Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry. By C. H. Vail. Audiobook

Ancient Mysteries and modern masonry by C Vil preface the series of Sunday evening lectures which compris this book were first given in the pulman Memorial Church albian NY to the members of renovation lodge number 97 F and a m and the congregation of which the author is

Pastor the many calls for the lectures in printed form led to their publication we trust that the book May contribute to a better understanding of the order by the general public inspiring our brother Masons to Greater appreciation of and loyalty to the fraternity and encouraging all to labor

For the realization of the great principles and ideals embodied in the ancient Mysteries and our modern masonry Charles H Vale albian NY March 10th 1909 how do you find this book any thoughts about the book or the author any suggestion for improve Improvement please take a moment to share your

Thoughts in a comment if you like it share it with your friends who might enjoy it as well subscribe to keep in touch visit complete audiobooks.com for more quality content introduction the purpose of these lectures is to consider the origin and nature of the ancient Mysteries and

Modern masonry and to show the relation which they bear one to the other Freemasonry deals largely with the morals and simp of the mysteries of antiquity and originally was one of the channels of ancient wisdom there were a few among the founders of modern masonry who possessed the Royal secret or at

Least had a knowledge of its existence and if the key has been lost the Mason as a apparent of the old wisdom should be foremost in the search for its recovery all agree that the Masonic symbols and traditions are of the greatest Antiquity and can be traced to

The Far East to the earliest civilization from which time and place they have spoken in Nature’s language to All Peoples of the earth we are more and more convinced that this picture language of our ritual contains a most complete philosophy and knowledge embracing the Eternal varities of the

Universe and that these symbols were designed by the initiates of old to preserve and convey that ancient wisdom to the present and future Generations though Empires and dynastic continents have appeared and passed away these ancient symbols hee in Rock Cut temples and mon uments have served to

Convey the great secret from ages past and will continue its record as long as this part of the universe remains modern masonry has become in a special sense the custodian of these ancient symbols and should not be content with its possession only nor with merely imitating its various predecessors but should enter boldly

Into the inheritance of its Birthright and seek the ancient wisdom of its illustrious prototypes to confine the interpretation of its symbols and Legends to lessons in Morality and fraternity such as are found in all exoteric religions is not to grasp the deeper meaning that the glyphs and Parables Were Meant to convey

Many today realize this fact and they are seeking still more light without as well as within the tile doors of our lodges in setting forth the results of modern research concerning the symbols and legends of antiquity and their meaning in modern masonry I shall not lift the veil from the secrets of the

Order but will endeavor to lead the initiate to the clearer light that he may not only see for himself the connection linking the past with the present but we’ll begin to know through the development of his higher Masonic manhood the mighty truth of which these symbols speak in this endeavor I shall

Only refer to those things in masonry that are exoteric and contained in our best Publications I do not claim the knowledge that would enable me to completely unfold the mystery and philosophy embodied in the glyphs of ancient times but that they do you embody an occult science no thinking man

Of today has any doubt and if I am able to throw even a little light on the great subject of ancient symbolic Mysteries I shall feel amply repaid for my efforts I am sure the lectures will prove interesting and instructive to both members and non-members of the order and while some few things

Mentioned will be better understood by Master Masons my meaning will be clear to all and that they may lead to a better understanding of the ancient Mysteries and modern Masonry Bes speak for the subject matter your careful investigation one the origin and object of the ancient Mysteries along with the popular

Traditions and public Cults of ancient times there existed an inner organization of religion the mystery institution which was the channel of secret Traditions while our knowledge of the Mysteries is not so extensive as we could desire owing to the fact that they were anciently guarded with the greatest

Care the slightest violation of the oath of secrecy being punishable by death we know that the mystery side of religion a knowledge of its highest cult and doctrines was only attained through initiation every great teacher of antiquity passed through these portals this one fact in itself makes

The study of the Mysteries of the utmost importance to Masons the institution of the Mysteries was to be found in all parts of the world there were the mysteries of Isis and Osiris in Egypt the mithraic mysteries of the Persians the oric and akik and the later eleusinian semi-

Mysteries of Greece the mysteries of Samra and caldia the mysteries of India the druidical Mysteries the gothic Mysteries and many others thus it follows that the key to Antiquity is a knowledge of its Mysteries the late General Albert Pike formerly Sovereign Grand commander of the Supreme Council Southern jurisdiction

Sr illustrates this by saying through the veil of all the hieratic and Mystic allegories of the ancient dogmas under the Seal of all the sacred writings in the ruins of Nineveh or thieves on the worn stones of the ancient temples and on the blackened face of the Sphinx of

Assyria or Egypt in the Monstrous or marvelous pictures which the sacred pages of the vadas translate for the Believers of India in the strange emblems of our old books of alchemy in the ceremonies of reception practiced by all the mysterious societies we find traces of a Doctrine everywhere the same and everywhere carefully

Concealed the Occult Philosophy seems to have been the nurse or godmother of all religions the secret lever of all the intellectual forces the key of all Divine obscurities and the absolute queen of society in the ages when it was exclusively reserved for the education of the priests and Kings morals and Dogma page

729 the origin of the Mysteries the Mysteries had their origin in the first great teach teachers and guides of humanity these are called the Sons of Venus they formed the nursery of adepts the nucleus of the first Great White Lodge the chief of these is known by

Many Mystic names in the old writings the root base of the occult hierarchy the Kamar Etc surrounding the chief there was a small band of beings who came to Earth to labor for the evolution of young Humanity another class of beings who aided in this work was called Agnes

Vatas many of these we are told in the stanzas of Zion became ARX thus was established upon Earth according to tradition the first great occult hierarchy in the early ages occult knowledge was taught openly as the Sciences are taught in our colleges today but in the course of time many

Allowed their selfishness to rule and so abused their power that it became necessary to withhold such Knowledge from the Unworthy this was the condition of religious Affairs when the Mysteries were necessarily established by the king Priests of the Divine dynasties in the days of Atlantis there were many already in

Possession of Ault knowledge who were so engrossed in selfishness that they could not be brought into the Divine path and their abuse of this power over the forces of nature Made Them Giants of evil they rebelled against the white Emperor and became Black magicians this caused a long and fierce struggle at

Last the cup of evil was full the forces of nature were turned against the land and until the great continent together with all followers of their own selfish practice sank beneath the Waters of the ocean before the storm broke however the men of the good law heeding the summons

To escape migrated to a place of safety before the overthrow of Atlantis the Mysteries were well established in ancient caldia and Egypt the two great fourth race Nations being offshoots of the great atlantian civilization the Indian Mysteries came from her own priest king the Manu who

Gave to the first branch of the Aryan stock its religious teaching from this F of the Aryan race the mystery teaching in after years flowed Westward and mingling with the older tradition derived from ancient Atlantis gave to It New Life and power the Greeks receiv received their mysteries from orus who

Introduced them direct from India but from whatever Source the various Nations received their Mystic instruction the meaning was ever the same all initiates were members of the one great Brotherhood in these early days the mystery institutions were conducted by great adeps whose knowledge was the fruitage of a prior system of

Evolution But as time went on and our Humanity developed the great Masters gradually withdrew and the Mysteries were committed to the advanced pupils of our present system of evolution the source of religions there are two schools of thought in the modern world comparative mythologists and comparative religionists the answers given by these

Two schools to the question of of the source of religion are diametrically opposed but both base their arguments upon the same common facts these facts are of marked similarity not only in the teaching character and power of the founders of religions but also of the main outlines of their lives the stories

Of these savior gods and their teachings antie some of them by many centuries the birth of the Christian savior this similarity amounting in many cases to practical identity denotes according to both both schools a common origin the comparative mythologists contend that the common origin is one of common ignorance that the universal natural

Phenomena and the personification of these powers of nature resulted in similar ideas this school maintains that the loftiest religious sentiments and doctrines are merely the refined feeling and expression of the barbarous guesses of primitive men that animalism fetishism and nature worship are the soil out of which the highest forms of

Religious flowers have blossomed and that the founders of the great religions are the highly developed but lineal descendants of the whirling Medicine Man on the other hand the comparative religionists maintain that the common origin is one of divine wisdom or nosis all religions they say originate from the teachings of divine men who

Constitute a great Brotherhood of spiritual teachers and give out from time to time to different races and nations of the world such parts of the fundamental truths of religion as are suited to the needs of the people they contend that animalism fetishism and nature worship are the distorted and

Dwarf descendants of true religious belief and that the founders of great religions are men who have advanced Beyond normal Humanity thus becoming the spiritual Guardians of the race we have no hesitancy in saying that we accept the view of the comparative religionists for the scriptures of the various religions

Furnish abundant evidence that the founders were Advanced men and their teachings are not surpassed or often equaled by later writers in the same religions the sacred books of the East give ample evidence of this fact while the alleged refining process of the mythologists is without adequate support

We also find among Savages many traces of lofty ideas which are entirely beyond their capacity to originate when we remember that the Savage tribes of today are not our ancestral types but rather the degenerate offspring of past great Nations we begin to understand how they came to

Possess these lofty ideas they are the faint remaining vestages of the wisdom Long Ago imparted by a great religious teacher esoteric Christianity bessent Chi it is evident that man in his infancy was not left to grow up uned there have always been Elders or sages from whom the less Advanced Brethren

Received Direction and training such ever Stood Beside the earliest cradle of humanity and gave to the race the needed guidance and impulse toward a higher ideal of civilization the first great teachers were Advanced Souls from other and still earlier systems of evolution they were the adepts of the

Early races who established upon this Earth the first great occult fraternity these lofty beings watched over and guided early Mankind and as men Advanced and became fitted for higher knowledge they were instructed in the nature of the Gods the human soul the mysteries of the Unseen World and the processes of the world’s

Continual Evolution such are the persistent and uncontradicted qualified Guardians of the spiritual growth of the Human family reasons for esotericism history has noted the disastrous results of spreading ult knowledge indiscriminately and since the sad experiences of Atlantis the initiates have carefully guarded from the unpurified that knowledge which is

Power therefore the most rigid conditions regarding Purity unselfishness and self-control are imposed on all who seek the higher knowledge the temptation to use power for selfish ends is too great to entrust such knowledge to Men of uncontrolled desires another reason for esotericism is the fact that religions were given

For the purpose of quickening human evolution men are at such various stages of development that what will be understood by the philosopher is unintelligible to another and in order to reach and help all it is evident that instruction must be adapted to The Peculiar needs of each individual the religious teachings must

Be as greated as Evolution itself each must be met on their own level and helped On and On from that PL to Greater Heights and broader views all in a fashion that appeals to their unfolding intellects it is due to this fact that all the great teachers have reserved the

Greater truths for those capable of receiving and understanding them seek secrecy of initiates this has been the method of all great instructors initiates of all ages have maintained a profound silence concerning the truths learned in the mysteries from orus the first initiate of whom history catches a glimpse to Pythagoras Confucius Buddha abalonus

Jesus sacus no teacher ever committed anything to writing for indiscriminate public use Herodotus in speaking of the reasons why animals were worshiped says if I were to explain these reasons I should be led to the disclosure of these holy matters which I particularly wish to avoid and again in other matters

Concerning these at the same time that I confess myself sufficiently informed I feel myself compelled to be silent of the ceremonies also in honor of series I may not venture to speak further than the obligations of religion will allow me Jesus charged his disciples that they

Tell no man that he was the Christ also saying give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast ye your Pearls Before Swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and Rend you he surely had good reason for his secrecy many have learned the wisdom of

These words when too late anexas Pythagoras and Socrates are notable examples the great teachers instructed their chosen disciples in the higher knowledge and propagated these truths in allegories and parables all that can be said concerning the gods says strabo must be by exposition of old opinions and

Fables it being the custom of the Ancients to wrap up in images and allegory their thoughts and discoveries concerning nature Pythagoras the great mathematical Mason divided his classes into the exoteric and esoteric and his secrets were forbidden to be committed to writing the Society of the Essen

Among whom were St John the Baptist and John the Evangelist made similar distinctions dividing their adherence into Nephites Brethren and perfect while ammonia sacus obliged his disciples by oath not to divulge his doctrines except to those who had been thoroughly instructed and prepared in Egypt we find

The same method in practice for Clement says the Egyptians did not entrust the Mysteries they possessed to all and Sury and did not divulge the knowledge of divine things to the profane he also informs us that the Sphinx is erected in front of the temples and places of initiation denoted silence and secrecy

That all sacred truth is infolded in symbolical fables and allegories and he says of the Mysteries those who instituted the Mysteries being philosophers buried their doctrines and myths so as not to be obvious to all the strata book V ch7 ch9 the sages of Greece according to

Penus never wrote otherwise than in an enigmatical manner they concealed their knowledge under the veil of fiction and so taught that the vulgar might not comprehend the typical Hermes assembled his disciples in a holy place or Shrine where strict secrecy was imposed in the perfect sermon he says and ye oh tat

Esus and Ammon in silence hide the Mysteries divine within the secret places of your hearts and breathe no word of their concealment this was the universal procedure says William R Singleton 33d degree past Grand secretary Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia the wisdom of the calans Phoenicians Egyptians Jews of zoroaster

Santhon ferides Cyrus Pythagoras Socrates Plato of all the Ancients that has come to our hand is symbolic in the method explaining the various symbols religion and philosophy were veiled in allegoric representations these symbols were displayed openly in the temples to the profane altogether obscure but streaming with beams of light to the

Initiated history of Freemasonry in concordant orders page 83 occult systems of writing there were various methods employed by the teachers to convey and yet conceal the truths of the Mysteries the three main cabalistic systems are the gatria which is based on the numerical value of words applying to

