October 8, 2025 • 28 mins
Explores the esoteric and symbolic meanings behind biblical relics and narratives, arguing that many religious stories are retellings of older mystical traditions rather than literal historical events. The author, Philip Gardiner, examines connections between the Ark of the Covenant, the Shroud of Turin, and the figure of Mary, suggesting they represent universal concepts of divine connection, inner wisdom, and the feminine divine. Gardiner traces these themes through various ancient cultures, including Egyptian, Indian, and Gnostic traditions, highlighting shared symbolism such as the “ark” as a vessel for divinity, the importance of the number seven, and the serpent as a symbol of enlightenment. The text also touches on secret societies like the Knights Templar and Freemasons, asserting that they have preserved this ancient Gnostic knowledge through their architecture and rituals, particularly concerning the metaphorical building of Solomon's Temple within oneself. Ultimately, the source encourages readers to interpret religious texts through an esoteric lens, seeking inner illumination and a balanced understanding of duality to achieve higher consciousness.
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You can listen and download our episodes for free on more than 10 different platforms:
https://linktr.ee/book_shelter
Get the Book now from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Ark-Shroud-Mary-Untold-Truths/dp/1564149242?&linkCode=ll1&tag=cvthunderx-20&linkId=a4f4236169ae9858d6ce2bf85c79fc30&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right, let's unpack this today. We're embarking on a journey
that sounds like it's ripped straight from an adventure novel,
but it's a very real, very intense, intellectual quest. We're
diving deep into the incredible findings from Philip Gardner's book
The Ark, The Shroud, and Mary, a remarkable exploration of
the untold truths behind some of history's most enigmatic relics. Absolutely,
(00:23):
what's truly fascinating about Gardner himself, and maybe where his
story really begins for us, is his unique background. He
describes himself as an ordinary man, you know, started in
the army, then printing and marketing.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Right, not your typical academic run, not at all.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
But there was this intense inner drive that pushed him
beyond the every day, compelling him towards well profound research
and authorship. And he's very clear about his position. No
ax to grind, no faith to uphold, and no academic
reputation to protect.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And that background is absolutely key, I think because Gardner's
experience in marketing, believe it or not, actually trained his eye.
He started spotting propaganda, you know, the techniques, whether in
ads or as he began to see it in history
books and religious texts.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Ah okay, So he saw the patterns exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
He felt that the coarse standard history books simply no
longer satisfied him. He described as growing intellectual hunger as
a desire for fine wines from exotic locations, a great
metaphor love that. So our mission today is really to
follow his personal story of discovery, almost like a detective
(01:29):
unfolding a grand mystery. He uncovers these startling, sometimes unsettling
connections between the arc of the Covenant, the shroud of Turin,
and the figure of Mary. Right, and we'll see how
these legendary objects through his particular lens reveal a much
deeper sort of internal story about human spirituality.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Exactly. This isn't just about dusty artifacts. It's about how
these symbols might actually be profound maps understanding ourselves.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Maybe precisely, that's the core idea.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So settle in, because we're about to trace Gardner's path
from his initial Aha moments right through to his most
provocative conclusions. Gardner's journey, this whole grand narrative he builds
it really kicked off with a pivotal Aha moment, a
flash of insight that just completely altered his direction.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
M hm.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
He was researching for an earlier book, g Nosus The
Secret of Solomon's Temple Revealed, and he found himself camera
in hand, just wandering through the ancient stones of Winchester Cathedral.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Right Winchester. And it was there, amid centuries of this
incredible medieval artistry, that he first saw a striking carving.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Sure it depicted Moses leading the Israelites, carrying the ark
of the Covenant on those distinctive poles. But get this,
with the Giza Pyramids somehow visible.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
In the background Pyramids in a Winchester carving with Moses.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That's odd, very odd. And what immediately struck Gardener was
the ARC's uncanny similarity to a small reliquary container for
holy relics that he'd previously seen way over at the
Kico's Monastery in Cyprus.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Wow, so huge distance at different times, but similar designs.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Almost identical. The connection was just staring him in the face.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And then on the other side of that same beautifully
carved mausoleum, another image grabbed his attention just as forcefully. Yeah,
this one showed Jesus emerging from a coffer like a
chest which looked remarkably like the very same arc design
he'd just been looking at. Emerging from the arc, yes,
holding across, flanked by praying angels and radiating light from
(03:25):
a vesica pieces. You know, that almond shape symbolizing a
divine doorway or union.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Okay, okay, I see where this is going. And here's
where Gardner had his profound breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Right exactly as.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
He absorbed these two seemingly separate carvings, this powerful realization
just hit him. It connected them into a seamless narrative.
These designs weren't random, They were profoundly interrelated, telling a
coherent story, a story of the New Covenant. So the
arc was He suddenly understood the Ark of the Covenant
represented the Old or perhaps the Lost Covenant, and Jesus
(04:00):
in this symbolic language was emerging from it as the
resurrection of that Testament, a new embodiment of its sacred principles.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Wow, that's some sense.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
He said. The insight was so intense it actually made
him feel nauseous. But it also solidified his path, you know,
it pushed him closer to understanding secret societies, led to
moments of pure elation, but also he claims moments of
fear for my life suggests he felt he was onto
something big, maybe dangerous.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Definitely sounds like it so initially, Like so many people
who've been captivated by the Arc, Gardner's approach was pretty literal,
wasn't it. Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
He set out, as he puts it, to scour the
world for the actual physical object, fueled by all those
popular theories he'd come across. He wasn't alone in that,
of course. People have been looking for centuries.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
For sure, and he diligently investigated theories, including a you know,
really widespread popular idea of the ARC as some kind
of complex battery or weapon, like an ancient super w weapon.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
The death ray idea. Did he test that?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
He did? To really dig into it, He consulted an
electrical expert or friend he just calls Bob, to see
if the biblical dimensions and materials could actually create such
a powerful destructive force.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
What did Bob find?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, Bob's findings kind of deflated the whole death ray myth,
but there were still pretty intriguing. Bob found that, yes,
the ARC might certainly collect an electrical charge if placed
in Jerusalem based on the specs. Uh huh, but that
charge wouldn't be nearly enough to kill anyone. Not a
weapon in that sense, however, the idea that it was
based upon an original battery design, a concept mirrored in
(05:35):
ancient Egyptian arcs often shown with the solar orb that
still held a compelling resonance for Gardner.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So maybe not a weapon, but advanced energy knowledge possibly.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
But this whole initial physical quest it soon revealed its limits.
