I mentioned in an early post that I had some things to say on the occult. Now I mean occult in the traditional sense, secret or hidden, not the popular notion of occult as something supernatural. Although I promise this is equally magical.
Frank Albo was on CBC radio last Monday talking about his research on the Manitoba Legislature as a model for King Solomon’s Temple. I watched him on CTV’s morning news show a couple of months ago, and every time I hear him speak I’m more and more fascinated with the provincial legislature where I grew up.
The Manitoba Leg is a beautiful building. It looks like a temple, there’s a golden boy on top, the main entrance has a huge staircase that is flanked by two large buffalo. The hallways have little alcoves with marble statues. And, now I’ve learned that there are occult symbols throughout the building.
As an aside–but not really, Winnipeg is pretty much the geographical centre of North America, and the building is sited geographically true north, south, west and east.†For those Da Vinci Code fans, you know that temples and sacred sites are typically found along meridian lines or on other geographically significant points.
The Golden Boy was recently restored to his very shiny golden state. According to Albo, the Golden Boy is Hermes, who represents travel and trade and is the patron of Freemasonry. Ok, nothing occulty about that. The Golden Boy is in plain view. Winnipeg was the gateway to the West. Travel and trade with the grain exchange … so what.
Oh, there are two sphinxes up there as well, and they happen to bear the inscription of the Sun God. And?
Let’s go to the buffalo for a clue. Apparently in temple architecture, the entrance was guarded by horned bulls that warded off evil. Hey ho, we’ve got two horned buffalo at the grand staircase. Objects the masons would have understood to sanctify or ward of evil intent in temples of justice. But to ward off the evil, they need the power of the sun–the positioning of the building allows for shafts of light to enter the room as the sun passes over the sky.
There’s a huge number of symbols and interesting proportions in the building. The whole thing–from the top of the Golden Boy to the bottom of the building–is built according to the Golden Mean, which by the way, is also used in fine book design.
More to come, but in the meantime, have a look at some photos of the interior.
Most important, check out the entrance.