The letters of a word the sense they bear as numbers the tamura by which a word yields its Mystery by anagram the transposition of the letters and the naricon which may be compared to stenography the system of number letters was derived from caldia by the Hebrews during in subsequent to their

Captivity the calans worked out their cosmogonies and anthropogenesis in numbers their sacred books were written with this object in view Pythagoras had a number philosophy which in all probability held many resemblances to the number books of caldia this method was developed to a great extent by the heniz Tendencies of the cultured rabbis

Of Alexandria the gnostics also made much use of this number symbolism the system of Marcus being quite elaborate and the books of Hermes are probably the oldest repositories of number symbolism in western civilization closely connected with this was geometrical symbolism which was also used by Pythagoras the square triangle

Point within the circle Cube double triangle 47th Problem of uid Etc the geometrical figures representing the numbers objectively in every cosmology from the earliest times we find the basic idea combining numerical geometrical figures there is also the allegorical method a setting forth of Truth in the form of myths or Parables and

Furthermore the secret sacerdotal tongue the sensor which was known to the initiates of every nation then to rightly read the world World scriptures one must have the keys to all these various systems object of the Mysteries the object of the Mysteries was the instruction and development of

Man they were the work of Genius employing The Sciences and a profound knowledge of the human heart in the task of purifying the soul and seeking man’s Felicity by the means of virtue great emphasis was laid upon man’s immortality and the object and purpose of the

Mysteries was to fit him for a blessed State Beyond thus these Mysteries taught the condition of the postmortem State and strove to develop in the candidate the powers that would enable him to verify the instruction for himself Antiquity had held that there was a science of the Soul a knowledge of

Things unseen a nosis and now that the possibility of extending the bounds of Consciousness beyond the physical plane has been proven by many experiments in psychism the claim of the Mysteries is not Beyond rational belief that the ego May transcend the limits of the body and become conscious on the higher Plains of

Nature verifies the truth of the mysteries of all ages and proves that Nature’s God in infinite wisdom through the constant progress or development of his children is initiating them from every field of Labor to Aid in his mighty work the higher instruction was not only given by perfected initiates

Who could function on the higher Plains but the assistance of angelic hierarchies was also invoked and those exalted beings came to teach and Elevate by their presence I amus the great theorist of the thirdd and fourth centuries D says the gods these beings are not gods in the western

Sense of the term but Angels or Devas Plato calls them the minor Gods to distinguish them from the Supreme Being benevolent and propitious impart their light to theorists in unvarying abundance calling upward their souls to themselves procuring for them a union with themselves and accustoming them

While they are yet in body to be separate from body bodies and to be led around to their Eternal and intelligible principle for the soul having a two-fold life one being in conjunction with body but the other being separate from all body it is most necessary to learn to

Separate from the body that thus it may Unite with the gods and learn the truths of the intelligible World esoteric Christianity page 2425 the consummation of all this was to make the initiate to God either by Union with a Divine being without or by the realization of the Divine self within

Salis says that the object of the ceremonies of initiation was to unite man with the world and deity the initiate claimed that the soul purified from all stain could see the Gods in this life that is could attain the beatific vision and hold communion with the Immortals Prof harck remarks that

Deification was the idea of Salvation taught in the Mysteries the Greek neoplatonists called this state theophany which means either communication between the gods or God and those initiated Mortals who are spiritually fit to enjoy such intercourse or the presence of a God in man an Incarnation or blending of the

Personal deity the higher self with the lower self its representative on Earth plotinus defines this state as the liberation of the Mind from its finite Consciousness becoming one and identified with the infinite the length and frequency of this Sublime condition depends upon the Spiritual Development procas claims to have experienced this

Ecstasy six times during his Mystic life plotinus states that he had reached this state but three times as yet pory asserts that appolloni as attained this state four times while he experienced it but once and that after he was 60 years of age this illumination may come and go

As a flash or it may last for hours with the high initiates the word is really made flesh the Union complete and its duration continuous through put life the Mysteries were as a training school to this end filo in speaking of the Divine Vision says it is the special

Gift of those who dedicate themselves to the service of that which is underscore underscore underscore underscore to ascend by means of their rational faculties to the height of The Ether setting before themselves Moses the race that is the friend of God the race of the logos as the leader of the way the

Work of philosophy is not than the striving clearly to see these things procas also says in all the initiations and Mysteries the gods exhibit many forms of themselves and appear in a variety of shapes and sometimes indeed a formless light of themselves is held forth to the view sometimes this light is according

To a human form and sometimes it proceeds into a different shape quoted in linian and bik Mysteries Taylor Page 66 Taylor 2 correctly infers the most Sublime part of the epoa or final revealing consisted in beholding the gods High planetary Spirits themselves invested with a resplendant light IID or same book page

65 in Plato’s fedo Socrates is made to say those who instituted the mysteries for us appear to have been by no means contemptible but in reality to have intimated long since that whoever shall arrive in Hades unexp and uninitiated shall lie in mud a symbol of the gloomy

Surroundings of the lowest region of the astral world but he that arrives there purified and initiated shall dwell with the gods Plato Cory’s translation volume 1 page 68 again in fedis Plato says initiated into that which may be rightly called The Most Blessed of all Mysteries which

We celebrated when we were whole and unaffected by the evils that awaited Us in time to come and moreover when we were initiated in and beh held in the pure light perfect simple calm and blessed Visions being ourselves pure and as yet unmasked with this which we now

Carry about with us and call the body fettered to it like an oyster to its shell IID page 326 if we admit the existence of faculties in man capable of piercing the veil of matter we shall find no reason for rejecting the plain evidence of ancient writers that the Mysteries were

Associated with a psych and spiritual Revelation Hermes in his sermons has much to say on the nosis nosis of God is the science of Sciences in the key he tells us that the distinctive feature of good God is that it should be known this is the vision

Glorious as stated by me in his commentary this consummation of ecstasis the extension of Consciousness we are told was a transcending of the limitations of body and was was a faculty possessed by the forebears of the race into which Hermes and now tat are being born Thrice greatest Hermes Volume 2 page

162 the nature of ecstasy is further explained as the fruit of meditation and contemplation the nosis of the good is Holy silence and a giving holiday to every sense this is in accord with the yoga of the upanishads which shows identity of thought of those who have had firsthand

Experience Hermes proceeds for it is possible my son that a man’s Soul should be made like to God even while it still is in a body if it doth contemplate the beauty of the good this is the true deification or apotheosis man is like God in that he becomes a God the result

Of the evolution of the Soul was the attainment unto the first steps of deathlessness spoken of by Paul as the resurrection of the Dead the Soul’s Vice says Hermes is ignorance but on the other hand the virtue of the soul is nosis for he who knows he good and Pious

Is and still while on the earth Divine here we have the attainment of the Divine State that of adeptship while still in the body procas held that initiation elevated the soul from a material sensual and purely human life to a communion in Celestial intercourse with the gods and that a variety of

Things forms and species were shown to initiates repres presenting the first generation of the Gods in speaking of petosiris procus tells us that this Egyptian philosopher had an intimate knowledge of every order of the Gods and angels and refers to a hieratic formula of theurgic invocation to the greatest of the goddesses

Necessity for inducing the vision of this power Valance tells us of nepo who attained to direct knowledge of the inner way vus in the first half of the 1 Century a d laments that he did not live in those days of initiate Kings rulers and sages who occupied themselves with the sacred

Science in those days so great was their love for the holy Mysteries so high their virtue that they left the earth below them and in their deathless souls became Heaven Walkers and knowers of things Divine vus also quotes a Greek apocalyptic Treatise of npso where the

King tells us that he had remained in contemplation all night gazing Into The Ether and so in ecstasy he left his body and had then heard a Heavenly voice addressing him this voice was not merely a sound but appeared as a substantial presence who guided nepo on his way

Through the Heavenly space Thrice greatest Hermes volume 1 page 101 Cicero considered the establishment of the eleusinian Mysteries to be the greatest of all benefits conferred by Athens on other commonwealths their effect having been to civilize men soften Savage ferocious manners and teach them the true principles of morality which initiate

Man into the only kind of Life worthy of him Cicero cited in morals and Dogma page 380 the mysteries procured for man a real Felicity on Earth by means of virtue he was taught the immortality of the soul and the inflexible laws of divine Justice and the great moral

Precepts were made known not only to the initiates but also to the profane the Mysteries pointed out to men the way to live better and die happier but as we have seen the object of the Mysteries was not merely to teach morality for as Jen Pik well says had moral truths alone

Been taught the initiates the Mysteries could never have deserved nor received the Magnificent eulogiums of the most enlightened men of antiquity of Pinder Plutarch isocrates diodorus Plato ureides socres Aristophanes Cicero Epictetus Marcus aelius and others philosophers hostile to the sacri doal spirit or historians devoted to the investigation of Truth No all the

Sciences were taught there and those oral or written Traditions briefly communicated which reached back to the first age of the world IID p373 the object of the Mysteries then was to instruct men in the real science of being and to lead them up the stairway to Perfection to the Superhuman

Stage to the Christ and that which transcends even perfect man Sisterhood in this way they sought to purify the soul holding that the true home of the Soul was in the higher spheres the earth a place of Exile and that to return to its birthplace the soul must free itself

From the power of the world must be emancipated from the passions and the hindrances of the senses the Mysteries taught men how to attain the Dominion of the Soul which was absolutely necessary as we must flee from everything sensual says poery that the soul may with ease

Reunite itself with God thus the mystery sought to sanctify men to illuminate their souls and fit them to return consciously to Union with the deity the gnostics all claimed that a man could so perfect himself that he would become a conscious worker with the logos the object of the Mysteries then

Was not only to teach the unity of God and the immortality of the Soul as werton macki and other Masonic writers contend but to enable each man to verify these great spiritual facts for himself these citations from the ancient classic writers and philosophers regarding the Mysteries might be greatly extended but

This will suffice to show the reverence and admiration in which the Mysteries were held would these Mysteries have received such high praise had they not known them to be of divine origin as has been well said when men like Pythagoras Plato and iamus renowned for their severe

Morality took part in the Mysteries and spoke of them with veneration it ill behoves our modern critics to judge them upon their merely external aspects many have accepted without question certain derogatory statements of the early Christian apologists concerning the Mysteries without taking into consideration the fact that the

Writers were animated by the spirit of bitter controversy due allowance should be made for this placing such statements in the same category as those of the pagans when they charged the Christians with being atheists and practicing shameful rights to suppose that the Mysteries were the invention of charlatanism is the height of

Absurdity true they degenerated in the lapse of time as did the Christian Agape but in the beginning and for long ages they were pure and Noble and the wisest and best men of antiquity were not willful falsifiers the Mysteries were truly the greatest institutions of ancient times they contained all that was most

Profound in philosophy and most spiritual in religion such were the ancient mysteries of which masonry is the successor two the Egyptian Hindu and Persian Mysteries undoubtedly the ceremonies of initiation were originally few and all were intended to symbolize the progress of the human soul they were the outward

Signs of an inward fact initiation as we shall see in a subsequent lecture was regeneration a real spiritual new becoming or rebirth the candidate himself became the thing symbolized Hermes Buddha Christ Etc this state was the result of Real initiation and evolution of the human into the Divine

In the course of time this spiritual truth was neglected and initiation no longer meant spiritual regeneration and the rights no longer typified the various stages of the Soul’s progress the mstic birth death and Resurrection the key to the spiritual science was forgotten the Master’s word lost and initiation consisted merely in

Imparting to the candidate the traditional knowledge of the symbols as handed down from time immemorial and gradually the true meaning of the symbols disappeared and even the symbols themselves were transformed into crude dogmas the ceremonies of initiation the ancient Mysteries were divided into two stages the probationary

Path and the advanced or path proper in most schools the probationary path was merely preliminary but as some schools began with the preliminary in numbering the stages or divisions one needs be on guard to avoid misunderstanding others as in Greece divided their Mysteries into the Lesser and the

Greater Beyond which there was the true mystery of the path in other systems the true and the greater Mysteries were undoubtedly the same the higher Evolution belonged to the true or real Mysteries to which all others led a neopit was compelled to be proficient along these lines before he was allowed

To take the real initiation and enter upon the path proper which will be considered in a subsequent lecture there were outer forms and ceremonies which stood for and symbolized the true Mysteries but little was known of their inner nature except by those who experienced them the ceremonies were undoubtedly altered in

The course of time but even in the days of the greatest deterioration we find traces of the Hidden wisdom in connection with the ancient symbols some of which have survived and are to be found in modern masonry the Egyptian Mysteries the Learned Greek Plutarch himself and initiate into the osara of

Which there was probably a thasos at Deli gives much valuable information regarding the mysteries of Egypt of course he could only give hints for as he says in speaking of the priests their philosophy which for the most part was hidden in myths and words logo containing dim Reflections and transparencies of Truth as

Doubtless they themselves make indirectly plain by fitly setting sphinxes up before the temples as though their reasoning about the gods possessed a wisdom wrapped in riddle so great then was the care Egyptians took about the wisdom which concerned the mysteries of the Gods and the most wise of the Greeks

Also are witnesses Solen theils Plato yodoys Pythagoras and as some say like kgus as well through coming to Egypt and associating with her priests and brought back to the memory of his men their symbolic and mysterious art containing their dogmas in dark says when therefore thou nearest the myths

Sayings of the Egyptians concerning the gods wanderings and dismembering and many such passions thou shouldst remember what has been said above and think none of these things spoken as they really are in state and action Plutarch concerning the mysteries of Isis and Osiris sector 9x XL this is

