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Searchable Full Text of
Glimpses of Masonic History by C
Glimpses of
Masonic History
by
C
The
Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky
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1926
CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
CHAPTER I
SCHOOLS OF MASONIC THOUGHT
The Origins of Masonry. The
Authentic School. The Anthropological School. The
CHAPTER II
THE EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES
The Message of the World
Teacher. The Gods of Egypt. Isis and Osiris. Animal Deities. The Practice of
Embalming. Other Deities. The Brothers of Horus. Consecration. The Purpose of
the Mysteries. The Degrees of the Mysteries. The Mysteries of Isis. The
Preliminary Trials. The Mystery
Language. The Duality of each Degree. The Inner Mysteries of Isis. The
Mysteries of Serapis. The Inner Degree of Serapis. The Mysteries of Osiris. The
Legend of Osiris. The Meaning of the Story. The Inner Mysteries of Osiris. The
Office of Master. The Higher Black Masonry in the Mysteries. White Masonry in
the Mysteries. The Stages of the Occult Path. The First Three Initiations. The
Fourth Initiation. The Fifth Initiation and Beyond.
CHAPTER III
THE CRETAN MYSTERIES
The Unity of the Mysteries.
Life in Ancient Crete. The Cretan Race. Recent Discoveries in Crete. Worship in
Crete. The Throne Room. The Three Columns. Models of Shrines. The
Altar Objects. Various Symbols.
The Statuettes.
CHAPTER IV
THE JEWISH MYSTERIES
The Jewish Line of Descent.
The Jewish Migrations. The Prophets. The Builders of K.S.T. The Recasting of
the Rituals. The Mingling of Traditions. The Transmission of the New Rites. The
Essenes and the Christ. Kabbalism. The Spiritualization of the Temple. The Loss
of the Divine Name.
CHAPTER V
THE GREEK MYSTERIES
The Eleusinian Mysteries. The
Origin of the Greek Mysteries. The Gods of Greece. The Officials. The Lesser
Mysteries. The Greater Mysteries. The Myths of the Greater Mysteries. The Magic
of the Greater Mysteries. The Hidden Mysteries. The School of Pythagoras. The
Three Degrees. Other Greek Mysteries.
CHAPTER VI
THE MITHRAIC MYSTERIES
Zarathustra and Mithraism.
Mithraism among the Romans. The Mithraic Rites. The Roman Collegia. The Work of
King Numa. The Colleges and the Legions. The Introduction of the Jewish Form.
The Transition to the Operatives.
CHAPTER VII
CRAFT MASONRY IN MEDIAEVAL
TIMES
Evolutionary Methods. The Withdrawal
of the Mysteries. The Christian Mysteries. The Repression of the Mysteries. The
Crossing of Traditions. The Two Lines of Descent. The Culdees. Celtic
Christianity in Britain. The Druidic Mysteries. The Holy Grail. Heredom.
CHAPTER VIII
OPERATIVE MASONRY IN THE
MIDDLE AGES
The Temporary Custodians.
Decline of the Collegia. The Comacini. The Comacine Lodges. Other Survivals of
the Collegia. The Compagnonnage. The Stonemasons of Germany. The English
Guilds. The Rise of Gothic Architecture. The Old Charges.
CHAPTER IX
THE TRANSITION FROM OPERATIVE
TO SPECULATIVE
The Reformation. The
Reappearance of Speculative Masonry. The First Minutes. Scottish Minutes.
English Minutes. Irish Minutes. The Grand Lodge of England. The Recomposition
of the Rituals. Two and Three Degrees. Opposition. The Succession of L.M.s. The
Grand Lodges of York, Ireland and Scotland. The "Ancients". The Holy
Royal Arch. The United Grand Lodge. Craft Masonry in Other Countries
CHAPTER X
OTHER LINES OF MASONIC TRADITION
The Stream of Secret
Societies. The Knights Templars. The
Suppression of the Templars. The Preservation of the Templars'
Tradition. The Royal Order of
CHAPTER XI
THE SCOTTISH RITE
Origin of the Rite. The
Jacobite Movement. The Oration of
Ramsay. The Chapter of Clermont. The Council of Emperors. Stephen Morin.
CHAPTER XII
THE CO-MASONIC ORDER
The Restoration of an Ancient
Landmark. The Succession of Co-Masonry. The Co-Masonic Rituals. The Future of
Masonry
APPENDIX I.
Degrees of the Rite of
Perfection
II. Principal Masonic Events
from 1717
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Preface
WHEN I wrote The Hidden Life in
Freemasonry, it was at first my intention to devote my second chapter to a
brief outline of Masonic history. I soon found that that plan was impractical.
The most compressed account that would be of any use would occupy far more
space than I could spare, and would entirely overweight the book with what is
after all only one department of its subject. The obvious alternative is to
publish the historical sketch separately; hence this book, which is really but
a second volume of the other.
The keynote of both volumes,
and indeed the only reason for their publication, is to explain precisely what
the title indicates - the hidden life in Freemasonry - the mighty force in the
background, always at work yet always out of sight, which has guided the
transmission of the Masonic tradition through all the vicissitudes of its
stormy history, and still inspires the utmost enthusiasm and devotion among the
Brn. of the Craft to-day.
The existence and the work of
the Head of all true Freemasons is the one and sufficient reason for the
virility and power of this most wonderful Organization. If we understand His
relation to it and what He wishes to make of it, we shall also understand that
it embodies one of the finest schemes ever invented for the helping of the
world and for the outpouring of spiritual force.
Many of our Brn. have been
for many years unconsciously taking part in this magnificent altruistic work;
if they can be brought to comprehend what it is that they are doing and why,
they will continue the great work more happily and more intelligently, throwing
into it the whole strength of their nature both bodily and spiritual, and
enjoying the fruit of their labours far more definitely than ever before.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER I
. Schools of Masonic Thought
A HISTORY of Freemasonry would be a
colossal undertaking, needing encyclopaedic knowledge and many years of
research. I have no pretension to the possession of the qualities and the
erudition required for the production of such a work; all I can hope to do is
to throw a little light upon some of the dark spots in that history, and to
bridge over to some extent some of the more obvious gaps between the sections
of it which are already well known.
THE ORIGINS OF MASONRY
The actual origins of Freemasonry, as I
have said in a previous book, are lost in the mists of antiquity. Masonic
writers of the eighteenth century speculated uncritically upon its history, basing
their views upon a literal belief in the history and chronology of the Old
Testament, and upon the curious legends of the Craft handed down from operative
times in the Old Charges. Thus it was put forward in all seriousness by Dr.
Anderson in his first Book of Constitutions that "Adam, our first parent,
created after the Image of God, the great Architect of the Universe, must have
had the Liberal Sciences, particularly Geometry, written on his Heart,"
while others, less fanciful, have attributed its origin to Abraham, Moses, or
Solomon. Dr. Oliver, writing as late as the first part of the nineteenth
century, held that Masonry, as we
have it to-day, is the only true relic
of the faith of the patriarchs before the flood, while the ancient Mysteries of
Egypt and other countries, which so closely resembled it, were but human
corruptions of the one primitive and pure tradition.
As scientific and historical knowledge
progressed in other fields of research, and especially in the criticism of the
Scriptures, scientific methods were gradually applied to the study of Masonry,
so that today there exists a vast body of fairly accurate and most interesting
information upon the history of the Craft. In consequence of this and other
lines of investigation there are four main schools or tendencies of Masonic
thought, not in any way necessarily defined or organized as schools, but
grouped according to their relation to four important departments of knowledge
lying primarily outside the Masonic field. Each has its own characteristic
approach towards Freemasonry; each has its own canons of interpretation of
Masonic symbols and ceremonies, although it is clear that many modern writers
are influenced by more than one school.
THE AUTHENTIC SCHOOL
We may consider first what is sometimes
called the
This school, however, has limitations
which are the outcome of its very method of approach. In a society as secret as
Masonry there must be much that has never been written down, but only
transmitted orally in the Lodges, so that documents and records are but of
partial value. The written records of
speculative Masonry hardly antedate the revival in 1717, while the earliest
extant minutes of any operative Lodge belong
to the year .* (*History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, by D. Murray-Lyon,
p. .) The tendency of this school, therefore, is quite naturally to derive
Masonry from the operative Lodges and Guilds of the Middle Ages, and to suppose
that speculative elements were later grafted upon the operative stock - this
hypothesis being in no way contradicted by existing records. Bro. R. F. Gould
affirms that if we can assume the symbolism (or ceremonial) of Masonry to be
older than 1717, there is practically no limit whatever to the age that can be
assigned to it* (*Concise History of Freemasonry, by R. R Gould, p. .); but
many other writers look for the origin of our Mysteries no further back than
the mediaeval builders.
Amongst this school there is a tendency,
also very natural when such a theory of origin is held, to deny the validity of
the higher degrees, and to declare, in accordance with the Solemn Act of Union
between the two Grand Lodges of the Freemasons of England, in December, 1813, that
"pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more, viz., those
of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including
the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch."* (*Book of Constitutions, 1884,
p. .) All other degrees and rites are, among the more rigid followers of this
school, looked upon as Continental innovations and are accordingly rejected as
"spurious" Masonry.
10 As far as interpretation goes, the
authentics have ventured but little further than a moralization upon the
symbols and ceremonies of Masonry as an adjunct to Anglican Christianity.
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCHOOL
A second school, still only in process of
development, is applying the discoveries of anthropology to a study of Masonic history,
with remarkable results. A vast amount of information upon the religious and
initiatory customs of many peoples, both ancient and modern, has been gathered
by anthropologists; and Masonic students in this field have found many of our
signs and symbols, both of the Craft and higher degrees, in the wall-paintings,
carvings, sculpture and buildings of the principal races of the world. The
Anthropological School, therefore, allows a far greater degree of antiquity to
Masonry than the Authentics have ever ventured to do, and traces striking
analogies with the ancient Mysteries of many nations, which clearly possessed
our symbols and signs, and in all probability ceremonies analogous to those
worked in Masonic Lodges to-day.
The Anthropologists do not confine their
studies to the past alone, but have investigated the initiatory rites of many
existing tribes, both in Africa and Australia, and have found them to possess
signs and gestures still in use among Masons. Striking analogies to our Masonic
rites have also been found among the inhabitants of India and Syria, interwoven
with their religious philosophy in a way which renders entirely impossible the
idea that they were copied from European sources. Masonic scholars have by no
means exhausted the facts which may be discovered in this most interesting
field of research, but even with our present knowledge it is clear that rites
analogous to those we call Masonic are among the most ancient on earth, and may
be found in some form or other in almost all parts of the world. Our signs
exist in Egypt and Mexico, in China and India, in Greece and Rome, upon the
temples of Burma and the cathedrals of mediaeval Europe; and there are said to
be shrines in Southern India where the same secrets are taught under binding
pledges as are communicated to us in the Craft and high grades in modern Europe
and America.
Among pioneers in this field we should
mention Bro. Albert Churchward, the author of several interesting books on the
Egyptian origin of Masonry, although it may be that he is not always quite
sufficiently critical; Bro. J. S. M. Ward, the author of Freemasonry and the
Ancient Gods, Who was Hiram Abiff? and a number of other works, who looks to
Syria as the source of Masonry, though he has compiled a mass of valuable
information from many other lands; and Mr. Bernard H. Springett, author of
Secret Sects of Syria and Lebanon, who has collected much material bearing
upon Masonic rites among the Arabs.
To the work of the Anthropological School is
due a clear revelation of the immense antiquity and diffusion of what we now
call Masonic symbolism. It tends, however, to find the origin of the ancient
Mysteries in the initiatory customs of savage tribes which, although admittedly
of incalculable antiquity, are often neither dignified nor spiritual.
Another important work which has been
accomplished by its efforts is the justification of many of the higher degrees
to be considered "pure Antient Masonry"; for in spite of the
pronouncement of the Grand Lodge of England quoted above, there is just as much
evidence for the extreme antiquity of Rose-Croix as of Craft and Arch signs and
symbols, and the same may be said of the signs of many other degrees as well.
It is quite clear from the researches of anthropologists that, whatever may be
the precise links in the chain of descent, we in Masonry are the inheritors of
a very ancient tradition, which has for countless ages been associated with the
most sacred mysteries of religious worship.
THE MYSTICAL SCHOOL
A third school of Masonic thought, which we
may call the Mystical, approaches the mysteries of the Craft from another
standpoint altogether, seeing in them a plan of man's spiritual awakening and
inner development. Thinkers of this school, on the record of their own
spiritual experiences, declare that the degrees of the Order are symbolical of
certain states of consciousness which must be awakened in the individual
initiate if he aspires to win the treasures of the spirit. They give testimony
of another and far higher nature upon the validity of our Masonic rites - a
testimony that belongs to religion rather than to science. The goal of the
mystic is conscious union with God, and to a Mason of this school the Craft is
intended to portray the path to that goal, to offer a map, as it were, to guide
the feet of the seeker after God.
Such students are often more interested in
interpretation than in historical research. They are not primarily concerned in
tracing an exact line of descent from the past, but rather in so living the
life indicated by the symbols of the Order that they may attain to the
spiritual reality of which those symbols are the shadows. They hold, however,
that Masonry is at least akin to the ancient Mysteries, which were intended for
precisely the same purpose - that of offering to man a path by which he might
find God; and they deplore the fact that the majority of our modern Brn. have
so far forgotten the glory of their Masonic heritage that they have allowed the
ancient rites to become little more than empty forms. One well-known
representative of this school is Bro. A. E. Waite, one of the finest Masonic
scholars of the day, and an authority upon the history of the higher degrees.
Another is Bro. W. L. Wilmshurst, who has given some beautiful and deeply
spiritual interpretations of Masonic symbolism. This school is doing much to
spiritualize masculine Masonry, and the deeper reverence for our mysteries that
is becoming more and more apparent is without doubt one of the marks of its
influence.
20 THE OCCULT SCHOOL
The fourth school of thought is represented
by an evergrowing body of students in the Co-Masonic Order, and is gradually
attracting adherents in masculine Masonry also. Since one of its chief and distinctive
tenets is the sacramental efficacy of Masonic ceremonial when duly and lawfully
performed, we may perhaps not improperly term it the sacramental or occult
school. The term occultism has been much misunderstood; it may be defined as
the study and knowledge of the hidden side of nature by means of powers which
exist in all men, but are still unawakened in the majority - powers which may
be aroused and trained in the occult student by means of long and careful
discipline and meditation.
The goal of the occultist, no less than that
of the mystic, is conscious union with God; but the methods of approach are
different. The aim of the occultist is to attain that union by means of
knowledge and of will, to train the whole nature, physical, emotional and mental,
until it becomes a perfect expression of the divine spirit within, and can be
employed as an efficient instrument in the great plan which God has made for
the evolution of mankind, which is typified in Masonry by the building of the
holy temple. The mystic, on the other hand, rather aspires to ecstatic union
with that level of the divine consciousness which his stage of evolution
permits him to touch.
The way of the occultist lies through a
graded series of steps, a pathway of Initiations conferring successive
expansions of consciousness and degrees of sacramental power; that of the
mystic is often more individual in character, a "flight of the alone to
the Alone," as Plotinus so beautifully expressed it. To the occultist the
exact observance of a form is of great importance, and through the use of
ceremonial magic he creates a vehicle through which the divine light may be
drawn down and spread abroad for the helping of the world, calling to his aid
the assistance of Angels, nature-spirits and other inhabitants of the invisible
worlds. The method of the mystic, on the other hand, is through prayer and
orison; he cares nothing for forms and, though by his union therewith he too is
a channel of the divine Life, he seems to me to lose the enormous advantage of
the collective effort made by the occultist, which is so greatly strengthened
by the help of the higher Beings whose presence he invokes. Both these paths
lead to God; to some of us the first will appeal irresistibly, to others the
second; it is largely a matter of the Ray to which we belong. The one is more
outward-turned in service and sacrifice; the other more inward-turned in contemplation
and love.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE OCCULTIST
The student of occultism, therefore, learns
to awaken and train for scientific use the powers latent within him, and by
their means he is able to see far more of the real meaning of life than the man
whose vision is limited by the physical senses. He learns that each man is in
essence divine, a veritable spark of God's fire, gradually evolving towards a
future of glory and splendour culminating in union with God; that the method of
his progress is by successive descents into earthly bodies for the sake of
experience, and withdrawals into worlds or planes which are invisible to
physical eyes. He finds that this progress is governed by a law of eternal
justice, which renders to each man the fruit of that which he sows, joy for
good and suffering for evil.
He learns, too, that the world is ruled,
under the will of T.M.H., by a Brotherhood of Adepts, who have Themselves
attained divine union, but remain on earth to guide humanity; that all the
great religions of the world were founded by Them, according to the needs of
the races for which they were intended, and that within these religions there
have been schools of the Mysteries to offer to those who are ready a swifter
path of unfoldment, with greater knowledge and opportunities for service; that
this Path is divided into steps and degrees: the probationary Path, or the
Lower Mysteries, wherein the candidates are prepared for discipleship, and the
Path proper, or the Greater Mysteries, in which are conferred within the Great
White Lodge itself five great Initiations, which lead the disciple from the
life of earth to the life of adeptship in God, to become "a living
flame," as it is said, "for the lighting of the world." He is
taught that God, both in the universe and in man, shows Himself as a Trinity of
Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, and that these Three Aspects are represented in
the Great White Lodge in the Persons of its three chief Officers, through whom
the mighty power of God descends to men.
THE OCCULT RECORDS
It will be seen that this occult knowledge
depends no more upon the study of books and records than do the experiences of
the mystics; both belong to a higher order of consciousness, the existence of
which cannot be satisfactorily demonstrated on the physical plane. Nevertheless,
the study of the physical-plane records of the past is of value in confirming
the historical researches of the trained occultist, who is able to read what
are sometimes called the akashic records, and so to acquire an accurate
knowledge of the past. This subject is so little understood that it may perhaps
be useful if at this point I quote somewhat at length from a book entitled
Clairvoyance which I wrote many years ago:
On the mental plane (the records) have two
widely different aspects. When the visitor to that plane is not thinking specially
of them in any way, these records simply form a background to whatever is going
on, just as the reflections in a pier-glass at the end of a room might form a
background to the life of the people in it. It must always be borne in mind
that under these conditions they are really merely reflections from the
ceaseless activity of a great Consciousness upon a far higher plane. .
30 But if the trained investigator turns his
attention especially to any one scene, or wishes to call it up before him, an extraordinary
change at once takes place, for this is the plane of thought, and to think of
anything is to bring it instantaneously before you. For example, if a man
wills to see the record of the landing of Julius Caesar in England, he finds
himself in a moment . standing on the shore among the legionaries, with the
whole scene being enacted around him, precisely in every respect as he would
have seen it if he had stood there in the flesh on that autumn morning in the
year 55 B.C. Since what he sees is but a reflection, the actors are of course
entirely unconscious of him, nor can any effort of his change the course of
their action in the smallest degree, except only that he can control the rate
at which the drama shall pass before him - can have the events of a whole year
rehearsed before his eyes in a single hour, or can at any moment stop the
movement altogether, and hold any particular scene in view as a picture as
long as he chooses.
In truth he observes not only what he would
have seen if he had been there at the time in the flesh, but much more. He
hears and understands all that the people say, and he is conscious of all their
thoughts and motives; and one of the most interesting of the many possibilities
which open up before one who has learnt to read the records is the study of the
thought of ages long past - the thought of the cave-men and the lake-dwellers
as well as that which ruled the mighty civilizations of Atlantis, of Egypt or
Chaldaea. What splendid possibilities open up before the man who is in full
possession of this power may easily be imagined. He has before him a field of
historical research of most entrancing interest. Not only can he review at his
leisure all history with which we are acquainted, correcting as he examines it the
many errors and misconceptions which have crept into the accounts handed down
to us; he can also range at will over the whole story of the world from its
very beginning, watching the slow development of intellect in man, the descent
of the Lords of the Flame, and the growth of the mighty civilizations which
They founded.
Nor is his study confined to the progress of
humanity alone; he has before him, as in a museum, all the strange animal and
vegetable forms which occupied the stage in days when the world was young; he
can follow all the wonderful geological changes which have taken place, and
watch the course of the great cataclysms which have altered the whole face of
the earth again and again.
In one especial case an even closer sympathy
with the past is possible to the reader of the records. If in the course of his
inquiries he has to look upon some scene in which he himself has in a former
birth taken part, he may deal with it in two ways; he can either regard it in
the usual manner as a spectator (though always, be it remembered, as a
spectator whose insight and sympathy are perfect), or he may once more identify
himself with that long-dead personality of his - may throw himself back for the
time into that life of long ago, and absolutely experience over again the
thoughts and the emotions, the pleasures and the pains of a prehistoric past.
In the light of this occult knowledge (which
is within the reach of the inner sight) Masonry is seen to be far greater and
holier than its initiates appear generally to realize. As tradition has always
indicated, it is found to be a direct descendant of the Mysteries of Egypt
(once the heart of that splendid faith whose wisdom and power were the glory of
the ancient world - those Mysteries which were the parent and prototype of the
secret schools of other neighbouring lands), and its purpose is still to serve
as a gateway to the true Mysteries of the Great White Lodge. It offers to its
initiates far more than a mere moralization upon building tools, and yet it is
"founded upon the purest principles of piety and virtue," for
without the practice of morality and the living of the ethical life no true
spiritual progress is possible.
The ceremonies of Freemasonry (those at
least of its higher degrees) are dramatizations, as it were, of sections of the
invisible worlds, through which the candidate must pass after death in the
ordinary course of nature - which also he must enter in full consciousness during
the rites of initiation into those true Mysteries of which Masonry is a
reflection. Each degree relates to a different plane of nature, or to an aspect
of a plane, and possesses layer after layer of meaning applicable to the
consciousness of T.G.A.O.T.U., the constitution of the universe, and the
principles in man, according to the occult law formulated by Hermes
Trismegistus and adopted by Rosicrucians, alchemists and students of the
Kabbala in later ages: "As above, so below." The Masonic rites are
thus rites of the probationary Path, intended to be a preparation for true
Initiation, to be a school for training the Brn. for the far greater knowledge
of the Path proper.
THE SACRAMENTAL POWER
To the occult student Masonry has also
another aspect, of the greatest importance, concerning which I have written in
The Hidden Life in Freemasonry It is not only a wonderful and intricate system
of occult symbols enshrining the secrets of the invisible worlds; it has also a
sacramental aspect which is of the utmost beauty and value not only to its
initiates but to the world at large. The performance of the ritual of each
degree is intended to call down spiritual power, first to assist the Bro. upon
whom the degree is conferred to awaken within himself that aspect of
consciousness which corresponds to the symbolism of the degree, as far as it
can be awakened; secondly to aid in the evolution of the members present; and
thirdly and most important of all, to pour out a flood of spiritual power
intended to uplift, strengthen and encourage all members of the Craft.
Some years ago I undertook an investigation
into the hidden side of the sacraments of the Catholic Church, and published
the results of that investigation in a book called The Science of the Sacraments.
Those who have read that book will remember that the shedding abroad of
spiritual power is one great object of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist,
and of other services of the Church, and that it is attained by the invocation
of an Angel to build a spiritual temple in the inner worlds with the aid of the
forces generated by the love and devotion of the people, and the charging of
that temple with the enormous power called down at the consecration of the
Sacred Elements. A somewhat similar result is achieved during the ceremonies
performed by the Masonic Lodge, although the plan is not exactly the same,
being indeed far older; and each of our rituals, when properly carried out,
likewise builds a temple in the inner worlds, through which the spiritual power
called down at the initiation of the candidate is stored and radiated. Thus
Masonry is seen, in the sacramental sense as well as the mystical, to be
"an art of building spiritualized," and every Masonic Lodge ought to
be a channel of no mean order for the shedding of spiritual blessing over the
district in which it labours.
Sometimes orders and rites which were once
channels of great force have admitted, as the years passed by, Brn. less worthy
than their predecessors - Brn. who thought more of their own gain than of service
to the world. In such cases the spiritual powers associated with those grades
were either entirely withdrawn by the H.O.A.T.F.,* (*See The Hidden Life in
Freemasonry, pp. 15, .) to be introduced later into some other and more
suitable group, or allowed to remain dormant until more fitting candidates
should be found to hold them worthily - the bare succession passing down and
transmitting, as it were, the seeds of the power, although the power itself
was largely in abeyance.
40 On the other hand, there have been cases in
which a rite or grade has been manufactured by a student who wished to throw
some great truth into ceremonial form, but knew little of all this inner side
of Masonry; if such a degree or rite were doing useful work and attracting
suitable candidates, sacramental powers fitted for that rite or grade were
sometimes introduced into it, either by some Bro. on the physical plane who
possessed one of the lines of succession mentioned above, which was then adapted
by the H.O.A.T.F. for the work, or by a direct and non-physical interference
from behind.
Furthermore, the inner effect of a given
degree, even in a rite that may be fully valid, may vary greatly with the
degree of advancement and general attitude of the Bro. upon whom it is
conferred; so that in one case, let us say, the 33 ° would confer stupendous
spiritual power, and in another, less worthy, the powers given would be much
smaller, because of the candidate's incapacity to respond fully to them. In
such cases a fuller degree of power will manifest itself as greater advancement
is made in the development of character. It also appears to be possible for
power to be temporarily withdrawn in cases of evil-doing by one of the Brn.,
and to be restored later when the evil-doing has ceased.
All this may seem a little bewildering to
the student of the form side of Masonry; and indeed it is a fact that there is
but little means on the physical plane of judging the inner effect of a given
degree without reference to those who may be working it. It may however be
generally stated that the chief lines of Masonic tradition - those which are of
the greatest inner or spiritual value - are the Craft degrees, upon which all
other grades are superimposed, the Mark and the Arch degrees, and the chief
degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite, the 18 °, 30 ° and 33 °. Other degrees that are worked have their
own peculiar powers, and these are often valuable; but the grades which I have
mentioned are those which are considered by the H.O.A.T.F. to be of the
greatest value to our present generation, and they are therefore those which
are worked at present in the Co-Masonic Order. Another line of great interest,
though very different from any other degrees existing among us, is that of the
rites of Memphis and Mizraim, which are relics in their occult power, although
not in their form, of perhaps the very oldest Mysteries existing upon earth.
These too have their part to play in the future, as in the past, and they have
therefore been preserved and transmitted to us in the present day.
THE FORM AND THE LIFE
In all cases we must realize that the form
of the degrees of Masonry and their life are two very different things,
although of course in a perfect system, as in that of the ancient Mysteries at
the height of their glory, they would correspond perfectly. Masonry is yet in a
transitional stage, and is but emerging from the ignorance of the Dark Ages.
The rites of Memphis and Mizraim are an example of this discrepancy. These
colossal systems of 96 ° and 90 ° respectively are a mass of artificially-manufactured
ceremonies, of but little value to a Masonic student except as a record of
high-grade Masonic invention in France at the end of the eighteenth century.
Most of the degrees have little occult power, and have simply been inserted
into the rites by Brn. who could have known nothing of their real purpose; but
behind the rites and quite independent of the form side of the tradition a line
of succession has been handed down from a past even more ancient than that of
the Scottish Rite itself. Even in the Scottish Rite many of the intermediate
degrees are of but little occult value.
The whole position will be best understood
if it can be realized that the plan of Masonry is in the hands of the
H.O.A.T.F., who rules His mighty Order with perfect justice and the most
marvellous skill, so that all that can be done is done for the greatest good of
all. The powers that stand behind Freemasonry are great and holy, and it is but
right that they should be conferred in their fullness only upon those who are
likely to use them as they should be used and to treat them with the reverence
they deserve. There is a great and glorious reality in the background all the
time, ever pressing towards realization, and employing whatever channels are
available for its manifestation. Whatever can be used is always used to the
very fullest extent, and none need fear that he is overlooked. It is obvious,
however, that where the Brn. think more of gratifying their own vanity than of
the Hidden Work, where they spend their time in banqueting and revelry and
curtail the sacred ritual in order that they may adjourn as quickly as possible
to the South, they are less worthy channels of the Divine Glory than those more
spiritual Brn. who are willing to study and to understand. All the time the
H.O.A.T.F. is watching; He sees the slightest endeavor of the Craftsmen to
serve, and He will pour forth His wondrous power just in so far as the Brn.
become worthy of it.
ORTHODOXY AND HERESY
Another point which arises in connection
with the transmission of Masonic degrees will be developed more fully as we
proceed. We must realize that in Masonic ritual it is not a case of one
orthodoxy, and a number of heresies and schisms; it is rather that there are as
many lines of tradition in form as there are types of succession in inner
power. The Mysteries worked in the different countries of the ancient world
varied considerably in the details of their form and legend, and vestiges of
these differences remain in the various workings now in use among us. Many
equally valid streams of tradition have crossed and recrossed one another
throughout the ages, and have influenced each other to a greater or less
degree. The seating of the principal officers in a Craft Lodge, for instance,
differs in English and Continental Masonry. English Masonry follows the old
Egyptian method of arranging them, while Continental Masonry follows the
Chaldaean plan and seats them in an isosceles triangle.
The powers of the succession of I.M.s in
these two systems are in essence the same, but since in the Continental Lodges
the ceremony of Installation is reduced to the merest vestige, only the minimum
of power necessary for the actual transmission of the degrees is conferred, and
very much less is done for the R.W.M. than under the English plan. But this is
a question of imperfection of form rather than of absence of power. The
spiritual powers behind Masonry work through the different forms according to
the value of the form and the will of the H.O.A.T.F. behind, who is the only
judge of the much-argued difference between genuine and spurious Masonry. In
the light of this view of the Masonic succession, it will be seen that genuine
rites are those which possess and transmit spiritual power, whereas
spurious Masonry is the working of a
form from which for one reason or another the life has been withdrawn, or to
which it has never been linked.
In the following chapters I shall endeavour
to trace the descent of the Masonic tradition from the Egyptian Mysteries to
the present day, not in any way attempting to delineate each separate link in
the chain of succession, for that would be the work of a life-time and would
not be of any fuller value to the student, but touching rather upon important
periods of Masonic history, as revealed by the inner sight, and confirmed in
the writings of Masonic scholars.
2 The Egyptian Mysteries
THE MESSAGE OF THE WORLD-TEACHER
In The Hidden Life in Freemasonry I have
described to some extent the form and meaning of Freemasonry as I knew it in
Egypt about six thousand years ago. That form was largely due to the birth of
the World Teacher among the Egyptian people about 40,000 B.C. when He taught
them the doctrine of the Hidden Light. It may be well to sketch briefly the
history of the nation from that period up to 13,500 B.C., where I took it up in
the previous book.
The authentic history of Egypt, as
determined by modern scholars, begins with the First Dynasty, which was founded
by Mena or Manu about 5,000 B.C. - the dates are variously given. It is
considered that the pyramids of Gizeh, which played so great a part in the
hidden side of Egyptian worship, were built by the Kings of the Fourth Dynasty,
Khufu (Cheops), Khafra (Chephren) and Menkaura (Mycerinus), during the fourth
millennium B.C. But the inner history of Egypt and its pyramids extends back
further than this, into ages upon which even tradition is almost silent,
although some echoes of the reigns of the Divine Kings of the Atlantean
Dynasties, who ruled Egypt for many thousands of years, appear in the Egyptian
and Greek myths of the gods and demigods who are said to have reigned before
the coming of Manu.
According to Manetho, the Egyptian historian
of the Ptolemaic period, whose works are now lost (except for certain fragments
preserved in quotations), the gods and demigods reigned for 12,843 years. After
these came the Nekyes or Manes, who are said to have reigned for 5,813 years;
and some of these may perhaps be identified with the Shemsu Heru, or Followers
of Horus, who are frequently mentioned in Egyptian texts.* (*Sir E. A. Wallis
Budge. The Nile, p. .) Diodorus Siculus, who visited Egypt about 57 B.C. ,
tells us that it was traditionally believed that the gods and heroes had
reigned over Egypt for a little less than eighteen thousand years before the
time of Mena.* (*Diod. Sic., Hist., Bk. I., xliv.) The book Man: Whence, How
and Whither carries us much further into the past, and gives us the following
facts.
The Atlantean conquest of Egypt took place
over one hundred and fifty thousand years ago, and the first great Egyptian
empire lasted until the catastrophe of 75,025 B.C., when the two great islands
Ruta and Daitya were whelmed beneath the ocean, and only the island of
Poseidonis remained.* (*Op. cit., pp. 119 and 132, and The Story of Atlantis,
by Scott Elliott.) It was during the dominance of that empire that the three
pyramids were built in accordance with the astronomical and mathematical lore
of the Atlantean priests;* (*See The Hidden Life in Freemasonry, p. .) and it
is to this age also that we look for the origin of those Mysteries which have
been handed down to us in the ceremonies of Freemasonry. Even then the
ceremonies were ancient, and we must search a still more remote past for their
ultimate source. In the great catastrophe of 75,025 B.C. the whole land of
Egypt was flooded, and nothing remained of all its glory save the three
pyramids rising above the waters.* (*Man: Whence, How and Whither, pp. 242 and
.) After this, when the swamps had become habitable, there came a negroid
domination; and then the land was again colonized by the Atlanteans, who
restored the splendour of the Egyptian temples and established once more the
hidden Mysteries which had been celebrated in the great pyramid. This empire
lasted up to the time of the Aryanization of Egypt in 13,500 B.C.; it was ruled
by a great dynasty of divine kings, among whom were many of the heroes whom
Greece later regarded as demigods, such as Herakles of the twelve labours,
whose tradition was handed on to
classical times.
It was to this people about 40,000 B.C. that
the World Teacher came forth from the White Lodge, bearing the name of Tehuti
or Thoth, called later by the Greeks Hermes; He founded the outer cult of the
Egyptian Gods and restored the Mysteries to the splendour of byegone days.
He came to teach the great doctrine of the
'Inner Light' to the priests of the Temples, to the powerful sacerdotal
hierarchy of Egypt, headed by its Pharaoh. In the inner court of the chief
Temple He taught them of 'the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into
the world' - phrase of His that was handed down through the ages, and was
echoed in the fourth Gospel in its early Egyptian-coloured words. He taught
them that the Light was universal, and that that Light, which was God, dwelt in
the heart of every man: "I am that Light," He bade them repeat,
"That Light am I". "That Light," He said, "is the true
man, although men may not recognize it, although they neglect it. Osiris is
Light; He came forth from the Light; He dwells in the Light; He is the Light.
The Light is hidden everywhere; it is in every rock and in every stone. When a
man becomes one with Osiris the Light, then he becomes one with the whole of
which he was part, and then he can see the Light in everyone, however thickly
veiled, pressed down, and shut away. All the rest is not; but the Light is. The
Light is the life of men. To every man - though there are glorious ceremonies,
though there are many duties for the priest to do, and many ways in which he
should help men - that Light is nearer than aught else, within his very heart.
For every man the Reality is nearer than any ceremony, for he has only to turn
inwards, and then will he see the Light. That is the object of every ceremony,
and ceremonies should not be done away with, for I come not to destroy but to
fulfil. When a man knows, he goes beyond the ceremony, he goes to Osiris, he
goes to the Light, the Light Amen-Ra, from which all came forth, to which all
shall return.
"Osiris is in the heavens, but Osiris is
also in the very heart of men. When Osiris in the heart knows Osiris in the
heavens, then man becomes God, and Osiris, once rent into fragments, again
becomes one. But see! Osiris the Divine Spirit, Isis, the Eternal Mother, give
life to Horus, who is Man, Man born of both, yet one with Osiris. Horus is
merged in Osiris, and Isis, who had been Matter, becomes through him the Queen
of Life and Wisdom. And Osiris, Isis, and Horus are all born of the Light.
"Two are the births of Horus. He is
born of Isis, the God born into humanity, taking flesh of the Mother Eternal,
Matter, the Ever-Virgin. He is born again into Osiris, redeeming his Mother
from her long search for the fragments of her husband scattered over the earth.
He is born into Osiris when Osiris in the heart sees Osiris in the heavens, and
knows that the twain are one."
So taught He, and the wise among the priests
were glad.
To Pharaoh, the Monarch, He
gave the motto: "Look for the Light"; He said that only as a King saw
the Light in the heart of each could he rule well. And to the people He gave as
a motto: "Thou art the Light. Let that Light shine." And He set that
motto round the pylon in a great Temple, running up one pillar, and across the
bar, and down the other pillar. And this was inscribed over the doors of
houses, and little models were made of the pylon on which He had inscribed it,
models in precious metals, and also in baked clay, so that the poorest could
buy little blue clay models, with brown veins running through them, and glazed.
Another favourite motto was: "Follow the Light," and this became
later: "Follow the King," and this spread westward and became the
motto of the Round Table. And the people learned to say of their dead: "He
has gone to the Light."
And the joyous civilization of Egypt grew
yet more joyous, because He had dwelt among them, the embodied Light. The
priests whom He had taught handed on His teachings and His secret instructions,
which they enshrined in their Mysteries, and students came from all nations to
learn the Wisdom of the Egyptians, and the fame of the Schools of Egypt went
abroad to all lands.* (*Man: Whence, How and Whither, pp. 284-.)
THE GODS OF EGYPT
It will be seen from the above that the
deities, or rather forms of Deity,
Osiris, Isis and Horus were already familiar to the people, and the World
Teacher made it part of His work to draw their attention to the true meaning of
the three Persons. At what time knowledge of these three Aspects of God was
introduced into the land we do not know, but at the date of our experience they
had their places in the symbology of the Mysteries.
ISIS AND OSIRIS
Isis, to whom the Lesser Mysteries were ascribed,
was not only the universal feminine principle expressed in nature, but also a
real and very lofty Being, just as the Christ is the universal Life, the Second
Logos, and also a high Official of the Occult Hierarchy. She by virtue of her
high development and office was able to represent the Feminine Aspect of the
Deity to man. Isis was the Mother of all that lives, and wisdom and truth and
power; upon her temple at Sais the inscription was written: "I am that
which is, which hath been, and which shall be; and no man has ever lifted the
veil that hides my Divinity from mortal eyes."* (*Plutarch. Moralia; De
Iside et Osiride.) The moon was her symbol; and the influence which she
outpoured upon her worshippers to the music of the shaken sistrum was of brilliant
blue light veined with delicate silver, as of shimmering moonbeams, the very
touch of which brought upliftment and ecstasy.
Osiris was the embodiment of God the Father
in a mighty Planetary Spirit. His symbol was the sun, and the influence which
He outpoured was a dazzling glory of light shot through with gold, like the
rays of the sun caught upon the surface of a lake. The influence of Horus, who
represented the divine Child, was the glowing rose and gold of the eternal love
which is perfect wisdom.
ANIMAL DEITIES
The Egyptians also followed the ancient
practice of regarding certain animals as mirroring various aspects of the
divine, because of their outstanding qualities. Thus they took the intelligence
of the ape, the clear-sightedness of the hawk, the strength of the bull, and so
on, and attributed the quality to some particular aspect of the Deity. They
carefully bred certain animals as perfect representatives of their species, and
kept them apart as symbols of those divine qualities. Such were the Apis bulls,
and the cats of Bast or Pasht. These animals were regarded not exactly as
sacred, but as objectified examples of the qualities. In the beginning the
creature was a mere symbol, but in later days the Egyptians had the idea that
those which had been especially set apart came to be linked with the godhead,
and so were to some extent a manifestation of the deity. They then embalmed the
animals and laid up the mummies in their temples, with the intention of preserving
the divine influence.
THE PRACTICE OF EMBALMING
70 In the same way the Pharaoh was embalmed
with the idea that his power, his connection with the deity (which was a very
close one as Pharaoh), would be preserved and would continue to radiate so long
as the body remained. This resembled the later custom of preserving the relics
of a saint. The strong love of the Egyptians for their country provided
another reason for embalming their dead; they hoped to preserve a definite link
on the physical plane which would operate to draw them back to rebirth among
their own people. That it did so operate in many cases seems to have been a
fact, although the will of the re-incarnating ego would doubtless have been
sufficient to achieve the same result. The custom was not altogether a good
one, because if the body of a man of evil life is embalmed, a good deal of
additional power is thereby left to him after death; he may more easily
materialize and operate on the physical plane in undesirable ways. It is on the
whole fortunate that the practice has not persisted.
OTHER DEITIES
Many other deities were reverenced in
ancient Egypt, in much the same way as numerous gods are adored to-day in
India; and in every case the devotion addressed to the Supreme obtained its
response through the particular channel
chosen by the worshipper. Great Angels of different Orders and Rays were
appointed to represent these various qualities of the Deity, and these were
worshipped as gods in the older faiths. But so close is the union in these
cases that devotion rendered to one of these was at the same time given to God
Himself. Shri Krishna, speaking as the Supreme in the Bhagavad Gita says:
"Even those who worship other Gods with devotion, full of faith - they
also worship Me."* (*Op. cit., ix, .)
Wherever devotion is offered through a
particular form, we may be sure that there is an Intelligence behind that form
who acts as a mediator or channel between the suppliant and the Deity behind.
Hathor, for instance, was the goddess of love and beauty, while as we have
seen, Isis was the Queen of Truth and the Mother of all things; yet both were
representatives of the feminine aspect of the Deity, as also was Nephthys. Ptah
was the Master Architect of the Universe, the Holy Spirit who is the Creative
Fire of God; He was the celestial worker in metals, and the chief smelter,
caster and sculptor of the Gods, the skilful Craftsman by whom the design for
every part of the framework of the world was made.* (*Sir E. A. Wallis Budge,
The Papyrus of Ani, p. 170.)
THE BROTHERS OF HORUS
Among the other deities who were especially
connected with the Mysteries, who still play a most important part in the inner
working of our Masonic ceremonies to-day, are to be found the four children or
brothers of Horus, who are depicted in the well-known judgment scene as
standing on a lotus before the throne of Osiris. These represent the Gods of
the four quarters, or of the cardinal points, who support the canopy of heaven
at its four corners. The God of the north was Hapi, who bore the head of an
ape; the God of the east was Tuamutef, who bore the head of a jackal; Amset or
Kestha ruled the south, and had the head of a man; while the west was governed
by Qebsennuf, whose head was that of a hawk.* (*Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, The
Nile, p. 267, Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life, p. 10.)
The truth underlying these strange deities
is of the deepest interest when examined by the inner sight, for these four are
the same as the four Devarajas of India - the Kings of the elements, earth,
air, fire and water, who likewise preside over the cardinal points. They
correspond also with the cherubim described by Ezekiel, and with the four beasts
of the Revelation. S. John says of them:
And in the midst of the throne, and round
about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the
first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third
beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And
the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of
eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty, which was and is, and is to come.* (*Rev., iv, 6-.)
Ezekiel describes them a little differently:
Their wings were joined one to another; they
turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the
likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a
lion on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side;
they four also had the face of an eagle. As for the likeness of the living
creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance
of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was
bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. Now as I beheld the living
creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his
four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the
colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and
their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went,
they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for
their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were
full of eyes round about them four.* (*Ezekiel, I, 9, 10, 13, 15-.)
80 This symbolism is strange; but it has its meaning,
and any investigator who has ever had the privilege of seeing the mighty Four
will at once recognize that S. John and the prophet Ezekiel had seen them too,
however inadequate are their descriptions. The beast with the face of a man
stands for the physical body (earth); the ox or the bull (as in the case of the
bull of Mithra and the Apis bull) typifies the emotional or astral body
(water); the lion symbolizes the will or the mental aspect (air); and the
soaring eagle is taken to indicate the spiritual side of man's nature (fire).
The Egyptian forms were a little different; but the same four elements and
their Rulers are depicted in that ancient symbolism, which indeed we find in
all religions. There is a four-faced Brahma; there is the fourfold Jupiter, who
is aerial, fulgurant, marine and terrestrial. And that leads us back to the
reality behind all these symbols, the four great Angel-Rulers of the elements,
the administrators of the great law, who are the gods or leaders of the
hierarchies of Angels of earth, water, air and fire. Those are the mystical
four; and they are full of eyes within, because they are the scribes, the
recorders, the agents of the Lipika: they watch all that happens, all that is
done, all that is written or spoken or thought in all the worlds.
In The Light of Asia they are described as
the Rulers of the four points of the compass:
. the four Regents of the Earth, come down
From Mount Sumeru - they who write men's
deeds
On brazen plates - the Angel of the East,
Whose hosts are clad in silver robes, and
bear
Targets of pearl: the Angel of the South,
Whose horsemen, the Kumbhandas, ride blue
steeds,
With sapphire shields: the Angel of the
West,
By Nagas followed, riding steeds blood-red,
90 With coral shields: the Angel of the North,
Environed by his Yakshas, all in gold,
On yellow horses, bearing shields of gold.
This is a poetical Oriental description; yet
it has a definite foundation. The form in which it is cast is obviously merely
traditional; but always there is a fact behind. Those Great Ones are surrounded
by, and in constant communication with, vast hosts of Angels and assistants,
but these do not take the form of a guard of horsemen; yet the colours of the
respective hosts are correctly given. These four most strange and wondrous
beings are not exactly Angels, in the ordinary sense of the word, though they
are often called so; under them are hierarchies of Angels who carry out their
will in accordance with the Law, for they direct the whole tremendous machinery
of divine justice and in their hands is the working of the law of karma. They
are sometimes spoken of as the overseers who guard the gates and test the
material for the building of the holy temple.
CONSECRATION
These beings are very closely connected with
the inner working of the Mysteries, and therefore of Masonry which is derived
therefrom. They represent the great building forces of the universe, the
constructive powers of nature; and since in our Lodges we are engaged in
building a universe in miniature, it is these who are invoked to assist us in
our work. This invocation is performed at the consecration of every Lodge,
however little the modern consecrating officer may know what he is really doing
when he pours forth the traditional offerings of corn, wine, oil and salt,
symbols which they themselves have chosen from time immemorial to represent
their especial powers. This ancient piece of ritual, when performed by an I.M.
duly commissioned to consecrate a Lodge, produces stupendous results in the
inner worlds; for it amounts to a call made to the planetary spirits at the
head of the four lines to recognize the new Lodge and to dedicate it to the
service of T.G.A.O.T.U.
The call is answered. As the corn is
scattered in the north, a great golden Angel of earth descends in majesty,
followed by his Angel-train, some of whom are left behind to be the channels of
the power of his hierarchy whenever the Lodge is opened in due and ancient
form. The pouring of wine in the south invokes a great blue Angel of water,
also attended by other Angels less great than he; similarly the offering of
oil in the west calls upon a mighty crimson Angel of fire, who pours down into
the Lodge the splendid rhythmic Power of that 'most terrible and lovely' of the
elements. As the salt is strewn in the east, an Angel of the air flashes down
from on high, he and his attendants being of a wonderful silver hue shot
through with mother-of-pearl. These four Great Ones, representing the four gods
of the elements, the four children or brothers of Horus, solemnly consecrate
the Lodge, binding the Brn. into a close unity in the inner worlds and linking
with them Angels of their orders, who will act as their representatives at each
Lodge meeting. The tradition of these four passed down to the mediaeval
operative Craftsmen and became mingled with that of the four Crowned Martyrs
who are the patron-saints of the Craft.
Let me warn my Brn. who may be called upon
to act as consecrating officers to see that it is corn which is supplied to
them for the ceremony - wheat, and not maize. Once, through an oversight, maize
(which in America is called "Indian corn") was given to me on such an
occasion, and as there was no time to send for wheat I used what was offered.
The result was unanticipated, for there came a cloud of nature-spirits of a
totally different type, who knew nothing whatever of the work expected of them,
and were entirely unsuited for it. I had to repeat that part of the
consecration afterwards with the proper material.
THE PURPOSE OF THE MYSTERIES
In The Hidden Life in Freemasonry I have
already written briefly of the purpose of the Mysteries.* (*Op. cit., p. .) I
said there:
The Mysteries were great
public institutions, supported by the State, centres of national and religious
life to which people of the better classes flocked in thousands; and they did
their work exceedingly well, for one who had passed through their degrees - a
process of many years - thereby became what we should now call a
highly-educated and cultured man or woman, with, in addition to his knowledge
of this world, a vivid realization of the future after death, of man's place in the scheme of
things, and therefore of what was really worth doing and living for.