Gardner would look at something like the Arch of Titus
in Rome, you know, the one depicting porters carrying a
heavy box. Quite possibly the arc out of Jerusalem after
the temple's destruction.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
In eighty seventy, right, historical evidence.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, But for all the historical clues, this kind of
literal pursuit ultimately left him feeling well unsatisfied. He realized
it was missing a far deeper layer. As Gardner himself concluded,
and this is key. No matter how many so called
physical or literal elements to ancient tales I have uncovered,
(06:21):
there is always an esoteric tradition layered on top.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Ah, So the real treasure wasn't the box itself exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
He began to understand it wasn't just physical, there was
something more profound going on.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
That shift, then, from a literal search to this deeper
esoteric meaning is so crucial to understanding Gardner's whole framework.
So following his path, let's turn our attention to the
ancient accounts of Moses in Mount Sinai, Okay. The biblical
story describes God descending in fire and thick cloud making
the mountain quake like crazy. Most of us read this
pretty literally, right, storm, maybe volcano. But Gardner started to
(06:55):
wonder about the symbolic language. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He interpreted this not as like a weather report, it
as a deeply symbolic representation of an inner journey. He
saw the fire as a powerful symbol for enlightenment, you know,
like the tongues of fire at Pentecost Okay, inner fire
and the seventh Day when Moses was called into the cloud.
He connected that to the Bindu, that sort of point
of creative potential often linked to the crown chakra or
(07:19):
the seventh chakra itself in the Hindu Kundalini.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
System Kundalini Wow, connecting traditions there.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Absolutely, he saw it as a model for awakening spiritual energy.
Within the body. For Gardner, this symbolized a profound spiritual awakening,
an internal illumination achieved by figures like Moses and Buddha.
Moses coming down with shining horns, which was likely a
mistranslation of rays of light and illuminated countenance, yeah, was
seen as him connecting directly to his inner divine self.
(07:48):
It was an internal event reflected externally.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
This internal interpretation, then it must shed new light on
the ARC's disappearance, right, because it just vanishes. We know
Josiah put it in Solomon's temple, but it wasn't listed
among the treasurers Cyrus return from Babylon. So where did
it go?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well? Gardner views that popular story, the fable of Jeremiah
hiding the Arc in a magical cave from two Maccabees.
He sees it as more than just a simple tale.
He saw it as a sophisticated propaganda, a narrative device
crafted for its time.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Propaganda.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
How So, he identified Jeremiah as this constant speaker of
the Covenant the Law, and the story strategically links the
Leevites the ARC's traditional guardians, with David representing the royal
lineage tied to the ark. It's about controlling the narrative
of this lost sacred object, not necessarily literal history.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So it wasn't about a real cave, but about maintaining
authority over the idea of the Covenant.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's how Gardner framed it. It shows how even deeply
held religious narratives can be deconstructed as political or spiritual
messaging reshapes how you might look at faith itself.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And this kind of deconstruction led him to the scenes
right that Jewish ascetic sect.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Gardner puts forth a pretty bold idea that this group
actually created what he calls the Jesus fable narrative built
around older mystical tradition created it. That's his argument. He
found they called their Lawgiver Thought, a figure also linked
to Tutankhamon, who fascinatingly had all those arc shaped chests
in his tomb.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Whoa okay.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
In this view, Jesus becomes the new Covenant, not necessarily
a literal person in the traditional sense, but a representation
of a great and powerful light, and Gardner ties that
concept directly to the mysterious image on the shroud of Turin.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
So the shroud image is the light of the New Covenant.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
That's the connection he makes, and it means places like Refidum,
the place of rest where the Israelites camped, become less
about geography and more about symbolic stages in a spiritual journey.
He ultimately concluded, and this sums it up. The ark
is both a metaphysical symbol and a physical representation of
the inner reality. To search for it is similar to
trying to comprehend the mystic's vision.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
It's a profound shift from object to interstate. As Gardner
continued this deep dive, this idea of stones, stones as
sacred containers or symbols of divine connection, it kept popping up,
didn't it.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
It really did. He investigated the Kabiri, these ancient Phrygian deities.
Initially they were venerated as sacred metiorites kept in special
containers basically stellar arcs, like messages from the Cosmos, stellar arcs.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And what's fascinating here is how he connected this ancient
belief system to the Bethel stone of Jacob. Bethel literally
means house of God or maybe shining.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
House, right Jacob's pillar exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And then, in Jewish tradition, Moses's tablets. The actual commandments
are sometimes said to have been meteorites sapphire or shathia, cast.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Down from heaven, so stones from the sky carrying divine law.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
For Gardiner, these celestial stones represent the creative principle of
the universe. They embody the law of the universe itself
and crucially the balance of dualities male and female, higher
and lower worlds, cosmic blueprints.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Basically, this symbolic unders standing then extended powerfully to the
figure of Mary. Didn't it How did he see her
fitting in?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
He saw her as the new Ark of the Covenant,
the christ Carrier, directly mirroring the original ARC's role as
the carrier of God's presence. The shaikina Mary is the ark.
In this interpretation, Mary becomes the embodiment of the world
mother goddess, echoing ancient archetypes like Isis or Hathor. Hathor
was literally the house of Horace, the womb of the
(11:25):
Son of God. It's a universal divine feminine principle being expressed.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So the ark Mary, They're vessels for the divine.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Exactly, this divine location between the opposites, whether it's Hathor's
solar orb held between her horns, or the Lord residing
between the cherubim on the ark. It represents a gateway
to God in the other world. Gardner really emphasizes that
the physical objects, you know, the boxes, the statues, while compelling,
are ultimately incidental. The true universal message, he argues, is
(11:55):
that God is inside us, a classic gnostic truth.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That internal message also came through powerfully in his look
at sacred geometry. Right, the whole man is the measure
of all things idea.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yes, absolutely. He examined symbols like the point within a
circle used in freemasonry. Think of it like the sun
at the center of the solar system.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
For him, this wasn't just abstract geometry. It was a
potent symbol of light, enlightenment, wisdom, even linked to the
shape of things like a conical wizard's hat signifying focused wisdom.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
And this connects to buildings too, definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The very architecture of Solomon's Temple with its seven levels
Gardiner saw not just as a physical building, but as
a symbolic spiral staircase leading towards wisdom. It directly reflects
the body's Kundalini energy system with its seven chakras or
energy centers.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So the temple is a map for self improvement.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
A blueprint for a process of self improvement geared towards
achieving inner enlightenment. That's the idea.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
It gets even more astonishing when we look at the numbers,
the dimensions. He found, even Noah's arc, the dimensions given
three hundred by fifty by thirty cubits. They amazingly follow
the golden section, that divine proportion found everywhere in nature
and art, and Gardner notes this mirrors the proportions of
the human body, the Earth, even the greater Cosmos. He
even found calculation suggesting the arc of the Covenant's perimeter
(13:14):
one hundred and forty four inches and its volume somehow
matched the Earth's circumference in miles, which is.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Just mind boggling. If true, it suggests an intentional, profound
connection between the sacred objects and the universe itself.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So the arc wasn't just a box.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It transforms or understanding. It emphasizes that the arc was
potentially seen as a portal to a higher plane of existence,
to a higher consciousness, mankind's continuous, maybe inherent search for
the divine, for universal truth, seems perpetuated and coded to
these sacred ratios and dimensions found in objects and structures
across the globe, guiding us inward.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Gardner's investigation into the ARC's ancient origins eventually led him
deep into ancient Egypt, didn't it?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Oh, yes, Egypt to central He describes how Tuticcument's dok Do,
for example, contained literally dozens of arc shaped chests, yes,
strikingly similar inform to the Biblical arc, complete with winged
mythical figures that look an awful lot like Cherubim. The blueprint,
it seems, was already there long before.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Moses, so the design wasn't unique to the Israelites.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Not, according to Gardner. And these Egyptian barcays, like the
sacred boat of the God Ammun, weren't just static objects.
