Theosophical Society,
Charles
Webster Leadbeater
The Hidden Life in Freemasonry
by
C. W. Leadbeater 33°
First Published 1926
FOREWORD
IT is once more my privilege to usher into the world, for the
helping of the
thoughtful, another
volume of the series on the hidden side of things written by
Bishop Charles W. Leadbeater. True Mason that he is, he is ever
trying to spread the Light which he has received, so that it may chase away the
darkness of Chaos. To look for the Light, to see the Light, to follow the
Light, were duties familiar to all Egyptian Masons, though the darkness in that
This book will be welcomed by all Freemasons who feel the beauty of
their
ancient Rite, and
desire to add knowledge to their zeal. The inner History of
Masonry is left aside for the present, and the apprentice is led by
a
trustworthy guide
through the labyrinth which protects the central Shrine from
careless and idle
inquirers. Places that were obscure become illuminated; dark
allusions are changed to
crystal clarity; walls which seem solid melt away;
confidence replaces
doubt; glimpses of the goal are caught through rifts in the
clouds; and the
earth-born mists vanish before the rays of the rising sun.
Instead of fragments of half-understood traditions, confused and
uninterpreted,
we find in our
hands a splendid science and a reservoir of power which we can
use for the
uplifting of the world. We no longer ask: “What is the Great Work?
We see “that it is nothing less than a concerted effort to carry
out the duty
that is laid upon
us, as those who possess the Light, to spread that Light
abroad through the
World, and actually to become fellow-labourers with
T.G.A.O.T.U. in His great Plan for
the evolution of our Brn”.
The detailed explanations of the ceremonies are profoundly
interesting and
illuminative, and I
commend them very heartily to all true Freemasons. Our V
.·.·. I .·.·. Brother has added a heavy
debt of gratitude by this book to the
many we already
owe him. Let us be honest debtors.
Adyar
ANNIE BESANT
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
THE Masonic fellowship differs from all other societies in that
candidates for
membership have to join it blindfold, and cannot receive much
information about it until they actually enter its ranks. Even then the
majority of Masons usually obtain only the most general idea of the meaning of
its ceremonies, and seldom penetrate further than an elementary moral
interpretation of its principal
symbols. In this book it is my object, while preserving due secrecy
upon those
matters which must be kept secret, to explain something of the
deeper meaning
and purpose of Freemasonry, in the hope of arousing among the Brn.
a more
profound reverence for that of which they are the custodians and a
fuller
understanding of the mysteries of the Craft.
Although the book is primarily intended for the instruction of
members of the
Co-Masonic Order, whose desire, as is expressed in their ritual, is
to pour the
waters of esoteric knowledge into the Masonic vessels, I hope
nevertheless that
it may appeal to a wider circle, and may perhaps be of use to some
of those many Brn. in the masculine Craft who are seeking for a deeper
interpretation of
Masonic symbolism than is given in the majority of their Lodges,
showing them
that in the ritual which they know and love so well are enshrined
splendid
ideals and deep spiritual teachings which are of the most absorbing
interest to
the student of the inner side of life.
Before we can gain this fuller understanding we must have at least
some slight
acquaintance with certain facts concerning the world in which we
live - a world
only half of which we see or understand. Indeed, undignified as the
statement
sounds, it is quite true that our position resembles very closely
that of a
caterpillar feeding upon a leaf, whose vision and perception extend but very
little beyond the leaf upon
which he crawls. How difficult it would be for such
a caterpillar to transcend his limitations, to take a wider view,
to understand
that his leaf is part of a huge tree with millions of such leaves,
a tree with a
life of its own - a life outlasting a thousand generations of lives
such as his;
and that tree in turn only a unit in a vast forest of dimensions
incalculable to
his tiny brain! And if by some unusual development one caterpillar
did catch a
glimpse of the great world around him and tried to explain his
vision to his
fellows, how those other caterpillars would disbelieve and ridicule
him, how
they would adjure him to waste no time on such unprofitable
imaginings, but to
realize that the one purpose of life is to find a good position on
succulent
leaf, and to assimilate as much of it as he can!
When later on he becomes a butterfly, his view widens, and he comes
into touch
with a beauty, a glory and a poetry in life of which he had no
conception
before. It is the same world, and yet so different, merely because
he can see
more of it, and move about in it in a new way. Every caterpillar is
a potential
butterfly; and we have the advantage over these creatures in that
we can
anticipate the butterfly stage, and so learn much more about
our world, come
much nearer to the truth, enjoy life much more, and do much more
good. We should study the hidden side of every-day life, for in that way we
shall get so much more out of it. The same truth applies to higher things - to
religion, for
example. Religion has always spoken to mankind of unseen things
above - not only far away in the future, but close around us here and now. Our
life and what we can make of it largely depend upon how real these unseen
things are to us.
Whatever we do, we should think always of the unseen consequences
of our action. Some of us know how useful that knowledge has been to us in our
Church Services; and it is just the same in freemasonry.Though this vast inner
world is unseen by most of us, it is not therefore invisible. As I wrote in The
Science of the Sacraments:
There are within man faculties of the soul which, if developed, will
enable him
to perceive this inner world, so that it will become possible for
him to explore
and to study it precisely as man has explored and studied that part
of the world
which is within the reach of all. These faculties are the heritage
of the whole
human race; they will unfold within every one of us as our
evolution progresses;
but men who are willing to devote themselves to the effort map gain
them in
advance of the rest, just as a blacksmith’s apprentice,
specializing in the use
of certain muscles, may attain (so far as they are concerned) a
development much greater than that of other youths of his age. There are men
who have these
powers in working order, and are able by their use to obtain a vast
amount of
most interesting information about the world which most of us as
yet cannot see.
… Let it be clearly understood that there is nothing fanciful or
unnatural about
such sight. It is simply an extension of faculties with which we
are all
familiar, and to develop it is to make oneself sensitive to
vibrations more
rapid than those to which our physical senses are normally trained
to respond.*
(*Op. cit., pp. 9, 10.)
It is by the use of those perfectly natural but super-normal
faculties that much
of the information given in this book has been obtained. Anyone
who, having
developed such sight, watches a Masonic ceremony, will see that a
very great
deal more is being done than is expressed in the mere words of the
ritual,
beautiful and dignified as they often are. Of course, I fully understand
that
all this may well seem fantastically impossible to those who have
not studied
the subject at first-hand; I can but affirm that this is a clear
and definite
reality to me, and that by long and careful research, extending
over more than
forty years, I am absolutely certain of the existence and
reliability of this
method of investigation.
It is no new discovery, for it was known to the wise men of old;
but, like so
much else of the ancient
wisdom, it has been forgotten during the darkness of
the early Middle Ages, and its value is only gradually being rediscovered; so
to many it appears unfamiliar and incredible. We have only to
remember how
utterly inconceivable the wireless telegraph, the telephone, the
aeroplane or
even the automobile would have seemed to our great-grandfathers, in
order to
realize that we should be foolish to reject an idea merely because
we have never
heard of it before. Only a few years ago the powers of research put
at our
disposal by the invention and development of the spectroscope were
as far beyond popular thought as those of clairvoyance are now. That by it we
could discover the chemical constitution and measure the movements of stars
thousands of millions of miles away might well have been regarded as the
baseless fabric of a dream. May not other discoveries be impending?
Men of high scientific attainments, such as Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir
William
Crookes, Professor Lombroso,
M. Camille Flammarion and the late Professor
Myers, who have taken the trouble to inquire into this matter of
inner sight,
have convinced themselves that this faculty exists; so if there be
those among
the Brn. to whom this claim seems ridiculous, I would ask them
notwithstanding
to read on and see whether the knowledge obtained by a means which
is strange to them does not nevertheless supply for obscure or incomprehensible
points in our ritual an explanation which commends itself to their reason and
common sense.
That which gives them a better grasp of the meaning underlying the
mysteries of
our Craft, and thereby increases their veneration and love for it,
cannot be
unworthy or absurd. Any student who wishes to know more of this
fascinating
subject may be referred to a little book entitled Clairvoyance,
which I wrote
some years ago.
I should like strongly to recommend for the perusal of my Brn. Of
the Craft two
books by Wor. Bro. W. L. Wilmhurst - The Meaning of Masonry and The
Masonic Initiation; I have myself read them with great delight and profit, and have
gathered many gems from their pages.
[Note: While this paragraph is missing in First Edition, in Second
Edition it is
indicated as part of First Edition.]
I desire to offer my heartiest thanks to the Rev. Herbrand
Williams, M.C., B.A.,
for his kindness in placing at my disposal his vast stores of
Masonic erudition,
and for many arduous months of patient and painstaking research;
also to the
Rev. E. Warner and Mrs. M. R. St. John for the careful drawing of
the
illustrations, and to Professor Ernest Wood for his untiring
assistance and
cooperation in every department of the work, without which the
production of the book would not have been possible.
C. W. L.
Second Edition
In this second edition a few trifling corrections have been made,
and some
additional information has been given with regard to certain higher
degrees.
C. W. L.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Author's Preface
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
Personal Experience. Egyptian Evidences. Preservation of Rituals
and Symbols.
The Egyptian Outlook. The Hidden Work. The Egyptian Race. The Grand Lodges. The Ordinary Lodges.
The History of Masonry.
CHAPTER II
THE LODGE
Form and Extension. Orientation. The Celestial Canopy. The Altar. Pedestals
and Columns. Orders of Architecture. Meaning of the Three Columns. The Pillars
of the Porchway.
CHAPTER III
THE FITTINGS OF THE LODGE
The Ornaments. The Mosaic Pavement. The Indented Border. The
Blazing Star. The Furniture. The Movable Jewels. The Immovable Jewels.
CHAPTER IV
PRELIMINARY CEREMONIES
The Co-Masonic Ritual. The Procession. The Apron. The Ceremony of
Censing. Lighting the Candles.
CHAPTER V
THE OPENING OF THE LODGE
The Brethren Assist. Tyling the Lodge. The E.A. S ... n. The
Officers. The
Duties. The Opening. The E.A. K … s.
CHAPTER VI
INITIATION
The Candidate. Divisions of the Ceremony. Preparation of the
Candidate. The
Inner Preparation. The Three Symbolical Journeys. The O …. The E ….
I L … s. The S … and P … Examination and Investiture. The Working Tools.
Egyptian Interpretation of the Working Tools.
(Second Edition: The Working Tools, and the Egyptian Interpretation
of Them.
CHAPTER VII
THE SECOND DEGREE
The Questions. The Preparation. The Inner Preparation. The Opening.
The E.A.'s Last Work. The Five Stages. The Five Steps. The O. The Working
Tools. Closing the Lodge.
CHAPTER VIII
THE THIRD DEGREE
The Opening of the Lodge. The C … The Preparation. The Internal
Preparation. Entering the Lodge. The Seven Steps. The O … The Etheric Forces.
Hiram Abiff. Death and Resurrection. The Star. The Raising of Humanity. Fire,
Sun and Moon. The Villains.The Inscription.
(Second Edition: Our Master H. A. instead of Hiram Abiff.)
CHAPTER IX
THE HIGHER DEGREES
The Masonic Plane. The Ceremony of Installation. The Mark Degree.
The Holy Royal Arch. Still Higher. The Rose Croix. Black Masonry. White
Masonry. How to Use the Powers. Our Relation with Angels.
CHAPTER X - (CHAPTER IX in
First Edition)
TWO WONDERFUL RITUALS
The Workings in Egypt. The Form of the Temple of Amen-Ra. The
Building of the Temple of Amen-Ra. The Unveiling of the Hidden Light. The
Offerings. The Descent of Osiris. The Distribution of the Sacrament. The
Re-union of Osiris. The Shining of the Light. The Pledge and the Blessing. The
Ceremony of the Holy Angels. The Lodge and Officers. The Triangle of Adepts.
The Arrival of the Angels. The Building of the Temple of the Angels. The
Ceremony in the Temple. The Effect of the Festival.
CHAPTER XI - (CHAPTER X in First Edition)
CLOSING THE LODGE
The Greetings. Preparation for Closing. The Closing.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
THE origins of Freemasonry are lost in the mists of antiquity. Last
century there were many who thought that it could be traced no further back
than the mediaeval guilds of operative masons, though some regarded these in
turn as relics of the Roman Collegia. There may still be some who know no
better than that, but all students of the Ancient Mysteries who are also
Freemasons are aware that it is along that line that we find our true
philosophical ancestry; for there is much in our ceremonies and teachings which
could have had no significance for the mere operative mason, though when examined
by the light of the knowledge received in the Mysteries it is seen to be
pregnant with meaning.
Many Masonic writers claim various degrees of antiquity for the
Craft, some assigning its foundation to King Solomon, and one at least boldly
stating that its wisdom is all that now remains of the divine knowledge which
Adam possessed before his fall. There is, however, plenty of evidence less
mythical than that, and to that evidence I happen to be able to contribute a
fragment of personal experience of a rather unusual kind.
By devoting some years to the effort and many more years to
practice, I have been able to develop certain psychic faculties of the kind
mentioned in the Foreword, which, among other things, enable me to remember the
previous existences through which I have passed. The idea of pre-existence may
be new to some of my readers.* (*Those who wish to learn more about this most
fascinating subject should read Reincarnation, by the V .·.·. Ills .·.·. Bro
.·. A. Besant, and the chapter on Reincarnation in my Textbook of Theosophy.) I
do not propose now to advance arguments in its favour, though they exist in
abundance, but simply to state that for me, as for many others, it is a fact of
personal experience. The only one of those previous lives of mine with
which we are here concerned was lived some four thousand years
before Christ inthe country which we now call Egypt.
When I was initiated into Freemasonry in this life, my first sight
of the Lodge was a great and pleasant surprise, for I found that I was
perfectly familiar with all its arrangements, and that they were identical with
those which I had known six thousand years ago in the Mysteries of Egypt. I am
quite aware that this is a startling statement; I can only say that it is
literally true. No mistake is possible; coincidence will not serve as an
explanation. The placing of the three chief officers is unusual; the symbols
are significant and distinctive, and their combination is peculiar; yet they
all belonged to ancient Egypt, and I knew them well there. Almost all the
ceremonies are unchanged; there are only a few differences in minor points. The
s … ps taken, the k … s given - all have a symbolical meaning which I
distinctly remember.
EGYPTIAN EVIDENCES
Knowing these facts to be so from my own experience, I set to work
to collect ordinary physical-plane corroborative evidence for them from such
books as were within my reach, and found even more than I had hoped. The
explanation of the First Degree t … b …
begins by remarking that the usages and customs among Freemasons have ever
borne a near affinity to those of the ancient Egyptians, but does not furnish
us with any illustrations of the points of similarity. These are to be found in
Bro. Churchward’s most illuminative books, Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man
and The Arcana of Freemasonry, also in The Arcane Schools, by Bro. John Yarker,
and Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods, by Bro. J. S. M. Ward. I will proceed to
summarize, with grateful acknowledgment, the information derived from these
volumes. Masons of various degrees will be able to select from it the features
which remind them of their own ceremonies.
Some interesting illustrations have been collected from the
wall-pictures of ancient Egypt, and from vignettes on various papyri, chiefly
from The Book of the Dead, of which there are many recensions. It is clear from
these sources that the formation of the temple in Egypt was a double square,
and in the centre were three cubes standing one upon another, forming an altar*
(*Churchward, The Arcana of Freemasonry, p. .) upon which were laid their Volumes of the
Sacred Lore - not the same as our own, of course, for ours had not yet been
written. Those cubes represented the three Aspects or Persons of the Trinity -
Osiris, Isis and Horus - as may be seen from the signs engraved on them (see
Fig. 1) which, however, is copied not from an Egyptian altar, but from an
illustration in Mr. Evans’ book on Crete; but at a later period we find only a
double cube.
There were two pillars at the entrance to the temple, and on them
were squares representing earth and heaven.* (*Ibid., p. .) One of them bore a
name which signified “in strength” while the name of the other signified “to
establish”.* (*Ibid., p. .) This gateway was regarded as leading to the higher
world of Amenti, the world where the soul was blended with immortal spirit, and
thereafter established for ever; so this was the figure of stability. At the
entrance of the Lodge there were always two guards armed with knives; the outer
was called the Watcher, the inner was known as the Herald.* (*Ibid., p. .) The
candidate was divested of most of his clothing, and entered with a c … t … and
h … w … He was led to the door of the temple, and there asked who he was. He
replied that he was Shu, the “suppliant” or “kneeler,” coming in a state of
darkness to seek for Light. The door was an equilateral triangle of stone,
which turned on a pivot on its own centre.
As the candidate entered he trod on the square, and, in so doing,
it was supposed that he was treading on, and leaving, the lower quaternary or
personality of man, in order to develop the higher triad, the ego or soul. (In
modern Masonry the same idea is expressed in the First Lecture, where it is
stated that a Mason comes to the Lodge “to learn to rule and subdue his
passions, and to make further progress in Masonry”.) He was conducted through
long passages, and led round the Lodge seven times; and, after
having replied to many questions, he was eventually brought to the
centre of the
Lodge, and there asked what he required. He was told to answer:
“Light”. In all
his perambulations, he had to begin with the left foot. If the
candidate
violated his O., so it is stated in The Book of the Dead, his
throat was cut and
his heart torn out. Another degree is mentioned in the papyrus of
Nesi-Amsu,
where it is said that the body was cut to pieces and burnt to
ashes, and these
were spread over the face of the waters to the four winds of
heaven.
There is in the temple of Khnumu in the island of Elephantine, just
off Assouan, a bas-relief which shows us two figures, one of the Pharaoh and
the other of a priest wearing the ibis head-dress of Thoth, standing in an
attitude strongly suggestive of the f … p … of f …, though not exactly agreeing
with our present practice. (See Plate II a.) It is intended to represent an
initiation, and the word given is “Maat-heru,” which means “true of voice” or
“one whose voice must be obeyed”.* (*Churchward, The Arcana of Freemasonry, p.
.) I have also seen a painting in which
four attendants are depicted saluting a Pharaoh with the p … s … of an I.M.,
and the s … of s … is often to be found on the monuments, and is characteristic
of Horus. The gavel was then made of stone, and was a model of the
double-headed axe.
In those days the aprons were made of leather, and were triangular.
That of the First Degree was pure white, as it is now; but the M.M.’s apron was
brilliantly coloured and heavily jewelled, with tassels of gold. (See Plate I.)
Our t … f … i … g … was represented by a cubit of twenty-five inches. The
Blazing Star in the centre of the Lodge existed, but it had eight points
instead of six or five. It was called “The Star of Dawn” or “The Morning Star,”
and represented Horus of the Resurrection, who is pictured as bearing it upon
his head and as having given it to his followers.
The Masonic square was well-known, and was called neka. It is to be
found in many temples, and also appears in the great pyramid. It is said that
it was used for squaring stones, and also symbolically for squaring conduct,
which once more resembles the modern interpretation. To build on the square was
to build for ever, according to the teachings of ancient Egypt; and in the
Egyptian Hall of Judgment Osiris is seen seated on the square while judging the
dead. (See Plate II b.) Thus the square came to symbolize the foundation of
eternal law.* (*Churchward, The Arcana of Freemasonry, p. .)
The Egyptians used the rough and the smooth ashlars with much the
same meaning that Masons attach to them today.* (*Ibid., p. 60.) A wand
surmounted by a dove is represented, not only in ancient Egypt, but also in
some of the monuments in Central America, and those who bore it were called
“conductors”. It is a curious fact, also, that the descendants of
the Nubians, who emigrated long ago from Egypt to Central Africa, when called
to
take an oath in a court of law, still do so with a gesture which,
still do so
with a gesture, were I at liberty to describe it in writing, would
be
universally recognized by the Craft.
Another point that struck me much on looking at engravings of
vignettes in The Book of the Dead is that the h … s … of the F.C. is depicted perfectly
clearly; a group of people is shown as worshipping the setting sun, or paying
respect to it, in that attitude.
This Book of the Dead, as it has been somewhat unfortunately
called, is part of a manual which in its entirety was intended as a kind of
guide to the astral plane, containing a number of instructions for the conduct
both of the departed and the initiate in the lower regions of that other world.
The chapters which have been collected from the various tombs do not give us
the whole of that work, but only one section of it, and even that is much
corrupted. The mind of the Egyptian seems to have worked along exceedingly
formal and orderly lines; he tabulated every conceivable description of entity
which a dead man could by any possibility meet, and arranged carefully the
special charm or word of power which he considered most certain to vanquish the
creature if he should prove hostile, never apparently realizing that it was his
own will which did the work, but attributing his success to some kind of magic.
The Book of the Dead was originally intended to be kept secret,
although in
later days certain chapters were written on papyrus and buried with
the dead
man. As is said in one of the texts: “This Book is the greatest of
mysteries. Do
not let the eye of anyone look upon it - that were abomination. The
Book of the
Master of the Secret House is its name.”* (*W. Marsham Adams, The
Book of the Master, p. .)
In ancient
Mysteries.
When Osiris died, Isis and Nepthys - in turn tried to raise him,
but it proved a failure; then Anubis attempted it and succeeded, and Osiris
returned to the world with the secrets of Amenti - a significant statement
which seems to suggest that the secrets which we possess are closely connected
with the underworld and the life after death.
These are some of the most striking of the evidences which I have
been able to collect; and there are others which may not be written. I feel
that many more can probably be found, but even these, when taken together, make
any theory of coincidence impossible. There is no doubt that this to which we have
the honour to belong today is the same fraternity which I knew six thousand
years ago, and it can indeed be carried back to a far greater antiquity still.
Bro. Churchward claims that some of the signs are six hundred thousand years
old; that is quite likely to be true, for the world is very ancient, and
assuredly Freemasonry has one of the very oldest rituals existing. We must of
course admit that the mere appearance of one of our symbols does not
necessarily involve the existence of a Lodge, but at least it shows that, even so long ago as that, men were thinking
along somewhat the same lines, and trying to express their thoughts in the same
language of symbol that we employ today.
PRESERVATION OF RITUALS AND SYMBOLS
That the rituals and symbols should have been preserved to us with
so wonderfully little alteration is surely a marvellous thing; it would be
inexplicable but for the fact that the Great Powers behind evolution have taken
an interest in the matter, and gradually brought people back to the true lines
when they had swerved somewhat away from them. This business was always in the
hands of the Chohan of the Seventh Ray, for that is the ray most especially
connected with ceremonial of all kinds, and its Head was always the supreme
Hierophant of the Mysteries of ancient Egypt. The present holder of that office
is that Master of the Wisdom of whom we often speak as the Comte de S. Germain,
because He appeared under that title in the eighteenth century. He is also
sometimes called Prince Rakoczi, as He is the last survivor
of that royal house. Exactly when He was appointed to the Headship
of the Ceremonial Ray I do not know, but He took a keen interest in Freemasonry
as early as the third century A.D.
We find him at that period as Albanus, a man of noble Roman family,
born at the town of Verulam in England. As a young man he went to Rome, joined
the army there, and achieved considerable distinction in it. He served in Rome
for some seven years at any rate, perhaps longer than that. It was there that
he was initiated into Freemasonry, and also became a proficient in the Mithraic
Mysteries, which were so closely associated with it.
After this time in Rome he returned to his birthplace in England,
and was appointed governor of the fortress there. He also held the position of
“the Master of the Works”, whatever that may have meant; he certainly
superintended the repairs and the general work in the fortress at Verulam, and
he was at the same time the Imperial Paymaster. The story goes that the workmen
were treated as slaves and wretchedly paid, but that S. Alban (as he was
afterwards called) introduced Freemasonry and changed all that, securing for
them better wages and greatly improved conditions generally.
Many of our Brn. must have heard of the Watson MS of . In that a
good deal
is said about S. Albans work for the Craft, and it is specially
mentioned that
he brought from France certain ancient charges which are
practically identical
with those in use at the present time. He was beheaded in the persecution
by
the Emperor Diocletian in the year 303, and the great abbey of S.
Alban was
built over his remains some five hundred years later.
In the year 411 he was born in Constantinople and received the name
of Proclus - a name which in after life he was destined to make famous. He was
one of the last great exponents of Neo-Platonism, and his influence
overshadowed to a great extent the medieval Christian Church. After that there
is a gap in his list of incarnations, as to which at present we know nothing.
We find him reborn in the year 1211, and in that life he was Roger Bacon, a
Franciscan friar, who was a reformer both of the theology and the science of
his day. In 1375 came his birth as Christian Rosenkreutz. That also was an
incarnation of considerable importance, for in it he founded the secret society
of the Rosicrucians. He seems some fifty years later, or a little more than
that, to have used the body of Hunyadi Janos, an eminent Hungarian soldier and
leader. Also we are told that about 1500 he had a life as the monk Robertus,
somewhere in middle Europe. We know practically nothing about that, as to what
he did or in what way he distinguished himself.
After that comes one of the greatest of his births, for in the year
1561 he was born as Francis Bacon. Of that great man we hear in history little
that is true and a great deal that is false. The real facts of his life are
gradually becoming known, largely by means of a cipher story which he wrote
secretly in the many works which he published. That story is of entrancing
interest, but it does not concern us here. A sketch of it may be found in my
book The Hidden Side of Christian Festivals, from which I am epitomizing this
account.* (*Op. cit.., p. 30.)
A century later we are told that he took birth as Jozsef Rakoczi, a
prince of Transylvania. We find him mentioned in the encyclopedias, but not
much information is given. After that considerable mystery surrounds his
movements.
He seems to have travelled about Europe, and he turns up at
intervals, but we have little definite knowledge about him. He was the Comte de
S. Germain at the time of the French Revolution, and worked much with Madame Blavatsky, who was at
that period in incarnation under the name of Père Joseph. He also appears to
have disguised himself as Baron Hompesch, who was the last of the Knights of
St. John of Malta, the man who arranged the transfer of the island of Malta to
the English. This great saint and teacher still lives, and His present body has
no appearance of great age. I myself met Him physically in Rome in 1901, and
had a long conversation with Him.
In Co-Masonry we refer to Him as the Head of all True Freemasons
throughout the world (abbreviated as the H.O.A.T.F.) and in some of our Lodges
His portrait is placed in the east, above the chair of the R.W.M., and just
beneath the Star of Initiation; others place it in the north, above an empty
chair. Upon His recognition and assent as Head of the Seventh Ray the validity
of all rites and degrees depends. He often selects pupils from among the Brn.
of the Masonic Order, and prepares those who have fitted themselves in the
lower mysteries of Masonry for the true Mysteries of the Great White Lodge, of
which our Masonic initiations, splendid though they be, are but faint reflections,
for Masonry has ever been one of the gates through which that White Lodge might
be reached. Today but few of His Masons acknowledge Him as their Sovereign
Grand Master, yet the possibility of such discipleship has ever been recognized
in the traditions of the Order. It is said in an ancient catechism of masculine
Masonry:
Q. As a
Mason whence come you?