It should not be thought
therefore that the Mysteries were secret societies, with all their affairs deliberately
concealed from the ordinary public. It will be seen presently that thousands of
people entered the ordinary degrees of Isis. The teaching and the training of
the inner and higher degrees (as we may call them) certainly were concealed
from those whom they did not concern, that is to say from those who were not
sufficiently evolved to be fit to take part in them, but only as in a modern
University the classes in which, let us say, conic sections are taught are
closed to children who are as yet learning simple arithmetic.
Everyone in Egypt knew that
there were Mysteries, and practically everyone knew that they were largely
concerned with the life after death and the preparation for it. This teaching
was, however, given to the initiates of the Mysteries under solemn and binding
pledges of secrecy; and the results of certain lines of action in the world
after death were shown in elaborate detail. The essential outline of this
secret instruction was embodied in the rituals of Initiation, Passing, and
Raising, and it is these rituals which have in part descended to us in the
ceremonies of Freemasonry, which are still protected by oaths of secrecy as in
the old days.
Every great nation has had
its Mysteries, through which the great Teachers of mankind sought to instruct
the people in matters of importance, inspired by the Great White Lodge which
stands behind all religions alike. Among these the Egyptian Mysteries were
preeminent among the western peoples of the ancient world, not only because of
their immemorial age, but because of the fact that Egypt was one of the
auxiliary centres of the White Lodge. The Great White Brotherhood has its
headquarters in Central Asia, but it has at various times and for various
purposes maintained subsidiary Lodges in different parts of the world.
The presence of this secret
centre belonging to the White Brotherhood had much to do with Egypt's greatness
throughout the ages; although the fact of its existence was not known to the
outer world, that Lodge of the true Mysteries supervised the whole scheme of
Egyptian initiation, and made it the prototype of the Mysteries of all the
nations around. Egypt was thus the centre of spiritual illumination for the
entire western world, and all those who sought the Great Initiations were
attracted to it; and it is this fact which explains the reverence paid to the
Egyptian Mysteries by learned Greeks in later times.
The principal centre for the
public work of these Mysteries was the great pyramid, called in ancient Egypt
Khut, "The Light". It was built on the most exact astronomical and
mathematical calculations, and provided a veritable key in stone to the enigmas
of the universe.* (*See The Hidden Life in Freemasonry, pp. 228-30.)
The initiates of the Egyptian
Mysteries were symbolically engaged in the building of the pyramid, just as in
our modern Masonry we are engaged in erecting the temple of King Solomon, both
structures being intended to be emblematical of the building processes of
nature. In the halls below the pyramid - those underground chambers which were mentioned by Herodotus as being
contained in an island, fed by a channel from the Nile,* (*Her. Book ii, .) -
certain of the ceremonies of the Mysteries were held. These and other halls in
and near the great pyramid are still unknown to the explorer, though they may
yet be opened "by the proper steps" - the secret doors turning upon
pivots according to an elaborate system
of counterpoises, and being set in motion by treading upon certain spots in the
floor in a certain order.
The ceremonies of the
Mysteries were also intended to portray the higher evolution of man, his return
to the divine source whence he came, through the development of the higher part
of his nature, which is not merely consequent upon practices of meditation and
ceremonial, but even more upon the living out of the ethical precepts which
were taught. Many people of our day imagine that we know ethical truths without
being taught them, but that is not so; they seem to us quite natural now, but
long ago they were discoveries or revelations somewhat analogous to the steps
of advancement in material science and invention.
Each degree of the Mysteries
was designed to reflect one or other of the great Initiations of the White
Lodge, so that the initiates of this lower level might prepare themselves
ultimately to enter the Path of Holiness and so strive after the fullness of
union with Osiris, the Hidden Light. When we come to consider these degrees we
shall see how this teaching was graded, and how those initiates who were
properly prepared were enabled to reach the true knowledge which they were
seeking. The whole scheme of initiation provided a complete chart of man's
spiritual evolution, and it was for the individual candidate to endeavour to
put the teachings into practice and to make real in his own consciousness that
which was symbolized in the ritual.
THE DEGREES OF THE MYSTERIES
1The Mysteries of Egypt were,
as ever, divided into two main sections, the Lesser and the Greater. The
Lesser Mysteries are typified to some extent by what we now know as the First
Degree of Craft Masonry, while the Greater Mysteries were analogous to what we
now call the Second and Third Degrees. Beyond these there was a ceremony
corresponding to the degree of I.M., in which the succession of powers was
guarded and transmitted from age to age; and still further in reserve there
were the yet greater spiritual powers that are indicated, and even given to
some extent, in the higher degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
Behind the whole system of Masonic initiation was (and is) the White Lodge
itself, conferring the five great Initiations which lead to human perfection
and full union with God.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS
In the Lesser Mysteries the initiate
was taught what lies on the other side of death, and the ceremony of initiation
was a symbolical map of that intermediate world which is sometimes called the
astral plane. Probably Apuleius refers to this degree when he describes the
Mysteries of Isis as celebrated in Greece during the second century A. D.,
although he wrote at a time when they had fallen into considerable decay.
After mentioning various purifications through which he passed, he goes on to
relate something of what took place at his initiation:
Then, behold, the day
approached when as the sacrifice of dedication should be done; and when the sun
declined and evening came, there arrived on every coast a great multitude of
priests, who according to their ancient order offered me many presents and
gifts. Then was all the laity and profane people commanded to depart, and when
they had put on my back a new linen robe, the priest took my hand and brought
me to the most secret and sacred place of the temple. Thou wouldest
peradventure demand, thou studious reader, what was said and done there: verily
I would tell thee if it were lawful for me to tell, thou wouldst know if it
were convenient for thee to hear; but both thy ears and my tongue should incur
the like pain of rash curiosity. Howbeit I will not long torment thy mind,
which peradventure is somewhat religious and given to some devotion; listen
therefore, and believe it to be true. Thou shalt understand that I approached
near unto hell, even to the gates of Proserpine, and after that I was ravished
throughout all the elements, I returned to my proper place: about midnight I
saw the sun brightly shine, I saw likewise the gods celestial and the gods
infernal, before whom I presented myself and worshipped them. Behold now have I
told thee, which although thou hast heard, yet it is necessary that thou
conceal it; wherefore this only will I tell, which may be declared without
offence for the understanding of the profane.
When morning came and that
the solemnities were finished, I came forth sanctified with twelve stoles and
in a religious habit, whereof I am not forbidden to speak, considering that
many persons saw me at that time. There I was commanded to stand upon a pulpit
of wood which stood in the middle of the temple, before the figure and
remembrance of the goddess; my vestment was of fine linen, covered and
embroidered with flowers; I had a precious cope
upon my shoulders, hanging down behind me to the ground, whereon were
beasts wrought of divers colours, as Indian dragons, and Hyperborean griffins,
whom in form of birds the other part of the world doth engender: the priests
commonly call such a habit an Olympian stole. In my right hand I carried a
lighted torch, and a garland of flowers was upon my head, with white palm-leaves
sprouting out on every side like rays; thus I was adorned like unto the sun,
and made in fashion of an image, when the curtains were drawn aside and all the
people compassed about to behold me. Then they began to solemnize the feast,
the nativity of my holy order, with sumptuous banquets and pleasant meats: the
third day was likewise celebrate with like ceremonies, with a religious dinner,
and with all the consummation of the adept order.* (*Apul. Met, xi, 23, . tr.
William Adlington A.D. .)
It is also reported that
during the ceremony Isis said:
I am Nature - the parent of
all things, the sovereign of the elements, the primary progeny of time.
THE PRELIMINARY TRIALS
The secrets communicated in
the Mysteries have been well and loyally kept, and no details about them are
available, though we occasionally find guarded hints which give us a slight
idea of their character. There is a picturesque account of the preparation for
them given in Mackey's Lexicon of
Freemasonry which, although it does not appear to be substantiated by the
records preserved in Greek and Latin authors, nevertheless contains some
fragments of truth. I take the liberty to epitomize it as follows:
For some days before his initiation
the candidate was expected to preserve perfect chastity, to confine himself to
a light diet from which all animal food was excluded, and to purify himself by
repeated ceremonial ablutions. When the time came he was conducted at midnight
to the mouth of a low gallery along which he had to crawl on his hands and
knees. Presently he came to the opening of a well which the guide directed him
to descend. If he showed the slightest hesitation he was reconducted to the
outer world, never again to become a candidate for initiation; if however he
attempted to descend, the conductor pointed out to him a concealed ladder which
enabled him to climb down safely. They then entered a narrow and winding
gallery at the entrance of which was this inscription: "The mortal who
shall travel over this road without hesitating or looking behind shall be
purified by fire, by water, and by air, and if he can surmount the fear of
death he shall emerge from the bosom of the earth; he shall revisit the light
and claim the right of preparing his soul for the reception of the Mysteries of
the great Goddess Isis."
120The conductor now left the
aspirant, warning him that many dangers surrounded and awaited him, and
exhorting him to continue unshaken. Heavy doors closed behind him, rendering
his return impossible. Presently he entered a spacious hall filled with flames
through which he had to rush with the greatest speed. Even when he had passed
through this fiery furnace he came to another hall the floor of which was
covered with a huge network of red-hot iron bars with very narrow interspaces
between them. Having surmounted this difficulty he reached a wide and rapid
channel across which he had to swim. On the other side he found a narrow
landing place bounded by two high walls of brass, in each of which was an
immense wheel of the same metal, and beyond them was an ivory door. He found no
means of opening this door, but presently discovered two large rings, which he
seized; but the only result was to set the brazen wheels revolving with a
stunning noise and to cause the platform upon which he stood to sink from
beneath him, so that he remained suspended by the rings over an apparently
fathomless abyss, from which issued a cold wind which blew out the tiny flame
of his lamp and left him in profound darkness. He was left hanging there for a
short time, but soon the noise ceased, the platform returned to its former
position and the ivory door opened itself. Through it he then entered a
brilliantly lighted apartment in which he found a number of the priests of Isis
dressed in the mystic insignia of their offices, who welcomed and congratulated
him. On the walls he saw the various symbols of the Egyptian Mysteries, the
signification of which was by degrees explained to him.
One cannot guarantee all the
details of such an account, but it is true that severe tests more or less of
the nature described were applied to candidates for the inner Mysteries. None
of these trials were imposed on the man who wished to take merely the ordinary
course of intensive culture; he might pass through the Lesser and the Greater
without encountering anything more formidable than hard and long-continued
study; and he would never even know that there was another stage (or rather a
number of stages) lying altogether beyond those, in which he would have to face
astral dangers of so serious a nature that it was considered necessary first to
submit the candidate to severe trials of his courage and self-command.
In the early days of the
Mysteries, living pictures were materialized by the priests before the eyes of
the candidate, so that he was enabled to see for himself what lay on the other
side of death. In later days, when there was less knowledge among the
hierophants, elaborate mechanical devices were shown to him, representing the
realities of the astral world as far as such resources would allow. Still
later, the characteristic points of these pictures were reproduced in a system
of symbolic ceremonies, the main outline of which has come down to us today in the initiation ceremony of
Masonry, although in some Obediences only a mere vestige of the original
procedure remains.
THE MYSTERY LANGUAGE
Besides the teaching upon the
life after death - which was elaborated by countless stories of imaginary individuals,
showing the results in the astral plane after death of certain courses of
action during life - a fine course of education was also given to the initiates
of the First degree, embracing what Masons term the seven liberal arts and
sciences - grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy.
By grammar the Egyptians meant the sacred hieroglyphic writing of the priests,
which was taught to all the initiates of the Mysteries, but it also signified a
kind of secret language, a way of speaking peculiar to the priesthood. In the
secret language of the Mysteries it was not so much that different words were
used, as that the familiar words had a different meaning. Those who have
studied the translations of Egyptian texts will have noticed how widely these
vary in the versions of the different scholars; I have sometimes wondered
whether this is in any way due to that system of double meanings.
In ancient Egypt we were able
to talk about the secrets of the inner life before crowds of people without
letting them know what we meant; and we had quite a large vocabulary of such
significant words, so that an entire conversation could be conducted seemingly
about ordinary every-day affairs, but in reality upon the secrets of the
Mysteries. Much instruction was given in this way; a lecture or address might
be delivered publicly by one of the priests, bearing two entirely distinct
meanings - the one ethical and intended for the helping of people who were not
initiated, and the other esoteric, for the students of the Mysteries. The
legend that Masonry possesses a universal language known only to the Brn. may
be an echo of tradition about this ancient and secret tongue.
This secret tongue of the
Initiates was also used in inscriptions, and in the hieroglyphic wall-paintings
and papyri. Many of the inscriptions, telling of the victories of some great
Pharaoh, could be read in a hidden sense, and they then conveyed spiritual
instruction to those who had learnt the real meaning. This is certainly true of
The Book of the Dead, which when translated into English by modern scholars
seems often unintelligible and even grotesque. Yet in the interpretation of it
taught in the Mysteries those same texts were full of inner illumination and
gave much information about the realities of life and death.
It is perhaps necessary to
repeat that in all this there was no desire on the part of the priests to
mislead the people; their idea was simply to give instruction graded to suit
the needs of the hearer and to guard important secrets from those who were not
prepared to receive them. It was for the same reason that the interior
arrangements of the great pyramid were confused. Some of the passages were not
used at all in the scheme of initiation, the real passage having been
obtainable in quite another way. This policy was dictated by wisdom. Would it
not be well if in these present days we could devise some means by which new
discoveries in science (which are now used for injury and destruction) could be
preserved solely for the use of people who would be certain to employ them for
the public good?
THE DUALITY OF EACH DEGREE
The ordinary Lesser Mysteries
(which may be called the First Degree) were open to practically all who sought
admission, provided that they were of
good life and reasonably intelligent, that they were free, and that the t . o . g . r . had been
heard in their favour. In due course
they would pass on to the Greater Mysteries (the Second and Third Degrees). But
in each of these degrees there were also inner Mysteries, as I have mentioned
in connection with the preliminary trials.
130THE INNER MYSTERIES OF
ISIS
Within and behind the outer
Mysteries of Isis there were inner circles of students carefully chosen by the
priests, the very existence of which was kept utterly secret, even from most of
the initiates themselves. In these circles the practical occult teaching was
given that enabled the student to awaken and train his inner faculties, so that
he could study at first hand the conditions of the astral plane, and thus know
for himself what was but theoretical for the majority of the Brn. It was in
these circles only that the severe tests which have been partially described
were imposed upon the candidate, and he was definitely prepared by individual
and personal instruction for the greater and holier Mysteries which lay behind
the whole scheme of Egyptian initiation.
The candidate for these inner
tests was required, after a preliminary bath (from which was derived the idea
of Christian baptism), to attire himself in a white robe, emblematic of the
purity which was expected of him, before being brought before a conclave of
priest-initiates in a kind of vault or cavern. He was first formally tested as
to his development of the clairvoyant faculty which he had been previously
instructed how to awaken; for this purpose he had to read an inscription upon a
brazen shield, of which the blank side was presented to his physical vision.
Later he was left alone to keep a kind of vigil; certain mantras, or words of
power, had been taught to him, which were supposed to be appropriate to control
certain classes of entities; and during his vigil various appearances were
projected before him, some of them of a terrifying and some of a seductive
nature, so that it might be seen whether his courage and coolness remained
perfect. He drove away all these appearances in turn, each by its own special
sign and word; but at the end, all these combined bore down upon him at once,
and in this final effort he was instructed to use the mightiest word of power,
by which all possible evil could be vanquished. A course of instruction along
these lines was given to those candidates whom the priests deemed suitable, so
that at the end of their training they were thoroughly versed in the knowledge
of the astral world, and able to wield its powers freely in waking
consciousness.
THE MYSTERIES OF SERAPIS
The Second Degree of the
Egyptian Mysteries corresponded somewhat closely with our degree of F.C.; these
were termed the Greater Mysteries or in later days the Mysteries of Serapis.
Apuleius gives us practically nothing in the way of description beyond the bare
fact that he had passed the degree. The instruction in the Greater Mysteries
was carried further and deeper as regards science and philosophy; a more
advanced course of intellectual training was set before the students, which one
might well call a research into "the more hidden paths of Nature and
Science". At the same time the study of the life after death was extended
to include the heaven-world, the m . c . into which all must go to receive
their wages for the good deeds done on earth; much of this deeper knowledge of
the mental plane was taught in the Greater Mysteries, in the same manner as the
facts of the astral life had been taught in the First Degree - namely, by
representation and drama. The purpose of the Mysteries of Serapis in the life
of the individual initiate was the control of the mind* (*See The Hidden Life
in Freemasonry, Ch. vii.) and the training of the mental body; and the
sacramental powers invoked by the ceremonial had as their object the quickening
of this mental development.
THE INNER DEGREE OF SERAPIS
Behind the outer mysteries in
this degree there were also secret circles, quite unknown to those who had not
been through the inner work of the First Degree; in these practical instruction
was given on the development of the mental body, and the method of awakening
accurate sight on the mental plane, so that the student was enabled to verify
the teaching of the priests for himself.
In connection with this
degree it may be of interest to mention that in the temple of Philae the body
of Osiris is represented with stalks of corn springing from it which a priest
waters from a vessel which he holds in his hand. An inscription sets forth that
"this is the form of Him whom we may not name, Osiris of the Mysteries,
who sprang from the returning waters"* (*Cheetham, The Mysteries, Pagan
and Christian, p. .) - this symbolism referring among other things to the
quickening of the inner life in response to the power poured down from on high.
The s . n of the degree is often found in Egyptian paintings, and is exactly
the same as is in use among Craftsmen to-day. As in the First Degree, an
average of seven years was also spent in the Mysteries of Serapis, at the end
of which candidates who had passed a far more searching examination, and had
satisfied the Hierophants that they were ready for further teaching, were
eligible for the Third Degree.
THE MYSTERIES OF OSIRIS
The Third Degree was called
in Egypt the Mysteries of Osiris; it corresponds to the Degree of M.M. in our
modern Craft system. Apuleius describes Osiris as: "The more powerful God
of the great Gods, the highest of the greater, the greatest of the highest, and
the ruler of the greatest."* (*Apul. Met. Bk. xi, 30.) In the Egyptian
ritual, which was much more complete and impressive than the traditional
history preserved in modern Masonry, the candidate had to pass through a
symbolical representation of the suffering, death and rising again of Osiris,
which included his experiences between death and resurrection, when he entered
the world of Amenta, and became the judge of the dead, who should decide for
each soul what measure of felicity was due to him, and turn back to earthly
incarnation those who needed further human
development. The legend of the death and resurrection of Osiris was well
known to all the people of Egypt, both initiates and profane, and there were
great public ceremonies, corresponding to those of our Good Friday and Easter
Day in Catholic countries, when these mystic events were celebrated with the
utmost splendour and with the heartfelt devotion of the people.
140The story of Osiris is
nowhere found in a connected form in Egyptian literature, but in texts of all
periods his life, sufferings, death and resurrection are accepted as facts
universally admitted.* (*Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, The Papyrus of Ani, p. .) It
would appear, however, that in ancient times it was not lawful to speak of the
tradition in any detail, at least to strangers, for Herodotus says:
Also at Sais there is the
burial place of Him whom I account it not pious to name in connection with such
a matter, which is in the temple of Athene (Isis) behind the house of the
goddess, stretching along the whole wall of it; and in the sacred enclosure
stand great obelisks of stone, and near them is a lake adorned with an edging
of stone, and fairly made in a circle, being in size, as it seemed to me, equal
to that which is called the "Round Pool" in Delos. On this lake they
perform by night the show of His sufferings, and this the Egyptians call
Mysteries. Of these things I know more fully in detail how they take place, but
I shall leave this unspoken.* (*Her. Bk. ii, 170, .)
Diodorus writes to the same
effect:
In olden days according to
received tradition the priests kept the manner of the death of Osiris as a
secret; but in after times it came about through the indiscretion of some that
that which had been hidden in silence among the few, was noised abroad among
the many.* (*Diod, Sic. Hist. Bk. i, xxi.)
THE LEGEND OF OSIRIS
The best exoteric account of the
legend is preserved for us by Plutarch in his treatise De Iside et Osiride,
written in Greek about the middle of the first century of our era, a large
portion of which is substantiated by the Egyptian hieroglyphic texts which have
been deciphered by scholars. It may be briefly summarized as follows:
Osiris was a wise king in
Egypt who set himself to civilize the people and redeem them from their former
states of barbarism. He taught them the cultivation of the earth, gave them a
body of laws, and instructed them in the worship of the Gods. Having made his
own land prosperous, he set out in like manner to teach the other nations of
the world. During his absence the land of Egypt was so well ruled by his wife,
Isis, that his jealous brother Typhon (Set),
the personification of evil, as Osiris was the personification of good, could
do no harm to his kingdom; but on the return of Osiris to Egypt Typhon made a
conspiracy against him, persuading seventy-two other persons to join him,
together with a certain Queen of Ethiopia named Aso, who chanced to be in Egypt
at that time. He secretly measured the body of Osiris, and caused a beautiful
chest to be made of exactly the same size. This he brought into his banqueting
hall when Osiris was present as a guest, and promised, as it were in
pleasantry, to give it to anyone whose body it might be found to fit.
All those present at the
feast tried it, but since the box fitted none of them, Osiris at the last laid
himself down in it, whereupon the conspirators at once fastened down the lid,
securely sealing it with lead, and cast it into the Nile. The murder of Osiris
is said to have taken place on the seventeenth day of the month Athyr (Hathor),
when the sun was in Scorpio, Osiris being in the twenty-eighth year either of
his reign or his age. (It will be noted that this date marks the beginning of
winter, when the sun is mystically slain by the forces of darkness; and it was
on this date, corresponding to the festival of All Souls in the Christian
Church, that the land of Egypt mourned the death of Osiris, as we mourn the
death of the body of Jesus on Good Friday.)
News was brought to Isis at
Coptos of the tragedy which had occurred, whereupon she cut off a lock of her
hair, arrayed herself in mourning apparel, and went forth in search of the body
of Osiris. She learnt that the chest had been carried by the sea to Byblos -
not the Byblos of Syria, but the papyrus swamps of the delta* (*Sir E. A.
Wallis Budge, Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life, p. 48 - footnote.) - and that it had been caught in a
tamarisk tree, which had so grown around the chest that nothing of it was to be
seen; and furthermore that the King of the country, amazed at its unusual size,
had cut the tree down and made of it a pillar to support the roof of his
palace. Isis went to Byblos and became nurse to one of the king's sons. Each
night she put the child in the fire to consume his mortal parts, changing
herself into a swallow, and bemoaning the loss of her husband. But the Queen
happened to see her child in flames and cried out in fear, thereby depriving
him of the immortality which would otherwise have been conferred upon him. The
goddess revealed herself and begged for the pillar which supported the roof.
This was granted to her, and she took the chest containing the body of Osiris
back to Egypt, hiding it in a secret place while she sought her son, Horus. But
Typhon, by an unlucky chance, found the chest while hunting in the light of the
moon, and recognizing the body as that of Osiris, tore it into fourteen pieces,
which he scattered up and down throughout the land. When Isis heard of this she
made a boat of papyrus, and set out to collect the fragments of the body.
Osiris returned from the other world and appeared to his son, Horus, instructing
him to do battle with Typhon; this battle lasted many days, and at length Horus
was victorious. Ultimately Osiris became the king of the underworld and the
judge of the dead.
This story, like our own
traditional history, has suffered from the materializing tendencies of those
who did not understand; for there is no clear mention of a resurrection in the
account given by Plutarch, but merely a vague return from the dead. This
represents, however, a very late version of the tradition, one which is materialized
and distorted almost beyond recognition; and in the Mysteries of Osiris the
legend was much more in accordance with the real facts of the spiritual world.
Even in the Egyptian inscriptions which have been deciphered there are clear
indications of a resurrection. The main outline of the true legend was the
death of Osiris at the hands of Set; the division of His body into twice seven
parts, representing the coming forth of the seven rays, or types of
manifestation, consequent upon the descent of the Logos into matter; the search
of Isis and the finding of the various portions of the body; their reunion and
the final raising of Osiris by the third of three successive attempts to
triumphant immortality and eternal resurrection.
150It was at this stage also
that the function of Osiris as the judge of the dead was studied; and the
vignette in the papyrus of Ani of the judgment of Osiris and the weighing of
the heart of Ani against the feather of truth represents the judgment of the
soul by the Lords of Karma. If the soul was utterly pure it was allowed to pass
onwards into immortality; if it was not "true of voice" it was
delivered over to the monster Amemit, "the devourer," and was
swallowed up again in the cycle of generation, to be reborn on earth in another
body. Although these symbols and legends were known in the outer world, their
true inner meaning was explained only to initiates of the Third Degree.
THE MEANING OF THE STORY
It is often thought that the story
of Osiris, like that of Mithra and the other sun-gods (among whom some writers
include even Christ Himself), is simply an apotheosis of the processes of
nature familiar to an agricultural people. Thus Plutarch says that Osiris was
also regarded as Nilus, the river Nile, and Isis as the land of Egypt,
periodically fertilized by his overflow.* (*Plutarch. Moralia; De Iside et
Osiride.) Astronomically, Osiris was the sun, Isis the moon, and Typhon
darkness and winter, who in his triumph destroyed the fertilizing powers of the
sun, preventing him from giving his life to the world. It is the universal
story of the sun-god
who, after a struggle for
existence and the development of his power in the early part of the year, at
last rises in triumph into the midheaven of his glory, and bestows his life
upon all creatures, ripening the corn and the grape, only to yield once more
to the advance of winter.
The sun in the heavens, as
the great life of the world, pursues this cycle of death and resurrection; and
the smaller life in the seed follows a similar process - it sprouts and comes
to fruit, which is garnered and sacrificed for the nourishment of man and other
creatures; but just as Typhon did not
utterly destroy Osiris, but left the fragments of His body through which His
life was afterwards renewed, so does man not eat all the corn, but keeps some
portion to be sown in the ground so that the processes of life may recur. Man
in his turn grows through the same cycle of changes, through childhood, manhood
and old age; and for him also there is no escape from the sacrifice that
characterizes all life, but he is reborn again and again in his cycle of
reincarnations.
The story of the seed is thus
that of the ordinary man, but the story of the sun is that of the man who is
becoming divine. In the Egyptian Mysteries they called him the Osirified, and
the Christian mystics spoke of him as becoming one with Christ, as when S. Paul
spoke to his followers as: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you."* (*Gal., iv, .) It is the voluntary
nature of the divine sacrifice that distinguishes it from the earthly
sacrifices. Therefore the method of man's reaching divinity was always
proclaimed to be unselfishness and self-sacrifice for the sake of others; and
the entire story of Christ and of Osiris is but an epitome and example of how
that sacrifice may be expressed on earth in human life, as it is in the
heavens.
The researches of the
initiate in the Mysteries of Osiris were still further extended to include
man's true home, that higher section of the mental or heaven-world in which the
ego functions in his causal body; and at the same time the great ceremony of
raising was explained in many layers of interpretation as the descent of the
Logos into matter, His mystic death and burial, and His rising again to a
kingdom without end; and also as the personal descent of the soul into bodies,
his resurrection from the death-in-life of the lower worlds of form, and his
reincarnation upon earth once more.
The s . s of the Mysteries of
Osiris were much the same as we have to-day, though the s . of g . and d . was
that used in Scottish and American workings; but the words were different,
being much more positive in character. The f . p . o . f . were identical with
those we use now, and the g . or t . is likewise unchanged.
THE INNER MYSTERIES OF OSIRIS
Within this degree there was
also an inner circle. The practical instruction was therein carried into the
higher part of the mental plane, so that the fully trained initiate in the
Mysteries of Osiris acquired full consciousness as an ego beyond the
limitations of the one personal life which is all that most people know.
THE OFFICE OF MASTER
Beyond the Third Degree there
opened out several lines of progress in the Mysteries. There was the work of
holding office in the Lodges; that extended over many years, and gave splendid
training to those who undertook it. Each officer in a Lodge has his own special
work to do, his own aspect of the Deity
to manifest, his own sacramental power to transmit to the Lodge of which he is
a part; the course of training through successive offices was and is therefore
of inestimable value in acquiring an all-round development of character. At the
apex of the ancient Craft system, the degree of I.M. existed, which gave a far
fuller power than had been conferred even in the Mysteries of Osiris, and
enabled the Master to become a hierophant of the Mysteries in his turn, able to
instruct and advance his Brn. in the secret wisdom of Egypt. In ordinary cases
this splendid position was gained only late in life, and by the time the Master
had ruled his Lodge he had had a most valuable training, that well might
advance the course of his evolution more than several ordinary lives.
The same succession has been
transmitted to us in Masonry to-day, and every I.M. is in possession of the
power of the Egyptian priests of old; though it is certainly true that if he
possessed also the knowledge of the Egyptian priests he could make far better
use of the power.
THE HIGHER GRADES OF THE
MYSTERIES
Beyond the teaching and
training which were given in the Mysteries, classified in the three degrees
which we have considered, the hierophants also made it their work to instruct
and guide aspirants who had proved themselves fit for still further progress.
We cannot say that there were in Egypt any organized degrees beyond the third,
that of Osiris; but there was individual teaching, which led to the acquisition
of still greater powers, and to the formation of links with beings at still
higher levels.
The higher degrees of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of our modern days (which were established
perhaps as late as the eighteenth century, when the Rite of Perfection or of
Heredom was formed) reflect to some extent these more advanced lines of
progress which existed in Egypt. We may
therefore in the following brief account of them classify them as they are
expressed in our Red, Black and White Freemasonry.
RED MASONRY IN THE MYSTERIES
For such M.M.s as were
thought promising by the priests in charge (who were for the most part members
of the three Grand Lodges), what we now call Red Masonry existed, as well as
the teaching which is now included in our Royal Arch and kindred degrees,
culminating in the splendid quest of the Knights of the Rose-Croix for the lost
word, man's true divinity.
In the symbolic teaching
corresponding to our degree of the Holy Royal Arch the aspirant was taught to
clear away from the various levels of his consciousness all the veils which yet
obstructed his vision of reality, and then in the power of that vision to
recognize for himself the Hidden Light in every form, however deeply it might
be buried and concealed from the eyes of the flesh. This was typified as a
journey upwards, during which four veils were passed, and then by a search
downwards for a hidden vault, deeply buried in the earth, in which the Name of
God was concealed.
The central purpose of this
stage was an actual realization in consciousness that the many are One. It was
known to some extent among the uninitiated of the outer world that all the
strange deities of Egypt were in reality only manifestations of One, but they
did not in all probability realize the fact of unity with any degree of
clearness. In what corresponded to the Royal Arch in Egypt we found for
ourselves that God was immanent in all things and had descended into the very
lowest that the lowest might come into being. The powers conferred at this
stage enabled the candidate to realize this great truth to some extent; and a
certain expansion of consciousness was given to him which quickened the growth
of the intuitional principle within him, and so helped him to recognize the
divinity in others.
170There was a considerable
interval between this stage and the next, during which the candidate was
receiving instruction from the priests, and practising meditation upon what he
had learnt. Gradually he came to realize that, although he had indeed found the
divine Name, and had contacted for himself the Hidden Light of God, there was a
further search still before him, in which he would penetrate deeper into the
consciousness and being of the Deity. It was then that he began his second
great quest, which led up through a number of stages, during which different
attributes of the Deity were studied and to some extent realized, until it
culminated in the magnificent illumination given in what we now call the
Eighteenth Degree, that of the Sovereign Prince of the Rose-Croix of Heredom.
The candidate then found the divine Love reigning in his own heart and in those
of his Brn. He also learnt that God had descended and shared our lower nature
with us in order that we might ascend to share His true nature with Him.
That link is still made for
the Brn. of the Rose-Croix, and each should become a radiant centre of that
love wherever he goes, forgetting himself utterly in the service of others.
The splendid crimson Angels of the Rosy Cross, who now attend our Sovereign
Chapters and pour out through them the fullness of their love for the helping
of the world, were also known in ancient Egypt, and these were linked with the
Sovereign Princes in their higher principles, so that their seraphic love also
was at hand to be outpoured in blessing. To their guardianship the candidate
was entrusted, and he had to realize his unity with the Angels as well as with
his Brn.
At this stage the intuition
or buddhi in the candidate, that hidden wisdom which is Horus or the Christ dwelling
in man, was enormously quickened and aroused, so that the candidate became to
some extent a manifestation of that eternal love who in later ages was called
the Christ, and he was thereby enabled to work upon the emotional nature, which
is a partial reflection of it in the matter of the astral world, so as to raise
his power to love to greater heights than he could reach before. He now became
a veritable priest, able to call down and pour forth the divine love for the
helping of the world. A higher degree of this same most wonderful power enabled
the Bro. to confer this expansion of consciousness and transmit these splendid
links to others; and it is this power which is reserved in our modern Sovereign
Chapters to the M.WS. and those who have passed the Chair in the Rose-Croix
degree.
BLACK MASONRY IN THE
MYSTERIES
Few indeed of our Egyptian
Brn. appear to have passed beyond the Rose-Croix, for only the few needed
anything further than the splendid revelation of the indwelling Love of God which
they received in what we call the Eighteenth Degree. But for those few who felt
that there was yet more to learn of the nature of God, and who eagerly wished
to understand the meaning of evil and suffering and its relation to the divine
plan, the prototype of our Black Masonry existed, the teaching and progress
comprised in our degrees from the nineteenth to the thirtieth. This section of the Mysteries was
especially concerned with the working out of karma in its different aspects,
studied as a law of retribution, from one point of view dark and terrible. This
is the inner kernel of truth lying behind the vengeance-elements in the degree
of Knight K.H. The darker aspects of karma are largely connected with man's
ignorance of the nature of God and confusion with regard to the many forms in
which He reveals Himself, and thus the s . s of the 30° contain the heart of
its philosophy. That degree would not be fully and validly conferred unless
these s . s were duly communicated, since they express its inner meaning and
purpose.
In the ancient instruction
corresponding to this group of degrees it was taught that whatsoever a man
sowed, that also must he reap, and that if he sowed evil the result would be
suffering to himself. The karma of nations and races was also studied, and the
inner working of the law upon the different planes was investigated by the
inner sight, and shown to the student. The whole of what we now call Black
Masonry led up to an explanation of karma as divine justice, this having been
preserved for us in shadow in what is now the 31°, that of the Grand Inspector
Inquisitor Commander, whose symbol is a pair of scales. In Egypt this pair of
scales was taken as an emblem of the perfect balance of divine justice; the
aspirant learnt that all the evil and horror associated with the working out of
karma was indeed based on perfect justice, although it had appeared as evil to
the lesser vision of the profane.
Thus the first stage of the
higher instruction, that of the Rose-Croix or Red Masonry, was devoted to the
knowledge of good, while the second stage, that of K.H. or Black Masonry, was
devoted to the knowledge of evil. Next, in the first steps of what we call
White Masonry, the crown of the whole glorious structure, the candidate learnt
to see the underlying justice of that eternal God, Amen-Ra, who stands behind
good and evil alike. In older days, before the kali yuga, in which evil
predominates over good, the Knights K.H. wore regalia of yellow instead of
black.
Our 30° links the Knight K.H.
to the ruling rather than the teaching branch of the Great Hierarchy; he should
become a radiant centre of perennial energy, which is intended to give him
strength to overcome evil and to make him a real power on the side of good. The
prevailing colour of the influence is an electric blue (that of the First Ray,
quite different from the blue of the symbolic or Blue Lodges) edged with gold,
including and yet not drowning the rose of the 18°. Associated with the degree
there are also great blue Angels of the First Ray who lend their strength to
the knight, somewhat as the crimson Angels assist the Excellent and Perfect
Brn. of the Rose-Croix. A higher level of the same energy is transmitted in
what to-day we should call the Chair of the Sovereign Commander, who has the
ability to pass on the sacramental grace of the degree to others.
WHITE MASONRY IN THE
MYSTERIES
The highest and last of the
great sacramental powers of the Mysteries which have been transmitted to us is
that which is now conferred in the 33°, that of the Sovereign Grand
Inspector-General. In ancient Egypt, at the time when I knew it, there were
only three who held the equivalent of that supreme degree, the Pharaoh and two
others, who formed with him an inner triangle which was the heart of the whole
system of the Mysteries, and the channel to them of the Hidden Light from the
White Lodge behind. These three were all high Initiates of the Great White
Brotherhood, and the Pharaoh possessed an even higher level of power than is
usually given in the 33°, it being that of a Crowned and Anointed Sovereign.
180The Brn. of this high
Order may be said to have passed on from a conception of the divine justice to
the certainty of knowledge and the fullness of the divine glory in the Hidden
Light. The 33° links the Sovereign Grand Inspector-General with the Spiritual
King of the World Himself - that Mighty Adept who stands at the head of the
Great White Lodge, and in whose strong hands lie the destinies of earth and
awakens the powers of the triple spirit as far as these can as yet be awakened.
The actual conferring of the degree was and is a very splendid experience when
seen with the inner sight; for the Hierophant of the Mysteries (who in these
modern days is the H.O.A.T.F.), stands above or beside the Initiator in that
extension of His consciousness which is called the Angel of the Presence. If
the recipient of the degree happens to be already an Initiate the Star (called
in Egypt the Star of Horus) which marks the approval of the One Initiator once
more flames out above him in all its glory; while in any case the two great
white Angels of the rite flash down in splendour from the heavenly places,
showing themselves as low as the etheric level that they may give their
blessing to the candidate.
The Hierophant makes the
actual links both with himself and with the reservoir of power set apart for
the work of the Masonic Brotherhood, and through himself with that Mighty King
whose representative He is, while the great white Angels of the Order remain as
the guardians of the Bro. throughout life. He on the right hand has an aura of
brilliant white light shot with gold, and represents Osiris, the sun and life,
the positive aspect of the Deity; she on the left has an aura of similar light,
veined with silver, and represents Isis, the moon and truth, the negative or
feminine aspect of the divine glory. Their power is stern and splendid; and
they give strength to act with decision, accuracy, courage and perseverance on
the physical plane. They belong to the
cosmic orders of Angels, those who are common to other solar systems besides
our own, and their permanent centres of consciousness are on the intuitional
plane, although their forms may always be seen hovering over the head of the
initiate of this degree at the higher
mental level. It is to be remembered that there is in reality no sex among
these great Angels, yet one of them is preponderatingly masculine in
appearance, and the other preponderatingly feminine.
When they think fit, they materialize
themselves mentally and astrally - as at the greater ceremonies in Lodge - and
they are always ready to give their blessing whenever it is invoked. They are
inseparably one with the Sovereign Grand Inspector-General, linked to his
higher self, never to desert him unless by unworthiness he first deserts them
and casts them off. The symbols of the sun and moon are seen to-day on the
gauntlets of the Sovereign Grand Inspector-General, and they are intended to
refer to these great Angelic powers in the inner worlds.
The powers associated with
the 33° appear to have been slightly modified since those ancient Egyptian
times. The great white Angels seemed to be sterner and more rhadamanthine in
ancient Egypt; today those who belong to the degree are in some ways gentler,
though their power is no less splendid. This stage combined the wonderful love
of Horus the Son with the ineffable life and strength of Osiris the divine
Father, and Isis, the eternal Mother of the world; and this union of love with
strength is still its most prominent characteristic.
It confers upon those who
open themselves to its influence power similar to and only a little way below
that of the first great Initiation, and those who enter the 33° should
assuredly qualify themselves for that step before very long. Indeed, in the
great days of the Mysteries this stage was accessible only to Initiates, and
one feels that it ought only to be given to such now, just as it would seem
appropriate that the marvellous gift of the episcopate should be conferred only
upon members of the Great White Brotherhood. The power of the degree when in operation shows itself in an aura of
dazzling white and gold, enfolding within it the rose and blue of Rose-Croix
and K.H.; and in it also is manifested that peculiar shade of electric blue
which is the especial sign of the presence of the King. The Sovereign Grand
Inspector-General is the "Bishop" of Masonry, and if the life of the
degree is really lived he should be an ever-radiating centre of power, a veritable
sun of light and life and glory wherever he goes.
Such was the highest and
holiest of the sacramental powers conferred in the Mysteries of ancient Egypt,
such the highest degree known to us in Masonry to-day, bestowed in its fullness
upon but very few. The opportunity to draw down its sublime glory is offered to
all who receive the degree; how far it is taken and what use is made of the
power is in the hands of the Bro. alone, for to use the power as it should be
used needs high spiritual development and a life of constant humility,
watchfulness and service. If he calls upon it for the service of others, it
will flow through him mightily and sweetly for the helping of the world. If he
neglects the power, it will remain dormant and the links unused - and Those
behind will turn Their glance away from him to others more worthy. The power of
the 33° is a veritable ocean of glory and strength and sweetness, for it is the
power of the King Himself, the Lord who reigns on earth as Vice-Regent of the
Logos from eternity unto eternity.
THE STAGES OF THE OCCULT PATH
Behind the whole splendid
scheme of the Egyptian Mysteries the Lodge of the Great White Brotherhood in
that country ever stood in silence and secrecy, guarding them and using them as
a channel of the Hidden Light - its very existence being unknown to all who
remained outside the inner circles. The Brotherhood selected for initiation
into its ranks only those who had fulfilled the ancient conditions imposed
upon all candidates for that high degree, the qualifications for which were
laid down in Part I of the manual of occult instruction now called Light on the
Path, which represents the teaching of the Egyptian Lodge. Candidates were
therefore generally chosen from among the Brn. who had received the higher
instruction, and had prepared themselves by many years of meditation, study and
service. Still, it sometimes happened that one might be chosen for Initiation
who had not passed through the outer steps of the Mysteries, but in previous lives
had prepared himself for it - for it is the ego who is initiated, not the mere
personality of the lower planes.
There have always been five
great Initiations, which in Christian teaching have been illustrated by stages
in the life of the Christ as related in the Gospels, which contain elements
derived from the teachings of the Egyptian Mysteries. The disciple Jesus was an
initiate of the Egyptian Lodge, and therefore much of the Egyptian symbolism
was adopted by His followers, and was later woven into the Gospel story. In The
Masters and the Path I have given an account of certain of the ceremonies of
Initiation used in the Great White Brotherhood at the present day. The Egyptian
rituals were in some respects slightly different from these in form, although
their essence was identically the same; for the Egyptian Lodge possessed the
tradition handed down from the initiates of Atlantis, which was somewhat
modified in later days, to suit the needs of the slowly-evolving humanity of
the Aryan race.
THE FIRST THREE INITIATIONS
190The first of the true
inner Initiations was called the Birth of Horus, and corresponded in that great
religion to the birth of Christ in Bethlehem in the Christian presentation.
Horus was born of Isis, the Virgin-Mother; at his birth the Star shone forth,
and the Angelic hosts sang their song of triumph; he was adored by shepherds
and wise men, and saved from danger which threatened him from without. In The
Book of the Dead it is said: "I know the power of the East, Horus of the
Solar Mount, the Star of Dawn." The story of the Initiate is the story of
the Sun-God, the universal Christ who is born into the heart of man, and His
mystic birth is the purpose of the First Great Initiation.
If the candidate had not
already passed through them, as most students in the Mysteries would have done,
he had at this stage to undergo the trials by earth, water, air and fire,
learning with absolute certainty that none of these elements could in any way
harm him in the astral body. All this was preparatory to the taking up of
service on the astral plane, for the Initiate had to fit himself to become a
trained and useful servant of humanity both in this and in the other world.
The Second Great Initiation
corresponds to that stage of the Christ-life which is typified by the Baptism,
in which an expansion of the intellectual faculties takes place, just as a
wonderful opening out of the emotional nature is the result of the First
Initiation. It is at this stage that the inner trial typified by the temptation
in the wilderness takes place in the life of the candidate. Then comes the
splendour of the Transfiguration, when the Monad descends and transforms the
ego into the likeness of His own glory.
THE FOURTH INITIATION
The Fourth Great Initiation
corresponds to the Passion and Resurrection of the Christ; the candidate must
pass through the valley of the shadow of death, enduring the utmost suffering
and loneliness that he may rise forever to the fullness of immortality. This
awful and wonderful experience is the reality which is reflected at an almost
infinite distance in the degree of M.M.; through the portal of death he is
raised to the everlasting glory of the Resurrection.
Certain portions of the
ritual of this Fourth Initiation according to the Egyptian rite were curiously
entangled with the Christian teachings, and became utterly materialized and
distorted in somewhat the same way as the legend of Osiris became distorted in
Egypt itself. The rubric of this part of the Initiation was as follows:
Then shall the candidate be
bound upon the wooden cross, he shall die, he shall be buried, and shall
descend into the underworld; after the third day he shall be brought back from
the dead, and shall be carried up into heaven to be the right hand of Him from
whom he came, having learnt to guide (or rule) the living and the dead.* (*The
Christian Creed, by the Rt. Rev. C. W. Leadbeater, p. .)
During the ceremony the
candidate laid himself down upon a wooden cross, made hollow to receive and
support his body. His arms were lightly bound with cords, the ends of which
were left loose to typify the voluntary nature of the sacrifice. The candidate
then passed into trance, left the physical body and passed in full consciousness
on to the astral plane. His body was carried down into a vault below the temple
and was placed in an immense sarcophagus, where it lay for three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth.
During the mystical death of
the body the candidate passed through many strange experiences in the astral
world, and preached to 'the spirits in prison', to those who had recently left
the body in death and were still fettered by their passions and desires.
On the morning of the fourth
day of his burial, the body of the candidate was raised from its sepulchre,
and borne into the outer air at the eastern side of the great pyramid, so that
the first rays of the rising sun might awaken him from his long sleep.
200It was at this Initiation
that the candidate was carried up into 'heaven,' to receive an expansion of
consciousness on the spiritual plane, often called the atmic or nirvanic. That
is the plane of absolute union, and that consciousness knows all from within,
is one with all and in all. The Initiate thus was made "the right hand of
Him from whom he came," being now pledged for ever to the service of God
and man, and it was to be his work henceforward to guide the living and the
dead towards the Hidden Light in which alone is peace. The great truth that all
power which is gained is but held in trust, to be used as a means of helping
others, has rarely been more clearly or more grandly set forth.
20In The Hidden Light in
Freemasonry I have drawn certain correspondences between the three degrees in
Blue Masonry and the Great Initiations, showing that the E.A. initiation
reflects the great step of entry on the probationary path, that the Passing may
be compared to the First Great Initiation, and that the Raising resembles the
Fourth.* (*Op. cit., pp. 75 and .) We may now add the Mysteries of Egypt, and
make the following table of correspondences, always remembering, of course,
that there are vast differences of level between these Orders and the stages on
the Path:
MASONIC DEGREES
MYSTERIES
THE PATH
E.A.
F.C.
M.M.
Isis
Serapis
Osiris
Probationer
Initiate
Arhat
20THE FIFTH INITIATION AND
BEYOND
20Only one more stage remains
before human perfection is reached - that which is typified by the Ascension
into heaven. At this Fifth Initiation the Adept ascends above all earthly life
and becomes One with that aspect of the Deity which in Christianity we call God
the Holy Ghost.* (*See The Masters and the Path.)
20And still there are higher
stages, greater steps upon the Path, though belonging no longer to human
evolution but to the development of the Superman. Even here our Masonic
ceremonies reflect in symbol something of those higher glories, giving the key
to the whole vast plan. Far above the grade of Adept, He who is the Christ
stands as the Lord of Love, the Teacher of Angels and men, and along this line
of interpretation His high stage of evolution is reflected in the 18°, which is essentially a degree of Christhood. Equal
with Him, but on the Ray of Rule, stands the Manu, whose rank is mirrored at an
almost infinite distance in the 30°; and as the crown of the whole Hierarchy
there reigns the One Initiator,* (*Ibid., Ch. xiv.) whose life and light and glory
are adumbrated in the splendour of the 33°. Thus the whole wondrous plan of
Masonic initiation is a shadow of things seen above "in the Mount";
and herein lies the greatness of our mighty brotherhood and its value to
mankind.