They were actually paraded on poles, just like the Ark
of the Covenant.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Was carried huh, just like the Bible describes exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Gardner argued that Egyptian temples themselves were understood as miniature
representations of the universe. This suggests that the Tabernacle and
its sacred furnishings, far from being uniquely revealed, were actually
adaptations of much older, deeply rooted Egyptian mysticism and cosmic understanding.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
He even drew a pretty compelling, maybe provocative connection between
Moses and the pharaoh Acanatan.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Right, Akanan, the Shining One pharaoh who famously worshiped the
Ed in a kind of inner sun, a radical monotheistic
idea for Egypt at the time.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So what's the connection to Moses?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Gardner posits that Akanatan's revolutionary reforms, his focus on this
single light source and his subsequent banishment, well, it could
dramatically align with the biblical narrative of Moses and the Exodus.
He suggests the foundational stories of Israel might actually be
profound adaptations of these older Egyptian upheavals and spiritual shifts.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Wow, Okay, that reframes things significantly.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
And what's really fascinating here is the universality. Gardner found
these concepts weren't just Egypt and Israel. They echoed across cultures.
He unearthed the Indian Arga, a copper vessel symbolizing the
Mother Goddess giving birth to enlightenment.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
An Indian arc equivalent in a way.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
This vessel was crescent moon shaped and it featured a
solar linga, a sacred zimbol representing the divine masculine, often
paired with a feminine yoni for cosmic union, and this,
he noted, is mirrored conceptually in the annual Juggernaut festival.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
In India with the huge chariots.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yes, we're a massive rothas or chariots, Carrie Jigamath, the
Lord of the World, revered wooden deity. It's another form
of carrying the divine presence.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
He also connected this kind of symbolism to the Song
of Solomon in the Bible, didn't he He did.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
He interprets it not as a literal love song between
a king and queen, but as a deeply esoteric fable
about the union of opposites, the divine, masculine and feminine
principles leading to inner enlightenment.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So Solomon, the Temple, the Queen of Sheba, they become symbols.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Exactly symbolic figures in a spiritual allegory. In this light,
even the Juggernaut images are seen as replica of divinities
realized above physical and mental consciousness, tangible representations of transcendent states.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And this ties into trees as well.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yes, sacred trees, like the acacia wood the arc was
supposedly made from or Krishna, often being symbolized as would.
Gardner sees these as symbolic spines of man acting as
gateways between worlds, echoing ancient myths like the Tree of
Life or the World Tree.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It's all interconnected.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It seems to be the vedas the ancient Indian scriptures
considered eternal or like Acocic records, predate Hebrew scriptures, but
reveal this consistent thread of shared ancient wisdom, and even
the name Moses itself in its esoteric Egyptian sense, might
mean one who has been admitted into the mystery schools
of wisdom, painting him more as an initiate.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
He extends this pattern to the New Testament too, with Lazarus.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Right, he identifies Lazarus with Alsar or Osiris, the Egyptian
god resurrected from the other world, the Duat, which is
also seen as the womb. It highlights a universal birth,
death and rebirth ritual found across many.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Cultures, and Mariam drawing Moses from the Nile, Mary conceiving Jesus.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
It's a continual pattern, As Gardner puts it of this
esoteric language. It emphasizes the symbolic initiation over literal historical events.
It's a code hidden in plain sight.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Moving deeper into these hidden meanings, Gardner brings up the
Sufiji baraka. What's that about?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Right? Baraka often translated simply as blessing or good luck,
but its deeper meaning is more like breath of life
or essence of life, a kind of spiritual energy or
divine grace.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Okay, spiritual energy.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And Gardner saw how this word baraka is actually the
root from which the French bark and Italian barka, both
meaning boat or arc, directly derive. It connects that ancient
spiritual power concept to the very vessels, the arcs that
carry sacred meaning.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Wow. The word itself holds the connection.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
He then meticulously explained the ancient Egyptian concepts of the
ba our personality or maybe soul, and the ka our
life force, our spiritual double or vital essence bah in ka.
For Gardner, the union of these two, the baraca connecting
to Ra, the Sun God, the divine source, constitutes the
true blessing, the ultimate integration of the self with divine energy.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So mummification In this.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Context, mummification wasn't just about preserving a dead body. It
was about preparing the physical vessel for the ka to
eventually reunite with Ra, the Dowaiian source of light and life.
This powerful connection led him to consider the Shroud of
Turin itself as a kind of baraka or arc, a
container imprinted with profound spiritual energy.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
The shroud as an arc. That's a powerful image. And
this baraka concept extends elsewhere too, globally.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yes, the Kaba at Mecca, for instance, Gardner sees it
as a location of universal baraka energy. It has a
sacred stone at its center, believed by Muslims to be
from heaven, possibly a meteorite, and his dimensions are even
said by some traditions to match Solomon's temple, and the
circling the circumnavigation the Toaf is seen as emulating the
(19:40):
movement of stars around a cosmic pole, connecting the worshipper
directly to the universal flow of divine energy, drawing in
that baraka.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So this raises a big question, who were the keepers
of such profound secrets over the centuries?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Right, Gardener dels into secret societies like the Freemasons. They
trace their craft, their kinning or cunning wisdom back to
ancient builders like Bizilliel, who built a tabernacle, and Hirambif,
architect of Solomon's temple, and he links these figures to
ancient serpent deities, symbols not of evil, but often of wisdom,
healing and cyclical rebirth.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Serpent wisdom and their deity.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Their composite Jabalan deity is fascinating. It seems to combine
Hebrew jaw for Yahweh, Babylonian bull or ball, and Egyptian
on a center of son worship solar gods, signifying perhaps
a unified source of light and wisdom that transcends any
single tradition.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And then there are the Knights Templar, always mysterious, always.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
He explores the story of the Nine Knights who famously
excavated beneath Solomon's Temple mount for nine years, and many
believed they unearthed and carry profound secrets back to Europe, secrets,
some argue, sparked the whole Gothic architectural revolution with its
sacred geometry.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
And they were accused of worshiping baphamet right, a sacred head.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yes, accused of worshiping a sacred head, Baphomet, and also
the Serpent, urther linking them, in Gardner's view, to these ancient,
often suppressed, pre Christian traditions of wisdom and esoteric knowledge
that he found woven through history.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
What about the shemir that sounds like something out of fantasy.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
The shmir this miraculous worm or maybe serpent power said
to effortlessly cut the stones for Solomon's temple without metal tools.