True not only of the Egyptian myths but of all others Plutarch then sets forth the Osiris and Isis mystery myth it begins with the birth of the Gods Osiris the Elder Horus Typhon Isis Etc Osiris and Isis being in love with each other were United they ruled over

Egypt for many years but finally the malicious Typhon his evil brother while filled with Envy sought his destruction he devised a beautiful chest and having it brought into the banquet hall promised to give it to anyone whom it would exactly fit Osiris stepped in and laid down whereupon they who were present rushed

Up and put on the lid and fastened it down and carried the chest to the River Nile whence it was borne out on the flood to the Sea when Isis heard what had been done she set forth in search of the chest which meanwhile had been

Carried by the waves to the bias country where the landash brought it to rest in a certain Heather bush or tamaras tree a species of Acacia this bush grew around infolded and hid it entirely within itself the king Mal cander marveled at the greatness of the tree and cut it down

And made of it a prop in the form of a pillar for his roof but Isis having found trace of the chest and its disposition through Anubis and the demoni andan spirit of a voice came also to bias and sitting down by a Fountain Head showed attention to the maids of

The queen dressing their hair with Ambrosia thus securing an invitation to the Palace where she became nurse of the Queen’s little child then finding time ripe to reveal herself the goddess claimed for her own the pillar of the roof and taking it down she cut the tree

From around the coffin and placing the chest in a boat carried the body to her son Horus who concealed it in a deep forest but Typhon while out hunting Came Upon it and recognizing the body as that of Osiris tore it into 14 parts and Scattered them abroad Isis hearing what

Had been done sought to recover the parts and succeeded in finding all but one which had been cast into the river and eaten by the fishes Horus then fought Typhon and overpowered him when it was proclaimed that Osiris had risen from the dead this is merely an outline

Of the myth it has a macrocosmic and microcosmic meaning in the former sense Osiris and Isis are cosmic or super Cosmic beings symbolized by the sun and moon and the Elder and younger Horus are the intelligible and sensible Worlds microcosmically the myth pertains to the mystery of initiation the Horus or

Christ stage of manhood in this latter aspect it symbolizes the Mystic life of the initiate in regard to initiation plutar says when the initiates of Isis at their death are adorned in these robes it is a symbol that this reason logos is with them and with him and not

Else they go there or walk there that is in Hades the death here mentioned is the Mystic death unto sin for it is not the growing beard and wearing cloak that makes philosophers o Clea not clothing in linen and shaving oneself that makes initiates of Isis but a true isiac is

One who when he by law receives them searches out by reason logos the Mysteries shown and done concerning these gods and meditates upon the truth in them ibid section in this mystery right is referred to by epiphanius as solemnized in the temple of Isis who is called the virgin mother or World virgin

In speaking of the Feast of epiphany which was a great day in Egypt connected with the birth of the Aon a phase of the birth of Horus he says indeed the leaders of the idol Cults filled with WS to deceive the idol worshippers who believe in them in many places keep

Highest Festival on this same night of epiphany the manifestation of light so that they whose hopes are in error may not seek the truth for instance at Alexandria in the Kion as it is called an immense Temple that is to say the Precinct of the Virgin after they have

Kept all night vigil with song and music chanting to their Idol when the vigil is over at cockro they descend with lights into an underground Crypt and carry up a wooden image lying naked on a litter with the Seal of a cross made in gold on its forehead and on either hand two

Similar seals and on both knees two others all five seals being similarly made in gold and they carry around the image itself circumambulating seven times the innermost Temple to the accompaniment of pipes tabers and hymns and with merrymaking they carry it down again underground and if they are asked the

Meaning of this mystery they answer and say today at this hour the maiden cor that is the Virgin gave birth to the Aon in the City of Petra also the same is done and they sing the Praises of the Virgin and him who is born from her

Desaires that is alone begotten of the Lord this also takes place in the city of alosa on the same night just as at Petra and at Alexandria epiphanius as an outsider could not be expected to understand the rights he describes and as a narrow bigot he could not be expected to deal

With them fairly but the importance of the passage is the testimony it Bears to the fact that one of the most widespread Mystic festivals was connected with the right of Resurrection you notice here the crowing of the which is connected with the crucifixion of Jesus and the cross

Marked on the forehead hands and knees or feet of the image or the one who has returned from the underworld Hades epiphanius tells us that the Mystic right represents a macrocosmic mystery very true but it also represents a microcosmic mystery the Mystic birth death and Resurrection were familiar to

All the schools and communities of ancient times and the Mystic Rising again from the dead was an integral part of the universal Mystic drama the initi ations of Egypt are described by CW lebeer a well-known theosophical writer as follows the candidate was attired in a white robe emblematic of

The Purity which was expected and brought before a conclave of priest initiates in a sort of Vault or Cavern he was first formally tested as to the development of The Clairvoyant faculty which he had been previously instructed how to awaken and for this purpose had to read an inscription Upon A Brazen

Shield of which the blank side was presented to his physical Vision later he was left alone to keep a kind of vigil certain mantrum or Words of Power had been taught him which were supposed to be appropriate to control a certain class of entities other ceremonies of the

Egyptian Mysteries are of interest at one stage of his advancement the candidate laid himself upon a curiously hollowed wooden cross and after certain ceremonies was entranced his body was then carried down into the vaults underneath the temple or pyramid while he himself descended into Hades or the underworld that is to say

In our modern nomenclature he passed on to the astral plane here he had many experiences part of his work being to preach to the spirits in prison for he remained in that transition three days and three nights which typified the three rounds and the intervals between them during which man was going through

The earlier part of his Evolution and descending into matter then after three days and three nights in the heart of the earth slash on the morning of the fourth day he rose again from the dead that is his body was brought back from the Vault and so placed that the Rays of

The Rising Sun fell upon his face and he awoke this symbolizes the Awakening of man in the fourth round and the commencement of his Ascent out of matter on the upward Ark of evolution some glimpses of a cultism p 73 according to peachman the Egyptian m IES had three grades called Mortals

Intelligences and creators of light The Mortals were probationary pupils who were instructed in the doctrine but who had not yet realized the inner Vision the intelligences were those who had attained the inner vision and had become men and received mind the creators or sons of Light were those who had become

One with the light had attained to True spiritual consciousness these three stages are called by W marsham Adams initiation illumination and Perfection this state could be attained while yet in the body and included the after-death Consciousness as a part of its content the ancient temples of initiation in Egypt were models of the

Heavenly Jerusalem a type of the World building to use a Jewish Gnostic term Adams describes the temple at dendra us in the center of the temple is the Hall of the altar with entrances opening east and west and Beyond it lies the Great Hall of the temple entitled the Hall of

The child in his cradle from whence access is obtained to the secret and sealed Shrine entered once a year by the high priest on the night of Midsummer the book of the master or the Egyptian doctrine of the light born to the virgin mother Adams page 24 there were also various other halls

And Chambers such as Hall of the golden Rays chamber of gold chamber of birth dwelling of the golden one chamber of flames all having reference to the mysteries of light in a Divine birth the chief Hall of the temple was the Hall of the child in his cradle and the chief

Representation on the planisphere is the holy mother with the Divine Child In Her Arms IID p24 the Hindu Mysteries the mysteries of India were celebrated in temples carved out of solid rock and in pyramids and dark pagodas the Temple of elephanta is perhaps the most ancient in the world it

Is 135 ft square and 18 ft High supported by four massive pillars and its walls are covered with statutes and carved emblematical decorations the temples of Sal set exceed in magnitude those of elephanta though they are excavated in rock their external form being pyramidal the interior has many

Galleries and secret caverns and in the inmost recesses of the structure a cubical cista a Seiler where the candidate was laid during his entrance State an account of the initiation is given by diar Oliver and his history of initiations which we hear with condense as follows the Mysteries were divided into four

Degrees the candidate might perform his first probation at the early age of 8 years this consisted of an investiture of the zener or sacret Cord of Three threads corresponding to our cable toe this investure was attended with numerous ceremonies and ended with an extended lecture from the perceptor after this the candidate was

Clothed in a linen garment without seems an accord put over his right ear and he was placed under the care of a Brahman as a spiritual guide to be instructed in the necessary qualifications for the second degree he was subjected to many hardships and rigid penances and was

Taught to preserve the purity of his body to avoid external defilements and to devote much time to study of the Sacred books at the age of 20 if he were found to have made suitable Proficiency in the preceding degree he was admitted on probation to the second

Here his austerities were doubled at the conclusion of this probation he was initiated into the Privileges of the Mysteries Sanctified by the sign of the cross which was marked on every part of the body he was subjected to the probation of pastos which was denominated the door of patala or Hell

The Tartarus of the Grecian Mysteries this was the mystical death his Perfection of the probationary period being attained he was led at the dead of night to the cave which had been duly prepared for his reception the interior of this Cavern blazed with a light equal to the Meridian Sun there

Sat in Rich and costly robes the three Chief hierophants stationed in the east west and south to represent the sacred Triad Brahma Vishnu and Shiva with the attendant mogues clad in holy vestments seated around the well-known signal from the sacred belt summoned the aspirant into the center of the August assembly

When the ceremony commenced with an Anthem and solemn invocation the oath was then administered after which the candidate was sprinkled with water and a mantra pronounced he was then devestated of his shoes that the consecrated ground on which he stood might not be polluted and was then made to circumambulate the

Temple three times exclaiming each time on his arrival in the South I copy the example of the Sun and follow his benevolent course here we have the origin of the preparation of the candidate the circuits Etc of modern masonry at the conclusion of the circuits the candidate was placed in the

Care of a spiritual guide and directed to observe proper silence during the succeeding ceremonies he was then passed through seven ranges of dark and gloomy Caverns amid the D of howls shrieks and dismal Lamentations a sudden explosion Was Heard which seemed to Ren the mountains flashes of light streamed

Before his eyes and then all was darkness and silence gradually he beheld shadows and Phantoms of various shapes some with many hands arms and legs while others had none the most terrible and frightful figures appeared all typifying the generation of the Gods and other sacred Mysteries the candidate then personified

Vishnu and was made to perform his numerous avatars in the fifth manifestation he took three steps at right angles from which we get the three steps as in the Master’s Degree ending at right angles all these experiences were designed to teach certain lessons and illustrate important truths as the seven Caverns

For instance bore an illusion to the seven-fold division of the invisible world the seven dases of reward and Punishment after all these trials The peing Conch was sounded the folding doors were thrown open and the candidate was conducted into Paradise which was a spacious apartment blazing with a thousand brilliant lights ornamented

With statues and emblematical figures decorated profusely with gems and jewels with eyes riveted on the altar he was taught to expect The Descent of the deity in the bright pyramidal fire that blazed upon it this gorgeous display filled the mind of the aspirant with admiration and lighted up the holy

Fervor of devotion in his heart and now being fully regenerated a new name was given him expressive of his recently attained Purity and he was introduced to the chief Brahman in the midst of the August assembly who received him as a brother and associate invested him with a white robe and tiara

Seated him in an elevated place and solemnly delivered the signs tokens and lectures of the order his forehead was marked with a cross an inverted level or tow cross was inscribed on his breast this was a badge of innocence and a symbol of eternal life lie was invested

With the sacred sash or belt and finally he was entrusted with the sublime name which was known only to the initiated the arch Brahman then entered on an explanation of the various emblems which were arranged around him with the Arcana of the Hidden Science unfolded Under The

Holy Gloom of the mysterious Veil an extensive system of symbolical instruction was also used in the hindom Mysteries and their philosophy was veiled under the impervious shade of hieroglyphical symbols unintelligible to the profane and intended to lead them into a maze of error from which it was

Difficult to extract a single idea which bore any semblance to the original truth these symbols were publicly displayed in their temples bearing streams of light to the initiated while to the profane they were but an obscure mass of unintelligible Darkness Oliver’s history of initiations ch2 the Persian Mysteries the Persian Mysteries or the

Mysteries of mithis are among the most important of antiquity even Pythagoras is said to have traveled from Greece to receive initiation at the hands of those Ian hierophant the candidates were prepared for initiation by various lust rations and 40° days of probation which ended by a 50-day fast these trials were

Undergone in a Subterranean Cavern where the candidate was bound to Perpetual silence at the conclusion of his probation he was guided into the Hall of initiation and received on the point of a sword presented to his naked left breast he was conducted into the inner chamber where he was purified by fire

And water and then conducted through the seven stages of initiation Dar Oliver describes these stages as follows from the precipice where he stood he beheld a deep and dangerous Vault into which a single false step might precipitate him down to the throne of dreadful necessity which was an emblem of those

Infernal regions through which he was about to pass threading the circuitous Mazes of the gloomy Cavern he was soon awakened from his trance of thought by seeing the sacred fire at intervals flash through its recesses to illuminate his path sometimes bursting from beneath his feet sometimes descending on his head in

A broad sheet of white and shadowy Flame amidst the admiration thus inspired his Terror was excited by the distant yelling of ravenous beasts The Roaring of lions the howling of wolves The Fierce and threatening bark of dogs enveloped in black as Darkness he was at

A loss where to turn for safety but was impelled rapidly forward by his attendant who maintained an unbroken silence towards the quarter from when the appalling sounds proceeded and at the sudden opening of a door he found himself in a den of wild beasts dimly enlightened with a single lamp his

Conductor exhorted him to courage and he was immediately attacked amidst the most tremendous uproar by the initiated in the forms of lions tigers wolves Griffins and other monstrous beasts Fierce dogs appeared to rise from the Earth and with Dreadful howlings endeavored to overwhelm the aspirant with alarm and how bravely soever his