20Much lower down there are
still correspondences. The 18° means glowing love and beauty, but that is
mirrored in the position of the W.J.W; the 30° gives a wonderful outpouring of
strength, which is typified by the column of the W.S.W., while the wisdom and
all-embracing sympathy of the 33° should be reflected in the attitude of the
R.W.M. of the Lodge.
20The Cretan Mysteries
20THE UNITY OF THE MYSTERIES
20THE group of beliefs and
practices to which we give the name of the Mysteries has existed in many
countries and in different forms, most of which have influenced Freemasonry to
a greater or a lesser extent. Widely spread as they were, their unity of origin
is to be seen in the fact that they had a certain framework which was always
the same, although they showed divergences in minor matters. In those days,
just as at the present time, a Bro. from a foreign Jurisdiction who wished to
visit had to prove himself at the door of the Lodge; for whatever differences
there may have been in the outer forms of the ritual, the s . s were always the
same, for these are the keys to the sacramental powers lying behind all the
systems of the Mysteries alike.
20LIFE IN ANCIENT CRETE
210One of the most striking
instances of this unity is to be found in Crete, where the comparatively recent
discoveries of Sir Arthur Evans have disclosed many Masonic symbols and forms,
resembling very closely those of Egypt. Like Gaul in the days of Caesar,
ancient Crete was divided into three parts or states - Knossos, Goulas and
Polurheni. The King of Knossos was Overlord of the whole island, for the
rulers, of the other states acknowledged him as their leader, although they
were perfectly free to manage their own internal affairs. There was also, in
the south of the island, an independent city with a few miles of territory
attached to it.
All these Kings were also
ex-officio high priests, as in Egypt, and the King's palace was always the
principal temple of his State. The people worshipped a dual deity -
Father-Mother - and these two were regarded as one, though some men offered
their devotion more to the Father-aspect, and some to the Mother. The Father,
when spoken of separately, was called Brito, and the Mother Diktynna. No
statues were made of these deities, but great reverence was paid to their
symbol, which was a double-headed axe. (See Plate I, 1, following p. 50.) This
was carved in stone and made in metal, and set up in the temples where one
would naturally expect a statue, and a conventional drawing of it represented
the deity in the writing of the period. This double axe was called labrys, and
it was for it originally that the celebrated labyrinth was built, to symbolize
to the people the difficulty of finding the Path to God.
Much of their religious
service and worship was carried on out of doors. Various remarkable isolated
peaks of rock were regarded as sacred to the Great Mother, and the King and his
people went out to one or other of these on certain days in each month, and
chanted prayers and praises. A fire was lit, and each person wove a sort of
crown of leaves for himself, wore it for awhile, and then threw it into the
fire as an offering to the Mother-God. Each of these peaks had also a special
yearly festival, much like a Pardon in Brittany - a kind of semi-religious
village fair, to which people came from all parts of the island to picnic in
the open air for two or three days, and enjoyed themselves hugely. In one case
a great old tree of enormous size and unusually perfect shape was regarded as
sacred to Diktynna, and offerings were made under its branches. A vast amount
of incense was burnt under it, and it was supposed that the leaves somehow
absorbed and retained the scent, so when they fell in autumn they were
carefully collected and distributed to the people, who regarded them as
talismans which protected them from evil. That these dried leaves had a strong
fragrance is undeniable, but how far it was due to the incense seems
problematical.
The people were a fine-looking
race, obviously Greek in type; their dress was simple, for the men in ordinary
life usually wore nothing but a loincloth, except when they put on gorgeous
official costumes for religious or other festivals. The women wore a cloth
which covered the whole body, but was arranged something like an Indian dhoti
in the lower part, giving rather the effect of a divided skirt.
The interior of the island
was mountainous, not unlike Sicily, and there was much beautiful scenery. The
architecture was massive, but the houses were curiously arranged. On entering,
one came directly into a large hall like a church, in which the entire family
and the servants lived all day, the cooking being done in one corner. At the
back was a covered passage (as in the houses in Java at the present day)
leading to what was in effect a separate building, in which were the sleeping
rooms. These were quite small and dark - mere cubicles - but open all round for
about two feet under the roof, so that there was ample ventilation. Round the
wall of this hall under the roof usually ran a frieze of painted bas-relief -
generally a procession, executed in the most spirited style.
The buildings were of
granite, and there were many statues of granite, though also some made of a
softer stone, and some of copper and wood. Iron was used by this race, but not
much; the principal metal was copper. The pottery was distinctly peculiar; all
the commonest articles were made of bright yellow earthenware, painted with all
sorts of figures. These figures were generally on a broad white band round the
middle of the pot, and the colours used were nearly always red, brown or yellow
- very rarely blue or green. These were the common household pots; but for the
table they had porcelain and glass - both very well made. Most of the glass was
of a bluish-green tint, like some of the old Venetian glass - not colourless
like ours. The richer people used many vessels of gold, wonderfully chased and
sometimes set with jewels. These people were especially clever at jewellers'
work of all sorts, and made elaborate ornaments. One sees among them no
diamonds or rubies - chiefly amethysts, jasper and agate. But many ornaments
were evidently imported, for they had statuettes and models in carved ivory.
These people had two kinds of
writing, evidently corresponding to the hieroglyphic and the demotic in Egypt,
but they were quite different from the Egyptian. A decimal system was used in
calculating, and arithmetic generally seems to have been well understood. These
Cretans were good sailors, and had a powerful fleet of galleys, some with as
many as sixty oars. They used sails also - sails which were wonderfully
painted; but apparently they employed them only when the wind was almost
directly astern.
THE CRETAN RACE
These people were an arm or
family of the fourth or Keltic sub-race of the fifth or Aryan race. In Chapter
XIX of Man: Whence, How and Whither a brief history of that sub-race is given;
it includes the following remarks on the subject of the origin of the Cretans:
The first section [of the
fourth sub-race] to cross into Europe from Asia Minor were the ancient Greeks -
not the Greeks of our 'Ancient History', but their far-away ancestors, those
who are sometimes called Pelasgians. It will be remembered that the Egyptian
priests are mentioned in Plato's Timaeus and Critias as having spoken to a
later Greek of the splendid race which had preceded his own people in his land;
how they had turned back an invasion from the mighty nation from the West, the conquering
nation that had subdued all before it, until it shivered itself against the
heroic valour of these Greeks. In comparison with these, it was said, the
modern Greeks - the Greeks of our history who seem to us so great - were as
pigmies. From these sprang the Trojans who fought with the modern Greeks, and
the city of Agade in Asia Minor was peopled by their descendants.
220These, then, had held for
a long time the sea-board of Asia Minor and the islands of Cyprus and Crete,
and all the trade of that part of the world was carried in their vessels. A
fine civilization was gradually built up in Crete, which endured for thousands
of years. The name of Minos will ever be remembered as its founder or chief
builder, and he was of these elder Greeks, even before 10,000. B.C.* (*Op.
cit., pp. 309-10.)
RECENT DISCOVERIES IN CRETE
It is only since the year
1900 that, largely owing to the work of Sir Arthur Evans, the modern world has come
to know something about the Cretan civilization, and to realize that in age and
splendour it compared even with the grandeur of ancient Egypt. But even now,
though there is abundant appreciation of the archaeological value of the Cretan
discoveries, not much attention has yet been given by Freemasons to the highly
interesting fact that the Minoan civilization shows us the existence, five
thousand years ago at least, of a Mystery-religion which in its symbols and
general arrangements closely resembles our modern ritual. One feature of those
Cretan Mysteries especially attractive to Co-Masons is that in them women were
admitted as well as men. The admission of women was the practice of almost all
the Mysteries of the ancient world, but clearer traces of the fact remain
to-day in Crete than in any other country. These Mysteries do not lie in the
direct line of Masonic descent; but the archaeological remains of initiatory
rites are so plentiful and so strikingly similar to our present system as to be
exceptionally interesting.
For those who are not
conversant with the results of the excavations in Crete, it may be well to give
a brief survey of the historical knowledge gained by their aid. Until recently
most text-books of history taught that the Greek civilization began in the
eighth century B.C. There were
traditions of an older civilization, with a centre in Crete, where King Minos
reigned in his palace in Knossos, and another on the mainland of Greece, where
in the Mycenaean cities Agamemnon and his heroes had prepared for the
expedition against Troy, but these accounts were taken to be of purely
legendary character until the bold perseverance of Schliemann actually laid
bare the walls of ancient Troy and discovered the tombs of the Mycenaean kings,
and so compelled the historians to realize that in this case as in others
legend had been truer than history.
The discoveries in Crete were
even more striking. When Sir Arthur Evans began his excavations on the site of
ancient Knossos he not only laid bare the palace of King Minos, but also a
series of successive strata indicative of a continuous civilization of a very
high character stretching over a period of several thousand years. It was shown
that the old legends of the labyrinth of Crete and the terrible Minotaur,
supposed to dwell in its innermost depths, were based on fact, not on fancy. It
is now known also that at the time of the first dynasty in Egypt there
flourished in the island of Crete a civilization as powerful as the Egyptian.
With regard to it Sir Arthur Evans says:
The proto-Egyptian element in
Early Minoan Crete is, in fact, so clearly defined and is so intensive in its
nature as almost to suggest something more than such a connection as might have
been brought about by primitive commerce. It may well, indeed, be asked
whether, in the time of stress and change that marked the triumph of the
dynastic element in the Nile Valley, some part of the older population then
driven out may not have made an actual settlement on the soil of Crete.* (*The
Palace of Minos at Knossos, vol. I, p. .)
Though the civilizations of
ancient Egypt and Crete have much in common, yet each had distinctly a genius
of its own, and much of the similarity between them can be explained by the
fact that for long ages not only the Delta, but Middle and Upper Egypt stood in
continuous relation with Minoan Crete.
It is not our object to enter
into a further description of this Minoan civilization, which in many respects
was equal if not superior to that of our own times. We are here concerned
chiefly with the religion and the ritual usages of the ancient Minoans, which
in their details show such a remarkable likeness to modern Freemasonry. Since
the Minoan script cannot yet be deciphered, we are but very partially informed
about the thoughts and the beliefs of the Minoan race, but from the objects found and the monuments
discovered some conclusions may be drawn which are sufficient for our present
purpose.
WORSHIP IN CRETE
The main worship appears to
have centred round the feminine aspect of the deity already mentioned who, like
Isis amongst the Egyptians and Demeter amongst the later Greeks, symbolized the
creative power and fostering care of mother-nature. Connected with her worship
was the sacred tree, depicted in so many presentations of Minoan shrines, while
the deity herself was associated with the dove, the lion, the fish and the
snake, typifying her dominion over air, earth, water and the fire within the
earth.
230As I have written above,
the most sacred symbol in Minoan worship was the double axe or labrys. This,
mounted on a stone column, is found in the shrines of ancient Crete, and when
depicted on any object or building invariably denotes its sacred character.
(See Plate I, 1 and Plate IV, 1, following p. 50.)
It was always an emblem of
the most High God, and is in reality the ancestor of the Master's gavel, which
he bears because in his humble way he represents the All-Commander, ruling his
Lodge in the name of the Spiritual King. In Crete we often find it associated
with what is called the sacral knot (Plate I, 2, following p. 50). When thus
combined it closely resembles the Egyptian ankh, the token of immortality.
(Plate I, . following p. 50.)
The Mother-Goddess Dictynna denoted
the productivity and creative power of nature; this double axe, especially when
surmounted by the sacral knot, signified the eternal truth of death and
resurrection, which was the central mystery of the religion of Crete as it was
of that of Egypt; and so it was often laid before her to typify the
ever-recurring miracle of the rebirth of tree and grain from the death of
winter. The very form of the labyrinth in the recesses of which this sacred
emblem was concealed was in itself symbolical and full of meaning; it was based
upon the cross, and the representations of it on seals and coins sometimes take
the shape of the swastika (Plate I, 4, following p. 50).
Connected with this outer
religious worship in ancient Crete there were Mysteries of initiation for the
few, and it is in these that we find the main elements of similarity to
Freemasonry. In the palace of Minos at Knossos, as also in the palace of
Phaestos - another Cretan site - we find pillared crypts and chambers which
were indubitably of a sacred and initiatory character. The most important of
these rooms is the so-called throne-room in the palace of Minos, which derives
its name from the magnificent sculptured throne which was found intact when
excavated (see Plate II, 1, following p. 50).
THE THRONE ROOM
With regard to this room, Sir
Arthur Evans says:
It is now clear that a large
part of the West Wing of the Palace was little more than a conglomeration of
small shrines, of pillared crypts designed for ritual use, and corresponding
halls above. The best preserved existing chamber of this Quarter, the 'Room of
the Throne', teems with religious suggestion. With its elaborately carved
cathedral seat in the centre and stone benches round, the sacral griffins
guarding on one side the entrance to an inner shrine, on the other the throne
itself, and, opposite, approached by steps, its mysterious basin, it might well
evoke the idea of a kind of consistory or chapter-house. A singularly dramatic
touch, from the moment of final catastrophe, was here, indeed, supplied by the
alabastra standing on the floor, beside the overturned oil jar for their
filling, with a view, we may infer, to some ceremony of anointing. It is
impossible to withhold the conclusion that the 'Room of the Throne' at Knossos
was designed for religious functions.
The salient features in its
arrangement (Plate II, 2, following p. 50), in fact, suggest an interesting
comparison with a ritual chamber recently discovered in one of the kindred
Anatolian sanctuaries. This is the 'Hall of Initiation' excavated by the
British explorers in the sanctuary of Men Askaenos and a Mother Goddess,
described as Demeter, near the Pisidian Antioch. The throne itself, the stone
benches round, and the 'tank' on the opposite side to the throne, find all
their close analogies, and are arranged in the same relative positions. In the
Galatian Sanctuary we see, on a larger scale it is true, a chamber with a
throne - in this case near, not actually against the back wall - to the right
of the entrance, while opposite it on the left side on entering the chamber is
an oblong tank. Here, too, along the back wall runs a rock-cut bench or divan,
and the chamber was approached by an ante-room or pronaos.
Cult arrangements are often
handed down almost unaltered through long periods of years, and the striking
analogies here presented afford a real presumption for believing that the much
earlier Room of the Throne at Knossos and its adjoining tank were devised for
similar rites of initiation and purification. Like him who presided over these
Anatolian rites, a Minoan priest-king may have sat upon the throne at Knossos,
the adopted Son on earth of the Great Mother of its island mysteries. Such a
personage, indeed, we may actually recognize in the Palace relief of a figure
wearing a plumed lily crown and leading, we may believe, the sacral Griffin. It
is probable, indeed, that in Crete the kingly aspect was more to the fore than
in the religious centres of Asia Minor. But both the actual evidence from the
palace site and the divine associations attributed to Minos lead to the
conclusion that here, too, each successive dynast was 'a priest for ever after
the order of Melchizedech' and 'made like unto the Son of God'.
There is little doubt that in
the room thus described we find one of the Minoan temples of the Mysteries.
Most probably, as Sir Arthur Evans suggests, the throne which is shown in the
chamber was the seat of the Hierophant, and on the stone benches round the
walls were ranged the Brn. who took part in the ritual. The candidates for
initiation had to undergo a preliminary purification in the lustral basin
before they could be admitted to the ceremonies.
240THE THREE COLUMNS
A plan of this Minoan Temple is
shown in Plate II, 2 (following p. 50). Facing the throne of the Hierophant
were three columns, which are frequently found in the mystery religion of Crete
and were closely connected with its rites. The evidence that the three columns
bore a sacred meaning is to be found in one of the terra-cotta models belonging
to a votive shrine, which often supply us with additional information about the
Cretan Mysteries. (See Plate II, 3, following p. 50.) We will quote Sir Arthur
Evans' description of the three columns surmounted by doves (which repeatedly
occur in various models of Minoan shrines), and his explanation of their
religious meaning:
But of all these remains, the
highest religious interest attaches to a terra-cotta group belonging to some
religious structure on a larger scale than the others. It consists of three
columns on a common base, supporting in each case, above their square
'capital', the round ends of a pair of beams on which a dove is perched (Plate
II, 3, following p. 50). The square 'capital' itself and the beam ends above it
must here be regarded as the equivalent, in an epitomized shape, of the roof
beams and entablature of a building. In other words, they are the Pillars of
the House, and the doves settled above them are the outward and visible sign of
the divine presence and protection. A clay seal with a similar device of a dove
perched above roof-beams resting on a column, itself set on an altar base as in
the Lion's Gate scheme, has now come to light at Mycenae - a singular illustration
of the Minoan source of its cult.
Of the columns themselves,
each one may be regarded as a separate religious entity, since in place of a
common entablature the superstructure is in each case separately rendered by a
kind of architectural shorthand. This Trinity of baetylic pillars (which has
many parallels in Semitic cult) itself recalls the triple arrangement seen in
the case of the Temple Fresco at Knossos and of several late Minoan and
Mycenaean shrines. The triple gold shrines of Mycenae are also coupled with
seated doves.
The seated birds, as already
observed, symbolize in this and other cases the descent of the divinity into
the possessed object. At times, as in the above instances, it is the baetylic
pillar or the cell that enshrines it. The celebrated scene on the sarcophagus
of Hagia Triada shows raven-like birds brought down by ritual strains and
libations on to the sacred Double Axes, which are thus 'charged' as it were
with the divinity. The doves on the gold chalice from Mycenae and of 'Nestor's
Cup' repeat the same idea.
But it was not only the cult
object itself that could be thus sanctified by the descending emblem of
spiritual indwelling. In the case of the gold plates from the Third Shaft Grave
at Mycenae the doves are seen not only perched on the Shrine but on the head
and fluttering from the shoulders of a nude female personage (Plate III, 2,
following p. 50). So too the central clay image from the late 'Shrine of the
Double Axes' at Knossos shows the dove settled on her head. In these cases we
have either images of the Dove Goddess herself, reinforced by what may have
been her older zoomorphic form, or of a priestess deified by the descent of the
dove-spirit.
The extent to which primitive
Minoan religious conceptions were familiar to the Semitic mind is here again
illustrated by the striking parallel of the baptism in Jordan and the picture
drawn by the evangelists of the Holy Spirit 'descending in bodily shape like a
dove' and 'lighting on' Jesus. What has to be borne in mind in all these
connexions is that it is not only the inanimate or aniconic object, such as the
pillar or the sacred weapon, that may become, through due ritual, the temporary
dwelling-place of the divinity, but that the spiritual Being may enter into the
actual worshipper or votary in human form, who for the time becomes a God, just
as the baptized Christian becomes alter Christos. This 'possession' is often
marked by soothsaying and ecstatic dances, and an orgiastic dance on a Late
Minoan signet, to be described below, finds its pictorial explanation in the
descent of the goddess. Musical strains such as those of the lyre or the
conch-shell or the sistrum of Egyptian cult were a means of invocation.
These highly interesting terra-cotta
models illustrating the religious structures and ideas of the M.M. II Period
are supplemented by an object - the scale of which answers to the same series
as the group of columns - in the form of a portable seat (Plate II, 3,
following p. 50). Within it are some remains of the lower part and attachments
of a figure. It is evident that we have here a palanquin either for a divinity
or for his earthly representative, the Priest-King, recalling the
sedia-gestatoria still used by the Papa-Re at Rome.* (*Op. cit., pp. 222, 223,
.)
In its general arrangements
the ritual chamber of the palace of Phaestos was similar to the Masonic temple
in the palace of Minos, but it contained no throne - an omission which is
explained by the portable seat found in the shrine. Evidently in some cases
the initiator in the Mysteries was carried in procession and retained the seat
in which he had been borne.
MODELS OF SHRINES
250The accompanying figures
(Plate III, 1; Plate IV, 1, 2, 3, following p. 50) show models of fresco
paintings of Minoan shrines. In Plate III, 1, a gold plaque from Mycenae, we
see again the three columns surmounted by the horns of consecration which, like
the double axe, denote the sacred character of the object, and the ritual
significance is further emphasized by the doves perched on the ends of the
sacred horns. In looking at these illustrations of Minoan sanctuaries we must
remember that the side walls of the chamber are flattened out in the picture
and not drawn in perspective, so that we must in imagination fold the two side
panels of the picture of the shrine forward so as to form three walls of a
shrine room. Underneath the pillars in the different illustrations the floors
are paved, as shown in Plate IV, 2 and 3 (following p. 50), in black and white
squares similar to the mosaic pavement of the Masonic Lodge.
In the Minoan sanctuaries we
have so far seen the seat of the Hierophant or Master on one side, the benches
for the brethren round the walls, three sacred columns as the principal
furniture of the temple and a mosaic pavement of alternating dark and light
squares in the centre. In addition, in some of the model shrines we find on one
side of the room two pillars side by side; this arrangement was also discovered
with the two pillars standing in the excavation of the crypt in the Palace of
Minos (see Plate V, 1, following p. 50). Of these crypts Sir Arthur Evans says:
There is clear evidence, as
shown below, that such pillared crypts fulfilled a religious function and stood
in relation to a columnar shrine above. There can be little doubt that we have
here the remains of an important sanctuary facing the inner sea gate of the
Palace.* (*Op. cit., p. 40.)
THE ALTAR OBJECTS
Still further evidence of the
Masonic character of the Minoan rites is shown by the remarkable objects found
in the temple repositories in which were kept the different altar-objects
connected with the ritual worship in the chamber of initiation. Sir Arthur
Evans has rearranged these objects on the altar ledge for which they were no
doubt intended, and we show a reproduction of his arrangement in Plate V, 2
(following p. 50). Perhaps the most arresting feature is the marble cross in
the centre of the altar. The cross with equal arms, or Greek cross, as well as
the Latin cross and the swastika, are found repeatedly in connection with the
Minoan cult, and since in all ages the cross has symbolized either the mystery
of creation and the descent of the divine life into manifestation, or else the
mystic death and resurrection of the soul, we have here striking evidence that
these conceptions were also at the base of the Cretan Mysteries.
On either side of the cross
on the altar ledge the figures wear aprons, which were clearly of a ritual character,
for they are not to be met with in ordinary Cretan dress (see Plate V, 3,
following p. 50). The apron was evidently double, extending both in front and
at the back, and differed in details in the case of the goddess and her
priestess. It is possible, and in some respects even probable, that both female
figures found on the altar are worshippers of the cross and the triple snake,
in which case the different character of the two aprons may well denote a
difference in the rank or degree of the wearers. Evans expresses his opinion
that the double aprons are of a ritual character.* (*Op. cit., p. 50.)
VARIOUS SYMBOLS
There were also some lesser
religious symbols and objects which are of such decidedly Masonic character
that they are worth mentioning. In Plate VI, 1 (following p. 50), we see a
relic of bone found in the temple repository which, as Evans says "is in
the shape alternately of flowers and buds, suggested by those of a
pomegranate". Further symbols familiar to Freemasons are the frequently
recurring sun and moon, shown in our illustration (Plate VI, 2 and 3, following
p. 50) on a bronze votive tablet from the Psychro cave, and a gold ring from
Mycenae. With regard to the former Evans says:
The tree, dove and fish,
which here appear as the vehicles of divine possession, aptly symbolize her
dominion of earth, air and sea. The triple group of sacral horns further
emphasize the threefold aspect of the cult, which also explains the triple
basin of the Libation Table. So, too, we see the pillar shrines of the goddess,
like that of the Knossian wall-painting, regularly divided into three
compartments.
Both the votive tablet and
the ring are full of religious meaning and Masonic symbolism, and well repay
close study. They incidentally show how far the Minoan worship spread from
Crete to the mainland. Similarly the introduction of the Masonic square as a
decorative pattern on a vase found in Aphidna on the mainland of Greece is of
interest as showing that with the spread of Minoan culture to the Mycenaean
settlements the symbols of the Minoan mystery religion too were carried
abroad. (See Plate VII, 1, following p. 50.)
260THE STATUETTES
But these evidences of
Masonic symbolism, decisive as they are, are surpassed by the testimony
presented by a number of statuettes and votive figures found in Crete or in the
outposts of Minoan civilization, which are represented in such indubitably
Masonic attitudes (some of which now belong to the higher degrees) that even
the most sceptical student must acknowledge that no chance can explain this
similarity. (See Plates VII and VIII following p. 50.) It would not be in
accordance with Masonic secrecy to mention the degrees to which the different
attitudes belong, but all Masons will readily recognize them. Ridiculous as
these statuettes are, if they were the only evidence found in Crete they would
be sufficient to indicate the existence of Mysteries of a Masonic Character in
that ancient civilization. But where that evidence is supported by the various
proofs discussed above no doubt can remain that four thousand years ago and
more there existed in Crete Mysteries in which Masonic signs and symbols were
used, which admitted both men and women, and performed their rites in temples very similar to those of modern
Freemasonry.
The Jewish Mysteries
THE JEWISH LINE OF DESCENT
ALTHOUGH our modern
Freemasonic rites and symbols are derived from Egypt, as has been shown in The
Hidden Life in Freemasonry, they have reached us for the most part through the
Jews. The tradition which has most influenced our modern Masonry is that of the
Jewish Mysteries, so the greater part of our ceremonies and s . s are now cast
in a Jewish form.
In The Hidden Life in
Freemasonry it has been explained that many of the traditions preserved in the
Old Testament have a basis in fact, although the actual events of Jewish
history were magnified and distorted through the lens of an almost fanatical
patriotism by the later compilers of the records. The Jewish scriptures as we
have them today were almost entirely rewritten after the return from the
captivity; and the priestly writers who did this work transfigured in a glow of
enthusiastic romance the poetic traditions of their nation.
THE JEWISH MIGRATIONS
The Jewish race is an
offshoot of that Semitic people who formed the fifth sub-race of the Atlantean
root-race. Some four thousand years before the great cataclysm of 75,025 B.C.,
which overwhelmed the first Atlantean empire of Egypt, the Manu had led His
especial followers into the uplands of Arabia in order that they might be
separated from the bulk of the Atlanteans, and that a new type might be evolved
from them which would later be developed into the Aryan root-race. Strict
injunctions were given by the Manu that there was to be no intermarriage with
neighbouring races, so that the purity of the new stock might be maintained;
and the idea of these men that they were a "chosen people" was
fostered to that end. Shortly before the cataclysm some seven hundred of the
best and most promising of these people were led into Central Asia by the Manu,
and they grew there after many thousands of years into a great nation, the
nucleus of the Aryan race that was later to rule the world.
About 40,000 B.C. the Manu
led out the second sub-race of the new root-race to colonize Arabia once more,
since the Semites who had been left behind were the closest of the Atlantean
peoples to the new stock. Arabia became a great Aryan kingdom, excepting only a
certain section of those inhabiting the southern part of the peninsula, who
declined to recognize the Manu or to intermarry with His people, quoting His
own regulation against Him in defence of their refusal. Later this tract of
country was conquered by the Aryans, and a fanatical section of its inhabitants
forsook their homes, and settled on the opposite coast of the Red Sea in what
we now call Somaliland. Here they lived for several centuries, but in
consequence of an attempt on the part of the majority to intermarry with the
negroes of the interior, a fairly large minority of them withdrew from the
community, and, after many wanderings, found themselves in Egyptian territory.
The Pharaoh of the period, interested in their story, offered them an outlying
district of his kingdom if they chose to settle there. Eventually some Pharaoh
made a demand upon them for additional taxation and forced work which they
considered an infringement of their privileges; and they once more undertook a
wholesale migration under the leadership of him whom we now call Moses, and
after further wanderings settled in Palestine, where they were known as the
Jews, still strongly maintaining that they were a chosen people.* (*See Man:
Whence, How and Whither, Ch. xiv and xvi, passim.)
During their sojourn in Egypt
certain of them had been initiated into some of the degrees of the Egyptian
Mysteries. Moses, as was said much later, "was learned in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians",* (*Acts, vii, .) and he seems to have been the real
founder of the Jewish Mysteries, much as tradition suggests, introducing into
them the succession of I.M.s which he had received from the Egyptian priests.
Our investigations have not confirmed the events related in the early chapters
of the book of Exodus with regard to the ten plagues and the smiting of the
Egyptians; the Jews departed without much opposition, and after many years of
wandering in the wilderness conquered various tribes and took possession of
Palestine. Indeed their migration seems to have been inspired to some extent by
the Manu. During their wanderings they used a tent for the celebration of their
Mysteries, preserved in Hebrew tradition as the tabernacle; in this they worked
in essence the Egyptian rituals, though the whole celebration was under such
conditions on a much smaller and less splendid scale. These are the facts
lying behind the Masonic tradition of the First or Holy Lodge.
THE PROPHETS
It appears that Moses was also
acquainted with the great ritual of Amen as worked in the Mysteries of Egypt,
and some portion at least of this tradition was transmitted to his successors.
There arose in later times a school in connection with the Mysteries, the
members of which had the idea of personifying the children of Israel as one
Being who might shed blessing over all nations; and they attempted to arouse
among them the sense of unity necessary for this purpose partly by means of
ritual. There were also the schools of the prophets, who were trained in the
Mysteries and studied the deeper teaching enshrined in the ancient rites. One
such school is mentioned in the Old Testament as existing at Naioth under the
direction of the prophet Samuel,* (*Sam., xix, 20.) and there were others later
at Bethel and Jericho.* (*II Kings, ii, 2, .)
These schools were not so
much concerned with prophecy in our modern sense of foretelling the future, as
with endeavouring to instruct the people by preaching; they seem to have
resembled in many ways the preaching friars sent out by the Roman Church during
the middle ages, the Franciscans and other Orders. These preachers were chosen
from among the Levites, and were sent forth to proclaim the deeper teaching in
a popular form. It is probable that many of the greater Jewish prophets
belonged to a later development of these schools - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
and others - but they were always somewhat pessimistic in their outlook, even
though several of them unquestionably touched high levels of consciousness in
their visions. Their method was apparently to throw themselves into a state of
tremendous exaltation, and then to look up into a higher plane through a kind
of shaft which they had opened. It was in this way that Ezekiel saw the vision
of the four Kings of the elements. These Great Ones can be seen clearly only
with the sight of the spiritual or nirvanic plane; it does not appear that
Ezekiel had touched that exalted level directly, but he became aware of it in
his ecstasy as though looking up to it from below.
THE BUILDERS OF K. S. T.
Something both of the inner
powers and of the Egyptian rituals had been faithfully handed down from
generation to generation from the days of Moses until King Solomon came to the
throne of his father David. There is some truth in the tradition preserved in
the Bible, although there are exaggerations and mistakes in the accounts which
have come down to us, and much of the inner meaning of the symbols had been
forgotten. King Solomon seems to have been a man of considerable force of
character and some occult knowledge, and the great ambition of his life was to
weld his people into a strong and respected kingdom, able to take an
influential place among the nations around. To that end he built the temple in
Jerusalem to be the centre of the religious worship of his people and a symbol
of their national unity; it was perhaps not quite so magnificent as tradition
relates, but the King was nevertheless extremely proud of it and considered it
to be one of the great achievements of the age.
In this work he was assisted
by his ally, Hiram King of Tyre, who supplied a quantity of material for the
building, and lent many clever craftsmen to aid in the work; for the
Phoenicians were more skilled in building than the Jews, who were chiefly a
pastoral people. Also about fifty years before some of the wandering bands of
Masons who called themselves the Dionysian Artificers had settled in Phoenicia,
so King Hiram was able to supply many expert workmen. This alliance is a matter
of secular history, for Josephus tells us that even in his day copies of the
letters which passed between the two Kings existed in the Tyrian archives and
might be consulted by students.* (*Josephus. Ant., viii.) Hiram Abiff was also
a real personage, though he did not meet his death in the manner recorded in
Masonic tradition. He was a decorator rather than the actual Architect of the
Temple, as the biblical records clearly tell us. "He was filled with
wisdom and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass."* (*I
Kings, vii, .) He was "skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass,
in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in
crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device
which shall be put to him".* (*II Chron., ii, .)
Josephus confirms the
tradition that he was an artist and a craftsman rather than an architect:
"This man was skilful in all sorts of work, but his chief skill lay in
working in gold and silver and brass, and he did all the curious work about the
temple as the King wished."* (*Josephus, Ant., viii.) He was the son of a
widow of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass before
him. Since so much responsibility rested in his hands, and he was so skilful an
artist, he appears to have been in the close confidence of King Solomon, and a
member of his council. He was evidently treated as an equal by the two Kings,
and that is one of the reasons which influenced Bro. Ward to translate Hiram
Abiff as "Hiram his father", and to represent the King of Tyre as
sending his abdicated father to superintend the decoration of the temple.
THE RECASTING OF THE RITUALS
But King Solomon's plans for
the consolidation of his people were not yet complete; by the building of his
temple he had formed an outer centre of national worship, and he now desired
that the Mysteries, the heart of his people's religion and the centre of their
spiritual consciousness, should also be purely Jewish in their form. The ceremonial
handed down from the days of Moses was still Egyptian, and the initiates of the
mysteries were yet symbolically engaged in building the great pyramid, the
House of Light, and in celebrating the death and resurrection of Osiris. Even
though it had no corresponding halls of initiation, King Solomon desired that
for the future his temple should take the place of the House of Light, and
become the spiritual centre of the Jewish Mysteries. King Hiram of Tyre warmly
supported this idea; he himself had inherited initiatory rites which had been
derived from the Mysteries of Chaldaea, a very ancient line of tradition
running parallel with the Mysteries of Egypt from Atlantean days, and having
its own chief halls of initiation in Babylon. He, too, felt that a centre
nearer home and in friendly hands was eminently desirable, and he therefore
co-operated in the plan of Judaizing the ancient rites and focusing them upon
the temple in Jerusalem.
At first, it appears, the two
Kings sent an embassy to Egypt to consult the Pharaoh in the matter, telling
him of the temple which they had built, and asking for some recognition of the
Jewish branch of the Mysteries. The Pharaoh did not accept their proposals with
any degree of enthusiasm, but rather implied that no foreigner could possibly
understand the Mysteries of Egypt. The Egyptians of the period seem to have
regarded their Jewish brethren with something of the same feeling that the
Grand Lodge of England might have towards the Grand Orient of Hayti if it
should propose alterations in the ritual, and their interest in the new venture
was decidedly cold. We find no confirmation of the story of the marriage of
King Solomon to Pharaoh's daughter, as is related in the Bible; indeed, this
union is now generally rejected by the critics as impossible, for according to
the Tell el-Amarna tablets, an Egyptian princess might not marry a foreigner.*
(*Peake's Commentary on the Bible, p. .)
THE MINGLING OF TRADITIONS
On the return of their embassy
from Egypt King Solomon and King Hiram called together the council at
Jerusalem, and it was decided that they should proceed immediately with the
work of recasting the rituals into the Jewish form. It is an interesting fact
that three distinct lines of tradition were represented in the persons of the
three chief members of the council, and of each of these we can find traces in
our modern workings. King Solomon himself had inherited the Egyptian line of
succession derived from Moses; King Hiram of Tyre preserved the Chaldaean
descent; while Hiram Abiff brought with him another line of tradition, not
derived from either of these sources.
This last line was strange
and terrible - a line probably perpetuated through savage and primitive tribes
who had bloodthirsty customs of mutilation and human sacrifice. I think it must
be to this line that Bro. Ward refers in his remarkable work Who was Hiram
Abiff? in which he adduces a vast amount of evidence to show that our
traditional history is based upon the myth of the death and resurrection of
Tammuz, and is in reality an account of the ritual murder of one of the
Priest-Kings of that religion. He points out that most primitive races enact a
drama in which some one, usually a priest or king, represents a god who is
slain and comes to life again; that in earlier times at any rate such a
representative was really killed and offered up as a sacrifice to ensure
fertility; that we first hear of this myth of Tammuz in connection with
Babylon, and that the tribes in the neighbourhood of Judaea were all addicted
to the worship of that deity. In fact, among the Jews themselves we find the
prophets blaming the Hebrew ladies for taking part in the ritual mourning for
him.* (*Ezekiel, viii, .)
Solomon himself was by no means
definitely monotheistic, and his people betrayed a distinct tendency to run
after strange gods. There seems much evidence to prove that the love-song
attributed to him in the Bible is really a ritual hymn to Astarte, for whom he
built a temple quite near to that of Jehovah. There is considerable uncertainty
as to whether Balkis, Queen of Sheba, was a real person, or only a
personification of Astarte. Bro. Ward explains that the festivals of the two
patron saints of Freemasonry, S. John the Baptist in summer and S. John the
Evangelist in winter, are only a perpetuation of the feasts of the old
fertility cult at the summer and winter solstices; that similar cultural rites
are found in other lands, Teutonic, Celtic and Greek, that they also survived
among the Essenes, and that the Knights Templars brought back from Syria a
story very similar to that of the 3°. The tale of Jonah, he remarks, has always
been understood as a myth of death and resurrection, and he also was sacrificed
to appease a deity, and obtain salvation for others, just as was the
Priest-King of old. He quotes many instances of foundation and consecration
sacrifices; and, holding as he does that Hiram Abiff was the father of that
other Hiram who was King of Tyre, he writes:
The Phoenician and Jewish
followers of the old Tammuz cult no doubt felt that the Great Goddess had been
cheated of her just dues when Hiram Abiff was not slain, according to ancient
custom, on the accession of his son, and were confident that if he were not
sacrificed when the temple was completed, its future and stability would be
endangered. . So I consider that the Phoenician workmen, with or without the
consent of Solomon, killed the old King of Tyre, Abibaal or Hiram Abiff, as a
Consecration Sacrifice.* (*Who was Hiram Abiff? by J.S.M. Ward, p. .)
While we can hardly accept
the suggestion that the ancestry of our modern rite is wholly Syrian, we cannot
doubt that the influence of the third line of tradition especially contributed
by Hiram Abiff was very considerable. We note also that it seems to have been
especially concerned with the working of metals.
All that is found in our
modern rituals about Lamech and his sons, about Jubal, the founder of the art
of music, and Tubal Cain, the first artificer in metals, appears to belong to
the line of tradition which Hiram Abiff introduced.
This council was the
originator of the greater part of our modern Masonic working; the main outline
of the Egyptian ritual was carefully preserved (although King Solomon on more
than one occasion referred to his brother of Tyre on points of detail) together
with the s . s, and although the w . s were given in Hebrew, for the most part
their meaning remained the same. King Solomon himself seems to have been
largely responsible for our ceremony of raising; he it was who, at the instance
of Hiram Abiff, changed the legend of Osiris into that of the master builder
who attempted to escape by the S., N., and E. g . s and was s . n because he
would not divulge the s . s of a M.M. The name of the original master builder
was not of course given as now, for he himself assisted in the construction of
the legend; neither was there any fatality connected with the actual building
of the holy temple. The insertion of the present name was the work of Rehoboam,
when he succeeded to the throne of Solomon his father, as I have said in The
Hidden Life in Freemasonry; so the story came to be applied to the person of
Hiram, the widow's son.
A very curious tradition
still exists in the 3° of the rite of Mizraim. In that rite the central figure
of the legend is not H.A., who is said to have returned to his family after the
completion of the temple; but the story is carried back to the days of Lamech,
whose son Jubal, under the name of Harrio-Jubal-Abi, is reported to have been
slain by three traitors, Hagava, Hakina, and Heremda. (Mackey's Encyclopaedia,
art. Mizraim.) The rite of Mizraim, as we shall see later, is extremely old,
and may well have incorporated another tradition than that handed down in
Europe; for it appears to have been introduced from the East towards the end of
the eighteenth century. It may be that we have here another echo of that line
of tradition which Hiram Abiff represented on the council of King Solomon.
Such was the important work
undertaken by the second or Sacred Lodge. The succession of I.M.s was handed
down into the new dispensation, and thenceforward Masters of Lodges deriving
their succession from the Mysteries of the Hebrews have always sat in the
Chair of King Solomon, while the two Wardens occupy those of Hiram King of Tyre
and Hiram Abiff. Thus there is a very real truth behind our Masonic tradition.
290The original traditional
history as adapted by King Solomon contained much more of the legend of
Osiris, and was altogether more coherent and reasonable than it is to-day; for
there was a resurrection of the master-builder as well as a death, and the
search of Isis for the body of Osiris was reflected in the search of certain
craftsmen for the body of the Master. But this was rather in the nature of a
verbal charge than apiece of ritual working, and it was therefore more likely
to become distorted in the course of ages. This is exactly what took place. The
ceremonies were handed down from age to age with very few changes, but they
were at several epochs clothed in a new set of words, which reflected the
spirit of the times; while the legend associated with the ritual of the 3°
became sadly marred in its passage throughout the centuries, until in its
present form it is a mere shadow of the glorious teaching of the Mysteries of
Egypt from which it was derived.
THE TRANSMISSION OF THE NEW
RITES
The Mysteries were
transmitted from generation to generation for the next three hundred and fifty years,
during the survival of the kingdom of Judah. In 586 B.C. the city of Jerusalem
was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the people were led captive into Babylon.
During the captivity the Mysteries were interrupted, and it does not seem
probable that they were seriously worked during the fifty years of exile.
Nevertheless, the succession of I.M.s remained unbroken, and when the people
returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple, they also tried to reconstruct
their rites of initiation.
Herein we find the facts
underlying the tradition of the third or Grand and Royal Lodge; for Zerubbabel,
the prince of Judah, and Jeshua, the high priest, were largely instrumental in
this work of restoration and renewal. The same difficulty recurred again, for
it was never allowed to write down the rituals; once more it was necessary to
rely upon memory for the major part of the tradition, and only a very few could
have recollected the actual workings in the days before the captivity.
Nevertheless they succeeded in reconstructing the rites with tolerable
accuracy, although once more the traditional history suffered distortion
through being imperfectly remembered. Such is the story of that line of
succession which eventually found its way into the Roman Collegia, in the first
place by direct descent from the teaching of King Numa, then by the migration
of the rites of Attis and Cybele to Rome about 200 B.C., and again through the
medium of the returning soldiers of the armies of Vespasian and Titus. From
these Collegia it has been handed down with singularly little change in
essentials to our modern Lodges.
Besides the three Craft
degrees which formed the main structure of the Jewish Mysteries, there were
also other Masonic traditions handed down from Egypt. That which is now the
Holy Royal Arch had its place in the working, while the ideas contained in what
we now call the Mark degree were associated with the 2° as the Arch was with
the 3°. Although in English working the period of the Arch is represented to be
that of Zerubbabel and the Second Temple, the Irish Chapters refer the whole
legend to the days of King Josiah, while the Royal Arch of Enoch, which differs
considerably in detail, though the symbology has the same significance and
purpose, is described as belonging to the time of King Solomon himself. The
absence of a fixed period is noteworthy as indicating that the historical
setting is only of secondary importance, and that the main purpose of the
degree is to convey symbolical instruction.
THE ESSENES AND THE CHRIST
The tradition of the
Mysteries was transmitted from century to century, until we find it among the
Essenes, who also appear to have inherited Chaldaean rites. It was in this
school that the disciple Jesus lived in preparation for His ministry, after
receiving a high initiation into the true Mysteries of Egypt. The Essenes had
among other Chaldaean rites inherited what was afterwards known as the Mithraic
eucharist, the ceremony of bread and wine and salt, which, as we shall see
later, was transmitted through the ages until it was incorporated in the modern
degree of the Rose-Croix of Heredom. The consecration of those elements was and
is wonderful, though there is not so full a descent of the Divine Presence as
in the corresponding ritual of Amen used in ancient Egypt. It seems probable,
however, that the Lord Christ took the
Mithraic supper as the basis of His holy eucharist, and while preserving the
ancient symbolism of the elements changed them into His own special vehicle,
symbolized as His Body and Blood - the very closest and most intimate of all
the sacraments known to man.
The Mithraic eucharist
brought the worshipper into close touch with the divine Life; the mystic supper
of the Rose-Croix lifts the Sovereign Prince into a wonderful union with
Christ, the Lord of love; in the ritual of Amen the Brn. bowed to each who had
partaken of the sacrament saying, "Thou art Osiris." The holy
eucharist of the Christian Church is the last and most wonderful of all, for in
it we receive Him, the Lord of Love, and the sacred Host is just as fully and
perfectly His vehicle as was the body of Jesus in Palestine two thousand years
ago. It seems probable that He took the existing sacrament which was regularly
celebrated in the Essene community, and transfigured it into another and holier
eucharist, which has become the glory of His Church from generation to
generation.
KABBALISM
With the tremendous impetus
given by the coming of the Lord the mysteries received a greater inspiration than
had been theirs since the days of Moses. Part of the mystic teaching belonging
to them later passed into writing, and in the Kabbala we find fragments of the
symbolic knowledge which was once the exclusive property of the initiates. So
close are the analogies between certain of the doctrines of the Kabbala and
those of the earlier degrees of Masonry that it has been supposed that
Kabbalistic students were responsible for the introduction of speculative
Masonry into our modern Craft. The student of occultism does not hold this
view, for he knows that our speculative rituals belong in substance to a far
older past than the eighteenth century, and that they perpetuate the tradition
of the Jews, who derived it from the Mysteries of Egypt. He sees in the literature
of the Kabbala a written and exoteric portion of certain teachings belonging to
the Jews, though handed down along an independent line, which may nevertheless
have crossed that of our own Craft and influenced it to some extent in later
days. There is much in the Kabbala which throws light upon our ceremonies and
symbols, and a study of Kabbalistic Theosophy may be of both profit and
interest to the Mason.
The briefest summary is all
that we can attempt here.* (*See The Secret Tradition in Israel, The Secret
Tradition in Freemasonry, A New Encyclopaedia, all by Bro. A. E. Waite.) The
literature of the Kabbala represents a growth of many centuries under the influence
of many types of thought - Jewish, Gnostic, Neo-Platonic, Greek, Arabic and
even Persian - and it has never been fully translated into any European
language. It consists of certain great texts written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and
a mass of commentaries upon them compiled by Jews of many lands and many ages.
The most important texts are the Sepher Yetzirah, which explains the mystic
meanings underlying the Hebrew alphabet, and erects a vast system of mystical
and occult speculation upon the combinations and permutations of the various
letters; and the Sepher ha Zohar, or Book of Splendour, which is a medley of
history and legend, of fable and of fact, of mysticism and fantastic
speculation which, like all such literature, contains priceless gems of occult
wisdom hidden in a mass of rubbish. Both these texts claim to date from the
second century A.D., but in reality they were not written down until a later
period, the former being completed about the tenth century, and the latter
before the thirteenth. They became known to the educated people of Europe about
the time when speculative Masonry was beginning to emerge into the light of day
(that is during the seventeenth century) through various Latin works, the chief
of which are Baron Knorr von Rosenroth's Kabbala Denudata, the OEdipus
AEgyptiacus of Athanasius Kircher, the De Arte Cabalistica of Reuchlin and a
Latin translation of the Yetzirah. As Bro. A. E. Waite, our chief authority in
this field, has pointed out:
The written Jewish tradition
presupposes throughout a tradition which did not pass into writing. The Zohar,
for example, which is its chief memorial, refers everywhere to a great body of
doctrine as something perfectly well-known by the circle of initiation for
which the work was alone intended.* (*Secret Tradition in Freemasonry, I, .)
The skeleton of this body of
doctrine has reached us in the symbolism of Masonry, although along so
different a line; and in the Kabbala we may find a clue to much that is obscure
in our modern rituals.
THE SPIRITUALIZATION OF THE
TEMPLE
Two mystical concepts found
in the Zohar relate directly to our subject - the spiritualization of the
temple of King Solomon, and the doctrine of the lost word, both of which have
their roots in the Egyptian Mysteries, as we have already seen. King Solomon's
temple formed the physical basis for a vast structure of mystical speculation
and inquiry; for its measurements and proportions were held to have a relation
to those of the universe, and all the sacred objects which it contained had
their macrocosmic and microcosmic interpretations. The Shekinah or divine glory
which irradiated the innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, was interpreted
not only as the divine Presence which hallowed the visible temple, but as God
immanent in His universe and indwelling in the heart of man.