For Gardner, it symbolizes something truly remarkable, the sheer power
of the mind directly from the inner divine mind ever matter. Essentially,
it suggests that the true temple of the wise we're
meant to build isn't an external structure of stone, but
(21:35):
ourselves constructed through inner strength, focused will, and spiritual awakening.
The shamir represents the philosopher's stone within us. The power
for transformation is internal.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Okay, back to the ark itself. Those biblical death rays
the idea that it killed people who touched it improperly.
How does Gardner interpret that? It seems so literal.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
It does seem literal, but Gardner connected it to more
esoteric interpretations, even mentioning things like spontaneous human combustion, a
controversial idea, sure, but rooted in the concept of extreme
internal energies. Perhaps being unleashed uncontrollably.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Mm. A bit out there maybe, but fits the energy theme.
What about the holy.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Oil ah, the anointing oil. He noted that this special
oil used for anointing the tabernacles, furniture, and the priests
didn't just confer holiness in a symbolic way. The texts
imply that it also somehow protected them from the ARC's
terrible death.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Protected them.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
This oil, called crest or chrism, in some context, was
said to make one anointed or illuminated. It signified achieving
a state of spiritual balance and protection, maybe creating a
kind of energetic buffer. It imbued them with a sacred connection,
making them compatible with the ARC's power.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
You know what Gardner uncovered next about that oil, It
really made me rethink everything. It's quite startling. One He
found that the ingredients of holy oil, as listed right
there in Exodus, included something called canna buzzom. Now that's
often translated as fragrant can or calamus. However, in its
singular form cannabus, it sounds remarkably almost exactly like cannabis.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Cannabis in the Holy oil.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
That's the argument. It wasn't just a linguistic curiosity. For Gardner,
he saw a strong evidence suggesting the ancient sanctioned use
of a psychoactive substance, its purpose perhaps inducing altered states
of consciousness, allowing priests to feel as if they were
literally talking with God.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Wow, that would certainly change the dynamic of those encounters.
And this idea of altered states, it doesn't stop there,
does it. What about the burning bush exactly?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Graham Phillips in his book The Moses Legacies suggests Moses'
legendary burning bush might actually have been to tourist ammonium
the thorn apple plant de Torah.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
That's a powerful eleucinogen.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Extremely Phillips notes it was known to be used by
Etamite priests in that region to induce visions what they
experienced as the voice of their God. And importantly, Detura
intoxication apparently causes a fiery hot taste and burning sensations internally.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Which matches the biblical description remarkably well. It completely transforms
that famous narrative from miracle to induced mystical experience.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Even the Shroud of Turin this object of intense scientific debate,
this physical enigma, Gardener found a way to fit it
into this narrative of inner transformation and energy. How So,
through the carbon dating issues, partly, he highlights the work
of doctor Leoncio Garzivaldez, who discovered a bioplastic coating on
ancient artifacts, apparently caused by bacteria that garz of Aaldez
(24:30):
claims skewed carbon dating results significantly.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Okay, so the dating might be wrong, but the image.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Gardener theorized that this bioplastic coating perhaps combined with an
increased body temperature resulting from states of ecstasy or profound enlightenment. Well,
this combination could potentially explain the shroud's mysterious image, not
as a simple contact print, but as an emanation, an
energetic imprint from a body undergoing a powerful spiritual or
psychological transformation.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
An emanation. So what does this all really mean for us?
How does Gardner tie it all together?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
He connects it profoundly to modern accounts of out of
body experiences, OBEs and near death experiences and ease. People
report consistently they report experiencing incredibly bright lights, feelings of
intense heat or energy, increased body temperature, and crucially, they
often emerge from these experiences utterly changed, with a deep
(25:23):
psychological transformation, a feeling they describe as a kind of
resurrection into a new understanding of themselves and the universe.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So the physical artifact like the shroud becomes a mirror
or maybe evidence of an intense inner process. Yeah, a
potential link between mystical states and physical effects.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That seems to be exactly Gardner's point. The external relics
point towards internal realities. My search for the art well
our deep dive today. It began, like many people's fascination,
a quest for a physical object, right, a historical relic,
maybe gold plated that I hoped would unlike ancient secrets.
But what I discovered following Gardner's incredible journey through the
symbols was far more profound. The ark, the shroud, Marry. Indeed,
(26:04):
all these powerful resonance symbols, they are not ultimately about
external historical objects or figures, are they? They are instead
maps for an inner journey. Beautifully put, they seem to
embody the gnostic concept of the ship of light carrying
the light of truth. The light of wisdom, revealing the
real you that's hidden beneath our everyday personalities, our egos,
(26:25):
and this.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Deep dive into Gardner's work, it really reveals that the
true contents of the arc, the real treasure, is found
in neutrality, in achieving balance, in that profound harmony of
offices we talked.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
About, like the point within the circle.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Exactly our ancestors, he chose, quite compellingly experienced these mystical truths,
these deep spiritual awakenings, and they meticulously attempted to encode them.
They put them into physical forms, into sacred ratios in buildings,
and into universal symbols that cross.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Cultures, so we can access this wisdom today.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
That's the implication pplight this ancient wisdom to our lives,
not by digging in the desert for a lost box,
but by becoming conscious of our own inner world, conscious
of our desires, balancing the good and the bad within us,
and continuously striving for self improvement. It's like an alchemical
process burning away all the parts of ourselves that are
not truly us.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
It sounds like the ancient texts, from the Bible to
the Koran to the Vadis. Gardner suggests they all hold
these simple, profound truths, but they've been obscured.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Obscured, he argues, by centuries of confusing, narrow minded literalisms,
often imposed by institutions perhaps more interested in control than enlightenment.
