Skull and Bones...a Merchant Thread.

Deep lie the reasons that a symbol such as the Skull and Bones became the symbol of the Merchant Class but they shall be examined here and the full horror revealed and a conspiracy that has transcended time itself. In order to establish what lies behind this curious association it is necessary to first understand the derivation of the term Merchant, what exactly are we talking about here...

Mercurius et proximi

From the antique times the divine-name Mercurius with its variants has been explained on the basis of the words as merx, mercātus "purchase; market", mercātor "merchant, trader", mercēs,"earnings, wage, rent"

Hittite mark- "to divide, separate; distribute, apportion; cut up, butcher" compares directly this verb with Latin merx"trade, goods" and mentions the exclusive parallelism between Latin commercārī "to trade, buy up" vs. Hittite -kan mark-, the term used in the Hittite meat industry

The earliest Indo-European examples of the term are Luwian and Hittite from Anatolia, they relate to butchery and the cutting and dividing of meat, they also relate to a Heptad of Dark Gods of the Earth associated with Death with good reason of course, as the tradition dates back to the earlier Mesolithic hunting parties and the cutting and dividing of the fallen prey.

Hittite Markuwaya- ‘deity in depth of the earth’ this deity is described in its plurality, as a group of servants of one of the ‘main’ gods Iyarri

In the Old Prussian pantheon it is possible to identify the deity *Mark`potis or*Mark`polis ‘god of wealth & nobility’ and / or " earth god"

The hypothetical Indo-Iranian counterparts are limited only to the world of death and destruction: Old Indic Márka- "a demon presiding various sicknesses of childhood; marká- "seizure", i.e. "eclipse (of sun); annihilation, death", mahrka- "death, destruction", marəkaē-čə "and in ruin"

Generally the Markuwaya will be seen as seven and their leader of the hunt Iyarri the eighth as they were symbolized by the stars of Ursa Major and their leader was the Pole Star around which the seven rotated, Celestial North always correlating to the Underworld, that could further be represented by the Swastika it's four arms representing the four directions the constellation describes over the period of a day or the correlation with it describing the four seasons of the year, given the association with death and also the passing of time it could also be represented by the skull and bones.



The Latin Mercury as seen relates directly to this tradition through etymology, the Greek Hermes originally related to a cult of standing stones that marked ancient hunting pathways and later trade routes, these of course plural, this was also indicated through mythology subsidiary to the cult of the hunting God Apollo, were the earlier basis for that name lies in Hurrian Aplu the true heir, in Mesopotamia generally conferred on the death God Nergal.

There was always a distinction maintained between the taboo act of killing and the bringing of food into the heart of the tribal community, at which point the God of the Underworld transforms into a God of fire and light as the food is cooked upon the sacred hearth, Nergal was understood as representing the Sun within the Underworld and Apollo as personifying the full spectrum of darkness towards light.



Given the nature of that distinction drawn the seven Dark Gods became personified as terrible Demonic archetypes and not allowed into the house hold, in Mesopotamia Iyarri is represented by Erra and the Sebitti;

Erra among all the gods, among the stars of heaven, the Fox Star Was shining bright and its radiance shone for him. The stars of all the gods were dazzling, the star of Erra is shining bright and its radiant brightness was of warfare, his awe-inspiring brilliance will blaze and all people will perish. among the beasts, the image of their star is the fox

Raging storms, evil gods are they, ruthless demons, who in heaven's vault were created, are they, workers of evil are they, they lift up the head to evil, every day to evil Destruction to work.

Of these seven the first is the South wind, the second is a dragon, whose mouth is opened that none can measure, the third is a grim leopard, which carries off the young, the fourth is a terrible Shibbu, the fifth is a furious Wolf, who knoweth not to flee, the sixth is a rampant ... which marches against god and king. the seventh is a storm, an evil wind, which takes vengeance.

The Devil and Evil Spirits of Babylonia

It was also the case that they could be conceived of as a double Heptad of fourteen and given each group requiring a leader that making sixteen, the basis for this perhaps lay within that essential dualistic role, so technically a Heptad of darkness and also of light.