Courage might sustain him in this unequal conflict he seldom escaped unhe hurt being hurried through this Cavern into another he was once more shrouded in darkness a dead silence succeeded and he was obliged to proceed with deliberate step meditating on the danger he had just escaped and smarting under the

Wounds he had received his attention however was soon roused from these reflection ctions and directed to other dangers which appeared to threaten an undefined rumbling noise was heard in a distant range of caverns which became louder and louder as he Advanced until the peeling Thunder seemed to Ren the

Solid rocks and burst the caverns around him and the Vivid and continued flashes of lightning in streaming sheets of fire rendered visible the flitting shades of avenging genii who frowning displeasure appeared to threaten with summary destruction these daring Intruders into the privacy of their hallowed abodes scenes like these were

Multiplied with increasing horror until nature could no longer endure the trial and when the aspirant was ready to sink under the effects of exhaustion and mental Agony he was conveyed into another apartment to recruit his strength here a vivid illumination was suddenly introduced and his outraged feelings were soothed by The Sound of

Melodious Music and the flavor of grateful perfumes seated at rest in this apartment his gu guide explained the elements of those invaluable Secrets which were more fully developed when his initiation was complete having pronounced himself disposed to proceed through the remaining ceremonies a signal was given by his conductor and

Three priests immediately made their appearance one of whom after a long and solemn pause cast a living serpent into his bosom as a token of regeneration and a private door being opened there issued forth such howlings and cries of lamentation and despair as struck him with new and Indescribable emotions of

Terror he turned his eyes with an involuntary motion to the place from whence these beilings appeared to proceed and beheld in every appalling form the torments of the wicked in Hades turning from this scene of Woe he was passed through some other dark caverns and passages until having successfully

Threaded the Labyrinth consisting of six spacious vaults connected by winding galleries each opening with a narrow Stone portal the scene of some par adventure and having by the exercise of fortitude and perseverance been triumphantly born through this accumulated mass of difficult slash and danger the doors of the seventh Vault or

Celum were thrown open and his Darkness was changed into light he was admitted into the spacious and lofty Cavern already described which was denominated the sacred Grotto of alium this consecrated place was brilliantly illuminated and sparkled with gold and precious stones a splendid sun and Starry system emitted

Their dazzling Radiance and moved in order to the Symphonies of heavenly music here sat the arimus in the East elevated on a throne of burnished gold crowned with a rich diadem decorated with Myrtle boughs andh habited in a flowing tunic of a bright Cerulean tincture round him were arranged in

Solemn order the proles and dispensers of the Mysteries forming altogether a reverend assembly which covered the asru aspirant with a profound feel feeling of veneration and by an involuntary impulse frequently produced an act of worship here he was received with congratulations and after having entered into the usual engagements for keeping

Secret the sacred rights of mithis the Sacred words were entrusted to him of which the ineffable tettis or name of God was the chief history of initiation Oliver CH4 the candidate was then instructed in the secret science the meaning of the emblems was explained the incidents experienced converted to a

Moral purpose and their significance made clear nothing was done without a purpose and every experience Illustrated some truth and fact in nature what they were designed to set forth we shall see in subsequent lectures suffice it here to say that the Metra mystery was identical with the Christ mystery the mystery of man’s

Perfection and final apotheosis The Secret of regeneration of being born a new or spiritually or from above in brief the divinizing of man was the last word of the maites all else is introductory or ancillary this secret was the one secret of all the great mystery rights and

Mystery Arts mysteries of Metra me page 47 a ritual dealing with the mystery of apotheosis and used by the most advanced in the mithraic esoteric circles has recently been discovered it is a yoga right one far in advance of the lower grades of initiation initiation does not mean consummation it is merely starting

Things going the candidate to make the initiation valid must seal up the links so to speak and this mithraic ritual has to do with the final stages of spiritual Evolution for a complete exposition of this ritual see a mithraic ritual by gr rsme besides the various rights of

Initiation already Des described we find the same sacraments in the Mysteries that in later years were administered in the Christian church Justin Martyr 15508 D says that the evil demons in the mysteries of mithis aped the Christian Eucharist for there was an offering of bread and of a cup of water with certain

Explanatory sacred formula Justin Martyr first apology Volume 2 secc L IV LXI lxv second apology sector 13 tulan 210 a in speaking of the mithraic Mysteries says he too baptizes some that is his own Believers and faithful followers he promises the putting away

Of sins by a labor of his own and if my memory still serves me Metra in the Kingdom of Satan sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers celebrates also the oblation of bread and introduces an image of a resurrection and before a sword reads a crown prescription against Heretics

Cxl tertullian also explains the identities by resorting to the convenient theory of the devil aping the Christian forms but this curious explanation will hardly find adherence today it is difficult to accept the earlier as copies and the more recent as Originals we shall see later the origin and meaning of these

Similarities thus we find in the ancient Egyptian Hindu and Persian Mysteries a system of religious culture training that originated thousands of years ago and which through many centuries preserved and handed down the Master’s word to those who had made sufficient progress and were thereby duly and truly prepared to receive it these great

Institutions were the wonder of the world hence it is not strange that they received the highest praise from all the Great Men of antiquity three the druidical gothic Grecian and Jewish Mysteries we are to continue in this lecture our examination of of the mysteries of antiquity we will consider first the druidical

Mysteries the druidical Mysteries were the same as the Celtic and were celebrated in many countries we are told by Caesar that these Mysteries were better understood in Britain than anywhere else all temples in whatever country had places of initiation connected with them and they were usually Subterranean the great Grotto at

Castleton in Derbyshire Bears evidence that the celebration of the druidical Mysteries was of an elaborate nature The Temple at a berry was also a stupendous structure and was built in the form of a circle the periods of initiation were quarterly and were held at the time of the equinoxes and

Solstices there were three degrees in the druidical Mysteries ubia bards and Druids and it was obligatory that the candidate for initiation be well qualified and duly prepared mental and moral perfection being the first requisite when the candidate had past the probationary stage he was clad in a

Robe striped with white blue and green emblematical of light truth and hope and confined in a cromlech tomb for parts of 3 days without food dead in the language of the Mysteries after which he was liberated for initiation and restored to life on the third day this confinement

Preceded his initiation into each of the two first degrees when the aspirant was liberated he was placed in the hands of an officer conducted around the sanctuary nine times at first with slow and measured step which at length was increased to a rapid Pace during the circuits there was

A clang of musical instruments and recitations In Praise of those who were heroic in war courteous in peace and the friends of religion at the completion of this ceremony the oath of secrecy was administered and the aspirant then went through various ceremonies in which he represented many characters declaring

Among other things I have died and I have revived rived alluding to his mystical death and Resurrection in the second part of the ceremony there was the Dismal Darkness the direful shrieks the barking dogs Etc with which we have been made familiar in the preceding Mysteries the aspirant finally emerged

From the Gloom and found himself surrounded with the most brilliant coruscations of light being then presented to the arch Druid who instructed him in the Mysteries imparting the knowledge of druidism and exhorting him to the practice of virtue there was still another degree to be administered to those who aspired to a

High degree of perfection to obtain this further advancement they were subjected to the most arduous purification and were committed to the tomb for N9 months where in solitude they studied theology philosophy cosmogony astronomy Etc Dar Oliver says this was the death and burial of the Mysteries and on its expiration he was

Said to be newly born from the womb of sidn and and was pronounced a regenerate person cleansed from his former impurities by the mystical contents of her cauldron history of initiation Oliver page 146 when the period of gestation in the womb of sidn was complete as the

Confinement in the tomb was tered the candidate was ready for further instruction another trial however must be brave before the highest degree of light could be conferred the candidate now called the newborn infant was plac in a boat and committed to the mercy of the Waves if he succeeded in securing a

Safe landing place he was triumphantly received and this completion of The Three Degrees made the aspirant a thce horn conferring upon him the power of inspiration and Prophecy in the highest form The Druids maintain a high intellectual standard for they taught their disciples astronomy botany Anatomy languages medicine

Etc thus we see the Mysteries were always repositories of wisdom the gothic Mysteries the gothic Mysteries were practiced at one time by all the northern nations of Europe we Trace their introduction to ski a cian prince who lived in the 1st Century BC there were three great festivals connected with the gothic

Mysteries the most significant was celebrated at the winter solstice and dedicated to Thor the next celebration was dedicated to free and commenced at the second moon in the new year the third was dedicated to Odin and was held in the spring these were the principal celebrations but initiations

Were also performed at many smaller festivals held during the year the Palace of Thor the principal place of initiations contained 540 halls and was situated in the Kingdom of third Wanger the gothic Mysteries like all others were connected with the mystery myth differing only in detail the gothic

Version runs as follows balder who was esteemed as invulnerable had in the general assembly placed himself in sport as a mark at which the gods exercised their skill in casting darts Odin and fra exacted an oath of safety in favor of balder from everything in nature except the mistletoe which was omitted

On account of its weakness Loki discovered the exception and placed a sprig in the hands of the blind hotter persuaded him to cast it at balder who fell pierced through with Mortal wounds his body was then placed in a boat and set afloat on the water while the gods

Mourned for his decease the Fable of balder and Loki says darar Oliver with the Lamentations of the Gods for the death of balder bore such an obvious relation to those of Osiris and Typhon bakus and the Titans Kama isora Etc that I entertain no doubt but that it constituted the legend of

Initiation as it is indeed the exact counterpart of all other systems of mysterious celebration IID page 174 note 34 it would be needless repetition to go into detail regarding these initiations suffice it to say that after the candidate was duly prepared by the usual fasting and the preliminary ceremonies of sacrifice processions Etc

He was conducted with naked feet into the sacred Hall and through a winding pathway amid shades of darkness and the howling of dogs to the Tomb of the prophet vva here occurred the mysterious rights of invocation passing onward the candidate hears the beilings for the death of the

God balder he was then confined in apostas or tomb and guarded by hle the doorkeeper of the Gods upon Liberation he was instructed to search for the body of balder and to Endeavor to raise him from Death to life before starting on his dangerous Expedition he was recommended to the protection of the

Gods the guide then conducted him through nine Subterranean passages where various experiments of awe and Terror awaited him completing his journey he entered the illuminated celum and found balder enthroned on a seat of highest distinction his entrance was greeted with an Anthem of congratulation and great rejoicing took place for the

Resuscitation of the god the candidate then took a solemn oath on a naked sword a symbol of the Supreme God throughout the ceremonies the candidate had been impersonating balder that is his experiences were the same as balers Who as a perfect initiate is the type or first fruits of human

Evolution the candidate had then attained the boulder state of manhood The Grecian Mysteries the Mysteries were introduced into Greece by orus this great teacher evidently LED one of the waves of immigration of the Aryan stock into Europe the oric tradition had various Fortunes in the days of horer it was

Neglected Ed for the people were too proud to listen to what they regarded as the Superstition of their forefathers but with the rise of philosophy in the 7th Century BC the earlier religious myths were again examined and it became evident that ancient Greece possessed a mystery tradition which compared favorably with

That of other nations we do not know exactly the time when the mystery institutions were established but we do know that they existed under various names Elian bakik DIC samothracian Etc and that all were practically the same the eleusinian were perhaps the most noted as they constituted what might be called the state

Mysteries in these there were two divisions the Lesser and the greater Beyond which was the true mystery of the path the center of the work of the Lesser Mysteries was at igre the greater at elus the Lesser Mysteries dealt principally with Hades or the astral world the greater with the mental or

Heavenly world the ceremonial garment in the Lesser Mysteries was a fawn skin in the greater Mysteries a golden fleece the candidates for initiation were naturally divided into two classes those who were only capable of receiving instruction in the things pertaining to the Unseen and those who were capable of

Special training in the development of Clairvoyance instruction was also given in cosmology anthropogenesis Etc the lusinan Mysteries were celebrated with much pump and lasted nine days the places of initiation like those of other nations were great Subterranean Caverns containing many chambers and seers in which the candidate was immured

During a part of the ceremonial right some of these places of initiation with their tombs cut into the solid rock are described at length by Mr mandrel every Temple had a cavern connected with it for initiation in some countries the place of initiation was a pyramid erected over

A Subterranean C Tavern the first portion of the ceremony among the Greeks was the purification by water the candidate was then conducted to the vestibule and inverted with the sacred robes and after being exhorted to Courage the aspirant was led through a series of caverns where he met with

Practically the same experiences as we have found in the other Mysteries the dark and gloomy surroundings the peeling Thunder the howling dogs and wild beasts the flashes of vivid light monstrous appearances Etc after 3 days of these Terrors he was confined in a Cell for reflection Dr Oliver says this was the

Symbolical death of the Mysteries and the deliverance from confinement was the act of regeneration or New Birth and hence the rejuvenated aspirant was tered twice born once from the womb of his natural mother and again from the pastas of initiation IID page 98 this Deliverance was rather a resurrection than a new birth

The fatter are applying more properly to the first stage of initiation although in one sense every stage that marks an extension of Consciousness is a new birth while the aspirant was undergoing the mystical death of bakus the initiates acted out the myth we have seen that this passion Vision was a part

Of every mystery drama the nefy here experienced the great Passion himself this feeling was a prerequisite to knowing what it was we do not know but it had to do with the Mystic death of the master during this part of the drama there were loud Lamentations over

The death of their God and Ria like Isis went in search of his remains at a given signal from the hierophant the morning was turned into joy for it was announced that the body had been found and restored to life the candidate was liberated from his confinement and after