Furthermore, the idea of the
Jews that some day the temple should be rebuilt is itself spiritualized and
transformed, and it was taken as an allegory of the attainment of divine
perfection both in man and the universe. The Jews, whose rich Oriental minds
delighted in exuberant and complex
allegory, conceived a veritable city of temples, of which King Solomon's was
but the symbol - temples and palaces each relating to a different aspect or
plane of nature and forming an intricate system of reflections and
correspondences. The prototype of all this wealth of symbolism is found in the
Mysteries of Egypt, wherein the measurements of the great pyramid were studied
as emblematical of the proportions of the universe, and contained vast stores
of occult and astronomical lore. The Jews applied what they knew of the
Egyptian system to the temple of King Solomon, reflecting the wisdom of Egypt
through the lens of their own fiery and poetical temperament, whence some
portion of it gradually passed on the one hand into written and exoteric literature,
and on the other was handed down in the secret Lodges of Masonry.
THE LOSS OF THE DIVINE NAME
The second great doctrine of
Kabbalism which concerns us here is the loss of the divine Name, or rather of
the correct method of pronouncing that Name. The Jews thought of this Name as
a word of four letters, J.H.V.H., which we generally read as Jehovah. The tradition
relates that the Omnific Word which, being the Name of God, commanded all the
creative forces of Nature, was pronounced by the high priest once a year on the
day of atonement, but that after the exile the true pronunciation was lost. The
consonants remained, but the vowel points essential to correct articulation had
been forgotten. (The present Masoretic system of vowel points was introduced
only in the tenth century A.D.) This was woven into a beautiful allegory of the
descent into matter and of the fall of man; for immersed in matter as we are at
our present stage of evolution, we cannot utter the word or know the divine
Nature in its fullness, but can perceive only the outer shell of things,
represented by the remaining consonants. And even this we do not understand,
and therefore for even that much of the Divine Name a substituted secret is
necessary. And so in the tradition whenever the word Yahweh occurred in the
reading of the Law, the name Adonai (meaning "my Lord") was
substituted for it. (The modern word Jehovah is made by using the consonants
JHVH, and intercalating the vowels from the word Adonai.) The tradition looks
forward to a future when time or circumstances shall have restored the genuine
method of pronunciation, and man will return to the God from whom he came
forth, able to utter the word in all its mighty power, to command the forces
latent in his own divinity.
All this was interwoven with
the doctrine of the Logos, the Word of God, expounded so admirably by Philo,
and known to all Christians from the opening words of the Gospel of S. John;
for the whole tradition of the divine Word is derived from the Mysteries of
Egypt. The true Tetragrammaton was not the Name of God in Hebrew, but another
and far more ancient word, which has ever been known to initiates of high
degree. A Christian development of this symbolism forms the device of a jewel
worn by a certain high official in the Scottish Rite. Under the old covenant the word was lost, and
even when restored through the discovery of a certain secret vault, its true
pronunciation was unknown; the end of the quest was not yet reached, though it
was in sight. The new covenant added in the centre yet one letter more, the mystic Shin, emblematical of fire and of
the Spirit; and so the Word Jehovah became Jeheshua, the Name of the Christ.
Which things are an allegory, for it is only by the finding of the Christ in
the heart that the lost word can be rediscovered, and that very finding brings
the knowledge of the true Tetragrammaton - that secret of man's eternal being,
which from the beginning has been written upon the cross of sacrifice and
always kept hidden in the heart of the world among the secret things of God.
30Such is a brief outline of
those Jewish Mysteries, the tradition of which was carried to Rome, and thence
passed down through the Collegia into the mediaeval guilds, finally emerging
in the eighteenth century in the speculative rituals of the Craft degrees, in
the Holy Royal Arch and the degree of Mark Master Mason, and in those other
emblems and ceremonies which have been incorporated into certain of the
subsidiary grades belonging in their symbolic time to the old covenant. The
Jewish Mysteries are the source of our present tradition, for the three Craft
degrees are, and always have been, the basis of the whole system of Masonic
initiation, since they enshrine the relics of the Lesser and Greater Mysteries
of Egypt, which alone can be termed degrees in their original form. But before
we pass on to our next link in the Masonic chain of descent - that of Rome and
its Colleges - it may be well to touch upon certain of the other great
Mystery-systems which were famous in the ancient world.
The Greek Mysteries
THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES
WE come now to the Mysteries
of Greece, of which the best-known and most important in classical times were
the Eleusinian. There seems to be a widely-spread delusion, the origin of which
we can trace to the writings of the Christian Fathers, that the Mysteries of
antiquity were kept secret because they contained much that was improper, and
that would not bear the light of day. That is not so in the least, and I am in
a position to bear direct testimony, having been myself an initiate of the
Mysteries, that there was nothing whatever in them of an objectionable
character. The teachings were all of the highest and purest nature, and they
could not but benefit very greatly all who had the privilege of being initiated
into them. In classical and post-classical times many of the greatest men have
borne witness to their worth. A few
quotations - samples of many - will be sufficient to show this. Sophocles, the
great tragic poet, says of them:
Thrice-happy are those
mortals who after the contemplation of the Mysteries go down into the realms of
Hades; for there they alone will possess true life: for the rest there is
naught but suffering.* (*Sophocles fr. 348, quoted Foucart: Les Mysteres
d'Eleusis, p. .)
Plato says through the mouth
of Socrates in that wonderful death-scene in the Phaedo:
I fancy that those men who
established the Mysteries were not unenlightened, but in reality had a hidden meaning
when they said long ago, that whoever goes uninitiated and unsanctified to the
other world will lie in the mire, but he who arrives there initiated and
purified will dwell with the Gods.* (*Plato. Phaedo. Loeb. Edition, p. .)
Cicero was initiated into
them and held them in the highest reverence,* (*Cic. De. Leg., II, .) while
Proclus tells us in the last days of the pagan faith:
The most holy Rites of
Eleusis vouchsafe to the Initiates enjoyment of the good offices of Kore when
they shall be delivered from their bodies.* (*Proclus. Comment. in Plat. rem
pub. quoted Foucart, loc. cit., p. .)
It is true that in the time
of the decadence of Rome there were degenerate ceremonies connected with the
Mysteries of Bacchus, which involved orgies of a very unpleasant character, but
they were in no way connected with the original Eleusinian Mysteries, which by
that time had faded almost entirely into the background.
The modern world knows little
of the truth about the Greek Mysteries, for their activities and doctrines were
really kept secret. Apart from the strong pressure of public opinion, which
treated the slightest violation of secrecy as an act of terrible impiety, we
hear of the death-penalty being inflicted in a case of the accidental intrusion
of two non-initiates into the sacred enclosure at Eleusis during the
celebration of the Mysteries.* (*Livy, xxxi, .) Very little, therefore of
direct fact has reached us from pagan sources; the greater part of our
information comes from the Christian writers,
Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Arnobius and others, who were
engaged upon destroying as much as possible of the pagan religion, and
therefore always spoke of the Mysteries in the worst possible light. Something
is known of a few of the exterior tests that were applied to candidates, and of
the teaching that was given through the various myths. When people outside
pressed for information, and would not be put off, the officials permitted so
much to be revealed.
320THE ORIGIN OF THE GREEK
MYSTERIES
The original founder of the
Greek Mysteries was Orpheus, who was an incarnation of the same great World
Teacher who had come to Egypt in 40,000 B.C. as Thoth or Hermes, to preach the
doctrine of the Hidden Light. But now the method of His message was different;
for it was spoken to a different race.
About 7000 B.C, He came,
living chiefly in the forests, where He gathered His disciples around Him.
There was no king to bid him welcome, no gorgeous court to acclaim Him. He came
as a singer, wandering through the land, loving the life of Nature, her sunlit
spaces and her shadowed forest retreats, averse to cities and to the crowded
haunts of men. A band of disciples grew around Him, and He taught them in the
glades of woodland, silent save for the singing of the birds and the sweet
sounds of forest life, that seemed not to break the stillness.
He taught by song, by music,
music of voice and instrument, carrying a five-stringed musical instrument, probably
the origin of Apollo's lyre, and He used a pentatonic scale. To this He sang,
and wondrous was His music, the Angels drawing nigh to listen to the subtle
tones; by sound He worked upon the astral and mental bodies of His disciples,
purifying and expanding them; by sound He drew the subtle bodies away from the
physical, and set them free in the higher worlds. His music was quite different
from the sequences, repeated over and over again, by which the same result was
brought about in the Rootstock of the Race, which it carried with it into
India. Here He worked by melody, not by repetition of similar sounds; and the
rousing of each etheric centre had its own melody, stirring it into activity.
He showed His disciples living pictures, created by music, and in the Greek
Mysteries this was wrought in the same way, the tradition coming down from Him.
And He taught that Sound was in all things, and that if man would harmonize
himself, then would the Divine Harmony manifest through him, and make all
Nature glad. Thus He went through Hellas singing, and choosing here and there
one who would follow Him, and singing
also for the people in other ways, weaving over Greece a network of music,
which should make her children beautiful and feed the artistic genius of her
land.* (*Man: Whence, How and Whither, p. 316 ff.)
This wonderful tradition of
the Mysteries of Orpheus was handed down for thousands of years until in
classical times we find, on the one hand the Orphic Schools, of which that of
Pythagoras was a splendid offshoot, and on the other the greatest of all the
Greek Mysteries, those of Eleusis, which preserved much of the ancient teaching
in a ceremonial form. A relic of the tradition of Orpheus is found in the fact
that the hierophant of the Eleusinian Mysteries was always chosen from the
sacred family of the Eumolpidae, the descendants of the fabled Eumolpus, whose
name meant the sweet singer; and one of the most important qualifications for
the office was the possession of a beautiful and resonant voice, with which the
sacred chants might be correctly intoned.* (*Les Mysteres d'Eleusis. Paul
Foucart. Paris, 1914, p. 170.)
THE GODS OF GREECE
The Greek idea of worship was
very different from our modern conceptions. It must not be supposed that any
of the educated Greeks believed in the mythology of their religion as literal
fact. Men sometimes wonder how it was possible for great nations like Rome or
Greece to remain satisfied with what we commonly call their religion - a chaos
of unseemly myths, many of them not even decent, describing gods and goddesses
who were distinctly human in their actions and passions, and were constantly
quarrelling amongst themselves. The truth is that nobody was satisfied with it,
and it never was at all what we mean by a religion, though it was no doubt
taken literally by some ignorant people. All cultured and thinking men took up
the study of one or other of the systems of philosophy, and in many cases they
were also initiates of the school of the Mysteries; it was this higher teaching
that really moulded their lives, and took for them the place of what we call
religion - unless, indeed, they were frankly agnostic, as are so many cultured
men now. Some of these weird myths, however, were explained in the Mysteries and
were seen to enshrine a hidden teaching relating to the life of the soul.
Nevertheless many of the gods
of Greece were real personages, who played their parts in the lives of the
people, and were channels to them of the divine blessing. The chief aspect of
the outer religion of Greece was the cult of the beautiful. It was known in
Greece that every true work of art radiated an atmosphere of joy and beauty;
therefore the Greeks surrounded themselves and their worship with every kind of
lovely thing. They knew that the gods manifested themselves through beauty,
were aspects of and channels for the One Beauty; and thus they gathered streams
of the divine influence around them and so outpoured blessing upon the world.
The gods of Greece were not the same as those reverenced in Egypt; they
represented somewhat different aspects of the one eternal God in forms suited
to the development of the Celtic sub-race, which was essentially an artistic,
as the Egyptians had been a scientific people. As students of the occult side
of religion are aware, each sub-race has its own especial presentation of
truth, its own divine forms through whom worship is offered to the Supreme; and
the type of religion is formulated by the World Teacher Himself in accordance
with the development and culture which are to be the distinguishing
characteristic of that race and its contribution to the world-plan of
evolution. In Greece, as in Egypt, there was a multiplicity of these divine
forms, some of them represented and ensouled by great Angels, who may be
compared to some extent to those adored in Christian lands - S. Michael, S.
Gabriel, S. Raphael and others. The gods of Greece were no less real than these
great ones, although they belonged to an entirely different type, resembling
rather the presiding Angels of the various countries than the Rulers of the
nine orders of the Angelic hosts.
Pallas Athene, the grey-eyed
goddess of wisdom, was a magnificent and splendid Being, who practically
governed Athens in the old days through her devotees. Her influence was
enormously stimulating, but she was not so much an embodiment of compassion or
of love, as is the Blessed Virgin Mary, but rather of efficiency and of that
perfect accuracy of form that is the essence of all true art. Much of the wonderful
art of Greece was inspired directly by her; and to satisfy her it had to be the
very highest and truest and most accurate. She could not tolerate a single line
misplaced, even in the smallest thing. There was something of polished steel
about Athene; she was cold and keen like a rapier, tremendously powerful,
keeping the people up to the highest, the noblest, the purest, the most
beautiful; and yet less for the sake of an abstract love of beauty than because
it would have been a disgrace to be otherwise than beautiful. There was
practically no emotion connected with Pallas Athene; we had an intellectual
appreciation of her greatness, an intense devotion along mental lines, a
splendid enthusiasm in following her; but we should not have ventured upon anything
like personal affection. She kept Athens in perfect order, directing it,
governing it, brooding over its people with her wonderful inspiration; and she
watched the development of her city with the closest interest, determined that
it should be ahead of Sparta and Corinth and the other cities of Greece.
Hera was a real personage
likewise, but very different from Pallas Athene. She was one of the many
incarnations or forms of the feminine aspect of the First Ray, and was thought
of as the Queen of Heaven; she corresponds most closely to the Indian goddess
Parvati, the shakti or power of Shiva, imaged as His consort, as Hera was the
consort of Zeus.
330Dionysus was the Logos
Himself, just as Osiris had been in Egypt, though in a somewhat different aspect;
and the legend of His death and resurrection corresponded closely with that of
Osiris, and was taught with the same signification in the Mysteries of Greece.
Phoebus Apollo, the God of the Sun and of music, whose symbol was the lyre,
seems originally to have been Orpheus; so that in venerating him the Greeks in
reality offered their love to the great World Teacher. Demeter and her daughter
Persephone or Kore were especially reverenced at Eleusis. These two deities
were personifications of the great forces of nature, the first of the brooding
motherhood of the earth, and the second of that creative life which makes the
earth to flourish and blossom with corn and flowers and fruit, and then
withdraws once more at the onset of winter into a kind of hibernation - a
hidden life within, only to burst out again as though in a new incarnation
under the influence of spring. Demeter appears to correspond with Uma, the
Great Mother, still venerated in India.
Aphrodite, the goddess of
Love - "immortal Aphrodite of the broidered throne," as Sappho calls
her - represented the feminine aspect of the Deity as the divine compassion;
she was called the "foam-born" because she was mystically supposed to
have risen from the waters of the ocean. Swinburne describes her in magnificent
lines:
Her deep hair heavily laden
with the odour and colour of
flowers,
White rose of the rose-white
water, a silver splendour, a
Flame .
who, at her mystic birth,
Came flushed from the
full-flushed wave, and imperial, her
foot on the sea.
And the wonderful waters knew
her, the winds and the
340viewless ways,
And the roses grew rosier,
and bluer the sea-blue stream of
the bays.
This beautiful symbolism of
her name refers to the form side of the Deity, the root of matter - called the
"deep sea", or the "virgin sea" - which is impregnated with
the divine life and beauty, and so gives birth to the loveliest of forms. The
title "foam-born" is particularly appropriate when we consider that all
forms are built up of aggregations of bubbles blown in the "deep
sea", the aether of space. All this was explained to the initiates of the
Mysteries. The same mystical idea lies in the title of Our Lady Mary,
"Star of the Sea"; although she embodies in herself a fuller
manifestation of the divine love in the perfection of eternal motherhood, and
indeed unites in her person many Aspects of the Deity that were divided in
Greece. There were, however, two sides of the cult of Aphrodite. The higher
side was embodied in Aphrodite Ouranios, the heavenly Aphrodite, who was indeed
"the Mother of fair love"; but there was a lower aspect of her
worship as Aphrodite Pandemos, the earthly, common love, which leads to much
evil and base desire, unworthy of the name love; and this aspect was the most
prominent in the days when the old religion had become outworn and corrupt.
Aphrodite corresponds to some extent with Lakshmi in India.
The gods were connected with
the Mysteries, and worked with and through their faithful followers; but even
in the Mysteries there was less of devotion and more of intellectual
appreciation than in our religion to-day. In studying different branches of the
Mysteries as worked in different lands we can but give certain analogies - we
cannot hope to make exact comparisons; and the difficulty is still greater when
we try to compare the ancient with the modern faiths - their whole outlook was
so different from ours.
THE OFFICIALS
The control of the Eleusinian
Mysteries in classical times lay in the hands of two families: the Eumolpidae
and the Keryces or heralds, who were also connected with the worship of the
Pythian Apollo at Delphi. Most of the officers were chosen from these two
families, although there were also important civil representatives of the
Athenian State who were responsible for the public ceremonial of the Mysteries
as well as for the control of finance.
The chief officer was the
hierophant, chosen for life by lot from the Eumolpidae. He alone had the
guardianship of the Hallows (Hiera), those sacred treasures which were so
carefully preserved at Eleusis and played so great a part in the ceremonial
magic of the Mysteries. He was invariably a man of advanced age and
distinguished position, and in his hands lay the supreme control over the
secret ceremonial.
Next to him in rank stood the
Dadouchos, the bearer of the double torch, chosen for life from the family of
the Keryces. Both these officials had houses in the sacred enclosure at
Eleusis, into which only initiates might enter; but while the hierophant
remained in almost entire seclusion, the Dadouchos often took a prominent part
in public affairs. A third official was the Hieroceryx, or sacred herald, who
also was chosen for life from the family of Keryces; one of his duties was to
make the solemn proclamation to the Mystae before their initiation into the
Greater Mysteries, to preserve silence upon sacred matters. A fourth official
was the Priest of the Altar, chosen also from the Keryces, who in later times
was responsible for the sacrifices. In the great days of the Mysteries animal
sacrifices were never offered, but, as in all religious systems, a time came
when the tradition had become formalized and much of the inner knowledge had
been withdrawn. It was then that certain teachings upon the meaning of
sacrifice and its place in the spiritual life were distorted and materialized
into the cruel superstition that it was necessary to sacrifice animals to the
Diety.
There were also two women hierophants,
dedicated to the two goddesses who presided over the Mysteries, Demeter and
Kore; and in addition to them there was a priestess of Demeter, who appears to
have been closely connected with certain other rites of the goddesses open only
to women (Thesmophoria, Haloa), as well as with the Mysteries of Eleusis. A number of minor
officials also took part in the ceremonial. As in Egypt, women were admitted to
the Mysteries on equal terms with men, and no distinction was made between the
sexes save in the matter of office. The instruction of the candidates was
placed in the hands of the Mystagogues, who taught under the supervision of the
hierophant and prepared the initiates for the celebration of the Mysteries,
communicating to them certain formulae which would be required in the course of
the ceremonial. An enclosed order of priestesses lived in retreat at Eleusis,
vowed to celibacy and dedicated to the higher life. It seems probable that
these are the "bees" of whom Porphyry and various grammarians speak.*
(*Les Mysteres d'Eleusis. Foucart, Ch. VI and VIII, passim.)
350THE LESSER MYSTERIES
The Eleusinian Mysteries were
divided into two degrees, the Lesser and the Greater. We see no trace of the
tri-gradal system suggested by some scholars, although there were special
ceremonies for the installation of the principal officers. The Lesser Mysteries
were celebrated in the Temple of Demeter and Kore at Agrae, near Athens, in the
month of March. In them teaching was given upon the life after death in the
intermediate or astral world, just as in the Lesser Mysteries of Egypt, and in
this sense it is possible to compare the Lesser Mysteries with our Masonic 1°,
although the details of the ceremonial do not exactly correspond. The ceremony
was conducted by the hierophant of Eleusis, assisted by his various officers;
and the initiates of this degree were called mystae.
The ceremonies opened with a
preliminary purification or baptism in the waters of the Ilissus, during which
certain ritual formulae were recited; they were continued in the secrecy of the
temple, in which representations of the astral world were shown to the
candidate, and instruction given upon the results of certain courses of action
in the life after death. In earlier days when the hierophant directing the
studies described the effect of some particular vice or crime, he used his
occult power to materialize some good example of the fate which his words
portrayed, in some cases, it is stated, enabling the sufferer to speak and
explain the condition in which he found himself as the outcome of his neglect
while on earth of the eternal laws under which the worlds are governed.
Sometimes, instead of this, a vivid image of the state of some victim of his
own folly would be materialized for the instruction of the neophytes.
In the days of the decadence,
just as in Egypt, there remained no hierophant who possessed the power to
produce these occult illustrations, and consequently their place was taken by
actors dressed to represent the sufferers, and in some cases by ghostly images
projected by means of concave mirrors -
or even by cleverly executed statuary or mechanical figures. Of course it was
perfectly understood by all concerned that these were only representations,
and no one was ever led to suppose that they were original cases. Certain of
our ecclesiastical writers, however, failed to realize this, and some of them
spent much time and ingenuity in "exposing" deceptions which never
deceived anyone, least of all those who were specially concerned with them.
Besides this teaching upon the exact results in astral life of physical thought
and action, much instruction was given in cosmogony, and the evolution of man
on this earth was fully explained, again with the aid of illustrative scenes and
figures, produced at first by materialization, but later imitated in various
ways.
The initiates of the
Mysteries had a number of proverbs and aphorisms peculiar to themselves.
"Death is life, and life is death" was a saying which will need no
interpretation for the student of the inner side of life, who comprehends; at
least to some extent, how infinitely more real and vivid is life on any other
plane than this imprisonment in the flesh. "Whosoever pursues realities
during this life will pursue them after death; whosoever pursues unrealities
during this life will pursue them also after death," was another statement
entirely in line with the facts of post-mortem existence, and it emphasizes
the great truth upon which we so often find it necessary to insist, that death
in no way changes the real man, but that his disposition and his mode of
thought remain exactly what they were before.
The myths of the exoteric
religion of the country were taken up and studied in the Eleusinian Mysteries,
as in the Mysteries of Egypt. Among those relating to the life after death was
that of Tantalus, who was condemned to suffer perpetual thirst in Hades: water
surrounded him on all sides, but receded from him whenever he attempted to
drink; over his head hung branches of fruit which receded in like manner when
he stretched out his hand to touch them. This was interpreted to mean that
everyone who dies full of sensual desire of any kind finds himself after death still full of desire, but
unable to gratify it.
Another story was that of
Sisyphus, who was condemned always to roll uphill a huge block of marble, which
as soon as it reached the top rolled down again. That represents the condition
after death of a man full of personal ambition, who has spent his life in
making plans for selfish ends. In the other world he goes on making plans and
working them out, but always finds at the point of completion that they are
nothing but a dream. The liver of Tityus was ceaselessly devoured by vultures.
This was symbolical of the raging desire that tears at a man until it is burnt
out by suffering. In many such ways desire is purified and the man is able to
pass onwards to the life of the heaven-world, which was the subject of
instruction in the Greater Mysteries.
Within the Lesser Mysteries,
just as in the Mysteries of Egypt, there existed an inner school for the
training of specially selected candidates. These were taught to awaken the
senses of the astral plane, so that the teaching given in the Mysteries could be
verified by them at first hand. As in Egypt, the severe tests of courage were
applied only to the small proportion of those who entered the Mysteries who
intended to take up positive occult training, and become active workers on the
astral and higher planes. Tens of thousands of people were initiated without
them. One classical author mentions a gathering of thirty thousand initiates.
All serious-minded people gravitated towards these Mysteries, much as the
better class of young men and women of our day go to the great Universities,
and in addition many were interested in one or other of the systems of
philosophy.
This inner school was kept
secret, so that none even of the initiates knew of its existence until actually
received into it. The dress of the mystae was the dappled fawn-skin (Nebris),*
(*Recherches sur les Mysteres du Paganisme. Par M. le Baron de Sainte-Croix.
Ed., Paris, . Tome I, p. .) a fitting emblem of the uncontrolled astral body,
which in this 1° had to be trained and brought into subjection by the will.
This dress corresponded with the leopard-skin worn by the Egyptian priests, and
the tiger or antelope skin so often used by the Eastern Yogis.
THE GREATER MYSTERIES
360The Greater Mysteries were
held at Eleusis in the month of September (Boedromion), and in connection with
their celebration all Greece went into holiday, and splendid public processions
took place, in which the whole populace, both initiates and non-initiates,
joined. These public processions have been described in detail by contemporary
writers; but beyond these exoteric descriptions nothing of the Greater
Mysteries is known to the outer world save through a few obscure hints. On the
13th Boedromion the young men gathered at Eleusis to form the escort of the
solemn procession to Athens, which was distant from Eleusis some twelve miles.
On the 14th the Hallows (Hiera) were solemnly escorted to the great city,
accompanied by the hierophant and his officers, the members of the priestly
families, the college of priestesses and the retinue of the Eleusinian temple.
The Hallows were treated with the deepest reverence; they were conveyed in
great wicker baskets secured with bands of purple wool, and placed upon a
ceremonial car. Only the hierophant and his ministers were allowed to handle
them, and none but initiates might even see them, under pain of death. During
the rest of the year they remained in a shrine or chapel (Anactoron) in the
temple at Eleusis, and were guarded with the utmost care and awe, as being of
divine origin.
When the procession reached
the outskirts of the city of Athens, the Hallows were met by the magistrates
and people, and were escorted with all magnificence and pomp to the Eleusinion
at the foot of the Acropolis. Like the mother temple at Eleusis, this was
surrounded by high walls, and no one but the initiates was ever allowed to
enter. On the 15th day of the month, the day of the full moon, the mystae who
were to be advanced to the Greater Mysteries assembled, and the solemn
proclamation was made, enumerating those to whom access to the Mysteries was
forbidden . "Whoso hath unclean hands . whoso hath an unintelligible
voice".* (*Libanius, quoted Foucart. op. cit., p. .) This latter qualification
has been taken to mean that only Greek-speaking people could be admitted to the
Mysteries; but M. Foucart suggests the more probable explanation that the
voice must be free from impediment in order that the sacred formulae might be
pronounced correctly; and he compares this qualification to the Egyptian title
Maat-heru, which meant not only "true of voice" but one who is able
to wield the occult powers of sound without mistake.* (*Ibid., p. .) When we
remember the tradition of Orpheus and realize how great a part sound played in
the Greek Mysteries, we may understand that this conjecture is not without
foundation.
On the 16th day of the month
the mystae took a ceremonial bath of purification in the sea; on the 17th and
18th various public processions took place in Athens; while the mystae
remained secluded in the temple, receiving instruction and preparing themselves
by meditation for their initiation into the Greater Mysteries. On the 19th the
great procession of the initiates to Eleusis was formed, the Hallows were
carried back to their ancient resting-place with the fullest possible pomp and
splendour, and the candidates and Brn. marched in triumph to the temple of
initiation accompanied by vast crowds of people.
First came the car of
Iacchos, bearing the statue of "the fair young God", who was one of the
forms of Dionysus, the "Blazing Star of nocturnal Initiation" as
Aristophanes calls him;* (*Aristophanes. Frogs, .) next marched the young men,
myrtle-crowned, with shields and lances glittering in the sunlight, whose duty
and privilege it was to escort the sacred Hallows, borne aloft upon the
ceremonial car in the great wicker baskets, still bound with purple wool; after
them came the hierophant and his officers, dressed in their purple robes and
wearing myrtle crowns, followed by the mystae in charge of the mystagogues.
After them marched the vast company of initiates and people, arranged according
to their tribes and demes, and preceded by the civil magistrates and the
council of the five hundred; and the whole splendid throng was followed by a
train of baggage-animals carrying bedding and provisions for the few days'
sojourn at Eleusis.
The procession arrived at the
sacred village after nightfall, and glowed like a river of fire in the blazing
light of the torches carried by all the people; and after a tremendous ovation
the Hallows were carried into the sacred enclosure by the hierophant, who
placed them once more in the secret shrine within the hall of initiation
(Telesterion). The next two days, during which the actual ceremonial
instruction took place, were spent by the initiates within the enclosing walls
of the temple, and the whole glorious celebration concluded with a festal assembly held outside the temple walls, in
which all the citizens took part, afterwards returning quietly to their homes.*
(*Les Mysteres d'Eleusis. Ch. XI and XII, passim.)
In the Greater Mysteries the
teaching upon the life after death was extended to the heaven-world; they thus
corresponded to some extent to our 2°. The initiates were named epoptae, and
their ceremonial garment was no longer a fawn-skin, but a golden fleece -
whence, naturally, the whole myth of Jason and his companions. This symbolized
the mental body, and the power definitely to function in it. Those who have
seen the splendid radiance of all which pertains to that mental plane, who have
noticed the innumerable vortices produced by the ceaseless emission and impact
of thought-forms, who remember that a brilliant yellow is especially the colour
which manifests intellectual activity, will acknowledge that this was no inapt
representation.
In this class, as in the
lower one, there were two types - those who could be taught to use the mental
body, and to form round it the strong temporary vehicle of astral matter which
has sometimes been called the mayavi rupa - and the far greater majority who
were not yet prepared for this development, but could nevertheless be
instructed with regard to the mental plane and the powers and faculties
appropriate to it. As in the Lesser Mysteries men learned the exact result in
the intermediate world after death of certain actions and modes of life on the
physical plane, so in the Greater Mysteries they learnt how causes generated in
this lower existence worked out in the heaven-world. In the Lesser the
necessity and the method of the control of desires, passions and emotions was
made clear; in the Greater the same teaching was given with regard to the
control of mind.
Further teaching upon
cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis was also continued. In the Greater Mysteries
instead of being instructed only as to the broad outlines of evolution by
reincarnation (which does not appear to have been clearly taught in the outer
religion), and the previous races of mankind, the initiates now received a
description of the whole scheme as we have it to-day, including the seven great
chains of worlds and their positions in the solar system as a whole. Their
terms were different from ours, but the instruction was in essence the same;
where we speak of successive life-waves and outpourings, they spoke of aeons
and emanations, but there is no doubt that they were fully in touch with the
facts, and that they represented them to their pupils in wonderful visions of
cosmic processes and their terrestrial analogies.
Just as in the case of the
after-death states, these representations were at first produced by occult
methods; and later, when these failed them, by mechanical and pictorial means,
the results of which were greatly inferior. Illustrations of the development of
the human embryo, shown by picture or model in the same way as we might show
some of them by means of a microscope, were employed to teach by the law of
correspondences the truth of cosmic evolution. We may remember how Madame
Blavatsky adopted in The Secret Doctrine a similar method of illustrating the
same evolutionary processes.* (*Op. cit., Vol. iii, p. .) It is probable that a
misunderstanding of the representation of some of these processes of
reproduction was distorted into an idea of indecency, and so the seed was sown
from which sprang later the false and foolish accusations of the ignorant and
bigoted Christians.
The culmination of the
ceremonial of the Greater Mysteries was the exposition of an ear of corn. Of
this Hippolytus speaks:
370The Athenians, while initiating
people into the Eleusinian Rites, likewise display to those who are being
admitted to the highest grade at these Mysteries, the mighty, marvellous, and
most perfect secret suitable for one initiated into the highest mystic truths:
I allude to an ear of corn in silence reaped. This ear of corn is also
considered among the Athenians to constitute the perfect and enormous
illumination that has descended from the unportrayable One, just as the
hierophant himself declares.* (*Hippolytus. Refutation of All Heresies, Bk. V,
iii (Ante-Nicene Library Ed.))
This symbol referred to the
divine life of God, ever-changing, ever-renewed, buried in the earth of the
lower planes, only to rise in other forms to a fuller and more abundant life,
passing from manifestation to manifestation without end. This was explained by
the hierophant to the initiates, and the simplicity of the symbol and the
beauty and profundity of the meaning underlying it formed a fitting climax to a
wonderful ceremony.
THE MYTHS OF THE GREATER
MYSTERIES
The meaning of various myths
was explained in detail in the instruction given to the initiates. The legend
of Persephone or Proserpine (Kore) is clearly an occult parable of the descent
of the soul into matter. If we remember how the story tells us that Proserpine
was carried away while she was plucking the flower of the narcissus, at once we
have a suggestion of connection with that other myth of the soul's life.
Narcissus is represented to have been a young man of extraordinary beauty who
fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, and was so much
attracted by it that he fell into the pool and was drowned, and was afterwards
changed by the gods into a beautiful flower. It was taught that the soul was
not originally immersed in matter, and need not have been so, but for the fact
that she was attracted by the image of herself in the lower conditions of
matter, symbolized by water. Beguiled by
this reflection, she identifies herself with the lower personality, and is for the
time sunk altogether in matter; yet nevertheless the divine seed remains, and
presently she springs up again as a flower. It was while Proserpine was
stooping to Narcissus that she was seized and carried off by Desire, who is the
king of the lower world; and although she was rescued from complete captivity
by the effort of her mother, yet after that she had to spend her life half in
the lower world, and half in that above, that is to say, partly in incarnation
and partly out of it.
The Minotaur, which was slain
by Theseus, was the personality in man, "half animal and half man".
Theseus typifies the higher self, who has been gradually developing and
gathering strength until at last he can wield the sword of his divine father,
the Spirit. Guided through the labyrinth of illusion which constitutes these
lower planes by the thread of occult
knowledge given him by Ariadne (who represents intuition), the higher self is
enabled to slay the lower and escape safely from the web of illusion; yet there
still remains for him the danger that, developing intellectual pride, he may
neglect intuition, even as Theseus neglected Ariadne, and so failed for the
time to reach his highest possibilities. The legend of the slaying of Bacchus
by the Titans, the tearing of his body into fragments and his resurrection from
the dead, was also taught, with the same interpretation as that given to the
legend of Osiris in the Mysteries of Egypt - the descent of the One to become
the many, and the reunion of the many in the One through suffering and
sacrifice.
THE MAGIC OF THE GREATER
MYSTERIES
In the Eleusinian Mysteries
the initiates were brought into close communion with the Deity through
specially consecrated food and drink. Cups of highly-magnetized water were
given to them, and consecrated cakes were eaten during the ceremonies of
initiation. S. Clement of Alexandria gives us the formula or pass-word of the
Eleusinian Mysteries, which some have taken to refer to this sacrament:
"I fasted; I drank the draught; I took from the chest; having tasted, I
placed in the basket, and from the basket into the chest."* (*Clem, Alex.
Exhortation to the Greeks. Loeb. Ed., p. 43 (Lobeck.)) In many religions we find a similar method of
conveying the divine blessing to the people.
The Hallows (Hiera) already
mentioned were physical objects extremely highly magnetized, through which
much of the magical side of the Mysteries was performed. They were the personal
property of the priestly family of the Eumolpidae, being handed down from generation
to generation; and their solemn exposition and the explanation of the
symbolical teaching connected with them was one of the features of the
Eleusinian ritual.* (*Foucart. Op. cit., p. 150.)
One of these was the caduceus,
the rod of power, surrounded by the twisting serpents and surmounted by the
pine-cone. It was the same as the thyrsus; and was said to be hollow and to be
filled with fire. In India it is a stick of bamboo with seven knots in it,
which represents the spinal column with its seven centres or chakras. When a
candidate had been initiated, he was often described as one who had been
touched with the thyrsus, showing that it was not a mere emblem, but had also a
practical use. It also indicated the spinal cord, ending in the medulla, while
the serpents were symbolical of the two channels called in Eastern terminology
Ida and Pingala; and the fire enclosed within it was the serpent-fire which in
Sanskrit is called kundalini. It was laid by the hierophant against the back of
the candidate, and thus used as a strong magnetic instrument in order to awaken
the forces latent within him, and to free the astral body from the physical, so
that the candidate might pass in full consciousness to the higher planes. To help
him in the efforts that lay before him the priest in this way gave the aspirant
some of his own magnetism. This rod of power was of the greatest importance,
and we can understand why it was regarded with so much awe when we realize
something of its occult potency.
There was also the krater or
cup, always associated with Dionysus, and emblematical of the causal body of
man, which has ever been symbolized by a cup filled with the wine of the divine
life and love. The tradition of this passed down through the ages and became
mingled with that of the Holy Grail, which played so great a part in early
mediaeval romance and legend.
Among the holy symbols there
were also highly-magnetized and richly jewelled statues, which had been handed
down from a remote past, and were the physical basis of certain great forces
invoked in the Mysteries; and a lyre, reputed to be the lyre of Orpheus, on
which certain melodies were played and to which the sacred chants were sung.
There were also the toys of Bacchus, with which he was playing when he was
seized by the Titans and torn to pieces - very remarkable toys, full of
significance. The dice with which he plays are the five Platonic solids, the
only regular polygons possible in geometry. They are given in a fixed series, and
this series agrees with the different planes of the solar system. Each of them
indicates, not the form of the atoms of the different planes, but the lines
along which the power works which surrounds those atoms. Those polygons are the
tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron and the icosahedron. If
we put the point at one end and the sphere at the other we have a set of seven
figures, corresponding to the number of planes in our solar system.
In some of the older schools
of philosophy it was said: "No one can enter who does not know
mathematics." That meant not what we now call mathematics, but that
science which embraces the knowledge of the higher planes, of their mutual
relations, and the way in which the whole is built by the will of God. When
Plato said: "God geometrizes," he stated a profound truth which
throws much light upon the methods and mysteries of evolution. Those forms are
not conceptions of the human brain; they are truths of the higher planes. We
have formed the habit of studying the books of Euclid, but we study them now
for themselves, and not as a guide to something higher. The old philosophers
pondered upon them because they led to the understanding of the true science of
life.
Another toy with which
Bacchus played was a top, the symbol of the whirling atom pictured in Occult
Chemistry. Yet another was a ball which represented the earth, that particular
part of the planetary chain to which the thought of the Logos is specially
directed at the moment. Also he played with a mirror. The mirror has always
been a symbol of the astral light, in which the archetypal ideas are reflected
and then materialized. Thus each of those toys indicates an essential part in
the evolution of a solar system.
THE HIDDEN MYSTERIES
The two divisions of the
lesser and greater mysteries above-mentioned were generally known, but it was
not known that there was always, behind and above those, the greater mystery of
the Path of Holiness, the steps of which are the five great Initiations already
mentioned. The very existence of the possibility of that future advancement
was not certainly known even by the initiates of the Greater Mysteries until
they were actually fit to receive the mystic summons from within. If one thinks
of the conditions of that time one can readily understand the reason for that
secrecy. The Roman Emperors, for example, knew of the existence of the Lesser
and the Greater Mysteries, and insisted upon being initiated into them. We know
from history that many of the Emperors were hardly of a character to be allowed
to play a leading role in a religious body, but it would have been very
difficult for the hierophants of the Mysteries to refuse entrance to an Emperor
of Rome. As was once said: "One cannot argue with the, master of thirty
legions." Many of the Emperors would certainly have killed anyone who
stood in the way of anything they wished; so the existence of the true
Mysteries was not made public; and no one knew of them until he was deemed, by
those who could judge, worthy to be admitted into them. The teaching of these
higher degrees is still open to the worthy, and to the worthy alone; but
certain conditions must be fulfilled, as I have explained in The Masters and
the Path.
Thus the Mysteries of Eleusis
corresponded closely with those of Egypt, though they differed in detail; and
both these systems led their initiates, when properly prepared, to that Wisdom
of God which was "before the beginning of the world". We in Masonry
do not inherit the Eleusinian succession directly, although something of its
inspiration and influence was transmitted to certain of the mystic schools of
the Middle Ages. Nevertheless our rites have the same purpose, symbolize the
same invisible worlds, and are intended to prepare candidates for the same
august reality that lies behind all true systems of the Mysteries alike.
THE SCHOOL OF PYTHAGORAS
The great philosopher
Pythagoras was born in Samos about 582 B.C., and was the founder of the school
that bore his name and studied his teachings in Greece, Italy, Egypt and Asia
Minor. Mr. G. R. S. Mead says of the Pythagorean school:
The finest characters among
women with which ancient Greece presents us were formed in the School of Pythagoras,
and the same is true of the men. The authors of antiquity are agreed that this
discipline had succeeded in producing the highest examples not only of the
purest chastity and sentiment; but also a simplicity of manners, a delicacy and
a taste for serious pursuits which was unparalleled.* (*Orpheus: G.R.S. Mead,
p. 265, .)
Pythagoras travelled through
many of the countries of the Mediterranean basin, studying for some years in
Egypt, where he was initiated at Sais. He was also initiated into the
Eleusinian, Kabeiric and Chaldaean Mysteries, and thus was thoroughly versed in
all the hidden knowledge of the ancient world. In addition to his travels round
the shores of the Mediterranean, Pythagoras journeyed to India, where he met
the Lord Buddha and became one of His disciples. He spent some years in India,
and it is reported that he had the high honour of an interview with the next
World Teacher, the holy Child Shri Krishna, who blessed him and sent him back
to Europe to found his system of philosophy and of esoteric instruction. Thus
in the Pythagorean school many lines of tradition met together, and were
blended into a comprehensive teaching upon the hidden side of life.
390There is a curious old
writing called the Leyland-Locke MS., which was at one time in the Bodleian
Library, but recent investigators have been unable to trace it. Its genuineness
has been disputed by some authorities, "but," says Bro. Ward,
"in my opinion on quite inadequate grounds."* (*An Outline History
of Freemasonry, by J.S.M. Ward, p. .) Its reputed date is 1436, and it is
written in the quaint old English of the period, and in the form of question
and answer. In the part referring to Freemasonry it asks where it began, and
the answer is that it began with the first men of the East, who were before the
first men of the West. Then it asks who brought it to the West and the answer
is: "The Venetians, etc."
It then continues:
How comede ytt (Freemasonry)
yn Engelonde?
Peter Gower, a Grecian,
journeyed for kunnynge yn Egypte and yn Syria, and yn everyche londe whereat
the Venetians hadde plauntedde Maconrye, and wynnynge entraunce yn al Lodges of
Maconnes, he learned muche, and retournedde and worked yn Grecia Magna
wachsynge and becommynge a myghtye wysacre and gratelyche renowned, and here he
framed a grate Lodge at Groton, and maked many Maconnes, some whereoffe dyd
journeye yn Fraunce, and maked manye Maconnes wherefromme, yn process of tyme,
the arte passed yn Engelonde.
This is said to have much
puzzled John Locke until he realized that Peter Gower was Pitagore - the French
pronunciation of Pythagoras, that Groton was Crotona, and the Venetians the
Phoenicians.
No wonder that Mackey says:
"It is not singular that the old Masons should have called Pythagoras their
'ancient friend and brother'." About 529 B.C. Pythagoras settled in
Crotona in the south of Italy, remaining there until he was forced by political
troubles to remove to Metapontum. At Crotona he became the centre of a
widespread and influential organization, a religious brotherhood which extended
over all the Greek-speaking world. "Number is great and perfect and
omnipotent, and the principle and guide of divine and human life," said
Philolaus, and the sentence expresses the keynote of the Pythagorean system.
Number is order and limitation, and alone makes a cosmos possible. By numbers
nature moves, and to understand numbers is to be the master of nature. Hence
the Pythagorean sought to understand the nature of numbers, and to trace their
working in the universe, whether in the vast ordered movements in the heavens,
or in the arrangements of the earth. Hence also his devotion to mathematics, a
science which (as far as Europe is concerned) may almost be said to have been
created by Pythagoras, so much did he add to it and systematize it; he found it
but a number of scattered and unrelated
facts, and left it a science. Metempsychosis or reincarnation was an essential
part of the Pythagorean teaching; the purification of the soul being thus
accomplished by repeated descents into matter and withdrawals into the
invisible worlds, in order to transmute experience into faculty.
THE THREE DEGREES
The Pythagorean schools
worked in close association with the teaching of the Mysteries, but without the
ceremonies; they gave a philosophical exposition of the same great facts of the
inner worlds. In those schools the pupils were divided into three degrees which
corresponded almost exactly with those of the early Christians, who called
them the stages of purification, illumination and perfection respectively - the
last one including what S. Clement of Alexandria calls the "scientific
knowledge of God". In the Pythagorean scheme the first degree was that of
the akoustikoi or hearers, who took no part in the discussions or addresses,
but kept absolute silence in the meetings for two years, and devoted themselves
to listening and learning.
At the end of that time, if
otherwise satisfactory, the students were eligible for the second degree, that
of the mathematikoi. The mathematics which they learnt were not, however,
confined to what we now mean by that term. We study this science as an end in
itself, but for them it was only a preparation for something much wider, higher
and more practical. Geometry, as we now know it, was taught in the outer world
in ordinary life as a preparation; but inside these great schools the subject
was carried much farther, to the study and comprehension of the fourth
dimension, and the laws and properties of higher space. It can be fully
understood only if we take it thus as a whole, not in mere fragments, and as an
introduction to higher development. It leads a man upwards towards the
understanding of all the octaves of vibrations, as to vast areas of which
science knows nothing as yet, towards the intricate occult relations of
numbers, colours and sounds, the various three-dimensional sections of the
mighty cone of space, and the true shape of the universe. There is a vast
amount to be gained from the study of mathematics by those who know how to take
it up in the right way; it helps us to see how the worlds are made.
The mathematikoi brought
geometry, mathematics and music into relation with one another, and worked out
the correspondences between them, which are very remarkable. Everyone who knows
anything about music is aware that there is a fixed proportion between the
lengths of the strings which produce certain tones. A piano can be tuned according
to a certain system of fifths, and the relation of the different tones to one another
can be expressed by the number of vibrations of each tone; so a harmonious
chord can be stated mathematically. This was first discovered simply by
experiment; later the mathematicians found out what the proportions should be,
and again by experiment they were found to be exact. But the peculiarity is
that the numbers which produce a harmonious chord have the same relation to one
another as that which exists between certain parts of the Platonic solids. Our
scale, so different from the old Greek scale, which consisted of five tones,
can still be deduced from the proportions of those five Platonic figures, which
were studied over two thousand years ago in Greece. One might think that there
cannot be much relation between mathematics and music, but we see by this that
they are both parts of one great whole.
400The third degree of the
Pythagoreans was that of the physikoi - not physicists in our modern sense of
the word, but students of the true inner life, who learnt how to distinguish
the divine life under all its disguises, and so were able to comprehend the
course of its evolution. The life exacted from all these pupils was of the
most exalted purity. Mackey gives the following account of the school at
Crotona:
40The disciples of this
school wore the simplest kind of clothing, and, having on their entrance
surrendered all their possessions to the common fund, they submitted for three*
(*This should be two only.) years to voluntary poverty, during which time they
were also compelled to a rigorous silence. The scholars were divided into
Exoterics and Esoterics. This distinction was borrowed by Pythagoras from the
Egyptian priests, who practised a similar mode of instruction. The exoteric
scholars were those who attended the public assemblies, where general ethical
instructions were delivered by the sage. But only the esoterics constituted
the true school, and these alone Pythagoras called, says Iamblichus, his
companions and friends. Before admission to the privileges of the school, the
previous life and character of the candidate were rigidly scrutinized, and in
the preparatory initiation secrecy was enjoined by an oath, and the severest
trials of his fortitude and self-command were imposed. The brethren, about six
hundred in number, with their wives and children, resided in one large
building. Every morning the business and duties of the day were arranged, and
at night an account was rendered of the day's transactions. They arose before
day to pay their devotions to the sun, and recited verses from Homer, Hesiod,
or some other poet. Several hours were spent in study, after which there was an
interval before dinner, which was occupied in walking and in gymnastic
exercises. The meals consisted principally of bread and honey.
