The Secrets Hidden Behind the Dollar Bill

June 5, 2024History & conspiracy theoriesElsie O

A Critical Essay on Dollar Bill Conspiracy Theories

Introduction

Matthew Wilson of BBC once stated in a BBC article,“The eye of providence is a symbol almost purpose-built to be reinterpreted, and maybe even misinterpreted.”. This article was based around the Illuminati conspiracy theory connected to the eye of providence and a lot of the doubts connected to the American dollar bill. Eric Dubay, a well-known conspiracy theorist, had made a video titled “The Occulate Dollar Bill Talisman”. This video highlights his theories on how the dollar bill holds lots of symbolism connected with ancient cults in Europe and that the American government is answering to a greater power. However, Dubay’s ideas about this connection are far-out and absurd. Here are 5 things that will debunk the conspiracy theories from Eric Dubays “The Occulate Dollar Bill Talisman”.

The Great Seal

Throughout the video, Eric Dubay shows consistent doubts towards the American government and its decency. He made up to 30 claims that, with research, could easily be falsified. But we will only cover 5. The first controversial claim made by Dubay in this video was, “President Franklin D. Roosevelt had this symbol [Eye of Providence] printed onto the dollar bill, dating from 1933. It was a symbol of secret societies in Europe.” (0:35). The most known secret society from Europe is called the Illuminati and is well-known in America because of its conspiracies connected to the dollar bill. Dubay goes on to say in many different ways that the Eye of Providence is connected to the Illuminati and that it is a symbol of ancient secret societies. Following this, a picture of the Illuminati seal shows up on the screen and is captioned, “Coincidence? Not at all.” (0:57). In this picture, he was trying to highlight the similar styles between the Illuminati symbol and the Eye of Providence present on the Great Seal of the United States dollar bill. The Illuminati symbol, although misleading because the symbol is an eye encapsulated by a triangle, is not one near the Eye of Providence. The eye used to represent the Illuminati is more abstract and does not sit on top of a pyramid like the eye of Providence does and as was shown in the photo. In old cults from Egypt, they often symbolized their pyramids with the Eye of Horus, which could be another misleading factor to the claims made by Dubay in the video. There may be reasons for misconception with the great seal but dating back to the Renaissance period, the Eye of Providence was a symbol connected to many Christian practices, and it also represents the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Fig 1. The correct Illuminati seal. Article on the Illuminati and the conspiracy theories on the dollar bill.

As stated above, there are misleading things about the dollar bill that could cause suspicion as to why the Eye of Providence is on the dollar bill but the Eye of Providence is a long-standing symbol that is used on the dollar bill to represent the help needed from God for America to become a country. The Eye of Providence is one part of the great seal that was made to represent the authenticity of the signature of the president; it is shown on many government documents as well as signed treaties. In an article in the National Archives, it stated that, “The Great Seal of the United States is the symbol of our Sovereignty as a nation.” The Great Seal is something taken very seriously by the government and despite all of the theories about the dollar bill, it wouldn’t make sense for it to have secret meanings that do not side with the United States.

The Great Seal, Continued

However, there is more to the Great Seal on the other side of the dollar bill. This half of the Great Seal is made up of an eagle with a downturned American flag. To explain this, Dubay went on to talk about how “the eagle is the symbol of America because it signifies the constellation in Scorpio called Aquila” (1:29) and how it reveals a connection to an ancient lunar cult. Aquila is a constellation that represents a bird, most people would say it’s a hawk or an eagle. Dubay did not explain the direct connection between the lunar cult and Aquila, but he clarified how the symbol is connected to it. Following the original claim on the Scorpio symbol Dubay then stated, “The US elections are placed in the middle of Scorpio, and the birthday of America is in the Sorpionic Decanoate.” (1:41). The Sorpionic Decanoate is one of three phases of the sun which many people in astrology believe to be tied into certain behaviors of individuals or why certain events happen within those time frames. In many situations astrology is an opinion and in a lot of instances considered witchcraft. Most people would not understand the meaning of the decanoate or what it represents. Although Aquila looks like an eagle, Dubay stated in the video that Aquila is a sign of power, which is another reason as to why it is a symbol on the US dollar.

This claim is clearly false for many reasons. There are easy-to-spot errors in his statements as well as a poor connection from the Lunar cult to the eagle on the dollar bill. Bald eagles are native to North America and are used as a symbol of the United States because they were seen as a symbol of strength, immortality, and freedom. The lunar cult had long-standing symbols since the 5th dynasty of ancient Egypt for things such as the sun and hawks, but they never used an eagle as a symbol. Aquila is an important telltale of the Mediterranean and Euphratean societies due to the shape the stars make in the sky. In an article by James Seevers in Britannica, “Poets and courtiers sometimes called this bright, dominant star figure by the personal name of a deceased ruler, with the suggestion that the ruler had been elevated to the skies because of greatness on Earth.” When asked about the eagle’s significance to America, President John F. Kennedy answered, “The Founding Fathers made an appropriate choice when they selected the bald eagle as the emblem of the nation. The fierce beauty and proud independence of this great bird aptly symbolizes the strength and freedom of America.” The eagle was used on the great seal to represent the independence and war efforts to make the United States independent, with 13 arrows and 13 olive branches in the eagle’s claws to represent the original 13 colonies of America.