A. From the W … t.
Q. Whither
directing your course?
A. To the E … t.
Q. What
inducement have you to leave the W … t and go to the E … t?
A. To seek a Master, and from Him to gain
instruction.
Fortunately our ancestors have recognized the importance of handing
down the working unchanged. Some few points have been dropped during that vast
lapse of time; a few others have been slightly modified; but they are
marvellously few. The charges have become longer, and the non-officials take
less part in the work than they used to do; in the old days they constantly
chanted short versicles of praise or exhortation, and each one of them
understood himself to be filling a definite position, to be a necessary wheel
in the great machine.
From this knowledge several points emerge. It is noteworthy that
the Masonic ceremonies, which have so long been supposed to be rather in
opposition to the received religion of the country, are seen to be themselves a
relic of the most sacred part of a great ancient religion. Like every product
of these ancient and elaborately perfected systems, these rites are full of
meaning, or rather of meanings; for in Egypt we attributed to them a fourfold
signification. Since every detail is thus full of import, it is obvious that
nothing should ever be changed without the greatest care, and only then by
those who know its full intent, so that the symbology of the whole may not be
spoiled.
THE EGYPTIAN OUTLOOK
It is exceedingly difficult to explain to twentieth
century readers all that this work meant to us in the sunny land of
Khem; but I
will try to describe the four layers of interpretation as they were
taught when
I myself lived there.
The first idea of its meaning was that it conveyed to us and
symbolized in action the way in which
the Great Architect had constructed the universe - that in the movements made
and in the plan of the Lodge were enshrined some of the great principles on
which that universe had been built. The vortical movement in the censing, the
raising and lowering of the columns, the cross, the anchor and the cup upon the
ladder of evolution - all these things and many more we interpreted in that way.
The different degrees penetrated further and further into the knowledge of His
methods and of the principles upon which He works. For we not only held that He
worked in the past, but that He is working now, that His universe is an active
expression of Him. In those days, books filled a far less prominent place in
our lives than they do now, and it was considered that to record knowledge in a
series of appropriate and suggestive actions made a more powerful appeal to a
man’s mind, and established that knowledge better in memory, than to read it
from a book. We are, therefore, preserving by our unvarying actions the memory
of certain facts and laws in nature.
Because that is so, and because the laws of the universe must be
universal in their application and must act down here as well as above, we held
that the Great Architect expected from us a life in accordance with the law
which He had made. The square was to be applied literally to stones and
buildings, but symbolically to man’s conduct, and man must arrange his life in
agreement with what obviously followed from these considerations; therefore the
strictest probity was demanded, and a high level of purity, physical, emotional
and mental. Perfect rectitude and justice were required, and yet at the same time
loving-kindness and gentleness, and in all cases “doing unto others what ye
would that they should do unto you.” So Masonry is indeed “a system of morality
veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols,” but it is a system based not on
an alleged commandment, “Thus saith the Lord,” but on definite facts and laws
in nature which cannot be doubted.
The work is a preparation for death, and for what follows it. The
two pillars B. and J. were supposed to stand at the entrance to the other
world, and the various experiences through which the candidate passed were
intended to symbolize those which would come to him when he passed out of this
physical world into the next stage. There is a vast amount of information about
the life after death to be derived from an intelligent consideration of Masonic
ceremonies, and through constantly practising them these worlds will become
really familiar to us; so that when we shall pass beyond the grave, no longer
in figurative death, we shall feel ourselves quite at home in repeating once
more what we have so often enacted in symbol within the Lodge. Above all,
it is emphasized that the same laws hold good on the other side of
the grave as on this, that in both states we are equally in the presence of
God, and that where that holy Name is invoked there can be no cause for fear.
The fourth intention is the hardest of all to explain. To make you
understand that, I must try to take you back, if I can, into the atmosphere of
old Egypt, and to the attitude that religious men held there. I do not know
whether it is possible to reconstruct that in these modern days, which are so
hopelessly, so fundamentally different.
The religion which we know best at the present day is intensely
individualistic; the great central objective put before most Christians is that
of saving their own souls. That duty is represented to be of primary
importance. Can you picture to yourselves a religion, just as much a religion
in every way, in every respect as earnest, as fervid, as real, from which that idea
was entirely absent, to which it would have been utterly inconceivable? Can you
think, as a beginning, of a condition of mind in which no one feared anything
excepting wrong, and its possible results in delaying unfoldment; in which men
looked forward with perfect certainty to their progress after death, because
they knew all about it; in which their one desire was not for salvation but for
advancement in evolution, because such advancement brought them greater power
to do effectively the hidden work which God expected of them?
I am not suggesting that every one in ancient Egypt was altruistic,
any more than are all the people in modern England. But I do say that the
country was permeated with joy and fearlessness so far as its religious ideas
were concerned, and that every one who by any stretch of courtesy could be
described as a religious man was occupied not with thoughts of his personal
salvation, but with the desire to be a useful agent of the divine Power.
The outer religion of ancient Egypt - the official religion in
which everyone took part, from the King to the slave - was one of the most
splendid that have ever been known to man. Gorgeous processions perambulating
avenues miles in length, amid pillars so stupendous that they seemed scarcely human
work, stately boats in a medley of rainbow colours sweeping majestically down
the placid Nile, music triumphant or plaintive, but always thrilling - how
shall I describe something so absolutely without parallel in our puny modern
times?
The common dress of all classes in Egypt was white; but in
contradistinction their religious processions were masses of splendid, glowing
colour, the priests wearing vestments of crimson and a gorgeous blue supposed
to represent the blue of the sky, and many other brilliant colours also. The
life of ancient Egypt, as indeed of modern Egypt, centred round the river Nile,
slow-flowing and majestic, and richly decorated barges were used for all
purposes of transit, and also for the celebration of religious festivals. On these
the priests were arranged in certain symbolical figures, standing or sitting;
and all wore the colours appropriate to the particular aspect of the Deity
which they symbolized.
Not only were solemn sacrifices offered to the gods upon these
barges at altars wonderfully adorned with flowers and precious embroideries,
sometimes built up by stages to a hundred feet or more in the air; but living
pictures or scenes were also enacted upon them, having a symbolical meaning
connected with the festival which was being celebrated. In such ways was
represented the judgment of the dead, with the weighing of the heart by Anubis
against the feather of Maat, the characters of Anubis and Thoth being played by
priests who wore the appropriate masks. I remember also a very gruesome
performance of the dismemberment of Osiris, in which His body was cut into
pieces and then put together again - not the body of a real person, of course,
but none the less very realistically enacted. These splendid processions swept
down the river between the thronging multitudes of worshippers, shedding
the benediction of the gods as they
passed by, and evoking tremendous enthusiasm and devotion in the people.
The ancient Egyptians have often been accused of polytheism, but in
reality they were no more guilty of the charge than are the Hindus. All men
knew and worshipped the One God, Amen-Ra, the “One without a Second”, the
centre of whose manifestation on the physical plane is the sun; but they
worshipped Him under different aspects and through different channels.
In one of the hymns addressed to Him it was said:
The gods
adore Thee, They greet Thee, O Thou the
One Dark
Truth, the Heart of Silence, the Hidden Mystery, the Inner God seated within the
shrine, Thou Producer of Beings, Thou the One Self. We adore the souls that are
emanated from Thee, that share Thy Being, that are Thyself. O Thou that art
hidden, yet everywhere manifest, we worship Thee in greeting each God-soul that
cometh forth from Thee and liveth in us.
The “gods” were not considered to be equal with God, but rather to
have attained union with Him at various levels, and therefore to be channels of
His infinite power to mankind.
The cult of the gods was in reality but little different from the
cult of Angels and Saints in the Catholic Church. Just as Christians look to
St. Michael and to Our Lady as real personages and hold festivals in their
honour, so in ancient Egypt adoration was offered to Isis and Osiris, and to
other deities likewise. In the ultimate these august names referred to Aspects
of the Godhead, Amen-Ra, for the Trinity in Egypt was represented by Father,
Mother, Son - Osiris, Isis and Horus instead of the Christian presentation of
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; but below that divine level there were then, as
there are now, great Beings in whom the Ideal was embodied, who acted as
representatives and as channels of God’s threefold power and grace to man.
Furthermore there are hierarchies of Angels belonging to these different lines,
just as there are hierarchies of Angels who follow the leadership of St.
Michael and of Our Lady - each of whom is a channel and representative of his
Order according to the level of his development. The celebration of the ritual
of Isis, for instance, always attracted
her attention, and invoked the presence of Angels of Her Order, who acted as
channels of the divine blessing in that wondrous aspect of the
Hidden Truth
which she represented.
THE HIDDEN
No doubt the really religious man took his part in all the outward
pomp which I have described; but what he prized far above all its amazing
magnificence was his membership in some Lodge of the sacred Mysteries - a Lodge
which devoted itself with reverent enthusiasm to the hidden work which was the
principal activity of this noble religion. It is of this hidden side of the
Egyptian cult, not of its outer glories, that Freemasonry is a relic, and the
ritual which is preserved in it is a part of that of the Mysteries. To explain
what this hidden work was, let us draw a parallel from a more modern method of
producing a somewhat similar result.
The Christian plan for spreading abroad the divine power or grace
is principally by means of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, commonly called
by our Roman brethren the Mass. We must not think of that grace as a sort of
poetical expression, or as in the least degree vague and cloudy; we are dealing
with a force as definite as electricity - a spiritual power which is spread
abroad over the people in certain ways, which leaves its own effect behind it,
and needs its own vehicles, just as electricity needs its appropriate
machinery.
It is possible by clairvoyance to watch the action of that force,
to see how the service of the Eucharist builds up a thought-form, through which
that force is distributed by the priest with the aid of the Angel invoked for
that purpose. It has been so arranged that the attitude of the priest, his
knowledge - even his character - does not in any way interfere with the due
effect of the Sacrament.* (*See No. 26 of the Thirty-nine Articles of the
Church of England in The Book of Common Prayer.) There is, in any case, an irreducible minimum
which is transmitted. So long as he performs the prescribed ceremonies the
result is achieved.* (*See The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, by
T. Waterworth, p. 55 (Session VII, Canon xii)) If he is also a devout man,
those who receive the Sacrament at his hands have the additional benefit of a
share in his love and devotion, but that in no way affects the value of the
Sacrament itself; whatever his failings, the divine strength is outpoured upon
the people.
The old Egyptian religion had the same idea of pouring out
spiritual force upon all its people, but its method was altogether different.
The Christian magic can be performed by the priest alone, and may even be done
quite mechanically; but the intelligent assistance of the laity greatly
increases its power and the amount of force which can be outpoured.
The Egyptian plan, however, positively required the earnest and
intelligent
co-operation of a considerable number of people. It was, therefore,
much more
difficult to achieve perfectly, but when thoroughly done it was far
more
powerful, and covered a much wider range of country. The Christian
scheme needs a vast number of churches dotted all over the land; the Egyptian
plan required only the action of a few Grand Lodges established in the
principal cities in order to flood the whole kingdom with the Hidden Light -
the work of the
ordinary Lodges being regarded as subsidiary to these, and rather
as a training
ground for membership in the Grand Lodges.
The central doctrine of the religion of the ancient Egyptians was
that the divine power dwelt in every man, even the lowest and most degraded,
and they called that power “The Hidden Light”. They held that through that
Light, which existed in all, men could always be reached and helped, and that
it was their business to find that Light within every one, however unpromising,
and to strengthen it. The very motto of the Pharaoh was “Look for the Light,”
implying that his supreme duty as King was to look for that Hidden Light in
every man around him, and strive to bring it forth into fuller manifestation.
The Egyptians held that this divine spark, which exists in every
one, could most effectively be fanned into flame by transmuting and bringing
down to the three lower worlds the tremendous spiritual force which is the life
of the higher planes, and then pouring it out over the country as has been
described. Knowing that spiritual force to be but another manifestation of the
manifold power of God, they gave to it also the name of the Hidden Light; and
from this double use of the term confusion sometimes arises.
They fully recognized that such a downpour of divine grace could be
evoked only by a supreme effort of devotion on their part; and the making of
such an effort, together with the provision of suitable machinery for spreading
the force when it came, was a great part of the hidden work to which the noblest of the
Egyptians devoted so much of their time and energy; and this was
the fourth of
the objects intended to be served by the sacred and secret ritual,
of which that
of Masonry is a relic.
THE EGYPTIAN RACE
The Egyptian race of the period of which I have been speaking was
of mixed blood, but dominantly Aryan. Our researches show that about 13,500
B.C. a band of men and women belonging to the highest classes of the great
South Indian empire which then existed set out on an expedition to Egypt, by
way of Ceylon, having been directed to do so by the Manu. The ruling race in
Egypt in those days was a branch of what has been called in Theosophical books
the Toltec sub-race - a branch probably identical with that Cro-Magnon race
which inhabited Europe and Africa somewhere about 25,000 B.C. In Ancient
Types of Man* (*Op. cit., p. .) Sir Arthur Keith remarks that this
race was
mentally and physically one of the finest that the world has ever
seen. Broca
has noted that the brain content of the skull of the Cro-Magnon
woman surpasses that of the average male of today. The average height of the
men of this race was six feet one and a half inches; the shoulders were
exceedingly broad and the arms short as compared with the legs; the nose was
thin but prominent, the cheek-bones high, and the chin massive.
It happened that the King or Pharaoh on the throne at the time when
the expedition from South India arrived had a daughter but no son, his wife
having died in child-birth. The newcomers were received with great cordiality
by both King and High-Priest, and intermarriage with the strangers became a
coveted honour in the Egyptian families, especially as the King had approved
the marriage of his daughter with the leader of the band, who was a Prince of
India.
In a few generations the Aryan blood had tinged the entire Egyptian
nobility, and this produced the type, well known from the monuments, which had
Aryan features, but the Toltec colouring. After many centuries there came a
ruler who was influenced by a foreign princess, whom he had espoused, to cast
aside the Aryan traditions and establish lower forms of worship; but the clan
drew together and, by strictly marrying only among themselves, preserved the
old customs and religion as well as their purity of race. Nearly four thousand
years after the arrival of the Indians, there arose in Egypt certain prophets
who foretold a great flood, so the clan in a body took ship across the Red Sea
and found a refuge among the mountains of Arabia.
In 9,564 B.C. the prophecy was fulfilled; the island of Poseidonis
sank beneath the Atlantic Ocean in the deluge mentioned in the Timaeus of
Plato; at the same time the land rose and made the Sahara Desert where a
shallow sea had been before, and a vast tidal wave swept over Egypt, so that
almost its entire population was destroyed. Even when everything settled down,
the country was a wilderness, bounded on the west no longer by a peaceful sea
but by a vast salt swamp, which as the centuries rolled on dried into an
inhospitable desert. Of all the glories of Egypt there remained only the
pyramids towering in lonely desolation - a state of things which endured for
fifteen hundred years before the clan returned from its mountain refuge, grown
into a great nation.
But long before this half-savage tribes had ventured into the land,
fighting their primitive battles on the banks of the great river which had once
borne the argosies of a mighty civilization, and was yet to witness a revival of
those ancient glories, and to mirror the stately temples of Osiris and Amen-Ra.
The first of the several races that entered the country was a Nubian people
from Central Africa; they had, however, been displaced by various others before the Aryo-Egyptians returned from
Arabia, settled near Abydos, and gradually in a peaceful manner became once
more the dominant power. Two thousand four hundred years later the Manu (under
the name of Menes) incarnated, united the whole of Egypt under one rule, and
founded at the same time the first dynasty and his great city of Memphis. This
empire had already flourished for more than a millennium and a half before the
reign of Rameses the Great, who was himself the Master of one of the principal
Lodges at the time when I had the Honour to belong to it.
THE GRAND LODGES
During the time when I was living in Egypt, the government of the
country was directed from within the organization of the Mysteries. Egypt was
divided into forty-two nomes or counties, and the nomarch or ruler of the
county was the Master of the principal Lodge of the nome. There was a Grand
Lodge - not to be confused with the three Grand Lodges of Amen to be described
later - which consisted of all the nomarchs, and of which the Grand Master was
the Pharaoh.
This Grand Lodge was convened at Memphis, and worked a different
ritual from those of the lower grades. It was to this body that the Pharaoh
announced his decrees; for although his power in the land was almost absolute,
yet before any serious decision was made he always took counsel with his
nomarchs - and, judging by their decisions, they were a very capable body of
men. Lesser matters were settled by an executive committee of this Lodge over
which the Pharaoh presided; but important steps were always discussed in Grand
Lodge itself. Thus the Mysteries entered into political as well as
into religious life in the old days; and politics were much less selfish in
consequence.
There were in Egypt in those days three Grand Lodges of Amen, each of
which was strictly limited to forty members, every one of whom was a necessary
part of the machine. Including the officers, whose business was the recitation
of the Office and the magnetization of the Lodge, each member was the
representative of a particular quality. One was called the Knight of Love,
another the Knight of Truth, another the Knight of Perseverance, and so on; and
each was supposed to become a specialist in thinking and expressing the quality
assigned to him.
The idea was that the forty qualities, thus expressed through the
Lodge as a whole, would make the character of a perfect man, a kind of heavenly
man, through whom the power behind could be poured out upon the whole country.
These three Grand Lodges worked three distinct types of Masonry, of
which only one has come down to us in the twentieth century. The Master of the
first Grand Lodge represented wisdom, and his two Wardens strength and beauty,
as in our Lodges today. The predominant power outpoured was that wisdom which
is perfect love, the quality that is indeed most needed in the world at the
present time. The Master of the second Grand Lodge represented strength, and
his Wardens wisdom and beauty, and the strength of the First Aspect of the
Trinity was the predominant quality of the Lodge. The Master of the third Grand
Lodge typified beauty, and the wisdom and the strength were made subordinate to
that third aspect of the Hidden Light.
As every one present had to bear his part in building the form,
exact co-operation and perfect harmony were absolutely necessary, and only
people who could forget themselves entirely in the great work were selected
from the ordinary Lodges to become members of these three Grand Lodges, whose
power was such that their influence covered the entire country. The slightest
flaw in the character of one of the forty members would have seriously weakened
the form through which all the work was being done. It is perhaps a relic of
this paramount necessity which dictates our present regulation that any Brn. who
are not in perfect harmony with each other should not put on their aprons until
they have settled their differences. In ancient Egypt there was an intensity of
brotherly feeling between the members of a Lodge which is probably rarely
attained now; they felt themselves bound together by the holiest of ties, not
only as parts of the same machine, but actually as fellow-workers with God
Himself.
The ritual worked by the Grand Lodges was known as The Building of
the Temple of Amen; a translation of its actual wording will be given in
another part of this book. It was indeed one of the most splendid and powerful
sacraments known to man. It was celebrated for thousands of years, during which
Egypt was a mighty land, but a time came when the egos most advanced in
evolution began to seek incarnation in new nations, in which, as in different
classes in the world-school, they might learn new lessons. Then this portion of
the Egyptian Mysteries fell into abeyance, while the Egyptian civilization grew
degenerate and formalized as it became a theatre for the activities of less
evolved men.
THE ORDINARY LODGES
There were also dotted all about the country numerous other Lodges,
which more closely resembled those of modern times. Their work was much more
varied than that of the three Grand Lodges, and they met more frequently, for
to them was entrusted the work of preparing their members for higher things,
and giving them a liberal education. Their purpose was the same as that of the
Mysteries everywhere, to provide a definite system of culture and education for
adults, a thing which is not done on a large and public scale in our present
day, when the rather curious belief is widely spread that education ends with
school or college. The Mysteries were the great public institutions, centres of
national and religious life, to which people of the better classes flocked in
thousands, and they did their work 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
about 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.
Even in these ordinary Lodges every member took part in the work,
and the labour of those in the columns was regarded as more arduous than that
of the officers. Though the latter had special physical actions through which
they must go with great accuracy, the former had to use their thought-power all
the time.
They had all to join at certain points in the ritual in sending out
streams of thought, more in the nature of will-power than of meditation, the
object of the whole effort being to erect over and around the Lodge a
magnificent and radiant thought-form of perfect proportions, specially
constructed to receive and transmit in the most effective way the Divine Force
which was called down by their act of devotion. If any member’s thought was
ineffectual, the mighty temple-like thought-form was correspondingly defective
in one part; but the Master of the Lodge was usually a clairvoyant priest or
priestess who could see where the defect
lay, and so could keep his Lodge strictly up to the mark. Thus these Lodges also shared in the same
great work of force-distribution, though on a smaller scale than the three
Grand Lodges which were specially entrusted with that task.
Without some purpose such as this our great Masonic effort seems
unintelligible. We have in nearly all
Masonic Lodges a beautiful opening ceremony, full of deep symbolical meaning,
and when understood it is
seen to be no mere form, but a wonderfully effective formula,
calling to our aid
various entities, and preparing the way for the performance of a
very definite
service to mankind. Yet, having opened our Lodge and made all these
preparations, we proceed at once to close down, unless we have a
candidate to
initiate or pass or raise, or a lecture to deliver to our own
people. Surely
such a wonderful preparation should end in something definite, in a
real piece
of work for the benefit of mankind.
In ancient Egypt there was this splendid work, the culmination to
which all the preparations led up. Our true purpose should be the same. We meet
and go through certain ceremonies, and give them the name of work - a name that
is quite inappropriate as applied to the mere ceremonies, no matter how full of
meaning they may be. But if we are building a grand and beautiful form as a
channel for the divine energy, through which the world may be helped, then most
assuredly we are doing work, collecting, concentrating and storing up great
superhuman forces, and then, with the closing blessing, pouring all that out
upon the world. Without this, all the
preliminaries are, as it says in the Co-Masonic mystic charge, “like massive
doorways, leading nowhither”.
There is no reason why we in the present day should not do as much
with our ritual as did the ancient Egyptians. Any defects that may stand in the
way are to be found not in the outer world, but in the failure on the part of
the Brn. to realize the seriousness of the work which they have undertaken, or
to rise to the degree of unselfishness that is requisite to ensure regular
attendance for the sake of humanity. In
There are various lines along which the recollection of the way in
which the work was done in ancient Egypt may be of use to us, for those people
performed their ceremonies with full knowledge of their meaning, and so the
points upon which they laid great stress are likely to be important to us also.
Deep reverence was their strongest characteristic. They regarded
their temple much as the most earnest Christians regard their church, except
that their attitude was dictated by scientific knowledge rather than by
feeling. They understood that the temple was strongly magnetized, and that to
preserve the full strength of that magnetism great care was necessary.
To speak of ordinary matters in the temple would have been
considered as
sacrilege, as it would mean the introduction of a disturbing
influence. Vesting
and all preliminary business was always done in the anteroom, and
the Brn.
entered the Lodge in procession, singing, as Co-Masons do now.
THE HISTORY OF MASONRY
The Mystery teaching of Egypt was very closely guarded, and it was
only with great difficulty and under special conditions that anyone not an
Egyptian born could be allowed to receive it. Still, it was given to various
distinguished foreigners, and among others to Moses, of whom it is said in the
biblical story that he was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”. He
passed on his knowledge to the Jewish priestly line, and thus it survived in a
more or less defective form till the time of David and Solomon.
When Solomon built his temple he erected it on Masonic lines, and
made it a centre of Masonic symbolism and work. He unquestionably intended his
temple to demonstrate and to preserve for his people a certain set of
measurements, in the same sort of way in which all kinds of astronomical and
geodetic facts were enshrined in the measurements of the great pyramid.* (*See
Ch. II, on the Pillars.) He did not succeed, because much of the tradition had
been lost; or it would perhaps be truer to say that while external ceremonial
and even the traditional ornamentation had been very fairly preserved, the clue
to the meaning of it all was no longer known. Until that time initiates of the
Jewish Mysteries had had their attention directed to the House of Light in
Egypt; but King Solomon resolved to keep their thoughts and feelings strictly
focused upon the building which he had himself erected, and therefore instead
of speaking to them of the symbolical death and resurrection of Osiris in Egypt
he invented the original form of our present traditional history to take its
place. In fact, he Judaized the entire ritual, substituting Hebrew words for
the original Egyptian, though in some cases at least preserving the original
meaning.
It should be remembered that in doing this he was only bringing the
practice of his people into line with that of neighbouring tribes and nations.
There were many lines of Mystery tradition, and though the Jews had brought
with them across the
It is principally along this line of Jewish descent that Masonry
has come down to us in
about 200 B.C.,
and again through the medium of the soldiers returning from the
campaigns of Vespasian and Titus. From the Collegia this mingled
tradition was
handed on through the Comacini and various other secret societies
through the
dangerous times of the Middle Ages; and when a better age dawned
and persecution became less fierce it came to the surface once more. Certain
fragments of it were gathered together in 1717 to form the Grand Lodge of
England, and so it has come down to us unto the present day.
It should be understood, however, that there is no one line of
Masonic orthodoxy. A parallel tradition, coming originally from Chaldean
sources, has given rise to Masonry as worked upon the continent of
The whole subject of Masonic history is one of exceeding interest;
but, owing to the fact that Masonry is after all a secret society, it is often
almost impossible to trace the line of its descent by means of any documents
which are now available, and consequently there is great confusion and
contradiction among the various accounts. We have ourselves devoted a good deal
of investigation and research to this matter, and I have published some of its
results in the book just mentioned, Glimpses of Masonic History.
Much of the ancient wisdom has been allowed to slip into oblivion,
and so some of the true secrets were lost to the great body of the Brn. But among
the Hierophants of the Great White Brotherhood the true secrets have ever been
preserved, and they will always reward the search of the really earnest Mason.
We, of these later sub-races, may prove ourselves just as unselfish
and capable of just as good work for our fellowmen as were the people of old.
Indeed, we ourselves may well be those men of old, come back in new bodies, and
bringing with us the old attraction to the form of faith and work which then we
knew so well. Let us try to revive under these far different conditions the
unconquerable spirit which distinguished us so long ago. It means a good deal
of hard work, for every officer must do his part quite perfectly, and that
involves much training and practice. Yet I feel sure that there are many who
will respond to the Master’s call and come forward to join in preparing the way
for those who are to come.
Let each Lodge make itself a model Lodge, thoroughly efficient in
its working, so that when anyone visits it he may be impressed by the good work
done and by the strength of its magnetic atmosphere, and may thereby be induced
to share in this vast undertaking. Our members must also be able, when they in
turn visit other Lodges, to explain our method of working, and show how, from
the occult point of view, the ceremonies should be performed. Above all, they
must carry with them everywhere the strong magnetism of a completely harmonious
centre, the potent radiation of brotherly love.
