A Demon, a Stone, and the Aspirant

as·pire:

1. To long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for

something great or of high value.

2. Archaic. to rise up; soar; mount; tower.

Upon entering the church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rennes Les Chateau,
immediately to one's left is the statue that many have identified over the years
as the demon Asmodeus. This sculpture, placed underneath the holy water
stoup takes on the classic form of devil with horns, wings, and pitchfork
(according to one legend, the circle that is made by the statue's right hand used
to hold a trident).

Why should such a statue, as others have asked, appear at the entrance to, of all
places, a Christian church? Among the somewhat typical array of Saints, The
Virgin, Christ, and others, what place does the Prince of Demons have in this
scene and what would be the motivation for placing him there?

It seems that doing so may have been part of an obscure, yet peculiar tradition.

In his recent article, blah blah, in Heretic magazine, Maranatha puzzle author
Duncan Burden brings up the subject of the rough and perfect Ashlars of
Masonic lore and suggests that the statues of Asmodeus and Christ represent
archetypal figures of good and evil, as well as the perfect and rough ashlars of
freemasonry. Of which statue represents either stone there is no mention.

These rough and perfect stones, the ashlars, have been commonly understood
as symbolizing the rough and perfect aspects of an individual's character.
Rough would be the state of the aspirant before taking the journey out of the
original condition of darkness they are born into. The perfected stone would
then be a movement toward the light of completion achieved through personal
refinement.
These descriptions seem quite simple, but what other evidence is there to
identify these rough or perfect stones with the statues of RLC in particular? Do
we have any sources to verify which is which?

To begin the search, I suggest we turn to examples of stones found within the
works of art by artists associated with the RLC mystery.

In Guercino's "Et In Arcadia Ego", a rough, squarish-looking stone engraved

with the famous phrase sits to side of a clearing, holding a skull on top. Two
shepherds to the left look towards the scene, gazing onward. The stone looks
ancient, built of individual stones yet crumbling and in a present state of ruin.
It's square-ish form is roughed out, yet distinctive, and it's present state of
decay suggests something ancient having been discovered yet fallen into the
past. Without having the clean, perfect sides associated with the perfect ashlar,
its rough form is more suggestive of a rough ashlar.

If we look at more modern versions of the rough and perfect Ashlars, we see
that although both have a definable shape, the distinction is made where the
sides are pith erfect planes or rough edges. Commonly, the rough ashlar is
described as the rough stone taken straight out of the quarry, but the argument
here is that in order to identify it as the stone that will later be worked upon in
order to become perfected, its cubical form must be recognizable as an
allegorical symbol.

Does this ruined pedestal that Guercino shows bare a relationship to any of the
figures found in the church in RLC? If we look back to an earlier version of
Guercino's work on this theme, I believe there is an answer.

In this work, Apollo Flaying Marsyas, we see the same shepherds again on the
left looking onward to the scene on the right. However, instead of a stone with
a skull on top, we see instead a scene referring to the Myth of Apollo and
Marsyas, wherein during a musical challenge between the two, Marsyas loses.
As punishment for his loss, Apollo ties the satyr Marsyas to a tree and skins
him. This myth, originally a Phrygian myth, was often retold in the ancient
Hellenic world with the character of Pan playing the role as Apollo's rival
instead of Marsyas.

The satyr, being the same as Pan, is defined as creature which is half-human
and half-goat. Both share form with the classical form of the devil: having
hooves, horns and the body of a human. A commonly held belief is that Pan
was one of the main influences for the largely Christian depiction of the Devil.
The pagan god of the pastoral lands essentially became demonized by the
church. It seems natural then to assume that the figure of the Devil in the
Church at RLC is being used to represent a character similar, as a device, to
that of Pan.

The trajectory being suggested here is that Guercino created the first work with
Marsyas being flayed by Apollo, symbolizing the separation of the animal skin
from the human character, by the light and truth of solar Apollo. Guercino later
updated this motif with a second version replacing Apollo and the satyr with a
skull and rough stone. If it seems like too much of a stretch to make these
lateral associations, the leap from the satyr, Marsyas, to the rough stone, to
Asmodeus is perhaps not as far off as we might imagine.

Turning to the following passage in Fulcanelli's Mystery of the Cathedrals, it is

stated:

"It is thus that the ground plan for a Christian building reveals to us the
qualities of the first matter, and its preparation by the sign of the cross, which
points the way for the alchemist to obtain the First Stone- the corner stone of
the philosophers' Great Work. It is on this stone that Jesus built this Church;
and the medieval freemasons have symbolically followed the divine example.
But before being dressed to serve as a base for the work of Gothic art, as well
as for the philosophical work of art, the rough, impure, gross and unpolished
stone was often given the image of the devil."

The next question is how this "devil", the figure of Pan, or the Satyr Marsyas,
equates to the role of the unrefined character of an individual as proposed by
Masonic symbolism. There are two aspects that can be addressed in this
regard.

