Book Cover
Some of you may remember I wrote about The Apotheosis of Washington painting in the U.S. Capitol. A friend just informed me that someone has published an ebook that investigates the U.S. Capitol as a type of temple, including this painting, and many other interesting details. It is called Freedom’s Gate: The Lost Symbols in the U.S. Capitol, by William Henry and Dr. Mark Gray.
Here are some of his main points: ((http://williamhenry.net/freedomsgate.html))
- The Dome of the U.S. Capitol is a mirror image of the Vatican Dome and was thought of as a recreation of Solomon’s Temple by its builders.
- The art of the interior corridors of the Capitol mirrors Vatican art.
- Higher Wisdom flows through the Capitol’s spiritual imagery and artwork.
- The bell-shaped Capitol Dome is a stupa that creates a vortex or field of energy that extends into the world.
- The Freemasons who built the Capitol viewed it as a ‘beehive’ buzzing with energy.
- Literally, we can alter this energy field by visiting the Capitol Dome and praying or meditating inside. This will raise the frequency of the Dome and the Capitol, helping to clear out negative or harmful energies.
- This is the great secret of the Founding Fathers. They left us a bell to ring in times of distress. Let Freedom’s Ring!
Reading up about the author, William Henry, shows he believes in some interesting New-Age metaphysics, with stargates and wormholes among other things. I’m not so sure about all of that, but this book might still include some interesting insights about the U.S. Capitol being a type of temple to the Founding Fathers. Thanks Jennifer!
Has anyone read this book? What are your thoughts about it? Please share your impressions in the comments.
Very interesting subject and a book I would love to read. I’ll have to check my local library.
This is an interesting topic to me, as I served as a Capitol tour guide while interning with the Senate. From the synopsis, I can see that he makes some interesting points, but if the synopsis is a fair representation of what the book says, then it also makes some major errors. The U.S. Capitol dome is not a copy of St. Peter’s at the Vatican; it is a copy of St. Paul’s in London. Capitol architect Thomas Walter admired Wren’s dome but despised the rest of St. Paul’s. Also, I think that a more accurate interpretation of the religious symbolism in the Capitol is that it represents the secular nature of our government–we have a Capitol whose architecture is Roman with a Protestant cathedral dome, but we have gone through and removed the religious imagery. Apostles are replaced by statesmen; the patron saint has been replaced by Washington; whereas the cross is the ubiquitous symbol in a cathedral, the fasces is the dominant motif of the Capitol.
And as for the stuff about positive energy and so forth–well, that speaks for itself.
One more comment: The idea that the Founding Fathers left us a “bell to ring” in times of distress in the form of the capitol dome (by altering its energy field or something of that nature) doesn’t hold up, if for no other reason, because the Founding Fathers had nothing to do with the design of the dome. The first approved designs for the Capitol called for a Pantheon-like, hemispherical dome. The current dome is the work, as I mentioned, of Thomas U. Walter, and was completed in 1866–far too late to be the work of the Founding Fathers.
Hi,
My name is Mark Gray one of the authors of Freedom’s Gate. Thank you for your interest in the book. It is true about St. Paul’s, but we were going to the source or inspiration of “dome” building and that would have to be the Vatican, and ultimately the Pantheon. An artist from the Vatican Constintino Brumidi did the art work at the US Capitol and the Blue Prints for the US Capitol are found in the Sistine Chapel, at the Vatican. There are more connections in the book.
Mormons believe in Theosis or the idea that man can become a God. I believe this also. George Washington has become a God in the US Capitol, maybe he was a Mormon 🙂 America is a psychological and physical space where man can become a God. Here we can achieve the Great Perfection, Apotheosis.
I think of the U.S. Capitol as a temple, yes built up unto God, but perhaps more practically to the law; (since we’re a republic). It sits on a hill. It’s the focal point of the city plan. The capitol dome inverts itself to its below beholder, making a convex all-seeing eye that asks the question ‘What have you done to my law?’ Its two wings (house and senate) draw the mind to the idea of the reconciliation of otherwise irreconcilable things, such as light and darkness; mercy and justice.
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Figure 1
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The point in between, represented by the circle (the point of the dome), suggests an inverse relationship. (The more a senator you are, the less a house representative; or the more merciful you are, the less just.) Only within this infinitely small point in between can you be 100% both.