To us also, as to the ancient Egyptians, the Lodge should be holy
ground, consecrated and set apart for Masonic work, never to be used for any
secular purpose. It should have an atmosphere of its own, just as have the
great medieval cathedrals; as they are permeated by the influence of centuries
of devotion, so should the very walls of our
CHAPTER II
THE LODGE
FORM AND EXTENSION
IT is customary in speaking of the Freemasonic Lodge to which one
belongs to think of a hall or room in an ordinary building in the physical
world. Therefore, when its extension is mentioned, the ordinary ideas of its
measurements in length, breadth and height come up in the mind. It is
necessary, however, to think of much more than that, for the Lodge represents
the universe at large, as is explained in the ritual of the Craft degrees of
Universal Co-Masonry. In the description of the t … b …, we are told that the
Lodge is in length from east to west, in breadth from north to south, and in
depth from the zenith to the centre of the earth, which shows that it is a
symbol for the whole world.
The form of the Lodge-room, according to Dr. Mackey, should be that
of a parallelogram at least one-third larger from east to west than it is from
north to south. It should always, if possible, be situated due east and west,
should
be isolated, where it is practicable, from all surrounding
buildings, and should be lofty, to give dignity to the appearance of the hall,
as well as for purposes of health. The approaches to the Lodge room from
without should be angular, for, as Oliver says, “a straight entrance is
unmasonic, and cannot be tolerated.” There should be two entrances to the room,
which should be situated in the west, and on each side of the W.S.W.’s station.
That on his right hand is for the introduction of visitors and
members and,
leading from the T.’s room, is
called the T.’s or the outer door; the other, on
his left, leading from the preparation room, is known as the “inner
door” and
sometimes is called the north-west door. Plate III shows the form
of the Lodge
and the positions of the principal objects in it, as usually
arranged by
Co-Masons of the British jurisdiction.
The floor of the Lodge, technically speaking, is the mosaic
pavement, which will be described among the ornaments of the Lodge. The correct
shape for this is a double square - that is to say, a rectangle having a length
double its breadth - and the Lodge may be thought of as a double cube standing
on this floor. Considered as the entire room, the Lodge is a temple of
humanity, and as such it may be taken to symbolize a man lying upon his back.
In this position the three great supports correspond to important centres in
the human body. The column of the R.W.M. is in the place of the head or brain;
that of the W.S.W, corresponds to the generative organs, symbols of strength
and virility, and also to the solar plexus, the great ganglionic centre of the
sympathetic system; and that of the W.J.W. corresponds to the heart, anciently
regarded as the seat of the affections.
ORIENTATION
Three reasons are given in the ritual to explain why our Lodges are
set east and west. In the first place, the sun rises in the east, and the sun
is regarded in Masonry as a symbol of divinity. Secondly, all the western nations
look to the east as the source of their wisdom. Thirdly, the Masons follow the
precedent of the temple of King Solomon, which was set east and west in
imitation of the arrangement of the tabernacle which was carried by the
Israelites in their wanderings through the desert, and was always placed east
and west when put down. It is certainly not sufficient to say that the early
Masons oriented their Lodges merely because all churches and chapels ought to
be so; rather the ecclesiastical rule spectare ad orientem was also a rule
for the Masons.100As we have already said, the Egyptian origin of
Masonry has been somewhat obscured by Jewish influence. When Moses
introduced the Egyptian wisdom to the Jews they quickly gave their own
colouring to it.
They are a very remarkable race, in that they assimilate readily,
but stamp
their own decided characteristics upon whatever they take up. In
this case, the
Egyptians spoke of the great pyramid of Gizeh as the “House of
Light”, or more
commonly “The Light” but the Jews were taught to interpret it as
referring to
the
The real reason, however, for the careful orientation of the Lodge
is magnetic. There is a constant flow of force in both directions between the
equator and each of the poles of the earth, and there is also a current flowing
at right angles to that, moving round the earth in the direction of its motion.
Both of these currents are utilized in the working of the Lodge, as will be
explained when we come to deal with the ceremonies. The world at large does
not recognize the presence of these
forces, which are not of the same order as those which influence a common steel
or iron magnet, but there are some people who are sensitive to them to such an
extent that they cannot sleep comfortably if they lie across them. Some of
these people sleep best with the head to the north, others with the head to the
south. Among the Hindus it is considered that only an ascetic should sleep with
his head to the north. The householder, the man of the world, should lie with
his head to the south.
THE CELESTIAL CANOPY
The ritual tells us that the covering of a, Freemason’s Lodge is a
celestial canopy of divers colours. This may very well symbolize the star-lit
heavens which canopy the true temple of humanity, when we regard the Lodge as
universal; but the reference to divers colours
indicates another meaning, for the vault of the sky is not of various hues,
except at sunrise and sunset, but is blue.
The real celestial canopy is the aura of the man whom we have
thought of as lying on his back; it is the vividly tinted thought-form that is
made during the working of the Lodge. We see this symbolism appearing elsewhere
also, in Joseph’s coat of many colours in the V.S.L., in the Robe of Glory which
the initiate puts on, according to the Gnostic hymn; and also in the Augoeides
of the Greek philosophers, the glorified body in which the soul of man dwells
in the subtle invisible world. Bro. Wilmshurst in The Meaning of Masonry also
interprets the canopy as the aura of man, which is surely more reasonable than
to suppose with Dr. Mackey that because the early Brn. met on the highest hills
and in the lowest vales this symbol must refer to the over-arching vault of
heaven.
THE ALTAR
The altar should be in the middle of the square nearest to the R.
W. M., though this differs in different Obediences. In the Grand Lodge of
England working there is generally no altar at all, or
at the most only an appendage to the Master’s pedestal; so that when the
candidate is taking the O. he kneels before the pedestal of the R. W. M. In
some Lodges the altar is a little east of the centre of the floor, and in
others it stands in the middle of the floor.
On the altar, or close to it, or hanging above it in the middle of the
eastern square, there is in Co-Masonic Lodges a small light burning, usually
enclosed in ruby-coloured glass. This light symbolizes the reflection of Deity
in matter, and it corresponds exactly to the light in Catholic churches which
burns always before the Altar on which the Host is reserved.
Mackey, in his Lexicon of Freemasonry, speaks of the altar as:
The place where the sacred offerings
were presented to God. After the erection of the Tabernacle, altars
were of two kinds, altars of sacrifice and altars of incense. The altar of
Masonry may be considered as the representative of both these forms. From hence
the grateful incense of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, is ever rising to the
Great I Am; while on it the unruly passions and the worldly appetites of the
Brethren are laid as a fitting sacrifice to the genius of our Order. The proper
form of a masonic altar is that of a cube, about three feet high, with four
horns, one at each corner, and having spread open upon it the Holy Bible,
Square, and Compasses, while around it are placed in a triangular form and
proper position the three lesser lights.
Fig. 2 is taken from the same source. The stars represent the three
lighted candles and the black dot the vacancy in the north, where there is no light.
In our Co-Masonic Lodges we follow the English custom of having the three
candles beside the seats of the three principal officers, but they are still in
the same relative positions. In this, as in other matters, there is no
orthodoxy in Masonry.
The symbol upon the eastern side of the altar is a circle bounded
on the north and the south by two lines. In the centre there should be a point
- the point within a circle round which a M.M. cannot err. The circle, as shown
on the t … b …, is drawn the full size of the altar, so that it touches or
almost touches the V.S.L. An explanation of this which is often given in Lodge
lectures is that as the circle is bounded by two lines, which signify Moses
and Solomon, and also by the V.S.L.,
anyone who keeps himself within that circle and follows the precepts of the
V.S.L. as thoroughly as did Moses and Solomon will not err.
In ancient
Another interpretation of the symbol by the Egyptians was
particularly beautiful, and all Brn. will find it well worth remembering
whenever their eyes fall upon it. The three columns, representing wisdom,
strength and beauty, were stated to stand round God’s throne, which was the
altar itself, which they took to signify love. Thus the circle describes the
love of God, and the two lines which bound it are the lines of duty and destiny
or, to put the idea in Oriental terms, of dharma and karma. It was said that
while a M.M. kept himself within the circle of the divine love, and bounded his
actions by duty and destiny, he could not err.
The same device also signifies the first manifestation of the
Deity. It was held by the Egyptians there were three successive manifestations;
the first aspect far above our reach, the second and third successively lower, and
their conception of these three was very similar to that of the Three Persons
of the Blessed Trinity in Christianity and the Trimurti among the Hindus; in
fact, practically all philosophical religions have recognized the triple
manifestation of the Deity. In
The Book of Dzyan the same emblem, but without the two lines, was
used to denote the same reality, the first Logos or Word; while in Christian
mysticism it signifies the Christ within the bosom of the Father. It was also
considered to be a reflection of the Blazing Star which should be in the centre
of the Lodge ceiling, it being in this respect the same as the ever-burning
ruby lamp. It symbolized His light that “burns ever in our midst” and “shineth
even in our darkness”. Some students of Masonry see the same symbol once more
in many of the temples of the Druids and Scandinavians, which were formed of a
circle of stones with one, generally taller than the rest, in the centre.
PEDESTALS AND COLUMNS
“Our Lodges are supported by three great pillars - wisdom, strength
and beauty,” says the Masonic ritual, “wisdom to contrive, strength to support
and beauty to adorn; wisdom to conduct us in all our undertakings, strength to
support us under all our difficulties, and beauty to adorn the inward man. The
universe is the
His strength is omnipotent, and His beauty shines through the whole
of the creation in symmetry and order. The heavens He has stretched forth as a
canopy; the earth He has planted as His footstool; He crowns His Temple with
stars as with a diadem, and from His hands flow all
power and glory. The sun and the moon are messengers of His will, and all His law
is concord. The three great pillars supporting a Mason’s L … e are emblematical
of these divine attributes.”
Full-sized columns are rarely erected in any Lodges, but the W.S.W.
and W.J.W. have miniature columns on their pedestals, and all three of the principal
officers have usually larger columns beside them, upon which are supported
their respective candles. In Craft literature various reasons are given for the
presence of the three pedestals and for their arrangement. Some say that there
are three because King Solomon had two other important people associated with
him in the building of the temple; but the deeper fact is that the pillars on
the t … b … and the columns near the pedestals of the three principal officers
are intended to symbolize the three aspects of the divine life in
manifestation, which have been spoken of by various religions as the Holy
Trinity. In the earliest times in
In the process of the development of our universe, the third member
of the Trinity first exercised His portion of the divine power in preparing the
world of matter; then the second Person put forth His energy, and that was the
beginning of the evolution of conscious life. This is symbolized in the opening
of the Lodge. At first the W.J.W.’s miniature column, which signifies the Third
Person and the first outpouring of divine activity, is erect, but at the moment
when the
R.W.M. declares the Lodge open, that column is laid down and the
W.S.W. raises his column to the vertical position. By the authority of the
First Person, the Father, the Ruler of the world, the Second Person has now
taken charge of the proceedings, and the work of evolution of the powers of
consciousness is the order of the day in the open Lodge.
The three pillars, the columns and the pedestals, the candlesticks
and candles, all mean the same thing. The column on the desk or pedestal of
each of the principal officers of the Lodge is sculptured in a definite order
of architecture which signifies his power or quality; his candlestick also is
carved in the same design, and often it is depicted upon his candle as well.
Our columns and candlesticks are now usually made of painted wood, but in
reality they should be of three different kinds of stone; that of the R.W.M.
should be of freestone, that of the
W.S.W. of granite, and that of the W.J.W. of marble. These three kinds of stone
are typical specimens of the three great classes of rocks freestone is aqueous
or sedimentary; granite is igneous or plutonic, and marble is metamorphic. If
wooden columns are used, they should be painted to resemble these stones.
Plate IV
ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE
In looking at any column, there are two principal parts to be
considered - the column itself, and at the top of it the entablature which
helps it to support the roof. Each of these two parts is divided again into
three. The column has its base, then a long thin shaft, then the capital.
The parts of the entablature are first the architrave, that comes
out above the
capital, then the friezes which is a straight piece with ornaments,
and above
that the cornice. In almost all these points the different orders
of
architecture vary.
The three orders of architecture in ancient
Of the three Greek columns the Doric is the simplest. Its shaft has
twenty shallow flutings, and its height is eight times its diameter. It has no
base, and the capital is solid and quite plain. In the entablature, which is
not usually reproduced in the officers’ pillars, its frieze is characterized by
triglyphs, representing the ends of joists, and metopes, representing rafters,
and its cornice exhibits mutules. This column is considered to be formed after
the model of a muscular full-grown man; it shows strength and noble simplicity.
The Ionic column has twenty-four flutings and a length nine times
its diameter. Its capital is adorned with two volutes, and its cornice with
dentils. It is thought to be modelled with the grace of a beautiful woman, the
volutes being suggested by the dressing of her hair.
The Corinthian Column is by far the most beautiful. Its flutings
are not different from the Ionic, but its height is ten times its diameter,
which gives a slender and very graceful appearance. The capital is ornamented
with two rows of acanthus leaves and eight volutes, which sustain the abacus.
The following story is told with regard to the origin of the
Corinthian column. A Greek poet and architect named Calimachus once visited a
cemetery and saw there the grave of a child, on which an acanthus plant had
grown in a manner that struck the poet as so pleasing and beautiful that he had
it cut in stone, and it became the original of the form now seen on the capital
of every Corinthian pillar. On the grave there was a circular box of toys which
had been put there by the nurse of the child in order to please its spirit -
for at that time the idea was prevalent that departed spirits were in the habit
of visiting their places of burial or sepulture, and were in a position to
enjoy the objects placed there for them, or the counterparts of those objects,
which thus became their possessions on the other side of death.
On the top of the little box of toys the nurse had placed a flat
tile to keep off the rain. It happened that she had put the box upon an
acanthus root, and that the leaves had grown up and, when they reached the
tile, had turned again to form a kind of fringe round it, with most beautiful
effect. The acanthus plant grows wild all over
The Tuscan column is the plainest of all; it has a perfectly plain
base and top, the length of its shaft is only seven times its diameter, and it
has no flutings. The composite column, on the other hand, is the most ornate of
all, as it is an attempt to combine the beauties of the Ionic and the
Corinthian. It has the same number of flutings and the same proportions as the
latter, but combines with the acanthus ornament the volutes of the Ionic style.
The three columns are part of the Greek or classic style of
architecture, which has always a flat or very slightly sloping roof, no arches,
and many pillars arranged in rows, generally with a large shallow triangle, the
pylon, at the front of the building.
In the religious architecture of
They were operative masons, but they had their practical secrets,
and only they were able to do this kind of work. The Gothic was an entirely new
method, departing altogether from the classic, and there is ample evidence to
show that Freemasons were responsible for the change. The great cathedral of
MEANING OF THE THREE COLUMNS
I am indebted for the following luminous suggestions to Bro. Ernest
Wood. They are an interpretation of the three columns in the light of the
principles embodied in his book, The Seven Rays, and I commend them to the
careful study of the Brn.
In order to understand the full significance of the columns
presided over by the three principal officers, we must recall the occult
teaching of the great Divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or Shiva,
Vishnu and Brahma. In Their unity They are one
Universal God in whom everything exists, whether it be animate or inanimate, for
there is nothing but That. But in Their separate appearances, the Holy Ghost is
the maker or builder of the outer world, and the Son is the life in all beings,
the “light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. Every material
object in the world is part of the being of God the Holy Ghost in this large
sense, and every life or consciousness is part of the consciousness of God the
Son, who is the manifested Solar Logos. Behind these, invisible and beyond all
imagining, is the ineffable glory and happiness of the Father.
Both the Holy Ghost and the Son are in turn triune; wisdom,
strength and beauty are the three qualities of God the Holy Ghost, and they
form the three supports of the objective world, as they also mark out its three
divisions.
These divisions are
(1) the visible world of material objects, founded in beauty -
God in things is seen as beauty;
(2) the invisible energy with which the world is filled, and on
which all things that are seen are built - this is the strength of God the Holy Ghost;
(3) the
universal mind, the world of ideas, the storehouse of archetypes, marking out
the possibilities of material forms and relationships, which is seen in what
the scientist calls the laws of nature - the wisdom of the Divine Architect,
His settled plans.
These are the three parts of any objective world; they constitute
the Lodge, the
building, in which life plays its part; and the three Pillars,
Ionic, Doric and
Corinthian, symbolize these three divisions of the world - the field
of
consciousness, as it has been called in the Bhagavad Gita.
All the living beings which people this world display the light of
the divine life and consciousness in their varying degrees. They are all parts
of God the Son, the Christ, the great sacrifice, the divine life crucified on
the cross of matter. He also is a trinity, and this is seen in the three powers
of consciousness appearing in man as the spiritual will, the intuitional love
and the higher intelligence, which are the root of all
human will, love and thought. Since the officers are the life in the Lodge,
they represent these qualities in consciousness, which are called in Sanskrit
philosophy Ichchha, Jnana and Kriya. The R.W.M. expresses the divine will of
the Christ, directing the work to the perfecting of man; the W.S.W. represents
the divine love of the Christ; and the W.J.W. the divine thought. These
officers are to be known by their jewels, which represent will, love and
thought respectively, not by the columns at which they preside.
Just as material energy is the strength in things, so is love the
strength in consciousness; it is what has been called in Sanskrit terminology
the buddhi in man, the wisdom that is direct knowledge of life, the energy of
consciousness. It is the faculty in man with which he contacts and deals with
life around him, while his thought is the faculty with which he deals with
objective things. So when at the opening of the Lodge the W.J.W. lays down his
pillar and the W.S.W. raises his, it symbolizes the fact that now we are
interested in life, we are working upon man, upon consciousness, not upon
material objects, as would be the case if we were building a material
structure, and not the temple of man, his inner character, his immortal soul.
The Great Architect is now building “a temple in the heavens, not made with
hands”.
Thus the columns represent the three qualities of the material
Lodge, but the three principal officers express the three qualities of
consciousness or life. Now the assistant officers must be explained. In his
inner nature every man is a spiritual consciousness, threefold, as we have seen
- but when we look at him in this world we see not the man himself but the body
in which he lives, his material house, or rather, to use a more modern simile,
his motor car in which he goes about to do the business of his life, to see
what he wants to see and to work where he wants to work. That body, trained
perhaps for a particular profession, brought up in the special culture of one
of the nations, with its manners and habits of action, feeling and thought,
constitutes his personality, the mask through which his voice can be heard in
the world of outside appearances. This personality is fourfold - there is the
physical body, then the etheric double or counterpart of that, then the
emotional nature, then the lower mind - the last two constituting his own
private storehouse and gallery of personal feelings and ideas. The S.D. stands
for the lower mind, the J.D. for the emotional or astral nature; the I.G. for
the etheric double, and the O.G. or T. for the physical body.* (*For a fuller
study of these principles from this point of view, see Professor Wood’s book,
The Seven Rays.)
According to this interpretation the columns represent the three
aspects of the outer world (the world of human tuition), but the three
principal officers, who preside at their pedestals, stand for the three aspects
of divine consciousness (the inner world of human intuition), as in the
following diagram:
THE PILLARS OF THE PORCHWAY
Referring to King Solomon’s temple, the English Craft ritual says:
“There was nothing in connection with this magnificent structure more
remarkable, or which more particularly struck the attention, than the two great
pillars which were placed at the porch or entrance.” The ritual goes on to
explain that these two pillars were set up at the entrance of the temple to
remind the children of Israel, on their way to and from divine worship, of the
pillar of fire which gave light to the Israelites during their escape from
bondage in Egypt, and the pillar of cloud which proved darkness to Pharaoh and
his followers, when they attempted to overtake them.
Their original significance, however, dates much further back than
this. It is claimed that these two columns originally represented the north and
south pole-stars. They were at first the pillars of Horus and Set, but their
names were afterwards changed to Tat or Ta-at, and Tattu, the former meaning
“in strength” and the latter “to establish”, the two together being considered
as the emblem of stability. Tattu is the entrance to the region where the
mortal soul is blended with the immortal spirit, and thereby established for
ever, as I have already explained in Chapter I. It seems strange that so many
authors should speak of the north and south pole stars, when the fact is that
there is no star of any consequence at the south pole. The southern pole of the
heavens is situated in an unusually barren tract of the sky, and the nearest
star of any consequence is that at the foot of the Southern Cross, which is no
less than twenty-seven degrees from the pole.On the tops of the two columns in
the very ancient symbolism there were at first four lines or cross sticks,
which were symbols of heaven and earth.
How the four quarters or the square, or rather the two squares,
arose may be understood from Fig. .
The first symbol shows the two eyes of north and south, with a
connecting line. The second shows the line of Shu, where he makes a division at
the equinox, and thus forms two triangles of Set and Horus; and the third
figure completes the square of the four quarters. It is said that Tattu is thus
the place established for ever, a heaven with its four quarters, as Tat
represents the earth with its four quarters.
In the hieroglyphs the form has become like Fig. 5,while in the
Papyrus of Ani it appears as in Fig. .Dr. Mackey has made a special study of
these two
pillars in their later Jewish form. He speaks of them as memorials
of God’s
repeated promises of support to His people of Israel, since Jachin
is derived
from Jah, which means “Jehovah”, and achin, “to establish”, and
signifies “God
will establish His house in Israel,” while Boaz is compounded of b,
which
means “in” and oaz, “strength”, the whole signifying “in strength
shall it be
established”. Mackey thinks that the pillars should be within the
porch (which
in reality they were not), at its very entrance; and on each side
of the gate.
It will be seen how exactly the meanings given here correspond with
those of the
Egyptian names of the same pillars.
We find various descriptions of these columns given in the
Christian Scriptures. The references are 1 Kings, vii, 15; 2 Kings, xxv, 17; 2
Chron. iii, 15 and iv, 12; Jer. lii, 21 and Ezek. xl, . A description is also
given by the Jewish historian Josephus, and another may be found in Mackey’s
Lexicon of Freemasonry.
These accounts differ in various respects, and the details given
are so confused that Masonic writers are by no means in agreement as to any but
the chief features. I therefore thought it best to take the trouble to make a
clairvoyant investigation, the result of which is given in Plates VI and VII.
The first of these is what is called a scale-drawing, showing the proportions
of the pillar exactly as it was, but as it never could have been seen by any
human being, because of its size. The second is an enlarged drawing, of the
same character, of the capital (or, as it is called in the Bible, the chapiter)
to show the detail of its somewhat complicated workmanship. There is also a
small ground-plan of the temple, to show the position of the
pillars in relation to the porch. It will be seen that they were not
within the porch, but just outside it. This ground-plan has been drawn to scale
according to the biblical measurements, but it should be noted that in it no
account is taken of any other doors than that of the porchway, or of the
curious little side-chapels which King Solomon added; nor is any attempt made
to indicate the courts which surrounded the temple.
These pillars are described in the Bible as of brass, but their
appearance is much more that of what we today call bronze. The height of the
pillar itself is given in all the accounts but one as eighteen cubits, and the
chapiter which swells out above it is said to have been five cubits in height,
but as it overlapped the top to the extent of half a cubit the total height was
22 1/2 cubits. As the cubit is usually calculated to have been eighteen inches,
this gives us the total height of the pillar and its capital as 33 feet 9
inches. Its circumference is given as twelve cubits or eighteen feet, which
would make its diameter just under six feet. The pillars were hollow, and the
thickness of the metal of which they were composed is usually supposed to have
been three inches, though it has sometimes been given as four. At the back of
each pillar, so that they were not seen at all from the front, were three small
doors, one above the other, so that part of the pillar may be thought of as
divided into safes, in which archives, books of the Law and other documents
were kept.
The chapiters which fit on to the top of the pillars like caps are
the most interesting part of these remarkable castings. The ornamentation of
these capitals will best be understood from the illustration.
The whole chapiter swells upwards in a somewhat urn-like form, with
a flat
circular disc resting upon it. The upward curve of the urn is
continued through
the disc, and makes a projection above the disc which is a segment
of a sphere,
though this was of course not visible to anyone looking up from the
foot of the
pillar. It would be more correct to say that the form suggested is
not actually
a sphere but rather an oblate spheroid, and in the original stone
pillar which
occupied a similar place in the Egyptian temple, the symbology of
which was
copied by the Tyrian artificer, this somewhat unusual form was
undoubtedly
intentional, and was adopted in order to give an idea of the true
shape of the
earth, which was perfectly well known in ancient Egypt. As will be
seen in a
later chapter, the Egyptians were quite familiar with the exact
measurements of
the earth, but in the indication of it in the spheroid of the
pillar the polar
depression is naturally greatly exaggerated, as otherwise the
difference could
hardly have been visible. It is known that these pillars were
intended to
represent the terrestrial and celestial spheres respectively; and
in some modern
attempts to reproduce them they are crowned with these two globes.
In the
originals, however, there were no such globes, as the rounded
chapiters
sufficiently represented them.
It will be seen from the illustration that the surface of the
chapiter below the disc is covered with a network, and that the lower ends of
the network coalesce into a kind of fringe, from which depend a number of
little balls. The Bible account tells us quite accurately that these balls were
intended to represent pomegranates, and that there were two hundred of these
pomegranates upon each pillar.
Superimposed upon the network is a rather curious decoration of
chains, hanging in festoons, and there are seven rows of these festoons one
below the other. Each loop of chain consists of seven links, and in each case
the central link of the chain is much the largest and heaviest, and the links
diminish in size and weight as they rise towards the ends of the loop. Along
the edge of the disc runs a line of lilies, and from this four chains of the
same flowers are represented as hanging straight down the chapiter on the
north, east, south and west respectively. These flower-chains, however, do not
hang loose in the air, but cling closely to the outline of the chapiter.
Between them two palm-leaves are crossed through the middle link of the central
chain in each space.
Entirely apart from this scheme of decoration a very beautifully executed
band of flowers is introduced to hide the junction of the chapiter with the
pillar. This consists of a triple row of lilies; the central row, which exactly
covers the edge of the chapiter, is composed of fully opened flowers facing
outwards from the pillar, with leaves between them, while there is an upper row
of tightly-closed buds standing up between the flowers of the middle row and
giving an effect not
unlike that of the points of a crown. The lilies of the third row
hang gracefully downwards from the middle row upon curved stems, and face in
various directions.
All this, we are told, was the work of H. A., a widow’s son of
Naphtali - a man described in the biblical account as a cunning worker in
brass, who was sent down to Jerusalem by H., K. of T., especially in order to
do this and other metal work for King Solomon. Undoubtedly this man was a true
artist, for he took an almost inconceivable amount of trouble to carry out his
design exactly as he wanted it. So far as the investigators were able to see,
his work was based entirely upon a traditional account of the stone Egyptian
pillars, which had been handed down from the time of Moses. It did not appear
that he had any clear idea of the meaning of all these strange decorations,
though Moses knew perfectly well the whole system of symbology which lay behind
it.
