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 r