The Heptad in Anatolia

In balance to this was also the Heptad of Istar correlating to the stars of the Pleiades and that balance also seen in the cult of Artemis and Apollo, or Telepinu and Inara and these related to the soul generated within physical nature and it's cyclic rebirth through darkness to light, Inara as the sister of the hunter Telepinu was expected to cause the prey to jump into her brothers hunting bag as it were, nature in harmony, and that of course involved respect to Inara as Mistress of the Beasts.

The Skull and Bones as seen in Masonic symbolism then has certainly retained some aspects of these traditions, the association with Celestial North and Ursa Major, the passing of time and certainty of Death, and the principle of Darkness to Light, it has however become entirely the preserve of the Ruling and Merchant Classes, and they divide the spoils of the Earth as they see fit killing any that stand in their way, and giving no respect to Inara or Artemis, they also presume in their larping to play the part of the Gods.

Ironically the early Pirate flags were also likely based upon Masonic symbolism, containing the Hour Glass relating to the passing of time and certainty of Death, the pierced heart indicating separation and the skull and Bones, that constellation which all sailors navigated by though the night, and it was the Merchants itself which were their prey.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

I notice a lot of "hidden hands" in those photos of Skull & Bones members. I would bet that this is no accident.

The Bushes are Skull and Bones members, as is John Kerry.

www.businessinsider.com...-and-bones-didnt-allow-women-until-1991--14

a reply to: FamCore

They are larping as these;



A group of seven and also an eight as leader, the dark and evil sebitti of Babylonia, and that doubled up, but the seventh can be seen as common to both groups and that is Erra the Fox star.



You could also take it that the thirteen thus arranged across the back equate with Christ and his disciples, were one of the disciples was replaced and thus overall that group could be seen as fourteen, but that tradition had an earlier basis as i outlined here in the Marzeah and naturally that was Semitic.

They – the Nabataeans – prepare common meals together in groups of thirteen persons; and they have two girl-singers for each banquet. The king holds many drinking bouts in magnificent style, but no one drinks more than eleven cupfuls, each time using a different golden cup. The king is so democratic that, in addition to serving himself, he sometimes even serves the rest himself in turn’

This elite and privileged group was also understood to assimilate with the Dark Demons of the Underworld, towards empowerment and it's likely they are drawing upon the same Archetypes as the Anatolian Heptad.

In biblical time the spirits called upon were not so much the spirits of the newly deceased as spirits from a far and distant past. The rephaim are little spirits of fertility Like other demons they are living in and moving through "the air" at which they arrive after a 3-day journey from the underworld.

"You are summoned oh rephaim of the underworld" . But apart from the rephaim also some past and present kings are summoned, and the king is invited to descend with Shapshu (the sun) to the underworld. D

It is not possible to deny a strong connection between the often rather rich and lodge-like marzeah institutions in the West Semitic area and the cult of the rephaim invited to marzeah

another great thread op . Skull and Bones seem to get the hat tip for POTU more then one would expect but I have come to think it may be them who also tips others in other secret fraternities ...There is no shortage of them and most seem to like the # 7 ..this is a good vid to check out to the history and locations within the US

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Yes because it's a question of what an Hermetic society actually involves, which is the marking out and establishment of territory through Lodges, the creation of an inter-connected network with it's basis in Mercantile practise, and the division of the profit arising from that distributed among it's Members, those at the centre of the hub are always going to regulate the entire network and also maintain the secrecy regarding the ideological basis.

Sorry for the drive-by post, but I have to say thank you for bringing something worthwhile. I'll read it more thoroughly after work and see what I can add. It's also nice to have someone else here that is critical of the Masons. History would not be the way it is without their direct influence.

S+F

a reply to: Kantzveldt

I can't help but think that this merchant thread is related to the G20 going on.

In balance to this was also the Heptad of Istar correlating to the stars of the Pleiades and that balance also seen in the cult of Artemis and Apollo, or Telepinu and Inara and these related to the soul generated within physical nature and it's cyclic rebirth through darkness to light, Inara as the sister of the hunter Telepinu was expected to cause the prey to jump into her brothers hunting bag as it were, nature in harmony, and that of course involved respect to Inara as Mistress of the Beasts.

