The case of the devil Part 4: Inversions, mouldings, Hebraic letters and… the model

 

It is clear that the order for the stoup for the church of Rennes-le-Château was a deliberate choice and not a whim. Perhaps it was the need or desire on behalf of Saunière to leave certain information in a visible location, so that those with eyes to see, could see and understand.
From this possibility, we jump to the fact that Gérard de Sède uses, for his last republication of his book on Rennes-le-Château, the devil as the cover image. Knowing that de Sède was embroiled in the enigma of the faked parchments, we wondered whether he “bedevilled” his reader in any other possible manner.

Playing with the devil

There is no doubt that the choice of Asmodeus for the cover of his book in itself is not strange – many have followed him in opting to make the devil the billboard of the enigma. But a billboard is by default a piece of advertising, to draw people into what is being sold… the question is what specifically de Sède was selling.

If there was no enigma to the choice of de Sède’s selection of the devil for his cover, then it would be paranoid to read much into the mirrored image of the devil. But there is more. Allan Scot’s website is one of the few to draw attention to an enigmatic inscription on the devil’s wing. It is a series of 5 “inscriptions”, marks, which present an anomaly. Again, we note that the devil was a commissioned piece, so the creation of these “inscriptions” is a deliberate choice.

The “inscriptions” are difficult to see and it takes more than the usual amount of light that floods into the chapel to notice them. What are they? Perhaps they could be an incorrect representation of claws, which sometimes adore the edges of the wings of the devils, such as that of Campeneac. But let us note that there are no such inscriptions on the left wing (for the visitor), and that the “claws” (inscriptions) on the right wing are not on the edge, but instead in the membrane of the wing. Furthermore, they do not look like claws. If anything, it looks as if the devil has been injured, something five-clawed (a hand or a foot?) ripping through his right wing, perhaps making it impossible for him to fly.

Adding insult to injury

Speculation about what the five “inscriptions” represent – if anything – is a difficult subject. That, however, is not the focus of our attention. What is, is what de Sède did with this inscription. We note that the “5 signs” are visible on the cover of "Signé Rose+Croix”. At first sight, it is difficult to discern and definitely would not warrant a second glance. But for anyone who knows that the devil in the church has this inscription on his right wing, it is confirmation that this image has been mirrored. But that is not all: for those who know what the inscription in the wing looks like, those will notice that the inscription as it appears on the cover of the book is not identical.

This brings with it some implications. First of all, we note that the mirroring of the devil has mirrored the sense of “reading” the inscription. However, we also note that de Sède has modified the inscription – the second modification on the cover, after the mirroring of the devil. That the latter is therefore a coincidence, now becomes less of a possibility. Furthermore, whereas the original inscription is “just” a series of what seems to be “scratches”, largely making the number 1, and thus looks like a row of “11 111”, as has been observed by Alan Scott.
Though reversed, it is clear that de Sède has altered their appearance. They now resemble writing, most similar with the Hebraic alphabet. Is this just an impression, or real? Whatever the case may be, we need to underline the fact that this only appears on the cover of this book. In other words, it seems that de Sède has been modifying this image, having played with the inscription on his right wing. Why?

A first analysis

The language seems to be Hebraic, and seems to be from an alphabet known as “Rashi”. The alphabet dates from the Middle Ages, and is named after one of the best-known commentators of the Talmud, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known as Rashi or Rachi. He lived in Troyes, France, a town famous for its esoteric past.
The alphabet has 22 letters:

It could be a series of the letters Het, Vav and Tav, which would allow an interpretation of the inscription as FRNKONKIN. As KONK and IN cannot be certain, what would remain would be FRNK, i.e. FRANK, which is “Franks”, which could mean people, currency, or a quality, as in “frank of speak”. Who knows what to chose, if anything?

Comparison between the inscription of de Sède, the tetragrammaton and the actual inscription

It is clear that this analysis leaves more questions than it explains. A more straightforward explanation is that the inscription resembles a series of letters that is known as the tetragrammaton. This is a group of four letters that indicates the Name of God and that forms the core of many esoteric Jewish traditions. The letters are Y H V H, normally making up “Yahweh”, the mundane Name of God.