40Although we do not find any
direct connection between the School of Pythagoras and the degrees of modern
Masonry, yet the influence of Pythagoras upon our Mysteries was profound, as
Masons have always recognized. The tradition of the Pythagoreans passed into
the Neo-Platonic schools; and from thence much of the inner teaching came into
Christian hands, and formed the basis of many of those schools of mystic
instruction which enshrined in mediaeval times certain of the secrets now
preserved in the higher degrees of Masonry.
There is a succession of ideas as well as of sacramental power; and the
school of Pythagoras may certainly be said to be one of the links in the chain
of Masonic philosophy, even though to-day the greater part of that philosophy
has faded from our rites. To Pythagoras is attributed the discovery of the 47th
proposition of Euclid, which now forms the jewel of the I.P.M. in English
Masonry, and is the basis not only of a great portion of exoteric geometry but,
in a mystical sense, of the whole system of the Mysteries, and indeed of the
universe itself. It is impossible exactly to estimate the influence of any
given line of tradition. We cannot say more than that some of the Pythagorean
teachings, probably transmitted along several mutually-interacting lines of descent,
became mingled with the Masonry of the Middle Ages and formed part of the inner
instruction that was associated with the ceremonies handed down among the
operative builders from Jewish sources. These were preserved under binding
pledges of secrecy, and emerged in speculative Masonry after the Reformation,
thus forming part of our present Masonic system.
40OTHER GREEK MYSTERIES
40Another line of tradition
is that of the Mysteries of Dionysus (or as the Romans called him, Bacchus),
which approached more closely to the Egyptian scheme of initiation than the
Eleusinian rites. They were celebrated throughout Greece and Asia Minor, but
principally at Athens; they were carried to Rome, and afterwards formed a link
in the chain of Masonic descent. Their central legend deals with the slaying of
Dionysus by the Titans and his subsequent resurrection.
40The mysteries commenced
with the consecration of an egg, symbolizing the mundane egg from which all
things came. The candidate was crowned with myrtle, clothed in the sacred
robes, exhorted to have courage, and then led through dark caverns amid the
howling of wild beasts and other fearful noises, while flashes of lightning
revealed monstrous apparitions to his sight. After three days and nights of this
kind of experience, he was laid on a couch in a solitary cell; there was a
sudden crash of waters, typifying the deluge, and the murder of Dionysus was
enacted, his limbs being scattered on the waters. Then, amid lamentations,
commenced the search of Rhea for the remains of Dionysus, and the apartments
were filled with shrieks and groans, accompanied by the frantic dances of the
Corybantes. Suddenly the body was found, the scene changed to one of joy, and
the aspirant was released from his confinement. After that he descended into
the infernal regions, where he saw the sufferings of the wicked and the rewards
of the good, and afterwards became an epopt or seer - one who could look upon
the world from above, see it as a whole, and therefore understand it. Among the
followers of this Bacchic form of the Mysteries were the celebrated Dionysian
Artificers, a secret society, bound by the most rigid pledges never to reveal
their s . and p . w ., and employing emblems adopted from the building trade.
These wandering bands of workmen built temples all over Syria and Asia Minor,
just as the bands of Freemasons afterwards built churches in Europe. Bro. Ward
writes of them:
40They appear to have reached
Asia Minor from the south-east, and, according to Strabo, could be traced
through Syria and Phoenicia, via Persia and India. Apparently they reached
Phoenicia about fifty years before the building of K.S.'s temple, and it is
their presence which alone explains how that temple came to be built. Indeed,
the Bible itself makes it abundantly clear that the temple was not built by
Jews, who at that time were an agricultural race, quite incapable of
undertaking the task of building such an elaborate edifice.
40From the same source we learn
that the chief architects and men came from Phoenicia, and Phoenician letters
have been found on what are believed to be the foundations of the first temple
. From Phoenicia they spread first into Asia Minor, and thence into Greece,
from which country Greek colonists no doubt in the course of time carried
members of the guild to Magna Grecia, which was the early name for South
Italy.* (*An Outline History of Freemasonry, by Ward, p. .)
40It is said that this cult
of Dionysus survived up to 1908 in Thrace, in a slightly modified form at Viza,
and may still exist.* (*R. M. Dawkins, Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxvi
(1906), pp. 191-20.)
40In the same land of
Phoenicia, the mysteries of Adonis or Tammuz were celebrated at Byblos or
Gebal, where lived the Gibelim or Stone-squarers, deriving their name from that
of the town. The legend of these mysteries is an interesting combination of
those of Egypt and Eleusis, the death and resurrection of Adonis being
interwoven with a theme upon his exile and return for six months of the year,
which reminds us of the fate of Persephone.
4This cult appears in many
forms, some of them savage and sanguinary, evidently derived from the dark and
debased delusions of prehistoric and even cannibal tribes. Some hint of these
may be seen in the account given on p. 000.
The mysteries of Attis and
Cybele in Phrygia had many points in common with the last-named, the death and
resurrection of Attis being the central myth. Other mystery-cults existed also,
all teaching similar ideas. That of the Kabeiroi in Samothrace, which was held
in great honour in the ancient world, is thought by some scholars to be the
oldest of them all - a theory which is supported by the barbarous names of the
deities involved. But even these are myths of death and resurrection, the god
being in this case called Kasmillos.
It seems probable that when
Virgil, in the sixth book of the Aeneid, depicted the descent of Aeneas into
hell, he intended to give a representation of what happened in some of these Mysteries.
The Mithraic Mysteries
ZARATHUSTRA AND MITHRAISM
THE Mysteries of Mithra were
in many ways similar to those of Greece, but they always had certain
characteristics which were especially their own, and the line of succession which
they transmitted was distinct from that of the three degrees of Blue Masonry;
some of the more important features of its ritual seem to have passed over into
the 18°. There was a strong military flavour about them, and they demanded from
their devotees a purity of life which was almost ascetic.
Just as the Mysteries of
Egypt and Greece arose respectively from the incarnations of the World Teacher
as Thoth and Orpheus, so did the Mithraic scheme arise from His incarnation as
the first Zarathustra about 29,700 B.C. in Persia. It taught of Mithra, Captain
of the hosts of the God of Light and Saviour of mankind.
MITHRAISM AMONG THE ROMANS
It is said that Mithraism was
first transmitted to the Roman world during the first century B.C. by the
Cilician pirates captured by Pompey; but, as we have already seen, it was
before that time in the possession of the Essene communities in Palestine. For
nearly two centuries it attained no great importance in Rome, and it was not
until the end of the first century A.D. that it began to attract serious
attention. Towards the close of the second century, the cult had spread rapidly
through the army, the mercantile class and the slaves, all of which classes
were largely composed of Asiatics. It throve especially at the military posts,
and in the track of trade, where its monuments have been discovered in greatest
abundance. Some twenty of the Mithraic temples still remain, and they show
certain points of resemblance to our Masonic Lodges. The temple was rectangular,
with a raised platform at the east end, often apsidal in form; continuous
benches ran along its walls on the longer sides for the accommodation of the
Brn., and the ceiling was made to symbolize the firmament.
Jerome (Epist. cvii) tells us
that the system consisted of seven degrees: Corax, the Raven, so-called not
only because the raven was the servant of the sun in Mithraic mythology, but
because the raven can only imitate speech and not originate ideas for himself;*
(*Cf. the Akoustikoi of the Pytagoreans, and the fact that the due-gard of the
1º shows that the E.A. must confine himself to what is taught in the V.S.L.)
Cryphius, the Occult, a degree in the
taking of which the mystic was perhaps hidden from others in the sanctuary by a
veil, the removal of which was a solemn ceremonial; Miles, the Soldier,
signifying the holy warfare against evil in the service of the God; Leo, the
Lion, symbolic of the element of fire, which played so great a part in the
Persian faith; Perses, the Persian, clad in Asiatic costume, a reminiscence of
the ancient origin of the religion; Heliodromus, the Courier of the Sun, with
whom Mithra was identified; and Pater, the Father, a degree bringing the
mystic among those who had the general direction of the cult for the rest of
their lives.
420It is not easy to trace
exact correspondences between these seven stages and our own degrees, because
of the difference between the systems. The Corax is fairly parallel with the
E.A., and the Cryphius and Miles with the F.C., the latter being distinguished
from the former by additional knowledge which may not inaptly be compared with
that of the Mark degree. These three classes together were regarded to some
extent as servitors; the next stage, Leo, was the first whose members were called
"participants" and admitted to the Mithraic sacrament. We may
consider the three stages of Leo, Perses and
Heliodromus as divisions of the M.M. degree; the first gave access to
the full fellowship of the Mithraic brotherhood, the second passed him who received
it through a most impressive ceremony in the course of which he was
symbolically slain and raised to life in honour of Mithra, and the third put
him in possession of additional knowledge equivalent to that which is supposed
to be given to us in the Holy Royal Arch; for only when he had that knowledge
of the name and qualities of the deity was he fitted to go forth as a messenger
of the Sun to bear his strength and life through the world. The Pater corresponded
to our I.M., who alone can confer the various degrees and pass on the
succession to posterity.
THE MITHRAIC RITES
The Mithraic cult was
essentially a religion of soldiers, a veritable brotherhood of arms. Women were
never admitted to their rites of initiation, although it seems probable that in
earlier times there were separate degrees for them. The power flowing through
the rites gave especially courage and purity, and the demands upon the
candidates in both these respects were exceedingly high. There was an intensity
of brotherly feeling between the initiates of Mithra which is rarely realized
in our Lodges to-day; they were pledged to fight for the right, and they stood
shoulder to shoulder against all foes.
The Mithraic sacrament
consisted of bread and wine and salt, and was consecrated at a solemn ceremony
in the Mysteries, being linked to that aspect of the Deity which was
represented by Mithra, and intensely charged with force along the
characteristic lines of purity, courage and brotherhood, helping to bind the
brethren together into a body corporate as soldiers of Light and Truth. This
same Eucharist has been transmitted to us to-day through the Culdee line of
tradition, in the ceremonial of the Rose-Croix of Heredom; but the forces flowing
through it have been modified to some extent, so that instead of a Brotherhood
of Arms we have now a Brotherhood of Love. The power of love takes the place of
the military influence of courage, although the method of consecration in the
higher worlds is the same. This is due to a blending with the Egyptian line of
tradition.
The analogies between
Mithraism and Christianity are very close; they are well summarized thus in the
Encyclopedia Britannica:
The fraternal and democratic spirit
of the first communities, and their humble origin; the identification of the
object of adoration with light and the Sun; the legends of the shepherds with
their gifts and adoration, the flood, and the ark; the representation in art of
the fiery chariot, the drawing of water from the rock; the use of bell and
candle, holy water and the communion; the sanctification of Sunday and of the
25th of December; the insistence on
moral conduct, the emphasis placed upon abstinence and self-control; the
doctrine of heaven and hell, of primitive revelation, of the mediation of the
Logos emanating from the divine, the atoning sacrifice, the constant warfare
between good and evil and the final triumph of the former, the immortality of
the soul, the last judgment, the resurrection of the flesh and the fiery
destruction of the universe - these are some of the resemblances . At their
root lay a common Eastern origin rather than any borrowing?* (*Ency. Brit.
(11th Edn.), Art. Mithras.)
The Great Powers behind evolution
appear at one time to have thought seriously of making Mithraism the religion
of the fifth sub-race instead of the maimed Christianity which had rejected its
own gnosis and put aside its Mysteries. But the ideal of Mithraic purity was so
high that it would probably have been impossible for men to follow it during
the Dark Ages; and another very serious objection to the system was that it
absolutely excluded women. Mithraism was allowed therefore to sink into the
background and finally to pass out of sight of the outer world. Nevertheless
the ancient succession is still guarded and the rites are preserved in the
custody of the H.O.A.T.F.; so Mithraism may yet have its part to play in the
religious life of the future.
In addition to the Mysteries
of Mithra, there was an Atlantean tradition of the Mysteries - that to which
we have already referred as the Chaldaean line of succession. In the days of
its splendour the Chaldaean rituals put the initiate into relation with the
great Star-Angels who were adored in that mighty faith; and a relic of this
tradition is still found in the hidden side of certain of the degrees of the
rites of Memphis and of Mizraim. The Chaldaean method of seating the Principal
Officers of a Lodge is still preserved in Continental Masonry, and has passed
also into certain of the higher degrees.
THE ROMAN COLLEGIA
We may now return to the main
line of Masonic descent, that of the three Craft degrees. We have already seen
how the Jewish Mysteries handed down the essentials of our Masonic rites; it
remains for us to trace their transmission to our modern Lodges. The next link
in the chain is the Roman Collegia, in which the transition from speculative to
operative Masonry took place.
430We have seen that the
science of architecture was always closely connected with the Mysteries, and
that our Masonic Craft ritual when properly worked is designed to build a
superphysical temple of the Ionic order of architecture, which was chosen
because it is the vehicle of the special type of force which flows through
Craft Masonry.* (*See The Hidden Life in Freemasonry, p. 120.)
Other forms are built by the
higher degrees, belonging to different kinds of architecture, according to the
influences which are to be radiated through them; so we see that we are in the
presence of a science of spiritual building, of which material architecture is
but the reflection in the dense matter of the physical plane. Each order of
architecture expresses an idea and is the channel of certain types of influence
associated with that idea, attracting the attention of certain kinds of Angels
who work along the lines of that idea in the invisible worlds. Each sub-race
has its own characteristic type of architecture as well as its own type of
music, and these are often utilized by the Great Ones behind in order to
impress upon the people certain characteristics which are necessary for their
evolution.
The principles of this inner
science of building were taught in the ancient Mysteries, and the temples of
the different faiths were planned by the priests with full knowledge of the
hidden side of what they were doing; it was for this reason that builders were
always associated with temples and temple-worship, and the secrets of building
were carefully guarded as part of the teaching of the Mysteries. Thus the
confusion between speculative and operative, which was purposely effected at
the breaking-up of the Roman Empire, presented no difficulties to the Powers
behind, since those two aspects had always worked in close association, and it
was merely a question of emphasizing the one, and of temporarily withdrawing
the other into yet further silence and secrecy. No essential change was
required.
THE WORK OF KING NUMA
Plutarch tells us that the Roman
Collegia were originally founded by Numa, the second king of Rome, who lived
during the seventh century B.C.* (*Plutarch's Life of Numa, A. H. Clough, Vol.
i, p. .) Numa is a half-legendary figure to our modern historians; but he was a
very real personage, and the true founder of the Roman Mysteries as well as of
the trade guilds. Plutarch says of his character:
He was endued with a soul
rarely tempered by nature and disposed to virtue, which he had yet more subdued
by discipline, a severe life, and the study of philosophy . He banished all
luxury and softness from his own home, and, while citizens alike and strangers
found in him an incorruptible judge and counsellor, in private he devoted
himself not to amusement or lucre, but to the worship of the immortal Gods, and
the rational contemplation of their divine power and nature.* (*Ibid., pp. 130,
.)
Numa was "deeply versed,
so far as anyone could be in that age, in all law, divine and human,* (*Livy.,
Bk. I, xviii (Loeb Ed.)) says Livy; while Dio Cassius tells us that he shaped
the political and peaceable institutions of Rome, as Romulus had determined its
military career.* (*Dio's Roman History, Loeb. Ed., p. .) In addition to all
his external ability, he was far advanced on the Path of Holiness, and was a
high Initiate of the White Lodge. His especial work was laying down, at the
very beginning of the Roman State, the inner foundation of Rome's future
greatness; he moulded both her outer religion and her inner Mysteries, which in
later days were to be the channel of that spiritual force which would make Rome
mighty among the nations, one of the greatest empires that the world has ever
known.
Numa sent messengers to
Egypt, to Greece, to Chaldaea, to Palestine and other lands, to study all existing
systems of the Mysteries, so that he might adopt in Rome those most suited to
the development of his people. His high occult rank opened all doors; and like
Pythagoras, an even greater Initiate, who came later, he was enabled to
synthesize many lines of tradition into one comprehensive whole. The system
which appears to have been adopted in Rome was that of the Mysteries of
Dionysus or Bacchus, which, as we have already seen, closely corresponded to
the Egyptian system; and here we have the first of the links with the Dionysian
Artificers of whom Masonic tradition so persistently speaks.
Numa introduced the Egyptian
line of succession, and thus the hierophants of his Mysteries were I.M.s. after
the manner of the priests of Egypt and the Masons of to-day. This succession
appears to have been handed down in secret among the Colleges of Architects
until the time when Christianity began to dominate the Roman world at the
beginning of the third century A.D. The fortunes of the Colleges or guilds
which were thus formed were very varied; gradually they rose to great political
power, were abolished by the senate about 80 B.C., and restored again twenty
years later. The Emperors issued edicts against them from time to time, but
those which could prove their antiquity or religious character were permitted
to remain in existence. They were finally abolished in A.D. .
THE COLLEGES AND THE LEGIONS
440Of these Colleges of
Architects one was attached to every Roman Legion, building for it
fortifications in time of war and in time of peace temples and houses. It was
thus that the Roman Mysteries were brought to Northern Europe. Wherever the
Romans settled, the Collegia worked their rites, and in process of time native
soldiers were initiated into their ranks, until the system became deeply-rooted
in each Roman colony. Closely connected with these rites were those of Mithra
which, as we have seen, were also spread by the Roman armies, although the two
systems were always kept separate and distinct.
The organization of the
Colleges, as extant records show, corresponded in many ways with that of our
modern Lodges. "Tres faciunt Collegium" - "Three make a
College" was one of their principles; and the rule was so indispensable
that it became a maxim of civil law. The College was ruled by a Magister or
Master, and two Decuriones or Wardens; and among other officers were a
treasurer, sub-treasurer, secretary and archivist.* (*R. F. Gould, History of
Freemasonry, Vol. I, p. .) There was also a Sacerdos or Chaplain, who was in
charge of the religious side of the work. The members of the College consisted
of three grades corresponding closely to Apprentices, Fellows and Masters; and
records point to the fact that they
possessed semi-religious rites which were kept rigidly secret, and also that
they attached symbolic interpretations to their tools, such as the square and
compasses, the plumb-rule and level. They took pagan gods as their patrons in
much the same way as the guilds which succeeded them adopted Christian patron saints.
The Four Crowned Martyrs, the patron saints of Masonry, were Christian members
of a College who were tortured to death by the Emperor Diocletian for refusing
to make a statue of Aesculapius.* (*J. S. M. Ward: Freemasonry and the Ancient
Gods, pp. 144, .) They were later confused with the tradition of the Four
Brothers of Horus.
Bro. J. S. M. Ward describes
a building of the Collegia unearthed at Pompeii in 1878, which had been buried
in A.D. 79, during the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It contains striking
Masonic correspondences. There are two columns, and on the walls are
interlaced triangles. Upon a pedestal in the centre was found an inlaid marble
slab with a skull, level and plumb-rule and other Masonic designs in mosaic
work. A fresco in another building close by shows a figure in the act of making
the F.C.H.S.* (*J. S. M. Ward: Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods, pp. 115, .)
The Roman Colleges of Architects were brought to Britain by the Roman army. One
legion under Julius Caesar established a colony at Eboracum or York, later to
be so prominent in Masonic legend and tradition; and another centre was at
Verulam, afterwards known as S. Albans.
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE
JEWISH FORM
The introduction of the Jewish
form of the Masonic ceremonies was intentionally arranged by the Powers who
stand behind Freemasonry about the time when Christianity was gaining
ascendancy in the Roman Empire. It would have been almost impossible to
continue the Mysteries of Bacchus or those of Mithra in their original form,
while there was so much opposition between the Christian faith and the old
Pagan religion. No such opposition was in Roman days felt towards the Jews,
among whom the Christian faith arose and had its early nurture; and the Jewish
form of the Mysteries was therefore adopted by the White Lodge as the best
means of transmitting the ancient rites through the Dark Ages, when the Church
rigorously persecuted all who were not in agreement with her doctrines. The
chief agent in the work of transition was He who was then known as S. Alban,
but whom to-day we revere as the Master the Comte de S. Germain, the Head of
all true Freemasons throughout the world. I have given some account of Him and
His Roman incarnation in The Hidden Life in Freemasonry.* (*Op. cit., pp.
12-16)
THE TRANSITION TO THE
OPERATIVES
The Mysteries of Bacchus
quite naturally and gradually gave place to the Jewish form of the same
tradition as Christianity grew more and more powerful; for this was not
incompatible with the Christian faith as the Greek and Egyptian traditions
would have been; and the speculative secrets were more and more confused with
operative terminology until the transition was complete. When the Roman Empire
of the West was destroyed, political power came more and more into the hands of
the Church, which grew very suspicious of secret societies, and suppressed them
with great vigour. She did not, however, persecute the operative Masons, whom
she regarded as a body of men wisely guarding the secrets of their trade, which
she supposed to be concerned with the measurements of columns and arches,
quantities for the mixing of mortar, and other such things.
The Masters of the White
Lodge, therefore, intentionally confused the symbolical with the operative
working and thus preserved Blue Masonry, but permitted the higher wisdom to
sink for the time out of sight. Thus they provided for such of the egos born in
Europe as could not develop under the cruder teaching which was mis-called Christianity.
This effort to preserve the
Mysteries in the Dark Ages was successful because the speculative Masons
adopted as much as they could of the operative Masons' terminology, and
entrusted them with some of the secrets. The latter then faithfully carried on
the forms without comprehending more than half of what they meant.
Then those who held
philosophical ideas of which the Church would not approve allied themselves
with the operative masons, became members of the fraternity, and attended their
meetings; they did not come into the guilds as operative masons, and therefore
were not bound as apprentices, but were free masons accepted into the operative
body, but not belonging to it by right of physical-plane work. The tradition of
the Collegia passed into the Lodges of the guilds, as we shall see in the next
chapter, and the ancient succession of I.M.s, which we in Britain trace through
S. Alban, was handed down unbroken from century to century. In consequence of
this persecution, and the partial restoration of Masonry in different forms in
different countries, its outward history had been obscured and confused in the
greatest possible degree. It is a matter that might no doubt be elucidated by
long and painstaking research, but it would be a task involving far too great
an expenditure of energy and time.
450Craft Masonry in Medieval
Times
EVOLUTIONARY METHODS
THE theory of human evolution
ordinarily put before us is that of a slow upward progress of man from extremely
primitive and almost animal conditions through the Stone Age, the Bronze Age,
the Iron Age, until he has arrived at his present level, which is by this
hypothesis the highest which he has yet
attained. This view is only partially true; it is only on the one hand in a
very broad and general sense covering a development lasting many millions of
years, and on the other in a purely local sense affecting one or two sub-races,
that it can be said to be true at all, for it leaves entirely out of account
some of the most important factors in the case.
Let no one ever doubt that
evolution is a fact - that God has a plan for man, and that that plan is one of
eternal advancement and unfoldment, carrying him on to heights of glory and
splendour of which at present we have no conception.
Yet we doubt not through the
ages one eternal purpose runs.
And the thoughts of men are
widened with the process of the suns.* (*Locksley Hall, by Lord Tennyson.)
But if we wish to understand
anything of this wondrous scheme we must begin by trying to grasp its general
principles. First, it is no mere haphazard growth; it is being definitely
directed from behind by a body of perfected men which we call the Great White
Brotherhood - a body which exists to carry out the will of the Logos of the
solar system. It works through machinery so vast and complicated that from the
physical plane we can never see more than a tiny corner of its operation, and
so we constantly misconceive and underrate it.
Secondly, its method of working
is cyclical. The soul of man grows by occupying a succession of bodies, each of
which is born, grows slowly to maturity, lives its life, learns (or fails to
learn) its lesson, and then dies. Just so humanity grows by incarnating in a
succession of races, each of which passes through its stage of youth,
adolescence, full manhood and decay. Often the period of decay seems sad, both
with the man and with the race; often the student of history cannot but regret
the passing of a once mighty and splendid civilization to make way for a
savagery possibly more virile, but certainly in its youth coarser and cruder.
A flagrant example of that
was the destruction of the gentle and beautiful civilization of Peru by the
incredibly cruel and atrocious methods of the invading Spaniards; another very
similar case was the utterly unjustifiable attack upon the civilization of Rome
by the ferocious hordes of Goths and Vandals from the north. So coarse, so
brutal were they that their very names have become a proverb, and we use them
to-day to indicate the extremes of clumsiness and wanton destruction. Yet they
also were an instrument in the hand of the divine power, and their crass
ignorance contained within itself the seed of certain qualities which were in
danger of dying out and being forgotten among the decaying races which they
were destined to leaven and partially to replace.
THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE
MYSTERIES
460Even before the
destruction of the Roman Empire the withdrawal of the Mysteries as public
institutions had taken place; and this fact was mainly due to the excessive
intolerance displayed by the Christians. Their amazing theory that none but
they could be "saved" from the hell which they themselves had
invented naturally led them to try all means, even the most cruel and
diabolical persecutions, to force people of other faiths to accept their
particular shibboleth. As the Mysteries were the heart and stronghold of a more
rational belief, they of course opposed them bitterly, quite forgetful that in
the earlier days of their religion they had claimed to possess as much of the
inner knowledge as any other system.
THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES
Even to-day it is quite
commonly thought that Christianity had no mysteries, and some of its followers boast
that in it nothing is hidden. That mistaken idea has been so sedulously
impressed upon the world that it leads many people to feel a certain distaste
for the wiser faiths which met all needs, and to think of them as unnecessarily
hiding part of the truth or grudging it to the world. In the old days there was
no such thought as this; it was recognized that only those who came up to a
certain standard of life were fit to receive the higher instruction, and those
who wished for it set to work to qualify themselves for it. Knowledge is power,
and people must prove their fitness before they will be entrusted with power;
for the object of the whole scheme is human evolution, and the interests of
evolution would not be served by promiscuous publication of occult truth.
Those who maintain the
above-mentioned opinion about Christianity are unacquainted with the history of
the Church. Though many of the early Christian writers are bitterly hostile to
the Mysteries, they indignantly deny the suggestion that in their Church they
have nothing worthy of that name, and claim that their Mysteries are in every
way as good and deep and far-reaching as those of their 'pagan' opponents. S.
Clement says: "He who has been purified in baptism and then initiated into
the little Mysteries (has acquired, that is to say, the habits of self-control
and reflection), becomes ripe for the greater Mysteries, for Epopteia or
Gnosis, the scientific knowledge of God."* (*Quoted in Some Glimpses of
Occultism, Ch. ii.) The same writer also said: "It is not lawful to reveal
to profane persons the Mysteries of the Logos."
Origen, the most brilliant
and learned of all the ecclesiastical Fathers, also asserts the existence of
the secret teaching of the Church, and speaks plainly of the difference between
the ignorant faith of the undeveloped multitude, and the higher and reasonable
faith which is founded upon definite knowledge. He draws a distinction between
"the popular irrational faith" which leads to what he calls
"somatic Christianity" (the merely physical form of the religion)
and the "spiritual Christianity" offered by the Gnosis or wisdom. He
makes it perfectly clear that by "somatic Christianity" he means that
faith which is based on the gospel history. He says of it: "What better
method could be devised to assist the masses?" In Dean Inge's Christian
Mysticism he is quoted as teaching that:
The Gnostic or sage no longer
needs the crucified Christ. The eternal or spiritual gospel which is his
possession shows clearly all things concerning the Son of God Himself both the
Mysteries shown by his words and the things of which his acts were the symbols
. Origen regards the life, death and resurrection of Christ as only one
manifestation of a universal law, which was really enacted not in this fleeting
world of shadows, but in the eternal counsels of the Most High. He considers
that those who are thoroughly convinced of the universal truths revealed by the
incarnation and the atonement need trouble themselves no more about their
particular manifestations in time.* (*Op. cit., p. .)
Here we see distinct and
repeated references to the hidden teaching, greater far than anything known to
the Church of the present day, and carrying those who study it to a much higher
level than is ever now attained by the disciples of orthodoxy. What has become
of this magnificent heritage of Christianity? It is true that everything the
Church knows is now given out, but that is only because she has forgotten the
mysteries which she used to keep hidden. This is one of the principal reasons
why she has lost control of her more intellectual sons, and has therefore
failed in her duty to educate and instruct the people in the most important
things of life, and has left our age the most unpractical one ever known.
We have come into this world
to live our lives, not to make money, and on the way in which we live depends
the condition of our future births. One would think, therefore, that people
would be taught all about these things in school. It is certain that every one
must die, but nobody tells us anything that is worth knowing about that
important matter. On the contrary, exoteric Christianity in the days of its
power positively forbade those who knew to say anything on the subject, and
enforced with the most terrible weapons its incredibly foolish commandment:
"Thou shalt not think."
Happily all this wonderful
wisdom is not lost, for much of it is preserved to us in the teachings of
Freemasonry. There were many thousands of people at the time when Christianity
began to dominate the world who still clung to the ancient tradition, who
preferred to state their views in the older forms. As Christianity grew
narrower and more aggressive, and less tolerant of fact, those who knew
something of the truth, and wished to preserve its enshrinement in those older
forms, had more and more to keep their meetings secret; for the Church was
exceedingly intolerant towards anyone who dared to differ from her, even in
minor matters.
THE REPRESSION OF THE
MYSTERIES
470In A.D. 399 the Emperor
Theodosius issued his celebrated edict, which was a heavy blow to the outer
manifestation of the ancient pagan faith:
Whatever privileges were
conceded by the ancient laws to the priests, ministers, prefects, hierophants
of sacred things, or by whatsoever name they may be designated, are to be
abolished henceforth, and let them not think that they are protected by a
granted privilege when their religious confession is known to have been
condemned by the law.
By A.D. 423 the penalties
against those who clung to the old beliefs had become severe, for in a later
edict of the same Emperor we find:
Although the pagans that
remain ought to be subjected to capital punishment if at any time they are
detected in the abominable sacrifices of demons, let exile and confiscation of
goods be their punishment.* (*Codex Theodosianus XVI, 10, 14, 23, quoted in A
Source Book for Ancient Church History. Ayer, p. .)
Wherever possible the temples
of the gods were destroyed, the ancient libraries were burnt, the statues and
other relics were broken in pieces by the brutal hands of the savage Christians
- and what destruction remained to be accomplished in the Western Empire was
completed by the no less barbarian invaders. So perished the outer worship of
the gods of Greece and Rome; the Mysteries were withdrawn into inviolable
secrecy, which remained unbroken until after the Reformation, when the Church
had lost her power to burn and torture all who did not at least pretend to be
in agreement with her doctrines.
THE CROSSING OF TRADITIONS
This retirement took place in
several countries simultaneously, so several traditions arose which, like the
mystery-systems from which they were derived, differed considerably in their
details, though they were always based upon a common plan. These traditions
have crossed and recrossed one another
constantly throughout the centuries, have influenced each other in all sorts of
secret ways, have been carried from country to country by many messengers; so
that the Masonry which emerged in the eighteenth century bears the signature of
many lines of descent, of many interacting schools of mystical philosophy.
Behind all these different
movements, utterly unknown except by the few disciples charged with the work of
keeping alight the sacred fire during the Dark Ages, stood the White Lodge
itself, encouraging all that was good in them, guiding and inspiring all who
were willing to open themselves to such influence.
By efflux of time the true
philosophy has gradually faded out of them again and again, and from time to
time the adepts have taken advantage of some favourable opportunity to restore
a little of it sometimes by founding a new rite or school, sometimes by
instigating the establishment of additional degrees in an existing rite. We
see, therefore, a number of parallel and equally valid streams of tradition
running down in secret throughout the Middle Ages, and emerging here and there
in movements which are to some extent known in the outer world. The real
continuum of Masonry may thus be compared to the roots of a plant creeping
along under the ground, and giving forth apparently separate plants at
intervals. There are, however, more or less broken lines of outward descent
that may be traced up to a certain point on the physical plane; it is with
these that we shall especially concern ourselves in the following chapters.
THE TWO LINES OF DESCENT
480We have already indicated that
the only portion of the Masonic tradition which was anciently divided into
definite degrees is that which we now call Craft or symbolic Masonry - the
direct descendant of the Lesser and the Greater Mysteries of Egypt and Judaea,
and closely akin to the Mysteries of Greece. Greater sacramental powers were
conferred and deeper spiritual instruction was given to the few who were
endeavouring to prepare themselves for the true Mysteries of the White Lodge;
but these cannot be called degrees after the manner of Craft Masonry, for even
in ancient Egypt they were not organized as such. Both these lines of sucession
passed down through the Middle Ages; the Craft degrees were deliberately
confused with operative building, and were thus transmitted, although in secrecy,
in the outer world, but the higher
instruction still belonged only to the few, and was handed down in far deeper
secrecy still, being introduced from time to time into the heart of various
mystical schools, which were much more exclusive in their choice of members
than the operative builders.
With the Craft degrees were
associated the kernel of those ceremonies which we now attach to the Honourable
Degree of Mark Master Mason, connected, as always, with the 2°, and the Supreme
Order of the Holy Royal Arch of Jerusalem, worked in conjunction with the 3°.
Our present rituals for these are not therefore necessarily ancient, for all
have been subjected to much modern recasting and editing. A body of legend and
tradition explanatory of the ceremonial appears also to have been handed down;
and the relics of this have in comparatively recent times been manufactured
into separate ceremonial degrees - such, for example, as certain of the earlier
stages of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and their kindred among the
side or additional degrees worked in England and America.
THE CULDEES
A noteworthy line of
tradition, connected with Craft Masonry to some extent, but even more with the
Royal Order of Scotland and the 18°, is found among the Culdees of Ireland,
Scotland and York. Few trustworthy sources of information exist concerning
them, though they have been the centre of many beautiful dreams; but they are
thought by scholars to have been either an ancient monastic order with settlements
in Ireland and Scotland,* (*Enc. Brit., Art. Culdees (Eleventh Ed.)) or in a
wider sense to have represented the monks and clerics of the Celtic Church
without limitation, as well as those understood to be their successors in later
times.* (*Hist. Freemasonry, R. F. Gould, Vol. I, p. .)
We hear of them in Ireland
from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries; from the ninth to the fourteenth
centuries in Scotland, where they had several influential monastic communities,
including one upon the holy island of Iona, which had been one of the greatest
spiritual centres of Celtic Christianity long before the word Culdee is
mentioned in the historical records concerning it. In Wales in the twelfth
century there was a strict community of Culdees living in the island of
Bardsey, the holy island of Wales; while in England we find them as officiating
clergy in the Cathedral Church of S. Peter at York during the reign of King
Athelstan, who was so closely linked with English Masonic tradition.* (*Hist.
Freemasonry, R. F. Gould, Vol. I, p. 50 ff.) It is said that after requesting
the prayers of the Culdees for victory over the Scots, when he was successful
he granted them a perpetual endowment of corn, to enable them to continue their
works of charity.
Their name has been derived
from the Celtic Cele-De, meaning Companion or Servant of God, and from the
Latin Colidei, worshippers of God; others have thought that it came from the
Celtic cuill dich, meaning men of seclusion; but the etymology of the word is
not certainly known. Godfrey Higgins claimed that the word Culdee was the same
as Chaldee, and ascribed to them an Oriental origin, although he adduces no
authentic evidence for his views.* (*Quoted by Bro. A. E. Waite: A New
Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, Art. Culdees.)
CELTIC CHRISTIANITY IN
BRITAIN
Students of English Church
History know that Christianity was introduced into Great Britain long before
the missions of S. Patrick and S. Augustine; and there has been a persistent feeling
that this Christianity was not that of Rome, but had affinities rather with
the Eastern rites.* (*Neander, General
History of the Christian Religion and Church, Vol. i. p. . Quoted Gould, loc.
cit.) Many traditions, none of them substantiated by authentic records, bear witness to this belief, and point the
way to a truth in the background. There is the beautiful legend of Joseph of
Arimathaea and the Holy Thorn of Glastonbury;
there is the story told by Theodoret and Fortunatus that S. Paul visited
Britain, which appears to receive some
confirmation from S. Clement of Rome; while Eusebius, the great ecclesiastical
historian, mentions that some of the twelve apostles visited the British
Isles.* (*Foundation Stones. Austin Clare, p. .) Indeed it was not until the
twelfth century that Celtic Christianity was finally brought into line with the
usages of Roman Catholicism.* (*Enc. Brit., loc. cit.)
The holy island of Iona, once
the heart of the old Celtic Church, lies off the west coast of Scotland among
the Inner Hebrides. It was called Hy or Icolmkill (the island of Columba of the
Church), and by the Highlanders Innis nan Druidhneah (the isle of the Druids),
implying that before the coming of S. Columba in A.D. 563 it had been a
hallowed centre of the ancient worship of the Celts.* (*Enc. Brit., Art. Iona.)
The monks of Iona spread their learning over Sootland and Northern England, and
the early Celtic Bishops owned the abbot of Iona as their spiritual head. In
717 the monks of Iona were expelled from Scotland by the Pictish King Nechtan;
but their place was largely filled by the Culdees of Ireland,* (*Enc. Brit.,
Art. Culdees.) who appear to have been followers of the same tradition. No
mention is made of the Culdees in Scotland after A.D. .* (*Gould, loc. cit.)
We find that the early
British Church, of which the Culdees were the later survivors, possessed a
beautiful and mystical form of Christianity derived from Eastern sources and
closely connected with the traditions of the Essenes, who were the immediate
followers of Our Lord. It had the apostolic succession of the Christian Church,
but its teachings were less defined and rigid, more mystical and poetic than
the Roman scholasticism which in later days so completely absorbed it. In
addition to the Christian sacraments, certain secret rites were brought to Britain by the original
missionaries, rites belonging to the Mithraic line of succession, which, as we
have already seen, were practised among the Essenes; and there may also in all
likelihood have existed among them a succession of Jewish Masonry unconnected
with the Roman Collegia.
490THE DRUIDIC MYSTERIES
These various lines of
tradition were assimilated to some extent with the indigenous Mysteries of the
Druids, which, however, had lost much of the splendour of former times; and
even the outer Christian rites became touched with that peculiar beauty which
is the heritage of the Celt. We find confirmation of the ancient legend that
the splendid Celtic race called the Tuatha De Danaan, which flourished in
ancient Ireland, came originally from Greece through Scandinavia; and the same
is true of other offshoots of the Celtic stock which settled in Wales, Cornwall
and Brittany. They all formed a branch of that Fourth Sub-race from which the
later Greeks and Romans were also descended; and the origin of the Mysteries of
the Druids may be traced to the great World Teacher, in His incarnation as
Orpheus, the singer of Hellas, though they were also influenced somewhat by the
still older Mysteries of Ireland which date from Atlantean times. The lyre of
Apollo became the harp of Angus; and the old worship of God as the divine
beauty manifesting through music thus passed down into Britain.
The Druidical Mysteries had a
certain influence on the imported Roman or Norman rites. They are compared by
Strabo and Artemidorus to the rites of Samothrace, and by Dionysius to those of
Bacchus, while Mnaseas refers to their Kabiric correspondences. We learn from
Diogenes Laertius and from Caesar that the Druidic method of instruction was by
symbols, enigmas and allegories, and that they taught orally, deeming it
unlawful to commit their knowledge to writing. It is said that their ceremonies
of initiation required much physical purification and mental preparation. In
the first degree the aspirant's symbolical death was represented, and in the
third his regeneration from the womb of the giant goddess Ceridwin and the
committal of the newly-born to the waves in a small boat, symbolical of the
ark. Their doctrines were similar to those of Pythagoras - including
reincarnation and the existence of one Supreme Being. Apart from a few stray
references in classical authors, we know of them today chiefly through the
Bardic songs attributed to the Welsh poet Taliesin, of the sixth century A.D.,
who claimed Druidic initiation. Culdees of York blended Christian mysticism
with these pre-Christian rites, and so linked them with modern Masonry.
There have been many other
mysteries, such as those of Ireland, closely connected with the Druids, and of
Scandinavia, wherein the death and resurrection of Balder was the chief theme,
and no doubt all these were connected with the source of our present Masonry,
being branches of the same tree, even though external traces of their relationship
in the past have disappeared.
THE HOLY GRAIL
As part of this indirect
heritage from the Greek Mysteries came the well-known symbol of the Krater or
Cup, which in the intermingling with early British Christianity was identified
with the Sangreal, the Chalice used by our Lord at the Last Supper for the
founding of the Holy Eucharist. King Arthur, who has often been supposed to be
an imaginary hero, was a very real and most lovable and sagacious ruler, of
whom England may well be proud; his Round Table also is fact and not fiction,
and among its Knights there was a rite of the Christian Mysteries centring
round the beautiful story of the quest for the Holy Grail. Some there were who
took the legend literally and undertook endless physical-plane pilgrimages in
search of an earthly cup; others knew that the mystical meaning of the finding
of the Holy Grail is the union between the higher and the lower self, which is
one of the qualifications for initiation into the true Mysteries of the White
Lodge; for the Chalice symbolically represents the causal body into which the
"blood" of the Mystery is poured. "I am the cup, His love the
wine." The Mysteries of the Holy Grail were simultaneously celebrated in
various centres, both in Great Britain and on the Continent, where they
doubtless became mingled with other lines of tradition; and in them we find
clear traces of one of those secret schools in which the flame of the hidden
wisdom burnt bright during the early Middle Ages. The tradition of the Grail
and its spiritual Knighthood passed into literature through the hands of
Chretien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach and other writers, whence on the one
hand we derive the Morte d'Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory, from which Tennyson
drew the materials for his Idylls of the King, and on the other the glorious
music of Parsifal, in which Wagner reconstructed so magnificently the German
tradition of the Grail Brotherhood.
HEREDOM
In Scotland these secret Mysteries
of the East and West were handed down from generation to generation in various
centres, one of the chief of these being the sacred island of Iona. Among the
initiates of the Culdee rites Iona was called Heredom. Heredom is said in
Masonic tradition to be a mystical mountain, and as such it is indeed the mount
of Initiation beyond the veils of space and time; but it was also the secret
name of the physical centre of the Mysteries - and this centre was Iona.
Another such secret centre in mediaeval days was the Abbey of Kilwinning; and
thus, the rites which derive in part from Culdee sources have always styled
themselves as of Kilwinning and of Heredom.
The Saxon invasion of Britain
drove the Celtic inhabitants of the plains to the mountains of the west and
north; and thus there was a further mingling of the Jewish Mysteries of the
Collegia with the Culdee rites. The Culdees of York were among the guardians of
the Masonic tradition in the tenth century, and the Old Charges tell us that an
assembly of Masons was held at York during the reign of King Athelstan, when a
reorganization of the Craft took place. For many centuries York was a powerful
centre of Masonry; and we have a curious piece of testimony given in 1835, by
Godfrey Higgins, who claimed to be in possession of a Masonic document by which
he could prove that "no very long time ago" the Culdees or Chaldaeans
of York were Freemasons, that they constituted the Grand Lodge of England, and
that they held their meetings in the crypt under the great cathedral of that
city.* (*Quoted in Waite's New Encyclopaedia, Art. Culdees.) As we shall
presently see, it was at York that certain important Masonic degrees emerged in
the eighteenth century.
The monks of the Celtic
Church were largely responsible for the introduction of Christianity into
Germany. "Wherever they came they raised Churches and dwellings for their
priests, cleared the forests, tilled the virgin soil, and instructed the
heathen in the first principles of civilization.* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., Vol.
I, p. 10.) Some German authorities have held that the monks directing these
operations owed much of their success to the remnants of the Roman Colleges of
Gaul and Britain, and ultimately laid the foundations of the craft guild system
in Germany. Gould rejects this view on the ground that at the time of the
Celtic influence there were no craft guilds in Germany;* (*Gould. Hist. Freem.,
Vol. I, p. 10.) but nevertheless some of the secret rites and traditions of the
Celtic monks passed into the German monasteries and formed one of the lines of
descent of those stonemasons who built the great German cathedrals in the
Middle Ages.
500In Scotland the Celtic
Mystery-tradition passed down independently of the later operative Lodges, for
there is no trace whatsoever of any high degrees in the extant Minutes of
Mother Kilwinning, No. 0 upon the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, which
date from .* (*History of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel, No. I) D.
Murray Lyon, pp. 340, .) There is truth in the legend of the coming of certain
of the French Knights Templars to Scotland after their proscription in 1307,
and there was an intermingling of their doctrines also with the Scottish rites.
One line of descent crossed from Scotland to France, where it was blended in
the eighteenth century with the Egyptian tradition to form the rite of Heredom
or of Perfection under the Council of the Emperors of the East and West, as
will be further explained in Chapter XI. Another line was handed down in
Scotland and England, becoming blended with Jewish Tradition, and Emerged in
the Degrees of HRDM-RSYCS in what we now call the Royal Order of Scotland. The
curious rhymed ritual of the Royal Order bears internal evidences of age, and
although its Christianity has been ruthlessly edited in protestant interests
there are yet traces of the old mystical ideas of the Celtic Church.
50Operative Masonry in the
Middle Ages
50THE TEMPORARY CUSTODIANS
50IN a complete study of
mediaeval operative Masonry it would be necessary to include a treatise upon
the various schools of mediaeval architecture and the tendencies, national and
economic, which influenced their creation and development. In this book we are
concerned with the operative builders only in so far as they were the temporary
custodians of the speculative science of the Mysteries; but the study of
architecture is of considerable value to the Mason; for it is the
physical-plane reflection of mighty ideas in the inner worlds, and by the study
of architecture certain of the laws of spiritual building may by analogy be
reached and understood.
50As Masons, our speculative
ancestry is noble and magnificent, for we are in that respect the lineal
descendants of the kings and prophets and priests of old who have been the bearers
of the Hidden Light to men through countless generations; but of our operative
forefathers who so faithfully guarded the tradition in the days of darkness we
may also be proud, for their art at its zenith was unsurpassed in richness and
splendour by the achievements of any other age in Europe; the great cathedrals
and monasteries which they built to the glory of God and in the service of His
Church are touched with the finger of divine inspiration, so that the cold
marble is transfigured into almost unbelievable grace and delicacy; they are
veritable dreams of beauty materialized into stone. The operative Masons, too,
have handed down to us many of their customs and usages; and it is well that we
should understand these in addition to what we have derived from other sources.
50When Europe was overrun by
the Germanic tribes and the Empire of the West was destroyed, the Roman
Collegia for the most part disappeared with the other fruits of civilization.
The Mysteries enshrined in them survived in a more or less repressed form in
Italy, France and England, although they were kept extremely secret for fear of
the barbarian invaders. It was from these survivals that the Lodges of the
guild Masons of the Middle Ages were derived.
50DECLINE OF THE COLLEGIA
50Mackey shows how the
Collegia declined after the fall of Rome, and how new guilds were started and
old ones revived under the patronage of the Christian clergy, and asserts that
after the tenth century the whole of Europe was perambulated by bands of
wanderers called Travelling Freemasons, who erected churches and monasteries in
the Gothic style. Authorities differ seriously in opinion as to whether the
fraternities who built the great cathedrals were joined together by any central
organization. There is much in the similarity of style of building in the
different countries, and in the Masonic signs upon the buildings, to indicate
their connection, but the central organization must have allowed its branches
great latitude, since the differences in style are also great. The cathedrals
that the Travelling Freemasons built with such great skill and artistic
inspiration were laid out upon a symbolic plan, usually based upon the cross
and the vesica piscis, and there is some evidence that they moralized upon
their tools. Undoubtedly these were men of the loftiest intellect and
spirituality, and we modern speculative Masons have no reason to be ashamed of
our associations with such operative craftsmen.
50THE COMACINI
50The first signs of a
revival in the art of building, the first stirrings of that creative spirit
which was to blossom in later years in the full glory of the Gothic, are to be
found in Lombardy, where originated the style called Romanesque, which
eventually spread all over Europe. According
to tradition, the College of Architects from Rome removed during the last days
of the Empire to the safe refuge offered by the little republic of Comum, once
the home of Pliny, and made its retreat upon the lovely island still known as
Isola Comacina in Lake Como in Northern Italy.* (*The Cathedral Builders,
Leader Scott; pp. 11, 140.) In A.D. 568 the surrounding country fell into the
hands of the Lombards or Longobards, so-called from their long beards and
uncouth appearance, whose original home had been in the lower basin of the
Elbe; and although at first they were detested by the Italians, with surprising
rapidity they developed enthusiasm for the arts and refinement of the land they
had conquered.* (*History of Art, H. B. Cotterill, Vol. I, p. .)