Once upon a time, in my younger days, I came home to find my step-mom putting the final touches on a pheasant before placing it in the oven. When I asked where she had gotten the pheasant, she relayed the story that my younger brother had been walking on a dirt road. Approximately 20 yards in front of him, the pheasant flushed, then a coyote jumped up and grabbed the pheasant out of the air. My brother chased the coyote away and retrieved the pheasant and brought it home.

Coyotes are some of the natural indigenous inhabitants of North America, having actually evolved here to be coyotes, as apposed to humans who have migrated, or descended from migrants here.

A major difference between coyotes and wolves is in their relationship to their prey and competing predators. Coyotes kill to eat. Wolves kill all prey in their inner territory (kind of scorched earth) as a way of preventing other predators of thinking of their inner territory as a good place to hunt.

Coyotes rarely kill competing predators, choosing rather to attempt to chase away, or move their homes in the event they are unsuccessful. Wolves just kill their competition, including other wolf packs. "Territorial fights are among the principal causes of wolf mortality, with one study concluding that 14–65% of wolf deaths in Minnesota and the Denali National Park and Preserve were due to predation by other wolves." wikipedia

a reply to: Kantzveldt

I don't want to send this into a strange direction, but when Comey recollected on his events in the white house, he mentioned the grandfather clock a few times when the reference seemed strange. In all your photo's the grandfather clock seems to be a large symbol of this group. Do you suppose there is any link there?

a reply to: pthena

It takes into account the natural resentments and inclinations on display at the G20 but that is controlled opposition by the very same forces establishing the elite, what is a little petty vandalism compared to providing the pretext for a totalitarian Police state, those people understand nothing though, they are taught neither to discriminate or differentiate and are effectively reduced to beasts themselves, they are the prey.

It's an interesting comparison you make between the Coyote and Wolf, in the case of the Anatolian Heptad there were many localized cults of this, relating to the earlier tribal centres, but of course as greater nations are formed there is an essential competition to retain status and spiritual primacy and to hold that over other Lodges.

All a question of leadership, were the natural leader in Gaelic would be Ai-Pol, the high wanderer, the Pole star.



a reply to: network dude

It certainly has symbolic meaning with regards to the passing of time and certainty of death yet also cyclic continuity, the skull and bones also reflecting such and the primary archetype Ursa Major in it's rotation around Celestial North, in staging every photograph the same they express those principles.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Looks like a good read you have presented here, I'll come back to this thread later when I have more time. But would like to add that much of our legal system is based on mercantile law, it's really quite interesting when you look into it all.

a reply to: surfer_soul

That's true because when the Gold Standard was introduced at Ebla some 4,000 years ago in the form of the Shekel measure this led to debt slavery were a person would literally sell themselves into bondage in order to acquire a lump sum through which they could obtain anything, that required paying back with interest in order to ever be free and also led to the collapse of existing society in regions were adopted.

That required sound accounting and also the drawing up of legally binding contracts, were if you violated the terms you could expect to be blinded and cast aside, thus contractual law is mercantile based, that also led to the Covenant of the Old Testament taking on such a contractual form.

a reply to: Kantzveldt


First applaud for the good read.


Second... can you bring us some backing story material supporting the claim that skull n bones symbol became a symbol for the merchants? On what scale and where, I'm curious about this details as well.


Third. Now... There is nothing common between Mercury and the Mesopotamian deities you mention. On cosmological level that claim does not pass. At all. For me at least (Professional Astrologist).


Forth. The early pirates brought Mesopotamian religious influence to the Latin world, not vice versa. ...If we can believe the history books, ofc.

a reply to: Argentbenign

The skull and bones is naturally a symbol of death, but the point directly equated with death and the Underworld was Celestial North, and the crossing of the thigh bones towards indicating four directions correlates with Ursa Major also involving that symbolic function, the four directions indicate not only cyclic progression through the four quarters of the day and four quarters of the year, but also cyclic progression through death and rebirth, that doesn't make it a symbol of merchants per se only that their origins related to the general principles correlated to Ursa Major, hunting and butchery leading to cyclic re-distribution within nature, and that seen within the etymology of Mercury itself.