Various experiences in the infernal regions gained The Verdant Plains of alian where the souls of the just were observed in the enjoyment of pure Delights here the hierophant delivered a lecture on the purpose of the Mysteries gave the usual instruction in the secret science and bestowed the Insignia of the

Order Clement says of the Greek Mysteries after these the lust rations are the minor Mysteries which have some Foundation of instruction and of preliminary preparation for what is to come after and the great mysteries in which nothing remains to be learned of the universe but only to contemplate and

Compr nature and Things stata book V ch11 the bakik or dionysiac Mysteries grew to be mere festivities toward the last and bakus himself regarded as the god of wine instead of the manifestation of the logos the mysteries of Greece and Rome shared the same decadence as the

Nations we cannot judge them by their relics any more than we can judge the Grandeur of Rome by the period of her Decay besides the public Mysteries there were the ancient School of philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato which have sometimes been called the private or philosophic Mysteries the founders of these schools were

Initiates Pythagoras is said to have been initiated into the Egyptian caldian oric and ucini Mysteries these schools of philosophy worked in connection with the mystery teaching it is a mistake to suppose that Pythagoras and Plato formulated a new doctrine for their philosophy was part and parcel of the old wisdom which had

Been handed down by the hierophants through the Mysteries the genius of these great teachers consisted in clothing the great truths enshrined in the ancient myths in modes of thought suitable to the time in the Pythagorean schools the students were divided into three degrees or classes the followers of Pythagoras were

Noted for purity of life and loftiness of aim and purpose and the higher religious life of Greece is to be sought in this connection there were also oric communities which deserve mention the members of these communities were known as orics and were said to live the oric life a life of

Holiness it was with these communities that the pythagoreans took Refuge when their school at Crona was broken up the Jewish Mysteries the ancient Jews had their Mysteries as well as all other peoples of antiquity Mr Elba in his book future life P 107 says that it appears to be an

Established fact that the Israelites had their Mysteries as well as the Egyptians and the majority of ancient races although they had these secrets occult knowledge and cabalistic teaching which passed form mouth to ear for Generations among the Jewish priests as did the binal teaching before it was reduced to

Writing yet we do not find the Jewish rights as elaborate as those practiced by other nations the Jewish cabalistic doctrines were not written down until the first century of our era rabbi aser the son of Rabbi Simeon Ben jokai compiled the cabalistic teaching of his father into a work called the Zohar Hut

These teachings did not originate with that noted Rabbi they reach far into remote Antiquity this book which was edited between 70 and 100a one do was lost and its sacred contents were preserved only in a number of scattered manuscripts the Zohar was Rewritten according to monk by Moses Deon in the

13th century and was based upon those fragmentary manuscripts and ancient documents which have been partially destroyed or lost to the general world the sep Ysera or Jewish book of creation is first mentioned in the 10th Century although its contents are very ancient these two books the Zohar and yser are

The storehouse of all subsequent cabalistic works the cabalistic writings then are comparatively modem but their doctrines came to the Jews from the caldan and Egyptians Moses was an initiate and knew the Primitive Universal mystery language also the numerical system on which it was based but his writings have not come

Down to us the books attributed to him are not the original Mosaic records the early Hebrew teachings derived from Moses had various fortunes the original Scrolls were probably lost and Rewritten many times before the days of Ezra and when the Jews were carried away into captivity the Jewish scriptures were

Destroyed Ezra endeavored to restore them as best he could but they have been tampered with even since his day the Samaritans repudiate the Jewish canonical books they are disfigured they say beyond all recognition by the talmudists they have their books of Moses differing materially yet claimed by the Samaritans to be carefully copied

From the original the black Jews of Southern India know nothing of the Captivity thus proving that they immigrated previous to 600 BC they also have a book of Moses which differs greatly from either of the above canonical books although the Jews are right in declaring that Moses originally

Gave them their cosmology and laws still the records of these laws have been so changed that the present books attributed to him are not the original books at all some fragments of the earlier writings and traditions may have been available at the time of Ezra but in all probability the main allegories

Were taken from the symbolical records of the caldan as the early allegories have been adopted from similar records in Egypt the doctrine of the cabala is practically the same as that of the ancient Universal teaching AA is the Western and Semitic parabrahman between the absolute AA and

The Heavenly Man there is an impersonal first cause Dr Ginsburg says for to reveal itself to us the concealed of all the concealed sent forth the 10 emanations SEO called the form of God form of The Heavenly Man yet since even this luminous form was too dazzling for our vision it had to

Put 011 another garment which is the universe the universe therefore or the visible world is a further expression of the Divine substance and is called in the cabala the Garment of God this is the doctrine of the Vishnu Pana and in fact of all the schools but it is not my

Purpose here to expound the teaching of the Mysteries so we must forgo further comment the cabala is a value in throwing light upon the exoteric Hebrew Books although it has been so changed that it cannot be trusted to reveal the ancient teaching unless corroborated by other data in the early times there was

A company of prophets at Nath bethl and Jericho who formed schools of initiates where the secret teaching was imparted to those who were qualified to hear these schools of the prophets were also schools for the development of the higher psychic and spiritual faculties while in later times the Essen therapeut

And other communities were the repositories of the occult Jewish teaching it will be interesting here to consider these well-known sects the essenes for some centuries before the Christian era the essan communities dwelt on the shores of the Dead Sea their Chief characteristic was the doctrine of love love of God love of

Virtue and love of humankind they lived a life of athetic Communism in which certain hours were devoted to the study of religion the mysteries of Nature and Revelation they had an inner instruction and Ault teaching which was guarded with great secrecy they were evidently in contact with caldian cabalism as they made much

Of the Mysteries connected with the tetraman the four-lettered Mystic name of deity the essenes had their degrees and initiations in which we find the identity of teaching between aism and Christianity is most marked Mister me sums up these points of contact somewhat as follows converts were required to

Sell their possessions and give to the poor for the laying up of treasure was regarded as injurious to a spiritual life not only did the Essen despise riches but they lived a life of self-imposed poverty love of the Brotherhood and of one’s neighbor was the sole of aen life and the basis of

All action and this characteristic of their discipline called fourth Universal admiration the members live together as a family had all things in common and appointed a steward to manage the common purse when traveling they would Lodge with Brethren whom they had never seen before as though with the oldest and

Most intimate friends and thus they took nothing with them when they went on a journey all members were on the same level and the authority of one over another was forbidden nevertheless Mutual service was mutually enjoined they were also great lovers of peace and so refused to take arms or manufacture warlike weapons

Moreover they prescribed slavery the ultimate aim of the essenes was to be meek and lowly in spirit to mortify all sinful lusts to be pure in heart to hate evil but reclaim the evildoer and to be merciful to all men and moreover there yet was to be yeah

And their nay nay they were devoted to the curing of the sick and the healing of both Body and Soul regarding the power to perform miraculous cures and cast out evil spirits as the highest stage of discipline in brief they strove to be so pure as to become temples of

The Holy Spirit and thus seers and Prophets to these inner communities were attached outer Circles of pupils living in the world and found in all the main centers of the diaspora fragments of a faith forgotten me page 134 the therapeut were practically the same as the essin with the exception

Pointed out by felo that the latter were devoted to the Practical life the former proceeded to the higher stages of the contemplative life it would be interesting did time permit to give a full account of these therapeutic communities which were so like early Christianity that the church fathers always recognized them as

Christians felo in his contemplative life gives a full description of these wisdom lovers through their yearning for the blessed life they abandoned the world and sought some secluded spot and gave themselves entirely to studying contemplation in Egypt there were many in every Province and especially around Alexandria the most advanced joined the

Martic colony which was situated just south of Alexandria on a small Plateau the dwellings of this community were very simple each containing a small chamber or Closet in which in solitude they performed the mysteries of the Holy life felo would lead us to believe that the therapeut were all

Jews this was probably true of the martic community with which he was connected as lay pupil but this was only one of a vast number of such communities scattered all over the world it is quite probable that many of these were as strongly tinged with Egyptian or zoroastrian or orphic elements as the

One south of Alexandria was with Judaism many of these communities were purely eclectic combining traditions and elements of the various schools the Pharisees we are fairly familiar with the external side of ferrai SM the minute ceremonialism and elaborate rules of external piety but the inner side is not so well

Understood the most learned of the Jews belonged to this sect which originated in Babylon and represented the mainstream of caldian and Persian influence on Judaism in the course of time it became divided into many schools the strictest of which led a life of internal piety the highest aim of this school was to

Attain to such a state of Holiness as to be able to perform miraculous cures and to prophesy the degrees of Holiness practiced by this sect are given by Mr me as follows I the study of the law and circumspection two the noviciate in which the apron was a symbol of Purity

Three external Purity by means of lustration or baptisms four celibacy V inward Purity purity of thought six a still higher stage which is not further defined seven meekness and holiness eight dread of every sin nine the highest stage of Holiness X the stage which enabled the Adept to heal the sick

And rais the dead IID page 133 it is quite evident that there was a wide difference between the tenants of the healers and the other Pharisees who believed in the blood sacrifices of the temple worship and the resurrection of the physical body this again illustrates the difference between the exoteric and

Esoteric Cults all these Mystic schools constituted links in the chain of the wisdom or nosis transmission Jesus himself taught nothing new he merely illuminated the traditions of the nosis and in his public teaching practically threw open to all some of the intermediate grades of the Mysteries the Jews then in common with

All the ancient nations were in possession of an occult teaching which is the same old wisdom religion that has ever stood as the background of the popular religious systems the distinction sometimes made between religions that the Jewish and Christian are pure and that the Pagan is spous is

An error due to a very narrow conception the higher criticism and recent study of comparative religions has shown us that we can no longer hold to the belief in one perfect Supernatural religion condemning all others as false that God left the world to wander in darkness until two three or

4,000 years ago is contradicted by every sage and by the great body of religious literature thate receded the Jewish and Christian eras God is no respector of persons therefore no religion has a monopoly of Truth each great world faith has a part to play in the Divine economy while we

Recognize Jesus as the great initiate and Messenger to the Western World let us not ignore the other Divine teachers whom God has sent as Messengers from the same great lodge the same wisdom illuminated them all they are all Kindred and belong to the same great Brotherhood Limited time has prevented

Me from going into greater details regarding the ceremonies of initiation enough however has been said to Bear out the fact that all the mysteries of antiquity have a common origin they bear the most striking resemblance to each other both in ceremonies and doctrines thus we have seen that

Initiations in all the Mysteries were set forth in a mystery myth sometimes called the sun myth which in its various settings symbolizes the activity of the logos on the one hand and the Mystic life of the initiate on the other the hero of the myth representing the solar

Logos and the perfect initiate was known by different names in different countries Osiris Horus in Egypt orus Metra in Persia Zeus Hermes in Greece Jupiter Ammon in Rome Thor balder in Britain and Scandinavia the initiates knew the real meaning of these myths for literally the

Son is not born and does not die nor is it raised from the dead the recital of these events are allegories which Veil a deeper truth in the popular religions the sun became the object of worship and the hero of the myths became the god of the various religions when the symbol

Was mistaken for the thing symbolized the myth is an allegory of the activity of the logos in the cosmos and of the various stages of initiation and like all the writes it typifies the Mystic life of every initiate every perfected Master becomes a Christ a Hermes Etc initiation consists in attaining the

Master State a failure to understand these symbols and allegories resulted in the crude dogmas of popular theology many have read this later thought into the Mysteries themselves and have supposed that the rights merely symbolize the death and resurrection of some hero or demigod some special Divine personage who was considered by the

Celebrants as a god according to this the aspirant was merely representing the death and Resurrection of the god from whom the Mysteries derived their name this crude conception Falls far short of the reality for the cosmic aspect of all these religious tragedies was symbolized by the activity of the logos in the

Universe but these Sun myths also typified the Mystic life of the initiate the initiate did not merely represent some hero he was the hero himself and the rights typified what he became a Buddha a Christ a metra Etc one whose Mystic life represented the IC lives of

All who had previously trod the path though that was not the primary significance of the ceremony perhaps after the Mysteries became corrupt and degraded so-called initiates might have misread the allegories and symbols but such was not the case in the days of the real initiates before the key to the sacred

Science was lost the use of the image in some instances employed to represent the candidate evidently came into use when the institution had become so changed that the candidate objected to being lab away in the Tomb as was originally the custom and another indication of decline was the physical Terror to which the

Candidate was subjected this was to test his courage and was supposed to illustrate the experiences he would meet in the invisible world in the early days we are told the candidate was entranced when laid away in the Tomb he then actually visited the invisible world and encountered the grotesque images and

Forms to be seen there he was taught the words of power and the sign sign of power although they were only a means of strengthening the will which alone however is sufficient to overcome the Phantom Terrors the hierophant also used his occult power to materialize illustrations of various postmortem

Conditions that the Mysteries were designed to reveal the invisible world is clearly stated by plutar who was himself an initiate of high standing he says that when a man dies he goes through the same experiences as those who have their Consciousness increased in the iies thus in the terms to die and

To be initiated we have an exact correspondence word to word and fact to fact first of all there are wanderings and weary journeyings and paths on which we look with suspicion and that seem to have no termination then before the end every kind of Terror shuttering trembling sweating stuper but at last a

Marvelous light shines out to meet us pure scenes and fair Fields welcome us with song and dance and the the solemnities of sacred sounds and holy sights in which state he who has already perfected himself in all things and received initiation accomplishes his mystery reaches his full freedom and

Passing everywhere at will he receives the crown and is in communion with the Holy and pure now gazing down upon the unpurified multitude of the uninitiated who are still in life wallowing in the Deep Meer and mist and abiding in misery from fear of death and want of faith in