The Color Green

The next statement Dubay makes immediately following his claims on Aquila is “The color green also relates to the solar cult.” (1:50). He says this referring to the color of the dollar bill but after he states this he immediately starts talking about something unrelated to the color green and does not specify why the color green would be related to solar cults. Later on in the video he continues to say, “It is interesting to note that the plant mint is green. Our money printed at the mint is green. And the Isis Moon Goddess, Statue of Liberty, is also green. Someone who is ignorant is green” (3:39). What it seems as though Dubay wants us to interpret here is that they made the color of our dollar bill green to make people ignorant to the fact that the dollar bill is connected to all the ancient cults. The color green is commonly connected to the Islamic people because they have lots of important structures made with the color green incorporated into them. The Islamic society is similar to that in Rome where the solar cults or societies come from, but other than that no research could connect why green would be connected to the solar cult.

Dubay had not done research to back his claims up and it is quite easy to spot his errors for that reason. To support one of his claims Dubay states that the Statue of Liberty which symbolizes America is green. When the Statue of Liberty was gifted to America from France it was copper, like that of the penny. Over time the color of the copper weathered and turned green. There had been many flaws in his research and he had not cited any sources or used anything to back his claims up. The reason why the dollar bill is green is because it makes it harder to photocopy the money and prevents the use of counterfeit money. From lots of the research done, it is clear that there is nothing that really shows that green is connected to the lunar cult as an actual conspiracy theory and there could be a good chance that Dubay had come up with it on his own.

The number 13

Dubay ends the video with a claim saying, “The number 13 is not an unlucky number for them [the founding fathers], but an unlucky number for you.” (6:56). In this statement Dubay is referring to the many times on the dollar bill where the number 13 is represented, the 13 stripes on the flag, 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 leaves on the olive branch and others like that. Dubay stated that 13 was a Freemasonic number that is used frequently on the dollar bill. Freemasons are men of British secret society who practice the fraternal order of free and accepted masons. Earlier on in the video, Dubay stated how, “the number 13, which appears frequently on the dollar bill, stands for the lunar cult.” (1:53). After that claim he continued to say that there are 13 months in the lunar year and that 13 is a stellar cult numeral. Although there is nothing to connect the number 13 to the lunar cult, the founding fathers of our nation were freemasons as it was a common practice at the time.

After covering Dubays claims on the number 13 there is a lot of confusion and misconception with the number, but, the number 13 is repeated on the dollar bill because of America’s original 13 colonies that made up our nation, a lot like how there are 50 stars on our nations flag today to represent our 50 states. According to an article by History.com, 13 is not a Masonic number and therefore there would be no reason for that to be connected to the dollar bill. Without any credible resources on the matter, it is hard to continue to list quotes or websites on the credibility of this claim, however, Dubay’s claims are quite outrageous and overall just blatantly wrong. It wouldn’t take a long deep dive on many of his claims to prove that they are wrong if they were things that had already had research done on them. The number 13 being repeated on the dollar bill is used as a sign of freedom and the start of their new nation and for this case it was not used as a repeated masonic number.

The credibility of Eric Dubay

Eric Dubay is most famous for his “200 proofs for why the earth is not a spinning ball” where he covers 200 reasons as to why the earth is flat. Eric Dubay is an author and a university professor but he is not a worldwide name, and for those who do know him, he is known as a “buffoon” or an “airhead”. In a YouTube video titled “Eric Dubay Sucks at Life” by Professor Dave, he goes over all 200 of Eric Dubay’s proofs and explains why scientifically the claims are false. Some of these claims include, “The horizon is always flat. Any footage shows it to be flat” Professor Dave follows up with, “Except all the footage that shows it isn’t flat, which of course is CGI because he says so.” Another sign that Dubay’s claims are not credible and he does not prove them with reliable sources or any sources for that matter. A few more of his 200 claims are, “Airplane piolets would constantly have to correct their altitude downwards so as to not fly straight off into ‘outer space.’” (if the earth was round) or “If gravity is credited with being a strong enough force to curve the massive amounts of the ocean… It would be impossible for fish to swim in such forcefully held water.” His claims just by first glance are inaccurate and can be disproven with a simple science or physics equation. Eric Dubay has not been a person to easily let go of his conspiracy theories even with research to prove him wrong. Eric Dubay has commonly been credited with distrust and dishonesty in his claims. He states clearly incorrect things and does not back them up with any logical reasoning as to why his opinion and thoughts are “correct”. Eric Dubay has shown he is not a credible source in any matter.

Fg.2. Thumbnail to “Eric Dubay Sucks at Life” by Professor Dave, video on debunking Eric Dubay’s 200 proofs.

Conclusion Eric Dubay doesn’t have the most trustworthy reputation. Although Eric Dubay’s claims may not make sense or may not have research to back them up, he does share a lot of opinions with the rest of the world. The Illuminati conspiracy theory is shared with millions of people worldwide and although it is not true, lots of people find that it makes more sense that the government is made up of cults and deceptions. There are no signs or reliable evidence to say that the dollar bill is connected to these cults and secret societies but who knows, maybe the dollar bill is just created to be misinterpreted.

Works Cited

https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/eagle.pdf.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Freemasonry

https://bensguide.gpo.gov/j-great-seal

https://www.livescience.com/ancient-egyptian-sun-temple-discovered.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23125663

https://www.livescience.com/ancient-egyptian-sun-temple-discovered

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/original-design-of-the-great-seal-of-the-united-states.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6649877

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6649877/.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6649877

https://spyscape.com/article/secrets-of-the-illuminati-eye-of-providence