By Gary A. David | theorionzone.com

Picked up from: world-mysteries.com

The number 33 enigmatically stretches as a latitude line across many diverse cultures in many different times. Known in numerology as the Master Teacher, 33 is the most influential of all numbers, indicating selfless devotion to the spiritual progress of humankind. The other two master numbers, 11 (vision) and 22 (vision with action) form the base of a two-dimensional pyramid, and added together equal 33 (guidance to the world), the apex of the pyramid. [1] On the reverse of the Masonically inspired Great Seal of the United States is the pyramid with the all-seeing eye of divine Reason at its apex. According to ritual Freemasonry, XXXIII is considered sacred because in most cases there is no higher degree or level to which a Mason may aspire.

In a Biblical context we note that King David ruled in Jerusalem for thirty-three years, Jacob had thirty-three sons and daughters, and Jesus Christ was crucified at age thirty-three. Two interpenetrating triangles whose apexes point in opposite directions form the hexagram of the Star of David (3 + 3 = 6). On the other hand, 3 X 3 = 9, or the Ennead, the nine primal gods of Egyptian mythology.

The late thirteenth/early fourteenth century Italian poet Dante ended Canto XXXIII of the Purgatorio, or the second section of his Divine Comedy: “...perfect, pure, and ready for the Stars.” [2] Canto XXXIII of the Paradiso, or the third section, concludes with lines about the poet being turned “as in a wheel whose motion nothing jars-- / by the Love that moves the Sun and the other stars.” [3] It is more than a coincidence that the 33rd canto of each section concludes with parallel lines regarding the celestial; it may instead be the code from a lost ancient tradition.

This number even permeates the biological realm studied by science: thirty-three is the number of turns in a complete sequence of DNA. [4] A more ominous connotation appears in the 33rd element of the periodic table. Arsenic is a brittle, steel-gray substance that is actively poisonous. The Greek root arsen means “male, strong” or “virile,” which suggests the active reach of this potent and potentially deadly number across the globe. Indeed, when we consider the northern latitude of 33 degrees, some intriguing synchronicities, or “meaningful coincidences,” are found. [5]

You Say Phoenix and I Say Phoenicia

The first stop on our tour along the 33rd parallel is the metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona, located at 33 degrees 30 minutes latitude. Gleaming like a steel and glass mirage surrounded by ironwood, palo verde, and saguaro cactus, this modern American city lies in a brown cloud of auto exhaust at the northern end of the Sonoran Desert. Its imported palm trees and omnipresent swimming pools shimmer when seen from high in the air like turquoise and silver jewelry on a jet-setter’s tanned breast. In essence, Phoenix is pervaded with the aura of the foreign and the bizarre. Few casual tourists realize, however, that this was once the center of the ancient Hohokam culture.

The largest Hohokam site known as Snaketown was located about five miles north of the exact 33 degrees line, while the ruins of the astronomical observatory called Casa Grande still rest about five miles south of the line. The Hohokam inhabited the Valley of the Sun perhaps as early as 300 B.C. (about the time of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Dynasties in Egypt) and built one of the world’s most extensive irrigation systems. These ancient American Indians created an estimated total of 500 miles of canals to irrigate over 25,000 acres in the Phoenix Basin-- all constructed with mere digging sticks, stone implements, and woven carrying baskets. In fact, no wheelbarrows or draft animals were ever used. The main canals leading from the Salt and Gila rivers measured up to 75 feet across at the top and 50 feet wide at the bottom. [6] As Southwestern archaeologist H. M. Wormington observes, “The scope of the canal project suggests comparisons with the erection of the huge pyramids of Egypt or the great temples of the Maya.” [7] Clearly this monumental technology was the key factor that allowed the desert dwelling people to inhabit their extremely harsh region for well over a thousand years.

Skipping across the Atlantic on the same parallel, we find a number of intriguing sites in the Old World. For instance, at a latitude of 33 degrees 19 minutes was located the primary Phoenician seaport of Tyre (now called Sûr), almost 50 miles south of Beirut. Dating back as early as 5000 B.C., Tyre was renowned for a purple-red dye obtained from the snails of the genus Murex. [8] The color is one of the meanings of the word “phoenix,” which the ancient Egyptians sometimes associated with the purple heron.

