This is the second blog comparing my spiritual journey with a famous rock band to concepts in Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code and The Lost Symbol. Last post I discussed the connections to Heiros Gamos, the Tarot, and TBIF’s (the band I follow) motif of a black and white checkerboard. This time, I’ll cover a few topics in The Lost Symbol: letter codes and the Rosicrucian secret society. Believe it or not, this is all a part of my journey with rock music. Bet ya can’t wait to find out how!
The DaVinci Code included several anagrams and letter puzzles, and The Lost Symbol features a 16 letter magic square, that when read in the correct order, spells Jeova Sanctus Unus – Latin for “One True God.” I’ve had my share of clues in the form of letters as well. Back in 1998, while standing at an outdoor rock concert waiting for TBIF to begin playing, the four musicians’ names repeated over and over in my mind: Robin, Bun E., Rick and Tom. Suddenly, the initials of their first names R-B-R-T did the fox-trot in my head. “Huh, that’s weird,” I thought to myself, “R-B-R-T spells the name “Robert” without any vowels.” I didn’t realize at the time if I took the first two letters or initials from Robin- RO, and BE from Bun E., it precisely spelled “Robert.”
“Robert” ruminated through my mind during the concert, and several years later, the name kept popping up in my consciousness till I spied “Robert Fludd” in some alchemical texts. Totally brushed it off as coincidence… until I saw Robert Fludd listed among the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion in The DaVinci Code. The name literally glowed. I sensed it was a sign I needed to check out this dude Dr. Robert Fludd.
How on Goddess’s green earth is Fludd connected to me and rock and roll? Though I won’t go into details about him here, suffice to say Dr. Robert Fludd was a physician, alchemist, and true Renaissance man. He also wrote extensively about healing and the esoteric importance of music. Since I was guided to alchemy soon after my spiritual awakening, and my book revolves around the possibility of group reincarnation and the healing power of music, it seemed that good ol’ Robert Fludd and the Rosicrucian movement were an important piece of my past life puzz
le. Yes, I sense myself and the souls of TBIF were possibly connected with Robert Fludd.
And guess what? Brown mentions Fludd in The Lost Symbol as well. Isn’t that interesting? Brown focuses on the Freemasons, with a brief introduction to their predecessors, the Rosicrucian brotherhood. He writes: “Admittedly, history’s list of famous Rosicrucians was a who’s who of European Renaissance luminaries: Parcelsus, Bacon, Fludd, Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, Newton, Leibniz.” I had no idea Fludd was considered a luminary. Pretty cool!
Rosicrucian Renaissance dudes were way into alchemy, which is the process by which one can transform ordinary consciousness into union with God. Brown describes the transformation in The Lost Symbol as “apotheosis”- to be made divine. After my awakening, I was led to Rosicrucians and the significance of alchemy as a path to enlightenment with music, so this drive toward man becoming aware of his own divinity becomes a central theme in my book, I Found All the Parts: Healing the Soul through Rock ‘n’ Roll. Seems like me and Dan Brown have got some kinda weird mind-meld thingy going on.
Another letter puzzle that suddenly smacked me upside the head one day was how the rearrangement of the letters of R-B-R-T spelled B-R-T-R. So what, you ask? Well, in my twisted mind, I saw the word “BROTHER.” Yes, a close anagram of Robert. Then I realized if I took B for Bun (not his birth name, but his birth name starts with a B), RO from Robin, Th from Tom (Thomas), E from Bun E., and R from Rick, it spelled it out Brother exactly. The Freemasons and Roscirucians are secret “brother”hoods. Might rock ‘n’ roll be considered a brotherhood as well? Brotherhood then. Brotherhood now. All in the hope of awakening society with music.
I know it sounds crazy, but many synchronicities with “Robert” and “Brother” led me on an incredible journey of self-discovery with rock music. And, it’s pretty funny (at least it is in my twisted mind) how Dan Brown’s main character’s first name, Professor Langdon, is ROBERT!
Alchemists and Rosicrucians such as Fludd loved using letter and number codes in their work. Next time, I’ll delve into a few numbers in The Lost Symbol and share how numerology became an important part of my path during my spiritual rock music odyssey.