5The first mention in
contemporary records of the celebrated Comacine Masters, who were descended
from that Roman College, occurs in the code of the Lombard King Rothares (643),
in which they figure as Master Masons with power to make contracts for building
works and to employ workmen and labourers.* (*The Cathedral Builders, p. .)
They are mentioned also in the Memoratorio of King Luitprand in 713,* (*Ibid.,
p. .) when they received the privileges of freemen in the Lombard State. To
their creative genius Romanesque architecture is due; and in all probability
they adapted the traditional Roman methods to the requirements of their Lombard
masters. It is clear from the Edict that they were highly-skilled architects.
From a letter from Theodoric the Great to an architect whom he had appointed,
we learn that the profession was highly developed, and an architect had to be
able to construct a building from foundation to roof, and also decorate it
with sculpture and painting, mosaic and bronzework. This inclusiveness
prevailed in all the mediaeval schools up to 1335, when the Siennese painters
seceded; and subsequently other branches also separated themselves into
distinct guilds.
The first dawn of the new
style (c. 600) was followed by a long period of obscuration, not unlike that
Dark Age which in the evolution of Greek art followed the Dorian conquest.
Then, with a strange suddenness, sprang forth (c. 1000) in wonderful perfection
the new style, and rapidly extended itself over much of western and northern Christendom
- the rapidity of this extension being easily explainable by the fact that
master-builders and workmen were often summoned to great distances from
well-known centres of architecture. In the same way as Venice and Ravenna sent
to Constantinople for Byzantine builders, Charles the Great and many other
princes, as well as cities, procured
from Italy skilful Romanesque architects, such as the Comacine Masters,
and the characteristics of this Lombard Romanesque are found not only in
Germany and France but even in England.* (*History of Art, Vol. I, p. 230.)
Italian chroniclers relate
that architects and builders were sent by Pope Gregory the Great to England
with S. Augustine, and we learn from the Venerable Bede that S. Benedict Biscop
set out for Gaul to search for masons to build the monastic church at Monk
Wearmouth "according to the Roman style he had always loved".* (*The
Cathedral Builders, pp. 143, .) S. Boniface visited Italy before undertaking
his great mission to Germany in A.D. 715; Pope Gregory II gave him instructions
and credentials, and sent with him a large following of monks versed in the art
of building, and of lay brethren who were also architects to assist him.*
(*Ibid., p. .) Leader Scott contends that these builders were Comacine Masters,
and bases her arguments upon the evidence of building methods and the
similarity of the styles employed. In like manner she traces the Comacini into
France and Normandy, Southern Italy and Sicily, and even to Ireland in fact
wherever the Romanesque style of building has penetrated.
THE COMACINE LODGES
The Comacine Guild not only
inherited the building traditions of the Collegia, but also their secret
Mysteries; and it was largely owing to the impulse given by them that a general
revival of the existing Lodges of Europe took place. A very considerable
interchange of influence occurs at this time; new Lodges were founded and old
Lodges were restored, for, although the primary inspiration came from Italy,
the builders in the different countries soon learnt to modify the new style in
accordance with national requirements and taste. Many of the higher brethren,
the Magistri of the Guild, were men of wide culture and refinement, who knew
much of the inner meaning of the rites and ceremonies handed down amongst them;
and it may well be that some among them possessed the knowledge now belonging
to the higher degrees, for high degree signs are occasionally found upon their
work. The majority of the craftsmen, however, probably knew little more than
that there was a symbolical meaning to their ceremonies and tools, and tried to
order their lives accordingly.
As Bro. J. S. M. Ward has
pointed out very clearly, the Comacini show marked analogies with our modern
Masonic system. They were organized into Masters and Disciples under the rule
of a Gastaldo or Grand Master. Their working-places were called Lodges. They
had Masters and Wardens, signs, tokens, grips, pass-words and oaths of secrecy
and fidelity. The Four Crowned Martyrs were their Patron Saints; they wore
white aprons and gloves, and among the symbols associated with them we find the
Lion of Judah, King Solomon's knot, the square and compasses, the level and
plumb-rule, and the rose and compasses.
On a pulpit at Ravello, in
one of their buildings of the thirteenth century, Jonah is seen coming out of
the whale's mouth, making the F.C.H.S.*
(*Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods, J. S. M. Ward, Ch. xviii, passim.) At Coire
Cathedral in Switzerland, which is Romanesque in style and contains abundant
evidence of Comacine work, several figures on the capitals of the pillars in
the choir and sanctuary are depicted making Masonic s . s, notably the
F.C.H.S., the G. and R. S., and several s . s now associated with the
Rose-Croix, Knights Templars, and other high degrees in Freemasonry.* (*An
Outline History of Freemasonry, J. S. M. Ward, p. .) In the town-hall at Basle
there is a fresco by Hans Dyg, painted in 1519, in which we may see the same s
. s, and also one of the Mark degree. King Solomon's knot is the traditional
name among the Italians of to-day for the elaborate interlaced stonework
executed by the Comacine Masters up to the eleventh century. It consists always
of a single strand woven and interwoven in the most complex and beautiful designs.
Leader Scott calls it "that intricate and endless variety of the single
unbroken line of unity - emblem of the manifold ways of the power of the one
God who has neither beginning nor end".* (*The Cathedral Builders, p. .)
OTHER SURVIVALS OF THE COLLEGIA
Before passing on to the rise
of Gothic architecture, which marks the climax of operative achievement in the
Middle Ages, it will be well if we indicate certain other survivals of the
Collegia and their Mysteries; for although the great impulse to restore the art
of building came through the Comacine Masters, other Lodges had existed in
Europe from Roman days which, under the influence of Italian inspiration,
regained their power and vitality. In France especially it is clear that the
organization of the Collegia was never fully destroyed and that the
craft-guilds (Corps d'Etat) of the Middle Ages were derived from them in
unbroken continuity.
The true origin of the
corporation is found in the social life of the Romans, and amongst the vanquished
Gauls, who always formed the principal population in the cities, and
faithfully preserved under their new masters the remembrance and traces of
their ancient organization.* (*Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en
France, Vol. i, p. 104, quoted Gould i, p. .)
520Roman civil architecture,
industry, art - in one word, the whole Roman tradition - was perpetuated in
France till the tenth century. Even the German conquerors, while preserving
their own national laws, customs, and usages, accepted the Gallic industry much
as they found it.* (*Monteil, Histoire de l'Industrie Francaise, Preface by C.
Louandre, p. 76, quoted ibid., p. .)
Not only was the trade
organization preserved without break; the inner Mysteries of the Colleges of
Architects were transmitted to the mediaeval building guilds of France, though
they were no doubt strongly influenced by the Italian Masters who practised the
same Mysteries and the same glorious Craft.
THE COMPAGNONNAGE
An interesting survival of
the mediaeval craft-guilds of France is seen in an association of French
journeymen for mutual support and assistance during their travels. Practically
nothing was known about the practices of the Compagnonnage before the
nineteenth century, although a partial revelation of one of the sections
composing it (Enfants de Maitre Jacques) had been extracted by the Doctors of
the Sorbonne in 1651, who not unnaturally stigmatized their proceedings as
impiety and sacrilege. In 1841 the Livre du Compagnonnage was published by
Agricol Perdiguier, a French workman of some culture, who undertook the task of
revealing as much of the history and traditions of the Compagnonnage as his
oath would permit, in order to put an end to the strife which ceaselessly
occurred between its different sections.
The Compagnonnage consisted
of three organizations perpetually at war with one another, each of which had
an interesting traditional history and claimed a traditional chief. The oldest
division was that of the Sons of Solomon, originally consisting of stonemasons
only, although joiners and locksmiths
were admitted later; the second was that of the Sons of Maitre Jacques, who likewise
admitted members of these three trades and later of many others, notably
saddlers, shoemakers, tailors, cutlers, and hatters; while the third
section followed Maitre Soubise, and was
originally composed only of carpenters, although at a later date plasterers and
tilers were also admitted. It is generally conceded that the Sons of Solomon
were the oldest of all; and another remarkable fact is that the masons (to be
carefully distinguished from the Stonemasons) were never admitted at all.
Houses of call belonging to these three associations existed in the more
important towns of France; and travelling journeymen had the right to lodging
and assistance in finding work in the houses belonging to their fraternity.
The three sections of the
Compagnonnage preserved legends concerning King Solomon and his temple. Little
is known of the form of the legend current among the Sons of Solomon, but there
are curious indications that the story of the death of Hiram (which is not
contained in the Bible) was known to them. Perdiguier tells us little, but he
gives certain hints:
An ancient fable has obtained
currency amongst them (the Sons of Solomon) relating, according to some, to
Hiram, according to others, to Adonhiram; wherein are represented crimes and
punishments. Again he tells us "that the joiners of Maitre Jacques wear
white gloves, because, as they say, they did not steep their hands in the blood
of Hiram".
Furthermore with regard to
the use of the word chien bestowed upon all the Compagnons du Devoir, he says:
It is believed by some to be
derived from the fact that it was a dog which discovered the place where the
body of Hiram, architect of the Temple, lay under the rubbish, after which all
the companions who separated from the murderers of Hiram were called chiens or
dogs.
Some have thought, and among
them Perdiguier himself, that these are indications of a legend which may have
been borrowed from the Freemasons; but they clearly point to an independent
line of tradition handed down among the stonemasons of France. Maitre Jacques
and Maitre Soubise have also their traditional histories, likewise going back
to the days of Solomon's Temple; and in that of the former an elaborate account
of the death of Maitre Jacques is given, which may likewise be an echo of the
death of another and greater Master - for it is clearly intended to be
symbolical. There is also a suggestion that it was taken to refer to the death
of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templars. Much yet
remains to be discovered about the Compagnonnage, for no full investigation
into its records has yet taken place; and it may well be that future research
will show clearly that the speculative Masons of England and the operative
journeymen of France derive their traditions from a common ancestry in the
ancient Mysteries. This at least was the opinion of R. F. Gould, the greatest
of our Masonic historians.* (*See Gould. Hist. Freem., Vol. I, ch. iv and v,
for a complete account of what is known of the French Craft Guilds and the
Compagnonnage.)
530THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY
Another line of survival of
the ancient tradition is found among the Stonemasons of Germany. We have
already traced the influence of two streams of tradition into Germany, one
emanating from Britain through the Celtic monks, and another coming from Italy
through S. Boniface. The craft guilds of Germany developed independently of
monastic influence, but according to Gould it is probable that in the twelfth
century the skilled masons of the monasteries amalgamated with the craft
builders in the towns, and together formed the society afterwards known
throughout Germany as the Steinmetzen.* (*Concise History of Freemasonry, R. F.
Gould, p. .)
We know from the Torgau
Ordinances of 1462 that the Stonemasons venerated the Four Crowned Martyrs as
their patron saints, and the Strasburg Constitutions of 1459 contain a devout
invocation of the names of the "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; of our
gracious Mother Mary; and of her blessed servants, the Holy Four Crowned
Martyrs of everlasting memory".* (*Gould, Concise History, p. .) From the
Brother-Book of 1563 we learn that they had a greeting and a grip which might
not be described in writing;* (*Gould, Hist. of Freem., Vol. i, p. .) and a
curious piece of testimony came to light at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, when a certain architect, who had joined a survival of the Stonemasons
and was subsequently admitted into Masonry, recognized the E.A. grip as
identical with that of the Steinmetzen of
Strasburg.* (*Ibid., p. .) A ceremony of admission was in use among them; but
what it was is not known.* (*Concise History, Gould, p. .)
At Daberan in Mecklenburg
there is a carving of the Last Supper, wherein the apostles are depicted in
well-known Masonic attitudes,* (*An Outline History of Freemasonry, J. S. M.
Ward, p. .) while according to the Bulletin of the Supreme Council of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A.) the legend
of Hiram Abiff is carved in stone at Strasburg.* (*Op, cit., vii, 200.) In the
cathedral at Wurzburg two pillars, inscribed Jachin and Boaz, originally stood
at the porchway or entrance, but they have now been moved within the building.
Stieglitz in his Early German Architecture says that they were intended to bear
a symbolic reference to the fraternity.* (*Gould, Concise Hist., p. .) A
bas-relief in a convent near Schaffhausen depicts a figure making one of the s
. s of an I.M.* (*An Outline History of Freemasonry, J. S. M. Ward, p. .) In
the year 1459 the Stonemasons of Germany united to form a Grand Guild, governed
by four Head Lodges, of which Strasburg was the chief. So close are the
parallels between its organization and that of modern speculative Masonry that
many German writers have held that the Steinmetzen were the originators of the
speculative system. As a matter of fact there appears to have been no
interchange in modern times between the two corporations, and modern German
Craft Masonry is clearly derived from England.* (*Gould, Concise History, pp.
18, .)
THE ENGLISH GUILDS
Three distinct lines of
tradition contribute to the Masonry of the English guilds. One line was
preserved among the Celts, as we have already seen, and became mingled in later
times with streams from other sources. Secondly, the Roman Collegia survived to
some extent in England after the departure of the Romans; the Saxons found them
there and did not interfere with them.* (*Coote - cited in The Cathedral
Builders, Leader Scott, p. 140.) Thirdly, there was the influx of Continental
builders, beginning in the time of S. Augustine, but greatly augmented after
the Norman Conquest under the patronage of Archbishop Lanfranc, the first
Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, a Lombard by birth and a celebrated patron of
building even before he came to England.* (*J. S. M. Ward, Freemasonry and the
Ancient Gods, p. .) All these streams of tradition were represented in the
mediaeval guilds, and were handed down in various centres. The French
craft-guilds preserve accounts similar to those found in our English Old
Charges regarding the assistance given to Masons by Charles Martel.* (*Gould,
Concise History, p. 30.)
The secret Mysteries of the
Craft, common, save for certain unimportant local modifications, to all these
lines of descent, Celtic, Saxon and Continental, were handed down in the Lodges
of the mediaeval Masons, which were the units of organization and labour within
the guilds; they were never written down, but were transmitted orally from
generation to generation, the succession passing down from Master to Master as
in the present day. The primary work of the Lodges was of course operative, and
the speculative ritual which was handed drown so faithfully in essentials was
regarded as an ancient heritage to be scrupulously transmitted to posterity; but
it is unlikely that any but the few recognized its true purpose, or thought of
it as containing more than a merely moral code of life. It is due to the rigid
observance of the O. "never to write those secrets" (an O. which
would have been enforced by certain pains and penalties not unknown to Masons
today), that no trace of the ritual can be found in any document prior to
1717; and it is because of this lack of all records that many Masonic scholars
believe that it was compiled only at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Even in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the Old Charges were
written down, no mention is made of the Legend of Hiram; for this formed part
of the secret ritual and therefore might not be divulged. A figure representing
God the Son in the porch of Peterborough Cathedral is depicted as making the
F.C.H.S.* (*J. S. M. Ward, Op. cit., p. .) showing that this s . at least was
known to our old operative brethren.
THE RISE OF GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE
The climax of mediaeval operative
building was reached in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the rise and
development of Gothic architecture, which was inspired directly by the Head of
all true Freemasons throughout the world, as part of the plan for the
development of the fifth or Teutonic sub-race. Many theories have been advanced
to account for the rapid development of the new style.
Whether the wonderful change
of style that in a few years spread over a great part of Western Christendom
was due primarily to the discovery of the possibilities of the pointed arch or
those of the so-called ogival vaulting is much disputed. Probably it was due to
both, and also of course to certain movements, social and political, which were
bound to favour immensely any such new enthusiasm; for a new national
consciousness was rapidly gaining strength, especially in France, and cities
and communes were beginning to vie in erecting vast buildings - first
cathedrals and later civic edifices - the architects being now mostly laymen,
the founders and donors often municipal bodies and rich citizens, and the
workmen not seldom volunteers from the people. The old monastic era of
Romanesque suddenly gave way to that of a new, popular, and civic architecture,
and in a surprisingly short time much the same had happened as that which we
noted after the passing of the fateful year A.D. 1000, when, according to old
Raoul Glaber, Christendom cast aside its outworn attire and put on a fresh
white robe of new-built Churches.* (*Cotterill, History of Art, Vol. I, p. .)
540We, however, do not need
to speculate or theorize as to the causes of the rapid development of the new
style, for we have the advantage of knowing that the movement was all the time
being definitely steered from behind by the H.O.A.T.F. and a corps of able
assistants under his direction.
As I have already said,
architecture has a powerful effect upon the consciousness of the people, for it
is one of the means chosen by the White Lodge to influence the development of
the various nations according to the plan of the Great Architect of the
Universe. To understand the significance of the Gothic style, we must consider
for a moment an important fact of occult history, that which is technically
known to students as the cyclic change of Ray. The seven rays, or types of the
divine consciousness and activity, to one or other of which all living things belong, influence the world in
turn, and this cyclic change produces the modifications of outlook which are to
be noted as century succeeds century.
Each race and sub-race has
its own especial qualities to develop. The fifth root-race, to which we
ourselves belong, is engaged as a whole in the unfolding of intellect; but each
of its sub-races has likewise a quality to cultivate. The fourth or Celtic
sub-race was concerned with the evolution of intellect through the emotions,
and so produced the beauty-loving peoples whom we see in Greece and Ireland;
while the fifth or Teutonic sub-race, to which the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians
belong, is striving to awaken the intellect working in the concrete mind, and
so is producing the scientific and industrial nations which lead the world
to-day.
This cyclic change of Ray,
which is also part of the great plan, produces other, but no less definite
modifications in the corporate consciousness. In Greece we saw something of the
fifth ray, the ray of knowledge, working upon the fourth sub-race with its love
of beauty, resulting in that intellectual type of art so characteristic of the
classical age; the Middle Ages show forth the qualities of the sixth ray, the
ray of devotion, working upon the fifth or Teutonic sub-race, and producing as
its characteristic intellectual fruit scholastic philosophy with its
hair-splitting intellectuality based upon an almost fanatical devotion.
Devotion, indeed, was the
great characteristic of the Middle Ages. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
so rich in the annals of Christian mysticism, were adorned by men and women
whose power of devotion reached heights rarely touched in any other age. The
great S. Bernard (who among many other noted works gave their Rule to the Order
of Knights Templars), Richard of S. Victor, S. Hildegarde, S. Francis of Assisi
and S. Antony of Padua, and a little later S. Bonaventura and S. Thomas Aquinas
- all these have shone forth as a light unto many generations. Profound changes
took place in the Catholic Church during these significant years, and Europe
rose from the dark ages into the full glory of an era of culture and art.
Gothic architecture was intended to lift the devotion of the masses to greater
heights than had been induced by the contemplation of the flatter Romanesque
style; by its soaring lines and ever-ascending curves, by the richness of its
ornamentation and the splendid complexity of its design, by its amazing grace
and delicacy, it had power to raise the hearts of men on the wings of its
silent music to the very throne of God Himself, to mould and enrich their
devotion in unseen subtle ways, to pour out upon them spiritual influences
which would aid in the great work of transformation which had to be
accomplished.
The change from Romanesque to
Gothic, then, was brought about deliberately. The inspiration was given to
certain master-builders in the different countries by the H.O.A.T.F., and the
erection of the splendid cathedrals of the period was carried out by travelling
bands of Masons passing from centre to centre, and doubtless employing the
local builders upon the actual work of construction. This, as we have said, was
an age of devotion, and every stone was carved with the utmost care to the
glory of God, and thereby charged with the adoration of the skilful craftsmen
who worked so unselfishly. The powerful spiritual influences generated by all
this loving care have contributed in no small degree to the extraordinary
beauty of the Gothic cathedrals, and to the power which they possess even in
the present day of evoking devotion and reverence from all who approach them.
The particular expressions of
Gothic vary in the different countries, and even in different parts of the same
country; that is always the case in every style of building. But behind the
whole order of Gothic architecture there is one great idea, that of soaring,
passionate devotion ever rising to the feet of God; and that is found with
national modifications in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. This was
the great age of operative Masonry, and at its close the building corporations
began to decline in power, until in England and Germany especially the movement
miscalled the Reformation killed out ecclesiastical architecture, and church
building as a fine art practically ceased.
In the fourteenth century the
merchant guilds, which organized an entire industry, became decentralized, and
a new system of craft guilds gradually arose, organizing different branches of
each industry. This change of organization was due to a profound change of
thought among the people, which was to lead to the great stirring of the
Renaissance and the growth of national consciousness in the different
countries. It is at this period that the Old Charges of our ancient operative
Brn. first appear, and they were written down as the Freemasons became
gradually disorganized, in order to preserve the older oral records from
oblivion.
THE OLD CHARGES
These Old Charges reflect in
no small measure the ignorance of the time in matters of geography and
chronology, but they nevertheless contain an account of the broad outline of Masonic
descent from Egypt, through Judaea, into Europe; and it would certainly be
difficult to suppose that they were fabricated by mere operative builders who
had nothing of hidden mystery to transmit. I give below a brief summary of the
Dowland manuscript, which is fairly representative of the tradition common to
all. It is reproduced from Hughan's Old Charges (1872), and is quoted from
Mackey's Encyclopaedia.* (*Art. Legend of the Craft.)
550The legend begins with an
account of Lamech and his four children, who founded all the sciences of the
world before the flood. These sciences were engraved on two pillars, one of
which was later found by Hermes, who taught its contents to the people. Nimrod
is next mentioned as having employed Masons at the building of the Tower of
Babel, and as having given them their first Charge. Next Abraham and Sarah are
said to have taught the seven sciences to the Egyptians, and especially to a
"worthy Scoller that hight Ewclyde". The latter was commissioned by
the king to teach Masonry to a large number of children of "the lord and
estates of the realm". The legend passes then to David, who, when he began
the temple of Jerusalem, learned the Charges and manners of Masons from Egypt
and gave them to his people. Solomon continued the building of the temple after
David's death, sent for Masons from all lands, and confirmed the Charges given
by his father. There is no reference to the legend of the 3° in any of the Old
Charges before the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions, published in
1738, except that Aynon, the son of Iram, is mentioned as being the
"chiefe Maister" of all Masons, and "Master of all his gravings
and carvinge and of all other manner of Masonrye that longed to the
temple". The legend, in defiance of all chronology, then states that,
"one curious Mason that hight Maymus Grecus", who had been at the
making of Solomon's temple, taught Masonry to Charles Martel of France. Since
the latter died in A.D. 741, the former would have been about seventeen hundred
years old, unless we are to understand that the Charge assumes that he had
reincarnated!
A legendary account is given
of S. Albans work for Masons in the third century, and especially of his
institution of General Assemblies. He is also said to have obtained for them a
Charter, to have given them Charges, and to have arranged for better pay.
Later, Athelstan is said to have built many abbeys and towers, and to have
"loved well masons". His son Edwin, who loved them still more, held
an Assembly at York and gave them a Charter. All the old writings were
collected at this period, "some in Frenche, and some in Greek, and some in
English, and some in other languages; and the intent of them all was founded
all one". These old writings were digested into the York Constitutions
which resulted from this Assembly of A.D. . It is from this source that we draw
the material now embodied in the Old Charges.
The Transition from Operative
to Speculative
THE REFORMATION
THE dawn of a new era was
heralded by the Renaissance of classical learning and culture in the fifteenth
century, a time of immense creative activity, of the bursting of bonds, of the
liberation of a new and vital spirit of freedom, the direct result of which was
what it is the fashion to call the Reformation. The cause of this change and
reconstruction was a general reaction against the spirit of the Middle Ages.
The Renaissance originated in
that longing for emancipation from the shackles of the past which is probably
felt by every new generation, and which now and then, favoured by special
conditions, succeeds in realizing its ideals. . The ideals in this case were
joy and liberty and personality, liberation from mediaeval asceticism,
mediaeval priestcraft, mediaeval dogma; liberation from the anathema that had
rested on the natural rights of man - on freedom of thought and on moral judgment; liberation
from traditional law and self-constituted authority, and the restoration to the
individual of intellectual and moral self-rule.* (*Cotterill. History of Art,
Vol. i, p. 390.)
One of the factors which
helped to bring about this great revival of learning was the overthrow of the
Eastern Empire by the Muhammadans, the capture of Constantinople and the
conquest of Greece, driving all who possessed the means to take refuge in
Italy. Many scholars came to Italy at this time, bringing with them precious
manuscripts of the old Greek writers; and the restoration of classical
learning, classical building and classical art is the most notable feature of
the Renaissance. The invention of printing made possible a wider diffusion of
learning, and a wave of creative enthusiasm swept over Europe, leaving its mark
upon the art, literature and philosophy of the age, and indeed making all
things new.
It was obvious to the
thinking men of the period that a reform of the Church was essential, for
corruption and abuses of all kinds had crept into her sanctuaries. At first an
attempt was made towards a broader view of Christian doctrine from within the Roman
Church, and scholars, such as Ficino, the Platonists of Italy, Erasmus, and Sir
Thomas More, sought to reinterpret Christianity in the light of the philosophy
of Plato and Plotinus. But this attempt failed; and, in consequence, the
Reformation took place outside the Church in the sixteenth century. It was an
attempt to purify the Church from her abuses, to bring her teachings into
closer harmony with the new ideas; but it must be admitted that it did little
to improve matters from the spiritual point of view, even though it won freedom
of belief and liberty for the individual intellect to search for the truth in
its own way. For so great was the ignorance and bigotry of the reformers that
they cast aside the good with the evil, and framed a theology more intolerable
than that of Rome, while to a great extent rejecting her sacramental and
contemplative treasures.
THE REAPPEARANCE OF
SPECULATIVE MASONRY
After the Reformation in
England ecclesiastical architecture practically ceased as an activity of the
guilds, and the operative Lodges fell into decay since their work was no longer
needed. But while the Reformation thus injured operative Masonry, it made
Europe safe for the re-emergence into comparative publicity of the speculative
art. The guilds had always accepted rich and influential patrons, and there was
nothing new in the introduction of theoretic Masons into the Lodges. Some have
denied the possibility of any speculative Masonry existing before the revival;
but speculation was the rule rather than the exception in all the guilds, not
only the Masonic, and in that devotional age workmen of all trades might be
found moralizing upon the instruments of their labour.
560But between the period
when operative Masonry was at the height of its power and inspiration and the
revival of the speculative art at the beginning of the eighteenth century,
there was a dark period in which the light of Masonry, both operative and
speculative, seemed almost extinguished. Many of the operative Lodges had lost
nearly all trace of ritual workings, and had forgotten the traditional secrets
of building no less than the ancient secrets of the building symbolism. It is
to this period of darkness and decay as well as to the O. not to write those
secrets, that we may attribute the paucity of records referring to the
mystery-tradition among so many of the old operative Lodges; but by the
guidance of the Great Ones this was nevertheless definitely preserved, and
transmitted from various sources into our modern Craft.
THE FIRST MINUTES
It is during this
post-Reformation period, when the old Lodges had almost forgotten the glory of
their heritage, both operative and speculative, that we first find actual
minutes of Lodge Meetings. These minutes show the condition into which the
Craft had fallen at the time; they are, as we should expect, almost silent upon
all questions of ritual, secrets and symbolism, although there are occasional
indications which point to the concealment of a hidden tradition. It is in this
period also that the first public references to the secrets of the Freemasons
occur in contemporary literature; and we are able by means of them to trace to
some extent the gradual emergence of the speculative Mysteries.
SCOTTISH MINUTES
The oldest Lodge Minute
extant at the present time is contained in
the records of the Lodge of Edinburgh, Mary's Chapel, No. 1 upon the
roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and is dated . We know that it had been
the custom from the earliest times for the operative Lodges to "accept" nonoperative
Brethren; but the first authentic record of this is contained in the same
archives, which state that John Boswell of Auchinlech was admitted in the year
1600* (*History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, D. Murray-Lyon, p. .) The signature
of Boswell, a facsimile of which is given in Murray-Lyon's admirable History,
is followed by his mark, a cross within a circle - a symbol often used by the
Brn. of the Rosy Cross, and bearing a profound meaning in connection with their
Mysteries. One of the earliest
references to the Rosy Cross in Great Britain occurs in Scotland and in
connection with Masonry; for in Henry Adamson's The Muses' Threnodie (dated
Perth, 1638) we find the words:
For what we do presage is
riot in grosse,
For we are brethren of the
Rosie Cross,
We have the Mason Word and
second sight.
Things for to come we can
fortell aright.
The Rosicrucian Manifestos,
which are the first literary memorials of the order (c. 1614), were not
translated and published in English until 1652, when Thomas Vaughan, the
celebrated alchemist and mystic, who
wrote under the name of Eugenius Philalethes and has now become an Adept of the White Lodge, undertook
the task;* (*The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, A: E. Waite, p. .) so as early
as 1638 Masonry was associated both with the Rosicrucian Brotherhood and with
the occult power known as second sight. The connection of the Rosy Cross with
Masonry belongs to our next chapter.
570The Mason Word is the only
secret alluded to in early Lodge Minutes in Scotland. What it was is still
unknown, although there are curious indications emanating from two writers who
did not belong to the Craft. The Rev. George Hickes, afterwards Dean of
Worcester, describes it about 1678 as "a secret signal masons have
thro'out the world to know one another by". Robert Kirk in 1691 says that
it is:
Lyke a Rabbinical Tradition,
in way of Comment on Jachin and Boaz, the two Pillars erected in Solomon's
Temple (I. Kings vii, 21), with an Addition of some secret signe delivered from
Hand to Hand, by which the know and become familiar one with another.* (*Gould.
Concise History, p. .)
So far had the Craft
forgotten its traditions in Scotland that it seems clear that only one degree
existed, so far as the communication of secrets was concerned. The Mason Word
was revealed to Apprentices, under a "Great Oath", and it is probable
that a Charge was read, but there is no other indication of ritual procedure.
The attainment of the grade of Fellow of the Craft or Master was merely a
question of age and skill, and it is ordered in the Schaw Statutes of 1598 that
admission to it should take place in the presence of Apprentices, thus
precluding any secrets peculiar to the Degree.* (*History of the Lodge of
Edinburgh. D. Murray-Lyon, p. 10.) As the years passed by more and more
non-operatives were admitted into the Scottish Lodges, until the speculative
element entirely predominated.
ENGLISH MINUTES
An indication of the secret transmission
of speculative masonry is found in the Lodge of the Acception attached to the
Masons' Company of London, whose records go back to .* (*Gould. Concise
History, p. 10.) We first hear of that Lodge in 1620-21, when it was clearly a
body distinct from the Company, for the King's Master Mason, Nicholas Stone,
though Master of the Company in 1633, and again in 1634, was not enrolled among
the "Accepted Masons" until .*
(*Gould. Concise History, p. .) Persons not belonging to the Company were also
eligible for admission, although from them a higher fee was demanded for the
privilege of initiation. Elias Ashmole, the celebrated student of alchemy, who
collected certain texts upon this abstruse science in his Theatrum Chemicum
Britannicum, was initiated into a non-operative Lodge at Warrington in
Lancashire in .* (*Ibid., p. .) In 1682 he received a summons to attend a Lodge
at Masons' Hall in London - which was almost certainly the Acception - and was
present at the initiation of six candidates, two of whom were not members of
the Masons' Company.* (*Ibid., p. .)
Elias Ashmole has sometimes
been cited as the real founder of speculative Masonry, and also as a Bro. of
the Rosy Cross; the latter suggestion is possible, although no evidence exists
upon the point, but the former cannot of course be accepted by those who hold
that Masonry has descended from the ancient Mysteries. A speculation is put
forward by Bro. A. E. Waite in a recent book, connecting the Acception with
Robert Fludd, the great English Rosicrucian Philosopher (1576-1637). He says:
However and whenever it
arose, my thesis is that the Acception may have included a group of Hermetic
Students, of which there were many at the period; that Fludd drew them together
or took his place among them; and that - after his manner and the manner of the
Rosy Cross - they began to speak of spiritual building in a Hall of Masons, of
a Hermetic Art in stone; and that therefore they may have contributed something
to our own unfinished sketch of figurative building.* (*Emblematic Freemasonry,
p. .)
Among the records of the
Acception was a Book of Constitutions "which Mr. Flood gave".
In the Harleian MSS., No.
2054, a rough memorandum of date 1665 is found, containing the following
sentence, which looks like notes of an Obligation, used probably in the Chester
Lodge:
There is seu`all word and
signes of a free Mason to be revailed to yu wch as yu will anew: before God at
the great and terrible day of Iudgmt yu keep Secret and not to revaile the same
to any in the heares of any pson w but to the Mrs and fellows of the said
Society of free Masons so helpe me God, xt.* (*Ibid., p. .)
580Dr. Robert Plot in his
Natural History of Staffordshire (Chap. iii), published in 1686, refers to the
admission of Masons, "which cheifly consists in the communication of
certain secret signes, whereby they are known to one another all over the
Nation." He also speaks of "a large parchment volum they have amongst
them containing the History and Rules of the craft of masonry."*
(*Emblematic Freemasonry, p. .) In the Aubrey MSS. of the Natural History of Wiltshire Dr. Plot refers to the
adoption of Sir Christopher Wren as a Freemason.* (*Ibid., p. 120.) The Minutes
of Lodge Antiquity No. 2, the old Lodge which met at the Goose and Gridiron,
dated 1723, refer to a set of candlesticks which "its worthy old Master,
Sir Christopher Wren" presented to the Lodge.* (*The Builders, Vol. x, No.
2, p. .)
The "old Lodge at York
City" was in a flourishing condition in 1705, but there is no documentary
evidence to show its earlier history, though a Logium Fabricae is mentioned in
the Fabric Rolls of York Minster in . From 1705, and perhaps before, the York
Lodge was exclusively the home of speculative or symbolical Masonry. The
earliest minutes preserved are in a parchment roll dated 1712-1730. The greater
number of meetings are described as Private while a few are referred to as
General Lodges, although Candidates were apparently admitted at both. New
members were "Sworne and Admitted" - the only documentary trace of
any ritual working.* (*Gould. Concise History, p. .) As we shall see, the York
Lodge proclaimed itself the "Grand Lodge of All England" in 1725,
eight years after the foundation of the Grand Lodge of England, and only a few
months after the Grand Lodge of Ireland was formed; it lingered somnolently
until the closing years of the eighteenth century, when it seems to have been
silently absorbed into the bosom of its rivals. Anderson in his Constitutions
of 1738 refers to Grand Lodges which derived from other sources than the Grand
Lodge of England, and gives them definite recognition:
But the old Lodge at York
City, and the Lodges of Scotland, Ireland, France, and Italy, affecting
Independency, are under their own Grand Masters, though they have the same
Constitutions, Charges, Regulations, etc., for substance, with their Brethren
of England.* (*Gould. Concise History, p. .)
This is a significant
statement, for Lodges "affecting independency," one of which is
admittedly "old," do not take kindly to innovations from outside
their ranks. If any proof is required that Masonry was not the invention of
Anderson, we have it here in his own words.
Two of Steel's essays in The
Tatler in 1709 and 1710 refer to the existence of signs and tokens among the
Freemasons. In the Minutes of the Old Lodge at York and of Mary's Chapel at
Edinburgh there is evidence of the proving of Brn. before they were admitted to
the Lodge, the latter entry referring to no less a person than Dr. Desaguliers,
who in 1721 was found qualified in all points of Masonry by his Scottish Brn. -
an incident showing identity of secrets between the Scottish and the English
Lodges.* (*History of the Lodge of Edinburgh. D. Murray-Lyon, p. .) The same
gradual transition from operative to non-operative membership took place in the
English as in the Scottish Lodges, and it was this infiltration of educated and
cultured men which made possible the momentous events of .
IRISH MINUTES
Irish Masonry presents
certain difficulties of research; for it was a point of honour among Irish
Masons in the eighteenth century to destroy all documents, warrants,
certificates, Lodge registers and minute books, rather than that they should
pass into the hands of outsiders.* (*Dr. Chetwode Crawley. A. Q. C., xvi, .)
Dr. Chetwode Crawley states that there was a speculative Lodge of the English
type at Doneraile in 1710-12, which used methods of initiation not to be
distinguished from those perpetuated at the revival. Into this Lodge Elizabeth
St. Leger, the famous lady Mason, was initiated, and it must have worked at
least two degrees. Dr. Crawley remarks:
This last deduction will
require a good deal of explaining away on the part of those Brethren who hold
that, because early Scottish operative Lodges suffered the ritual to dwindle
into the merest mode of recognition, the early English speculative Lodges
cannot have worked more than one degree.* (*A. Q. C., viii, .)
This period of transition
forms the connecting link between the old dispensation and the new. The day of
operative Masonry as practised in the mediaeval Lodges was over; that of
speculative Masonry as we know it to-day had not yet begun. No longer was there
need of secrecy; the dread of death and torture no longer compelled the
servants of the Hidden Light to take refuge in the workshops of the builders in
stone. Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of action had at last
been won. And as in the twilight that precedes the dawn we may discern the
faint mysterious outlines of some lovely landscape hidden beneath the robe of
darkness, till, as the light of the rising sun glows stronger and yet stronger,
they are clothed with richer colour and beauty; so in this age of twilight we
may glimpse in the outer world the dim
shadows of the Hidden Mysteries as they emerge from their long night of secrecy
and silence into the freedom of the day, and the Royal Art is seen once more of
men.
THE GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND
590The only extant record of
the founding of the Premier Grand Lodge of the world occurs in the second
edition of Dr. Anderson's Constitutions, published in . No minute of Grand
Lodge itself has been traced before the year .* (*Gould. Concise History, p.
20.) The following is part of the account therein given of this important event
in the history of Craft Masonry:
After the Rebellion was over,
A.D. 1716, the few Lodges at London. . thought fit to cement under a Grand
Master as the centre of Union and Harmony, viz., the Lodges that met,
2 At the Goose and Gridiron Ale-house in
St. Paul's Church-yard.
3 At the Crown Ale-house in Parker's Lane,
near Drury-Lane.
4 At the Apple-Tree Tavern in Charles
Street, Covent Garden.
5 At the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in
Channel-Row, Westminster.
"They and some old
Brothers met at the said Apple-Tree, and having put into the Chair the oldest
Master Mason (now the Master of a Lodge), they constituted themselves a Grand
Lodge pro Tempore in Due Form, and forthwith
revived the Quarterly Communication of the Officers of lodges (called
the GRAND LODGE), resolv'd to hold the Annual ASSEMBLY and Feast, and then to
chuse a GRAND MASTER from among themselves, till they should have the Honour of a Noble Brother at their
Head." The Grand Lodge was according formed on S. John the Baptist's Day
1717, with Anthony Sayer as the First Grand Master.* (*Gould. Concise History,
p. 20.)
Bro. Calvert has demonstrated
that the first three Lodges were probably composed of operative Masons, and
numbered about fifteen Brethren each, while the fourth Lodge had a roll of
seventy members and was the speculative Lodge, to which all the leading men of
the Craft belonged in the early days, including Payne Anderson and Desaguliers,
and a large and influential body of noblemen.* (*A. F. Calvert. The Grand Lodge
of England, cited in The Builders, Vol.
x, p. .)
At first very little seems to
have been done, and it does not appear that the original founders of the Grand
Lodge had the least idea of starting a world-movement; but with the advent of
the Duke of Montague to the Grand Master's Chair in 1721, the Society rose into
fame and success at one bound.
The first task was the
compilation and 'digesting' of the Old Gothic Constitutions, which as we have
seen had been handed down in the Lodges from operative times; and this was done
by Anderson in . The Constitutions were printed in 1723, and a subsequent and
somewhat altered edition in 1738, when the speculative system was firmly
established under Grand Lodge auspices. George Payne, the second Grand Master,
drafted the regulations, Anderson 'digested' the general subject matter after 'a new and better
manner', Dr. Desaguliers, the third Grand Master, wrote the Preface and Dedication,
and the fourth Grand Master, the Duke of Montague, ordered the book to be
printed after its formal approval by the Grand Lodge.* (*Ibid., p. 20.)
Perhaps the most important
feature of these Constitutions is the definite removal of all religious
barriers to membership in the Order. Our ancient operative Brn. had, of course,
been Christians and Catholics; but now the universality of the Mysteries was
again to be demonstrated by the excision of all sectarian limitations. The
language in which this was expressed is not happy; but it is possible that some
inspiration may have been given upon this point, for it was certainly in
accordance with the policy of the White Lodge. Masonry is indeed the heart of
all religions, and should be bound definitely to none; although every Mason is
at liberty to profess whatever faith may be most congenial to him, since they
are all facets of the truth.
THE RECOMPOSITION OF THE
RITUALS
Much debate and controversy
has taken place among Masonic writers with regard to the origin of our modern speculative
rituals, of which there is no documentary trace before the revival in . That
there was a definite Masonic Ceremonial in existence at this time we learn from
Dr. Stukely, who tells us that "his curiosity led him to be initiated into
the mysterys of Masonry, suspecting it to be the remains of the mysterys of the
antients".* (*Gould. Concise History, p. .) He was initiated into the
Order on January 6th, 1721, and says: "I was the first person made a
freemason for many years. We had great difficulty to find members enough to
perform the ceremony."* (*Gould. Concise History, p. .) The Manningham
Letters also offer testimony that the rituals of speculative Masonry belong to
an earlier period than . Dr. Manningham, Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
of England, writes in 1757 of:
One old Brother of Ninety,
who I conversed with lately; this Brother assures me He was made a Mason in his
youth, and has constantly frequented Lodges, till rend'red incapable by his
advanc'd Age, and never heard, or knew, any other Ceremonies or Words, than
those us'd in general amongst us; such Forms were deliver'd to him, and those
he has retain'd.* (*Ibid., p. .)
600This testimony is
significant, for a Mason ninety years old in 1757 would have been fifty years
of age in 1717, so that if he was initiated in his youth, our ceremonies must
date at least from the last half of the seventeenth century. It will be
remembered that the judgment of R. F. Gould is precise upon this matter:
60If we once get beyond or
behind the year 1717, i.e. , into the domain of ancient Masonry, and again look
back, the vista is perfectly illimitable, without a speck or shadow to break
the continuity of view which is presented to us.* (*R. F. Gould. A. Q. C. xvi,
30.)
60The decay of the operative
Lodges, noted earlier in this chapter, had a disastrous effect upon the ancient
ritual which had been handed down orally from Lodge to Lodge and from Master to
Master from the days of the Roman Collegia. No word of it might ever be
written, and it had to be learnt by heart by the Masters and officers of the
Lodges. By the time, however, that we reach the days of the revival, this oral
tradition had become much corrupted, and although the ancient ritual actions
were still remembered, the words accompanying them had degenerated into mere
verbal jargon, often quite unintelligible to those who recited it. One example
will be sufficient to indicate the state of affairs. Several inns in England
are named "The Goat and Compasses," and as it stands the phrase has
no meaning, unless it be taken to refer to the perennial fable of the
"riding of the goat". The real derivation is from the words "God
encompasses us," degenerated into "Goat and Compasses". It was
into a somewhat analogous state that the whole ritual had fallen in the days of
Anderson and Desaguliers, who after the founding of the new Grand Lodge set to
work to bring order out of chaos.
60They proceeded to collect
and revise all the workings known to them, clothing the skeleton of the ritual
in the eighteenth century English so familiar in our ears to-day. On the whole
their task was well carried out, and although many losses had occurred before
1717, the portion which Anderson brought with him was fairly representative of
the general chaos. Anderson was clearly not a man of genius, though he did his
best, and it may well be a matter of regret that the stilted language of that
dullest of dull periods should have been chosen to clothe the ancient Mysteries
rather than the inspired and stately English of a century before. But taverns
are not conducive to spiritual inspiration, and it was in taverns that this
rebirth of the Mysteries took place.
60TWO AND THREE DEGREES
60At first it would appear that
only two degrees were worked, for the Constitutions of 1723 (Regulation xiii),
speak of "Apprentices," and of "Masters and Fellow-Craft"
who could only be made in Grand Lodge "unless by a Dispensation".*
(*The Constitutions of Freemasons (Bi-centenary Ed.), p. .) This rule was
repealed in 1725, when Grand Lodge enacted that "the Master of Each Lodge,
with the Consent of his Wardens and the Majority of the Brethren, being
Masters, may make Masters at their discretion".* (*A. Q. C., xvi, p. .)
There is in this same year a mention of three degrees in the working of the
"Grand Lodge of All England" at York, when a speech was delivered by
Dr. Francis Drake, Junior Grand Warden, in which he mentions E.A., F.C., and
M.M.R.F. Gould holds that the "Apprentice Part consisted of what we now
know as the 1° and 2° and that the Master's Part" was our 3°, containing
the legend of Hiram.* (*A. Q. C., xvi, p. .)
60He considers it settled
beyond dispute:
60Not only that what we now
call the Third Degree existed before the era of Grand Lodges, but that, having
passed through a long decline, its symbols had become corrupted, and their
meaning (to a great extent) forgotten, when the step itself - then known as the
"Master's Part" - is first heard of (i.e., unequivocally referred to)
in any print or manuscript to which a date can be assigned (1723).* (*Gould.
Concise History, p. .)
60It seems probable that the
original workings may have been compressed into two degrees, and the
subsequent division into three degrees may well have been a rearrangement of
the material in accordance with ancient tradition. Evidence for the working of
three grades of Masonry occurs as early
as 1725 in London in the Transactions of the Philo-Musicae et Architecturae
Societas in which certain brethren are recorded as "regularly passed
Masters," "regularly passed Fellow Crafts" and "regularly
passed fellow Craft and Master," although it is not clearly known exactly what took
place.* (*Ibid., p. .) By 1738 the procedure in the Lodges seems to have been
generally similar to that known among us to-day.
60OPPOSITION
6That there was at first some
distrust and dislike of the new movement, upon the part of older Masons, is
certain. In the second edition of the Constitutions (1738) Anderson tells us
that in 1720:
At some private Lodges,
several very valuable Manuscripts (for they had nothing yet in print)
concerning the Fraternity, their Lodges, Regulations, Charges, Secrets, and
Usages (particularly one writ by Mr. Nicholas Stone, the Warden of Inigo Jones)
were too hastily burnt by some scrupulous Brothers, that these Papers might not
fall into strange Hands.* (*A. Q. C., xvi, p. . See ante. Page 246)
We know that there were other
Lodges not at first included in the Grand Lodge, and it may well be that
certain of the older Brn. viewed the new venture with suspicion, and destroyed
their records to prevent them from falling into the hands of innovators. There
is a suggestion, too, that other traditions were preserved elsewhere in greater
fullness, as we shall see in connection with the schism of the
"Antients". But although the Grand Lodge was inaugurated humbly
enough, it soon began to attract attention under the Duke of Montague, and its
success as a movement was immediately established.
THE SUCCESSION OF I.M.s
The succession of I.M.s was
preserved under the new dispensation, although there is little trace in London
of a definite degree in the sense of ritual working. Such a degree was part of
the authorized working of the "Ancients" in 1751, though it was not
adopted by the "Moderns" until 1810.* (*Gould. Concise History, p. .)
The actual power, however, was transmitted by the act of installation which forms
the essential part of the sacrament, and we
learn from the "Manner of Constituting a New Lodge according to the
ancient Usages of Masons" given in the Constitutions of 1723, that after
the new Master had submitted to the Charges of a Master "as Masters have
done in all ages," the Grand Master shall "by certain significant Ceremonies and ancient Usages,
install him".* (*The Constitutions of Freemasons (Bi-centenary Ed.), p. .)
THE GRAND LODGES OF YORK,
IRELAND AND SCOTLAND
But although the impulse
towards revival clearly originated in London with the erection of the Grand
Lodge of England, the Apple-Tree Tavern was not the only temple of the
Mysteries. Other Lodges existed both in England and the sister-kingdoms, and
other equally valid streams of tradition began to emerge in different centres.