The blessedness of the soull likee plot frag v9 Edition died out the vision of aridi also given by Plutarch was according to me either a literary subterfuge for describing some of the instruction in certain Mysteries or a partial description of the invisible world and the conditions

Of the Soul after death although as we have said the former was a revelation of the latter but when the power to directly reveal the future state was lost they had to illustrate it by dramatic itic and Scenic representations to produce the ghostly images and Phantoms in the physical

Plain Mysteries actors and even mirrors were often used not as a deception however for everybody understood that these were illustrations only with the loss of the higher means of Revelation corruption gradually crept in and Man At Last was left to win his Deliverance without the visible Aid of the great

Teachers yet we are assured by wise perceptors that those great Souls remain constant even though unseen and are ever ready to Aid and assist the needy whenever they comply with the great occult law of the universe the decline of the Mysteries the cause of the decline of the Mysteries was the personal ambition

Of crafty priests and despotic rulers they began to lose this Grandeur and Glory before the days of Aristotle their retrogression however was gradual for at the time of Cicero they retained much of their early sanctity and Purity and even as late as the time of of Nero

For as unscrupulous as he became he did not dare to Aid in the celebration of the Mysteries after committing a hideous crime the great occult knowledge which had moved Westward for thousands of years began about 500 BC to reced to its eastern Source owing to the Ethiopian Invasion 570

BC the Royal Throne fell into the hands of amus a man of low birth who destroyed the Priestly order it is not strange that in the decadence of Greece in Rome even the Mysteries should share in the general degradation selfishness ruled with an iron hand and before the end of the

Roman Empire the true Spirit of the Mysteries was withheld leaving only the outer forms behind it would be unfair to judge the real mysteries from the relics of this period the last of the Pagan mysteries in Europe disappeared with the destruction of the great cities of Gaul

Alia by bracus and alls and although the great worldwide institution nearly perished except in in the East the secret Doctrine was not lost nor entirely abandoned even in the west it is quite a task to follow it through the shifting religious life of the Middle Ages but recent investigations have

Shown that it has been unbroken continued in secret fraternities from age to Age We Shall trace this descent in a future lecture four the Christian Mysteries the testimony of Jesus and the apostles the Christian religion in common with all the great religions of antiquity originally possessed an inner or occult teaching

Wjb McLoud Moore 33° Supreme Grandmaster ad vitm of The Sovereign prior of Canada United orders of the Temple of Malta says the secrets of the mystery of Christianity were only communicated to the initiates and these initiates were first made Christians then advanced in Christianity and finally raised to a knowledge of Al it’s

Apara there were three degrees or steps in Christianity and its religious system was known as the disciplin Arcana the discipline of the secret there was an esoteric and exoteric Doctrine the three classes who received the three degrees of the Primitive Church were the cumans the competant and the

Illuminati in the first degree of Christianity the candidate was baptized baptism introduced the believer to the Christian mystery the sacred doctrines taught in the several degrees were those of the trinity in unity the Incarnation of the exos or Son of God the crucifixion the resurrection SL and the secret of the

Liturgy baptism initiated the candidate while a participation in the Lord’s supper or Eucharist marked the raising of the candidate to the highest degree of Christian Light in Doctrine all through the writings of the early fathers of the church reference is made to the Christian Mysteries and their secret doctrines initiates were strictly

Forbidden to paint cut or carve any reference to them history of Freemasonry in concordant orders page 746 before we examine the records to see if this contention can be substantiated let us first note something of the Christian Movement the origin of Christianity is involved in great obscurity even the period at which Jesus

Lived is a matter of controversy the following occult account Accords with the talmud in stating that Jesus lived in the days of King Janai who reigned over the Jews 104 to 78 BC and is as follows the child whose Jewish name has been turned into that of

Jesus was born in Palestine BC 105 during the Consulate of publicus rivalus Rufus and neus malus Maximus his parents were well-born though poor and he was educated in a knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures his fervent devotion and a gravity Beyond his years LED his parents to dedicate him to the religious and

Athetic life and soon after a visit to Jerusalem in which the extraordinary intelligence and eagerness for knowledge of the youth were shown in his seeking of the doctors in the temple he was sent to be trained in an aim community in the southern Judean desert when he had

Reached the age of 19 he went on to the as monastery near Mount cbal a monastery which was much visited by learned men traveling from Persia and India to Egypt and where magnificent library of occult Works many of them Indian of the transhimalayan regions had been established from this seat of Mystic

Learning he proceeded later to Egypt he had been fully instructed in the secret teachings which were the real F of life among the eses and was initiated in Egypt as a disciple of that one Sublime Lodge from which every great religion has its founder for Egypt has remained

One of the world centers of the true Mysteries whereof all semi-public Mysteries are the faint and far off Reflections the Mysteries spoken of in history as Egyptian were the Shadows of the true things in the mount and there the young Hebrew received the solemn consecration which prepared him for the

Royal priesthood he was later to attain esoteric Christianity bessent Pages 128 and 129 the time having come for the founding of a new religion a suitable Tabernacle was needed for the great teacher who was to be sent into the world Jesus of faded his body as a willing

Sacrifice one called the Christ took possession of Jesus body at the age of 29 and for 2 years instructed the heads of the Asim communities and for one year he taught the general public it is only of the last year’s work that some tradition is preserved for us in the

Gospel story he was finally rejected by the essenes because he carried to the outer World some portions of the spiritual wisdom which they regarded as their exclusive possession the clouds of hatred thickened into until finally the body of Jesus Paid the penalty for enshrining the great teacher but the

Master did not forget his promise to return to his chosen disciples and for some 50 years he visited them in his spiritual body and continued his instruction in the secret teaching this inner instruction constituted the basis of the Christian Mysteries during this time the disciples lived together in a retired spot on the

Outskirts of Judea attracting small attention because of the many similar communities during its embryonic stage the new religion was hidden in the womb of communities similar to that of the therapeut it was some years before it emerged and began its General propaganda and it was only when the disciples were

Fully prepared that they went forth to preach after Jesus death he completed his human evolution Dot and became a perfect Master the Christ then surrendered to Jesus the care of the Christian church and he became the hierophant in the Christian Mysteries he was the INSP spiration that kept alive

The nosis in the church until the mass of ignorant selfishness became too great for its continuance but he has sought throughout the centuries and is seeking today for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear wisdom for full Exposition C esoteric Christianity bessent CH4 this is the occult teaching which is

Fully corroborated by the doctrine of the early gnostics they held that Those whom Christ originally instructed in the higher doctrines brought about his condemnation for blasphemy by the Orthodox Jewish authorities because they considered that his too open teaching was a divulgence of the Mysteries they also held as can be seen

By Consulting the pistus Sophia written by valentinus that after Jesus death he continued his instruction of the disciples for 11 years he taught them so far as the regions of the first statues only and up to the regions of the first mystery the mystery within the veil not

With standing there were omissions of many points which as yet they were unable to comprehend the instruction was so wonderful that they thought that all had been revealed the nosis of all noses in the 12th year having received the robe of Glory he says to his

Disciples lo I have put on my vesture and all power hath been given me by the first mystery yet a little while and I will tell you the mystery of the ploma and the ploma of the ploma I will conceal nothing from you from this hour

But in perfectness will I perfect you in the whole ploma and all Perfection and every mystery which things indeed are the Perfection of all Perfections the ploma of all ploma and the nosis of all nosis which are in my vesture I will tell you all mysteries from the exterior

Of the exteriors to the interior of the Interiors this the master did and instructed them in the mystery of the first mystery and the Mystery of the ineffable then follows instruction on the nature of the preaching by the disciples when the master has entered the light and the condition upon which

The Mysteries shall be given to others he then teaches them regarding the postmortem state of the sinner the righteous uninitiated and the righteous initiated Etc this secret teaching constituted the mysteries of Jesus the public and private teaching of Jesus naturally resulted in two Traditions the Mystic tradition represents the inner teaching and the

Ebionite represents the public teaching it was against the original followers of the public tradition that Paul contended in his efforts to universalize Christianity the petroline controversy was a struggle between the external and Mystic sides of the New Movement the ebites undoubtedly preserved the original and true tradition regarding

The birth and nature of Jesus for they held that Jesus was a man born as other men the natural son of Joseph and Mary that the tradition of the ebionites or Nazar Marin differed widely from the historized dogmas of later times may be seen even today from the Codex narus of the

Mandates the descendants of the nazarians who dwell in the marshes of Southern Babylonia we must not confuse the early form of eism with the later forms which were of a gnostic nature the outer communities being finally influenced by the inner Jewish tradition Paul himself was a Mystic in touch with the inner

Communities and he saw that Christianity was designed to be the religion of the new race about to be born it is evident that Paul was not acquainted with the later accounts of the canonical gospels for he does not teach the historical Jesus but the Mystic Christ the canonical accounts were probably

Compiled in the last quarter of the first century or in the first part of the second that is they reached their present form at that time the synoptics were based upon a sketch of an ideal life written by one of the Apostles of the inner communities and intended for General

Circulation round this nucleus later compilers Bishops of the outer churches wo much other matter which was selected from a mass of Legend and tradition Orthodoxy or general Christianity traces its origin to these documents we are now ready to examine the teachings of Jesus and the apostles

And see if we can find any trace or reference to an inner occult teaching upon reading an account of Jesus teaching we find him constantly making use of certain terms which are usually employed to designate an inner circle of initiation in the fourth chapter of Mark

Is recorded the parable of the SE given by Jesus to the multitude at the conclusion of which he said he that hath ears to hear Let Him hear and when he was alone the writer says they that were about him with the TW asked of him the

Parable and he said unto them unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but unto them that are without all these things are done in parables Mark 49101 a little later in the same chapter we are told with many such Parable spake

He the word unto them as they were able to hear it but without a parable spake he not unto them and when they were alone he expounded all things to his disciples IID 33-34 the writer records the intellectual interpretation of the parable of the swer given by Jesus to his

Disciples these things have a three-fold meaning a surface an intellectual interpretation and a mystical or spiritual meaning which was never written but was committed orally by the teacher to his pledged disciple aren says all scripture has a body the common historical sense a soul a figurative meaning to be intellectually discerned

And a spirit an inner occult sense known only to the spiritually minded it was this inner occult teaching that Jesus gave to those in the house when they were alone to those who were privileged to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of

God refers to the mystery institution or to the spiritual state which the discipline and knowledge or nosis revealed in the Mysteries enabled one to attain in the pistus Sophia Jesus is said to have brought the keys of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Light meaning that the perfect initiate had

Attained the kingdom the high spiritual State even while on Earth in the book of The Great logos another early Gnostic treatise we are told that those who have received the greater Mysteries the mysteries of the light treasure have already inherited the kingdom of God while still on Earth they have their

Share in the light treasure and are Immortal Gods we see by this the real meaning of Jesus saying give not that which is holy to the dogs neither cast ye your Pearls Before Swine Matt 76 dogs like the vulgar and the profane was a term applied by those Within a

Certain circle to all who were on the outside this was the sense in which Jesus used the terms for those not initiated into the mysteries of the knowledge could not understand the inner teaching and to give it to them would be like casting Pearls Before Swine again the names Kingdom the

Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven that a Straight Gate that narrow way that saved are all technical terms connected with initiation and the Mysteries this is evident from the passages in which these terms occur the question was asked Jesus are there few that he saved and he replied strive to

Enter in at the Straight Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13232 24 again he said enter ye in at the Straight Gate for wide is the gate and Broad is the way that lth to destruction

And many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which lth unto life and few there be that find it Matt 7134 the application of this passage to the Future world is without Foundation to suppose that many will

Earnestly seek to enter Heaven but will be unable to gain admission is both unreasonable and unscriptural when the Seer of the Apocalypse describes the heaven world he does not behold merely a few but a great mult multitude which no man could number Reverend 79 the Straight Gate here is not the

Gateway of heaven but the Gateway of initiation few indeed have succeeded in entering this Straight Gate although many have sought its portals there are some even today who can bear witness to this statement some who for years have striven but have not yet reached the goal the saved the true initiates those

Who have attained the kingdom or spiritual ual Nirvana have always been few some 3,000 years earlier Krishna said among thousands of men scarce one striveth for Perfection of the successful Strivers scarce one knoweth him in essence the great multitude have always followed the broad way which lth

Time and again to destruction only the few have sought the narrower and steeper Road of initiation that lth direct unto life the student of the world scriptures is familiar with the symbol of narrow way it is the old narrow way so often referred to the path difficult to tread

As the edge of a razor Jesus does not use the symbol in any new sense it is the old Straight Gate and narrow way of initiation this was symbolized in the ancient Mysteries by the narrow Stone orifice which separated each of the seven Caverns from its successor and

Through which the candidate had to pass in going from one chamber to the next the king’s chamber in the Great Pyramid was entered through such a gate regarding this Mr Stan Island wake says the so-called kingk chamber was probably the place to which the initiate was admitted after he had gone through the

Narrow upward passage and the grand Gallery with its lowly termination which gradually prepared him for the final stage of the Sacred Mysteries origin and significance of the Great Pyramids page 93 this passage symbolized that narrow or Straight Gate which lth un to life the new spiritual rebirth to which Jesus

Referred it was a symbol the meaning of which was well understood by every initiate the Mason will recall a similar symbol in the Gateway through which he passed in the Royal Arch degree it is of interest to note in this connection the incident of the young man who came to

Jesus and addressing him said good Master what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life he wished to secure a permanent Abode in that world where they die no more in other words he was seeking Liberation from the necessity of repeated births and deaths remember the Jews believed that all

