This spring season I thought I might spread a bit of thought provoking news, good news, or the gospel. With the wildness of "The Passion" playing and all the various discussions upon Islam, Judaism and Christianity, not to mention the interesting best seller, "The Da Vinci Code", it is time to ground ourselves out a little with wider perspectives. After 43 years of reading the Bible, spending a lifetime studying theology and recently being ordained a bishop in the Knights Templar Church, I offer this information as mere opinion and/or ideas. Ah, spring is in the air and our fancies turn to.

If you know your history you know that the Holy Roman Church accused the Templars of many heresies. Their last grand master, Jacques De Molay, was burned at the stake and the remnants of them were driven overseas, mainly to Scotland. Some declare that these survivors then created "freemasonry". We in America appreciate these remnants as forerunners and writers of our Constitution. The roots of that document lie in a very secretive past, one where the first Templars first came upon hidden archives beneath the Temple of Solomon, in Jerusalem, circa 1090 AD. Bits and pieces of these findings filtered into the public perception for centuries and eventually led to the Brownist revolution, or what we know as the "Pilgrims", in England, another scion of Templar influence.

It seems as though, looking back and connecting the dots, that the Templars found a hidden past that did a kind of "end around" of the New Testament. That is, certain information they garnered was more Old Testament rather than New Testament sourced. The Pilgrims themselves were more grounded in the land of "milk and honey" (shades of the goddess!) theme, too. For some reason, the Templars did not feel that Jesus Christ ever existed.at least not in the context that we think of him living, namely 1st century Palestine. So lets take a divergent course right here and offer some "herstory" on Easter and see if they were on to anything.

Ever wonder why there is no historical date for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? We simply kind of float around a date, sometime in spring. The reason for this is that "Oestre" (the name of a pagan goddess is lent to the estrus cycle for women) or Easter as we know it, is the ancient holiday for the planting of seeds via the goddess. Tied to lunar progressions (this is also of the goddess as menstrual cycles can be linked to moon sequences) Easter then is the "dying and resurrection" of the seed. The new life promises to feed us in the new year, as peaceful agricultural societies would surmise-in the distant past. Additionally Easter eggs symbolize the Great Mother's womb, or cosmic egg. We might say that after many centuries patriarchal man adapted this myth to include the "son of god", dying and resurrecting, as it were. We might see from this broader perspective a sobering view of our Christian holiday. By the way interesting little clues were left in the New Testament about this ancient truth. Namely that "Mary Magdalene" (woman-feminine) finds the tomb (earth) empty of Christ. The seed, in other words, has brought forth new life. She even mistakes "Jesus" for the gardener!! How apropos.

One of the icons of the Knights Templar was the red cross pattee'. We see it nearly everywhere today-on clothes, on cars, billboards, etc. This same cross became the cross of other knightly orders who then colored it their own way. It is the equal-armed cross. Yet very few understand why on earth they adopted this symbol, rather than the cross of crucifixion. After all, they originally called themselves the Poor Military Knights of Christ ! The reason for this is that the red cross was the emblem of the tribe of Benjamin in the Old Testament. Certain members of the first Templars claimed lineage to this tribe. There are some documents that prove this lineage, yet they are not generally available for public viewing. In the Old Testament, Moses gives the tribe of the Benjamin perpetual ownership of Jerusalem. In other words, it seems those Frankish nobles (original Templars) were going to Jerusalem to declare their "rightful" ownership.

Wow, men and what they fight for. When all we might have to do is plant seeds for the new harvest every year, right at the right cycle of the moon, and celebrate "May Day". But that is another article..

David Richarde Bishop of Hawaii

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