2 Royalty and Pontificate

Pontifex literally means ‘builder of bridges’, and by its origin this Roman title is as it were ‘masonic’; but symbolically it is that which fulfills the function of mediator, establishing communication between this world and the higher worlds.4 In this respect, the rainbow or ‘celestial bridge’ is a natural symbol for the pontificate and all traditions give it perfectly concordant meanings; thus among the Hebrews it is the sign of God’s covenant with his people; in China it is the sign of the union of Heaven and Earth; in Greece it represents Iris, ‘the messenger of the gods’; and almost everywhere—among the Scandinavians as well as the Persians and Arabs, in Central Africa, and even among certain peoples of North America—it is the bridge that links the sensible world to the suprasensible. 7-8

this interpretation, without being false, is quite insufficient, 10

10 Names and Symbolic Representation of Spiritual Centers

Historical facts themselves, and especially those of sacred history, in fact translate in their own way truths of a superior order by reason of the law of correspondence that is the very foundation of symbolism, and that unites all the worlds in total and universal harmony. 65