Imperfect Souls return to Earth life in reply Jesus gave the usual exoteric answer keep the Commandments but when the young man said he had kept all these from his youth up Jesus said to him if thou Wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hath and

Give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me math 1921 to be perfect is to attain a certain stage of initiation Jesus here uses a technical term the meaning of which was well known at that time the Essen used the term to

Denote a certain class in their communites they had three divisions the neophytes the Brethren and the perfect if thou Wilt be perfect a member of the Kingdom you must comply with the conditions poverty and obedience such has always been a condition for initiation when the young man heard the

Necessity of this he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions Jesus then turned to his disciples and moralized upon the difficulties that stand in the way of a rich man entering upon the higher stages of human evolution saying it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a

Needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God ibid 24 to apply this to the Future state is absurd does anyone really believe that no rich man can enter Heaven there seems to be no great haste in getting rid of riches on account of the text but when

We understand that the Kingdom of Heaven means the Brotherhood of the initiated we see at once that the statement is literally true one cannot gain that knowledge of God which is eternal life the condition of the perfect while engrossed with the cares of great wealth

It is only when one is strict of these cares and anxieties incident upon the possession of great riches and vast interests in the material world that he can pass the narrow Gateway of the world of the spirit poverty obedience and Chastity were the vows taken by the

Candidate for initiation in all ages and Jesus simply repeats the universal teaching another indication of Jesus knowledge of the technical terms of initiation is in the words spoken to Nicodemus verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God John the 3 3 this

Birth or baptism is spoken of as of water and of the spirit the first baptism is the first initiation when the candidate is welcomed as a little child there was a later initiation the baptism of the initiate in his manhood called the baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire

Matt ill 11 in the Codex narus of the mandates there is a beautiful story of this Mystic baptism Jesus comes to Johanna to be baptized seeking initiation Into the Mystic School of Johanna but Johanna recognizes him as the master by whose power he had been teaching and initiating for 40 and2 years Johanna

Gives the lower initiation of external baptism to Jesus and receives in turn the true spiritual baptism from the master himself when he gave him the grip of the Rushta and laid his hand upon him in Jordan and he made him lay off His Garment of

Flesh and Blood and he clothed him in a reignment of Glory the phrases little ones little child and children were used in The Mystic Circles of the time to denote one just initiated Johanna says come in peace little one now I go with thee little one that we may enter the

Stream come come little one of three years and one day youngest among his Brethren but oldest with his father who is so small yet his sayings are so exalted in the asine and Therapeutic Community seniority was reckoned not by age but by the years the brother had

Been a member of the order that second birth is also a well recognized and Universal term for initiation this will be clearly seen when we consider more definitely the question of initiation in a succeeding lecture on the night preceding his death Jesus said to his Apostles I have yet

Many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now John the 1612 some of these things were undoubtedly said by Jesus after his resurrection During the period when he remained with his disciples speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God of course none of these

Things pertaining as they did to the kingdom of God the Mysteries are publicly recorded but one cannot doubt that they were treasured and handed down orally as a precious Heritage there is a tradition in the early church that this instruction continued not only 40 days but for many

Years we will now turn to St Paul we shall find the writings of this Apostle to the Gentiles permeated with references to occult teachings and the Mysteries his use of the technical terms connected with initiation is sufficient to prove to any unprejudiced mind the existence of the inner teaching of the

Church in its primitive state in the first epistle to the Corinthians Paul refers to the degree of perfection and to the teaching that belongs to that degree he says we speak wisdom among them that are perfect we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before

The world unto our Glory which none of the princes of this world knew but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit for the spirit searcheth all things yeah the Deep things of God which things also we speak not in The Words which man’s Wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth

Is Sir 11 6 7 10 13 and I Brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hither to ye were not able to Bear it

Neither yet now are ye able for ye are yet carnal as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation I core three 1 2 3 10 let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God iore

41 is it not evident from these passages that the Apostle possessed an inner wisdom that the Christians at Corinth were not yet able to receive remember that these words were addressed to those who were in full membership of the church they had all that the modern Church gives to its members but there

Was a hidden wisdom which they could not yet bear this wisdom was only given in the Mysteries where wisdom was spoken among the perfect the recurring technical terms in these passages should evidence their connection with the worldwide Mysteries the perfect the wisdom the hidden wisdom the wisdom of God in a

Mystery the wise master builder stewards of the mysteries of God Paul constantly uses these technical terms which belong to the Mystic tradition the communities which he addressed must have been familiar with his no clature for he does not speak of these things as new but as

Well known to those to whom he writes in the epistle to the Ephesians Paul refers to the Mysteries saying that by Revelation he made known unto me the mystery my knowledge in the mystery of Christ that all men might see The Fellowship of the mystery fil 349 in the epistle to the Colossians

Paul declares that he had been made a minister to fulfill the word of God even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from Generations but now is made manifest to his Saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the

Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Colonel i 26- 27 this Christ within is indeed a mystery it is the life of the initiate which when fully developed will present the man perfect in Jesus Christ in the epistle to the Philippians Paul says I

Count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the Dead

Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded Phil 3 8-15 the rest Resurrection which the apostle was striving to attain was not the ordinary resurrection of Christian belief for this requires no effort but

There is a resurrection which is not easily attained Jesus refers to this in his reply to the Sadducees but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither Mary nor are given in marriage neither can they die anymore for they

Are equal unto the angels and are children of God be being the children of the Resurrection Luke XX 3536 Jesus here connects the resurrection with Liberation from Death those attaining the resurrection do not die anymore the perfected initiate was liberated from the circle of generations of birth and death he was worthy to

Obtain that world of permanent Abode the real man is sexless and those who are able to abandon their animal nature return to the Eternal Essence above where there is neither male nor female but a new creature this is the true Resurrection when the neite reached a certain stage of interior development or

Enlightenment he was said to rise from the dead the phrase Resurrection from the dead is a mystical phrase denoting the new birth or Gnostic illumination the apostle was striving to attain that resurrection and he urges as many as are perfect to strive also he does not urge the ordinary believer for

Only those who had Ain to the degree of the perfect could hope for immediate Deliverance he was already of the perfect and he says to his fellow initiates I press toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus let us therefore as many as

Be perfect be thus minded the initiate was to become the Risen Christ the ordinary believer had put on Christ they were babes in Christ Christ was the Savior to whom they looked for help knowing him after the flesh but when they had conquered the lower nature and

Were no longer carnal then they were to enter on a higher path and were themselves to become Christ esoteric Christianity bessent page 63 Paul had struggled to attain this ideal and had at last succeeded he says I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is

At hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Timothy 46-8 this was the crown given to him that overcometh of whom it is said Do by

The ascended Christ I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out Reverend ill 12 for after the Resurrection The initiate has become the perfect man the master and he goes out no more from the temple esoteric Christian ity page

65 in the first epistle to Timothy Paul exhorts his son in the faith to see that nothing is done contrary to sound Doctrine Paul declares that the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God has been committed to his trust and he commits to Timothy an important charge in this

Connection this charge I commit unto thee son Timothy 1 Timothy I 18 and again he says oh Timothy keep that which is committed to thy Trust ibid 620 hold fast the form of sound Words which thou Hast heard of me that good thing which was committed unto thee keep

By the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in Us 2 Timothy I 1314 neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbyter of the initiates 1 Timothy 4:14 this knowledge which had been committed to Timothy and which he was to

Guard so completely was not the common knowledge possessed by Christians in general there was no special obligations laid upon him regarding that but it was the doctrine committed to his trust as an initiate Paul instructs him to select deacons from among those who had a knowledge of the mystery of the faith

And the Mystery of godliness he was further to provide for the transmission of this sacred teaching the things that thou Hast heard of me among many witnesses in the assembly of initiates the same commit thou to Faithful Men Who Shall be able to teach others also two Timothy 2

2 this of course refers to the sacred oral teachings given only to initiates if the ordinary doctrines of the church Were Meant Timothy would have been instructed to write it down for transmission or rather Paul would have written it out himself but the secret teaching could not be written they were

Not the things read by Timothy they they were Paul’s private instructions given within the sacred precincts they were to be transmitted to others by Word of Mouth Paul initiates Timothy into the mysteries of the church and exhorts him to keep that which is committed to his trust and to provide for the due

Transmission of this knowledge to other teachers we thus have provision made for the transmission of the occult wisdom for three generations Timothy represents the generation of Christian teachers immediately following the apostles and he is instructed to commit the hidden treasure to Faithful Men Who Shall teach others in turn we now refer

To the writings of the apostolic fathers and we shall not be surprised to find that they possessed an esoteric teaching for the provision made by Paul overlaps the early part of this period in our next lecture we will consider the testimony of the early church five the Christian Mysteries

Concluded testimony of the early Church in the last lecture We examined the testimonies of Christ and his Apostles and found that they had an inner teaching a deep spiritual knowledge which was not imparted to the masses we shall now proceed to the history of the early Church in which we

Find that the Mysteries as established by Christ constituted a definite institution in the early Christian centuries there were two traditions of the Christian nosis the Gnostic which recognized the Christian nosis as only a part of the general nosis and the Orthodox which held to the exclusive character of the Christian

Nosis let us first consider the gnostics the very meaning of the word Gnostic is to know the gnostics were the first philosophers and theologians of the Christian Church they had an inner esoteric teaching which they claimed came direct from Jesus and the apostles these philosophers were not

Only the most cultured in the Christian ranks but were zealous workers in their faith they endeavored to formulate Christianity as a universal philosophy they lived strictly and followed the path of righteousness striving by every means to purify themselves and to realize by daily practice the teachings of the master seeking always the science

Of realities the knowledge of God hence wisdom was their goal and spiritual things their study they looked at the problem of cosmogony and anthropogeny from above and in this they may have been as reasonable in their proper domain as the modern scientist who looks at the problem from below until the

Middle of the second century at least they continued a part of the general Christian body but at last the narrowness and bigotry of those who followed the outer tradition succeeded in having them denounced as Heretics and this chiefly for contending that the teachings of Christ contain the wisdom that transcended the

Comprehension of the multitude the gnostics had their Mysteries and initiations even in the recently discovered acts of John we have a fragment of the early Gnostic ritual of the Mysteries there is also mention of some of the degrees such as the initiation of the Cross and in the pistus Sophia the

Books of the Savior and the Book of the great logos there is constant mention of the Mysteries the Christian Mysteries like the alinan were divided into two parts the Lesser and the greater beside the Greek original Gnostic Works above mentioned we have some Gnostic fragments recovered from the polemical writings of

The church fathers but as these writers were the most bitter opponents of the gnostics they are not a very accurate source of information irenius is our chief informant but he has been shown to be entirely unreliable I am convinced that the gnostics came the nearest to preserving

The nosis of the master but even with them after a Time the great spiritual truths became intermixed with many Fantastic ideas I regret that space does not permit an extended examination of this much neglected field of original Christian mysticism but as all admit the exist of a gnostic nosis it will not be

Necessary to go into further details let us now look at the Orthodox nosis this represents the narrower stream if not in volume at least in exclusiveness and though the later Church fathers condemned the followers of this tradition equally with the gnostics for some centuries it had a wide following among the more

Intelligent of the early church we will trace this tradition more fully polycarp a fellow disciple with Ignatius and EST John in his epistle to the church at Philippi writes I trust that ye are well-versed in the Sacred Scriptures and that nothing is hid from you but to me

This privilege is not yet granted anti nyine fathers am Ed volume 1 page 35 it is evident from this that there was a hidden teaching in which polycarp was not yet instructed for he trusts that those to whom he writes are farther Advanced that there is nothing hid from

Them so though polycarp evidently was not yet a full initiate in the epistle to Barnabas its writer says if I should take the trouble to communicate to you some portion of what I have myself received it would prove to me a sufficient reward that I minister to such Spirits epistle to Barnabas

Chi it is clear from this that Barnabas had received instruction in addition to that possessed by those to whom he wrote Ignatius in his epistle to the Ephesians writes I know both who I am and to whom I write ye are initiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with Paul the

Holy the Marty in as much as he was a chosen vessel ch12 in the Epistle of Ignatius to the trons he says for might not I write to you things more full of mystery but I fear to do so lest I should inflict injury on you who are but babes pardon

Me in this respect lest as not being able to receive their weighty import ye should be strangled by them for even I though I am Bound for Christ and am able to understand Heavenly things the Angelic orders and the different sorts of angels and hosts the distinctions between powers and

Dominions and the diversities between Thrones and authorities the mightiness of the Ians and the preeminence of the cherubim and seraphim the Sublimity of the spirit the kingdom of the Lord and above all the incomparable Majesty of almighty God though I am acquainted with these things things yet I am not

Therefore by any means perfect nor am I such a disciple as Paul or Peter chv this passage is important as showing that the Mysteries dealt with Heavenly things the Angelic orders Etc in his epistle to the philadelphians he says the priests indeed are good but the high priest hierophant is better to

Whom the holy of holies has been committed and who alone has been trusted with the secrets of God ch9 in the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles ascribed to Clement Bishop of Rome the author in speaking of the instruction of cumans and their initiation says now after what Manner

Those ought to live that are initiated into Christ has been said in the forgoing directions but it is reasonable not to leave even those who are not yet initiated without assistance and when it remains that the cuman is to be baptized let him learn what can concerns the renunciation of

The devil and the joining of himself with Christ for it is tit that he should first abstain from things contrary and then be admitted to the Mysteries he must beforehand purify his heart from all wickedness of disposition from all spot and wrinkle and then partake of the Holy things that so the