Mercury was literally the term that relates to this process and the best correspondence is through the Anatolian early Indo-European Markuwaya which do directly relate to the stars of Ursa Major and therefore death, the Mesopotamian Nergal is the God of the underworld and bringer of death and the closest equivalent therefore, you need to make your reservations more specific however.

Also i'm not sure which early pirates you're referring to, those of Cillicia...?

a reply to: Kantzveldt

The connection you make is logical, however I say on cosmological level Mercury can never be connected to Nergal. Thus if a secret society tries to use it in worship or ritual in that manner posed, it will be quite unsucesfull.


Maybe the connection you make are due to the fact that it was common in many societies in history, their deities to change their attributes, purpose and characteristics, confusing the population and future historians about which is what. As well, this acts would slowly ruin the religion itself, because once a deity is given a name its cosmological(understand astral) counterpart binds like an incarnated soul in human body. When you change its attributes you must change the name as well, or you'll have very strange cocktail to work with.

The piracy period I refer is 500-300 B.C, at that time in the Greek culture are brought a lot of Babylonian deities exactly by pirates of the Mediterranean.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Merely linking information about mercantile deities while posting photos of the Skull and Bones club doesn't connect them appropriately. Though they can be connected, it's tenuous and I'm afraid you misinterpreted the symbolism completely.

The Skull and Bones symbolism (along with the grandfather clock) are referring to:
TIME,
LIFE+DEATH+REBIRTH,
MORTALITY and IMMORTALITY,
DIVINE NATURE OF MAN,
REFLECTION,
SPIRITUALITY,
REMINDER of CARPE DIEM

It's modern connotations have become:
DANGER,
POISON,
PIRACY

But when the Pirates used it they used it to signify Danger and Warning - a Threat or Intimidation.
Typically when they actually attacked the other ship they flew a RED flag, the so called Jolly Roger was used prior to compel capitulation and surrender.

The Knights Templar used the symbol to associate with Golgotha and Jesus's Crucifixion.
It's also known as Death's Head, or Deadman's Head.

These two websites are decent reads, I ask people to look them over:
Occult meaning of Skull and Bones
Knights Templar, Masonry, the Argonauts, and the Skull and Bones symbolism

So in short, I will explain the symbolism as primarily relating the concepts of:
The END is a NEW BEGINNING or THERE is NO DEAD END
INITIATION to ENLIGHTENMENT
TRANSCENDENCE
ETERNAL LIFE
REFLECTION of SELF
CONSCIOUS and UNCONSCIOUS UNITED
CROSSING to the OTHER SIDE

I don't see this exactly relating to Mercantilism in the manner that you are suggesting, and I'm not sure what the Order of the Skull and Bones has to do with it specifically either. You never explained how or why, you just seem to have posted pictures of S+B inbetween descriptions of unrelated mythological info.

It's almost as if you are using psychological ploys to convince the reader of something that isn't accurate, especially with the many references to demons. It's like you're saying "Ohh how scary, they are demonic slavedrivers here to rob you of your very life".

This thread is very deceptive as a result, at best it's complete misinformation because you didn't really investigate the topic properly. If you are going to pick a primary Roman God to associate with the symbol of the Skull and Bones and Grandfather Clock, go with Saturn please....

I could show you a host of connections between Saturn and Mercury or Death and Mercantilism, but they are through metaphors and allusions and it's actually about the key terms I cited above in all caps and not actually about trade, commerce, slavery, etc in the literal physical sense.

But you didn't explain any of this, you didn't actually connect the dots hardly at all.

a reply to: Argentbenign

There are ways to compare similarities between Mercury and Nergal, but Nergal would be more appropriately associated with Pluto/Hades and also possibly with Mars/Ares.

Because of the association with the cock and the sun, this would relate the "Death of the Phoenix", hence the connections between Nergal and Shamash. It's a phase of the Sun or of Life (death). So therefore the Setting of the Sun and it's descent into the underworld or afterlife.