So the advice is we're encouraged to maybe ignore guides with,
as he puts it, blood on their hands, those who
preach division or dogma, and instead, just as the ancient
Greek philosophers implored centuries ago, listen to your own guide,
(27:52):
your inner wisdom, your intuition, that spark within, that feels.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Like the very essence of Gardner's remarkable journey and his
ultimate find the power of the divine within. It's all
about our inner illumination, isn't it accessing the gateway to
the divine mind that resides inside each of us.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Absolutely, it really asks you, the listener, to expand your mind,
to realize that our ancestors were far more complex, far
more intelligent and intuitively connected to the universe than perhaps
we've ever imagined. They left us this profound legacy, not
of objects, but of self discovery.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
So the provocative thought for you to maul over after
this deep dive, if the greatest treasures, the real arc,
the real shroud, the real divine spark, are truly within us,
just waiting to be uncovered. What forgotten wisdom are you
ready to explore and maybe resurrect in your own deep
dive
Right, let's unpack this today. We're embarking on a journey
that sounds like it's ripped straight from an adventure novel,
but it's a very real, very intense, intellectual quest. We're
diving deep into the incredible findings from Philip Gardner's book
The Ark, The Shroud, and Mary, a remarkable exploration of
the untold truths behind some of history's most enigmatic relics. Absolutely,
(00:23):
what's truly fascinating about Gardner himself, and maybe where his
story really begins for us, is his unique background. He
describes himself as an ordinary man, you know, started in
the army, then printing and marketing.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Right, not your typical academic run, not at all.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
But there was this intense inner drive that pushed him
beyond the every day, compelling him towards well profound research
and authorship. And he's very clear about his position. No
ax to grind, no faith to uphold, and no academic
reputation to protect.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And that background is absolutely key, I think because Gardner's
experience in marketing, believe it or not, actually trained his eye.
He started spotting propaganda, you know, the techniques, whether in
ads or as he began to see it in history
books and religious texts.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Ah okay, So he saw the patterns exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
He felt that the coarse standard history books simply no
longer satisfied him. He described as growing intellectual hunger as
a desire for fine wines from exotic locations, a great
metaphor love that. So our mission today is really to
follow his personal story of discovery, almost like a detective
(01:29):
unfolding a grand mystery. He uncovers these startling, sometimes unsettling
connections between the arc of the Covenant, the shroud of Turin,
and the figure of Mary. Right, and we'll see how
these legendary objects through his particular lens reveal a much
deeper sort of internal story about human spirituality.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Exactly. This isn't just about dusty artifacts. It's about how
these symbols might actually be profound maps understanding ourselves.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Maybe precisely, that's the core idea.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So settle in, because we're about to trace Gardner's path
from his initial Aha moments right through to his most
provocative conclusions. Gardner's journey, this whole grand narrative he builds
it really kicked off with a pivotal Aha moment, a
flash of insight that just completely altered his direction.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
M hm.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
He was researching for an earlier book, g Nosus The
Secret of Solomon's Temple Revealed, and he found himself camera
in hand, just wandering through the ancient stones of Winchester Cathedral.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Right Winchester. And it was there, amid centuries of this
incredible medieval artistry, that he first saw a striking carving.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Sure it depicted Moses leading the Israelites, carrying the ark
of the Covenant on those distinctive poles. But get this,
with the Giza Pyramids somehow visible.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
In the background Pyramids in a Winchester carving with Moses.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That's odd, very odd. And what immediately struck Gardener was
the ARC's uncanny similarity to a small reliquary container for
holy relics that he'd previously seen way over at the
Kico's Monastery in Cyprus.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Wow, so huge distance at different times, but similar designs.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Almost identical. The connection was just staring him in the face.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And then on the other side of that same beautifully
carved mausoleum, another image grabbed his attention just as forcefully. Yeah,
this one showed Jesus emerging from a coffer like a
chest which looked remarkably like the very same arc design
he'd just been looking at. Emerging from the arc, yes,
holding across, flanked by praying angels and radiating light from
(03:25):
a vesica pieces. You know, that almond shape symbolizing a
divine doorway or union.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Okay, okay, I see where this is going. And here's
where Gardner had his profound breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Right exactly as.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
He absorbed these two seemingly separate carvings, this powerful realization
just hit him. It connected them into a seamless narrative.
These designs weren't random, They were profoundly interrelated, telling a
coherent story, a story of the New Covenant. So the
arc was He suddenly understood the Ark of the Covenant
represented the Old or perhaps the Lost Covenant, and Jesus
(04:00):
in this symbolic language was emerging from it as the
resurrection of that Testament, a new embodiment of its sacred principles.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Wow, that's some sense.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
He said. The insight was so intense it actually made
him feel nauseous. But it also solidified his path, you know,
it pushed him closer to understanding secret societies, led to
moments of pure elation, but also he claims moments of
fear for my life suggests he felt he was onto
something big, maybe dangerous.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Definitely sounds like it so initially, Like so many people
who've been captivated by the Arc, Gardner's approach was pretty literal,
wasn't it. Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
He set out, as he puts it, to scour the
world for the actual physical object, fueled by all those
popular theories he'd come across. He wasn't alone in that,
of course. People have been looking for centuries.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
For sure, and he diligently investigated theories, including a you know,
really widespread popular idea of the ARC as some kind
of complex battery or weapon, like an ancient super w weapon.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
The death ray idea. Did he test that?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
He did? To really dig into it, He consulted an
electrical expert or friend he just calls Bob, to see
if the biblical dimensions and materials could actually create such
a powerful destructive force.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
What did Bob find?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, Bob's findings kind of deflated the whole death ray myth,
but there were still pretty intriguing. Bob found that, yes,
the ARC might certainly collect an electrical charge if placed
in Jerusalem based on the specs. Uh huh, but that
charge wouldn't be nearly enough to kill anyone. Not a
weapon in that sense, however, the idea that it was
based upon an original battery design, a concept mirrored in
(05:35):
ancient Egyptian arcs often shown with the solar orb that
still held a compelling resonance for Gardner.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So maybe not a weapon, but advanced energy knowledge possibly.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
But this whole initial physical quest it soon revealed its limits.
Gardner would look at something like the Arch of Titus
in Rome, you know, the one depicting porters carrying a
heavy box. Quite possibly the arc out of Jerusalem after
the temple's destruction.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
In eighty seventy, right, historical evidence.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, But for all the historical clues, this kind of
literal pursuit ultimately left him feeling well unsatisfied. He realized
it was missing a far deeper layer. As Gardner himself concluded,
and this is key. No matter how many so called
physical or literal elements to ancient tales I have uncovered,
(06:21):
there is always an esoteric tradition layered on top.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Ah, So the real treasure wasn't the box itself exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
He began to understand it wasn't just physical, there was
something more profound going on.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
That shift, then, from a literal search to this deeper
esoteric meaning is so crucial to understanding Gardner's whole framework.
