Hunt for One of These Jewels!

Along the path to a glimmer (after all, who knows when true enlightenment will really arrive?), I was introduced to some of the most complex little pieces of symbolism, personified by this image.

Actually, this is the gold/silver head of cane. I was first introduced to a real-life little fob, about 3/8 inches in diameter, made of brass and belonging to a friend. It had been handed down within his wife's family for about 100 years, but its true provenance had been lost. All that was known is that it was probably Masonic. They asked me to take a look and see what I could come up with.

Of course, it is completely Masonic and in fact, a piece of this kind is considered the "pinnacle" of Masonic jewelry. Here is a web page at one of the better Masonic websites, explaining this image and elsewhere on the page giving a diagram of a fob, very similar to the one that I looked at: Masonic Cane.

I think as a cane head, it woud be evident that it begs to be opened out. As a fob, the piece is very clever. It could seem to be a mere "charm." It looks like a tiny ornate globe and it is not evident how it opens, so that one of these could lay in a jewelbox for years and no one would know that it contains an entire little world of symbols.

As you can see, it opens to make a cross-shaped figure, and the interepretation given about the cane head is highly Christian. This illustrates a bit of a dichotomy among the Freemasons. In the Blue Lodges, no particular religion is favored and in fact, any religion is welcomed. For example, in the initiation of a Freemason, the book upon the altar can be the Bible, the Koran or the Torah, according to the initiate's religion. However, in some parts of Freemasonry, there are definite religious implications, most commonly, Christian.

I made a diagram of the fob I examined, and I will share it with a link here. Nearly half of its tiny symbols were not easily interpreted, and it differed in many respects from the fob mentioned above. So the diagram has a number of blanks. It could be a little brain-teaser to be solved by anyone interested. It's in PDF format: Masonic Ball

Anyway, if your family has one of these, treasure it, and if you see one at a yard sale, snap it up!

Why 'Shugarius'?

I think the prime directive here should be to have fun, especially since the study of history, as well as some of the other themes of Dan Brown, can get you into so many serious and moody topics. So I try not to take myself seriously, and I trust that you will help me with this. Esoterica buffs tend to become way too self-important, I think.

As a journalist, I do try to be absolutely accurate and to reveal my sources (with very rare exceptions), and I hope this comes through, even in the midst of some frivolity at times.

Anyway, one of the great fun-loving people who is linked to our work is Robert Anton Wilson, author of the Illuminatus Chronicles and particularly, a book of that series titled "The Widow's Son." This was published originally back in 1985 and has just been re-published due to the interest that has arisen in the Illuminati (surely due to Dan Brown) and the allusions to the Widow's Son, which I weave into the title of my book.

Robert A. Wilson is a guy who knows how to have fun. He has one heck of an imagination, and he has been thumbing his nose at the establishment for many decades. In our earlier book related to Dan Brown's Angels & Demons (Secrets of Angels & Demons), we were fortunate to have an interview with Wilson titled, "I didn't go looking for the Illuminati; they came looking for me." I found this interview simply hilarious.

In the interview, Wilson tells how, back in the 1960s, there was a witch-hunt of a kind conducted by Jim Garrison, district attorney of New Orleans, who had formed an ever-broadening theory of conspiracy in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Garrison began to investigate lots of people, including some Berkeley radicals who had invented themselves as the "Bavarian Illuminati" and gave themselves fictitious titles. The idea was to "send Garrison on a snark hunt." Wilson was in the thick of it.

Wilson and his "Illuminati" friends did a great job spreading word of themselves through the "counter-culture," and soon Garrison's investigators found too many leads to pursue. The Illuminati were popping up everywhere, and seemed to be involved in a worldwide conspiracy touching everything and everyone! Wilson continued to do his research and writing in all areas of magic, occult, conspiracies, physics and a mix of almost everything else you can think of. But he specifically does not take himself too seriously and in that, he is a hero of mine.

In researching my book, I had been reading about all of the great magicians, monks, scryers, alchemists and philosophers (in other words, all the early physicians) and it occurred to me I did not yet have a dignified title--like, for instance, Johann von Trittenheim, who became known as Trithemius. I will explain why Trithemius is a hero of mine some other time. But, in honor of Trithemius and Robert A. Wilson both, please call me Shugarius. (Not yet "Doctor" Shugarius, but I have hopes--I am still working on a PhD in KnowItAllogy.)

This will be the last "No Comment Allowed" post for a while. It was just to get a few preliminaries out of the way.

Follow Me To Get Lost in Good Company

The motivation for this blog is to enhance your experience if you have bought the book, Secrets of the Widow's Son.

Or perhaps you have visited the website for the book, www.secretsofthewidowsson.com. Secrets of the Widow's Son is published by Sterling Publishing Co. I am the author.

It is here that you will be able to learn of things that could not make it into the book--and there will be a lot, I can already assure you! I am confident that I will never run out of things to learn as I continue to chase all the themes and puzzles which keep arising in my quest for knowledge.

My book is a "Prequel to the Sequel" dealing with the upcoming Dan Brown novel, said to be titled The Solomon Key. No one knows exactly when Dan Brown will release his sequel to The Da Vinci Code, but I will say my hunch, at this moment in time, is February 2006. Which gives you plenty of time to read Secrets of the Widow's Son and get ready for a great experience when Dan Brown leads you on a new adventure, this time in Washington, DC, involving the Freemasons.

Secrets of the Widow's Son is on sale now at BN.com as well as the Barnes & Noble or B. Dalton bookstores, not to mention Amazon.com and many other retail sources.

Before I actually post anything newsworthy (assuming I will), I really must thank all the people who made the book possible, including my associates Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer, plus their families, as well as my own family (who have learned to put up with an awful lot). The many people at Sterling Books who helped were just outstanding, and treated me with great kindness and respect.

Two days ago, I was honored to be part of a book signing at the fabulous hall that is set aside for this purpose on the third floor of the Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. The very attentive crowd filled the room and gave us a warm reception as Dan and I related some of the ideas behind SOWS (as I will necessarily have to abbreviate the book).

It was a stellar evening for me and my family. We were given a grand ride down and back in a Lincoln. The display of SOWS was right by the front entrance, and I saw my name up in broadbills, alongside the likes of Gloria Estefan or Barbara Ehrenreich, to name just a couple of authors with books out around now. Later on, we went to dinner at a restaurant nearby, and at the booth next to our raucous table were a demure party including Lauren Bacall and Arthur Schlesinger. What a thrill!

But enough small talk, shameless name-dropping, etc. My next post will get down to business, I promise.