d watched Two-Patches O’Kaine climb the rigging, but now he was unsure whether it was man or bird perched up there in the nest, forming a shadowy silhouette against the starry sky. Maybe if I tried a different angle? Afraid to lose sight of the enigmatic bird-man, Louis kept his eyes trained skyward as he shuffled erratically around the deck. Unaware of his surroundings, he crept ever closer to the starboard gunwale. Guided by the hand of hate or merely due to dumb luck, Louis stopped just as one more backward step would’ve taken him tumbling overboard into the sea.
A hand snaked out from nowhere to grasp Louis’ shoulder. Startled, he instinctively pulled away, a natural reaction which was, in this case, incorrect. He teetered, overbalanced, the gunwale prohibiting his lower half from moving to compensate for his new center-of-gravity. Arms flailing gyroscopically, Louis couldn’t help but lose sight of his quarry as he focused on maintaining his balance. He had a few seconds to ponder his inevitable fall before the hand on his shoulder pulled him firmly back to safety.
It's not time for that, yet.
The Head’s disembodied voice whispered an ominous hint in Louis' ear. The gears in Louis’ mind spun as he tried to understand what had just happened. Mentally, Louis was moving a million miles a second. Physically, he stood still and blinked blankly at the man who had either nearly pushed him overboard or saved him from falling — Louis wasn't sure which.
The Right Honourable Reverend Doctor Heronimus Jones chuckled softly and winked, his sole visible eye burning with the fierce intensity of the sun. He pointed to the stars above them.
“Celestial Navigation, bred’ren, aye? Celestial Navigation be what thou were ponderin' just now… be it not?”
Louis couldn't decide if he was being teased or warned. His gut twisted as his imagination took a dark turn. Am I the butt of a horrible practical joke? Or is it something more sinister? He pondered his predicament as a blood vessel in his temple throbbed. Heronimus continued speaking without waiting for Louis to answer.
“Verily didst I spy thee here aft & tooketh note o’ ye way thou didst stare starward inquiringly. Forsooth, oft doth that selfsame look be manifested upon mi own countenance whilst I doth contempleth ye sidereal mysteries. Telleth me, Louis, hath thou pondered why ye ancients were obsessed with ye heavenly lights?”
Louis groaned softly. He couldn’t concentrate on what was being said. It wasn’t that The Reverend Doctor’s speech was any more inscrutable than usual. This wasn’t the reason for Louis' consternation. Nor was his difficulty paying attention due to the distraction caused by his physical discomfort, although they seemed to be related phenomena. Something else was happening… something both outside and inside his body, and also in-between.
The Right Honourable Reverend Doctor paused long enough to take a breath before continuing his discourse without waiting for a reply or appearing to give any notice to Louis’ deteriorating condition. Louis began to fade in and out of consciousness. The Voices followed him, singing discordantly, phasing into minor keys then out again into pure chaos. Consciousnesses shifted.
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how did the Ancient Egyptians get started
on astronomy
in the first place?
- Graham Hancock
Fingerprints of the Gods
Astronomy is not an obvious hobby
for a valley-dwelling landlocked people
to develop on their own initiative.
Perhaps we should take more seriously
the explanation they themselves offer:
that their ancestors were taught the study of the stars by a god.
We might also pay closer attention to
the many unmistakably maritime references in the Pyramid texts.
And there could be important new inferences to draw
from ancient Egyptian religious art
in which the gods are shown traveling in
beautiful, high-prowed, stream-lined boats
- Graham Hancock
Fingerprints of the Gods
Is it not possible that the maritime iconography
of the Ancient Egyptians, the design of their ships,
and also their splendid obsession with observing the stars
could have been part of an inheritance
passed on to their ancestors
by an unidentified seafaring, navigating race
in remote prehistory?
- Graham Hancock
Fingerprints of the Gods
The abrupt emergence of specific megalithic styles
like narrow stone-lined tombs at coastal sites, but rarely inland,
suggests these ideas were being spread by prehistoric sailors.
- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/stonehenge-other-ancient-rock-structures-may-trace-their-origins-monuments
One theory that has not been disproved claims that
these primitive communities had elaborate knowledge of various sciences,
perhaps inherited from mythical antediluvian civilizations
such as Atlantis
- Ernesto Frers
The Templar Pirates
a guiding hand has been at work
behind the scenes of prehistory. If so,
whether through secret groups of insider initiates
or by some other means of cultural transmission,
this hidden influence appears in
- Graham Hancock
America Before
A data constellation, she had called it
– describing what amounted to a collection
of seemingly random and disparate data points or factoids
that conspiracy theorists were encouraged to analyze
and connect in meaningful ways to create possible “constellations.”
- Dan Brown
Origin
deliberately and carefully constructed
to engage future generations
in specific actions, regarded as religious duties,
that would also educate them deeply
- Graham Hancock
America Before
It has been suggested recently
that the astrologers and megalithic stoneworkers
established a special Hermetic caste in order
not to lose the magic powers bestowed upon them
through their knowledge.
- Ernesto Frers
The Templar Pirates
The secret doctrine comprised two parts,
which are not accorded equal importance;
for one part may not be taught to two persons,
while the other may never be entirely divulged,
even to one
- Adolphe Franck
The Kabbalah
In this work he tells the reader that
only one man knows where
the treasure is hidden.
Was the secret passed down
- Steven Sora
The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar
What secret had Edmond unveiled?