So following his path, let's turn our attention to the
ancient accounts of Moses in Mount Sinai, Okay. The biblical
story describes God descending in fire and thick cloud making
the mountain quake like crazy. Most of us read this
pretty literally, right, storm, maybe volcano. But Gardner started to
(06:55):
wonder about the symbolic language. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He interpreted this not as like a weather report, it
as a deeply symbolic representation of an inner journey. He
saw the fire as a powerful symbol for enlightenment, you know,
like the tongues of fire at Pentecost Okay, inner fire
and the seventh Day when Moses was called into the cloud.
He connected that to the Bindu, that sort of point
of creative potential often linked to the crown chakra or
(07:19):
the seventh chakra itself in the Hindu Kundalini.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
System Kundalini Wow, connecting traditions there.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Absolutely, he saw it as a model for awakening spiritual energy.
Within the body. For Gardner, this symbolized a profound spiritual awakening,
an internal illumination achieved by figures like Moses and Buddha.
Moses coming down with shining horns, which was likely a
mistranslation of rays of light and illuminated countenance, yeah, was
seen as him connecting directly to his inner divine self.
(07:48):
It was an internal event reflected externally.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
This internal interpretation, then it must shed new light on
the ARC's disappearance, right, because it just vanishes. We know
Josiah put it in Solomon's temple, but it wasn't listed
among the treasurers Cyrus return from Babylon. So where did
it go?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well? Gardner views that popular story, the fable of Jeremiah
hiding the Arc in a magical cave from two Maccabees.
He sees it as more than just a simple tale.
He saw it as a sophisticated propaganda, a narrative device
crafted for its time.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Propaganda.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
How So, he identified Jeremiah as this constant speaker of
the Covenant the Law, and the story strategically links the
Leevites the ARC's traditional guardians, with David representing the royal
lineage tied to the ark. It's about controlling the narrative
of this lost sacred object, not necessarily literal history.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
So it wasn't about a real cave, but about maintaining
authority over the idea of the Covenant.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's how Gardner framed it. It shows how even deeply
held religious narratives can be deconstructed as political or spiritual
messaging reshapes how you might look at faith itself.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And this kind of deconstruction led him to the scenes
right that Jewish ascetic sect.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Gardner puts forth a pretty bold idea that this group
actually created what he calls the Jesus fable narrative built
around older mystical tradition created it. That's his argument. He
found they called their Lawgiver Thought, a figure also linked
to Tutankhamon, who fascinatingly had all those arc shaped chests
in his tomb.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Whoa okay.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
In this view, Jesus becomes the new Covenant, not necessarily
a literal person in the traditional sense, but a representation
of a great and powerful light, and Gardner ties that
concept directly to the mysterious image on the shroud of Turin.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
So the shroud image is the light of the New Covenant.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
That's the connection he makes, and it means places like Refidum,
the place of rest where the Israelites camped, become less
about geography and more about symbolic stages in a spiritual journey.
He ultimately concluded, and this sums it up. The ark
is both a metaphysical symbol and a physical representation of
the inner reality. To search for it is similar to
trying to comprehend the mystic's vision.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
It's a profound shift from object to interstate. As Gardner
continued this deep dive, this idea of stones, stones as
sacred containers or symbols of divine connection, it kept popping up,
didn't it.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
It really did. He investigated the Kabiri, these ancient Phrygian deities.
Initially they were venerated as sacred metiorites kept in special
containers basically stellar arcs, like messages from the Cosmos, stellar arcs.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And what's fascinating here is how he connected this ancient
belief system to the Bethel stone of Jacob. Bethel literally
means house of God or maybe shining.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
House, right Jacob's pillar exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
And then, in Jewish tradition, Moses's tablets. The actual commandments
are sometimes said to have been meteorites sapphire or shathia, cast.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Down from heaven, so stones from the sky carrying divine law.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
For Gardiner, these celestial stones represent the creative principle of
the universe. They embody the law of the universe itself
and crucially the balance of dualities male and female, higher
and lower worlds, cosmic blueprints.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Basically, this symbolic unders standing then extended powerfully to the
figure of Mary. Didn't it How did he see her
fitting in?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
He saw her as the new Ark of the Covenant,
the christ Carrier, directly mirroring the original ARC's role as
the carrier of God's presence. The shaikina Mary is the ark.
In this interpretation, Mary becomes the embodiment of the world
mother goddess, echoing ancient archetypes like Isis or Hathor. Hathor
was literally the house of Horace, the womb of the
(11:25):
Son of God. It's a universal divine feminine principle being expressed.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So the ark Mary, They're vessels for the divine.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Exactly, this divine location between the opposites, whether it's Hathor's
solar orb held between her horns, or the Lord residing
between the cherubim on the ark. It represents a gateway
to God in the other world. Gardner really emphasizes that
the physical objects, you know, the boxes, the statues, while compelling,
are ultimately incidental. The true universal message, he argues, is
(11:55):
that God is inside us, a classic gnostic truth.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
That internal message also came through powerfully in his look
at sacred geometry. Right, the whole man is the measure
of all things idea.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yes, absolutely. He examined symbols like the point within a
circle used in freemasonry. Think of it like the sun
at the center of the solar system.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
For him, this wasn't just abstract geometry. It was a
potent symbol of light, enlightenment, wisdom, even linked to the
shape of things like a conical wizard's hat signifying focused wisdom.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
And this connects to buildings too, definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The very architecture of Solomon's Temple with its seven levels
Gardiner saw not just as a physical building, but as
a symbolic spiral staircase leading towards wisdom. It directly reflects
the body's Kundalini energy system with its seven chakras or
energy centers.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So the temple is a map for self improvement.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
A blueprint for a process of self improvement geared towards
achieving inner enlightenment. That's the idea.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
It gets even more astonishing when we look at the numbers,
the dimensions. He found, even Noah's arc, the dimensions given
three hundred by fifty by thirty cubits. They amazingly follow
the golden section, that divine proportion found everywhere in nature
and art, and Gardner notes this mirrors the proportions of
the human body, the Earth, even the greater Cosmos. He
even found calculation suggesting the arc of the Covenant's perimeter
(13:14):
one hundred and forty four inches and its volume somehow
matched the Earth's circumference in miles, which is.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Just mind boggling. If true, it suggests an intentional, profound
connection between the sacred objects and the universe itself.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So the arc wasn't just a box.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It transforms or understanding. It emphasizes that the arc was
potentially seen as a portal to a higher plane of existence,
to a higher consciousness, mankind's continuous, maybe inherent search for
the divine, for universal truth, seems perpetuated and coded to
these sacred ratios and dimensions found in objects and structures
across the globe, guiding us inward.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Gardner's investigation into the ARC's ancient origins eventually led him
deep into ancient Egypt, didn't it?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Oh, yes, Egypt to central He describes how Tuticcument's dok Do,
for example, contained literally dozens of arc shaped chests, yes,
strikingly similar inform to the Biblical arc, complete with winged
mythical figures that look an awful lot like Cherubim. The blueprint,
it seems, was already there long before.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Moses, so the design wasn't unique to the Israelites.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Not, according to Gardner. And these Egyptian barcays, like the
sacred boat of the God Ammun, weren't just static objects.
