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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2025 5:43 pm
Question: How do you understand Big Alexander’s statement that the Philosopher’s Stone is located in the East? Could it be taken physically, that the answer should be sought in Eastern cultures? Or is it more related to the concept of cardinal directions — East, meaning the place where the Sun rises, the beginning and the source, as is often depicted on Masonic scrolls where a staircase leads to the East? Could it be connected to that?
When I was writing the first volume of “Alternative History” in 2010, just working on early drafts and notes, there was an interesting moment: we drew a compass and square on the map of St. Petersburg. And the guys who were helping me decode all of this were shocked and started saying that it was a Masonic symbol. But I didn’t know that — I had never read about it, never paid attention to it in films, even if it had appeared somewhere. I didn’t know who the Masons were. And it was fascinating that this information was being presented in that kind of wrapper, that everything revolved around Freemasonry, even though I had no clue what that was. You know, it’s like those youth adventure series where they’re solving some mysteries. And for that age — my age and the ages of my friends who were decoding all of this with me — that kind of wrapper, that there were Masons, a secret brotherhood, Illuminati — it was just so captivating and interesting. Probably, if we hadn’t viewed it through that lens, we either wouldn’t have understood it, or it wouldn’t have sparked such excitement and curiosity. That wrapper, in a way, really pulled us in, and we ended up fitting everything into it. Or rather, not me so much as the guys who were helping me decode everything. They started showing me that compass and square online, then the triangle with the eye. Then I started reading that these were Freemasons, that they were some sort of initiates, that it was a secret brotherhood. And then I remembered that Big Alexander told me I would find a common language with the brothers — and now, here’s some kind of brotherhood — maybe that’s them? Then I started to think that maybe those who control everything really are these Masons. But even so, I still didn’t perceive them as actual people. I always had this clear internal code, this very distinct feeling or image that those who rule everything are, let’s say, immortal and, let’s say, not human — though they might appear in human form. That’s why my friends and I would joke and call them “the Masons.”
When I was writing the first volume of “Alternative History” in 2010, just working on early drafts and notes, there was an interesting moment: we drew a compass and square on the map of St. Petersburg. And the guys who were helping me decode all of this were shocked and started saying that it was a Masonic symbol. But I didn’t know that — I had never read about it, never paid attention to it in films, even if it had appeared somewhere. I didn’t know who the Masons were. And it was fascinating that this information was being presented in that kind of wrapper, that everything revolved around Freemasonry, even though I had no clue what that was. You know, it’s like those youth adventure series where they’re solving some mysteries. And for that age — my age and the ages of my friends who were decoding all of this with me — that kind of wrapper, that there were Masons, a secret brotherhood, Illuminati — it was just so captivating and interesting. Probably, if we hadn’t viewed it through that lens, we either wouldn’t have understood it, or it wouldn’t have sparked such excitement and curiosity. That wrapper, in a way, really pulled us in, and we ended up fitting everything into it. Or rather, not me so much as the guys who were helping me decode everything. They started showing me that compass and square online, then the triangle with the eye. Then I started reading that these were Freemasons, that they were some sort of initiates, that it was a secret brotherhood. And then I remembered that Big Alexander told me I would find a common language with the brothers — and now, here’s some kind of brotherhood — maybe that’s them? Then I started to think that maybe those who control everything really are these Masons. But even so, I still didn’t perceive them as actual people. I always had this clear internal code, this very distinct feeling or image that those who rule everything are, let’s say, immortal and, let’s say, not human — though they might appear in human form. That’s why my friends and I would joke and call them “the Masons.”