Back in North America the “place of the heron” refers to Aztlan, the Nahuatl word for the mythical land that the Aztecs inhabited after emerging from Chicomostoc, the Seven Caves located in the bowels of the earth. [9] Chicano folklore identifies Aztlan as that portion of Mexico taken over by the U.S. after the Mexican-American War of 1846-- in part, the Arizona Territory, where the settlement of Phoenix arose.

The Masonic author Albert Pike states that Tyre was the seat of the Osirian Mysteries after they had been imported from Egypt. [10] Pike asserts that the two massive columns situated at the entrance of the Tyrian Temple of Malkarth were consecrated to the Winds and to Fire. This pair is thought to be the prototype of Jachin and Boaz, the two pillars found on the eastern wall of every Masonic temple in the world. On the right, or to the south, is Jachin, which means “He shall establish” and signifies an active, vivifying force. On the left, or to the north, is Boaz, which means “In it is strength” and connotes passive stability and permanence. [11] Freemasons Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas suggest that the former represents the winter solstice sunrise, while the latter the summer solstice sunrise. [12] Although this is possible, we propose that Jachin represents the southern stargate between Sagittarius and Scorpius while Boaz signifies the northern stargate between Gemini and Taurus. [13] Our assumption is based on the fact that in the York Rite of Freemasonry a celestial globe symbolizing ex-carnation (i.e., a spirit leaving its present body) is found atop Jachin while a terrestrial globe representing incarnation is positioned atop Boaz. [14]

During the tenth century B.C. King Hiram of Tyre supplied King Solomon with craftsmen, metallurgists, cedar wood, architectural design, and presumably the esoteric symbolism of these two columns for the construction of his temple at Jerusalem. (1 Kings 7: 13-22) [15] In addition to being besieged at various times by Nebuchadrezzar, Alexander the Great, the Romans and others, the trade capital city-state of Tyre was conquered in the twelfth century A.D. by the Crusaders, who built a Knights Templar church there.

Some speculate that the orientation of the two pillars imitates obelisks placed before the pylons of Egyptian temples, especially those of the Heliopolitan temple of Thothmes (Tuthmosis) III, who reigned in the fifteenth century B.C. as the militarily expansionist pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. He is also thought to be founder of the Order of the Rosy Cross, or the Rosicrucians. [16] The archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie even found records in the Libyan desert that describe a secret Masonic guild meeting held circa 2000 B.C. “The guild met to discuss working hours, wages, and rules for daily labor. It convened in a chapel and provided relief to widows, orphans, and workers in distress. The organizational duties described in the papyri are very similar to those of ‘Warden’ and ‘Master’ in a modern branch of the Brotherhood which evolved from those guilds: Freemasonry.” [17] It seems that all roads lead to... Egypt.

Also of interest near the 33rd parallel is Byblos, a bit farther north of Tyre at a latitude of 34 degrees 08 minutes. The name of this city state is derived from the Greek ta b blia, which means “the book,” or “bible.” Indeed, the invention of a Phoenician alphabetic phonetic script occurred here and eventually spread to the Greek world. [18] A bit farther east at nearly the same latitude is Baalbeck, an ancient megalithic temple constructed with some of the largest stone blocks ever cut in the world. Extracted and hauled from a quarry many miles away, these megaliths include one block measuring 80 feet long and weighing 1,100 tons. [19] In this section we have seen how Phoenix and Phoenicia are linked by latitude. We shall continue eastward to encounter other significant ancient sites along the same parallel.

A Passage To China

A little over 500 miles east of these Phoenician cities at 33 degrees 20 minutes is modern-day Bagdad in Iraq, with Babylon located about 55 miles to the south. This ancient capital of Mesopotamia on the banks of the Euphrates River was once the largest city in the world, encompassing over 2,500 acres. The construction of Babylon began during the twenty-third century B.C. and included the Temple of Marduk (known as Esagila) as well as the legendary Tower of Babel (identified as Etemenanki). The latter structure was a seven-tiered ziggurat rising to a height of 300 feet with a base on each side measuring the same distance. This measurement, incidentally, equals the length of the Hohokam platform mound at Pueblo Grande in Phoenix, Arizona. On the eastern side of Babylon was an outer rampart of triple wall construction extending for 11 miles. A network of irrigation canals reminiscent of the Hohokam also once served the city. In addition, the terraced Hanging Gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. [20]