They were actually paraded on poles, just like the Ark
of the Covenant.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Was carried huh, just like the Bible describes exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Gardner argued that Egyptian temples themselves were understood as miniature
representations of the universe. This suggests that the Tabernacle and
its sacred furnishings, far from being uniquely revealed, were actually
adaptations of much older, deeply rooted Egyptian mysticism and cosmic understanding.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
He even drew a pretty compelling, maybe provocative connection between
Moses and the pharaoh Acanatan.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Right, Akanan, the Shining One pharaoh who famously worshiped the
Ed in a kind of inner sun, a radical monotheistic
idea for Egypt at the time.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So what's the connection to Moses?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Gardner posits that Akanatan's revolutionary reforms, his focus on this
single light source and his subsequent banishment, well, it could
dramatically align with the biblical narrative of Moses and the Exodus.
He suggests the foundational stories of Israel might actually be
profound adaptations of these older Egyptian upheavals and spiritual shifts.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Wow, Okay, that reframes things significantly.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
And what's really fascinating here is the universality. Gardner found
these concepts weren't just Egypt and Israel. They echoed across cultures.
He unearthed the Indian Arga, a copper vessel symbolizing the
Mother Goddess giving birth to enlightenment.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
An Indian arc equivalent in a way.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
This vessel was crescent moon shaped and it featured a
solar linga, a sacred zimbol representing the divine masculine, often
paired with a feminine yoni for cosmic union, and this,
he noted, is mirrored conceptually in the annual Juggernaut festival.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
In India with the huge chariots.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yes, we're a massive rothas or chariots, Carrie Jigamath, the
Lord of the World, revered wooden deity. It's another form
of carrying the divine presence.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
He also connected this kind of symbolism to the Song
of Solomon in the Bible, didn't he He did.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
He interprets it not as a literal love song between
a king and queen, but as a deeply esoteric fable
about the union of opposites, the divine, masculine and feminine
principles leading to inner enlightenment.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So Solomon, the Temple, the Queen of Sheba, they become symbols.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Exactly symbolic figures in a spiritual allegory. In this light,
even the Juggernaut images are seen as replica of divinities
realized above physical and mental consciousness, tangible representations of transcendent states.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And this ties into trees as well.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yes, sacred trees, like the acacia wood the arc was
supposedly made from or Krishna, often being symbolized as would.
Gardner sees these as symbolic spines of man acting as
gateways between worlds, echoing ancient myths like the Tree of
Life or the World Tree.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It's all interconnected.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It seems to be the vedas the ancient Indian scriptures
considered eternal or like Acocic records, predate Hebrew scriptures, but
reveal this consistent thread of shared ancient wisdom, and even
the name Moses itself in its esoteric Egyptian sense, might
mean one who has been admitted into the mystery schools
of wisdom, painting him more as an initiate.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
He extends this pattern to the New Testament too, with Lazarus.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Right, he identifies Lazarus with Alsar or Osiris, the Egyptian
god resurrected from the other world, the Duat, which is
also seen as the womb. It highlights a universal birth,
death and rebirth ritual found across many.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Cultures, and Mariam drawing Moses from the Nile, Mary conceiving Jesus.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
It's a continual pattern, As Gardner puts it of this
esoteric language. It emphasizes the symbolic initiation over literal historical events.
It's a code hidden in plain sight.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Moving deeper into these hidden meanings, Gardner brings up the
Sufiji baraka. What's that about?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Right? Baraka often translated simply as blessing or good luck,
but its deeper meaning is more like breath of life
or essence of life, a kind of spiritual energy or
divine grace.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Okay, spiritual energy.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And Gardner saw how this word baraka is actually the
root from which the French bark and Italian barka, both
meaning boat or arc, directly derive. It connects that ancient
spiritual power concept to the very vessels, the arcs that
carry sacred meaning.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Wow. The word itself holds the connection.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
He then meticulously explained the ancient Egyptian concepts of the
ba our personality or maybe soul, and the ka our
life force, our spiritual double or vital essence bah in ka.
For Gardner, the union of these two, the baraca connecting
to Ra, the Sun God, the divine source, constitutes the
true blessing, the ultimate integration of the self with divine energy.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So mummification In this.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Context, mummification wasn't just about preserving a dead body. It
was about preparing the physical vessel for the ka to
eventually reunite with Ra, the Dowaiian source of light and life.
This powerful connection led him to consider the Shroud of
Turin itself as a kind of baraka or arc, a
container imprinted with profound spiritual energy.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
The shroud as an arc. That's a powerful image. And
this baraka concept extends elsewhere too, globally.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yes, the Kaba at Mecca, for instance, Gardner sees it
as a location of universal baraka energy. It has a
sacred stone at its center, believed by Muslims to be
from heaven, possibly a meteorite, and his dimensions are even
said by some traditions to match Solomon's temple, and the
circling the circumnavigation the Toaf is seen as emulating the
(19:40):
movement of stars around a cosmic pole, connecting the worshipper
directly to the universal flow of divine energy, drawing in
that baraka.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So this raises a big question, who were the keepers
of such profound secrets over the centuries?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Right, Gardener dels into secret societies like the Freemasons. They
trace their craft, their kinning or cunning wisdom back to
ancient builders like Bizilliel, who built a tabernacle, and Hirambif,
architect of Solomon's temple, and he links these figures to
ancient serpent deities, symbols not of evil, but often of wisdom,
healing and cyclical rebirth.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Serpent wisdom and their deity.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Their composite Jabalan deity is fascinating. It seems to combine
Hebrew jaw for Yahweh, Babylonian bull or ball, and Egyptian
on a center of son worship solar gods, signifying perhaps
a unified source of light and wisdom that transcends any
single tradition.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And then there are the Knights Templar, always mysterious, always.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
He explores the story of the Nine Knights who famously
excavated beneath Solomon's Temple mount for nine years, and many
believed they unearthed and carry profound secrets back to Europe, secrets,
some argue, sparked the whole Gothic architectural revolution with its
sacred geometry.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
And they were accused of worshiping baphamet right, a sacred head.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yes, accused of worshiping a sacred head, Baphomet, and also
the Serpent, urther linking them, in Gardner's view, to these ancient,
often suppressed, pre Christian traditions of wisdom and esoteric knowledge
that he found woven through history.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
What about the shemir that sounds like something out of fantasy.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
The shmir this miraculous worm or maybe serpent power said
to effortlessly cut the stones for Solomon's temple without metal tools.