York was for unnumbered years a powerful and hallowed sanctuary of speculative
Masonry; and the "old Lodge" at York proclaimed itself a Grand Lodge
in . It is even possible that it may have called itself such before, for there is
written testimony in 1778 from the then York Grand Secretary to the effect that
the Grand Lodge at York antedated the Lodge of London by twelve or more years.*
(*A. E. Waite. Emblematic Freemasonry, p. .)
It is clear that ancient York
workings existed, and that something of their tradition, passing through Irish
and "Ancient" Masonry, is with us to-day, blended with the traditions
inherited from Anderson. York has a glamour about its ancient walls like that
which surrounds Kilwinning and the sanctuary which was Heredom; to York also we
must look for one of the guardian-centres of our Mysteries.
It is clear from a study of
Irish Masonry and that of the "Ancients," which was so closely allied
to it, that more was handed down from the past than the three Blue degrees; for
the latter on their own showing are not complete without the symbolism
preserved for us in the Holy Royal Arch and other similar degrees, which did
not, it would seem, emerge in the South. The first mention of the Holy Royal
Arch comes from Youghal in Ireland in 1743; the second emanates from York in .
The "Ancients," though they had nothing to do with the "Grand
Lodge of All England" at York, nevertheless persistently refer to
themselves as York Masons, thus claiming kinship with the York tradition.
On the other hand, Murray
Lyon shows that the records reveal no traces of ritual procedure or of
speculative Masonry as we know it to-day until after the foundation of the
Grand Lodge of England in 1717, and that the speculative ritual was derived
from England after that event. No evidence exists to show that Lodge
Kilwinning, the second Lodge in Scotland according to the Schaw Statutes, whose
extant Minutes go back to 1642, ever worked any degrees other than those
belonging to Craft Masonry, either before or after the formation of the Grand
Lodge.
620A Past Master of Lodge
Canongate Kilwinning draws my attention to a serious mistake which I made in
The Hidden Life in Freemasonry (p. 119) in describing that historic Lodge as
founded in . He says:
Lodge Canongate Kilwinning
No. 2 received a Charter from the Mother Lodge at Kilwinning in Ayrshire (now
known as Lodge Mother Kilwinning No. 0) dated 20th December, 1677, and recorded
in the Minutes of Kilwinning Lodge on that date.
The Lodge history tells us
that:
At the beginning of the
eighteenth century the Lodge numbered amongst its members the foremost noblemen
and gentlemen of Scotland who were devoted to the Stuart cause.
The unsuccessful rising in
1715 sent those who had escaped death on the battlefield into exile: and
during the confusion attendant on those times, the whole early records of the
Lodge were lost or destroyed, and no trace of them can now be found. At length
the survivors, a small but trusty band, met about the beginning of 1735 and
resumed the meetings.
The earliest Minute in
preservation is dated 13th February, 1735, and begins:
Cannongate, Feby. ye 13th
A.D. 1735 A.M. .
The Lodge having met
according to adjournment do appoint. .
The Lodge is never closed,
but adjourned to the next fixed day of meeting.
Most Lodges install on S.
John the Evangelist's Day, 27th December. Lodge Canongate Kilwinning installs
on S. John the Baptist's Day, 24th June. The earliest reference in the Minutes
of this (or any Scottish) Lodge to the admission of Master Masons is on 31st
March, .
630I apologize for the error
in my previous book, and will see that it is corrected if a second edition
should be needed.
The Grand Lodge of Ireland appears
to have come into being in 1725, and the Irish rituals are clearly derived from
a somewhat different line of tradition from those preserved in Southern
England, being indeed closely allied with the York workings. The Grand Lodge of
Scotland was formed in 1736; and here again we find marked differences of
ritual and even of secrets, though there is no evidence on the physical plane
to show whence this distinctive Scottish Masonry is derived. It is from these
three Premier Grand Lodges, and from the Grand Lodge of the Ancients, now
amalgamated with the Grand Lodge of England, that all Anglo-Saxon Masonry, and
probably much of Continental Masonry also, has sprung. The details of their
workings may differ in non-essentials, but the same hallowed Mysteries were the
heritage of all, and through them have penetrated into all the world "to
be a light to those who sit in darkness" and "to guide their feet
into the way of peace".
THE "ANCIENTS"
As a further indication that
the Grand Lodge of England had not inherited the only tradition current in the
United Kingdom, we find the schismatic Grand Lodge of the "Ancients"
formed in 1751 in London, under the title of the "Grand Lodge of England
according to the old Institutions". The researches of Mr. Henry Sadler
into the archives of the Grand Lodge prove that the establishment of this body
was due to the activity of a number of Irish Masons resident in London.*
(*Gould. Concise History, p. .) They claimed affinity with the York tradition,
though not with the York Grand Lodge; and it is clear that they differed
considerably from the Modern or regular Grand Lodge of England. Their Grand
Secretary, Lawrence Dermott, says:
The Ancients under the name
of Free and Accepted Masons according to the old Institutions, and the Moderns
under the name of Freemasons of England, though similar in name, yet differ
exceedingly in makings, ceremonials, knowledge, Masonic language, and
installation, so much that they have always been, and still continue to be, two
distinctive societies totally independent of each other.* (*Quoted. loc. cit.)
Furthermore he tells us
something of the nature of such differences:
A Modern Mason may safely
communicate all his secrets to an Ancient Mason, but an Ancient cannot with
like safety communicate all his secrets to a Modern Mason without further
ceremony. For as a Science comprehends an Art (though an Art cannot comprehend
a Science), even so Ancient Masonry contains everything valuable among the
Moderns, as well as many other things that cannot be revealed without
additional ceremonies.* (*Ibid., p. .)
There is little doubt that
these differences consisted of changes in the 3°, the degree of I.M., and the
Holy Royal Arch; and they are clearly the result of the inheritance of a different
stream of Masonic tradition. It is almost certain that the Moderns did make
innovations in the ritual; they seem to have exchanged the words of the First
and Second Degrees, because of the exposures contained in Samuel Pritchard's
Masonry Dissected, which had an enormous sale in England and on the Continent,
and the old order is still preserved in Continental Masonry, especially in
Lodges working what is known as the French Rite.
THE HOLY ROYAL ARCH
The first mention in contemporary
records of the Holy Royal Arch occurs at Youghal in Ireland in 1743; and we
hear of it again in 1744 in Dr. Dassigny's "Serious and Impartial Enquiry
into the cause of the Present Decay of Freemasonry in the Kingdom of
Ireland," in which he tells us of the existence of an Assembly of Royal
Arch Masons at York - from which city the degree was introduced into Dublin;
that it was known and practised in London "some small space before";
and that the members thereof were "an organis'd body of men who have
passed the chair".* (*Quoted. loc. cit. p. .)
640We have already seen how
in ancient days the Royal Arch was associated with the 3°, as the Mark was with
the 2°; and both these items of ceremonial appear to have been included in that
corpus of tradition which reached Anderson in 17I7 or thereabouts, and to have
been worked in private in certain of the Lodges from time immemorial, although
they do not seem to have been formally sanctioned by the Grand Lodge. The first
exoteric mention of the Mark Degree occurs in the Minute-Book of a Royal Arch
Chapter in Portsmouth in .* (*Quoted. loc. cit., p. .) A careful study of
existing rituals of both these degrees shows that considerable differences
occur in English, Scottish and Irish workings; and it is clear that in their
case also many lines of tradition were handed down. Bro. A. E. Waite refers to
a ritual of the Old York Mark Lodge in his possession, which differs almost
completely from any of our present workings.* (*Emblematic Freemasonry, p. 62,
note.) It is not difficult to account for differences of ritual between
"Ancients" and "Moderns," when we consider the number and
variety of traditions handed down throughout the ages.
THE UNITED GRAND LODGE
In 1813 the two rival Grand
Lodges of England formally united, and thenceforward the United Grand Lodge of
England has been the governing body of Craft Masonry in that country. At the
union an amalgamation took place between the two lines of tradition, and
English Craft Masonry is indebted to Ireland and to York as well as to the
Apple-Tree Tavern for its methods of working. According to the Articles of
Union already noted it was agreed upon that for the future:
Pure Antient Masonry consists
of three degrees, and no more, viz., those of the Entered Apprentice, the
Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason (including the Supreme Order of the Holy
Royal Arch). But this Article is not intended to prevent any Lodge or Chapter
from holding a meeting in any of the Degrees of the Orders of Chivalry,
according to the Constitutions of the said Orders.* (*A. Q. C., xvi, .)
In such wise the Masonic
tradition became fixed, and it remains the same in essentials to-day.
CRAFT MASONRY IN OTHER
COUNTRIES
It is commonly held that Masonry
was introduced into France from England about 1732, though some think that it
came in seven years earlier under Jacobite auspices. In reality it antedates
that era altogether, for Masonic tradition of some sort had existed in France
from time immemorial, and when King James II took refuge at Clermont Abbey in
1688 he found a Masonic centre there which he tried unsuccessfully to use for
political purposes. Whether the English rite which was brought in at the date
above-mentioned linked itself in any way with the indigenous Masonry is
uncertain - there is no evidence upon the point - but French Masonry has
diverged very considerably from the English workings.
The symbolic or blue degrees
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite appear in many ways to preserve a
fuller tradition, and they probably represent another line of descent, for they
employ the ancient Chaldaean method of seating the three principal officers in
an isosceles triangle. As in the regular Grand Lodge of England prior to 1810,
there is no degree of I.M. worked on the Continent, except in bodies deriving
authority from the Grand Lodge in London. The elected Master is placed in the
Chair without ceremony, as in the older English working. The Grand Lodge of
Scotland recognized the ceremonial degree only in . It was derived from sources
accessible to the "Ancients," possibly from York. Certain of the
signs of the degree are found on the walls of Egyptian temples, and when its
inner or occult side is studied, installation into the Ch.: of K.: S.: is found
to have formed part of the genuine and immemorial tradition of the Mysteries.
Masonry is said to have
appeared in Germany in 1733, though the first known Lodge was established in
Hamburg in 1737; in Sweden it dates from 1735; while Dutch Masonry was
inaugurated in 1731, when the Duke of Lorraine was initiated at the Hague by
Dr. Desaguliers.* (*Gould, Concise
History, p. 30.) It was introduced into America before 1733, when the first
Lodge holding written authority from the Grand Lodge of England was established
in Boston.* (*Ibid., p. .) It was in reality practised in America before the
date of the founding of Grand Lodge, being carried thither by some of the
earlier settlers. Many Lodges were constituted with Scottish, Irish and "Ancient"
Warrants, which accounts for the many variations to be found in American
workings. In America to-day there are over fifty Grand Lodges with a membership
of at least two millions, many of whom also belong to various high degree
Obediences.* (*Ibid., pp. 348, .) There are nine Grand Lodges in Canada, with a
hundred and twenty thousand members, and seven Grand Lodges in Australasia,
with seventy-five thousand members.* (*Ibid., p. .) Craft Masonry flourishes
likewise in many other countries, and is unquestionably one of the greatest
powers for good in the world in this twentieth century.
Other Lines of Masonic
Tradition
650THE STREAM OF SECRET
SOCIETIES
IN the name of the Christ,
the Lord of love and compassion, that body which called itself His Church and
professed to follow Him had established a reign of terror throughout Europe,
and plunged into a mad orgy of cruelty and unbridled wickedness such as the
world has rarely seen even among the most degraded savages. It was this
desperate condition of affairs that made necessary the intentional confusion of
the inner truths of Freemasonry with the trade secrets of the operative guilds;
but that was not the only method adopted by the Powers behind to carry on the
tradition of the Light through those days of more than Cimmerian darkness.
There were also certain societies, secret or semisecret, which existed for the
express purpose of perpetuating a noble and pure teaching.
Just because they had to work
so warily and so quietly it is not easy to find traces of the activity of these
organizations; but a very earnest Mason, Mrs. Isabel Cooper-Oakley, has devoted
years of patient and laborious original research in many parts of Europe to the
study of this subject, and has published the results of her toil in Traces of a
Hidden Tradition in Masonry and Mediaeval Mysticism. From that book I extract
the following list of mystical societies, interspersed with a few names of
individual mystics:
In the third century we find
Manes, the widow's son, the link for all of those who believe in the great work
done by the "Sons of the Widow" and the Magian Brotherhood.
In the fourth century the
central figure for all occult students is the great Iamblichus, the forerunner
of the Rosicrucians.
From the third to the ninth
century the following organizations and sects appear; Manichaeans; Euchites;
Dionysian Artificers; Ophites; Nestorians; Eutychians, and the Magistri
Comacini, of whom we may read in Llorente's History of the Inquisition, and in Professor
Herzario's I Maestri Comacini. This author says: "In this darkness which
extended over all Italy, only one small lamp remained alight, making a bright
spark in the vast Italian necropolis. It was from the Magistri Comacini. Their
names are unknown, their individual works unspecialized, but the breath of
their spirit may be felt all through those centuries, and their name
collectively is legion. We may safely say that of all the works of art between
800 and 1000 A.D., the greater and better part are due to that brotherhood -
always faithful and often secret - of the Magistri Comacini."
In the tenth century we find
still the Manichaeans and the Euchites; also the Paulicians and the Bogomiles.
Eleventh century: the Cathari
and Patarini, condemned by the Roman Church, both derived from the Manichaeans;
the Paulicians with the same tradition, also persecuted; the Knights of Rhodes
and of Malta; Scholastic Mystics.
Twelfth century: the
Albigenses appear, probably derived from Manichaeans who settled in Albi; the
Knights Templars, publicly known; the Cathari, widely spread in Italy; the
Hermetists.
Thirteenth century: the
Brotherhood of the Winkelers; the Apostolikers; the Beghards and the Beguinen;
the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit; the Lollards; the Albigenses,
crushed out by the Catholic Church; the Troubadours.
660Fourteenth century: the
Hesychasts, the precursors of the Quietists; the Friends of God; German
Mysticism, led by Nicholas of Basle; Johann Tauler; Christian Rosenkreutz; the
great Templar persecution; the Fraticelli.
Fifteenth century: the
Fratres Lucis at Florence, also the Platonic Academy; the Alchemical Society;
Society of the Trowel; the Templars; the Bohemian Brothers, or Unitas Fratrum;
the Rosicrucians.
Sixteenth century: the
Rosicrucians became widely known; the Order of Christ, derived from the
Templars; Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, in connection with a secret
association; Saint Teresa; S. John of the Cross; Philippe Paracelsus; the Fire Philosophers; Militia
Crucifera Evangelica, under Simon Studion; the Mysteries of the Hermetic
Masters.
Seventeenth century: the
Rosicrucians; the Templars; the Asiatische Bruder; Academia di Secreti, at the
home of John Baptista Porta; the Quietists, founded by Michael de Molinos; and
the whole group of Spanish mystics.
Eighteenth century: the
Fratres Lucis, or the Knights of Light; the Rosicrucians; the Knights and
Brothers Initiate of St. John the Evangelist from Asia, or the Asiatische
Bruder; the Martinists; the Theosophical Society, founded in London, 1767, by
Benedicte Chastanier, a mystic Mason; the Quietists; the Knights Templars; some Masonic bodies.
The various sects and bodies
here detailed should not be understood as belonging exclusively to the century
under which they appear in the above classification. All that this list is
intended to convey is that such sects were more markedly prominent during the
century in which they are placed.* (*Op. cit., pp. 27-.)
Yet again Mrs. Cooper-Oakley
writes with deep appreciation of the work done by the Troubadours:
From the death of Manes, A.D.
276, there was an intimate alliance - even a fusion - with some of the leading
Gnostic sects, and thence do we derive the intermingling of the two richest
streams of Oriental Wisdom: the one, directly through Persia from India; the
other, traversing that marvellous Egyptian period, enriched by the wisdom of
the great Hermetic teachers, flowed into Syria and Arabia, and thence with
added force - garnered from the new divine powers made manifest in the profound
mystery of the blessed Jesus - into Europe, through Northern Africa, finding a
home in Spain, where it took deep root. From this stock sprang into full flower
that richness of speech and song for which the Troubadours will live for ever,
Manichaeans who sang and chanted the Esoteric Wisdom they dared not speak.
Next we see them dispersed in
sects, taking local names - separated in name only, but using the same secret language,
having the same signs. Thus, everywhere they journeyed, and no matter by what
name they were called, each knew the other as a "widow's son," bound
together on a Mystic Quest, knitted - by virtue of a secret science - into one
community; with them came from the East a chivalric ideal, and they chanted of
love and sang of heaven: but the love was a Divine Love, and their heaven was
the wisdom and peace of those who sought the higher life.* (*Ibid., p. .)
I have taken two long extracts
from Mrs. Oakley's book, because it is the only one of which I know which
treats in any detail of these little-known sects. Among them two stand out as
better known or at any rate more fully discussed than the others, and both of
them have to a considerable extent influenced our modern Masonic rituals,
especially those of the higher degrees. These two are the Knights Templars and
the Brethren of the Rosy Cross.
670THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
The Order of the Knights
Templars, called also the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon,
was founded in 1118 by Hugues de Payens (Hugo de Paganis), a Knight of
Burgundy, and Godefroid de St. Omer a Knight of Northern France, in order to
protect the pilgrims who flocked to the
Holy Land after the First Crusade. Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem, allotted to
those two knights and six others who joined with them quarters near the site of
Solomon's Temple, whence their name Templars was derived.
Nine years later Hugues de
Payens visited Europe with the object of placing the new Order upon a more
secure foundation and of gaining recognition and a Rule from the Pope. He
secured the enthusiastic support of S. Bernard, the great Abbot of Clairvaux,
and in 1128 a Rule, which was drawn up for them by S. Bernard himself, was
approved for the Knights Templars by the Council of Troyes. It was not,
however, until 1163 that Pope Alexander III issued the charter of the Order,
and its organization was fully established.
The Order of the Temple in
the days of its glory consisted of various grades. The Knights (fratres
milites) formed its most important section, at least from the military point of
view; at their reception they were pledged to observe the three evangelical
counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience,* (*The Reception of a Templar.
Bro. E. J. Castle, K. C. in A. Q. C., Vol. xv,
p. .) like the members of all other religious orders throughout the
Church. The Knights, who were often of high birth, were each entitled to three
horses, a squire and two tents. Married men were also received, but only on
condition of bequeathing one half of their property to the Order. No women were
admitted.
Besides these there was also
a body of clergy (fratres capellani) - Bishops, priests and deacons - who were
under the same vows as the Knights, and by special dispensation owed obedience
to no superior, ecclesiastical or civil, except the Grand Master of the Temple
and the Pope. It was laid down that the confessions of brethren of the Order
should only be heard by these special clergy; and thus their secrets were
guarded inviolate. There were also two classes of Serving Brothers, those
bearing arms (fratres servientes armigeri), and the menials and craftsmen
(fratres servientes famuli and officii).
At the head of the whole organization
stood the Grand Master; next in rank came the Seneschal of the Temple, and the
Marshal, the supreme authority in military affairs; and the Order was
administered in Provinces under a number of Commanders. After the fall of the
Latin Kingdom, the Headquarters of the Order were moved from Jerusalem to
Cyprus, and Paris became the chief Templar centre in Europe.
The influence wielded by the
Templars grew rapidly. They fought gallantly in the various Crusades, and also
became the great international financiers and bankers of the age, thereby
amassing vast riches. It is reckoned that before the middle of the thirteenth
century they possessed nine thousand manors in Europe alone. The Paris Temple
was the centre of the world's money market, and their influence and wealth in
England also were very great. In the later part of that century they are said
to have drawn a revenue amounting to nearly 2,500,000 in our money, more than that of any European
kingdom or state of that time.* (*Quelques Reflexions sur les Origines de la
Franc-Maconnerie Templiere, par le Grand
Commandeur du Supreme Conseil de Belgique (Count Goblet d'Alviella). Bruxelles,
1904, p. .) At this period the Templars were believed to number between 15,000
and 20,000 Knights and Clergy; but in attendance upon these there was a
veritable army of squires, servants and vassals. Their influence may be
estimated from the fact that members of the Order were summoned to the great
Councils of the Church, such as the Lateran Council of 1215 and the Council of
Lyons of .* (*See also Encyclopaedia Britannica, Art. Templars, from which much
of the above information is derived.)
The Knights Templars brought
back to the West a set of symbols and ceremonies belonging to the Masonic
tradition, and they possessed certain knowledge which is now given only in the
degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The Order was thus one of
the repositories of the Hidden Wisdom in Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, although the full secrets were given only to the few; alone,
therefore, among the religious Orders, their ceremonies of reception were
conducted in strict privacy. As was but natural in such an age, the most evil
and horrible practices were attributed to the Order because of this secrecy,
and stories were told which had absolutely no foundation whatever in fact.
In the Templar form of what
we now call the 18°, the Most Wise Sovereign was an ordained priest or Bishop,
and the bread and wine which was consecrated in open Chapter in the course of a
splendid ceremony was a veritable Eucharist - a wonderful blending of the
Egyptian with the Christian sacrament.
THE SUPPRESSION OF THE
TEMPLARS
680The suppression of this great
and powerful Order forms one of the darkest blots upon the tenebrous history of
the Roman Catholic Church. The reports of the French trial were published by
Michelet, the great historian, in 1851-61 and an excellent digest of the
evidence given both in France and England is contained in a series of articles
which appeared in 1907 in Ars Quattuor Coronatorum (xx, 47, 112, 269). We can
give here but a brief outline of what took place, referring those who wish for
a more detailed account to the sources quoted, and to the general literature of
the subject.
Philip the Fair, King of
France, was in desperate need of money. He had already debased the coinage, had
arrested the Lombard bankers and the Jews, and after confiscating their wealth
upon a trumped-up charge of usury - a thing abhorrent to the mediaeval mind -
had expelled them from his country. Then he determined to get rid of the
Templars, who had lent him large sums, and since the Pope, Clement V, owed his
position to the intrigues of Philip, the matter presented little difficulty.
His task was rendered easier, too, by the accusations brought against the Order
by the ex-knight Esquiu de Floyran, who had a personal interest in the matter,
and pretended to reveal all manner of evil things - blasphemy, immorality,
idolatry and the worship of the devil under the form of a black cat. This
traitor is still execrated in some of the Masonic rituals, together with one
Noffo Dei of Florence, who, however had nothing to do with the matter.
These charges were accepted
by Philip with delight, and on Friday, October 13th, 1307, all the Templars
throughout France were arrested without warning on behalf of the most infamous
tribunal that has ever existed, a collection of demons in human form called in
ghastly mockery the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which at this time held
plenary jurisdiction in this and other countries of Europe. The Templars were
horribly tortured, so that many died, and the remainder confessed in set terms
whatever the Church required. The interrogations were concerned chiefly with
the alleged denial of Christ and the spitting on the cross, and in a minor
degree with certain grave charges of immorality. A study of the evidence
reveals the entire innocence of the Templars and the diabolical ingenuity of
the familiars of the Holy Office, who kept them separated without adequate
defence or proper consultation, and
circulated among them lying rumours that the Grand Master had confessed to the
Pope that there were evils in the Order. The brethren were cajoled, bribed and
tortured into confessing crimes they had never committed, and they were treated
with the most fiendish cruelty.
Such was the
"justice" of those who bore the name of the Lord of Love in the
Middle Ages; such the compassion which was shown to His faithful servants,
whose only crime was their wealth, lawfully won for the Order, and not for
themselves. Philip the Fair obtained his money; but what karma, even in a
thousand lives of suffering, could ever be sufficient for so vile a wretch? The
Roman Church has doubtless many good deeds to its credit; but can all of them
put together ever cancel such incredible wickedness as this?
The Pope desired to destroy
the Order, and called a Council at Vienne in 1311 for that purpose, but the
Bishops refused to condemn it unheard. The Pope, therefore, abolished the Order
in private Consistory on November 22nd, 1312 (5312 A.L. - a date still
commemorated in a striking fashion in our high-grade rituals), although he
admitted that the charges were not proved. The riches of the Temple were to be
transferred to the Order of S. John: but it is certain that the French portion
found its way into the coffers of King Philip.
The last and most brutal act
of this stupendous tragedy occurred on the 14th of March, 1314, when the
venerable Grand Master of the Temple, Jacques de Molay, and Gaufrid de Charney,
Preceptor of Normandy, were publicly burned as relapsed heretics before the
great cathedral of Notre Dame. As the flames closed round him the Grand Master
summoned the King and the Pope to meet him within a year before the
judgment-seat of God, and both Pope and King were dead within twelve months.
THE PRESERVATION OF THE
TEMPLARS' TRADITION
The destruction of the Order
of the Temple did not, however, involve a complete suppression of the teaching
enshrined within it. Certain of the French Knights Templars took refuge with
their brethren of the Temple in Scotland, and in that country their traditions
became mingled to some extent with the ancient Celtic rites of Heredom, thus
forming one of the sources from which the Scottish Rite was later to be
evolved. Traditions of vengeance upon the execrable King and Pope and the
Traitor passed down throughout the ages, and were interwoven with the Egyptian
tradition corresponding to our Black Masonry, culminating in what we now call
the 30°.
It is not difficult to see
how such confusion might arise, especially among those who did not fully
understand the inner meaning of the Egyptian teaching, and how a particular and
temporary idea of vengeance might be blended with the philosophical doctrine of
the meaning of evil and retribution and its place in the divine plan. It is
these traditions of vengeance, however little understood, that form the basis
of our 30° ritual, although in modern days the tendency has been to soften the
harsh outlines as far as possible, to expunge all ideas of physical revenge,
and even, as in the French rites, to delete all reference to the Templars and
their wrongs.
Other streams said to be from
the Order of the Temple are claimed as genuine by their modern representatives,
but without sufficient reason. The French Ordre du Temple alleged a direct
succession from Jacques de Molay, and produced in support thereof the
celebrated Charter of Larmenius (which is usually considered a forgery); in any
case the Ordre du Temple had no connection with modern Masonry. The Strict
Observance, though it claimed to perpetuate Templar lines of thought, never, I
believe, held its rituals to be of ancient origin, for these clearly belong to
the eighteenth century. The modern Military and Religious Order of Knights
Templars does not claim direct descent, though it may well embody certain
genuine traditions. Its ritual is beautiful, and it appears to have been one of
those rites which have been taken up by the H.O.A.T.F. and used. The real rites
of the Templars have not survived, though it would no doubt be possible to
reconstruct them, and certain traditions about them have passed down and become
incorporated into various modern degrees.
THE ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND
The most important of the
bodies inheriting part of the Templar tradition is the Royal Order of
Scotland, though it is in reality the result of the interaction of several lines
of Masonic descent. As I have said on page 124, the doctrines which the Knights
Templars brought with them from France when their Order was suppressed in their
native country were intermingled with those of more than one of the existing
Scottish rites. Those who founded it, or at least developed its teaching,
appear to have been thoroughly eclectic, for in addition to the two sources above indicated they seem to have
assimilated a certain amount of material from the Culdees, and also from the
Jewish tradition, though using the symbology of the Second Temple. Ramsay
quotes in connection with it the Jewish legend of the sword and trowel; and it
is with the sword in one hand and the trowel in the other that the Brn. of the
Royal Order still take their O. I have already referred to its curious old
rhymed ritual, which bears internal evidence of antiquity, and teaches the
search for a lost word which is eventually found in Christ.
The Order consists of two
degrees, the first that of HRDM or Heredom, and the second of RSYCRS or the
Rosy Cross. The degree of HRDM is divided into two parts, the Passage of the
Bridge, and the Admission to the Cabinet of Wisdom. It has certain resemblances
to some of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Its form has
been very grossly corrupted to make it agree with the most extravagant form of
modern protestantism, with references to the blood of Jesus, to the lamb and
the book, etc. The quest for the Word is analagous to that undertaken in the
Rose-Croix, though the degrees are quite different. Our 18° has little to do
with the symbolism of the Royal Order, although the purpose of the two rites is
the same. The 46° of the Rite of Mizraim (Sovereign Prince Rose-Croix of
Kilwinning and of Heredom) has a close resemblance to the ritual of the Royal
Order, bearing some of the signs and much of the essential meaning. Of all
those bodies which may be thought of as developing into what afterwards became
higher degrees, this Royal Order of Scotland was the first to formulate itself
definitely, though little is heard of it in the outer world; and it may be
taken as the primary type of the Scots degrees.
THE BROTHERS OF THE ROSY
CROSS
The mysterious Order of the
Rosy Cross still remains something of a problem to the student. The glamour of
the Rosicrucian Philosophy has not yet passed away, and an enormous mass of
controversial literature has gathered about the Order, many students affirming
that it never existed at all, and that its famous manifestos were but an elaborate
hoax played upon Europe by a few unscrupulous jesters; others say that the
Society did exist, but that it was no more than an obscure Lutheran sect which
thus cleverly advertised its opinions; others, again, think that it was a
genuine school of wisdom, in which the deeper knowledge of life's secrets was
given to the few who were prepared by long discipline to receive it.
THE LITERATURE OF
ROSICRUCIANISM
The Order of the Rosy Cross
was first made known to Europe by the publication in 1614 of the Fama
Fraternitatis of the Meritorious Order of the Rosy Cross, addressed to the
Learned in General and the Govenors of Europe. This was, according to mediaeval
custom, bound up with another treatise: A Universal Reformation of the Whole
Wide World, by order of the God Apollo, is published by the Seven Sages of
Greece, and some other Litterati. Some have thought this latter to be a
Rosicrucian pamphlet, but in reality it is a translation from the Ragguagli di
Parnasso of Boccalini, and probably, as Michael Maier held, had no connection
with the Order at all.* (*A. E. Waite. The Real History of the Rosicrucians, p.
.)
The Fama Fraternitatis
contains a description of the traditional life of Christian Rosenkreutz (b.
A.D. 1378), the founding of the Order of the Rosy Cross, and his death and
burial. This is followed by a highly symbolical account of the discovery of the
Tomb of C .: R .: C .: by Brn. "of the third order and row of
succession"; and finally the resolution of the Head of the Order that it
should now be proclaimed to the Western world is narrated, and an invitation
issued (in five languages) to the learned of Europe to join the Fraternity. It
closes with the statement that:
Although at this time we make
no mention either of our names or meetings, yet nevertheless everyone's opinion
shall assuredly come to our hands, in what language so ever it be, nor any body
shall fail, whoso gives but his name, to speak with some of us, either by word
of mouth, or else, if there be some left, in writing.* (*Fama Fraternitatis,
quoted op. cit., p. .)
This extraordinary document
was followed in 1615 by another striking pamphlet, the Confessio Fraternitas
R. C. ad Eruditos Europae, which was bound up in a Latin work entitled: Secretioris
Philosophiae Consideratio Brevio a Philippo a Gabella, Philosophiae studioso,
conscripta. In the Confessio, which is divided into fourteen chapters, we have
a guarded account of the aims of the Society, the knowledge of nature's secrets
contained within its different grades, the dawn of a new age of regeneration,
and a consequent appeal to all those who had the welfare of mankind at heart,
and who cared nothing for the folly and selfishness of the "ungodly and
accursed goldmaking" mentioned in the Fama, to join the Order and partake
of its privileges:
700We affirm that we have by
no means made common property of our arcana, albeit they resound in five
languages within the ears of the vulgar, both because, as we well know, they
will not move gross wits, and because the worth of those who shall be accepted
into our Fraternity will not be measured by their curiosity, but by the rule
and pattern of our revelations. A thousand times the unworthy may clamour, a
thousand times may present themselves, yet God hath commanded our ears that
they should hear none of them, and hath so compassed us about with His clouds
that unto us, His servants, no violence can be done; wherefore now no longer
are we beheld by human eyes, unless they have received strength borrowed from
the eagle.* (*Confessio Fraternitatis, quoted op. cit., p. 90.)
The Confessio is clearly
written by one deeply versed in genuine occult lore, and contains a veiled but
unmistakable promise that real knowledge will be given to the earnest and
unselfish aspirant.
A year later a third pamphlet
was published at Strasburg called The Chymical Marriage of Christian
Rosenkreutz, supposed to have existed in MSS. as early as 1601-. It is dated
Anno 1459, and commences with the following significant warning:
Arcana publicata vilescunt,
et gratiam prophanata amittunt. Ergo: ne margaritas objice porcis, seu asino
substernere rosas.* (* "Published secrets become valueless, and things
profaned lose their grace. Therefore cast not pearls before swine, nor strew
roses before an ass." Op. cit., p. .) showing clearly that it was meant to
be taken in a mystical sense. It is a long and cryptic account, lit with gleams
of humour, of the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz into the Mysteries of the
Rosy Cross, commencing from his invitation, or awakening to the inner life, and
ending with his final triumph or regeneration as a Knight of the Golden Stone.
This is the most curious of all the Rosicrucian documents, and it will repay
the close study necessary to its comprehension; for within it are contained
some of the deepest secrets of spiritual alchemy.
The authorship of these
pamphlets has always been a matter of speculation. They have all been
attributed to Johann Valentine Andreas, a cultured and travelled German scholar
of the seventeenth century, who was much interested in secret societies, and
was a follower of the doctrines of Paracelsus. The arguments for and against
his authorship are very ably given by Bro. A. E. Waite in his Real History of
the Rosicrucians, and in his recent work, The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, in
which, however he may mistake, in our opinion, as to the real purpose and aims
of the original Order (the existence of which he denies) he has nevertheless
brought together a mass of valuable facts which throw a good deal of light upon
the whole question. Andreas acknowledges the Chymical Marriage, although he
calls it a ludibrium or jest; from his later works he seems to have turned
against the Order of the Rosy Cross, and started a new Society of his own. It
is extremely unlikely, however, that Andreas was the author of the Fama and the
Confessio.
These three documents raised
an indescribable storm of curiosity all over Europe. Numbers of students wrote
open letters applying to be admitted into the Order, and setting forth their
qualifications; but none of these seem to have been openly answered. A
multitude of pamphlets appeared, especially in Germany, some attacking the
Society, and others no less valiantly defending it; while many charlatans
arose, claiming to be Brethren of the R.C., and relieving the credulous of
their superfluous money. The most noted of the opponents of Rosicrucianism was
Andreas Libavius of Halle, who wrote three treatises against the Order, in the
last of which, "though posing as a critic, he advises all persons to join
the Order, because there is much to be learned and much wisdom to be gained by
so doing.".* (*The Real History of the Rosicrucians, p. .)
On the Rosicrucian side we
may note the Echo of the God-illuminated
Brotherhood of the Venerable Order R.C., published in 1615, and supposed
to have been written by Julius Sperber of Anholt, in which he asserts that the
Rosicrucians possessed deep wisdom, although only a few had been accounted
worthy to partake of it. The Echo claimed to embody absolute proof that the
statements of Fama and Confessio were possible and true, that the facts had
been commonly familiar to certain God-fearing people for more than nineteen
years, and that they were on record in secret writings.* (*The Brotherhood of
the Rosy Cross, p. .) Another pamphlet published in 1617, the Fraternitatis
Rosatae Crucis Confessio Recepta, declares that it requires much study and
careful research, as well as personal
sacrifice, to become the possessor of transcendental secrets.* (*The
Real History of the Rosicrucians, p. .)
But the literature of the
Rosy Cross was by no means confined to pamphlets. A system of philosophy was
put before Europe through their mediation, a philosophy which bears a striking
resemblance to that of the theurgic Neoplatonism of the third and fourth
centuries of our era. Many great names are associated with the Order; among
them was Michael Maier, who died in 1622, after writing the Silentium post
Clamores (1617); the Symbola Aureae Mensae (1617), and the Themis Aurea (1618)
- all of which expound and defend Rosicrucian and alchemical philosophy. Thomas
Vaughan, although not an actual member of the Society, was in close sympathy
with its tenets, and translated into English the Fama Fraternitatis and the
Confessio. There were Robert Flood, a great English Rosicrucian philosopher,
author of the Tractatus Apologeticus, the Tractatus Theologo-Philosophicus, and
other works; "Sincerus Renatus," or Sigmund Richter, who published in
1710 the curious work, The Perfect and True Preparation of the Philosophical
Stone, according to the secret of the Brotherhoods of the Golden and Rosy
Cross, with which is included the Rules of the above-mentioned Order for the
initiation of new Members; and, lastly, the author of the Secret Symbols of the
Rosicrucians of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, a rare book
containing a number of occult engravings which enshrine much inner teaching.
THE TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF
THE ROSICRUCIANS
The traditional history of
Christian Rosenkreutz is contained in the Fama Fraternitatis, but it obviously
cannot be accepted literally as it stands. It is clearly intended to bear an
allegorical and mystical meaning, like all the traditional histories in the
mystic schools; and, although certain historical facts may well be woven into
its structure, they can only be subordinate to the living truth its author has
sought to convey. Origen clearly states the principle always used in the
Mysteries in his De Principiis:
Where the Word found that
things done according to the history could be adapted to these mystical senses,
he made use of them, concealing from the multitude the deeper meaning; but
where, in the narrative of the development of supersensual things, there did
not follow the performance of those certain events which were already indicated
by the mystical meaning, the Scripture interwove in the history the account of
some event that did not take place, sometimes
what could not have happened; sometimes what could, but did not.* (*Origen, Bk.
IV, Chap. i, 15 (Ante-Nicene Library Ed.)
This is one of the methods by
which the secret teachings are guarded from the profane, who throw them aside,
thinking that as history they are inaccurate and uninteresting, and so
completely miss their deeper meaning.
The Fama Fraternitatis, which
admittedly contains only a tradition, written down long after the events
recorded had taken place, tells us how C .: R .: C .: was born in A.D. 1378, of
poor but noble parents, and how he entered a monastery at a very early period
of his life. While still quite young, he is said to have journeyed to Cyprus
with a Brother P.A.L., who died there. He then crossed to Palestine, and came
into touch at the age of sixteen with the wise men of Damcar in Arabia,
Who received him not as a
stranger (as he himself witnesseth), but as one whom they had long expected;
they called him by his name, and shewed him other secrets out of his cloyster,
whereat he could not but mightily wonder.* (*Fama Fraternitatis, quoted in The
Real History, etc., p. 67, from which translation the citations following are
also taken.)
There he learnt Arabic,
translated into Latin the book M., which he afterwards brought to Europe, and
in which Paracelsus was said to have been interested; and thence he travelled
to Egypt and to Fez, to become acquainted with the "Elementary
Inhabitants, who revealed unto him many of their secrets".
From Fez the Founder of the
Order is said to have crossed into Spain, where he offered his knowledge to the
learned, but "to them it was a laughing matter". He therefore
returned to Germany, his own native country, determining gradually to begin
there the foundation of the brotherhood that was destined to reform Europe. He
chose three brethren out of his own monastery to be the first Rosicrucians; and
later increased the number to eight, binding them by certain definite rules.
The brethren then went forth
to the world, leaving only two of their number to remain with the head of the
Order. In due time, Christian Rosenkreutz died, and was buried very secretly in
the tomb prepared for him, his resting-place remaining unknown even to members
of the fraternity.
At a later period, a seeming accident
revealed the door of the tomb, upon which was written in great letters:
"Post cxx Annos Patebo" - After a hundred and twenty years I will
come forth." In the midst of the tomb there shone a blazing star, and upon
the altar in the centre of the vault these significant words were engraved:
"A.C.R.C. Hoc universi compendium unius mihi sepulchrum feci" -
"I have made this my tomb a compendium of the universe." Beneath the
altar was found "a fair and worthy body . with all the ornaments and
attires. In his hand he held the parchment called T., the which next unto the
Bible is our greatest treasure, which ought not to be delivered to the censure
of the world." Various other objects were discovered -
"looking-glasses of divers virtues, little bells, burning lamps, and
chiefly wonderful artificial songs" - and most important of all, the
secret Book M. and other volumes, including certain of those of Paracelsus, the
philosopher and chemist of the sixteenth century.
Such is the traditional
history of Christian Rosenkreutz, as contained in the documents of the Order.
The form in which the story is cast shows that it is obviously not intended to
be an historical narrative. It is clearly designed as an allegory to express
certain hidden truths to those whose eyes are opened, even though historical
details are probably contained within it.
THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER
720Despite the assertions of
scholars and the absence of corroborative evidence, Christian Rosenkreutz did
indeed found the Order of the Rosy Cross, and he was in fact an incarnation of
that mighty Master of the Wisdom whom we revere to-day as the H.O.A.T.F. He was
born in 1375, three years before the date given in the Fama, and was sent, when
quite young, to a lonely monastery on the borders of Germany and Austria, where
he received his education and training. Like many such communities in the
Middle Ages, this monastery preserved a secret tradition, and its monks, who
devoted themselves to meditation, were possessed of genuine spiritual and occult
knowledge. Here Christian Rosenkreutz studied those deeper secrets of nature of
which chemistry is but the outer shell, that alchemy which is concerned
primarily with the transformation of the lead of the personality into the gold
of the spirit, and only secondarily with the transmutation of metals and the
manufacture of jewels. Christian Rosenkreutz now began to travel, and after
passing through Germany, Austria and Italy, finally reached Egypt, where he was
welcomed by the Brethren of the Egyptian Lodge of that White Brotherhood to
which in past lives he had belonged.
In Egypt Christian
Rosenkreutz was received into all the degrees of the Egyptian Mysteries, which
had been preserved by the White Lodge in direct succession from the hierophants
of old; and through him we may trace one of the most important of the lines of
succession which eventually became incorporated into the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite. Among other things he adapted, and translated into Latin from
the Egyptian, that Ritual of the Rosy Cross to which we have already referred,
and this became the prototype of the Ceremony of Perfection worked in the
Sovereign Chapters of Co-Masonry to-day.
On his return from Egypt
Christian Rosenkreutz founded the Order of the Rosy Cross, choosing here and
there a brother who was worthy to be brought into touch with the secret
Mysteries of Egypt and the profound occult knowledge which they enshrined. The
Order was always extremely limited in numbers, some thirty or forty at most,
but it had an enormous effect upon the secret tradition in Europe, and indeed
formed a Western school through which the White Lodge might be directly
reached. In later days a portion of its teaching and ritual passed into less exclusive hands, and it is
through one of these semi-exoteric bodies that the Rose-Croix Ritual was
transmitted into the keeping of the Council of Emperors of the East and West.*
(*See chapter xi.)
During its passage through
many hands ignorant of its true meaning that Ritual has suffered much distortion,
being on the one hand blended with protestant Christianity, as in English and
American workings, or rationalized beyond recognition under the auspices of
the Supreme Council of France. In our
Co-Masonic Order we have the great privilege of using, by order of the
H.O.A.T.F., an English translation of His original Latin ceremonial and I think
that we may say without exaggeration that it is one of the most stately and
beautiful rituals of the Rose-Croix in
existence.
The Rose-Croix, as we have
said before, is essentially a degree of Christhood, concerned with the
awakening of the Christ mystical within the heart, the hidden Love which is the
heart of the mystic rose, and which can only be known when the heart is laid
upon the Cross of Sacrifice; but it was
not originally intended to be an appendage to Christianity, as it has now
become in England, but rather an independent sacramental channel through which
the Lord of Love may pour down His Blessing upon initiates of every faith, for
it was founded thousands of years before the birth of the disciple Jesus in
Palestine. Thus although it is the Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed
Trinity, who is adored in the Rose-Croix, the Christ whose Love is
outpoured in the Sovereign Chapters of
Heredom, in our Co-Masonic Ritual we
speak of Him only as the Lord of Love, and do not bind our Brn.
especially to the doctrines of the last great faith which He founded in person
on earth; for He is the Lord of all religions alike, and the Rose-Croix is no less His than the glorious
sacraments of the Christian Church which
He Himself gave two thousand years ago.
The original Order of the
Rosy Cross still exists in utter secrecy, and, although it is unknown in the
outer world, its Mysteries are yet handed down on the physical plane, and it
still preserves the ancient secrets of healing and magic which its M.W.S.
brought in the fifteenth century from the Egyptian Lodge. Only very few, and
those high Initiates of the White Lodge from whence it came, are admitted to its
House of the Holy Spirit. Many have claimed and still claim to belong to it,
but it is quite independent of the many Orders and Societies, both open and
secret, which bear its hallowed name in the twentieth century. In Masonry,
however, we inherit some portion of its ritual, though but little of its hidden
lore, and the sacramental powers of the Rosy Cross yet shine through certain of
our high grades in the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite. There is thus good reason why modern Masons have claimed affinity with
the Rosy Cross, and why it has exercised so fascinating an influence over the
minds of men since it was first heard of in the seventeenth century.
It is the nearest approach to
"a higher degree" that existed in ancient Egypt; in fact, we may say
that to all intents and purposes it was a higher degree, though it never called
itself so. I have explained in The Hidden Life in Freemasonry that in Egypt
thousands of years ago there were three Grand Lodges which differed from all
the rest in their objects and workings, and that it was these three Lodges
which, at certain stated times every year, undertook the duty of flooding the
land with spiritual force by means of the magnificent ritual of The Building of
the Temple of Amen.* (*The Hidden Life in Freemasonry, p. 290.) When the Brn.
were performing that holy duty they showed their solidarity with ordinary
Masonry by opening in the 1° and raising the Lodge as quickly as possible to
the 3° before commencing their wonderful work; on the comparatively rare occasions
when they had to admit a candidate carefully selected from one of the Craft
Lodges, they did not open in Blue Masonry at all, but plunged straight into
this ceremony of the Rose-Croix.
The ritual had to be modified
somewhat in the eighteenth century to bring it into harmony with the system of
higher degrees which it had then been thought well to adopt; the list and
explanation of those degrees were added, and also the reference to Jerusalem.
The Word, which in modern Masonry has degenerated into mere initials, was then
in itself a living "word of power," pregnant with deepest meaning,
though a double scheme of initials was also used. All this needed and received
the most skilful attention when the translation from Egyptian into Latin was
made; one cannot but admire the marvellous ingenuity which, while changing the
language, yet contrived to keep practically intact the sound, the form, and an
elaborate triple set of meanings, one within the other. The eighteenth century
additions have considerably lengthened the ceremony, but they are congruous
with the older part, so that it still retains its transcendent beauty; and all
the principal features of the degree - the rose, the cross, the cup, the
sacrament - are precisely the same as they were thousands of years ago.
THE Scottish Rite
730ORIGIN OF THE RITE
THE origin of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite of 33°, or rather that of the Rite of Perfection or of
Heredom of 25° out of which it was evolved, has been one of the most obscure Masonic
problems; practically nothing is known about it by scholars, since no authentic
contemporary evidence is preserved in available documents or publications.
This silence need cause but little wonder to the student who has followed us so
far, for, like many other activities both in politics and religion, the
high-grade Masonry of the early eighteenth century was intended to be kept
secret, and the secrecy was preserved by committing nothing to writing and
leaving no trace on the physical plane. I cannot expect that my statements will
be accepted by Masonic scholars who pin their faith to documents alone, but I
shall nevertheless give a brief account of what actually took place, supplying
corroborative evidence whenever possible from reliable historians, so far as
their works are available to me. This book is written in Australia, far away
from the chief centres of Masonic life and learning, and I have consequently
had to depend largely upon the resources of my own library. If I had access to
a larger selection of Masonic volumes I should no doubt be able to find other
fragments of valuable testimony.