This “city and a tower” (Genesis 11:4) was known as Ba-bel, the legendary site of the linguistic confounding. “The biblical interpretation of the name is fanciful. The Bible connects Babel with the Hebrew verb Blal, ‘to confuse’, whereas it really comes from Bb-ili, which in Babylonian means ‘Gate of God’.” [21] This terrestrial correlation to another sort of stargate is perhaps a reference to the Processional Way leading to Ishtar Gate, both of which were adorned with glazed blue enameled figures of lions, bulls, and dragons. Pike maintains that the temple contained a representation in silver of two large serpents. “The Greeks called Bel Beliar; and Hesychius interprets that word to mean dragon or great serpent. We learn from the book of Bel and the Dragon, that in Babylon was kept a great, live serpent, which the people worshipped.” [22] This reminds us of the Place of the Snakes, or the Hohokam site of Snaketown, as well as of the Hopi biennial Snake Dance ceremony still performed with live rattlesnakes on the high desert of Arizona.

In more recent times Babylon played a significant role in the rituals of Freemasonry and continues to do so. For instance, Knight and Lomas discovered that the ceremony for the Royal Arch of Solomon Degree (13 degrees) entails the candidate and two others playing the roles of the three Master Masons of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. According to the narrative told in the ritual, these children of the Babylonian captivity desire to assist in the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon. Thus, Babylon’s symbolic importance, which the co-authors believe extends back to at least Knights Templar times and probably before, is reemphasized inside every Masonic lodge to the present day. [23]

Traveling along the 33rd parallel from the Middle East to the Far East, we encounter the fabulous White Pyramid located about 60 miles southwest of X’ian (Sian or Hsian) in the Qin Ling Shan Mountains of China’s Shensi Province. This city was made famous for the nearby discovery of the Terra Cota Warriors. Resting at almost the same latitude as Phoenix’s 33½ degrees, this massive stepped pyramid constructed of clay is estimated to be 1,000 feet high and 1500 feet at the base! The current politics of the country have thus far prevented any detailed study of the structure, but it is thought to be 4,500-5,000 year old-- the approximate age of the pyramids at Giza. The White Pyramid was built supposedly after the old emperors, known as “the sons of heaven,” descended to Earth in their “fiery metallic dragons” and began to rule China. Its interior is rumored to be a model of this empire with a jeweled roof depicting the constellations and rivers of flowing mercury. The region also contains up to one hundred more pyramids. [24]

Highway 33 Revisited

Back on the North American continent, if we journey somewhat over 1,500 miles east of Phoenix along latitude 33 North, we find the Moundville site lying exactly on the line. This city constructed by the Mississippian culture along the Black Warrior River in central Alabama from 1000 through 1450 A.D. had a population of over one thousand-- second in size and complexity to ancient Cahokia in Illinois. The 26 earthen platform mounds arranged in a circular pattern are similar in structure to those in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun, with temples and residences for the elite priesthood likewise built on top. One of the larger mounds is a ramped pyramid that rises to a height of 58 feet. In addition, the town was protected on three sides by wooden palisades, much like the Hohokam villages along the Salt and Gila Rivers. [25] Did the earlier Hohokam culture of the American Southwest somehow influence the later development of this Mound Builder culture in the American Southeast? The many similarities between the two seem to point in that direction.

A few other Mound Builders cities were settled quite near the 33rd parallel. Approximately 10 miles southwest of the town of Lake Providence (32 degrees 49 minutes) on the Mississippi River floodplain in northeastern Louisiana is Poverty Point State Historic Site. Constructed in 1800 B.C. (much earlier than even the Hohokam settlements), a C-shaped or perhaps a partial octagon-shaped earthwork three-quarters of a mile across was formed by six concentric ridges that are 140 to 200 feet apart and four to six feet high. To the west of this earthwork, Bird Mound rises 72 feet high and extends 600 to 800 feet at its base. Resembling some sort of fowl flying toward the sunset, this mound was constructed using 300,000 cubic yards of clay, or the equivalent to 10 million 50-pound baskets. To truly realize the shape of the bird, one needs to be at least a thousand feet or so in the air. Poverty Point was almost entirely abandoned circa 1350 B.C., indicating over five centuries of cultural development, though minor construction on the earthworks continued until 700 A.D. [26]