It is to be understood that all this varied ornamentation was not
arranged in basso-relievo, as would be expected in a casting; on the contrary
it stood out boldly from the face of the pillar, many of the flowers being
connected with it only by a comparatively thin stalk of considerable length.
Some indication of the patience and care which the artist exhibited may be
gathered from the fact that he carved in wood and in full size the entire
triple band of lilies to go round the
eighteen-foot circumference of the base of the chapiter, and then
made his moulds round that wooden carving.
Though the general idea of the threefold band of flowers was
preserved, the
whole thing was arranged in a very natural manner, no flower being
an exact
reproduction of its neighbour; it was not a mere repetition of a
pattern, such
as we might have in a modern wallpaper, but the whole conception
was carried out as one great unit with the most loving and painstaking care.
Many experiments were tried before this ancient artificer was
satisfied, and he adopted various ingenious methods to attain his object. He
was anxious to make the whole chapiter and all its decorations as nearly as
possible in one casting, and with the primitive appliances at his command this
gave him an immensity of trouble. His lilies may perhaps be considered as
somewhat conventional; at least they do not exactly correspond to any varieties
with which I happen to be acquainted. They were on the whole more like the
lotus than like an ordinary lily; but on the other hand the leaves were by no
means lotus leaves.
To the ordinary worshipper in the temple all this rather
complicated ornamentation was merely decorative, but to the initiate it was
full of esoteric significance. First, these two pillars were an exemplification
of the occult axiom, “As above, so below”, for though they were absolutely
alike in every particular it was always understood that they represented
respectively the terrestrial and celestial worlds. On Tat, the left-hand
pillar, each link of each chain symbolized what in our Oriental studies we call
a branch-race, and the links as they descended became larger and thicker to
indicate a deeper descent into matter, until the fourth was reached, when the
life-force begins to draw inward and upward, and so its embodiment becomes less
material.
Each loop of seven links therefore typified a sub-race, and the
seven loops which extended round the pillar, making one festoon, correspond to
one of the great root-races, such as the Lemurian, the Atlantean or the Aryan.
The whole set of seven festoons hanging one below the other denoted one
world-period, one occupation of this planet of ours.
Underneath the chain-work a beautifully executed system of fine
network will be seen, and this was employed by the priests of old to elucidate
yet another side of the marvellous mystery of evolution. When the Holy Spirit
has brooded over the face of the waters of space, and has impregnated and vivified
primordial matter, the activity of the Second Aspect of the Logos begins, and
innumerable streams of His divine life pour down into the field prepared for
them. In a thousand ways they interlace and combine, and so produce the
bewildering multiplicity of the life which we see around us.
From their interaction result the manifold fruits of evolution
which we see
exemplified in our pillars by the rows of pomegranates which depend
from the
fringe of the network, the pomegranates being chosen for this symbolism
because each fruit contains a prodigious number of separate seeds, thus
illustrating the amazing fecundity of nature and the vast variety of her types.
In Tat the lilies represented always the flower of humanity.
Arranged in line round the edge of the disc they indicated the Great White
Brotherhood the jewels in the crown of mankind, hovering above the human race
and directing its evolution. The four pendant flower-chains symbolized the Holy
Four who reside at Shamballa - the Spiritual King and His three
pupil-assistants, the sole representatives on earth of the Lords of the Flame
who came down long ago from Venus to hasten the evolution of mankind. The
crossed palm-leaves between them typified the four Devarajas, the principal
agents through whom the decrees of the Sons of the Fire-Mist are carried out.
The three bands of lilies which are arranged to hide the junction
of the chapiter with the pillar were taken to represent the initiates of the three
stages of the Egyptian Mysteries. The buds of the upper row, pointing upwards,
typified the initiates of the Mysteries of Isis, who were full of aspiration,
reaching upwards and in that way raising the general average of human thought.
The flowers of the middle row, opened and facing outwards, were the initiates
of Serapis, showing forth by their lives the glory, dignity and power of
humanity as it should be. The third row of drooping lilies represented the
initiates of the Mysteries of Osiris, reaching down into the world in order to
devote themselves to the helping and enlightenment of humanity.
These three grads of initiates seem to correspond in a general way
to three other divisions or grades of the occult life which I have described at
length in The Masters and the Path. There are first those on the probationary
path, who are aspiring to enter the Path proper, and are doing everything in
their power to purify themselves, to develop their character, and to serve
humanity with unselfish love under the guidance of the Masters. Then come those
who have been initiated into the Great White Brotherhood, and have thus entered
on the Path proper; their lives are dedicated entirely to the service of
humanity; in them the bud of human life has opened into flower, and their
consciousness has risen into the buddhic principle, which has been described as
the truly human expression of man. Thirdly come the Arhats, those who have
taken the fourth great Initiation; they are not compelled to reincarnate; if
they do so it is quite voluntary; they dip down into human life on this plane
simply in order to help.
On Tattu, the right-hand pillar, we take up the tale of evolution
where we left it on the other. A single link here betokens one world-period,
and therefore includes the whole set of seven festoons on Tat. To use once more
the technical terms of Theosophical teaching, the loop of seven links on Tattu
stands for what we call a Round, the completed festoon of seven loops is meant
to suggest one Chain-period, and the full group of seven festoons equals one
Planetary Scheme. The two pillars taken together correspond exactly to the
table of evolution and the diagram which I give in the sixth section of
The Inner Life, and almost the whole of the information contained
in that
section was taught by the Egyptian priests to their neophytes, and
illustrated
by means of this elaborate system of chapiter decoration. It would
be out of
place to repeat here the whole of the explanation included in that
book, but I
would refer to it those students who wish to pursue further this
most
interesting subject. As there are several editions of the book I am
unfortunately unable to give an exact page reference, but the
diagram will
easily be found.
In Tattu the crown of flowers round the edge of the disc seems to
have been taken to symbolize the hosts of the Dhyan Chohans, including perhaps
the Planetary Logoi. The four chains of lilies flowing down from that crown
bore to the Egyptians a signification connected with the Tetraktys, or perhaps
with a reflection or expression of that Mystery, while the triple band of
lilies round the lower edge of the chapiter was taken as signifying the action
in matter of the three Aspects of the Logos - the buds denoting the action of the Holy Spirit,
the Arm of the Lord outstretched in activity, and always pushing upward and
onward within the spirit of man, while the middle row was taken as showing the
strength of the Father ever shining forth as the sun in his glory far beyond
the clouds and mists of earth, and the lowest row betokened the action of the
Second Aspect, God the Son, bending down into incarnation and raising humanity
from within.
The crossed palm-leaves here indicate the Lipika, the Lords of
Karma, who work through the four Kings of the elements symbolized by similar
leaves on Tat. They are unconnected with the rest of the design because they
represent forces not confined to our planetary scheme, or even to our solar
system; they administer a Law which rules the whole universe, which Angels and
men alike obey.
The upper segment of the spheroid, beyond the disc, was left
entirely bare of ornament, in order to indicate that beyond all that could be
symbolized there was yet something more, out of manifestation, and therefore
entirely inexpressible.
Another reason for the placing of these two pillars at the entrance
of the temple was that the man who would enter the higher world of the Lodge
from the common world of every-day life must pass between them; and from this
point of view they typified the overcoming in his own lower nature of the
turbulence of the personal emotions and the Waywardness of the personal mind.
First, his strength for fighting the battle of life came from the emotions, the
astral nature; then that pillar of our personal nature, the pillar of Set, had
to be conquered by the power of the mind, the pillar of Horus, end conjoined
with it in order to add to the strength the stability necessary for going
forward to higher things. Only then is the man established in strength, having
the power to execute and the wisdom to direct.
The pillars also represent once more the two great laws of
progress, karma and dharma, the former providing the environment or material
world, and the latter the direction of the self within; by the union or
harmonious working of these two laws a man may attain the stability and
strength required for the occult path, and map thus reach the circle within
which a M.M. cannot err.
Also the pillars were used in the teaching of the priests to
illustrate the great doctrine of the pairs of opposites - spirit and matter,
good and evil, light and darkness, pleasure and pain, etc.It is interesting to
note that Kabbalistic writers
understood these pillars somehow to have represented involution,
the descent of
the divine Life into lower worlds, though they may not have been
familiar with
all the details. A treatise named The Gates of Light is quoted by
Bro. A. E.
Waite in this connection as follows:
He who knows the mysteries of the two Pillars, which are Jachin and
Boaz, shall understand after what manner the Neshamoth, or Minds, descend with
the
Ruachoth, or Spirits, and the Nephasoth, or Souls, through El-chai
and Adonai by the influx of the said two Pillars.
And again:
By these two Pillars and by El-chai (the living God)
the Minds and Spirits and Souls descend, as by their passages or
channels.*
(*New Encyclopaedia, II, 280.)
They form also the portal of the Mysteries by which the souls ascend
to their
divine Source; and it is only by passing through them that the
sanctuary of man’s true Godhead may be reached, that divine splendour which
when aroused in the depths of the heart indeed establishes its dwelling-place
in strength and stability.
In the French working two large pillars are placed inside the Lodge
on either side of the door, in the West, and the W.S.W. and W.J.P. sit at
triangular tables beside these. This arrangement is derived from the Chaldaean
system.
Several writers have made persistent attempts to attach a phallic
signification to these two pillars; I can only say that in the course of a
prolonged investigation by means of the inner sight we found no trace of the
attribution of any such meaning.
CHAPTER III
THE FITTINGS OF THE LODGE
THE ORNAMENTS
“THE interior fittings of a Freemason’s Lodge”, says the Co-Masonic
ritual, “comprise the ornaments, the furniture and the jewels. The ornaments
are the mosaic pavement, symbolizing spirit and matter; the blazing star, ever
reminding us of the presence of God in His universe, and the indented border,
the Guardian Wall.”
THE MOSAIC PAVEMENT
The three ornaments all belong to the middle of the Lodge. The
mosaic pavement is the beautiful floor, which is composed of squares
alternately black and white, and is explained in the Craft ritual
as the
diversity of objects which decorate and ornament creation, the
animate as well
as the inanimate parts thereof. Its alternate squares, however,
symbolize not
only the mingling of living and material things in the world, but
even more the
intermingling of spirit and matter, or life and matter, everywhere.
The double
triangles interlaced indicate the same great fact in nature.
Throughout nature there is no life without matter, and no matter
without life. Until recent years many scientific people thought that the life
side of creation extended only as far down as the vegetable kingdom, but
nowadays it is being recognized that it is not possible to draw a line anywhere
and say: “Above this things are living and conscious in various degrees, but
below it there is only dead matter.” The researches made by Professor Sir
Jagadish Chandra Bose of Calcutta (recorded in his book Response in the Living
and Non-Living) which have won him the highest scientific honours and respect,
show that such a line simply does not exist, but that there is some degree of
life in the tiniest grain of sand. Some of his conclusions have been stated in
brief and effective form in Dr. Annie Besant’s well-known work, A Study in
Consciousness, in the following words:
Professor Bose has definitely proved that so-called “inorganic
matter” is responsive to stimulus, and that the response is identical from metals,
vegetables, animals, and - so far as experiment can be made - man.
He arranged apparatus to measure the stimulus applied, and to show
in curves, traced on a revolving cylinder, the response from the body receiving
the stimulus. He then compared the curves obtained in tin and in other metals
with those obtained from muscle, and found that the curves from tin were
identical with those from muscle, and that other metals gave curves of like
nature but varied in the period of recovery.
Tetanus, both complete and incomplete, due to repeated shocks, was
caused, and similar results accrued, in mineral as in muscle.
Fatigue was shown by metals, least of all by tin. Chemical
re-agents, such as drugs, produced on metals similar results to those known to
result with animals - exciting, depressing, and deadly.
A poison will kill a metal, inducing a condition of immobility, so
that no response is obtainable. If the poisoned metal be taken in time, an
antidote may save its life.
A stimulant will increase response, and as large and small doses of
a drug have been found to kill and stimulate respectively, so have they been
found to act on metals.
“Among such phenomena,” asks
Professor Bose, “how can we draw a line of demarcation and say: ‘Here the
physical process ends, and there the physiological begins’? No such barriers
exist.”
Psychic experience and trained clairvoyance add their testimony to
this conclusion, and affirm that without a shadow of doubt the same
kind of life can be seen pulsating in the body of a tiger or an oak
tree or a
fragment of mineral substance. As The Secret Doctrine expressed it:
With every day, the identity between the animal and physical man,
between the plant and man, and even between the reptile and its nest, the rock,
and man - is more and more clearly shown. The physical and chemical
constituents of all being found to be identical, ChemicalScience may well say
that there is no difference between the matter which composes the ox, and that
which forms man. But the Occult doctrine is far more explicit. It says: Not
only the chemical compounds are the same, but the same infinitesimal invisible
Lives compose the atoms of the bodies of the mountain and the daisy, of man and
the ant, of the elephant and of the tree which shelters it from the sun. Each
particle-whether you call it organic or inorganic - is a Life.* (*The Secret
Doctrine, I, .)
In looking, then, at our chequered pavement, those of us who
understand the full significance of it are constantly reminded of the omnipresence
of life.
In ancient
The exceeding importance of squaring the Lodge accurately is
another aspect of the same idea. The currents of force are rushing along and
across that pavement in lines like the warp and woof of a piece of cloth, and
also round the edges of it, and anyone who has to cross it, or even come near
it, should be careful to move with the force and not against it. Hence the
imperative necessity of always keeping to one direction. In modern days less
care seems to be taken of the mosaic pavement; I have even seen a case in which
the attendance-book, which all have to sign, was placed on a table in the
middle of it. With us in Egypt that pavement occupied almost the whole of the floor
of the Lodge; now it is often only a small enclosure in the middle of it.
THE INDENTED BORDER
All round the mosaic pavement runs the tesselated border. In older
Masonry it is said that it was made of threads twining in and out, but now it
is a machicolated border, a sort of dog-tooth arrangement. In the early
eighteenth century, we are told, the symbols of the Order were marked out in
chalk upon the floor, and this diagram was then encircled with a wavy cord,
ornamented with tassels, and was therefore called “the indented tassel”, later
corrupted into the “tesselated border”. The French call it “la houpe dentelée”,
and describe it as “a cord forming true lover’s knots, which surrounds the
tracing board”. The tesselated border refers us, says the masculine ritual, to
the beautiful border formed round the sun by the planets in their various
revolutions. The Co-Masonic ritual makes it an emblem of the Guardian Wall
protecting humanity, composed of Adepts or men who have attained the perfection
of human evolution in past centuries and millennia. They stand around humanity
in the spiritual worlds, it is said in a Buddhist scripture, to save mankind
from further and far greater misery and sorrow.
There is a similar dual interpretation also for the four tassels
which appear in the corners of the border. In masculine Masonry they are
usually considered to mean temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice; their
significance is always interpreted as ethical. But they stand also for four
great orders of devas connected with the elements earth, water, air and fire,
and their great Rulers, the four Devarajas, agents of the law of karma, which
is always balancing and adjusting the affairs of man, and seeing that there is
no injustice between living creatures in God’s universe, just as there is no
maladjustment in the relations of material substances and bodies. At the
initiation of candidates in Co-Masonic Lodges these four Rulers of the elements
are invoked, and the consequences of that are very real and beneficial, little
as many members of the fraternity may be aware of the fact.
THE BLAZING STAR
The Blazing Star is properly six-pointed, and is made of glass, set
in the middle of the ceiling and illuminated from inside by artificial light.
Below it there should be another and movable star on the floor. The Blazing
Star is the sign of the Deity, and to make that more evident, in the middle of
it is usually inscribed the letter G, for God. In the old Jewish form of
Masonry they had instead of that letter their sacred word YHVH, standing for
Jehovah. In Co-Masonic Lodges the usual form of this figure is a serpent curled
round with its tail in its mouth, a symbol of eternity. This was the original
form, but the head of the serpent was altered so as to form the letter G. The
Sacred Fire below the star is a reflection of it; in some Lodges, as for
example at Adyar, in India, it hangs just underneath the ceiling on a pulley
arrangement, and is lowered that light may be taken from it and carried to the
candles. The Blazing Star also represents the sun, the dispenser of innumerable
blessings to mankind and the world in general; but as the sun is the symbol of
God there is no difference between these two interpretations. In many Lodges
the Blazing Star is made five-pointed, and it formerly had wavering points or
rays; this is usual in the English and American Obediences.
The spiritual verity expressed in the Blazing Star and its
reflection in the Sacred Fire indicates that God’s reflection is ever in our
midst. The statement that man was made in the image of God is familiar to all;
there is a reflection of God in man more than a reflection. The image of God in
man is an expression or continuation of God Himself, for God is the light which
carries the image, and insomuch as a man can receive that light in himself and
reflect it he is a part of it, one with the Divine. As Emerson beautifully
expressed it in his essay on the Over-Soul: “There is no bar or wall in the
soul where God the cause ceases and man the effect begins.”
Several different kinds of stars are to be seen in the Masonic
Lodge, and it is well to consider the special significance of each of them, for
there is nothing in the Lodge that is mere ornament, without meaning - on the
contrary, even the simplest thing is there for a purpose and has great
significance. The six-pointed star is, as we have seen, an emblem of the unity
of spirit and matter, of God in manifestation in His universe. The five-pointed
star is placed in the east on the wall over the head of the R.W.M. and is
called the Star in the East, and also the Star of Initiation. It is the symbol
of the perfect man, God manifesting through man, not through the universe as a
whole. Man is a five-fold being - physical, emotional, mental, intuitional and
spiritual; and when all these parts of his nature are perfectly developed as
far as that is possible in a human state of existence, he becomes the perfect
man, the Adept, master of himself and the five worlds or planes in which he has
his being. Such a man has fulfilled the instruction: “Be ye perfect, even as
your Father in heaven is perfect.”
On the t … b … there is the seven-pointed star above the ladder
reaching up into the heavens. It is a symbol of the seven great lines along
which all life is moving slowly upwards to completer union with the divine, of
the seven ways in which man may realize perfection, and the seven rays or
emanations of God through which He has filled the whole universe with the light
of His life. This star also typifies the Christian thought of the seven great
Archangels, the Seven Spirits who stand before the throne of God. It is
likewise another symbol for the perfected man or Adept, because while he is
master of the five worlds, he is also the wielder of seven powers; he has
developed his nature to human perfection on all seven rays, in all seven of the
lines of activity of the divine life.
THE FURNITURE
The furniture of the Lodge is also threefold, and consists of the
V. S. L., the square and the compasses. Without them the Lodge cannot legally
be held. The Lodge is described as just, perfect and regular: it is just
because the V. S. L. is open in it; it is perfect because it contains seven
M.M.s or more; it is regular because it holds a warrant or charter from a
Supreme Council, Grand Lodge, or other supreme body having an unbroken line of
Masonic authority. It is to be understood, of course, that the Volumes of the
Sacred Lore are not only the Bible of the Christians, but the sacred books of
other religions as well, for the members of a Lodge may and often do belong to various religions.
In a Lodge meeting on one occasion in Bombay there were among the Brn. present
Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis, Jews, Sikhs, Muhammadans, and Jains. It
is the custom there to place on the altar the sacred books of all who are
likely to attend that Lodge. The Rev. J. T. Lawrence, the well-known author of
many Masonic handbooks, tells us that he himself has initiated Jews,
Muhammadans, Hindus and Parsis, and at least one Buddhist. He writes:
According to a pronouncement of Grand Lodge, the Bible need not be
in the Lodge at all. The Volume of the Sacred Law, we have been told, is that
whichcontains the sacred law of the individual concerned. That is to say, it
may be the (Quran, the Zendavesta, the Shasters, the Rig-Veda, or any other
volume.* (*Sidelights on Freemasonry, p. .)
In the Grand Lodge of all Scottish Freemasonry in India a
(Quran-bearer, a Zendavesta-bearer, and the like, are numbered among the
officers.* (*Sidelights on Freemasonry, p. 50.) Freemasonry has always been
liberal in its views. The Grand Lodge of England has declined to limit or
define the belief in God which is expected from every candidate; in the charge
concerning God and Religion in the Book of Constitutions of 1815 it is said:
“Let a man’s religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded
from the Order, provided he believes in the glorious Architect of heaven and
earth and practise the sacred duties of morality.” It will thus be seen that
the ideals of Masonry are very high, and its views extraordinarily tolerant,
and that its power for good in the world is unquestionably enormous.
In Co-Masonry the term “lore” is employed as describing all these
scriptures, since in the use of them we are in pursuit of wisdom. The term
“law” is used in many other Lodges, but even then it is explained in the ritual
that the object of the Volume of the Sacred Law is to illumine our minds. So in
the three articles of furniture we have the V.S.L. to enlighten the mind, the
square to regulate our actions, and the compasses to keep us within due bounds
in our relations with all, and especially with our Brn. in Freemasonry. Yet at
the same time all these objects have much larger meanings.
With the Egyptians the compasses were a triangle and the square was
a geometrical square - the ordinary figure with four equal sides and all its
angles right angles. In modern days we use the tool that a working Mason calls
a square, by means of which he tests the two adjacent sides of any flat stone
to find out whether they are at right angles to each other. In Freemasonry when
the candidate is now asked, “What is a square?” he replies: “It
is an angle of ninety degrees or the fourth part of a circle.” This
is obviously
not a correct description of a square, but only of one corner of a
square.
230The square which lies on the V.S.L. has quite a different
genesis, and a different reason for its existence, from the implement which is
worn by the R.W.M. It was originally a mathematical square, but it has lost its
full shape, and is now represented only by one corner of the square. It is
usually considered identical with the carpenter’s or mason’s tool of that name,
which is worn by the R.W.M. as the symbol of his office, but the two ideas are in
reality quite distinct.
In Egypt the triangle represented the triad of spiritual will,
intuitional love and higher intelligence in man; while the square typified the
lower quaternary, that is, his body with its visible and etheric divisions, his
emotional nature, and his lower mind. Thus the triangle stool for the
individuality or soul, and the square; fur the personality, the two together
constituting septenary man.
The three articles of furniture were also regarded as intended to
help men on their way; the V.S.L. drew attention to the value of tradition, the
triangle spoke of the importance of inspiration, and the square emphasized the
high use of facts, with also in the background the idea of the value of common
sense. The tradition was handed down by the forefathers, the inspiration came
from the higher self, and the facts were to be studied and used with common
sense.
THE MOVABLE JEWELS
The three movable jewels are the square, the level and the
plumb-rule. They are worn, depending from their collars, by the three principal
officers, and are then called their jewels of office. They are movable because
they are transferred by Master and Wardens to their successors on the day of
installation of new officers. The collar was also worn in ancient Egypt, but it
was much more nearly circular, like a necklace, instead of being pointed and
hanging low on the breast, as it is now worn.
The square is usually considered to represent morality, the level
equality, and the plumb-rule uprightness or justice. It will be seen that in
this case the term “square” is applied exclusively to the tool, and not to the
geometrical figure. In his Masonic Encyclopaedia, Kenning mentions that the
square was often seen in churches as an emblem of the old operative builders,
and that upon an early metal square found near Limerick, in Ireland, the
following words and the date 1517 are inscribed:
I strive
to live with love and care
Upon the
level, by the square.
This seems to show that our speculative interpretations were
already known at the early date mentioned.There is also a translation from an
ancient Persian
inscription, which runs:
square
thyself for use; a stone that may Fit in the wall is not left in the way.
The R. W. M. has as his jewel the square, which indicates the Third
Outpouring of divine force, from the First Logos, the First Person of the
Trinity, and has therefore the same significance as the gavel, his instrument
of government. The symbolism of the gavel is very profound; to explain it I
must draw attention to what is probably the oldest symbol in the world.
This long line with two crossed bars upon it has for uncounted
thousands of years been the special sign of the Supreme Being. The pygmy race
is probably the most primitive at present existing, but even they have that
symbol for their chief. Older people will remember the excitement that was
caused when the famous explorer Stanley journeyed into the centre of Africa to
find Dr. Livingstone, and came back to us with the story of the pygmies living
in the forests there. His new s way a confirmation of that which a French
explorer, Du Chaillu, had brought some quarter of a century before, but it had
not been generally accepted until Stanley’s evidence arrived.
That pygmy race is a relic of the old Lemurians, and represents
them more purely than any other people. The Lemurians were at one time a
gigantic people, but in process of dying out they diminished in size. The
African bushmen are also remnants of the same race, but with very mixed blood,
and the same thing is true of those who are usually called the Australian
aboriginals, except that in their case there is a very alight admixture of
Aryan blood.
At one time the pygmies were spread over a great deal more of
Africa than at present, and some of them were the first people to enter Egypt
when the marshes were partially drying up after the great flood that followed
the sinking of the island of Poseidonis some nine thousand five hundred years
before Christ.
They were driven out a little later by the Nubians, but that more
advanced race was finally dispossessed (and, I think, to some extent absorbed)
by the true Egyptians when they returned to their country. As I have explained
in Chapter I, the wise men of Egypt had foreseen that there would be a great
flood, and the Aryan portion of the Egyptian population had left the country
and gone over to Arabia, where it was mountainous. When the returned a long time after the flood they
found the Nubians in possession of their country, and to some slight extent
they blended with them; that is the explanation of the traces of Nubian blood
which are found in the ancient Egyptians.
These Nubians also used the same symbol, but they altered it
somewhat; instead of having the two sticks crossed (Fig. 8 a), they laid them
across the vertical rod one above the other (Fig. 8 b), thereby making the
double cross which is still used by the Greek Church, having come to it via the
Coptic Church. But in the meantime another development of this symbol had taken
place. If we draw lines joining each of the two ends (Fig. 8 c & d), we get
the double axe - the double-headed battle-axe, which appeared when hafting was
invented. That was the sign of the chief or king in many parts of the world.
Among the Chaldeans, for example, it was the token of Ramu, which was their
name for the Supreme God, and one of His titles was the God of the Age.
The same symbol was also found among the Aztecs, which shows their
connection with Egypt. They represented their chieftain by this symbol of the
age, which was their sign for God, because the chief was looked upon as God’s
representative. There are still tribes in Central Africa among
which that double
axe has a hut to itself, as a great chief would have.
Quite recently extensive archaeological researches have been made
in the island of Crete, and among other things discovered there was this symbol
of the double axe, which there also stood for the Deity.* (*Fig. 9 is
reproduced (with permission) from an illustration in The Palace of Minos in
Knossos, by Sir Arthur Evans.) In the outer courts of the temples of the great kingdom of Knossos there were many
statues, but when one penetrated to the
Holy of Holies there was no statue, but the double age was there
set up as a
symbol of the Supreme, and was called the Labrys. That is the
origin of the word labyrinth; for the first labyrinth was
constructed in order that this sacred symbol might be put in the middle of it,
and the way to it was confused in order to symbolize the difficulty of the path
which leads to the Highest. The stories of the Minotaur and Theseus and Ariadne
came much later than this. Until these recent discoveries the Greek word
“labyrinth” was markedas a foreign word of unknown derivation.
