Rosicrucian and Kabbalistic Themes in the Bible

Given all the attention that is being payed to the Masonic symbols in the Washington DC map lately, I am suprised that more isn't being said about the King James Version of the Bible. (The link takes you to an online scan of an original copy of the KJV printed in London in 1611.)

I recommend that, like the DC landscape, the Bible 1) is embedded with symbols that illustrate allegories rich in coded messages addressed only to a few knowledgeable individuals, and 2) was not intended to be understood by everyone.

1611 KJV Title Page

One might ask, if its not a history book, what are the stories about? A lot of them are about astronomy. Some of them convey kabbalistic concepts; some of them theosophy.

In the DC map, the only symbolic forms that were apparent in 1792 were the pentagram and so-called compass, while the elements that make up the 'square' for that compass as well as those completing the Pyramid, the Tree of Life, and Metatron's Cube were not added to the DC landscape until later, but in the KJV they hit you with it full force on the title page (seen above).

Among other things that can be seen on that page is an image of a mother pelican feeding her young from her own body. This is a Rosicrucian symbol for the idea of 'self sacrifice', which relates closely to the Eucharist and the notion that the Universe is the Body of God. This is what we call an allegory.

Note that Tiphareth, the sixth sphere on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, is associated with the sun and the pagan myths of the 'dying god'. While some myths focus on the daily and yearly death and resurrection of the live-giving sun, others allude to Nature being sustained by or deriving from the body of the sacrificed god; as in "this is my body and blood". These ideas are clearly visible in the Christain theology which Peter Tompkins describes as a "hodgepodge of mythology picked up from Egypt and the East".

In the Scottish Rites (Southern Jurisdiction), the Eighteenth Degree is called the "Knight Rose Croix" (Knight of the Rose Cross). Page 276 of Pike's "Morals and Dogma" features this image (below). There "the pelican is a symbol of self-sacrifice, philanthropy, and devotedness. It also symbolized the bounty of nature, from which all living things draw their sustenance." The Earth Mother so to speak.

As you can see, while this is not an exoteric Christian symbol, it has been adopted by Mystical Christians (like the Rosicrucians) and conveys the same notion of self-sacrifice that we find in the New Testament story. The lamb at the top of the KJV title page is the Old Testament symbol for a sacrificial offering.

But why, you might ask, is there a Rosicrucian symbol on the title page of the King James Version of the Bible? Were Rosicrucians involved with that? Or Masons even? The short answer to that is that Francis Bacon, a well-known Rosicrucian, is said to have edited the KJV for Mason King James I. [That would account for all the Kabbalistic Themes in the Bible.]

You will want to note that the symbol of Martin Luther, the 16th Century Protestant Reformer, is a cross inside an open rose!