In the Court of the Crimson King ~ Divining Signs

CHAPTER THREE:

IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING

- chapter index -
pg. 1 - Epitaph | pg. 2 - The Iron Gates of Fate
pg. 3 - The Fate of All Mankind | pg. 4 - Moonchild
pg. 5 - The Court of the Crimson King | pg. 6 - The Purple Piper
pg. 7 - Averroes | pg. 8 - The Keeper of the City Keys
pg. 9 - The Pilgrim's Door | pg. 10 - The Return of the Fire Witch
pg. 11 - The Gardener Plants An Evergreen | pg. 12 - The Prism Ship
pg. 13 - The Grinding Wheel | pg. 14 - On Soft Gray Mornings
pg. 15 - Divining Signs | pg. 16 - The Yellow Jester
pg. 17 - Remember the Future | pg. 18 - The Return of the King
pg. 19 - The I Ching | pg. 20 - Octants

site index

"However important it may be for all men to know the Truth, very few, nevertheless, are acquainted with it, because the majority are incapable of searching it themselves, or perhaps, do not wish the trouble. Thus we must not be astonished if the world is filled with vain and ridiculous opinions, and nothing is more capable of making them current than ignorance, which is the sole source of the false ideas that exist regarding the Divinity, the soul, and the spirit, and all the errors depending thereon."

"All other laws are not supported save on the authority of the Bible, in the original of which appear a thousand instances of extraordinary and impossible things."

"After his death his disciples, in despair at seeing their hopes frustrated, and pursued by the Jews who wished to treat them as they had treated their Master, made a virtue of necessity and scattered over the country, where by the report of some women they told of his resurrection, his divine affiliation and the rest of the fables with which the Gospels are filled."

"Since Moses, Jesus and Mahomet were what we have represented them, we should not seek in their writings for the veritable idea of the Divinity."

"Thus there is no good sensible man who can be convinced of hell, a soul, spirits or devils, in the manner of which they are commonly spoken. All these great senseless words have only been contrived to delude or intimidate the people."

- The Three Impostors

"The coexistence of three religions in Andalusia -- the Christian, the Mohammedan, the Mosaic -- had given opportunity for the development of Averroism or philosophical Arabism. This was a repetition of what had occurred at Rome, when the gods of all the conquered countries were confronted in that capital, and universal disbelief in them all ensued. Averroes himself was accused of having been first a Mussulman, then a Christian, then a Jew, and finally a misbeliever. It was affirmed that he was the author of the mysterious book "De Tribus Impostoribus."

In the middle ages there were two celebrated heretical books, "The Everlasting Gospel," and the "De Tribus Impostoribus." The latter was variously imputed to Pope Gerbert, to Frederick II., and to Averroes."

Averroism invaded Europe from Spain. Under the auspices of Frederick II, it, in a less imposing manner, issued from Sicily. That sovereign had adopted it fully. In his "Sicilian Questions" he had demanded light on the eternity of the world, and on the nature of the soul, and supposed he had found it in the replies of Ibn Sabin, an upholder of these doctrines. But in his conflict with the papacy he was overthrown, and with him these heresies were destroyed."

- History of the Conflict
Between
Religion and Science

"The "wise men" came to celebrate the "hoax" of the virgin birth.

Frederick II was declared an heretic by the Council of Lyons for:

1) denying the authority of the "Keeper of the City Keys"
2) declaring the virgin birth a "hoax" and
3) his refusal to "run to grasp divining signs"

"Frederick was a heretic for his denial of the pope's authority, for his mockery of the virgin birth, and his declaring that nothing is to be believed that cannot be proved by the natural reason."

- The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils: 325 - 1870
Chapter 13. The First General Council of Lyons, 1245

"Having thus out of his own mouth convicted the Emperor of heresy, Pope Gregroy hurls against him the most terrible of all accusations : 'This King of the Pestilence has proclaimed that--to use his own words--all the world has been deceived by three deceivers, Jesus Christ, Moses and Muhammad, of whom two died in honor, but Christ upon the Cross. And further he has proclaimed aloud (or rather he has lyingly declared) that all be fools who believe that God could be born of a Virgin, God who is the creator of nature and of all beside. This heresy Frederick has aggravated by the mad assertion that no one can be borne save where the intercourse of man and wife have preceded the conception, and Frederick maintains that no man should believe aught but what may be proved by the power and reason of his nature."

- Frederick II
by Ernst Kantorowicz
(p. 499-500)

Innocence IV and the Council of Lyons, 1245

"In virtue, therefore, of his papal power to bind and to loose, the pope declared this Emperor, so sunk in sin, deposed--and his territories released from their allegiance. A new Emperor must be chosen. Whereupon Pope and Prelates extinguished the torches which they bore, and while Thaddeus of Suessa, weeping and beating his breast, left the cathedral with the other supporters of the Emperor, Pope and Prelates intoned the Te Deum.

- Frederick II
by Ernst Kantorowicz
(p. 598-9)

"The solemn act of the General Council was the beginning of the end, of himself and the whole great house of Hohenstaufen. Five years of bloody war followed, with the usual alternations of unexpected defeats and unexpected victories. But when Frederick II died, December 13, 1250, his cause was lost and the pope on the way to become (should he choose) King of Sicily as well as pope--a story that must be sought in the bitterly contested pages of Italian church history."

- The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils: 325 - 1870
Chapter 13. The First General Councilof Lyons, 1245

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