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The Pyramid & Eye on the reverse side was not designed by Freemasons. What's more, this misunderstood symbol is becoming a casualty of lore: abused by fiction writers; commandeered by conspiracy theorists; trivialized by the media as a background image on the evening financial news.
The Reverse Side of the Great Seal is not a Masonic Symbol
The unfinished pyramid with an eye in its zenith is an original and revolutionary American design created in 1782 as part of the official sign of sovereignty, the emblem that represents the United States and its citizens. Prior to 1782, this imagery was not used as a symbol by any organization.
Together, the two sides of the Great Seal are a unique combination of images from nature (eagle, olive branch, stars, cloud, light rays, eye) and culture (pyramid, arrows, shield). But no one has an exclusive association with any of these symbols.
Designing the Great Seal involved three committees, six years, and several of America's most gifted founders who represented diverse experiences and points-of-views. But only four men actually contributed elements to the final design. And they were not Freemasons. Their names are linked below.
Members of the Great Seal Design Committees
* Definitely a Mason: Benjamin Franklin.
* Definitely not Masons: John Adams and Charles Thomson.
* No firm evidence of a Masonic connection, although allegations of such a
connection have been noted: Thomas Jefferson*, James Lovell, Francis
Hopkinson, Arthur Middleton, and John Rutledge.
* No records at all, so presumably not Masons: Pierre Du Simitière, John Morin
Scott, William Church Houston, Arthur Lee, Elias Boudinot, and William Barton
(although he has at times been confused with another William Barton who was a
Mason).
"It seems likely that the designers of the Great Seal and the Masons took their symbols from parallel sources, and unlikely that the seal designers consciously copied Masonic symbols with the intention of incorporating Masonic symbolism into the national coat of arms."
Supporting the Shield on its right side: "The Goddess of Liberty in a corslet of armour alluding to the present Times, holding in her right hand the Spear & Cap and with her left supporting the Shield of the states." On its left side: "The Goddess of Justice bearing a Sword in her right hand, and in her left a Balance." * Du Simitière's sketch differs from the above description approved by Congress: 1) In the sketch, the Goddess of Liberty's left hand rests "on an anchor, emblem of Hope." The anchor was removed. * 2) The left supporter sketched is: "Senester, an American Soldier, compleatly accoutred in his hunting Shirt and trowsers, with his tomahawk, powder horn, pouch &c. holding with his left hand his rifle gun rested, and the Shield of the States with his right." He was replaced with the Goddess of Justice.
"Pharaoh sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his head and a Sword in his hand, passing through the divided Waters of the Red Sea in Pursuit of the Israelites: Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Cloud, expressive of the divine Presence and Command, beaming on Moses who stands on the shore and extending his hand over the Sea causes it to overwhelm Pharaoh."
The same day Congress received the committee's report, it was "Ordered, To lie on the table." In other words, Congress was unimpressed by their design. Two of its design elements, however, were chosen for the final Great Seal: the eye of Providence and the motto E Pluribus Unum. Also, some of the meaning of Franklin's motto is seen in the one eventually used above the radiant eye on the reverse side of the Great Seal: Annuit Coeptis (Providence has Favored Our Undertakings).
The shield of thirteen diagonal white and red stripes is supported on its right by a warrior holding a sword and on its left by a figure representing Peace bearing an olive branch. The crest is a radiant constellation of thirteen stars. The motto beneath the shield, "Bello vel Paci," means: For war or for peace.
On the reverse side, Liberty is seated in a chair holding an olive branch and her staff is topped by a Liberty cap. The motto "Virtute perennis" means "Everlasting because of virtue." The date in Roman numerals is 1776. Like the first committee's design, Congress did not consider the second committee's suitable, thus did not approve it.
The shield is supported on its right by the "Genius of the American Confederated Republic" represented by a maiden, and on its left by an American warrior. At the top is an eagle and on the pillar in the shield is a "Phoenix in Flames*." Upper motto: "In Vindiciam Libertatis" ([In Defense of Liberty). Lower motto: "Virtus sola invicta" (Only virtue unconquered).
Barton said, "the Dove (perched on the right Hand of the Genius of America) is emblematical of Innocence and Virtue." And... the "Pyramid signifies Strength & Duration."
"the Phoenix is emblematical of the expiring Liberty of Britain, revived by her Descendants, in America." Earlier there had been a mythical phoenix on South Carolina's five-shillings note (left) issued in April 1778.
(Barton used another bird, a rooster, at the top of his first design which was even more complex than the one suggested by the third committee.)
Upper motto: "Deo Favente" – With God's Favor (lit., God Favoring) Lower motto: "Perennis" – Everlasting (lit., Through the Years)
We almost had a palm tree instead of the eye at the top of the pyramid! Barton explained the symbolism: "The Palm Tree, when burnt down to the very Root, naturally rises fairer than ever." But he struck out that sentence, like he did in the above description.
For the reverse side Barton suggested a pyramid of thirteen steps with a radiant eye above it. His sketch was undoubtedly influenced by the pyramid on the $50 Continental Currency note designed in 1778 by Francis Hopkinson, the heraldry consultant and artist on the second Great Seal committee (1780).
Originally posted by Denied
Any idea's, understandings, of anything symbolic in these...??
Or did i just create the worst thread ever
Originally posted by Denied
lol, wow, i love the way sarcasm can be such a witty tool
i take it that's not a typo, ok, so you think the evidence speaks for itself, and that there is nothing in these designs linking these to anything with a more sinister background?
Originally posted by Denied
Well, to be honest, i wanted to show as much information that i could find (historically) about the designs, however, i personally believe that what we are told here is what "they" want us to think...
...i dont think that what i have presented here is the nail in coffin so to speak, for this being totally non-illuminati tainted, and in fact i thought, if anything, it showed that the illuminati has wanted to weave their subliminal meanings, symbols, etc, into designs that would be in "our" faces everyday.
I was hoping for more research, explanation, could be added here, to alternative meanings, rather than whats stated here.
I have held back on posting the images of designs on currency going right back to the start of US currency, mainly because of what seemed like a lack of interest, and again i also thought that the designs used in them, had hidden meanings, with the deities used, and symbolisms with certain imagery.
Well, as you proved, there was nothing either Illuminati nor Masonic about the Great Seal in the final design.
Originally posted by Denied
Old thread, thought id give it a bump, see what people thought.
We all know the $1 bill and all its symbolic meanings, but what about older designs, going back before that, feel free to post any designs you find, and possible meanings, if any, to what we are seeing on them.
Hidden symbolic meanings? No I don't. There is symbolism, but it's all right there in plain sight. 13 for the 13 colonies; pyramid for strength; unfinished because it's a work in progress; eye for God, who oversees our undertakings; 1776 because that's the year our country was founded.
Originally posted by Denied
yeah i see what your saying, so do you think that the $1 bill has no hidden symbolic meanings to it at all??
Originally posted by JoshNorton
So from the research I've done, there are no claims making a connection between the reverse of the Great Seal and the Illuminati that predate 1956. Therefore, every conspiracy theorist since then who believes there IS a connection has been taken in by one author's hoax.