Other signs

Let us leave the search for meaning in the inscription of de Sède to note that the inscription on the wings might be very important. Above the stoup, there is the sentence saying that “By This Sign, You will Conquer Him”. The French inscription reads: PAR CE SIGNE TU LE VAINCRAS, an adaptation of the original phrasing, which is PAR CE SIGNE TU VAINCRAS. The original phrase has 20 letters, with the added word “le” making Saunière’s phrase into 22 letters. Coincidence that this is the number of letters in Rashi’s alphabet? No doubt in the case of Saunière, but in the case of de Sède?
Still, the question is what “sign” it is by which “he” will be conquered. “He”, it is clear, is the devil. The sign could be a number of things: it could be the “BS” on top of the devil, which are the initials of Berenger Saunière. In reverse, it is “SB”, which could be Shab, Hebrew for “to draw water”, which brings us to the water which our devil has great difficulty in lifting. Though Saunière might not have been aware of the Hebrew reversal of his initials, de Sède might have been.

Other candidates for “the sign” are the sign of the cross that the angels make above, and also the enigmatic “cross” on top of the angels, which could be interpreted as the “Rosy Cross”. Let us note that the book of de Sède is titled “Signed: Rose & Cross”.
Finally, let us note that we now have another sign, which are the five inscriptions on his wing. Again, it might be unknown to Saunière, but it is known that to take control of a demon, you need to know his name, and you need to “write” a name on your body, either on his forehead (as e.g. in the Golem), or in the case of demons, on their wings.

Controlling the devil

We can never be sure all of this is not a coincidence, but, if it is, than accidentally, de Sède reversed the photograph of the demon, accidentally changed the inscription into making it resemble Hebrew writing. This means that if de Sède knew the name of this demon (and he is the one who identified him as Asmodeus), de Sède “controlled” him. Is this what de Sède tried to show, suggest or “bedevil” to his readers? When we note that de Sède was involved with a small group of people intent on taking control of the mystery of the priest, and that the publication of de Sède’s book was the pivotal event in that endeavour, it all adds up to a “major coincidence”, one which statisticians would have difficulty to explain as a coincidence.

Let us note that Saunière himself might well have been familiar with the importance of wings. Of course, they signify demons and angels. They are used in the expression “to take someone under his wings”, an expression known in French, with the same meaning as the English one: that of protection. We note that protection and conquering are opposites: if anything, the menace of the devil is conquered by knowing his name and making him your own, so the demon will help and protect you – as Asmodeus did in the case of King Solomon once Solomon conquered him. Again, we need to leave the possible interpretations here, as there are a series of explanations possible.

“The sign”

Let us return again to de Sède. “By this sign you will conquer him” is what Saunière said regarding the devil; “Signed: Rose & Cross” and the image of the devil is what de Sède did. It is clear that both played with this image and though what de Sède did might not at all be the sequence of what Saunière hoped or planned to do, it is now clear that both felt a certain familiarity with the devil. But whereas de Sède did most of his games in public, such as the faked documents, it is intriguing that he played this little game on the cover of a book, to see whether anyone would ever find out. To some extent, it was also a “clue to the future”. We ourselves would have had great difficulty analysing and interpreting the changed inscription without the use of modern computer tools. Though nothing was done to retouch the image, it is clear that zooming in on the inscription, changing its direction so it is better readable, comparing it with the original, etc., all are greatly facilitated by modern computer technology. Anyone in the past could have done exactly the same we would have done; the only “added difficulty” would be that the comparison would have to occur on site (the church), or by comparing two photographic prints next to each other on a table.

Saunière’s modus operandi

We note that Saunière specifically commissioned this piece; that it fits “somewhat” within the accepted religious framework of his time; though it is not unique, it is not common either. The model is one of its kind. The model was prepared by an expert in the matter, i.e. religious statues.
A negative moulding had to be made, which we know remained with Giscard after Saunière’s order had been filled. This means that a negative of the model existed. This negative would not have had any colour, but it is clear that the devil itself would largely be a dark brown.
Yes, we are talking about the devil, and not about “Saunière’s model”, the model of the landscape of Jerusalem which he ordered late in life. But it is clear that what applies to the creation of the devil statue, is also applicable to the model.
Even if Saunière did not intend to impart any specific meaning “to those with eyes to see” in the devil, it is clear that the process of creation of this statue was copied when he ordered the creation of the landscape model. This in itself is an important observation, for it shows that Saunière was at that time intimately aware of how such models were created.

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