The gavel of the Master of the Lodge has descended from that, and
it is held by the Master because in his humble way, in the symbolism of the
Lodge, he is representing the Deity. It is a sign of government, and is held by
him in exactly the same way as it was long ago by the first of the Pharaohs. It
has now become modified in shape, and often takes the form of the mason’s
stone-hammer. The name gavel came from the word “gable”, so that name belongs
to an object of this later shape, rather than to the old double-axe.
In Egypt the double axe was also the sign for Aroueris, the first
name given to the risen Horus, and Horus was called the Chief of the Hammer
because this sign was sometimes drawn as a hammer. One of the old Egyptian
gavels is still in existence, and there may be others also which have not been
identified for what they are. That one is in the possession of the H.O.A.T.F.,
who uses it today in His own Lodge. It is the gavel which was used by Rameses
the Great in Egypt - a most lovely implement of green jade
inlaid with gold. With it the H.O.A.T.F. also has a cloak which was
used by
Rameses when acting as Master of his Lodge; I donot know its
material, but it somewhat resembles the feathered cloaks which used to be worn
in Hawaii.
The square of the I.M. is equally an instrument of
government, as is indicated in its use as the seat of Osiris in the
Judgment
Hall, mentioned in Chapter I.* (*Plate II (b)) From it Osiris
governs or judges
the souls of men who are brought before him, and decides as to
whether they are sufficiently perfect to pass onward. From this we have our
modern idea of acting on the square; that is to say, with perfect justice to
our neighbour.
The figure is in this case the working mason’s square, an angle of ninety
degrees, used for testing the sides of a stone to see that they are at right
angles to each other, and that therefore the wall built of them will stand
perpendicular, safe and strong. The difference between the two kinds of squares
will now be clearly seen. The quadrilateral is intended when we speak of the
compasses as dominating the square, but this right angle is signified when we
refer to the tool wherewith the Master measures and decides.
Although the R.W.M. has this symbol of the square, he is in fact
the Son
governing and judging on behalf of the Father, who remains in the
background,
since our Lodges are of the Christ or Sun-God type.
In Egypt they had a symbol of very great significance, called the
Arrow of Ra, which includes both the square of the R.W.M. and his gavel of
office. In our plate the different parts are separate, but sometimes they are
joined together, and then one gets the
effect of an arrow, whence it is named the Arrow of Ra, the Sun-God, who was
also called Horus of the Double Horizon, the Son of Osiris and Isis, and yet a
reincarnation of Osiris, God in evolution. The lower portion of the drawing
refers to His descent into matter, the inverted square signifying descent, and
the angle beneath symbolizing the cavern of matter into which He went down. The
upper square then indicates that He ascended or rose again.
The symbol in the centre - that of the double axe - is that of the
Most High God; so the complete glyph is
thus a kind of symbolic creed, which for those who drew it affirmed their faith
in the descent of the Deity into matter and His final triumphant ascension from
it: “descended He; ascended He”. If we were to interpret it along lines of
Christian symbology we might call it the emblem of the crucified and triumphant
Christ; but it is also a token of the whole method of evolution.
This device appears in many places. It is to be seen in the museum
of the Louvre in Paris, engraved upon a Chaldaean intaglio made of green
jasper. It is also to be found on the walls of some very old churches in
Devonshire and Cornwall in England, where it must have been engraved by the
wandering Freemasons who built those churches, for the orthodox Christians
could
have known nothing of it.
While we are considering the symbols of the R.W.M. we may note also
the three levels which appear upon his apron in place of the three rosettes.
These are not true levels, but figures formed of a perpendicular line standing
upon a horizontal - an inverted T, thus;. This has the same significance as the
W.S.W.’s column standing erect while the W.J.W.’s is recumbent in the open
Lodge; it indicates that the life of the Second Logos, the Christ, is flowing.
It is not that the life of the Third Logos, which is represented by the
horizontal line, or by the W.J.W.’s column, has ceased to flow (it is flowing
always while an external world exists)
but that the Second Aspect of the Divine is also outpouring His life, and
causing the evolution of living forms. Thus this emblem refers to the two
outpourings, and shows that the Master presides over all three representations.
This figure, called the Tau, has another very important meaning,
for the upright line signifies the masculine element, and the horizontal line
the feminine, in the Deity - thus slowing that God manifests as Mother as well
as Father, as we are told in The Stanzas of Dzyan.* (*The Secret Doctrine, vol.
I, p. 59 et passim.) I shall refer to this again later when writing of the
H.R.A. In ancient Egypt it took to a large extent the place of the cross and,
conjoined with the circle or oval, it became the ankh, the symbol of
everlasting life.
The jewel of the I. P. M. resembles that of the Master in that it
contains the square, but it has certain important additions. The jewel of the
I.P.M. in England was formerly a square on a quadrant, but it is now the
forty-seventh proposition of Euclid’s Book I, engraved on a silver plate
suspended within a square. In the United States it is a pair of compasses
extended to sixty degrees on the fourth part of a circle, with a sun in the
centre. The proposition is of course well known, and a practical application of
it is widely used by builders, in laying out walls at right angles to each
other and in other work, in the form of a triangle having its sides in the ratio
3 : 4 : 5, the first two sides of which are invariably
at right angles. Plutarch says that a triangle of this kind was frequently
employed by the Egyptian priests, who regarded it as a symbol of the universal
Trinity, Osiris and Isis being the two sides at right angles to each other, and
Horus their product, the hypotenuse. The extent to which this measure was used
by the Egyptians can be judged from the following extracts from the Exposition
du Systeme Metrique des Anciens Egyptiens of M. Jomard, as given in Dr.
Mackey’s Lexicon:
If we inscribe within a circle a triangle, whose perpendicular
shall be 300 parts, whose base shall be 400 parts, and whose hypotenuse shall
be 500 parts, which, of course, bear the same proportion to each other as 3, 4,
and 5; then if we let a perpendicular fall from the angle of the perpendicular
and base to the hypotenuse, and extend it through the hypotenuse to the
circumference of the circle, this chord or line will be equal to 480 parts, and
the two segments of the hypotenuse, on each side of it, will be found equal,
respectively, to 180 and 320.
From the point where this chord intersects the hypotenuse, let
another line fall perpendicularly to the shortest side of the triangle, and
this line will be equal to 144 parts, while the shorter segment, formed by its
junction with the perpendicular side of the triangle, will be equal to 108
parts. Hence, we may derive the following measures from the diagram: 500, 480,
400, 320, 180, 144, and 108; and all these without the slightest fraction.
Supposing, then, the 500 to be cubits, we have the measure of the base of the
great pyramid of Memphis. In the 400 cubits of the base of the triangle we have
the exact length of the Egyptian stadium. The 320 gives us the exact number of Egyptian
cubits contained in the Hebrew and Babylonian stadium. The stadium of Ptolemy
is represented by the 480 cubits, or length of the line falling from the right
angle to the circumference of the circle, through the hypotenuse. The number
180, which expresses the smaller segment of the hypotenuse, being doubled, will
give 360 cubits, which will be the stadium of Cleomedes. By doubling the 144,
the result will be 288 cubits, or the length of the stadium of Archimedes; and
by doubling the 108, we produce 216 cubits, or the precise value of the lesser
Egyptian stadium. In this manner, we obtain from this triangle all the measures
of length that were in use among the Egyptians.
For the demonstration of the proposition in general, that in a right-angled
triangle the sum of the squares on the two shorter sides is equal to the square
on the hypotenuse, the modern world is indebted to Pythagoras. It is
interesting that as the I. P. M. stands in the Lodge as a watcher to see that
all is in order, and test everything by his judgment, so does an architect test
the rectangularity of a structure by the triangle of ratio 3 : 4 : . It is he
who also declares that “His light is ever in our midst”, pronouncing his final
authority upon the presence of the Divine, and opening the V.S.L.
The W.S.W.’s jewel is the level, an emblem of the equality and
harmony which he must endeavour to preserve among the Brn. in the Lodge; but,
as we have seen, this is also a symbol of the second member of the Trinity, the
universal Christ-principle, the life-force in evolution. The two ideas, are
not, however, inconsistent, for in Christ all men are brothers, since all lives
are part of the one great Life in which we have our being. The most perfect
equality should exist in the Lodge, just as in the sight of God, who treats all
equally, with the same judgment and according to the same laws. An additional
interpretation of this symbol is that it indicates that only those buildings
which are erected on a good level can stand firm and strong.270The W.J.W. has
the plumb-rule as his jewel.
It is taken as an emblem of the rectitude which should mark the
conduct of the Brn. during the time of refreshment, when they are outside the
Lodge. Such conduct at all times leads to a life that is full of grace and
beauty.
The remaining officers also wear jewels of office. Those of the
Orator, Secretary, Treasurer and D.C. are respectively a book, crossed pens,
crossed keys and crossed wands, of which the meaning is obvious. In Co-Masonry,
the S.D. and J.D. have each a dove as their jewel, signifying their quality as
messengers; but in some other Lodges they have a square and compasses, with a
sun in the centre for the S.D. and a moon for the J.D. The square and compasses
are intended to indicate their qualities of circumspection
and justice, for theirs are the duties of seeing to the security of
the Lodge
and the introduction of visitors. A lyre, a purse, crossed swords,
and a single
sword, are once more obvious as the jewels of the Organist, the
Almoner, the
I.G., and the T. respectively. The jewel of the Stewards is the
cornucopia.
They take their appointment from the W.J.W., provide the necessary
refreshments, collect dues and subscriptions, and make themselves generally
useful. It is said that the horn of plenty should remind them that it is their
duty to see that the tables are properly furnished, and that every Bro. is
suitably provided for.
THE IMMOVABLE JEWELS
The t … b … and the rough and perfect ashlars are called the
immovable jewels, because they lie open and ever present in the Lodge, so that
they may reflect the divine nature, and serve at all times for the Masons to
moralize upon. In some Masonic books, however, especially those published in
America, the square, the level and the plumb-rule are called the immovable
jewels, because they are always in the same place in the Lodge, and the t … b …
and the rough and smooth ashlars are spoken of as the movable jewels, because
they can be moved about.
In the description of the t … b … which is given in some rituals we
are told that it is for the Master to lay his plans upon. It is, however,
obvious that it is not precisely suitable for that purpose, because it is
already very fully occupied with the plan or drawing of an ideal Lodge. What is
intended is simply that the R.W.M., with the assistance of the other Brn.
assembled, should bring the Lodge down here as closely as possible into harmony
and accurate relation with the ideal Lodge. It means that as T.G.A.O.T.U. has
laid His plans up above, so should we
down here make ours as nearly as may be in harmony with His and in imitation of
them. To put it in other terms, the t … b … was intended to mean the plan in
the thought of the Logos, which the Greeks called the “Intelligible World”.
They said that all things came down out of that into the world which we know,
that everything is planned out beforehand, and that the world existed in the
divine thought before it materialized. In the Lodges of two centuries ago, the
t … b … was drawn afresh on the floor with chalk for each meeting, instead of
being printed; and it was considered part of a good R.W.M.’s knowledge that he
should be able to draw it quickly and quite perfectly without having to look at
a copy.
In the diagram of the t … b … we see the altar, and on it the
V.S.L. From that a ladder goes up to the seven-pointed star, which represents
the Monad in man, in whom the seven types of life or consciousness are all to
be perfect to the limits of human possibility. That star represents also the
Logos, the supreme consciousness of our solar system, God’s consciousness,
which is already perfected in a degree altogether beyond human comprehension.
The ladder has many steps, which indicate the virtues by means of
which we may ascend to the perfection symbolized by the star. In Egypt those
steps were taken to express the initiations leading upwards; but of course
these are only two interchangeable methods of expressing the same thing.
If we take them to mean initiations, they represent definite steps
taken, but if
we regard them as indicating the virtues, they are the
qualifications for
initiation. In all cases the idea of degrees leading up to a
condition of
perfection is quite definitely recognized. Or it may be considered
in another
way, as Bro. Wilmshurst takes it in his wonderful book Masonic
Initiation, in
which he writes:
It is a symbol of the Universe, and of its succession of step-like
planes reaching from the heights to the depths. It is written elsewhere that
the Father’s house has many mansions; many levels and resting-places for His
creatures in their different conditions and degrees of progress. It is these
levels, these planes and sub-planes, that are denoted by the rungs and staves
of the ladder. And of these there are, for us in our present state of
evolutionary unfoldment, three principal ones; the physical plane, the plane of
desire and emotion, and the mental plane, or that of the abstract intelligence
which links up to the still higher planes of the spirit.
These three levels of the world are reproduced in man. The first
corresponds
with his material physique, his sense-body; the second with his
desire and
emotional nature, which is a mixed element resulting from the
interaction of
his physical senses and his ultra-physical mind; the third with his
mentality,
which is still further removed from his physical nature, and forms
the link
between the latter and his spiritual being. …
Thus the Universe and man himself are constructed ladder-wise, in
an orderly organized sequence of steps; the one universal substance composing
the differentiated parts of the Universe “descends” from a state of the utmost
ethereality by successive steps of increasing densification, until gross
materialization is reached; and thence “ascends” through a similarly ordered
gradation of planes to its original place, but enriched by the experience
gained by its activities during the process.
It was this cosmic process which was the subject of the dream or
vision of Jacob. … What was “dreamed” or beheld by him with supersensual vision
is equally perceptible today by any one whose inner eyes have been opened.
Every real Initiate is one who has attained an expansion of consciousness and
faculty enabling him to behold the ethereal worlds revealed to the Hebrew
Patriarch as easily as the uninitiated man beholds the phenomenal world with
its outer eyes.
The Initiate is able to see the angels of God ascending and
descending; that is, he can directly behold the great stairway of the Universe,
and watch the intricate but orderly mechanism of involution, differentiation,
evolution and resynthesis constituting the Life-process. He can witness the
descent of human essences or souls through planes of increasing density and
decreasing vibratory rate, gathering round them as they come veils of matter
from each, until finally this lowest level of complete materialization is
reached, where the great struggle for supremacy between the inner and the outer
man, between the spirit and the flesh, between the real self and the unreal
selves in veils built round it, has to be fought out on the chequer-work floor
of our present existence among the black and white opposites of good and evil,
light and darkness, prosperity and adversity; and he can watch the upward return
of those who conquer in the strife and, attaining their regeneration and
casting off or transmuting the “worldly possessions” acquired during their
descent, ascend to their Source, pure and unpolluted from the stains of this
imperfect world.* (*Op. cit. pp. 64-.)
On the ladder appear three emblems, a cross, an anchor, and a cup
with a hand stretched out to reach it. The explanation of the t … b … in the
ritual speaks of these as the three principal virtues, faith, hope and charity.
Strictly speaking, the standard symbol for charity is a heart, and this does
actually appear on some t … b … s instead of the cup; but the cup is the more
ancient symbol, and really means much more to us.
Another and a very beautiful interpretation of the cross upon the
ladder is given to us by Bro.
Wilmshurst, who takes it to represent all the aspirants who are engaged
in mounting that ladder. He says:
Each carries his cross, his own cruciform body, as he ascends; the
material vesture whose tendencies are ever at cross purposes with the desire of
the spirit, and militate against the ascent. Thus weighted, each must climb,
and climb alone; yet reaching out - as the secret tradition teaches, and the
arms of the tilted cross signify - one hand to invisible helpers above, and the
other to assist the ascent of feebler brethren below. For, as the sides and
separate rungs of the ladder constitute a unity, so all life and all lives are
fundamentally one, and none lives to himself alone.* (*Op. cit. p. .)
These three symbols also refer once more to the three outpourings
of the divine life, which have their correspondence in the development of the
self in man. First he has to realize the world of material things, then that of
consciousness or life, and finally he must rise to the real self. Since
Egyptian times both the cross and the anchor have been modified, but the cup
has not. The cross was originally what is now called the Greek cross, with
equal arms. That has always been the token of the first outpouring of divine
life through the Third Aspect of God, or the third member of the Trinity,
called among the Christians God the Holy Ghost, and sometimes the Life-Giver,
who brooded over the waters of space.
A further point in the symbology is that the cross contains within
itself the square, the level and the plumb-line combined; and we find in the
Epistle to the Ephesians written by St Ignatius (who according to tradition was
the little child whom Christ once took and set in the midst of His disciples as
a type of those who should inherit the kingdom of heaven), this remarkable
Masonic passage:
Ye are stones of a Temple, which were prepared beforehand for a
building of God the Father, being raised to the heights by the working-tool of
Jesus Christ, which is the cross, and using
for a rope the Holy Spirit, your faith being a windlass, and love the
way leading up to God.
Sometimes the rose is impressed upon that equal-armed cross, and
then we have the Rose Croix, the great emblem of the Rosicrucians, which figures
largely in the Eighteenth Degree. The Maltese cross is another form of it, with
the arms widening or spreading out, conveying the idea that the force that is
pouring out is constantly increasing. Again, we find it with flames shooting
out from the ends of the cross; and when it is in active revolution, with the
flames trailing at right angles to the arms of the cross, we have the
well-known form called the Jaina Cross.
In these days the cross on the ladder is usually drawn in the Latin
form, which makes it a sign of the Second Outpouring, from the Second Person of
the Trinity, and it is usually considered as the cross of Christ, though
crosses of many forms were used as symbols thousands of years before Christ
incarnated in Palestine. The First Outpouring, typified by the Greek cross,
prepares the world for the reception of life; it brings into being the material
elements, but not bodies formed by their combination. We might have oxygen and
hydrogen produced by this outpouring, but not their combination, water; for
combination of the elements into bodies of ever-increasing complexity of
organized structure and function is the work of the Second Outpouring of the
divine life or power.
The Second Outpouring is indicated by the anchor, for that was originally
in Egypt a little pendulum swinging over a scale, curved to coincide with the
arc of its motion. It is not difficult to see how that might be changed into an
anchor, especially among people who were thinking of the cross and anchor as
representing faith and hope. Such a modification may easily have come about
without deliberate intention; and when it had been determined that the third
virtue should be charity, we can understand why the cup was sometimes changed
into a heart. The cup may stand also as suggesting charity, as being the cup of
life from which the overflow is charity; but many people would feel the heart
to be an easier symbol for that virtue.
Those who have read Greek philosophy or the Gnostic systems will
remember that the krater or cup plays a prominent part in them. It was the
vessel into which the wine of the divine life was poured. In Christian thought
it is the Holy Grail filled with the precious blood of Christ; the chalice used
at the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the cup which Joseph of Arimathea is
supposed to have held to catch the sacred blood of Jesus as He hung upon the
cross. All these things are, however, an allegory. The real meaning of the
symbol is that the cup is the causal body of man, and the wine is the life from
God that flashes into it in the Third Outpouring from the First Logos, at the
moment of individualization, which makes the animal into a human being, not perfected yet, of course,
but capable of perfection.
So the three symbols represent the respective gifts of the divine
life, or three great emanations of the Logos. In Egyptian times the Greek term
Logos did not yet exist, and they spoke of Osiris and Horus, but the teaching
was the same, for there is only one fundamental truth about these things. The t
… b … thus shows that the man who intelligently comprehends the scheme of the
evolution of life in the world can deliberately co-operate with the divine
plan, until he becomes perfectly evolved as man and reaches the seven-pointed
star; and that then he is ready to pass on into still higher conditions, which
are indicated on the t … b … by the clouds, the sun, the moon and the stars
above. In fact, true philosophy discerns the plan drawn by T.G.A. on the
Tracing Board of Time for the building of the Universe.
The remaining jewels, the rough and smooth ashlars, are seen in the
t … b … near the pillars which represent the columns of the W.J.W. and W.S.W.
respectively. The smooth ashlar is generally suspended from a pulley, and held
by the lewis,* (*See fig. .) an implement consisting of wedge-shaped pieces of
steel which are fitted into a dovetailed mortise in the stone to be hoisted.
This instrument was so named, by the architect who invented it, in honour of
the French King Louis XIV. One who is the son or daughter of a Mason is called
a lewis (because he is supposed to support his parents in their old age), and
it is generally held that he may be initiated into Masonry when only eighteen
years old. Though some assert that this can be done only by special dispensation,
the custom is to regard it as a right.
The rough ashlar indicates the untrained mind of the candidate. He
is supposed to be in a state of darkness and ignorance, but gradually through
Masonic work and knowledge his mind will be polished, and it may then be tested
by the square, the plumb-rule and the level, and will be found accurate. The
smooth ashlar represents the condition which should be attained by the F.C. In
the light of evolution and reincarnation we may regard the rough ashlar as the
symbol of the young soul. Through much experience and effort life after life he
must polish his nature and develop his powers. The three degrees in Masonry
represent three stages in that process. The business of the E.A. is to take
himself in hand morally and conquer the physical body, so that its impulses
will not stand in the way of his rapid progress or evolution.
The E.A. of Egypt used to remain seven years in the First Degree,
because he had to fit himself thoroughly for the illumination which could come
only to one who had his emotions under control and sufficiently purified to
reflect and serve
the higher self. That being done, the smooth ashlar was to be
perfected until it
was ready to be used as a living stone in the temple of
T.G.A.O.T.U., fit to
form part of the heavenly Man of the future.
CHAPTER IV
PRELIMINARY CEREMONIES
THE CO-MASONIC RITUAL
IN commenting upon the ceremonies of Freemasonry I
shall take those of Co-Masonry as the basis of my disquisition,
because they
have been arranged largely with a view to their effect on planes
other than the
physical. The workings there described were prepared with the aid
of several of
the best existing rituals and in consultation with experienced Brn.
They will be
found to embody some of the best points of these rituals, in
addition to many
valuable features peculiar to our own workings. It has been found
eminently
desirable to give to the Brn. in the columns a larger share in the
working of
the Lodge, so certain verses of the V. S. L. and some well-known
Masonic hymns have been inserted for their use.
300The Supreme Council of Universal Co-Masonry has with the utmost
liberality and the widest tolerance allowed those who owe their allegiance to
it to choose between several variants of the Ritual. Some Lodges prefer the
simplest form, which is practically identical with that used by the masculine
Craft; others find a slightly more elaborate working more inspiring and
helpful, because it expresses somewhat more fully the work upon inner planes
which is to them the main object of the ceremony. It is this latter working
which I am about to try to expound; but I wish to make it perfectly clear that
the interpretation which I place upon it is my own private opinion only, and
that the Supreme Council under which I have the honour to serve must not in any
way be considered as endorsing that opinion because it permits the use of the
Ritual.
It must not be supposed that the shorter Masonic ritual of the
masculine Craft is ineffective; all that we claim is that the objects of the
various ceremonies are more fully and more expeditiously achieved when their
real intention and signification are thoroughly understood.
THE PROCESSION
Everywhere on the surface of the earth there are great magnetic
currents passing both ways between the poles of the earth and the equator, and
others coming at right angles to them round the earth. The Co-Masonic
procession of entry into the Lodge makes use of these currents, forming of the
space which we circumambulate a distinct eddy or specially magnetized portion
of space.
As the Brn. march round the floor, singing, they should be thinking
of the words of the introcessional hymn and canticle, and taking care that the
procession is well done and in good order; but in addition they should be
deliberately directing their thoughts to the magnetization of the mosaic
pavement and the space above it. In ancient Egypt it was considered to be the
duty of the R.W.M. to direct the currents and form the eddy in them, so as to
magnetize very strongly the floor round which he passed. It is for this purpose
that the officers and distinguished visitors pass clear round the Lodge, and
even go over some of the ground twice; for they do not go straight to their places
on first approaching them as do the E.A.s, the F.C.s and the M.M.s, but
continue so as to complete the circumambulation, as described in The Ritual of
Universal Co-Masonry (5th Edition).
With us also it is the Master of the Lodge who is responsible for
the magnetization of the double square, but the Brn. ought all to help in that
work. The object is to charge that space heavily with the highest possible
influence, and to erect a wall round it in order that the influence may be kept
in place. The part played by the thought-form is much like that of a condenser.
It matters not how much steam may be generated, it is useless for work unless
it is enclosed and kept under pressure. In this scheme we accumulate and use
the force which otherwise would scatter itself freely over the surrounding
neighbourhood.
As has been explained in Chapter III, when the floor has thus been
set apart and prepared, no one passes across it except the candidates who are
taken there for the purpose of initiation and are intentionally submitted to
the influence of its magnetism, the Thurifer when he is censing the altar, and
the I.P.M. when he goes down from the dais to perform the duty of opening the
V.S.L. or of altering the position of the s … and c … as we change from one
degree to another. One other exception is made when the S.D. during the
ceremony of lighting the candles comes to the altar to receive the sacred fire
from the I.P.M. The I.P.M. lights a taper at the sacred fire, and with it
kindles the small candle standing in an ornamental brass vessel, which the
S.D., as Lucifer, carries to the R.W.M. and the W.W.s.
The floor has now rushing across it magnetic currents or lines of
force like the warp and woof of a piece of cloth, and this forms the foundation
upon which we build the great thought-form which is one of the objects of our
Masonic meeting. In view of the enormous value of the thought-form made on the
floor of the Lodge, we can see how important it is that none should disturb or
confuse the currents by walking in the wrong direction, or by bringing into
the Lodge thoughts of ordinary
business-the cares and worries and conflicts of the world of daily life. We go
to the Lodge to do a definite piece of work for humanity, and we must devote
our entire attention to it during the whole time of the meeting.
The singing of the introcessional canticles is intended to help us
to harmonize our minds. The words of the
canticles tell us of the basis upon which all edifices are built, T.G.A.O.T.U.,
who is Himself the foundation and structure of all things, because there is
nothing that is not part of Him. Every member, as he goes round in the
procession, should be dedicating himself and all his thought and strength to
the great work about to be undertaken. These words that we sing have a strong
Masonic association, for this metrical version of the hundredth psalm has been
used at the opening of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning ever since its foundation in
. There is one word in that version to which I want to make special reference
in passing. In the first verse, where we sing “Him serve with mirth”, some
uncomprehending hymnologist has changed the word “mirth” to “fear”, which is
entirely inaccurate and utterly indefensible. In the Bible we are asked to
praise the Lord with gladness and come before His presence with a song, and we
must be careful to preserve the correct spirit and rendering. The other canticle: “I was glad when they
said unto me: we will go into the house of the Lord”, consists of texts taken
from the V.S.L., put together so as to form a beautiful and appropriate
invocation.