Even closer to the magic number 33 though not as impressive or as old are the Winterville Mounds, located six miles north of the town of Greenville in west-central Mississippi (33 degrees 25 minutes). Inhabited between 1000 and 1450 A.D., the site includes 23 flat-topped mounds, with the main Temple Mound rising 55 feet. [27]

About four miles south of Cartersville in northwestern Georgia (34 degrees 11 minutes) is Etowah Indian Mound State Park. “White settlers understood the Creek and the later Cherokee to call this site “Hightower,” possibly for Itawa or Italwa (city?). The name Etowah may also be a corruption of this word.” [28] It is interesting to note that the Hopi word for the sun deity is Tawa. Etowah was first inhabited in 950 A.D. and contains three major mounds. One is a ceremonial mound 63 feet in height and another is a burial mound in which were found numerous artifacts including copper ear ornaments, stone effigies, and sea shells along with obsidian and grizzly bear teeth from the Rocky Mountains. [29]

Closer to the home of the Hohokam on the western side of the Colorado River are located a number of geoglyphs (also called “intaglios”). These figures formed in the desert by removal of darker pebbles to reveal a lighter undersurface are sometimes hundreds of feet in length. One group (the Blythe complex) is positioned about 16 miles north of Blythe, California (33 degrees 40 minutes), while another group (the Ripley complex) is located about 12 miles south of Blythe. In addition to human and animal figures, snakes, spirals, stars, circles, and other geometric figures, a Knights Templar-like Maltese cross nearly 10 feet in diameter has been found adjacent to a humanoid figure at the Ripley complex. [30] One anthropoid geoglyph in the area has been associated with the Hopi Fire Clan deity Masau’u. [31] Hence, we find that many different tribes were apparently involved in these rituals dating from between 1,100 and 3,000 years ago. [32] Because these earth forms, like the Nazca lines in Peru or Bird Mound at Poverty Point, are best appreciated from the air, they were probably intended to be an homage to the sky gods.

The geoglyphs together with other cairns, stone circles, and cleared dance paths may be ritually associated with the huge network of interconnected trails found in the low desert upon which the ancients made pilgrimages. One such pilgrimage called the keruk is performed even today by the Yuman speaking tribes (viz., the Yuma, Mohave, Cocopa, and Maricopa) in a four-day trek to Avikwa’ame, the sacred mountain to the north, in order to celebrate the cosmogony. [33] “The route ran from Pilot Knob, or Avikwal [near Yuma, Arizona], the spirit house where the dead dwell at the southern end of the river, to Avikwa’ame, or Spirit Mountain, where the Earth was created, in the north. This pilgrimage was intended to honor the creation, and ritually retrace the path of Mastamho [the creator-deity, whose name echoes the Hopi god Masau’u mentioned above] in his mythic adventures.” [34] Here we find a north-south dichotomy similar to that found along the Nile, with the “Mound of Creation” (i.e., Heliopolis) located to the north. Atop Avikwa’ame, legends say, was a great house name Aha-avulypo, or literally “Dark Round House.” [35] The north-south road itself was named Kwatcan, the “first trail to the homeland.” The Hopi word for “track” is kuku’at, but the word for “grandfather” is the near homophone kwa’at. [36] Perhaps the suffix -can is a variant of “ka,” part of the word kachina. [37] Either “spirits of the track” or “spirits of the grandfathers” may be the intended meaning. Midway on this spirit road between the sacred mountain of the North and the mouth of the Colorado River are the aforementioned geoglyphs at the 33rd degree of latitude.