The first is in figuring that Pan, the half-man and half-animal represents
humanity in a state of primal innocence in primitive earth. Pan, in this sense,
could be seen as a character with one foot in the lower animal realm and one
foot in the human kingdom so to speak; partially driven by mind and yet prone
to succumbing to its primal or earthly urges.
The other suggests a slightly different read, in which we trace how the fallen
Angel Asmodeus becomes a demon. In this sense, the figure of Asmodeus,
who once was divine, becomes somewhat analagous to the fall of once-divine
humanity, such as in the story of Adam/Eve. Humanity, in its present state
searches for what it once had and lost. As a fallen character, the demon
Asmodeus lacks the perfection of the proper angels and is thus forced to rule
from his lowly, rough and earthly throne. Furthermore, the character of
Asmodeus can be equated with another fallen angel, Azazel, who is found in
the book of Enoch. Both are similarly bound by the angel Raphael and
imprisoned in the desert. "Az," meaning strong or rough, and "el," of God.

If we are comfortable with this definition so far, based largely on the passage of
Fulcanneli, where can we identify the perfect ashlar?

Adoration of the Shepherds by Poussin.

In this scene, depicting the nativity of Christ, we see something that might
appear quite familiar to those having followed the Maranatha and Rennes Le
Chateau story. The kneeling, bearded figure appears quite similar to the
kneeling figure pointing to the tomb in Poussin's Shepherds of Arcadia. But
instead of pointing to a letter on the tomb, the character here bows in
veneration to the "newborn king".

Most intriguing here is the appearance of a perfect stone cube that Joseph's
hand rests on directly above the infant Christ. The suggestion being read here
is a connection between Christ and the Perfect Ashlar. The infant is swaddled
directly below the stone and Joseph's hand is placed on top suggesting the
infant's placement there.

In another nativity scene by Poussin, The Adoration of the Magi, the perfect
stone appears above the infant again. This time, a crown and a vessel of gold
coins sits on top.

If we turn to another visual reference however, this time to western Kabbalah,

there is another sense in which we can find the perfect cubical stone as
representing the symbolic figure of Christ.

On the Kabbalic tree of life, the center, or balancing point of the tree is known
as the Sephirah Tiphareth. In terms of planetary symbolism, Tiphareth
represents the Sun. And yet it Christian Qabala, it is also the position for the
Son, or Christ. The Son, is mystical terms, is that which is produced by the
union of The Superior Mother and The Superior Father and becomes, in a sense
a "bridge" between the higher and lower planes of existence.

If we were to trace the lines surrounding Tiphareth on the tree, we see the form
of a cube there. A perfect cube surrounding the central position of the
symbolic Christ.

The symbolic meaning of Christ, as opposed to the literary or canonized

meaning of the figure has, by many, been used to depict the inner development
of an individual's perfection. Significant portrayal of this esoteric Christian
motif can be found throughout Rosacrucian literature, for further reading.

But is that all there is to it? Have these lessons helped us complete the Great
Mystery, or have we simply reached the extent of the Lesser Mystery? Surely
there is more to discover.

Returning to the church in RLC, as we progress further inside, crossing the

checkered floor, leaving Asmosdeus behind at the door, we advance straight
ahead until meeting the statue of Christ being Baptized by John the Baptist.

As noted on several occasions, the crouching figure of Christ is similar in

posture to the Demon at the door. We can perhaps understand now why the
demon is crouching to the Earth, but as we see the supposedly higher symbol of
Christ is a submissive position, we might begin to form more questions that
finding answers.

Yet as members of the Johannites would have been among the first to point out,
Christ had a forerunner. He was John the Baptist. Knowing that allegorically
Christ falls second to another, and one representing water at that, it is quite
indicative of Kabbalic theme of the plane above Christ and Microprosopus (the
small face); which is the great sea of consciousness, the plane of Briah.

And with this knowledge, turning around to face the door again at the entrance
of the church as we begin to exit, the Demon Asmodeus appears now on our
right.

So to review, we had started with the Rough One, Asmodeus, Azazel, Ash-
modai, the Rough Ash-lar. We then moved forward tracing the development of
the Perfect Ash-lar, through the symbolic Christ. Yet as we noticed a higher
position above Christ, symbolized by Water of John the Baptist, we turn around
to face the Demon again as we depart.

It is important to review the following words in the Maranatha text as it states:

"So high was the prize that Solomon rose the beast of Tobit."

Thus in this sense, perhaps an act of proper restoration is at stake. Though it

may have seemed that the journey was over, it appears that the once fallen
angel may be in need of restitution before it is over. And, if this is the case, the
Daemon Asmodeus would therefore stand to represent not only the Rough
Ashlar of original earth but also something else on another scale. (Remember
the Hermetic Principle of Correspondence; above/below).

If so, what do we have left to work with to figure it out?

There are a few items we haven't fully discussed yet. For one, there is a head.
There is also, a cross. A head on top of Guercino's stone ashlar and two
prominent letters next to where kneeling figure in Poussin's famous tomb is
pointing.

"RC"