All this dedicated thought forms the basis of the splendid edifice
which the Lodge is about to build, the true temple of which the earthly one is
an outer symbol, a temple of finer matter through which perfectly real work can
be done and enormous volumes of spiritual influence can be distributed. This
temple is also an image of the vortex which T.G.A.O.T.U. made when He was about
to form His solar system. He began by limiting Himself, by marking out the
limitations of His system, within which He set up a vast etheric vortex, the
remains of which we find today in the system of revolving planets condensed
from the original nebula, as it cooled and descended into denser physical
matter.
In Co-Masonic Lodges the procession has at its head a Thurifer
swinging a censer, giving off the smoke from aromatic gums specially compounded
with other substances for the purpose. After him comes the T. with his sword,
and behind him the D.C. That little group is especially entrusted with the
business of purifying the Lodge. The D.C. is supposed to be the directing brain
in this work, and the T. with his sword is the hand used to drive out of the
mental and emotional atmosphere all thought that is not wanted there.
Behind this purifying wedge come all the ordinary members, arranged
in reversed order of precedence. At the end of the procession come the officers
and those of higher degree, and eventually the R.W.M., who has to complete the
work of all those who have gone before him, using the devotion which the other
people have supplied, and building the walls of the cella as far as possible
with the material available. The form that we are building is that of the old
Greek temple with the columns outside it, and inside the inner shrine called
the cella, which was enclosed and dark, the only opening being its entrance. In
the Lodge the members stand outside around that, like the columns of an old
temple, such as that shown in our illustration.
THE APRON
Every Mason at a Lodge meeting must wear the distinctive badge
which is called an apron, and it is only when doing so that he is, in Masonic
parlance, “properly clothed”. He may wear additional decorations, such as
collars or jewels, indicating the special office which he holds, or the degree
which he has taken, but unless he wears at least the apron he cannot be
admitted to the Lodge - the only exception being in the case of a candidate for
initiation, who, not being yet a Bro., has no right to wear that distinguishing
badge. There are certain higher degrees in which the apron is not worn, but its
place is taken by other insignia. That is only because the need for it is past.
There are some Lodges in which people put on and take off their aprons in the
temple, but that should never be countenanced.
The necessity that Masons should be properly clothed brings with it
an interesting suggestion of the ancient Mysteries, and also explains why the
essential part of the Masonic clothing, to be worn by all with the exceptions above
mentioned, is the apron. Our modern apron has departed somewhat from the form
used in ancient Egypt; no doubt it was modified at the time when it was found
necessary to merge the speculative and operative Freemasons, in the days of
persecution by the Church. The ancient Egyptian apron was triangular, with the
apex upward, and its ornamentation differed in several respects from that used
at the present time. But the most important change is in the thought that now
prevails, that the apron itself is everything, and that the band which passes
round the body exists merely to secure it and retain it in place. In old days
the belt of the apron was the most important practical feature, and it was far
more than a mere symbol. This belt was a highly magnetized circle, intended to
enclose within itself a disc of etheric matter, separating the upper part of
the body from the lower, so that the tremendous forces which it was the object
of the Masonic ceremonial to set in motion might be entirely shut off from the
lower part of the man’s body.
In The Meaning of Masonry Bro. Wilmshurst writes:
Masonry is a sacramental system, possessing, like all sacraments,
au outward and visible side consisting of its ceremonial, its doctrine and its
symbols which we can see and hear, and an inward, intellectual and spiritual
side, which is concealed behind: the ceremonial, the doctrine and the symbols,
and which is available only to the Mason who has learned to use his spiritual
imagination and who can appreciate the reality that lies behind the veil of
outward symbol.* (*The Meaning of
Masonry, p. .)
He reminds us how, in the case of the E.A., the point of the apron
is turned up, making it therefore a five-pointed figure, symbolical of the
fivefold man. The triangle made by the uplifted flap, he explains, is then
above the square, and it symbolizes the fact that the soul is hovering over the
lower body at that stage, but yet can hardly be said to be working through it. Later on that flap is turned down,
showing that the soul is within the body and acting through it. He tells us
also how the lambskin is first of all a symbol of purity, but also typifies the
blankness of the undeveloped soul, or of what in Theosophy is called the causal
body. In that, as some of us know, in the course of development a great
quantity of glorious colour shows as new vibrations are awakened in it. Some
account of that will be found, illustrated with coloured plates, in Man,
Visible and Invisible.
Bro. Wilmshurst further explains that the pale sky-blue colour of
the rosettes on the F.C. apron and the blue lining and edging and silver
tassels of the M.M.’s apron indicate that at that stage the blue of the sky
begins to break through the whiteness that innocence, however beautiful it may
be, is being replaced by knowledge to some extent, and as the higher degrees
are reached more of colour and beauty appears. He especially mentions that
there are two lines of influence, or spiritual force, which come down from
above, each ending in seven silver lines - a kind of tassel - indicating the
seven colours of the spectrum. These are really symbolical of the seven great
divisions or varieties or temperaments of life. In American Masonry, according
to Mackey’s Encyclopaedia* (*Art. Apron.) the apron is the same in all the
three degrees of Blue Masonry, being made of white lambskin with a narrow
edging of blue ribbon. Co-Masonry follows the usage prevailing in the Grand
Lodge of England, save that instead of sky-blue for the edging and rosettes, an
edging of deeper blue with a narrow border of crimson is prescribed, and the
rosettes are made of similar material. The tassels are gilded instead of
silvered, and their seven lines symbolize the seven rays of life and the seven
grades of matter. Our illustrations give an idea of the M.M. aprons as worn in
Egypt and at the present day.
THE CEREMONY OF CENSING
When all have taken their places the ceremony of censing begins.
The Thurifer advances to the pedestal of the R.W.M., who places upon the
charcoal in the censer some incense which he has previously magnetized, or
better still, he magnetizes the incense as it is melting in the censer, for
that is the condition in which it is most responsive to his power. As the
ceremony is not known in some Lodges I reprint it here from the Co-Masonic
ritual:
During the ceremony appropriate music is played, the Brn. remaining
standing. When all are in their places, the Thurifer advances to the pedestal
of the R.W.M., who places upon the charcoal in the censer some incense which he
has previously consecrated. The Thurifer steps back and bows to the R.W.M., who
returns the bow. He then censes the R.W.M., with three triple swings *** ***
*** the chains being held short and the censer extended at the level of the
eyes, but slightly lowered after the first and second sets of triple swings.
The censer is then grasped firmly by the chains in the right hand, and swung
with full chain (if space permits) in the form of a V, three long dignified
strokes to the right of the pedestal, then three to the left. Then, with the
arm extended in front, the censer is swung in seven graduated circles, each
circle above the other, so that by the time the seventh and smallest circle is
made, the arm is raised to its full height. The Thurifer bows again to the
R.W.M., and then passes directly to the altar, which he encircles, beginning at
the E., swinging the censer at short chain with a circular motion.
He then returns to the R.W.M.’s pedestal, bows and squares the
Lodge to the
W.J.W.’s pedestal, where the ceremony which took place at the
previous pedestal is repeated, save that the W.J.W. receives five swings of the
censer, one triple and two single *** * *. A pause is observed between single
swings, just as between triple swings. He next passes to the W.S.W.’s pedestal,
censing him in identical fashion, save that he receives seven swings, two
triple and one single *** *** *. The Thurifer now turns to the J.D., bows to
him, and after the bow has been returned, censes him with three single swings *
* *, after which they bow as before, and the Thurifer squares the Lodge to the
S.D., who is censed in a similar manner, but with four swings, one triple and
one single *** *.
The Thurifer now censes the distinguished visitors according to
their rank,
beginning with those of highest dignity (nine swings for 33°, seven
for 30°,
five for 18° and visiting P.M.s.-the swings to be divided as
above), bows as he
passes the R.W.M.’s pedestal and censes the P.M.s (the I.P.M.
receives seven
swings). He then takes up his position before the Master’s
pedestal, having
returned directly thereto; then, having bowed to him, he turns and
faces the
Brn., bows to them collectively, and (himself remaining stationary)
censer them
successively, beginning with those on his left hand, and ending
with those on
his right. This is accomplished by a number of short swings, aimed
down the S.,
column and up the N. in rapid succession. The Brn. stand with the
hands joined
before the breast and the palms laid together, and bow successively
as the gaze
of the Thurifer meets theirs. This ceremonial should be carefully
carried out,
each Bro. bowing a moment later than his predecessor. The
above-mentioned
position of the hands should be adopted by all officers while they
are being
censed. The Thurifer squares the Lodge and passes to the position
of the I.G.,
whom he censes with two single swings * *; then he hands the censer
to him.
The I.G. censes the T. with a single swing *, and then hands the
censer to him. The whole ceremony should be carried out as briskly as is
consistent with dignity; there should be no unnecessary delay. As the Thurifer
censes the different pedestals the Brn. should unite in thought upon the three
principles which they represent R. W.M. - Wisdom; W.S.W. - Strength; W.J.W. -
Beauty. This should also be done while the candles are being lighted at each
pedestal. When the altar is reached the thought should be on the Unity of
Brotherhood.
The censing of the pedestals in this manner produces in front of
each of them a highly magnetized cone, or beehive-shaped form, in which the
candidate stands when he comes before any of the pedestals. It is erected for
that purpose, and can be stretched when several candidates come together, but
it becomes a little tenuous if the number is large. The censing of the
officials is intended to prepare them for the work which they have to do. The
varied number of swings is given not only to honour the person, but to
strengthen him for his work, and it does so by setting up a line of
communication with the forces of the inner planes. The higher the man is in
degree, the more does he himself give in proportion to what is received. The
Master gives most of all, but the columns receive more than they give; yet each
one should try as the Thurifer turns to him to give as much as he possibly
can.This use of incense is perfectly scientific.
All occult students are aware that, as was said in the last
chapter, there is no
such thing as really dead matter, but that everything in nature
possesses and
radiates out its own vibration or combination of vibrations. Every
chemical
element has thus its own set of influences, which are useful in
certain
directions and useless or even hostile in others. It is in this way
quite
possible, for example, to mingle certain gums which, when burnt as
incense, will
strongly stimulate the purer and higher emotions; but one could
just as easily
make another mixture whose vibrations would promote the most
undesirable
feelings. This is a matter about which some people are sceptical,
because
humanity is at present passing through a stage in its evolution
during which its
development is almost exclusively that of the lower mind, which is
fiercely
intolerant of anything which it has not specially studied. We all
know how
difficult it has been until quite lately to gain any recognition
for
non-physical phenomena, such as those of telepathy or clairvoyance,
or indeed
anything outside the most materialistic science.
Now the time has come when men are beginning to see that life is
full of invisible influences, whose value can be recognized by sensitive
people. The effect of incense is an instance of this class of phenomena, as is
also the result of the use of talismans and of certain precious stones, each of
which vibrates at its own rate and has its own value. Such things are not
usually of importance so great that we need give much time to their
consideration, but they all have their effects, and are therefore not to be
entirely neglected by wise people.
The incense used in the Lodge tends to purify that part of man’s
nature which is sometimes called the astral body, as it is made of gums which
give off an intensely cleansing vibration. In this respect its effect is analogous
to the sprinkling of a disinfectant, which will spread about in the air and
destroy undesirable germs, though in this case the operation is on higher
levels and in finer matter. It has also the effect of attracting denizens of
the inner worlds whose presence is helpful to our working, and of driving away
those which are unsuitable.
Two of the most important constituents of such incense as is useful
for our work are benzoin and olibanum. The benzoin is a vigorous purifier, and
tends to drive away all coarse or sensuous feelings and thoughts. The olibanum
has nothing to do with that, but it creates a devotional and restful
atmosphere, and tends to stimulate those vibrations in the astral body which
make people responsive to higher things. Attar of roses is also useful, and
adds greatly to the effect produced.
If the incense is intelligently magnetized its strength is
increased enormously; for example, by putting into olibanum the definite force
of the will in the direction of calmness and devotion, its influence may be
increased by perhaps a hundredfold. That is why the incense in church is always
taken up to the celebrant to be blessed, and why in the Lodge it is brought to
the R.W.M. in order that he may magnetize it with whatever special quality he
thinks will be helpful for the work of the day. The sprinkling of holy water in
a church is another way of producing a similar effect, but incense has the
advantage that it rises into the air, and wherever a single particle goes the
purification and blessing is borne with it.
It is desirable on all occasions, and especially in Lodge, in the
interests of the work, that the Brn. should have in their minds but a few
definite and strong vibrations of emotion and thought; but instead of that they
sometimes have forty or fifty small vortices of emotional and mental activity
all whirling at once, each representing some small worry or care or desire. It
is difficult for a person to do good work while these are present, and almost
impossible for him to make real progress in the evolution of consciousness. If
he is trying to attain a better emotional and mental condition, the incense
will offer him a strengthening current of vibration which will help very much
in combing out the tangle and producing calm and steadiness.
We sometimes find that there is much prejudice against the use of
incense, because it is supposed to be connected exclusively with the ceremonies
of the Roman Church, for it is only there and in some of the higher Anglican
churches that Western people ever see it. Those who have travelled in the East,
or are interested in the study of other faiths, know that practically all the
religions of the world use incense in one form or another.
It appears in the temples of the Hindus, the Zoroastrians, the Jains,
and in the
Shinto of China and Japan. It was used in Greece, in Rome, in
Persia, and in the
ceremonies of Mithra. All these people, including the Roman
Catholics, avail
themselves of it because they know it to be a useful thing; why
then should not
we?
For a time in England there was a very strong puritan wave, shortly
after the Reformation, which led to the murder of King Charles, to the
Commonwealth and to Cromwell’s rule. True, there was a reaction at the time of
the Restoration, but the puritan feeling seems to have been of the most intense
kind, and traces of it still remain in England, some of them showing themselves
in the most amazing and unreasoning prejudice.
That feeling has sometimes entered Masonic circles, and efforts
have been made to induce the Grand Lodge to limit the definition of the Great
Architect, so as to exclude the possible association of Masonry with
non-Protestant beliefs. But the Grand Lodge has liberally refused to create any
such limitations. Under the Grand Lodge of England incense is prescribed for
the ceremony of consecrating a Lodge* (*See The Chaplain’s and Organist’s Work,
by the Rev, J. T. Lawrence.) and the Consecrating Officer and the Wardens are
censed, though no definite number of swings appears to be laid down. Incense is
also used in the Consecration of a Chapter of the Holy Royal Arch, under the
Supreme Grand Chapter of England, and in the ceremonial of many of the higher
degrees. Thus its introduction into Co-Masonic Lodges is in no way
an
innovation, but is in full accordance with Masonic usage.
The number of swings given to each of the non-official Brn.
indicates his particular rank in the Order, for the degrees of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite are taken into account in Co-Masonry. Each thus receives
the influence he needs, that he may be strengthened for the work which his rank
qualifies him to do. Each Bro., as he is censed, bows out of respect, and as a
token that he dedicates all the force that he has to T.G.A.O.T.U.
LIGHTING THE CANDLES
The S.D. is the Lucifer, who bears the light to his fellow-men. The
light having been given to him from the Sacred Fire by the I.P.M., he carries
it to the R.W.M., who by means of a small taper lights from it the tall candle
standing on his right, and then puts out his taper with an extinguisher. He
must not blow it out, because that would suggest the pollution of the sacred
fire by the breath, which is unclean. It is for the same reason that the
Parsis, who are sometimes called fire-worshippers, because they regard that
element as the greatest symbol and expression of the divine, will on no account
pollute it with refuse. The R.W.M. says: “May the light of wisdom illumine our
work” (here he lights his candle); “His wisdom is infinite.” The S.D. then carries
the light to the W.S. and J.W.s, who light their candles and speak
appropriately of the strength and the beauty of T.G.A.O.T.U.
In this ceremony we are reminded once more of the three Aspects of
T.G.A.O.T.U., and here they are
symbolized as coming forth from the unconditioned into conditioned form in the
order of wisdom, strength
and beauty, in preparation for the opening of the Lodge, the
commencement of the work of the building of the temple. When the work begins,
as we shall see in the next chapter, the process is reversed, but here we have
only the preparation,
the coming forth of the wisdom to plan, the strength to execute,
and then the
beauty to adorn.
The use of fire in ecclesiastical or Masonic ceremonies is but
little understood. The lighting of a candle with religious intention is
analogous to a prayer, and always invokes a downpouring of force from on high.
Thus the three principal officers, in uttering these phrases as they light
their candles, are not only announcing in symbol that they represent certain
Aspects of the divine, but are actually opening the way to a definite link with
those Aspects, which is made in response to their request. The electric lights
which are used instead of candles in some Lodges do not produce the same effect;
they give light, but not fire, and therefore fail of their full result.
Electric light is, however, permissible for the Blazing Star and the Star of
Initiation, where the action and the symbolism are solely that of the light.
What I have said before about the assistance that should be given
to the officers by the Brn. applies here most emphatically. When the R.W.M.
says: “May His wisdom illumine our work,” all should join with him in a strong
effort to call down the divine wisdom, so that through him it may pour out upon
the Brn. So also when the W.S.W. says: “May the light of strength sustain our
work,” all should think earnestly of the divine strength, and send up an
aspiration that it may flow through him; and once more a similar effort is to
be made when the W.J.W. says: “May the light of beauty make manifest our work,”
and the I.P.M. declares: “His light dwelleth ever in our midst.”
We must not attach to these thoughts the old, and I think false,
idea of prayer - that we need to beseech the attention of T.G.A.O.T.U. We know
that He is always sending down His force; it is our business to open the
channel. His symbol down here is the sun, which is always pouring out light and
life and glory without being asked to shine. In the utterance of these words, therefore,
we are only seeking to make ourselves and the Lodge channels for His service.
During all these processes the thought of the Brn. is important,
but most of all when the altar is censed should they think of the divine love.
It falls to the R.W.M. to direct the whole work and to each of the officers to
bear his part, but the full success of the scheme depends upon the
recollectedness and unselfishness of every Bro. in the Lodge. Without that
there is no real life in the work. It is to be feared that in many Masonic
Lodges, though their work is deeply coloured by the great ideal of charity,
there is an entire failure to radiate the spiritual influence. They perform the
ritual accurately and beautifully, but they have not realized how much depends
upon the thought given to it, and the comprehension of all that it means and
implies. The blessing of the Great Architect is invoked not so much by the mere
formula of words and acts, as by the spirit that underlies the work of the
Lodge.
CHAPTER V
THE OPENING OF THE LODGE
THE BRETHREN ASSIST
WHEN the ceremony of lighting the candles is
completed, the Brn. take their seats, and the R.W.M. asks them to
spend a few
moments in aspiration to T.G.A.O.T.U., earnestly resolving that the
work to be
done that evening shall be well and thoroughly done, and that each
member shall
never forget that he is doing it in His name and to His glory.
The R.W.M. then gives a single k … k and calls upon the Brn. to assist
him in opening the Lodge. Some may ask why he needs their assistance in so
simple an act as declaring the Lodge open; but the fact is that it is by no
means so simple as this. The opening of a Masonic Lodge is in itself an
exceedingly beautiful and interesting ceremony, and the success of the
evening’s work depends upon its being properly and thoroughly done. The work
before us is no light matter, for it is nothing less than a concerted effort to
carry out the duty that is laid upon us, as those who possess the Light, to
spread that Light abroad through the world, and actually to become
fellow-labourers with T.G.A.O.T.U. in His great plan for the evolution of our
Brn.
He pours spiritual strength into the world just as the sun pours
out its light; but as there are many dark places in the world which the
sunlight cannot directly reach, so are there many souls in the world who are
unable to receive and assimilate this divine force. As man by means of mirrors
can reflect the sunlight into a cave or cellar, so also can man reflect the
spiritual light upon those darkened souls, and perchance present it to them so
that they may be able to receive it and profit by it. All light in the world is
but transmuted sunlight; if we burn coal and make gas, or if we burn oil in a
lamp, the energy is none the less converted solar energy.
The Great Architect sends forth His power at all levels, but most
of all on the higher planes. But the majority of men are not yet sufficiently
developed on those higher planes to be directly affected by this force. If,
however, those men who are already somewhat developed at those levels will lay
themselves open to receive that force, and slow down its vibrations by passing
them through their own subtle bodies, it can then be poured out upon the world
at large in an assimilable form. And this is a great part of the work that is
being done by all those who wish to co-operate with Him.
I have explained in The Masters mad the Path how one who approaches
a Master of the Wisdom with a view to becoming His pupil and
working under Him for the good of mankind, is first drawn into a
wonderfully
intimate association with that Master, so that he may become a
perfect channel
for the distribution of spiritual forces. Precisely the same thing
on a much
smaller scale is being done by every human being who wishes well to
his
fellow-man. Being developed somewhat above the average, he is able
to receive
and to profit by some at least of these forces, and he assuredly
pours them out
again on lower levels in good-will and kindly feeling. The
ceremonies of all
great religions aim at producing such results on a larger scale by
some sort of
common action. In The Science of the Sacraments I have explained
the mechanism of this common action as far as the great Christian services are
concerned; and the ceremonies of Freemasonry attain a similar object, though in
a different way.
The Christian service begins by building a great thought-form to
act as a kind of storage-battery or condenser for this force, in order that as
it is gradually generated it may be stored up for use instead of being allowed
to dissipate itself uselessly in the ambient air; and we in Freemasonry have to
take the same precaution. In both cases we invoke the aid of non-human entities
- the inhabitants of those subtler planes, who are thoroughly accustomed to
deal with and control the forces belonging to their respective levels; but
there is a certain difference between the methods adopted in the Christian
religion, and in the old Egyptian Mystery-faith from which Masonry is derived.
In Christianity we invoke great Angels who are far above us in
spiritual unfoldment, and place ourselves to a considerable extent in their
hands, supplying them with the material of love and devotion and aspiration
which the service calls forth from us, and leaving them largely to do the
form-building and the distribution.
In Freemasonry also we invoke angelic aid, but those upon whom we
call are nearer to our own level in development and intelligence, and each of
them brings with him a number of subordinates who carry out his directions. All
around us there is a vast unseen evolution, which may be thought of as parallel
to our own.* (*See plate, “The Evolution of Life” in The Hidden Side of Things,
vol. i, p. 116 (1st edition) And just as our line of progress passes
through the vegetable kingdom, the
animal kingdom and the human kingdom,
and then carries us on to the superhuman developments of Adeptship,
so does
that parallel evolution run through the various elemental kingdoms,
the kingdom
of the
nature-spirits, and then the
levels of
intelligence and holiness in this great angelic kingdom; and while it
stretches upwards to heights far above those at present attainable
by human
beings, it has also members who are hardly at a higher level than
our own.* (*In
the course of involution the Second great Outpouring of divine Life
descends
from the Second Logos into the matter already vivified by the Third
Logos. Very slowly and gradually this resistless life pours down through the
various planes, spending in each of them a period equal in duration to one
entire incarnation of a planetary chain - a period which, if measured as we
measure time, would cover many millions of years. As a whole, this life-wave is
spoken of as monadic essence when clothed only in the atomic matter of the
various planes at different stages of its descent.
When it energizes the matter of the higher mental plane, it is
known as the First Elemental Kingdom. When it descends to the lower or rupa
levels of the same plane it is the Second Elemental Kingdom, and on the astral
plane it is the Third Elemental Kingdom. Even when this
monadic essence first comes before us, in the earliest of the elemental
Kingdoms, it is already not one monad, but very many - not one great
life-stream but many parallel streams, each possessing characteristics of its
own. The monadic essence ensouls the matter of the sub-planes below it
on each plane or division of a plane, and thus forms the Elemental Kingdoms. It
is the same life that goes on into the mineral kingdom, and then begins to
ascend, and proceeds through the vegetable and animal kingdoms until, upon its
junction with rays from the life of the First Logos, human beings are formed.
See Man, Visible and Invisible, Chapter vi.)
Those, however, are only the lowest members of the angelic kingdom;
next below them in development come the highest of the nature-spirits, in the
same way as the highest members of the animal kingdom come only just below the
lowest human beings; and indeed in many cases the kingdoms overlap, for the
most intelligent of the animal kingdom are frequently superior in many respects
to the most degraded of human beings. In the Church service we invoke the great
Archangels - beings very far above ourselves - though they also have their
cohorts of assistants at a level much below their own; in Freemasonry we call
rather upon beings at our own stage or slightly above it, and they bring with
them assistants from the kingdom of the nature-spirits and even of the
elementals.
In both cases the work is initiated by someone who is specially
qualified and set apart to do it; in the Church the priest; in Freemasonry the
R.W.M. Still, the assistance of the brethren present is always a matter of
importance and significance. In ecclesiastical circles they often speak of the
priesthood of the laity. Certain things the priest is commissioned to do, and
only he can do them. But he requires the help and co-operation of the laity in
order that he may work at the highest degree of effectiveness.
It is exactly the same with the Master of a Masonic Lodge; he also
has certain work to do, and unless there are other P.M.s. present, he is the
only man who can do it; but it will be done better and more easily if the Brn.
understand and
co-operate.
I remember well that when first I was elected R.W.M. of my Mother
Lodge, I had to do all the magnetization
in the opening procession myself; I had
to march round the Lodge, making an eddy in the flowing forces, building the
preliminary thought-form and filling it with a strong current of magnetism.
Presently I explained matters to some of the older members of the Lodge and
told them how they could help in this work, and when they got into the
habit of doing so I found that it made my own labours very much
less.
But remember that what the H.O.A.T.F. wants is not a sort of bored
acquiescence, but cordial co-operation. He wants the members
really to be thinking vividly all the time and keeping their minds
on what they
are doing. If we hear the same thing over and over again, there is
a certain
tendency for it to become a matter of course, so that people give
only half of
their attention to it. That is not the way to get the best results;
we must fig
our minds strongly upon what we are saying and what we are doing.
Only the
officers have to give the responses at the opening of the Lodge,
but every
member ought to know these responses by heart. When we come to the
temple, we come for a definite purpose-not to get, but to give; and the amount
that we are able to give in the way of spiritual force and help depends largely
upon the
intentness with which we fix our thought upon what we are doing,
and the amount of definite understanding that we bring to it. It means a
considerable mental effort, no doubt; but it is very well worth while to make
it.
When the R.W.M. asks for the assistance of the Brn. he also means
that they should specially prepare themselves to co-operate in the work of the
evening, and this important preliminary is achieved by his next questions.
TYLING THE LODGE
The Brn. being upstanding, the R.W.M. begins the proceedings by
asking from the W.J.W. (carefully addressing
him by name, and not using the title of his office) the characteristic question
which is the keynote of every Masonic meeting: “What is the first care of every
Freemason?” and receives the traditional reply: “To see the Lodge close tyled.”
He continues: “Direct that that duty be done.” The W.J.W. passes on the command
to the I.G., who goes to see that the T. is at his post, and reports that he
is, this report being at once passed on to the R.W.M.