Where do we come from? Where are we going?
- Dan Brown
Origin
The secrets herein are powerful,
more powerful than even I was aware.
Never before has knowledge of the fantastical realm been assembled in one tome.
I implore you, dear reader, to use this information wisely
- Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The navigator's business
- Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend
Hamlet’s Mill
messed up the order of the pages.
This isn’t the way the story goes at all.”
“I know!
Isn’t it exciting?”
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Season 201, Episode 3
Supreme art is the traditional statement
of certain heroic and religious truths,
passed on from age to age
- William Butler Yeats
In some stories, particularly in Africa,
the delivery of the correct message
by itself was potentially sufficient
for man to achieve immortality.
Somehow, however, the message was always perverted
in transmission,
thus losing its effect.
- Stephen Oppenheimer
Eden in the East
One of the most powerful forces
for elaboration and change of myths
would have been diffusion.
A myth changes most rapidly when it moves.
- Stephen Oppenheimer
Eden in the East
This was where the hijackers came in.
Armed with the magical ability to predict
both the seasons and celestial phenomena,
they were in a strong position
to dominate their ignorant colleagues.
The picture of a caste of experts
who use privileged knowledge and gobbledygook
to control and take advantage of their fellows is still with us
today.
- Stephen Oppenheimer
Eden in the East
“It's up to the artist to use language that can be understood,
not hide it in some private code.
Most of these jokers don't even want to use language
you and I know
or can learn . . .
they would rather sneer at us and be smug,
because we 'fail' to see what they are driving at.
If indeed they are driving at anything--
obscurity is usually the refuge of incompetence.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land
Think of that!
The finest Guild navigators, men
who can quest ahead through time to
find the safest course
- Frank Herbert
Dune
They're searching for me,
- Frank Herbert
Dune
all of them seeking me
. . .and unable to find me.
How they tremble!
They know
I have their secret
here!
- Frank Herbert
Dune
FH: And this is the metamessage.
WM: Yes… the hidden message underneath
- Frank Herbert interviewed by Willis McNelly, 3 Feb 1969
at some level
my body
just knew
the precious secrets
that were being imparted to it
and my mind was filling up. Images, poetry,
snapshots of human history, scenes from worlds to come
flew across my mind
in snippets of awareness, like clouds across the moon.
- Simon Buxton
The Shamanic Way of the Bee
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The Right Honourable Reverend Doctor Heronimus Jones’ voice seeped back into Louis’ awareness through a psychic process akin to osmosis. Louis couldn't understand a word of The Reverend Doctor's garbled gibberish, but somehow he knew what was being said.
"Who were ye first astronomers, ye first to apply scientific principles to their observations o' ye heavens? Ye scientist-priest-kings o’ ye first civilization, ye ancient seers o' Atlantis devised fantastic wonders whilst humans in ye rest o’ ye world were still gruntin’ monosyllables. Many a lustful eye doth seek her legendary wealth, which were delivered unto Davey Jones along with Atlantis herself. Few knoweth that ye Treasure o’ Atlantis be but a key to an unfathomable Power. Verily, Louis, iffen thee findeth Atlantis, thou willst discover ye origin o’ all religions & sciences, includin‘ thy beloved Celestial Navigtion.”
You know what this means.
Louis shook his head groggily. He knew what he shouldn’t know, and then he didn’t know what he should. Did the Reverend Doctor ask another question or did I imagine it?
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He didn’t know for sure.
Too many voices speaking all
the time were beginning
to take a toll. Their words
– too many words –
overlapped in Louis' mind.
Who were they?
- W. H. Kidder
Tales of The Brew D'Agon
'Who are YOU?'
- Lewis Caroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Who am I?
- Chan, Chan, & Reynolds
Who Am I?
they chanted the name of God.
- www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22190802
The “ineffable” or unutterable name
- Albert G. Mackey
The Symbolism of Freemasonry
a secret, I cannot say
- Queens of the Stone Age
The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
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For a split second, Louis felt unsteady on his feet. He swayed as a wave of nausea rose and subsided. Incredibly uncomfortable in his own skin, Louis could only manage to stare in awkward silence as Heronimus winked again before quickly continued, otherwise outwardly oblivious to Louis’ rapidly deteriorating physical and mental condition.
“Willst thou uncover ye very foundation o’ human civilization & even language itself? Then thee mote understand & master this elementary truth – ye beginnings o' civilization & language be intertwined. Civilization canst not exist without language, & we canst be usin' ye latter to reach through ye shroud o' time to discover truths about ye former. I believeth thou be worthy to learn ye necessary skills to navigate ye Great Unknowns. These are ye greatest secrets that I may teacheth thee… ye requisite techniques to allow thee to be unveilin’ ye Lost Treasure o’ Atlantis."
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How many secrets can you keep?
- Arctic Monkeys
Do I Wanna Know?
"The secrets may die with me," she said
- www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170906-the-last-surviving-sea-silk-seamstress
deeper than ever did plummet sound
I’ll drown my book.
- William Shakespeare
The Tempest Act V Scene I
I think you already know
How far I'd go not to say
You know the art isn't gone
And I'm taking this all to
- Queens of the Stone Age
Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
Davy Jones’ Locker
- The People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge: With Numerous Appendixes Invaluable for Reference in All Departments of Industrial Life; the Whole Brought Down to the Year 1881, Volume 2
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