THE JACOBITE MOVEMENT
There has been a persistent
tradition among Continental writers upon Masonry that the Jacobites had much to
do with the development of the higher degrees of the eighteenth century; and,
as Bro. R. R. Gould points out, colour is lent to this view by the fact that
the earliest names mentioned in connection with Freemasonry in France are those
of well-known adherents of the Stuarts, although he himself rejects the
hypothesis for lack of sufficient evidence.* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., III, .) We
have the direct and personal testimony of Baron von Hund, the founder of the
Rite of the Strict Observance, given in 1764, that he himself was received into
the Order of the Temple in Paris in 1743 by "an unknown Bro., the Knight
of the Red Feather, in the presence of Lord Kilmarnock* (*At that time Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and Master of Lodge Kilwinning on his
election to that high office in . Ibid., p. .) . and that he was subsequently
introduced as a distinguished Brother of the Order to Charles Edward Stuart,
the Young Pretender".* (*Ibid., p. 10.) From papers found after his death
it is clear that von Hund regarded the Knight of the Red Feather as Prince
Charles himself. The life of von Hund shows him to have been a man of stainless
honour who had made great sacrifices for the cause which he had at heart; and
although it has been said that in 1777 Prince Charles denied to an emissary of
the Strict Observance* (*Ibid., p. 110.) that he had ever been a Freemason,
such an official démenti is not unknown even to-day in political circles, and
perhaps we need not attach great importance to it.
The Scottish adherents of
King James II, who followed him into exile after the landing of the Prince of
Orange in 1688, brought to the English Court at S. Germains (which had been
placed at the disposal of the King by Louis XIV) those ancient rites of Heredom
and Kilwinning, intermingled with the Templar tradition, to which we have
already referred. When King James II fled from England he took refuge at the
Jesuit Abbey of Clermont, which had attached to it a College of Clermont in
Paris, founded by Guillaume du Prat, Bishop of Clermont, in 1550.* (*The
Catholic Encyclopaedia (1913), Vol. xiv, p. .) There, most unexpectedly, the
King found a Masonic centre, working rites which had been handed down in France
from a remote past. An intermingling of two traditions thus took place, and it
was at this period - many years before the revival in 1717 - that certain of
the ceremonies which are to-day included in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite were first put together.
It is probably this fact
which gave birth to that other recurring tradition that the Jesuits were
connected with the development of high-grade Masonry on the Continent; and it
is from this indigenous French tradition, of which another branch had found its
way into the Compagnonnage, that the rituals of French Craft Masonry - so different
from the English - were derived. A further intermingling with the English
tradition transmitted through Anderson no doubt took place after .
King James conceived the idea
of trying to use Freemasonry to assist him in his endeavour to regain his throne;
but this attempt failed, for, though they sympathized with the King, the
Masonic authorities staunchly refused to abandon their traditional neutral
policy, or to allow the Order to become a cloak for political intrigue. The
Jacobite influence nevertheless left its traces upon this part of Masonry, and
in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite the 14° is still called, under some
Obediences, Grand Scottish Knight of the Sacred Vault of James VI, though its
older name was Grand, Elect, Ancient Perfect Master.* (*A. E. Waite. Secret
Tradition in Freemasonry, Vol. I, p. .) Baron von Hund spoke the truth when he
claimed to have met Prince Charles in Paris in 1743, and he seems to have
inherited certain lines of succession which afterwards became the heart of the
Rite of the Strict Observance. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which
practically destroyed the Jacobite movement, the connection of the Stuarts with
Masonry was dropped, and it seems probable that Baron von Hund himself composed
the Latin Rituals of the Strict Observance, which played a considerable part in
German Masonry in the eighteenth century.* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., III, 10.)
THE ORATION OF RAMSAY
After the year 1740
"Scots Degrees" sprang up in all parts of France,* (*Ibid., p. .) and
their creation and development are largely attributable to the celebrated
Oration delivered in 1737 in the Provincial Grand Lodge of England in Paris by
the Chevalier Ramsay; although the first published reference to a "Scotch
Masons' Lodge" occurs as early as 1733 in London.* (*R. F. Gould, A.Q.C.,
XVI, .)
Ramsay was born in 1681 or
1682 at Ayr near Kilwinning (though he does not seem ever to have joined that
ancient Lodge). He was converted to Catholicism by Archbishop Fenelon, whose
Life he wrote and with whom he continued to live till his death in . After that
he acted as tutor to the two sons of the rightful King James III in Rome. He
was unquestionably a learned man, a deep student both of ancient and modern
history, a D.C.L. of Oxford University and, like many other prominent
Freemasons of the period, a Fellow of the Royal Society. He never appears to
have taken much interest in Masonry, though he wrote to Cardinal Fleury, the
Prime Minister of France, in 1737 asking his protection for the Freemasons, and
stating that their ideals were very high and most useful to religion,
literature and the state. He died in .
740But although Ramsay never
did much work for Masonry, the Oration which he delivered in 1737 before the
Provincial Grand Lodge of England in Paris, of which he was Grand Chancellor
and Orator, had a profound influence upon French Masonry. It was a tolerably
good Oration, but nothing very extraordinary. None the less it appears to have
given just that impetus that was needed to set the French high-grade movement
in activity, and ever afterwards the makers of high grades looked to Ramsay as
their pattern and ensample.
He proclaimed the ideal of
Masonry to be a Universal Brotherhood of cultured men, a Spiritual Empire that
would change the world. He refers to the three degrees, and calls them Novices
or Apprentices, Fellows or Professed Brothers, Masters or Perfected Brothers -
a slightly different set of titles which may refer to a different stream of
tradition. These are required to practise respectively the moral virtues, the
heroic virtues and the Christian virtues.
According to him, Masonry was
founded in remote antiquity and was renewed or restored in the Holy Land at the
time of the Crusades. It has affinities with the ancient Mysteries, especially
those of Ceres at Eleusis, Isis in Egypt and others. The Crusaders adopted a
set of "ancient signs and symbolical words drawn from the well of
religion," which were intended to distinguish Crusader from Saracen, and
were concealed under strict pledges of secrecy. The intimate union between the
Crusading Masons and the Knights of S. John of Jerusalem is the reason why the
Blue degrees are called S. John's Masonry. The returning Crusaders brought
Lodges of Masonry to Europe, and from thence they were introduced into
Scotland, where "James, Lord Steward of Scotland, was Grand Master of a
Lodge established at Kilwinning, in the West of Scotland in 1286, shortly after
the death of Alexander III, King of Scotland, and one year before John Baliol
mounted the throne".
Ramsay goes on to explain
that by degrees our Lodges and rites were neglected almost everywhere, but
nevertheless they were preserved in all their integrity amongst those Scotsmen
to whom the kings of France confided during many centuries the safeguarding of
their royal persons. He allows that "Great Britain became the seat of our
Order, the conservator of our laws and the depository of our secrets".
Many of our rites and usages which were contrary to the prejudice of the
reformers were changed, disguised or suppressed. Thus it was that many Brn.
forgot the spirit and retained only the shell of the outer form. Masonry
however is to be restored to its pristine glory in the future.
The rituals of these Scots
Degrees are varied, but one chief idea underlies them all - the discovery in a
vault by Scottish Crusaders of the long-lost and ineffable Word, during the
search for which they had to work with the sword in one hand, and the trowel in
other.* (*Hist. Freem., III, p. .) This same symbolism of the sword and the
trowel is mentioned in Ramsay's speech, in which he derives Freemasonry from
the patriarchs and the ancient Mysteries through the Scottish crusaders; and
they are further mentioned both in the present ritual of the Royal Order of
Scotland, in which the candidate takes his O. with a sword in one hand and a
trowel in the other,* (*A. E. Waite. Secret Tradition in Freemasonry, Vol. I,
p. 40.) and in a quotation from that ritual occurring as early as 1736 in print
at Newcastle.* (*A. Q. C., XV, .) We hear of two Scottish degrees being
received by Baron C. Scheffer, the first Grand Master of Sweden, in 1737,*
(*Gould. Concise History, p. 300.) and we may perhaps suggest - though in
opposition to the theory held by most Masonic writers - that the oration of
Ramsay, although it may have helped to popularize Scottish Masonry, was in
reality an effect rather than the cause of the introduction of high-grade
Masonry on the Continent, which was all the time being quietly directed from
behind by the H.O.A.T.F.
The Scots Masters claimed
extraordinary privileges in the French Craft Lodges, and these were formally
recognized by the Grand Lodge of France in .* (*Gould. Hist. Freem., III, p. .)
They wore distinctive clothing, remained covered in a Masters' Lodge, claimed
the right to confer the Craft degrees with or without a ceremony; and
eventually the Scots Lodge actually appointed the W.M. of the corresponding
Craft Lodge without consulting the Brn. over whom he was to rule. They further
usurped the privilege of the Grand Lodge and issued warrants of constitution.
One of the most important of these is the Mere-Loge-Ecossaise of Marseilles, said to have been constituted in
1751, which worked a number of degrees not belonging to what afterwards became
the Scottish Rite, but later incorporated - at least as far as their titles are
concerned - in the Rite of Memphis of 96°. These Scots Lodges or still more,
the Royal Order of Scotland from which they arose, form the first public
manifestation of the movement for creating high degrees which reached such a
fervour of activity in the latter half of the eighteenth century.
THE CHAPTER OF CLERMONT
Our main channel of descent
lies behind the Scots Lodges, and first appears indubitably in the outer world
in the Chapter of Clermont, commonly thought to have been founded by the
Chevalier de Bonneville in 1754,* (*Ibid., p. .) but in reality a continuation
of that same Order of the Temple into which Baron von Hund was received in
1743, which was derived from the Scottish courtiers exiled at S. Germains and
from the College of Clermont. According to Thory (who, however, wrote sixty
years after the event) this Chapter was based on the three degrees of Blue Masonry,
the Scots or S. Andrew's Degree, and worked three higher grades - 5, Knight of
the Eagle or Select Master; 6, Illustrious Knight or Templar; 7, Sublime
Illustrious Knight.
In the later form in which it
emerges in 1754 both Jacobite and Jesuit connections had been dropped, and the
succession, together with certain ceremonial degrees, probably including a form
of the Kadosh, had passed into the hands of distinguished French noblemen,
courtiers, military officers, and the
elite of the professions.* (*Ibid., p. .) It was in this Chapter of Clermont
and in the Council of the Emperors of the East and West into which it was
transformed in 1758, that the colossal work of casting the ancient traditions
into a ceremonial rite was to a great extent performed; and it is in these two
bodies, which were yet one body, that the immediate origin of our Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite is to be found.
THE COUNCIL OF EMPERORS
750The Council of Emperors
was composed largely of men of noble birth and high culture who were also deep
students of the secret science, learned in various traditions of the wisdom
which had been handed down along so many lines in the past. They had inherited
not only the Clermont Rites and the Scottish lines of Kilwinning and of
Heredom, but other traditions derived directly from both Templar and
Rosicrucian sources, together with the powers of the Egyptian rite to which we
have previously referred. They were men of wide knowledge, but also apparently
of overweening pride, like so many of the nobles of the ancien regime; and the
drawing together of this body of noblemen was one of the attempts made by the
emissaries of the White Lodge to prepare them for the great changes which
should have been accomplished, had not their pride been so great, without the
horrors of the French Revolution.
A definite commission appears
to have been given to them by the
H.O.A.T.F., the Master the Comte de S. Germain Himself, to mould all
these various traditions, which He had caused them to inherit, into a rite
which should express to some extent the power for good of the Egyptian succession in a form suited to a
more modern age. These orders they proceeded to carry out as faithfully as
possible, and the result of their labours was the Rite of Perfection or of
Heredom of twenty-five degrees, all of which are still contained in our modern
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
The Council of Emperors
received much inspiration from the H.O.A.T.F., although not necessarily on the
physical plane, and it must have been far easier to influence such a body of
men than the frequentors of those Georgian taverns which were the first temples
of the English Mysteries after the great revival in . But, as with many other
attempts to synthesize a number of traditions by a committee of revision, the
Council of Emperors was hampered in its work by the necessity of including less
important materials which had come into the hands of certain of its members.
The result is seen in the inclusion of several almost meaningless intermediate
degrees, which still belong to the Scottish Rite, but are seldom or never
worked among US.
A certain marriage of
traditions took place in the case of the 18°, for the great ritual of the Rosy
Cross used for the perfecting of the Rosicrucian and Egyptian Brethren, though
shorn already of much of its ancient splendour, was blended with the old
Mithraic Eucharist handed down in the Rites of Heredom, to form the source of
our modern workings of the Rose-Croix. The Emperors' Ritual of the 30°, then
called the 24°, Grand Commander of the Black and White Eagle, Grand Elect
Kadosh, reflected far more efficiently the Egyptian teachings of Black Masonry than those which
have to-day reached us through the hands
of many editors, who were ignorant of their true meaning. The highest Degree
among them was the 25°, now our 32°, called Most Illustrious Prince of Masonry,
Grand and Sublime Knight Commander of
the Royal Secret; and the Tracing Board of the 32°, often little understood,
reflects their original plan of union with the, Hidden Light through the
passing of many rites of initiation.
There was no degree of
Sovereign Grand Inspector-General, for the 33° as such did not yet exist; but
the wonderful powers which now belong to that high rank were conferred upon
their Grand Inspectors, chosen from among the Prince Masons of the 25°; and the
great white Angels who wear the insignia of the KING were linked with these,
even as they are linked with the Brn. of the 33° to-day. The crimson Angels of
the Rosy Cross likewise attended their Sovereign Chapters, and many other
glorious powers which are ours to-day were theirs also. Thus the Council of
Emperors represents the first real attempt ever made to incorporate the full Egyptian
inner tradition into a ceremonial form; and as such it is an important landmark
in the history of Masonry.
Almost all the splendid
teaching given by the great Master the Comte de St. Germain, by Pere Joseph and
Cagliostro, and other emissaries of the White Lodge, was swept into oblivion in
the colossal tragedy of the French Revolution. The Rite of Perfection of
twenty-five degrees was carried into
STEPHEN MORIN
The scene of our story now
shifts to the
He was unfortunately by no
means an ideal Channel for spiritual force, and although he certainly
transmitted to his American Brn. the Egyptian succession of powers, he was
sometimes not in possession of the fullness of the power himself. At times he
rose splendidly to the occasion, and showed signs of distinct advancement; I
have watched him during the consecration of a Chapter of the high degrees
magnificently overshadowed by the H.O.A.T.F. Himself and the great white
Angels. But it cannot be denied that he had many faults, among others a passion
for amorous intrigues; and not infrequently the greater part of his spiritual
heritage was withdrawn, leaving him the mere seeds of the succession to
transmit to others. The reports of his misdoings were so numerous and
persistent that at one time the Council of Emperors actually withdrew his
patent; but posts were slow in those days, and before the withdrawal reached
him the Council had already cancelled it, and fully reinstated him.
Stephen Morin was also
unfortunate in his choice of lieutenants, for in many cases these were Jews of not
very good repute; and it is through these somewhat soiled hands that we must
trace the Rite of Perfection during the next forty years. The rite passed
through a period of obscuration, when the degrees were shamelessly sold to any
who would buy their titles, and the inner meaning of the ceremonies was almost
forgotten. But although the splendid occult knowledge of the Emperors was lost
and the rites became shorn of most of their power, the seeds of the succession
still passed down - until a higher class of egos was guided into the rite and a
new era began. The rite was established at Charleston in 1783 by Isaac da
Costa, who was created Deputy-Inspecter of South Carolina by Moses Hayes. It
will be seen that a succession is definitely claimed by the authorities of the
rite.
760FREDERICK THE GREAT
It was during this period of
obscuration that the curious myth of Frederick the Great arose among the Jews,
probably in order to enhance the commercial value of the degrees; and it was
apparently really believed that the King of Prussia was the Supreme Head of the
Rite, for in the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of Perfection in Albany (New York),
founded in 1767, the Lodge is required, on September 3rd, 1770, to prepare its
report for transmission to Berlin. We find also in 1785, one year before the
king's death, a letter addressed to Frederick by a certain Solomon Bush, Deputy
Grand Inspector of North America, asking for recognition of a Lodge which he
had consecrated.* (*Note Historique sur le Rite Ecoss . : Anc . : et Acc . :
Par le Souv .: Gr .: (Count Goblet
d'Alviella) p. .) It was afterwards alleged that Frederick the Great, on his
death-bed, ratified the Grand Constitutions of 1786 containing the laws that
still bind the Scottish Rite, and that he constituted the 33° in person,
delegating his powers as a Sovereign of Masonry to nine Brn. in each country.
The original Grand Constitutions were in French, but in 1834 a Latin version of
them alleged to have been signed by Frederick himself was accepted as genuine
by the Supreme Council of France; but this is now on all sides admitted to be a
forgery.
The truth is that Frederick
took no active part in the Rite of Perfection, that he neither ratified the
Constitutions nor created the 33°; and indeed to-day the majority even of the
Supreme Councils are prepared to waive the claim that they derive their
authority from Frederick the Great, whose interest in Masonry (at any rate in
later years) was but of the slightest. The grand constitutions nevertheless remain
the law of the Rite in all Supreme Councils deriving lawfully from Charleston,
and Albert Pike believed them to be genuine. As it is certain that Frederick
had nothing to do with the Rite, I fear we must regretfully conclude that both
the fourth and the fifth documents in de Grasse-Tilly's Golden Book - the
alleged Constitutions of 1762 and the Grand Constitutions of 1786 - were
forgeries. It would seem that they were sent over from Europe, perhaps in
response to a demand from the Jewish interest; and the fact that Dr. Dalcho's
father was an officer in the Prussian army who had served with great
distinction under Frederick the Great may well have disposed the Doctor the
more readily to accept these remarkable documents.
THE CHARLESTON TRANSFORMATION
The second great
transformation of the high degrees, though it was on a far smaller scale than
the first, took place at Charleston before 180. We learn from the Circular of
Dr. Dalcho that
On the 31st of May, 1801, the
Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third Degree for the United States of America was
opened, with the high honours of Masonry, by Brothers John Mitchell and
Frederick Dalcho, Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General; and in the course of the
present year (1802) the whole number of Grand Inspectors-General was completed,
agreeably to the Grand Constitutions.* (*Quoted in Mackey's Encyclopaedia. Art.
Supreme Council.)
Such is a brief account of
the formation of that which called itself the Mother Supreme Council of the
World, from which, indeed, all other Supreme Councils of the world spring, with
the exception of a few survivals of other lines of descent. It is clear from
archives in the possession of the Mother Supreme Council that up to the eve of
its formation the only degrees worked were the 25° of the Rite of Perfection.
The formation of the new Rite
was inspired and directed by the H.O.A.T.F. Himself, and the extra eight
degrees which then appeared were but rearrangements of the old twenty-five
degrees of the Rite of Perfection. Now that more advanced egos had come into
possession of the degrees, a fuller manifestation of the power behind was
permitted; and since then the Scottish Rite, though its rituals have been
altered in various countries and in various interests, has become the most
important and splendid of all Masonic Obediences.
THE SPREAD OF THE SCOTTISH
RITE
We may here refer back to the
third document in the Golden Book, the patent granted to De Grasse-Tilly by the
new Supreme Council 33° in Charleston in 1802, only a few months after its
formation, which certifies that he has been tested in all the degrees of the
Rite and authorizes him to erect Lodges, Chapters, Councils and Consistories in
both hemispheres, creating him Sovereign Grand Commander of a Supreme Council
for the Antilles for life. It is signed by Dalcho, De la Hogue and others, who
all describe themselves as Kadosh, Prince of the Royal Secret, Sov. Gr.
Inspector 33°.
770The Scottish Rite was
introduced by the Comte de Grasse-Tilly into France (1804); from France it
passed into Italy (1805), Spain (1811) and Belgium (1817). In 1824 the Supreme
Council for Ireland was formed with jurisdiction over the official degrees of
White Masonry only, because of the previous existence of Chapters and Lodges of
Rose-Croix and Kadosh belonging to the old Rite of Perfection. The Supreme
Council of England and Wales was formed in 1845, and that of Scotland a year
later.
In America in 1812 a working
jeweller named Joseph Cerneau established in Boston what he called a Sovereign
Grand Consistory of the United States. Cerneau possessed the necessary
succession, and so was able to pass on the actual powers; but as he had no
mandate from the Council of Emperors the Charleston Supreme Council denounced
his proceedings as irregular, and themselves appointed a Supreme Council for
the Northern Jurisdiction a year later. Supreme Councils deriving from Cerneau
still exist, though they are not recognized by bodies holding the Charleston
succession. Both lines, however, are valid.
The rite has spread into
almost all countries of the world, and does an incalculable amount of good to
thousands upon thousands of Brn., even though but few derive from it the full
possibilities of spiritual advancement which lie behind it. But to be brought,
however unconsciously, into touch with so holy an influence must unquestionably
uplift and bless even the least sensitive; and some touch of its hidden glory
is conferred upon all.
THE Co-Masonic Order
THE RESTORATION OF AN ANCIENT
LANDMARK
THE Co-Masonic Order is
distinguished from the rest of the Masonic world by the admission of women to
Masonry on equal terms with men. In this it is introducing no innovation into
the body of Masonry, but rather restoring one of the ancient landmarks which
was forgotten during the confusion of the Mysteries with the operative Masonry
of the Middle Ages. In both Egypt and Greece, as we have seen, women were
admitted to the Mysteries, and were able to penetrate into the inmost
sanctuaries as well as men. The officials of the masculine Craft are for the
most part against their admission to-day. They have been most strongly
impressed, and quite rightly so, with the paramount importance of keeping the
rituals and customs unchanged; but they quite wrongly regard the admission of
women as a serious departure from ancient usage. Co-Masons are equally urgent
in their respect for the traditions; but in this matter they prefer to follow
the older custom, which has also the added merit of being logical and fair.
Since reincarnation is a fact, there is no difference between the ego or soul
of a man and that of a woman; and we do not see any reason why in a particular
birth, because he happens in the course of his evolution to occupy a woman's
body, that ego should be deprived of the advantages of initiation into the
sacred Mysteries of Masonry.
THE SUCCESSION OF CO-MASONRY
The Co-Masonic Order derives its
succession of Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General of the 33° from certain Brn.
belonging to the Supreme Council of France, founded by the Comte de
Grasse-Tilly in 180. In his booklet, Universal Co-Freemasonry: What is it?, the
Very Illustrious Bro. J. I. Wedgwood, 33° gives the following account of its
foundation, which he derives from the official minutes of the Supreme Council
published in Dr. Georges Martin's Etude de la Franc-Maconnerie Mixte et de son
Organisation, and from Transaction No.1 of the Dharma Lodge, Benares:
Our own Order of Universal
Co-Freemasonry, or, to give it its French title, L'Ordre Maconnique Mixte
Internationale, is the first Masonic body which has aimed at establishing a
world-wide order to which women should be admitted on equal terms with men. Its
career began in the year . There existed a body styling itself La Grande Loge
Symbolique Ecossaise de France. It consisted of various Craft Lodges which had
broken loose from the Supreme Council in France and constituted themselves into
a Grand Lodge. It was only anticipating what the other Craft Lodges under the
Supreme Council did in 1894-97, when they organized themselves into the now
existing Grand Lodge of France, and absorbed into themselves, with one
exception, the Lodges of La Grande Loge Symbolique Ecossaise de France. This
latter body, with which we are concerned, almost at once received recognition
from the Grand Orient of France .
The principle which this
particular schism espoused was that of the autonomy of Craft Lodges, summed up
in the phrase Le Macon libre dans la Loge libre - a principle sound enough in
the main, but, it may at once be confessed, obviously not capable of
application outside certain wide limits. Still, it has always received much
recognition in France, ever since French Masonry broke away from the parent
English stem. One of the Lodges holding from this body was called Les Libres
Penseurs, and met at Pecq, a little place in the Department of Seine et Oise.
This Lodge - belonging to a then recognized Masonic Obedience - decided to
initiate a woman, a certain Mdlle. Maria Deraismes, a well-known authoress and
lecturer, noted for her service to humanitarian and feminist movements. They
did so, in the presence of a large assembly, on January 14th, . The Right
Worshipful Master, Bro. Houbron, 18°,
justified their experiment as having the welfare and highest interests
of humanity at heart, and as being a perfectly logical application of the
principle of 'A Free Mason in a Free Lodge'. The Lodge was of course suspended
for putting the family motto into practice .
780For some time Sister Maria
Deraismes did nothing in the way of extending to others the Masonic privileges
she had received. Eventually she yielded to the persuasions of friends, and
notably of Dr. Georges Martin. This latter gentleman was a member of the Lodge
Les Libres Penseurs when Mdlle. Deraismes was initiated. He gave her his
staunch support and the benefit of his wide Masonic experience throughout her
Masonic career. Upon his retirement from political life - he had been a Senator
- he devoted his energies to the helping of humanity through our Order . On
March 14th, 1893, Sister Deraismes initiated a number of ladies, in the
presence of Dr. Martin, and on April 4th of the same year La Grande Loge
Symbolique Ecossaise de France, Le Droit Humain, came into being .
In 1900 the new Grand Lodge,
with a view to extending its ramifications into other countries, found it
desirable to work the higher degrees. Aided, therefore, by Brethren in
possession of the 33° the body was raised from a Craft Grand Lodge to a Supreme
Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Mme. Marie Martin, the close
friend and collaborator of Mdlle. Deraismes, succeeded upon the death of the
latter to the leadership of the movement, Dr.
Georges Martin holding the office of Grand Orateur, and she occupied her
exalted position with distinction, with dignity, and with utter devotion, until
her demise in .
There are Lodges in France,
Belgium, England, Scotland, India, Australia, South Africa, America (over 100),
Holland, Java, Switzerland, and Norway.
We need add only a few words
about the movement in England. The first of our English lady members to enter
the Order was our highly esteemed Sister Francesca Arundale. Mrs. Annie Besant,
feeling that a Masonic movement open to men and women alike could be made a
powerful force for good in the world, who had been offered initiation by Mdlle.
Deraismes, learned of the continuance of the Order from Miss Arundale, and
sought initiation in Paris. She was subsequently created Vice-President Grand
Master of the Supreme Council and Deputy for Great Britain and its
Dependencies. The first Co-Masonic Lodge was consecrated in London in
September, 1902, by the grand Officers of the Supreme Council, under the title
of Human Duty, No. .* (*Op. cit., p. 25 ff.) (See Plates X and XI, following p.
.)
With the advent of Dr. Annie
Besant to the leadership of the Order in the British Empire, the direct link between
Masonry and the Great White Lodge which has ever stood behind it (though all
unknown to the majority of the Brn.) was once again reopened; and the
H.O.A.T.F. has taken a keen personal interest in its development. The ancient
English and Scottish succession of Installed Masters, Installed Mark Masters
and Installed First Principals of the Holy Royal Arch of Jerusalem was
introduced into Co-Masonry by sympathetic
Brn. from the masculine
Obediences, and these degrees now form part of our British Co-Masonic workings.
(Plate XII, following p. .)
THE CO-MASONIC RITUALS
In 1916, by order of the
H.O.A.T.F., the ritual of the Craft degrees was finally revised in accordance
with their ancient occult meaning, this ritual being based upon the English and
Scottish workings. Certain features, such as the recognition of the elementals
and the three symbolical journeys, were introduced from the French Craft
rituals worked under the auspices of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite -
with further modifications from occult sources. This ritual was approved by the
H.O.A.T.F. Himself, who deigned to work it in His own Lodge, afterwards making
certain suggestions, which were of course immediately adopted.
In 1923 He further most
graciously authorized an English translation of His Latin ritual of the
Rose-Croix, to be worked in those Sovereign Chapters R . C who desired to make
use of it. The celebration of this ceremonial has enormously quickened the
occult strength of our Chapters; and though as yet we cannot hope to equal the
old Egyptian working, we are able to some extent to call down and pour forth
upon the world the splendid powers of the Rosy Cross.
In 1925 the H.O.A.T.F. was
kind enough to allow the use of a Mark Ritual which had been brought into line with
the inner meaning of the degree; and in the same year He directed that a ritual
of the Holy Royal Arch should be prepared, embodying certain suggestions which
He Himself had deigned to make. Thus step by step the whole working is being
revised in accordance with the ancient knowledge, and the way to the
restoration of the Mysteries is being prepared.
790THE FUTURE OF MASONRY
Masonry must surely have a
wonderful part to play in the civilization of the future. Not for naught have
the old hallowed rites been preserved in secret and the immemorial powers of
the Mysteries transmitted throughout the ages to our modern world of the
twentieth century; for we stand to-day on the threshold of a new era, which
will be heralded by the coming forth once more of the World Teacher, the Lord
of Love Himself, who taught in Palestine two thousand years ago. We have seen
that human evolution takes place according to a cyclic law; race succeeds race,
and subrace follows subrace according to the plan of the Great Architect of the
Universe, working in this world through that White Lodge which is the guardian
of humanity. The time has come for the blossoming of a new subrace, the sixth
of our great Aryan race, and it is already beginning to appear in North
America, Australia and other lands. In that subrace, as in all the others,
there will be egos of different temperaments; some no doubt will seek their
inspiration in the liberal forms of Catholic Christianity, but others will
find themselves attracted to the philosophic and ceremonial teaching formerly
given in the Mysteries of Egypt which are the heritage of the Masonic
brotherhood.
The coming of the World
Teacher has always in the past marked a revival or an inauguration of the
Mysteries. Thoth in Egypt, Zoroaster in Persia, Orpheus in Greece - each of
these mighty Messengers of the White Lodge, who were yet one Messenger
appearing under different names and in different forms, left behind Him a
glorious rite of initiation to lead men to His feet after He had gone. That
great Teacher of mankind passed from human sight as Gautama the Lord Buddha;
but the sceptre of the Lord of Love was placed by the spiritual KING in the
hands of His successor, whom to-day we revere as the Lord Christ, whose coming
we await with hearts filled with longing love.
He, too, will surely take the
sacred vessels of the Mysteries and fill them anew with His own wonderful life;
He, too, will mould them according to the needs of His people and the age in
which they live. For the influence of the sixth ray, the ray of devotion which
inspired the Christian mystics and the glorious Gothic architecture of the
Middle Ages is passing away, and the seventh ray is beginning to dominate the
world - the ray of ceremonial magic which brings the especial cooperation of
the Angelic hosts, of which Masonry itself with its many coloured pageant of
rites is a splendid manifestation. Thus in the coming days when the Lord of
Love who is our Most Wise Sovereign and the Prince of Sovereign Princes will
visit yet again His holy sanctuaries - guarded throughout the ages by His great
Disciple, the Prince-Adept of the seventh ray and the Master of our Craft - we
may look for a restoration to the worthy, and to the worthy alone, not only of
the full splendour of ceremonial initiation, once more to be a true vehicle of
the Hidden Light, but also of that secret wisdom of the Mysteries which has
long been forgotten in the outer Lodges and Chapters of the Brotherhood.
Such surely is the destiny that
awaits our beloved Order in the future; such the splendour that will
transfigure the Craft in the years that are to come, until within its temple
walls once more is raised - not only in symbol but in actual fact - the ladder
which stretches between earth and
heaven, between men and the Grand Lodge above, to lead them from the darkness
of the world to the fullness of light in God, to the Rose which ever blossoms
at the heart of the Cross, to the Blazing Star whose shining brings peace and
strength and blessing to all the worlds.
TRANSMUTEMINI, TRANSMUTEMINI
DE LAPIDIBUS MORTUIS IN
LAPIDES VIVOS
PHILOSOPHICOS S ... M ... I ... B ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX I
THE DEGREES OF THE RITE OF
PERFECTION
COMPARED WITH THOSE OF
THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED
SCOTTISH RITE
APPENDIX I
LIST OF TWENTY FIVE DEGREES
WORKED BY THE
COUNCIL OF EMPERORS OF THE
EAST AND WEST
1758
LIST OF DEGREES OF THE RITE OF PERFECTION
LIST OF CORRESPONDING DEGREES OF THE
ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE
1° Apprentice
2° Companion
3° Master
4° Secret Master
5° Perfect Master
6° Intimate Secretary
7° Intendant of the Buildings
8° Provost and Judge
9° Master Elect of Nine
10° Master Elect of Fifteen
11° Illustrious Elect Chief of the Twelve
Tribes
12° Grand Master Architect
13° Knight Royal Arch
14° Grand Elect, Ancient Perfect Master
15° Knight of the Sword or of the East
16° Prince of Jerusalem
17 ° Knight of the East and of the West
18° Knight Rose-Croix
19° Grand Pontiff or Master ad Vitam
20° Grand Patriarch Noachite
21° Grand Master of the Key of Masonry
22 ° Prince of Libanus, Knight Royal Arch
alternatively Royal Axe**
23° Knight of the Sun, Prince Adept, Chief
of the Grand Consistory.
24° Illustrious Chief Grand Commander of
the White and Black Eagle, Grand Elect Kadosh
25° Most Illustrious Sovereign Prince of
Masonry, Grand Knight, Sublime Knight Commander of the Royal Secret
Entered Apprentice
Fellow Craft
Master Mason
The same
"
"
8°
7°
The same
Illustrious Master Elect of Fifteen
Sublime Knight Elected
The same
Royal Arch of Enoch
Grand Scottish Knight of the Sacred Vault
(of James VI)* or Sublime Mason
The same
"
"
Sovereign Prince of Rose-Croix
Grand Pontiff or Sublime Scotch Mason
21° Noachite or Prussian Chevalier
20° Venerable Grand Master of Symbolic
Lodges
The same
28°
30°
32°
* This is clearly a later
title, and in the Master the Count's list the degree is given as Grand Elect,
Perfect and Sublime Mason.
** This is obviously a
confusion in sound, the word being Hache or Axe. Count Goblet D'Alviella has
pointed out both in this connection and in that of the Royal Arch that the
names in French show that they are not of French origin. The French would be Chevalier
de l'Arche Royale, not du Royale Arche, had the degrees originated in France.
It seems quite possible that this may be true of the Royal Arch of Enoch, and
that the Royale Hache may have been made to agree.
The Brn. of the highest
degree were termed the Council of the Emperors of the East and West, Sovereign
Prince Masons, Substitutes-General of the Royal Art, Grand Surveillants and
Officers of the Grand Sovereign Lodge of S. John of Jerusalem; and the rite
which they worked was called the Rite of
Perfection or of Heredom.
There was also an Office or
Rank of Grand Inspector, though there was no degree of Sovereign Grand
Inspector-General until the beginning of the nineteenth century.
On the formation of the Mother
Supreme Council at Charleston in 1801, eight further Degrees were added to the
25° to make the total of 33°. It is supposed that these were drawn from
Continental sources. Most of them were previously worked under a Grand Chapter
of Prince Masons in Ireland. They received the approval of the H.O.A.T.F.
These are:
23° Chief of the Tabernacle
24° Prince of the Tabernacle
25° Knight of the Brazen
Serpent
26° Prince of Mercy
27° Sovereign Commander of
the Temple
29° Grand Scottish Knight of
St. Andrew
31° Grand Inquisitor
Commander
33° Sovereign Grand
Inspector-General
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX II
TABLE OF PRINCIPAL MASONIC
EVENTS FROM 1717
NOTE
The history of Freemasonry,
and more especially of its higher degrees and what are called the side degrees,
during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is so extraordinarily confused
and questionable that I think it is advisable to arrange its principal events
in chronological order, in tabular form, and in parallel columns, tracing its
development in England, on the Continent of Europe, and in North America
respectively. The organization whose story we are trying to follow is after all
a secret organization; it moves steadily on its way in the privacy of its Lodge
rooms, and it is only rarely and as it were by accident that any reference to
it or to its proceedings appears in the light of day. Little wonder that
accounts are scrappy, and difficult to reconcile one with another; we are
dealing with sporadic and largely accidental manifestations, and no outer
indication has before been given, so far as I know, to the inner clue which
makes all the confusion clear. That clue is of course the existence of the
H.O.A.T.F., who is acting all the time for Masonry the part popularly assigned
to Providence - watching over it, guiding its activities in this direction or
that, stimulating it where it needs stimulation, bringing it to the surface in
one place, and letting it sink out of sight in another, and seeing that, in one
way or another, its existence is maintained and its light ever kept burning. He
is the true Hidden Life in Freemasonry to whom my previous volume referred; it
is His energy flowing through it which has kept this wonderful body alive;
while He continues to inspire it, we need have no fear for its future.
TABLE OF PRINCIPAL MASONIC
EVENTS FROM 1717
DATE
GREAT BRITAIN
FRANCE
AMERICA
1717
Foundation of the Grand Lodge of England
Clermont Degrees and Rites of Heredom
practised privately.
Masonry of various rites existing but
unorganized, introduced by settlers.
1722
First reference to degrees higher than
Blue Degrees. Robert Samber.*
1723
References to the Arch and Mark of a Master in A Mason's Examination,
published in The Flying Post.
1729
Ephraim Chambers in Cyclopaedia referred
to Masons "who have all the character of Rosicrucians".
1732
Introduction of the English tradition of Craft Masonry.
1733
First mention of a Scotch Mason's Lodge in
Dr. Rawlinson's List of Lodges. Also in same List the first mention in print of
a Master Mason's Lodge was made.
A Lodge of S. John founded in Boston.
1735
Oration of the Provincial Grand Master of Durham
quoting twelve verses on the use by the Jews of the Sword and Trowel; now used
in the rhymed ritual of the Royal Order of Scotland.
1737
Baron Scheffer, first Grand Master of
Sweden, received the Three S. John's Degrees in Paris, and also two Scottish
Degrees. Chevalier Ramsay's famous Oration in Paris gave an impetus to
high-degree movement in France.
1738
Anderson's Book of Constitutions (Second
Edition) published.
First condemnation of Freemasons by Papal
Bull In Eminente.
Duc d'Antin succeeded Lord Derwentwater
as Grand Master of France.
A Master's Lodge established in Boston.
1740
An itinerant peddler of the Royal Arch
degree is said to have propagated it in Ireland, claiming that it was practiced
in York and London.
Rise of Scots Lodges in all parts of
France. Many rituals existed, exceedingly diverse in character. Chief theme the
Recovery of a Lost Word in a Secret Vault by Scottish Crusaders. Scots Masters
claimed extraordinary privileges in Blue Lodges.
1741
Masons of Lyons are said to have
introduced the Kadosh Degree, but there is no direct evidence of this.
1743
Stirling Rock Royal Arch Chapter of
Scotland has Minutes dating from this year.
First decisive reference to Royal Arch in
Ireland in contemporary report of proceedings of a Lodge at Youghal.
Baron von Hund was received into the Order
of the Temple by "the Knight of the Red Feather," and presented to
Prince Charles Edward Stuart in Paris.
1744
Dr. Dassigny's Serious and Impartial
Enquiry referred to an Assembly of Royal Arch Masons at York, whence the degree
was introduced into Ireland. Known and practised also in London "some
small space before," and described as "an organized body of men who
had passed the Chair".
1746
Regulation of fees at Swalwell Lodge for
the admission of Harodim; cf. the first degree of the Royal Order, i. e., HRDM,
the second being RSYCRS. Five Brn. made Scots Masons in the Old Lodge at
Salisbury.
1751
Formation of the Grand Lodge of the
"Ancients" who accused the "Moderns" of having altered the
ritual and changed the landmarks.
About this date was founded the Mere-Loge
Ecossaise, working a number of degrees not belonging to our Scottish Rite.
Marseilles.
This was probably descended from a Scots
Lodge which had assumed the right to constitute other Lodges. Among these
degrees we find Rosecroix and the degree of Knight of the Sun. These do not
appear before 1765, however, and appear before 1765, however, and appear before
1765, however, and were probably taken from the Emperors. Certain of the other
degrees all found in the Rite of Memphis.
1753
Under date December 22, the Minutes of
Fredericksburg Lodge, Virginia, are said to contain the earliest known record
of the Royal Arch degree in actual working.
1754
Foundation of the Rite of the Strict
Observance, claiming unknown Superiors, said by its founder to derive from
Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1743, and hence from the Scottish Templars. This
system very popular in Teutonic Masonry.
Foundation of the Chapter of Clermont,
said to have worked Templar Degrees superimposed upon the Scots Degrees.
Composed of high members of the nobility.
College de Valois of Knights of the East.
Composed of bourgeois.
1755
May have worked ten degrees. In rivalry to
Chapter of Clermont. Grand Lodge of France recognized the privileges claimed by
Scots Masons.
1757
Scots Lodges and Degrees of Masonic
Chivalry condemned by Grand Lodge, Maningham Letters, as innovations.
1758
Under the direction of the H.O.A.T.F. the
Chapter of Clermont was expanded into the COUNCIL OF THE EMPERORS OF THE EAST
AND WEST. This was Composed of some of the highest nobility of the country. It
worked the Rite of Perfection or Heredom; a list of its degrees will be found
in Appendix I.
1761
The Grand Lodge of All England at York
revived. Said t0 have recognized Templars and Royal Arch besides Blue Degrees.
Stephen Morin received from the COUNCIL OF
THE EMPERORS the rank of Inspector-General and a commission to establish the
Rite of Perfection in America.
1763
Stephen Morin founded the Rite of
Perfection in San Domingo.
1766
A Chapter of True and Ancient Rose Croix
Masons was established at Marburg, Germany, by F.J.W. Schroder.
1769
Earliest known reference to the Mark
Degree occurs in the Minute Book of a Royal Arch Chapter in Portsmouth.
1770
Stephen Morin created a Council of Princes
of the Royal Secret 25° at Kingston, Jamaica.
1772
Louis Claude de S. Martin created Knight
of the Rose-Croix by Marlines de Pasqually, at Bordeaux.
(Period of the Jews)
Morin conferred the rank of
Inspector-General upon Franklin of Jamaica, he in turn upon Moses Hayes of
Boston, and he upon Spitzer of Charleston. All these Inspectors met at
Philadelphia to confer the Inspectorship upon Moses Cohen of Jamaica, who in
turn gave it to Isaac Long.
1777
A Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch
established in London.
1786
At
some period during the latter half of the eighteenth century the Rite of
Perfection was taken to England, and worked in Templar Conclaves. (Yarker
gathered up the threads of this succession in his Supreme Council 33°).
These were also introduced into Ireland
before the formation of the Mother Supreme Council at Charleston, and were
worked under a Grand Chapter of Prince Masons and Templar Grand Con clave. The
degrees of Kadosh and Rose-Croix were thus already in possession when the
Supreme Council of Ireland was introduced.
Institution by the Grand Orient of France
of the French Rite of 7°, the highest being Rose-Croix. The Rite of Perfection
absorbed into the Grand Orient.
1791
THE REVOLUTION.
Rite of Perfection disappeared from
public view.
At some time during this period the myth
of the formation of the 33° by Frederick the Great arose and the alleged Grand
Constitutions of1762 and 1786 were produced. Who was originally responsible for
these is not known, but there is clearly no foundation for them, though they
were widely accepted as genuine.
1796
Isaac Long conferred the Inspector ship
upon Comte de Grasse Tilly, founder of the Supreme Council of France, upon his
father-in-law, De la Hogue, and a number of others.
1801
Formation of the MOTHER SUPREME COUNCIL OF
THE WORLD at Charleston. Eight degrees were added to the 25 of the Rite of
Perfection.
1802
A Scottish Rite of 33° is said to have
been formed in Paris.
De Grasse Tilly and De la Hogue formed a
Supreme Council 33° in Port-au-Prince.
1804
Formation of the Supreme Council 33° of
France by De Grasse-Tilly in Paris. This body underwent various vicissitudes,
but is now flourishing.
1805
(Supreme Council of Italy formed).
1810
The Degree of Installed Master sanctioned
by the Regular Grand Lodge of England. The Ceremony was ranked as a landmark,
and Masters of London Lodges were cited to appear for Installation as Rulers in
the Craft.
Patent said to have been granted by
Lechangeur to Marc Bedarride for the promulgation of the Rite of Mizraim.
1811
(Formation of the Supreme Council of
Spain.)
1812
A working jeweller named Joseph Cerneau
established what he called a Sovereign Grand Consistory of the United States. Cerneau
possessed the necessary succession, but had no mandate from the COUNCIL OF
EMPERORS, SO the Charleston Supreme Council denounced his proceedings as irregular.
1813
Union between the "Ancients" and
the "Moderns".
Formation of the United Grand Lodge of
England, recognizing three degrees
including the Holy Royal Arch.
Supreme Council 33° of the Northern
Jurisdiction of the U.S.A. formed.
1817
(Formation of the Supreme Council of
Belgium at Brussels).
1821
Foundation of the Grand Lodge of France.
1824
Formation of the Supreme Council of
Ireland, with jurisdiction over 31°, 32°, and 33° only, because of the previous
existence of the 30° and the 18°. The 28° Prince Adept, Knight of the Sun,
which also belonged to the Rite of Perfection, is said to be still worked in
Ireland.
1838
The Rite of Memphis introduced into Paris
as a system of 95°. Marconis the younger elected Grand Hierophant.
1845
Formation of the Supreme Council of
England and Wales.
1846
Formation of the Supreme Council of
Scotland.
1856
Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons formed
in London.
1862
Rite of Memphis was placed by its Grand
Hierophant under the Grand Orient of France. He resigned his powers over it.
Sovereign Sanctuary 95° of the Rite of Memphis
consecrated by the Grand Hierophant, Harry J. Seymour, Sovereign Grand Master
96°.
1865
The Degrees of the Rite of Memphis were
reduced from 95° to 33°, the essential degrees being preserved.
The Grand Orient suppressed the higher
degrees of the Rite, but allowed a few Craft Lodges to continue.
Division in the Sovereign Sanctuary of
America. Harry J. Seymour agreed to the reduction. Calvin C. Burt formed a
clandestine Sovereign Sanctuary of the Egyptian Masonic Rite of Memphis,
working 96°. This body seems to have sold the degrees shamelessly, and its
history is of the most sordid character.
(Harry J. Seymour also inherited the
Cerneau Tradition of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite 33°, and was
Sovereign Grand Commander of a Supreme Council 33° deriving from him.
1872
The Sovereign Sanctuary for Great Britain
and Ireland was consecrated by Harry J. Seymour, John Yarker being Sovereign
Grand Master.
1875
(Convention of Supreme Councils at
Lausanne).
1876
Formation of a Supreme Grand Council
General of the Rite of Mizraim was effected within the bosom of the Sovereign
Sanctuary, Yarker as Chief of the Rite.
1879
Grand Loge Symbolique de France formed
from a secession of Rose-Croix Chapters belonging to the Supreme Council 33°
of France.
1882
Initiation of Mlle. Maria Deraismes in the
Lodge "Les Libres Penseurs," belonging to this Body. Consequent
suspension of the Lodge.
1893
Grande Loge Symbolique Ecossaise Mixte de
France founded by Dr. Georges Martin and Mlle. Maria Deraismes.
1900
Supreme Conseil Universel Mixte 33° formed
by Dr. Georges Martin 33° and other Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General deriving
their succession from the Supreme Coucil of France.
1902
Mrs. Annie Besant was initiated into
Co-Masonry. Consecration of first Co-Masonic Lodge in England. (Human Duty No.
.)
Co-Masonry introduced into America, both
Craft and higher degrees.
During the next few years the English
Succession of Installed Masters was introduced into Co-Masonry by Installed
Masters of the English Craft. The Mark and the Holy Royal Arch were likewise
introduced. The Craft Rituals were brought into line with English workings.
The higher degrees were also introduced
into English Co-Masonry.
1914
The Rt. Rev. J. I. Wedgwood received the
degrees of Prince Patriarch Grand Conservator 33°, 95° of the Rite of Memphis;
Absolute Grand Sovereign 33°, 90°, of the Rite of Mizraim; and Sovereign Grand
Inspector General 33° of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (Cerneau) by
Yarker in person.
*In Robert Samber's
Dedication in a Hermetic Tact entitled "Long Livers" appearing in
1712 under the pseudonym of Eugenius Philalethes,
Junior, and addressed to members
of the Grand Lodge of England, we find what many have thought to be an allusion
to higher degrees. Samber distinguishes between those "who are not far
illuminated" and those "who have greater light; ' who are "of
the higher class; and "are illuminated with the sublimest mysteries and
profoundest secrets of Masonry"; and he speaks to those Masons of the
higher degree which is found "behind the veil". Bro. A. E. Waite, who
has deeply studied the alchemical tradition, holds that these quotations refer rather
to progress in the secrets of alchemy; yet even if that be so, the remarks are
of interest, only five years after the foundation, in a tract actually
dedicated to the Grand Lodge.
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