The male mind never asks for directions, natch.
Mine relates to my avatar...
dlowan, check out a dollar bill... ("It is favorable to our undertakings.")
Dumas a freemason ... well, I suppose he coulda been. But Uncle Ben Franklin certainly was, and it was him what was given the job of coming up with a seal. Franklin was before Dumas Pere by quite a spell.
http://watch.pair.com/mason.html#seal
Doh! I was confusing quote with name. A Dumas (frankly I know nothing about them) wrote something with D'Artagnan in the title in the 17th century. Was the only connection I could come up with between that and the pyramid-eye-thingie on the dollar.
You may be on to something, patiodog...I will say no more...
D'artagnan - I can't look up one of your dollar bills - I turned them all into Australian dollars again when I returned from my last holiday in the USA!
An alchemist, that bunny is...
Teehee
So - what does "Annuit coeptis" mean, folks?
And it all have something to do with the Illuminati or something....?
"I am co-opting your annuity"?
from an anonymous website:
Great Seal Mottoes
Annuit Coeptis
Providence Has Favored Our Undertakings
In the zenith of an unfinished pyramid on the reverse side of the Great Seal is "an eye in a triangle, surrounded with a glory . . . Over the eye, these words, Annuit Coeptis."
This Latin phrase has been traced to Virgil, the renowned Roman poet who lived in the first century B.C. In his epic masterpiece, the Aeneid, he tells the story of Aeneas – son of Venus, ancestral hero of the Romans – and his journey from Troy to Italy.
In book IX, line 625, is the phrase: "Jupiter omnipotens, audacibus annue coeptis." (All-powerful Jupiter, favor [my] daring undertakings.) Also, in Virgil's Georgics (book I, line 40) are the words: "Da facilem cursum, atque audacibus annue coeptis." (Give [me] an easy course, and favor [my] daring undertakings.)
Charles Thomson changed the first person imperative "annue" to the third person "annuit." In the motto Annuit Coeptis, the subject of the verb must be supplied, and the translator must also choose the tense.
Thomson said: "The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: the Eye over it & the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause."
The eye is therefore the missing subject, and the translation would be:
"It (the Eye of Providence) is favorable to our undertakings."
Variations include:
Providence has favored our undertakings
God favors our undertakings
He favors our undertakings
you're welcome!
I read recently that the pyramid on the dollar is not one from Egypt. Can't remember where exactly. another place in Africa, I think. Hmmm, Ethiopia? Maybe that's it. Anyway, I have no idea why we'd have an Ethiopian pyramid on the American dollar bill. Or maybe it was Somalia -- are there pyramids there?
I've always assumed the pyramid with its top blown off was symbolic of a blasted Ponzi scheme.
Piffka wrote:All of my signature quotes have been snippets from Edna St. Vincent Millay poetry. I like change, the same signature would bore me. This way, anybody who reads one of my posts gets some new literature to think about every day or two.
I noticed Piffka changing hers and I adopted her idea.
Serious or silly, Thoreau, or Dickinson, or my own dogerell, who knows what'll be next.
Ponzi scheme? Pyramid sales? Grooooaaaaaaaaannnnnnn?
I have wondered too about the pyramid on the bills- found an answer in FAQ (Department of The Treasury)
http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/currency/portraits.html#q3
"The eye and the pyramid shown on the reverse side of the one-dollar bill are in the Great Seal of the United States. The Great Seal was first used on the reverse of the one-dollar Federal Reserve note in 1935. The Department of State is the official keeper of the Seal. They believe that the most accurate explanation of a pyramid on the Great Seal is that it symbolizes strength and durability. The unfinished pyramid means that the United States will always grow, improve and build. In addition, the "All-Seeing Eye" located above the pyramid suggests the importance of divine guidance in favor of the American cause. The inscription ANNUIT COEPTIS translates as "He (God) has favored our undertakings," and refers to the many instances of Divine Providence during our Government's formation. In addition, the inscription NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM translates as "A new order of the ages," and signifies a new American era."