Mercury is more about Transformation and Communal with the Divine in a generalized sense, among many other things. There is a direct connection with Death and the Underworld herein, but it requires some effort to express that appropriately. And it's not usually a common connection, this is a very occult disclosure.

So yes Mercury and Nergal are easy to connect but you have to know through which routes to do so. We can connect any deity with any other deity but some are obviously more difficult than others and might require the construction of a bridge that explains the connections in detail (in this sense we'd be connecting Mercury with Mars or Pluto).

originally posted by: Kantzveldt
a reply to: Argentbenign

The skull and bones is naturally a symbol of death, but the point directly equated with death and the Underworld was Celestial North, and the crossing of the thigh bones towards indicating four directions correlates with Ursa Major also involving that symbolic function, the four directions indicate not only cyclic progression through the four quarters of the day and four quarters of the year, but also cyclic progression through death and rebirth, that doesn't make it a symbol of merchants per se only that their origins related to the general principles correlated to Ursa Major, hunting and butchery leading to cyclic re-distribution within nature, and that seen within the etymology of Mercury itself.

Mercury was literally the term that relates to this process and the best correspondence is through the Anatolian early Indo-European Markuwaya which do directly relate to the stars of Ursa Major and therefore death, the Mesopotamian Nergal is the God of the underworld and bringer of death and the closest equivalent therefore, you need to make your reservations more specific however.

Also i'm not sure which early pirates you're referring to, those of Cillicia...?

Sorry I didn't see this post until after I got onto you.
The first paragraph is a lot better at explaining your point, but the second part is off in my opinion.

The best connection to Sumerian mythology with Mercury is, at least symbolically, Enki.
Enki's planet was Mercury and he was symbolized as what we call the Caduceus - clear direct connections.

There's the eagle connection, the wisdom and magic themes, communication, arts and crafts or skills and talents, the golden ratio, both of their mother's are very similar, subconscious and sleep associations, heiros gamos (yin yang), and even Capricorn which I did some interesting research on connecting with Mercury just a few days ago.

Maybe we could also associate Endursaga but there's not exactly much information on that specific deity. All of them are connected though as they are all aspects of the Divine...

What does this have to do with Skull and Bones at Yale though?

That's what I really want to know.

a reply to: Argentbenign

The term for Mercury only relates to the hunting party or the Dark Gods butchering and dividing up the prey, they were always plural and thus in the more general sense the principles derived related to trade and trading networks, relevant also to communication and currency.

The principle hunting God as Iyarri/Erra has been considered to be the derivation for Ares as well as relating to Hyperborean Apollo/Nergal-Shamash, though the Mesopotamian war God Ninurta was seen as the brother of Nergal, related yet distinct.

Now it was the case that Hermes was seen as subsidiary to the cult of Apollo, a new face on Olympus that stole his cattle, a trickster God, and the development of his cult likely correlated to that of mercantile trade. The connection is there but not a direct one, in the same sense the Markuwaya related to the cult of Iyarri.

a reply to: muzzleflash

Well i suggested that Iyarri the leader of the hunt found correspondence in Mesopotamia as Nergal, and that the Swastika as Ursa Major was the grand symbol of the daily cosmic grind of death and destruction and natural regeneration, and the related lesser symbol of the skull and bones those same principles applied to mankind, but if you wish to look at things in terms of the greater picture then Nergal is the son of Enlil, the equivalent of Chronos and that is who was understood to regulate the cycle...i assure you all information presented is correct.

Regarding connections to Pluto they are all found in the tradition of the Dark Gods if you read the first link in the OP;

reconstructing *Mār-pecolis where the latter component should correspond to the divine name Pecols "Pluto", cf. also Pocols "Furiae", Pocclum "deum inferni et tenebrarum" & Poccollum "deum ajriorum spirituum"

You won't find a direct correspondence to Hermes or Mercury in Sumerian or Egyptian tradition because he was a new Deity related to developments in Mercantile trade, the nearest Semitic equivalent is Nebo who took over the scribal tradition from Sumerian Nisaba.