What is the symbolism here? The first requisite when we are about
to do a great piece of work is to concentrate upon it, and in order to do that
we must be free from interruption; so the fortress of Mansoul (to adopt John
Bunyan’s picturesque terminology) needs a strong wall all round outside, and
our entrance must be well guarded. Therefore the Spirit calls to the
intelligence, which is its link with the lower worlds; the intelligence asks
the etheric double, who in turn signals the dense physical body to know how
things look from the outside, and receives the satisfactory reply that all the
defences are in order, so that the Spirit is reassured on the important point
that the Lodge may labour in safety.
Each one of us has to tyle his own Lodge on various levels, and
this must be done with great care and wisdom. Through thousands of years of
past evolution each man has been learning to build a strong shell for himself,
so that within it he may grow into a powerful centre, capable of radiating
spiritual force upon his fellows. Inevitably in the earlier stages of that
growth he becomes a self-centred being, thinking and caring only for his own
interests - tyling his Lodge indeed, but shutting out from it much that is
noble and beautiful. Only by degrees does he learn that power is given to him
for use in the service of others, and that while he must so tyle his Lodge as
always to maintain the strong centre of consciousness which he has been at such
pains to create (because without that centre he would be useless in the work of
the world) he must at the same time watch ceaselessly to see that the force
generated in that centre is employed only in the helping of mankind and in the
furtherance of the designs of T.G.A.U.T.U. The man does not lose his
individuality and initiative, but he learns to use them rightly.
The man must learn to tyle the Lodge of his mental body; but this
must be done with discretion and indeed with exceeding great care. We often
find the physical world uncomfortably crowded, especially if our lot imposes
upon us the necessity of living or working in one of the great cities. But we
must remember that the astral and mental worlds are also crowded - very much
more so than the physical, although not quite in the same way. Those finer
worlds have far greater extension than the physical, and also in them bodies
freely interpenetrate one another. So the crowding is not of the same nature;
but nevertheless, we need to shield ourselves even more strictly on those
higher levels than down here.
It is not only that on the mental plane there are many millions of
people. It is also full of centres of thought on all kinds of subjects, which
have been established mostly by men like ourselves. We who are students are
earnestly trying to raise ourselves somewhat above the thought of the average
man; therefore a very large proportion of all this insurgent thought which is
so constantly pressing upon us is at a lower level than our own, and we require
constantly to guard ourselves against its influence. There is such a vast ocean
of thought upon all sorts of utterly unimportant subjects that, unless we
rigidly exclude it, we shall find ourselves unable to concentrate upon the
higher subjects about which we really wish to think.
Therefore in that respect we must tyle the Lodge of the mental body
and must
exercise great care to whom and to what we open its doors.
There are also other respects in which care is necessary on the
mental plane. For example, there are many who are cursed with an argumentative
nature. Such men throw open the doors of their mental fortress and rush eagerly
out to battle on the slightest provocation, or on none at all - quite
forgetting that they thereby leave the fortress undefended, so that any
thought-forces which may happen to be in their neighbourhood can enter in and
possess it. While they are wasting their strength in wrangling over points of
no importance, the whole tone of their mental bodies is being steadily
deteriorated by the influences which are flowing into it. Such a man should
learn to tyle his mental body, so that only those thoughts may enter it which
he as an ego really approves.
The Lodge of the astral body must be tyled also, for it is even
more difficult to resist the surging of emotions than the pressure of thoughts.
The majority of emotions in the world are ill-directed, being motived by
selfishness in some one among its many protean forms - jealousy, envy, pride,
anger, or intolerance. To keep our own feelings pure and high, to retain the
philosophical calm which is as necessary for right feeling as it is for right thinking,
we must sternly tyle the Lodge against all this vast ocean of unnecessary
excitement. Yet on the other hand we must take great care that we never fail in
true sympathy. Our ears must ever be open to the appeals of suffering, even
though we close them resolutely against the meaningless babble of those who
pursue only their own ends. In this, as in so many other ways, the middle path
of occultism is narrow as the edge of a razor, as we are told in the old Indian
books; and we must watch ceaselessly lest on the one hand we are wrecked upon
the Scylla of indifference or overwhelmed on the other in the confusion of
Charybdis.
Even as regards our physical bodies there is the same reason for
strict tyling of the Lodge. We do not despise or shun our fellow-creatures,
though we do shun some of their undesirable haunts. No one who knows anything
of the inner side of things will voluntarily approach such a centre of ghastly
influence as a prize-ring, a butcher’s shop or a drinking saloon; anyone who
has even to pass by such places in the course of his daily avocations should
make a strong shell round himself that he may not draw into himself even the
least trace of their psychic infection.
Again, there are many people who are unconscious vampires; without
being in the least aware of it, they draw out vitality from those who are near
them, so that if one sits and talks to such an one for a little while, one feels utterly
exhausted and incapable of useful work. If such a person were helped by the
strength which he draws from his healthier friends, one might at last regard it
as an act of charity to allow him to deplete one; but the fact is that these
unfortunate people are themselves incapable of retaining what they take, so
that they gain nothing from the transaction, while their hapless victims lose
health and strength. In approaching such cases, we shall do well to tyle the
Lodge of our physical bodies by making a strong etheric shell round them, even
while we radiate all love and kindly feeling upon the unfortunate vampire.
The constantly repeated charge to see that the Lodge is close tyled
should bring to our minds a succession of useful warnings; and whenever we hear
it we should remember to ask ourselves: “Is my heart full of the divine love,
and have I kept it close tyled against all evil and foolish thought since last
I heard these mystic words?”
So when this question comes now, just before the opening of the
Lodge, it serves to remind us of the instant necessity of bringing ourselves
into the right frame of mind for the wonderful piece of work which we are going
to do.
The Egyptians taught that this phrase had yet another meaning,
though one which scarcely concerns us. They understood the necessity of
tyling the world as a whole. Our earth is surrounded by a gaseous
atmosphere in
which the lightest matter tends to find its way to the top.
Hydrogen is the
lightest, and what little of it there is in a free state gradually
rises to the
top of the atmosphere, and some of it escapes and becomes lost in
space. That is one of the reasons why the older planets always have less
hydrogen than the
younger - it leaks away to a certain extent as the planet rushes
along through
space. That reduces the amount of water on the globe. Thus we find
that Mars,
which is older than the earth in proportion to its size, and is in
a later
period of its life, has slightly more land than water on its
surface, while
Jupiter and Saturn which are younger, not in actual age, but in
proportion to
their size, are almost entirely liquid. There is a great being
called the Spirit
of the Earth, who uses the earth as his physical body; he has made
his own
arrangements to prevent the too rapid escape of his hydrogen, and takes
constant care to tyle his Lodge; but we of course have nothing to
do with that.
In thinking of all these symbolical meanings, we must not forget
the actual tyling of the Lodge in which we sit. There are several reasons for
our extreme care in this matter. We want to keep the Lodge shut not merely to
preserve our mysteries from the outer gaze, but because only so may we keep its
influence pure and undisturbed. The thought-form that is about to be built is a
thing very delicately balanced and carefully graduated, and is composed not
only of the etheric substances of our material plane, but also of the still
finer matter of the emotional and mental worlds.
This thought-form is constructed for a definite purpose, and if
outsiders, whose minds are working along different lines, were present, they
would quite unintentionally cause a good deal of friction and destroy the
balance and efficacy of the form. It is not that we consider ourselves to be
superior to those other people, but that we are training ourselves to think
along certain definite lines, and they as a rule arc not.
We must also keep prominently in our minds the obligation to
preserve absolute secrecy in the outer world about our Masonic meetings and all
that takes place at them. There unquestionably is a certain danger of
inadvertence in these matters. None are likely even for a moment to contemplate
the betrayal of any Masonic secret, nor to exhibit any lack of caution with
regard to the w … s and s … s which we have solemnly sworn never to reveal, but
in other matters there is sometimes incaution; for example, on one occasion I
heard some Brn. discussing in a tramcar the excellent manner in which a certain
J.D. performed his work in the Lodge. This is, of course, no betrayal of any of
the secrets, but it contains an element of distinct danger, for it is so easily
possible when speaking of the ceremony to make some reference from which an
intelligent and inquisitive bystander might deduce more than he ought to know.
THE E.A. S … N
After it has been seen that the Lodge is close tyled, the next thing
to be done is to see that all is right within - that all present are
Freemasons. As a matter of fact we are already sure of that, for the members of
a Lodge are well known to each other, and any stranger presenting himself is
always carefully proved before he is admitted. But this is the formal proof
appointed in the ritual, to make assurance doubly sure; so the R.W.M. calls his
Lodge to order, and all adopt a certain attitude of attention with a s … p and
s … n, both of which are highly symbolical, and have remained unchanged for a
very long period. It should be distinctly understood that a man who joins
Freemasonry does thereby take a step forward in evolution, and the fact that
his identification as a Freemason begins with that s … p is a constant reminder
and acknowledgment of that.
The l … f …, because it is nearest to the heart, symbolizes the
intuition, while the r … f … is supposed to represent intellectual faculty. The
meaning of the s … p is therefore obviously that in occult matters intuition always
takes precedence over mere reasoning processes. The position adopted is
intended to show that reason must always spring from the centre of right
feeling.
Having thus indicated the method of our advancement, we proceed in
Co-Masonry to give the Dieu-garde, a contraction of the French “Dieu vous
garde,” which means “God keep you,” though in English it has been corrupted
into due-guard. In addition to the thoughts suggested by the s … p, this shows
us that we learn but to bless, for this position is that which the candidate
adopted at the moment when he took his O. It indicates that the E.A., being
himself but a beginner, has as yet neither the right nor the power to give any
blessing but that which is prescribed in the V.S.L.; he may use only the words which
are taught to him, for he is not yet in the position to be either a direct
channel or a reservoir of the higher force.
Then follows a gesture which is at the same time a salutation to
God and a declaration of power. The rest of the s … is commonly interpreted as
a reminder of the p … y attached to any violation of the E.A.O.; and it is
certain that the idea of that p … y has been associated with it from an early
period in history, as may be seen by reference to the works of Dr. Albert
Churchward. There is, however, yet another more occult meaning for that s …
than the explanation usually given. Students of the inner side of man’s
constitution and of Oriental occultism are aware that there are seven great
force-centres (called in Sanskrit chakras) in the human body, and that in the
course of occult progress all of them have to be opened, developed and made
effective.
There are many methods of psychic development, some of which
commence with the opening of one centre and some with another; but in the scheme
advocated in ancient Egypt and continued in Freemasonry the centre
indicated by that s …
is taken first. So when the Freemason makes that movement he not only
designates the opening up of that centre as the special work, from the occult
point of view, of this degree, but he also commands the aid of the powers in
nature connected with and controlled through that centre in whatever work
he is about to undertake. The gestures
and words taught in Freemasonry are not chosen at random; each has a definite meaning
and a definite power in the world of the unseen, quite apart from its
signification on the physical plane. Lodges in Europe usually know nothing
whatever of all this; perhaps there may be some in Oriental countries which are
better instructed.
The force-centres exist as points of connection at which energy
flows from one vehicle or body of a man to another. Anyone who possesses a
slight degree of clairvoyance may easily see them in the etheric double, where
they show themselves as saucer-like depressions or vortices in its surface.
When quite undeveloped they appear as small circles about two inches in
diameter, glowing dully in the ordinary man; but when awakened and vivified
they appear as blazing, coruscating saucers, much increased in size. We sometimes
speak of them as roughly corresponding to certain physical organs; in reality
they show themselves at the surface of the etheric double, which projects
slightly beyond the outline of the dense body.
If we imagine ourselves to be looking straight down into the bell
of a flower of the convolvulus type, we shall get some idea of the general
appearance of a chakra. The stalk of the flower in each case springs from a
point in the spine, so another view might show the spine as a central stem,
from which flowers shoot forth at intervals, showing the opening of their bells
at the surface of the etheric body.
The seven centres with which we are at present concerned are
indicated in the accompanying illustration. (Plate IX.) It will be seen that
they are situated at:
(1) the
base of the spine;
(2) the
spleen;
(3) the
navel or solar plexus;
(4) the
heart;
(5) the
throat;
(6) the
space between the eyebrows;
(7) the
top of the head.
I have described them fully in The Inner Life; and I have also
published a monograph on them, called The Chakras, with unique coloured
illustrations.
There are several force-centres besides these, and there are
schools of magic that use them; but the dangers connected with them are so
serious that we should consider their awakening as the greatest misfortune. It
is precisely in order to avoid the arousing of those lower centres that so much
importance was attached in Egypt to the belt or girdle of the apron, and the etheric
web which stretched across it.
When at all in action, these centres show signs of rapid rotation,
and into each of their open mouths, at right angles to the surface of the body,
there rushes a force from the higher world - one of those which T.G.A.O.T.U. is constantly pouring out
through His system. That force is sevenfold in its nature, and all its forms
operate in each of these centres, although one of them in each case greatly
predominates over the others. Without this inrush of energy the physical body
could not exist.
Therefore the centres are in operation in every one, although in
the
undeveloped person they are usually in comparatively sluggish
motion, just
forming the necessary vortex for the force, and no more. On the
other hand, they may be glowing and pulsating with living light, so that an
enormously greater amount of force passes through them, with the result that
there are additional faculties and possibilities open to the man.
This divine energy which rushes into each centre from without sets
up at right angles to itself, that is to say, in the surface of the etheric
double, secondary forces in undulatory circular motion, just as a bar magnet
thrust into an induction coil produces a current of electricity which flows
round the coil at right angles to the axis or direction of the magnet. The
primary force itself, having entered the vortex, radiates from it again at
right angles, but in straight lines, as though the centre of the vortex were
the hub of a wheel, and the radiations of the primary force its spokes. The
number of these spokes differs in the different force-centres, and determines
the number of waves or petals which each of them exhibits. Because of this
these force-centres have often been poetically described in Oriental books as
resembling flowers.
Each of the secondary forces which sweep round the saucer-like
depression has its own characteristic wave-length, just as has light of a
certain colour; but instead of moving in a straight line as light does, it
moves along relatively large undulations of various sizes, each of which is
some multiple of the smaller wave-lengths within it. The number of undulations
is determined by the number of spokes in the wheel, and the secondary force
weaves itself under and over the radiating currents of the primary force, just
as basket work might be woven round the spokes of a carriage wheel.
The wavelengths are infinitesimal, and probably thousands of them
are included
within one of the undulations. As the forces rush round in the
vortex, these
oscillations of different sizes, crossing one another in this
basketwork
fashion, produce the flower-like form to which I have referred. It
is, perhaps,
still more like the appearance of certain saucers or shallow vases
of wavy
iridescent glass, such as are made in Venice. All of these
undulations or petals
have that shimmering iridescent effect, like mother-of-pearl, yet
each of them
has usually its own predominant colour.
In the vivification of the particular centre with which this degree
of E.A. is principally concerned, three factors are important. When the centre
in the emotional body which corresponds to this is awakened, it gives to the
man the power of hearing in the subtle world at that level - that is, it causes
a development of that sense which, in what is usually called the astral world,
produces on our consciousness the effect which on the physical
plane we call hearing. So, if the etheric centre were fully
working, the E.A.
would be clairaudient as far as the etheric and astral planes. Its
slow and
partial unfoldment gradually tends to dissipate prejudice in the
man, to open
his mind to suggestions and, generally speaking, to widen and
liberalize his
thought.
Secondly, the development of the brain largely depends upon the
opening up of this centre, because it plays an important part in the division
and distribution of one of the main streams of vitality which course through
the human body. I have already explained the detail of this action in The
Chakras and The Hidden Side of Things, to which I must refer any reader who
desires further information on the subject of vital circulation.
Thirdly, another important action of this centre deserves our
notice, as the especial object of the first Degree is the conquest of the
passions of the physical body and the development of morality. Among the
various kinds of vitality is an orange-red ray, which contains also a certain
amount of dark purple. In the normal man this ray energizes the desires of the
flesh, and also seems to enter the blood and keep up the heat of the body; but
if a man persistently refuses to yield to his lower nature, this ray can by
long and determined effort be deflected upwards to the brain, where all three of
its constituents undergo a remarkable modification. The orange is raised into pure yellow, and
produces a decided intensification of the powers of the intellect; the dark red
becomes crimson and gradually increases the power of unselfish affection; while
the dark purple is transmuted into a lovely pale violet, and quickens the
spiritual part of man’s nature. The man who achieves this transmutation will
find that lower desires no longer trouble him; and it is with that consummation
in view that the development of the centre in which those modifications and
transmutations are achieved is so strongly emphasized in the preliminary stages
of Freemasonry.
The unfoldment of this centre is closely associated with the power
of paying attention, as well as with the opening of higher forms of hearing. In
all occult systems of training great importance was attached to this in the
case of the neophyte. In the school of Pythagoras the pupils were kept for
several years in the order called Akoustikoi or Hearers; in the mysteries of
Mithra the lowest order was that of the Ravens - a name which signifies that
they were allowed only to repeat that which they had heard, precisely as a
raven or a parrot does; for in all these ancient systems students were strictly
forbidden to launch out upon the perilous waters of originality until they were
thoroughly grounded in the established principles of philosophy. The s … also
evokes or calls to the assistance of the man who uses it a particular class of
non-human intelligences of the subtle world.
In view of the great influence of this s … of power, all will see
the necessity that it should be preserved with the greatest care and secrecy.
If it is made wrongly, not in exact form and at the proper place, the effect
will be lost. In these matters we are working what is commonly called magic;
and that is a dangerous thing to play with and should be taken up only with the
greatest seriousness of purpose and precision in work.
If a member should make this s … carelessly and without thinking
what ho is doing, he opens himself up to
influences of which he is unaware, for which be is unprepared; and things may
happen which should not happen. It is this idea which is at the basis of the
grossly exaggerated and misleading statement that a man who takes the Holy
Sacrament in the Church, while permitting his mind to be full of evil, really
eats and drinks damnation to himself. The man who receives the Holy Communion
becomes a very high centre of radiating force,
and is also made receptive to the highest degree; let him be sure therefore
to eliminate evil thoughts, lest such
thoughts may draw into him other influences like unto themselves. It is the
same with the Masonic s ….
He who performs it as a salutation to another opens up his heart
towards that
person, and that is good; but all should be on guard lest they
carelessly open
themselves to unpleasant influences which might otherwise have
passed them by.
When made thus at the opening of our Lodge, this s … reminds us
that we must put ourselves in a
receptive attitude, so that we may obtain the greatest possible benefit from
the influx of spiritual force which we are about to invoke.
THE OFFICERS
Having thus done our best to prepare our selves for the work of the
evening
(a) by the purifying of the Lodge-room by means of the censing,
(b) by closing our hearts and minds against all distracting
thoughts
and feelings, and
(c) by putting ourselves in a receptive attitude, we now
proceed to set in motion the marvellously arranged
Masonic machinery by which we can invoke the assistance of non-human beings in
our altruistic labours.
The method by which this is done is exceedingly ingenious and most
skilfully
concealed. Man is a complex being, and the rough division into body
and soul is
not sufficient for scientific working. For the purposes of his
evolution he
exists upon five of the seven planes of nature, and has sheaths or
bodies built
of the matter of the lower of those planes, and principles or
constituents
within himself which correspond to the higher. This will be made
clearer by
Fig. 13, and its accompanying diagram.
Therefore for our work we need forces of all these different
levels, and each officer of a Masonic Lodge has, besides his duties on the
physical plane, the function of representing one of these levels, and acting as
a focus for its special energies. The arrangement made by the Founders of
Freemasonry is that the enumeration of the officials and the recitation of
their positions and duties shall act as an evocation of the
devas or Angels belonging to and working on those respective levels. The
fact that thousands of R.W.M.s have asked the
appointed questions without the faintest idea of producing an effect in unseen
worlds has not deprived them of angelic assistance which, if they had known of
it, would have astounded them beyond expression, and probably even terrified
them.
So the spirit turns again to the intelligence, and calls on it to
formulate the great divisions; intelligence responds and names the three lines
through which the force flows, thereby attracting the attention of the Angels
of those lines. To symbolize that, the R.W.M. asks how many principal officers
there are in the Lodge, and receives the answer that there are three. These are
the R.W.M., the W.S.W., and the W.J.W., who represent the divine or spiritual
trinity which appears in the Deity, and also in man, who is made in the image
of that Deity. These three principles in man are familiar to many students of
Theosophical psychology under the names of atma, buddhi and manas, which may be
rendered into English as the spiritual will, the intuitional love and the
higher intelligence.
Then the R.W.M. asks how many assistant officers there are, and is
told that these are likewise three, not including the O.G. or. T. These
represent the personal constitution of man or his lower self-composed of the
lower mind, which the S.D. represents, the emotional nature, personified by the
J.D., and the etheric double of the physical body, for which the I.G. stands.
The T. represents the dense part of the physical body.
The porchway of the Lodge is the entrance to the inner world which
is invisible to ordinary sight. Therefore the T., who typifies the denser part
of the physical body, is the only officer of the Lodge who stands outside it,
visible to the sight of the profane. All the other six principles of the human
constitution are beyond physical sight, which deals with only one grade of the
matter of the world, and that the lowest and densest.
Those principles exist on distinct planes of nature, of ascending
degrees of
subtlety or fineness
of matter.Fig. 13 and the diagram connected with it show the seven principles
in man, the planes of nature on which they exist, and the corresponding
officers in the Masonic Lodge.
The upper triangle, containing the first, second and third
principles, represents the ego or higher self in man, commonly called the soul,
who in the course of his long pilgrimage or evolution towards human perfection,
takes many incarnations, each of which is called a personality. The lower
triangle is a reflection of that higher one in the matter of the lower planes,
and it forms with the dense physical body the lower quaternary, which
constitutes the personality, and lasts through one incarnation. The evolution
of man is really the development of the ego or higher self, but in most people
at the present stage of human progress that ego may be described as still in
his infancy; he has not yet fully awakened to the positive and purposeful life
of a man on his own planes, nor has he realized what can be learnt through
incarnation in the lower planes. In course of time and many incarnations the
three higher principles gradually unfold themselves, and the man realizes more
and more of the divinity which is truly his. Though the principal object of
Freemasonry is the collection and distribution of spiritual force for others,
it is also deeply concerned with the welfare and progress of the Brn., so its ritual and its teaching clearly indicate the
path which man should tread, and offer him the most valuable help as he passes
along it.
THE DUTIES
The list of situations and duties is then rehearsed. It is commonly
supposed that the object of this enumeration is to make sure that the facts are
thoroughly known to all the Brn., and that all the
officials are duly present. It has in reality another and far more important
function, as I have explained.
Several interesting points of symbolism are brought out in the
apparently curious answers which are given with respect to the duties attached
to the various offices. The physical body should protect the lodge of a man’s
soul from the dangers of the outer world, from temptations or evil influences.
The T. is ordered to keep out all cowans and intruders to Freemasonry, and when
we recollect that the word “cowan” is simply the Greek kuon, a dog, and that
from time immemorial the dog has been used as a symbol of violent animal
passions, we shall readily comprehend what the work and office of the T. are
intended to typify.
The etheric double, in the person of the I. G., also joins to
defend the Lodge, and is especially under the command of the higher mind or
intelligence, the W.J.W., who is concerned with testing all who seek to enter;
which shows that it is the duty of the intelligence to discriminate, and to
decide what thought or emotion shall receive lodgment within the temple of man.
The R.W.M. communicates with the T. only through the W.J.W. and the I.G., which
signifies that spirit does not act directly on dense
matter, but through his intelligence impresses himself upon etheric matter;
though when he has once sent out his enquiry, the mind may instruct the etheric
double to report directly to the R.W.M. on the particular subject. To typify
this, in many Lodges it is the custom that the W.J.W., in passing on his
command, should say, “Bro.
I.G., you will see who seeks admission, and report to the R.W.M.”
The reflection of the upper triangle in the lower takes place point
for point, and there is therefore a sympathetic relation between principles 2
and 5, as well as between 3 and 4, and between 1 and .
It is with the aid of the emotions, by their purification and development, that
the man unfolds principle 2, the intuitional love, so that it is brought into
activity in his life. And it is with the aid of the mind that he casts off the
five fetters to further progress (namely, the delusion that his personal self
is the real self, doubt about the reality of spiritual things, superstition,
and unreasoning likes and dislikes) and so enables the spiritual will to
express itself in his life. About these stages, and the great Initiations that
accompany them, I have written in full in The Masters and the Path. They are
mentioned here to show why it is that the J.D. acts between the W.S.W. and the
W.J.W. and the S.D. acts between the R.W.M. and the W.S.W. They explain also
why it is that the W.J.W. takes charge of the E.A.s, and the W.S.W. of the
F.C.s, while the M.M.s may be considered to be under the immediate charge of
the R.W.M. As the open Lodge is a place where the Brn. are symbolically
undergoing the advanced course of evolution before mentioned, the officers who
represent the principles in man must show those principles acting in relation
to one another as they do in man in the course of that evolution.
The Third Aspect of the Divine Being is typified by the W.J.W. when
he directs the passage from the labour of evolution to the refreshment of
periodic rest; while it is the Second Aspect which is symbolized by the W.S.W.
when he closes the Lodge at the R.W.M.’s command, because when the Second
Aspect of Deity withdraws from the forms that He has made, everything is
resolved into its primal elements and the universe as such ceases
to exist, and
so the Lodge of the solar system is for the time closed. This is
what is called
among the Hindus the end of the manvantara and the beginning of the
pralaya.
It is not implied that the officials who happen to hold the
positions representing the principles in man in any given Lodge are necessarily
able to function upon the planes to which they correspond; but it is to be
understood that not only the nature-spirits, but also the strange
half-conscious creatures which we have called elementals, existing on the
downward arc of evolution on each of these levels, will and do respond to the
invocation which is employed in this
closely condensed formula of opening.
The enumeration of the officials in answer to the earlier questions of the R.W.M. is in
the nature of a call to attention - a call which reverberates through
these different kingdoms of nature - and lets devas, nature-spirits
and
elementals know that an opportunity is about to be offered to them.
For that,
remember, is the way in which these creatures at all levels look
upon such a
call. It is one of the chief methods of their evolution to be used
in work such
as this, and they therefore greatly rejoice to respond.
That general enumeration by the W.s is quickly followed by the
specific questions addressed to each of the officers; and of these the first
enquiry as to their situation in the Lodge sets the machinery in motion, acts
as a call to a deva of the particular type required, who immediately presents
himself and acts as a captain of the nature-spirits and elementals who next
gather round. The second question and answer in each case, as to the special
duty of the officers in question, brings round him these myrmidons of his, and
he influences them to arrange themselves as required. For example, when the
J.D. is mentioned a thrill shoots out through the astral levels, and when he is
asked what is his situation in the Lodge, a deva, having for his lowest vehicle
a body of astral matter (what is called in Buddhism a kamadeva), at once steps
forward and takes up his position above the head of the J.D. At the same time
the attention of a number of nature-spirits wearing bodies of astral matter is
aroused, and also a great mass of the elemental essence belonging to the third
of the great elemental kingdoms is awakened into activity. Then when the
question as to the duties is asked, the deva captain draws round him those
astral myrmidons, and arranges them as he needs them, and at the same time
seizes upon the floating mass of elemental essence and welds it into
thought-forms such as he requires to carry out the work that has to be done.
