As we work with our earthly forms, we should ask ourselves: Are we building a house of cards, or a Holy Temple?
The House of Cards
A house of cards forms when we build our lives, our worldview, our spiritual practice, or even our bodies without first anchoring ourselves in truth. The unsteady “house of cards” metaphor reveals the inherent instability we risk when basing ourselves on anything other than alignment with Universal Truth and our individual purified will.
This unstable foundation may have an outward veneer that attracts interest or attention, but when we walk up to it, even the light tread of our slippered feet may be enough to shake it to the ground. This structure relies on sleight of hand, on smoke and mirrors that divert us from noticing its deformed fragility. Those who are drawn to them are also disconnected from integrity themselves, and so they delight in the spectacle without noticing its bizarre angles, its distorted walls, or the way it violently sways in the winds of truth. And those who build them separate themselves from the nourishing, glistening material of veracity.
This kind of builder prioritizes the weak, false facade because it seems easier and faster to produce than the strong, steady, deep-rooted framework of the Holy Temple. The house of cards seems to thrive in a time when the art of paying close attention has withered. The skill of discernment, the ability to see the materials and methods used in this kind of construction is underdeveloped and atrophied. Few pause long enough to notice the warped floorboards…to open the doors and discover they lead nowhere…to take a second look out the window and sense something uncanny…to lift the decorative painting into the light and see that it is actually ugly. The house of cards fools many because the “fool” is content to be fooled.
The Holy Temple
It takes a desire to build with integrity and truth to construct a Holy Temple. It requires the willingness to sacrifice the pace, expectations, and easy applause of the masses. It demands an inner connection to what is true and an unwavering refusal to build upon anything less than the shining blueprint of one’s unique spiritual patterning. We all have an inner connection to truth, but it requires spiritual discipline, concentration, discernment, bravery and vulnerability to express it.
The spiritual aspirant builds their Temple in silence. They check their construction daily with a discerning eye. They do not allow emotional or egoic projections to solidify into the structure. They select only the finest materials. Everything has its place, so if a deviation occurs, it is immediately noticed and corrected with accountability and precision. These deviations are moments of disconnection from truth which are born of erroneous perceptions, emotional distortions, or spiritual delusion. All are symptoms of internal impurity.
The Holy Temple is balanced. Its walls are steady and beautiful from every angle. The Temple radiates harmony and healing, decorated with the curated artifacts of lived personal experience. Its structure sparkles with cleanliness and integrity, upheld by Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian pillars which represent wisdom, strength, and beauty in perfect proportion.
At the edge of the village, the aspirant builds their Temple from the ground up using their internal guidance system. To onlookers, the process seems strange. What are those materials? Why that floor plan? Why choose that plot of land?
This is reflected in the way that sites of ancient sanctuaries, temples, and even cities were said to have been chosen via “omens” such as lightning strikes or bird flight patterns. The teaching was that “God chooses the place, not the builder.”
To those who have not contacted their own inner point of everlasting truth, the Temple and the builder appear odd…until it is finished.
When the Holy Temple is finally complete, its height…its materials…its undeniable beauty is mesmerizing to the once confused and gossiping onlookers. The truth of the matter is now immediately apparent and attractive. Now, dwelling within the finished structure, the Temple Master sits in command of their surroundings, unthreatened by storms, winds, or the footsteps of passersby. The integrity of the structure is sound and unaffected by external circumstances. The Temple is fitted with a specially coded lock, one that opens only for the truest seekers with the purest intentions. Any misshapen key fails, and so the Temple becomes a sacred fortress: solid, sovereign, and self-protecting for the builder who labored in truth.
This lock-and-key symbolism is, of course, also a reference to sacred sexuality. It speaks to the feminine aspect and responsibility on this path – her need to be fitted for truth, steady in her own architecture, and capable of discernment. For more on this feminine topic, I highly recommend the work of Claire Nakti.
And just as the house of cards attracts those who delight in ignorance, the Holy Temple calls to those who wish to align their own foundations in truth. To them, the Temple is a distant reminder. It is an invitation to rise.
We see this process echoed in the building of King Solomon’s Temple in the Biblical books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. As with all Biblical stories, we can learn the allegorical, metaphorical, and mythological message within the parables. In the narrative, Solomon does not design the Temple himself; he receives the plans from his father, David, who received them from God. This transmission from God to David to Solomon, is a symbolic depiction of DNA genetic patterning. Solomon receives the plans through his father because this is how exoteric teachings point toward an esoteric truth without revealing it outright to be distorted by the spiritually profane.
Note: I only share the Bible verses below to show that the scriptures of Abrahamic exoteric religions point to esoteric truths using allegorical language and etymological symbolism. The outright words and public rituals are for mass consumption (such as during Catholic “mass”), and so are useful in that context. It is important that those who may be oriented into these traditions go deeper into the teachings in order to avoid being caught up in surface-level understanding. For this in particular, I recommend the teachings of Manly P. Hall.
📜1 Chronicles 28:11–19 (King James Version)
11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat,
12 And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, for the courts of the house of the Lord…
18 …and for the chariot of the cherubims…
19 All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.
Notice the repeated use of the word “pattern.” I discussed the etymology of this word further in another post: 🍦here.
Certain spiritual ideologies expand on this idea by translating the construction of Solomon’s Temple into the process of perfecting the human energetic system, physical body, and soul. The emphasis on craftsmanship, geometry, and the sacred tools of measurement are used to guide the process of self-refinement.
Square: moral integrity
Compass: spiritual guidance and sacred boundaries
Level: inner equilibrium
Plumb line: uprightness and alignment with truth
These symbols remind us that a Temple (outer or inner) cannot be built or accessed without spiritual discipline, discernment, and a steady devotion to the blueprint placed within us. This is the same truth I wrote about earlier in this essay: each of us has a unique Divine blueprint. The actions required to build this Holy Temple can appear strange to others, because often the required actions will place us outside of traditional conformity and societal conditioning. When we follow Divine impulse, we act from a place of deep, wordless knowing. The fruits of that knowing often emerge only later, shaped by our faithfulness to the instructions we received long before we fully understood them.
”LOYALTY TO A UNIQUE CHARACTER” is written in Latin across the top of this document. Pulled from “General Ahiman Rezon and Freemason’s Guide.”
VALERIE CODY 