Also on this line is the Three Rivers Petroglyphs site, located on the western base of the Sacramento Mountains 18 miles west of Ruidoso, New Mexico (33 degrees 19 minutes). One of the largest rock art sites in the Southwest, this park contains over 20,000 glyphs scattered over 50 acres. Carved atop a ridge by the Mogollon culture between 900 and 1400 A.D. (contemporary with the late Hohokam period) [38], these figures include anthropomorphs, zoomorphs, kachina masks, star symbols, and various abstract or geometric designs, including a Maltese cross within a circle surrounded by a ring of seventeen dots. [39] “Distinctive at Three Rivers is the circle-dot motif; one investigator who took the trouble to count found it to be the single most common element at this site. Interestedly enough, its presence elsewhere is negligible, and its symbolic content has not been determined, although it occurs in various contexts in Mesoamerica. Possibly it refers to Quetzalcoatl.” [40] This deity, of course, is known as the Plumed Serpent. Three Rivers Site is also unique because it is one of only a few places in the Southwest that were used primarily for rock art rather than it being merely an adjunct to the village. [41] However, another site lying exactly on the 33rd parallel was also used expressly for this purpose. Near Gila Bend, Arizona about 62 miles west of Snaketown (mentioned above) is Painted Rocks [sic] State Park, which has thousands of petroglyphs of similar designs-- not “painted” but pecked into the boulders. [42]

A fascinating site also in the general vicinity of Phoenix is called the Circlestone Observatory (33 degrees 28 minutes). High in the Superstition Mountains about 54 miles east of the metropolis lies an elliptical “medicine wheel” constructed of a stone wall three feet thick with a circumference of 427 feet. On his extensive and thoroughly detailed web site, New Zealand researcher Martin Doutré claims that this structure incorporates various navigational codes, including phi, or the Golden Ratio (1.618...). “Ancient astronomers mathematicians built sites like Circlestone as repositories of codes and places where initiates could be taught age-old principles.” Doutré further suggests that Circlestone was used by colonists from the eastern Mediterranean or Europe who may have operated a gold mine-- perhaps the famous Lost Dutchman’s Mine itself! [43] Although American Indians may instead have constructed this site for an astronomical observatory similar to the one at Casa Malpais near Springerville, Arizona (34 degrees 10 minutes), Doutré’s theory is nonetheless an intriguing one.

Four other ancient sites along latitude 33 N warrant brief mentions. Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (33 degrees 22 minutes) is located in a rugged and isolated region about 60 miles west of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Reminiscent of the seven Aztecan caves mentioned above, five caves in the Mogollon Mountains of southwestern New Mexico contain about 40 masonry and adobe rooms built circa 1280 A.D., although semi-subterranean pit houses have been found nearby dating back to circa 100 A.D. [44]

In saguaro cactus country about 56 miles northeast of Phoenix is another site on the global mystery circle called Tonto National Monument (33 degrees 44 minutes), which also contains cliff dwellings within shallow caves. Constructed of unshaped quartzite and adobe mortar, these ruins inhabited in the mid-fourteenth century contained 70 rooms within three caves. [45]

About 40 miles due east of the small town of San Carlos, Arizona (33 degrees 24 minutes) is Point of Pines Ruin. Occupied between 1200 and 1500 A.D., this huge masonry pueblo contained 800 rooms, a central plaza, a surrounding wall, and a great kiva. [46] The site is also one of the few in the Southwest that shows evidence of three different cultures living together: the Hohokam, the Mogollon, and the Anasazi-- the last group named migrating from the Hopi country to the north. [47] The population is estimated to have been between 2,000 and 3,000. [48] Incidentally, five or so miles to the south is a hot springs called Arsenic Tubs, number 33 on the periodic table.

And finally, Besh-ba-gowah Archaeological Park located one-and-a-half miles south of downtown Globe, Arizona (33 degrees 25 minutes) was a granite cobble pueblo of 250-plus rooms inhabited between 1225 and 1450 A.D. The artifacts found include copper bells and macaw feathers from Mesoamerica as well as shells from the Gulf of Mexico and the California coast. [49] Besh-ba-gowah is an Apache phrase meaning “place of the metal,” referring to the copious silver and copper deposits in the area. In fact, the town of Globe was so named because of the 1875 discovery of a globe-shaped mass nine inches in diameter made of 99% pure silver and valued at $12,000. Curiously, reports also stated that the continents of the Earth were etched upon its surface. The whereabouts of this artifact are currently unknown. [50]

A Brief History of 33