In exactly the same way the S.D. is represented by a deva captain
whose lowest vehicle is built of the matter of the lower sub-planes of the
mental plane (a rupadeva), and lie employs
nature-spirits and elemental essence at his own level.
It will be noticed that in each case not only the actual situation
and duty of the official are defined, but also his relation to other officials,
his part in the work as a whole. The deva captains corresponding to the three
principal officers are all what are called in the East arupadevas, and they
possess the consciousness and wield the forces of the planes which they
respectively represent. It is not easy for us to understand the working of
forces at such levels, as they act upon the corresponding principles in man,
and those principles are only slightly developed as yet in the majority of
human beings.
By the time, therefore, that the last of the list of questions and
answers has been exchanged, the whole Lodge is pulsating with elemental life,
all of which is filled with the most intense eagerness to launch itself upon
the work in hand, whatever that may be. The elementals and nature-spirits of
the different levels vary greatly in development and intelligence, some being
fully defined and exceedingly active, whereas others are comparatively vague
and cloud-like. But a very striking appearance is presented by the Lodge when
these various groups of beings are gathered together, each group showing its
distinctive colour and floating over the head of the official who is its
physical plane representative - all this taking place
while the Lodge is still in semi-darkness, lit only by the three
candles and the
sacred fire. It is to this condition that the R.W.M. refers
(whether he knows it
or not) when he says: “Our Lodge being thus duly formed.”
In the case of the lower officers, at any rate, it requires but a
slight development of clairvoyance to see these creatures floating in their
appointed places, each group making a sort of luminous sphere or cloud. (See
Plate X.) This cloud is violet-grey in the case of the I. G., crimson for the
J.D. and yellow for the S.D. It is not so easy to define the hues of the three
principal officers, for each of them seems to carry something of all possible
colours; but it may perhaps be said that a golden hue predominates in the W.J.W.’s
sphere, and a strong electric blue in that of the W.S.W. The R.W.M’s
light-globe is the brightest of all, glowing equally with rose, gold, blue and
green, each of which flashes out into prominence at certain points of the
ceremony. It is through these deva representatives of the various officers that
the building of the thought-form and the outpouring of the force is really
done; but on the physical plane the officer of the Lodge should also
participate in the work to the extent of his power. If he reaches upward to his
deva representative, and allows the force to flow freely through him, blending
his will with it as it flows, his higher principles will become one with that
deva; and he will not only be an excellent channel for the divine force, but
will himself be greatly helped and strengthened in the doing of the work.
THE OPENING
The deva-representative of the R.W.M. is a highly developed and
very capable seventh-ray Angel, and the moment that he arrives with his cohort
of assistant-angels and elementals he takes full charge of the whole of the
proceedings. The captains of all the other little groups spring to attention,
and everything is at once made ready for the supreme moment of the opening of the Lodge. The R.W.M., having
declared that his Lodge is duly formed and that he stands there as its head and
representative, turns to express his gratitude to T.G.A.O.T.U. for this, and
then offers up an earnest wish that the work of the evening, having thus begun
in order, may be continued in harmony and closed in peace. To this his whole
Lodge replies with a ringing response, like the cheer of an army: “So mote it be.” “Mote” is an old Anglo-Saxon form of “may”, and this expression is the Masonic “Amen”. But just as
“Amen” is often interpreted “so may it be”, so is this splendid Masonic
expression often degraded to the level of a mere assent or pious wish. And
again, just as “Amen” is not a wish but an assertion - the most sacred oath of
ancient Egypt, which none would ever dare to break – “By Amen it shall be so” -
so is this Masonic exclamation to be taken as
the strongest affirmation – “so shall it be”. Not: “We pray or we hope
that it may be so”, but “We shall make it so”. This is shown by the emphatic
outstretching of the right hand at the level of the shoulder, this being a
well-known sign of power and command.
Immediately after this the R.W.M., acting in the name of
T.G.A.O.T.U., declares the Lodge duly open, and all
the lights are turned fully on. It is not only the physical light which leaps
forth at this moment, for as the R.W.M. says the opening words his
deva-representative also lifts his staff, and all the seven groups of assistant
spirits, which until now have been seen even by clairvoyant sight as merely
luminous clouds, flash out into their full brilliancy and their natural beauty
of colour. At once also each group is connected by a line of living light with
the physical official over which it hovers, and through this line its force is
poured down upon him whenever he is called upon to take part in the ceremony.
The deva representative usually remains floating above the regular situation of
the official, but as the latter moves about the Lodge in the course of his work
the line of light never leaves him for a moment, though it becomes more vivid
during his activity.
Just before the Lodge is opened, the I.P.M. is escorted by the two D.s with crossed wands to the altar, where he
kneels and awaits the exact moment of opening. As the R.W.M. utters the word
“open” the I.P.M. opens the V.S.L., and arranges upon its pages the s … and the
c … thus displaying what we esteem the three great emblematical lights in
Freemasonry simultaneously with the physical illumination. It is the I.P.M. who
thus brings the symbolical light to the Lodge, just as it was he who gave the
physical light from the sacred fire to the S. D., because he represents the
Silent Watcher, the influence which sees that everything is correctly done and
stands ready always to supply anything that is needed. He has reached the Light
in its fullest sense; he has done his work and is therefore in a position to
help others. It should be specially noted that he should open the sacred volume
at random, not searching for any particular passage; it is the whole book that
is given to us to illumine our
minds, not only this verse or that. It will be found most convenient to open it
somewhere about the middle.
To show that the sacred volume is here being used as a symbol, the
I.P.M, solemnly recites the ancient formula quoted by St John the Evangelist at
the beginning of his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.” We all know that the Greek translated in this
text as “word” is in the original “Logos”; and so the opening of the V.S.L.
typifies the manifestation of the Logos at the beginning of a solar system,
while the c … s and the s … show further that He manifests Himself as spirit
and matter; for there is nothing which is not God. To indicate that the Second
Person or Aspect of the Logos is about to descend into His universe, the column
of the W.S.W. is now erected, and that of the W.J.W. is laid down. The brooding
of the Holy Spirit over the waters of chaos is now no longer the only divine
activity; the groundwork is laid, and the active life of the system is to
begin. The tracing-board which indicates the plan of its activity is now
exposed, and the nature of that activity is indicated by the fact that we
commence it with a hymn of praise to T.G.A.O.T.U., during the singing of which
the Brn. should pour out all the love and devotion of which they are capable.
In those Lodges which use a portrait of the H.O.A.T.F. it is just
before the singing of this hymn that
that portrait is unveiled, all the Brn. turning towards it and saluting. In
instant response to this salutation the great Adept projects a thought-form
which is an exact image of Himself; just as at a
higher level the Lord Christ projects that thought-form which is called the
Angel of the Presence at every celebration of the Holy Eucharist. So fully is
this thought-form a part of the H.O.A.T.F. that the Lodge has the benefit of
His presence and His blessing just as though He stood there in physical form.
The Deva representative of the R.W.M. bows low before the Head of his Ray, and
leaves the direction of affairs in His hands.
It will be seen that those of us who know of the existence of this
great Adept, and of His keen interest in our work, have a great advantage; but
it must not be forgotten that every regularly constituted Masonic Lodge is in
charge of a Seventh Ray Angel, however little the Brn. may know about the
matter.
I have explained how at the moment of the opening of the Lodge all
the assistant angels, nature-spirits and elemental creatures and their deva
captains flash out into brilliancy, and stand round ready to spring forward at
the word of command. To say that they are ready is far from expressing the
fact; they are overflowing with eagerness, like dogs straining at a leash. And
now comes the moment for which they have been waiting, for immediately after
the return of the I.P.M. to his seat and the display of the tracing-board by
the S.D. comes the opening hymn, with the first note
of which the super-physical entities burst into tumultuous yet ordered
activity. The hymn itself, or rather the devotion and enthusiasm with which
we sing it, provides them with the
material for their building, and immediately they are all working away at its
erection, each at his own level, and with the materials belonging to that level
with which the Brn. supply him.
In the opening procession the R.W.M. and his officers have already
constructed the lower part of the cella, or interior chamber of the temple,
shutting in the whole of the mosaic pavement and charging it heavily with
magnetism. These creatures pounce upon that first of all and rapidly make its
walls both thicker and higher, the greater ones reinforcing its magnetism by
filling it with the splendid power of their respective levels. Again with
lightning-like rapidity they spread a ceiling over the whole of the Lodge, and
from that ceiling, beginning at the edges, just within the walls of the
physical Lodge, they drop supporting columns from above downwards like the
roots of a banyan-tree, one of them surrounding each of the non-official
Brn.
It will thus be seen that our thought-form is very nearly a
reproduction of a Greek temple-the rows of columns which support its
tremendously heavy roof being outside the central chamber, which is the only
part of the temple fully
enclosed. The accompanying picture may help to make this clear, and
we give at
the same time in Plate V a drawing of an existing Greek temple for
the sake of
comparison. The mere outline of the temple is always finished
during the singing
of the opening hymn, but in certain circumstances friezes and other
decorations
may be added later on under the direction of the controlling Angel.
It will thus be seen why the unofficial Brn. who sit at the sides
of the Lodge are sometimes spoken of as the columns; and some light is also
thrown on an ancient text which runs: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” Incidentally, we see how
necessary it is that the Brn. should put their hearts and souls into the words
that they sing or say, for upon their efforts in this direction depends the
amount of material provided for our super-physical fellow-workers, and
consequently the massiveness and
richness of the thought-form which they build.
All through the ceremony that follows, whatever it may be, the deva
representatives of the three principal officers continue to pour
into the cella
their beneficent influence; and though its strongest force is
reserved for those
who enter upon the mosaic pavement as candidates, it also somehow
filters
through the roof and down the columns upon all who are present.
THE E.A. K … s
At the moment of opening the Lodge the R.W.M. also gives the E.A. K
… s.
K … s in Freemasonry have a double
significance and a very definite use. The latter is based on the fact that they
are a recognized method of communication with certain orders of earth-spirits
whose attention is attracted by them, whose eager service is at once at the
disposal of those who are duly qualified to summon them, though they will take
no notice of a call from one who has not been properly introduced to them by
initiation into the E.A. degree. Their main use in the ceremony is to create an
atmosphere - the atmosphere appropriate to the degree which is being worked;
and in that special work they become extraordinarily proficient, answering
instantly to the call of the k … s with military promptness and precision, so
that even when the Lodge is
being raised or lowered by the short method they are able to
produce the
required changes as quickly as the commands can be issued.
This generation of the proper atmosphere is one of the most
important special features of Freemasonry, indispensable to really efficient working.
Any one who is at all sensitive to such influences may feel the change which
takes place when we pass from one degree to another, but only those who have
opened the sight of the soul can see the variations of colour, or watch the
busy workers who are so energetic in producing them. The Deva captains of the
three principal officers take charge of this important part of the work - the
W.J.W. of the servants of the First Degree, the W.S.W. of those of the Second,
and the R.W.M. of those of the Third; but the earth-spirits themselves obey the
call of the k … s, appearing at the first round and unobtrusively returning to
their normal haunts when another battery announces that their work is done. The
k … s of the closing correspond to the “Ite, missa est”
of the Catholic Church. It may be noted that similar creatures are fond of
announcing their presence by k … s at a spiritualistic seance.
The k … s of the First Degree have also a moral significance,
indicating that the E.A. has three planes in front of him to conquer, the
physical body with its impulses coming from the
past, the astral with its strong desires and emotions, and the mental
with its curiosity and waywardness. With each of these every man in the course
of his evolution has a twofold work to do first he must conquer it, govern its
impulses and bring them into a state of obedience to the soul within, and
secondly he must develop it as a positive, well-trained, useful instrument for
his service.
The E.A. is supposed to have conquered the physical body before
entering into Masonry - without that he could not be well and worthily
recommended for admission - but he has still to develop it; and while he is
doing that be is supposed to be gaining complete control of his astral nature;
that is the special work of this degree as far as self-development is
concerned, though of course the Mason is trying to perfect himself in every way
all the time. The k … s of the Second Degree indicate
that the physical work is complete, and that the F.C. has still two planes to
conquer. He is engaged in making his astral body into a perfect instrument for
the expression of high emotion, and is at the same time learning to gain
control of his mind. In this stage a Mason should be making every day some
advances in Masonic knowledge, till presently the mind will no longer be
wayward and fickle, but controlled. At this point he will pass on to the Third
Degree, and then the k … s indicate that he has but one plane to conquer, has
but to perfect the mind as an instrument in the service of the higher self.
This work will go on for as many years as are necessary before he passes
through the Chair.
From the above it will be seen that there are four stages in Craft
Masonry - three degrees and then a further attainment when the M.M. becomes an
I.M. There is a similarity between these stages and those which have been
prescribed in the Christian Church, although one is at a much higher level than
the other. This is shown in the following diagram:
In the Church certain people are set apart as priests - but they
have to pass through the earlier stages before reaching that position. First
the man must be a subdeacon; his business then is to prepare himself for the
great surgical operation which takes place at the diaconate, when he is
definitely joined with the World-Teacher, in a way which has been fully
explained in The Science of the Sacraments.
In the stage of the subdiaconate, which corresponds somewhat to the
E.A., the man is supposed to learn to control himself perfectly. In the next
grade, during the time of the diaconate, he has to learn; he is preparing
himself for the work of the priesthood, just as the F.C. is preparing himself
for the work of the M.M.
As I have said in speaking of the due-guard, the power of blessing
of the E.A. is contained within the book from which he learns. He may use only
the words of the book, and must not go beyond them. He is not himself yet a
direct channel for the divine power, so he puts the book between his hands. But
the F.C. puts one h … on the b … and raises the other in the f … of a s … He
corresponds to the deacon, because he is a channel linked with the Christ, but
only that which comes down and pours through him may he give. He is not yet
himself filled with grace and power, but he is able to act as a channel.
His holding of the l … h … in that way corresponds, though at a
lower stage,
with the bishop’s holding his crosier in the left .hand. He is
drawing down
divine power through that highly magnetized staff, while he is
pouring it out on
the people with the other hand. It is the same gesture, though of
course in the
case of the bishop it is far more highly specialized.
Then the M.M. puts both his h … on the b … He is supposed when he
has attained that high degree to be in a position of power, to be filled with
the energy which has been poured into him in the symbolical death and rising
again. Therefore he can give that energy; he may give a blessing to other
people just as a priest does, and as the priest has authority to administer
certain sacraments, so is the M.M. qualified to accept office in the Lodge.
Still, neither the M.M. nor the priest can convey his power or
authority to anyone else. The bishop alone has power to ordain priests or to
consecrate other bishops, and only the I.M. is able to initiate, pass and raise
Masons, and to create other I.M.s. Both the bishop and the I.M. have also the
power to give a fuller blessing than the priest or the M.M. can bestow. Thus
there is a succession of I.M.s in Masonry, just as there is a succession of
bishops in the Church.
In The Science of the Sacraments I have explained something of the
inner meaning of the apostolic succession, the method designed by the Christ
for handing down the spiritual powers of the Catholic Church. It will be seen
that we have a similar succession in Masonry, extending back to the priests of
the Mysteries of ancient
There is a further analogy between the degrees of Freemasonry and
the orders of the Church, for just as the clergy of the Church are linked in
various degrees of connection with the Head of the Church, the Lord Christ
Himself, and with the reservoir of power which He has set apart for the
celebration of the sacraments, so are the initiates of the various degrees in
Freemasonry linked according to their rank with the H.O.A.T.F., and with the
reservoir of power set apart for the work of the Craft. Every Freemason has a
certain touch with Him; but the first great link directly with Him is given in
the degree of I.M. (for it is practically a separate degree, although it is not
called so), and closer links still are conferred in the higher degrees of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; so that the earnest Mason becomes a
veritable outpost of His consciousness, a channel of His power and a minister
of His will. Such Brn. act as His representatives in their Lodges and Chapters,
and have the right to give His blessing according to their Masonic rank. It is
a matter of deep regret that so few of our modern Brn. realize in the least the
sacredness of their office, and the heavy responsibility laid upon them to use
their power without thought of self in the service of the world.
There are, however, considerable differences between the methods of
transmission in these two great sacramental systems. It is recognized in
Catholic theology, and confirmed by occult investigation, that the spiritual
powers given at ordination are invariably conferred, provided only that the
bishop be in the line of the apostolic succession, that he have the intention
to confer Holy Orders and that the recipient have the intention to receive
them, and that the laying on of hands take place according to the ancient
tradition. The particular beliefs of the bishop and the candidate do not affect
the validity of the sacrament in the slightest degree, nor will it be withheld
if they are out of communion with any particular branch of the Church, or even
if they are persons of questionable moral worth.* (*See notes to page .) The Lord
Christ out of His great love for His Church is willing to overlook the human
frailties of the minister, so that His flock may be fed.
But the transmission of power in Masonry seems to he by no means so
unalterably fixed, probably because of the fact that Masonry is a
secret Order and is not therefore in direct relation with the outer
world; the
whole scheme of transmittal is much more elastic than that of the
Church.
Although it would appear that the succession both of I.M.s and
Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General has been to a large extent handed down on
the physical plane, it is by no means necessary that it should be so handed
down, and the sacramental powers may be introduced or withheld as the
H.O.A.T.F. sees fit.
When a clandestine meeting is held, even though a duly qualified
I.M. be
present, the inner recognition is not given, and the powers are not
conveyed.
Two such cases of the withholding of inner recognition are within
my personal
experience. In the Church a priest can anywhere and by himself
perform a
sacrament, and a bishop can also pass on his power at his own
discretion, but in
Craft Masonry the unit is the Lodge, and the presence of a number
of Brn. is
essential to the validity of the rites, except when degrees are
conferred by
communication by one who has due authority. It is said that “three
rule a Lodge,
five hold a Lodge, and seven or more make it perfect”.
In making this comparison between Masonic degrees and Church
Orders, I am not for a moment asserting that the powers conferred upon the many
in the degrees of freemasonry are in any sense equal to those bestowed upon a
few carefully selected and prepared candidates in the Major Orders of the
Church; I wish only to draw attention to a series of curious
correspondences
between the two systems, too numerous and remarkable to be due to
mere
coincidence. Masonry does give powers commensurate with those
appertaining to the Church, but only in its very highest degrees, and to the
very few.
CHAPTER VI
INITIATION
THE CANDIDATE
WHEN any member of the general public wishes to
become a Freemason, he usually applies to some friend whom he knows
to be a
member of the Craft. This friend will probably introduce him to the
Secretary of
the Lodge, who then supplies the applicant with certain papers. The
candidate
will then find that he is expected to give some particulars with
regard to
himself - his age, his occupation in life, his reason for wishing
to join the
Craft, etc. Also, in Co-Masonry the following notice will be handed
to him:
450The Candidate should clearly understand the
obligations he takes upon himself in joining the Order. These
obligations are
of the most serious and solemn character, and he is expected to
discharge them
honourably.
A. The candidate
undertakes to try to lead a noble and upright life, and to
work at the improvement of his character.
B. He undertakes to
attend regular meetings of the Lodge, unless prevented
by cause sufficiently grave. These are usually held once or twice a
month,
except at holiday seasons. Sometimes Emergency Meetings are called
for special
work, but attendance at these is not obligatory. The true Mason,
however,
regards it not only as a solemn duty, but also as a great privilege
to attend
his Lodge, realizing that, though the Lodge exists to help its
members, it has a
far greater and wider function in shedding the spiritual influence
of Masonry
upon the world. By his regular attendance at the meetings he is
definitely
participating in that great work. His progress in the Order will
depend upon the
zeal and assiduity which he shows in this service.
C. He undertakes to remain
in the Order and in his Mother-Lodge for at least
three years. He is permitted, after Initiation, to visit other
Lodges, and after
he is a Master Mason to join other Lodges, if he so desires; but he
must not
leave the Mother-Lodge under the specified period. It is to the
Mother-Lodge
that he owes allegiance and the duty of loyal co-operation. Where
there is more
than one Lodge near his place of residence the Candidate should ask
his
introduces for information regarding the work of the several
Lodges, so that he
may be sure of entering the Lodge whose work and members are likely
to be most
congenial to him..
D. The Candidate is bound
to true Masonic secrecy and caution concerning
Freemasonry and the affairs of the Order, and this promise is to be
regarded as
binding for all time, even if he leaves the Order.
DIVISIONS OF THE CEREMONY
We now come to the consideration of the ceremony by
which the candidate is admitted to Freemasonry, a ceremony which is
commonly
called his initiation. We must recognize from the beginning that this ceremony
is no mere form; first because it produces definite inner effects,
and secondly,
because it contains a great deal of most valuable symbology, the
understanding
and application of which will be of great moment in the candidate’s
future life.
As I have stated earlier in the book, one chief
object of freemasonry is to train its members for the work which
they have to do
in the world, and therefore to cultivate within them the qualities
necessary for
that work. The various degrees in Masonry are all stages in that
training; and
in each stage not only is certain definite education given, but
also definite
powers are conferred. It is to be feared that through ignorance of
these facts
many Masons make but little real progress; for unless the
developments initiated
in each degree by the ceremony of admission are duly understood and
put into
practice by the candidate, he is in no true sense prepared to pass
on to a
higher stage, or to take advantage of the opportunities which that
in turn puts
before him.
The outer ceremony confers certain powers and opens
up certain possibilities; but it remains for the neophyte to
develop them and
make use of them. Some neophytes take the hints offered to them,
and accordingly
make progress; others understand little of the inner requirements,
and so are
only temporarily affected. The very word initiation is derived from
initium, a
beginning; and that is precisely what it is intended to be - the
beginning of a
new and higher life. But it is not enough to begin; one must also
continue.
In the Buddhist teaching it is said that in each of
the great steps which are the true Initiations there are four
stages
(1) The Way, in which the
neophyte is mastering the lessons of his new step,
casting off (as they put it) the fetters which have previously
bound him,
finding himself at his new level, and learning how to use the
powers conferred
upon him.
(2) The Fruit, when he
finds the results of his action in so doing showing
themselves more and more.
(3) The Consummation - the
period when, the results having culminated, he is
able to fulfil satisfactorily the work belonging to the step, on
which he now
firmly stands.
(4) The Readiness, meaning
the time when he is seen to be in a fit state to
receive the next Initiation.
We see, therefore, that initiation involves
something more than the mere outward ceremony - more even than the
upliftment
of the inner nature which accompanies that ceremony; all that is
but the
gateway at the entrance of a path along which we may proceed as
quickly or as
slowly as we will.
In considering this ceremony of initiation to the
stage of the E.A. it will be useful to regard it from three aspects
or points of
view. (1) As an impressive ceremony of admission. (2) As a
preparation for and
an indication of the life which the man must lead and the work
which he must do
while in the degree to which it admits him. (3) As putting in a
powerful and
effective symbolical form the teaching which it is one of the
purposes of this
degree to impress upon him. When we examine the ceremony in detail
I think we
shall find that every incident in it falls under one or other of
these three
heads.
Thinking of the ritual from the point of view of a
ceremony of admission into the Order, it seems naturally to divide
itself into
three parts. The central point of the ceremony, the climax of our
effort, is the
definite admission into the Order - the point at which a certain
centre or
chakra is opened, a certain potentiality of power given. All that
precedes that
in the ceremony is of the nature of preparation for that point; all
that follows
it is in the nature of explanation of what has been done, or of
exhortation as
to how the power can best be developed and used. All through the
ceremony
everything is arranged so that the candidate may receive the
greatest possible
benefit from the forces which are being outpoured; and that is the
principal
object of the very curious preparation upon which Masonry has
always insisted,
even before the candidate is allowed to enter the Lodge.
PREPARATION OF THE CANDIDATE
460Before his admission he is divested of all m … s and
v … s, is h … d, and has his r … a …, l … b … and l … k … b …, and
his r … h … s
… d. All Masonic bodies agree in viewing the continuance of this
conventional
form of preparation as a matter of the greatest importance, and
give as their
reason for this the practice of ancient times. It was a rule among
the Jews,
says a treatise connected with the Talmud, that “no man shall go
into the Temple
with his staff, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with his outer
garment, nor with
money tied up in his purse”.
The very specific character of the preparation, which
is different in each degree, points, however, not to a general rule
of this
kind, but to real knowledge of the occult physiology of the process
of
initiation on the part of those who originated the method which has
been so
faithfully preserved. Certain forces are sent through the
candidate’s body in a
definite manner during the ceremony, and especially at the moment
when he is
created, received and constituted an E.A.F.
Certain parts of the Lodge have been very heavily
charged with magnetic force, especially in order that the candidate
may absorb
as much as possible of this force. It will be remembered that in
the process of
censing the Lodge a beehive-shaped structure was erected in front
of the
pedestal of each of the principal officers; and the cella or enclosed
central
space, founded upon the mosaic pavement and including the altar, is
the most
highly magnetized of all. The first object of this curious method
of preparation
is to expose to this influence those various parts of the body
which are
especially used in the ceremony. Thus, the r … a … is made b …
because the
candidate must use that, as soon as he is taught to extend it in
the sign of
power which accompanies the asseveration: “S … m … i … b …” It is
also said to
be a token of sincerity, to shove that the candidate has no weapon
about him.
The l … b … is made b … because upon it is received
the touch of the point of the s … on entering the Lodge. The
masculine Craft
adds as another reason that they are hereby assured that their
candidate is not
a woman in disguise. The l … k … is that upon which he kneels when
he is
received, so it also is made b …, and the r …, h … is s … d because
that must
touch the floor when he holds the r … k … in the form of a s … The
1 … k … and
the r … h … are his supports or points of contact with the floor at
the moment
of his admission. Another reason sometimes given for the r … h …
being s … d is
that this is in accordance with the ancient Jewish custom when a
man was taking
upon himself an obligation or making an agreement.* (*See Ruth, iv,
7, .)
In ancient Egypt there was yet another reason for
these preparations, for a weak current of physical electricity was
sent through
the candidate by means of a rod or sword with which he was touched
at certain
points. It is not practical here to say more about this part of the
ceremony,
except that it is concerned with the stimulation of an etheric
current in the
spine that is known to the Hindu occultists under the name of the
ida nadi; it
will be more fully described in explaining the ceremony of raising.
It is partly on the same account that at this first
initiation the candidate is deprived of all m … s, since they may
very easily