For Gardner, it symbolizes something truly remarkable, the sheer power
of the mind directly from the inner divine mind ever matter. Essentially,
it suggests that the true temple of the wise we're
meant to build isn't an external structure of stone, but
(21:35):
ourselves constructed through inner strength, focused will, and spiritual awakening.
The shamir represents the philosopher's stone within us. The power
for transformation is internal.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Okay, back to the ark itself. Those biblical death rays
the idea that it killed people who touched it improperly.
How does Gardner interpret that? It seems so literal.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
It does seem literal, but Gardner connected it to more
esoteric interpretations, even mentioning things like spontaneous human combustion, a
controversial idea, sure, but rooted in the concept of extreme
internal energies. Perhaps being unleashed uncontrollably.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Mm. A bit out there maybe, but fits the energy theme.
What about the holy.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Oil ah, the anointing oil. He noted that this special
oil used for anointing the tabernacles, furniture, and the priests
didn't just confer holiness in a symbolic way. The texts
imply that it also somehow protected them from the ARC's
terrible death.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Protected them.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
This oil, called crest or chrism, in some context, was
said to make one anointed or illuminated. It signified achieving
a state of spiritual balance and protection, maybe creating a
kind of energetic buffer. It imbued them with a sacred connection,
making them compatible with the ARC's power.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
You know what Gardner uncovered next about that oil, It
really made me rethink everything. It's quite startling. One He
found that the ingredients of holy oil, as listed right
there in Exodus, included something called canna buzzom. Now that's
often translated as fragrant can or calamus. However, in its
singular form cannabus, it sounds remarkably almost exactly like cannabis.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Cannabis in the Holy oil.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
That's the argument. It wasn't just a linguistic curiosity. For Gardner,
he saw a strong evidence suggesting the ancient sanctioned use
of a psychoactive substance, its purpose perhaps inducing altered states
of consciousness, allowing priests to feel as if they were
literally talking with God.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Wow, that would certainly change the dynamic of those encounters.
And this idea of altered states, it doesn't stop there,
does it. What about the burning bush exactly?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Graham Phillips in his book The Moses Legacies suggests Moses'
legendary burning bush might actually have been to tourist ammonium
the thorn apple plant de Torah.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
That's a powerful eleucinogen.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Extremely Phillips notes it was known to be used by
Etamite priests in that region to induce visions what they
experienced as the voice of their God. And importantly, Detura
intoxication apparently causes a fiery hot taste and burning sensations internally.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Which matches the biblical description remarkably well. It completely transforms
that famous narrative from miracle to induced mystical experience.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Even the Shroud of Turin this object of intense scientific debate,
this physical enigma, Gardener found a way to fit it
into this narrative of inner transformation and energy. How So,
through the carbon dating issues, partly, he highlights the work
of doctor Leoncio Garzivaldez, who discovered a bioplastic coating on
ancient artifacts, apparently caused by bacteria that garz of Aaldez
(24:30):
claims skewed carbon dating results significantly.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Okay, so the dating might be wrong, but the image.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Gardener theorized that this bioplastic coating perhaps combined with an
increased body temperature resulting from states of ecstasy or profound enlightenment. Well,
this combination could potentially explain the shroud's mysterious image, not
as a simple contact print, but as an emanation, an
energetic imprint from a body undergoing a powerful spiritual or
psychological transformation.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
An emanation. So what does this all really mean for us?
How does Gardner tie it all together?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
He connects it profoundly to modern accounts of out of
body experiences, OBEs and near death experiences and ease. People
report consistently they report experiencing incredibly bright lights, feelings of
intense heat or energy, increased body temperature, and crucially, they
often emerge from these experiences utterly changed, with a deep
(25:23):
psychological transformation, a feeling they describe as a kind of
resurrection into a new understanding of themselves and the universe.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So the physical artifact like the shroud becomes a mirror
or maybe evidence of an intense inner process. Yeah, a
potential link between mystical states and physical effects.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That seems to be exactly Gardner's point. The external relics
point towards internal realities. My search for the art well
our deep dive today. It began, like many people's fascination,
a quest for a physical object, right, a historical relic,
maybe gold plated that I hoped would unlike ancient secrets.
But what I discovered following Gardner's incredible journey through the
symbols was far more profound. The ark, the shroud, Marry. Indeed,
(26:04):
all these powerful resonance symbols, they are not ultimately about
external historical objects or figures, are they? They are instead
maps for an inner journey. Beautifully put, they seem to
embody the gnostic concept of the ship of light carrying
the light of truth. The light of wisdom, revealing the
real you that's hidden beneath our everyday personalities, our egos,
(26:25):
and this.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Deep dive into Gardner's work, it really reveals that the
true contents of the arc, the real treasure, is found
in neutrality, in achieving balance, in that profound harmony of
offices we talked.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
About, like the point within the circle.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Exactly our ancestors, he chose, quite compellingly experienced these mystical truths,
these deep spiritual awakenings, and they meticulously attempted to encode them.
They put them into physical forms, into sacred ratios in buildings,
and into universal symbols that cross.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Cultures, so we can access this wisdom today.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
That's the implication pplight this ancient wisdom to our lives,
not by digging in the desert for a lost box,
but by becoming conscious of our own inner world, conscious
of our desires, balancing the good and the bad within us,
and continuously striving for self improvement. It's like an alchemical
process burning away all the parts of ourselves that are
not truly us.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
It sounds like the ancient texts, from the Bible to
the Koran to the Vadis. Gardner suggests they all hold
these simple, profound truths, but they've been obscured.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Obscured, he argues, by centuries of confusing, narrow minded literalisms,
often imposed by institutions perhaps more interested in control than enlightenment.
So the advice is we're encouraged to maybe ignore guides with,
as he puts it, blood on their hands, those who
preach division or dogma, and instead, just as the ancient
Greek philosophers implored centuries ago, listen to your own guide,
(27:52):
your inner wisdom, your intuition, that spark within, that feels.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Like the very essence of Gardner's remarkable journey and his
ultimate find the power of the divine within. It's all
about our inner illumination, isn't it accessing the gateway to
the divine mind that resides inside each of us.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Absolutely, it really asks you, the listener, to expand your mind,
to realize that our ancestors were far more complex, far
more intelligent and intuitively connected to the universe than perhaps
we've ever imagined. They left us this profound legacy, not
of objects, but of self discovery.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
So the provocative thought for you to maul over after
this deep dive, if the greatest treasures, the real arc,
the real shroud, the real divine spark, are truly within us,
just waiting to be uncovered. What forgotten wisdom are you
ready to explore and maybe resurrect in your own deep
dive
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