Candidate for baptism when he is Anointed may be free from all ungodliness and may become worthy of initiation book 7 sector 3 we now come to Clement of Alexandria he was a disciple of ptinus Master of the cathal school in Alexandria and afterward succeeded him as the head of the school in

189d Clement speaks of ptinus and two others probably tan and theodotus as preserving the tradition of the Blessed Doctrine derived directly from the Holy Apostles Peter James John and Paul the sons receiving it from the father came by God’s will to us also to deposit those ancestral and Apostolic seeds the

Lord do allowed us to communicate of those Divine Mysteries and of that Holy Light to those who are able to receive them he did not certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many but to the few to whom he knew that they belonged who were capable of receiving

And being molded according to them but secret things are entrusted to speech not to writing as in the case with God and if one say that it is written there is nothing secret which shall not be revealed nor hidden which shall not be disclosed let him also hear from us that

To him who hears secretly even what is secret shall be manifested this is what was predicted by this Oracle and to him who is able secretly to observe what is delivered to him that which is veiled shall be disclosed as truth and what is hidden to the many shall appear manifest to the

Few for why do not all know the truth why is not righteousness loved if righteous belongs to all but the Mysteries are delivered mystically that what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker rather not in his voice but in his understanding the writing of this

Memoranda of mine I well know is weak when compared with that Spirit full of grace which I was privileged to hear but it will be an image to recall the archetype to him who was struck with the thus a wand borne by initiates with which candidates were touched during the

Ceremony of initiation we profess not to explain secret things sufficiently far from it but only to recall them to Memory whether we have forgot ought or whether for the purpose of not forgetting some things I purposely omit in the exercise of a wise selection afraid to write what I guarded against

Speaking not grudging for that we wrong but fearing for my readers lest they should stumble by taking them in a wrong sense and as the proverb says we should be found reaching a sword to a child some things my Treatise will hint on some it will linger some it will merely

Mention it will try to speak imperceptibly to exhibit secretly and to demonstrate silently the strata Booky Chi again in speaking of the Mysteries of the faith not to be divulged to all he says but since this tradition is not published alone for him who perceives the magnificence of the word it is

Requisite therefore to hide in a mystery the wisdom spoken which the Son of God taught now therefore Isaiah the prophet has his tongue purified by fire so that he may be able to tell the vision and we must purify not the tongue alone but also the ears if we attempt to be

Partakers of the truth such were the impediments in the way of my writing and even now I fear as it is said to cast the Pearls Before Swine lest they tread them underfoot and turn and Rend us for it is difficult to exhibit the pure and transparent words respecting the True

Light to swinish and untrained hearers for scarcely would anything which they could hear be more ludicrous than these to the multitude nor any subjects on the other hand more admirable or more inspiring to those of noble nature but the natural man receiveth not the things of the

Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him but the wise do not utter with their mouth what they reason in counsel but what ye hear in the ear says the Lord Proclaim upon the houses in the Assembly of the initiates not to the men in the street bidding them receive the

Secret traditions of the true knowledge and expound them aoft andc conspicuously and as we have heard in the ear so to deliver them to whom it is requisite but not enjoining us to communicate to all without distinction what is said to them in Parables the stata Booky

Ch12 again he says he who is still blind and dumb not having understanding or the undz and Keen vision of the contemplative Soul which the Savior confers like the uninitiated at the Mysteries or the unmusical at dances not being yet pure and worthy of the pure truth but still discordant and

Disordered and material must stand outside of the Divine choir for We compare spiritual things with spiritual wherefore in accordance with the method of concealment the truly sacred word truly Divine and most necessary for us deposited in the shrine of Truth was by the Egyptians indicated by what were called among them Adida and

By the Hebrews by the veil only the consecrated were allowed access to them for Plato also thought it not lawful for the impure to touch the pure then the prophecies and oracles are spoken in enigmas and the Mysteries are not exhibited incontinently to all and Sury but only after certain purifications and previous

Instructions the strata book V CH4 Clement then takes up the symbolic and allegorical method of writing employed by the philosophers and quotes many passages from the scriptures to show that Jesus and the apostles employed the same method the Apostle in contradistinction to Gnostic Perfection he says calls the common Faith the

Foundation in sometimes milk he speaks of the building as the Gnostic superstructure or Gnostic edifice and says it was impossible that Gifts of this sort could be written without disguise but he continues the Gnostic apprehends now then it is not wished that all things should be exposed

Indiscriminately to all and Sury or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have not even in a dream been purified in Soul for it is not allowed to hand to every chance comr what has been procured with such laborious efforts nor are the mysteries of the

Word to be expounded to the profane stata book V ch9 in the next chapter he says distinctly that there is an instruction of the perfect to whom God wished to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Nations so that on the one hand then are

The Mysteries which were hid till the time of the Apostles and were delivered by them as they received from the Lord and concealed in the Old Testament were manifested to the Saints and on the other hand there is the riches of the glory of the mystery

In the Gentiles which is Faith and Hope in Christ Christ which in another place he has called the foundation he says that that knowledge does not appertain to all and quotes Paul to this effect Colonel 11 23 Blessed Be Our Lord Brethren he says who has put into our hearts wisdom and

The understanding of his Secrets it is but for few to comprehend these things instruction which reveals hidden things is called illumination as it’s the teacher only who uncovers the lid of the Ark for for I know says the apostle that when I come to you I shall come in the

Fullness of the blessing of Christ he then quotes Paul concerning the fullness of the blessing of Christ designating the spiritual gift and the Gnostic communication which being present he desires to impart to them present as the fullness of Christ according to the revelation of the mystery sealed in the

Ages of Eternity but now manifested by the prophetic scriptures according to the command of the Eternal God but only to a few of them them is shown what those things are which are contained in the mystery rightly then Plato in the Epistles treating of God says we must speak in

Enigmas that should the tablet come by any mischance on its leaves either by sea or land He who reads May remain ignorant akin to this is what the holy Apostle Paul says preserving the prophetic and truly ancient secret from which the teachings that were good were

Derived by the Greeks how be it we speak wisdom among them who are perfect strata book V CHX wisdom he declares to be certain knowledge being a sure and irrefragable apprehension of things Divine and human comprehending the present past and future and it is irrefragable by reason

In as much as it has been communicated and the nosis itself is that which has descended by transmission to a few having been imparted Unwritten by the apostles stata book 6 ch7 these quotations might easily be extended but a sufficient number has been given to show that Clement knew of

A secret teaching and was writing for the benefit of those who like himself were initiates in the Christian Mysteries Clement quotes continually from the scriptures to illustrate the Mystic teaching thus showing that he recognized the passages to which we referred earlier as evidencing the existence of a hidden esoteric teaching

The Gnostic was one who knew an initiate of the Mysteries let us now turn to our agend the noted pupil of Clement and Beyond doubt the greatest scholar in the early Church in his famous controversy with celsus many references were made to the secret teachings of the church celsus

Charges Christianity with being a secret system aren replying that while certain things were secret others were public says but that there should be certain doctrines not made known to the multitude which are revealed after the exoteric ones have been taught is not a peculiarity of Christianity alone but

Also of philosophic systems in which certain truths are exoteric and others esoteric some of the hearers of Pythagoras were content with his Ipsy Dixit While others were taught in secret those doctrines which were not deemed fit to be communicated to profane and insufficiently prepared ears moreover all the Mysteries that are celebrated

Everywhere throughout Greece and barbarous countries although held in secret have no discredit thrown upon them so that it is in vain that he Endeavors to calumniate the secret doctrine of Christianity seeing he does not correctly understand its nature aren against celsus book I ch7 again aren says I have not yet

Spoken of the observance of all that is written in the gospels each one of which contains much Doctrine difficult to be understood not merely by the multitude but even by certain of the more intelligent including a very profound explanation of The Parables which Jesus delivered delivered to those without

While reserving the exhibition of their full meaning for those who had passed beyond the stage of exoteric teaching and who came to him privately in the house what we have said is sufficient by way of answer to the unphilosophical in comparing the inner Mysteries of the

Church of God to the cats and apes and crocodiles and goats and dogs of Egypt aren against celsus book 3 cxxi a little further on in the same book he again says and if you come to the books written after the time of Jesus you will find that those

Multitudes of believers who hear the parables are as it were without and worthy only of exoteric doctrines while the disciples learn in private the explanation of The Parables origin against celsus book 3 CH lvi celsus criticized the Christians for inviting Sinners into the church he says that in other Mysteries he only is

Invited who has Clean Hands and a prudent tongue he only who is pure from all pollution and whose soul is conscious of No Evil and who has lived well and justly aren replies that it is not the same to invite those who are sick in Soul to be cured and those who

Are in health to the knowledge and study of divine things we however keeping both these things in view at first invite all men to be healed and exhort those who are sinners to come to the consideration of the doctrines which teach men not to sin and those who are devoid of

Understanding to those which beget wisdom and those who are children to rise in their thoughts to manhood and those who are simply unfortunate to good fortune or which is the more appropriate term to use to blessedness and when those who have been turned toward virtue have made progress

And have shown that they have been purified by the word and have led as far as they can a better life then and not before do we invite them to participation in our Mysteries for we speak wisdom among them that are perfect Oren against celsus book 3 CH

LX aren then explains that in the Christian Mysteries as in all others those are received who have Clean Hands who are athletes in piety and every virtue whoever is pure not only from all defilement he says but from what are regarded as lesser transgressions let him be boldly initiated in the mysteries

Of Jesus which properly are made known only to the holy and pure he who acts as an initiator according to the precepts of Jesus will say to those who have been purified in heart he whose Soul has for a long time been conscious of No Evil and especially since he yielded himself

To the healing of the word let such a one hear the doctrines which were spoken in private by Jesus to his genuine disciples therefore In the comparison which he institutes between the procedure of the initiators into the Grecian Mysteries and the teachers of the doctrine of Jesus he does not know

The difference between inviting the wicked to be healed and initiating those already purified into the sacred Mysteries not to participation in Mysteries then and to Fellowship in the wisdom hidden in a mystery which God ordained before the world to the glory of his Saints do we invite the Wicked

Man and the thief but such as these we invite to be healed others again which to the pure in Soul and body exhibit the revelation of the mystery which was kept sec secret since the world began but now is made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets and by the appearing of our

Lord Jesus Christ which appearing is manifested to each one of those who are perfect and which enlightens the reason in the true knowledge of things God the word was sent indeed as a physician to Sinners and also as a teacher of divine Mysteries to those who are already pure

And who sin no more origin against celsus book 3 CH LX LX I LXI I arala Bishop of cesaria in Mesopotamia says the Lord spake in Parables to those who were incapable of hearing but to his disciples he explained these parables in private for the illumination of the

Glory is for those who have been enlightened while the blinding is for them who believe not these Mysteries which the church now declares to you who are transferred from the lists of the cumans it is not her custom to declare to the Gentiles for we do not declare the

Mysteries touching the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to a gentile neither do we speak of the Mysteries plainly in presence of the cumans but many a time we express ourselves in an occult manner so that the faithful who have intelligence May apprehend the truths referred to while

Those who have not that intelligence may receive no hurt anti nyine fathers volume 6 page 235 quotations of this import could be extended if necessary but it is now Beyond question that there existed in the early church a definite institution called The Sacred Mysteries or the mysteries of Jesus wherein was taught a

Higher wisdom the church today thinks it has accomplished its Mission by proring the saint and points to the good man as the crowning Glory whereas in the early days of the church the attainment of Purity was not the goal but merely the beginning there were three stages or degrees through which Men passed

Purification illumin ation and Perfection purification led to saintship illumination gave interior knowledge the nosis taught in the Mysteries Perfection was the attainment of unity with the Divine the early church went on from the point where the modern Church leaves off and taking the saint led him to the beatific vision

During these early centuries there was a struggle between the two elements in Christianity the few who possessed the inner teaching and the mass of common Believers the the exoteric element finally gained Supremacy and the mystics were denounced as Heretics the Mysteries as an organized institution ceased temporarily for lack of suitable

Material the sublime secret however was not lost for the light continued to burn through all the ages from time to time efforts were made to revive the institution to its former glory but the conditions of the age were too gross and superstitious two streams May nevertheless tracked through Christendom

Streams which had as their Source the vanished Mysteries one was the stream of Mystic learning flowing from the wisdom the nosis imparted in the Mysteries both Pagan and Christian the other was the stream of Mystic contemplation equally part of the nosis leading to the Ecstasy to spiritual vision this latter however

Diverted from knowledge rarely attained the true ecstasies esoteric Christianity page 107 these two streams can be traced through the Gnostic schools of Syria and Egypt the manans pians alenes katari Templars the Knights of Malta troubadors LEDs rosac crucians Alchemists hermetic Masters and many other Mystic orders thus the secret teaching has been

Passed along down the ages Scholars Saints and martyrs have everywhere sought the hidden truth and the various occult brotherhoods mystical associations and many so-called heretical sects have been links in the chain of that wisdom religion which is the source of all religious schools and philosophies the great spiritual

Hierarchy the guardian of the Mystic tradition which constitutes the science of the Soul has always been and always will be as ready to give as man in his evolutionary condition is ready to receive instruction in Divine wisdom with the growth of the race old forms perished and those who who identified

The spirit with the form thought all was destroyed but as the form perished the conscious life sought new embodiment and thus have the Guardians Of Truth passed along the higher knowledge to those who were ready to receive it who then can doubt a definite design in the preservation of the Divine truth through

All the ages we shall now turn to Freemasonry and show that this institution is a vehicle of the same occult knowledge that the ancient wisdom is still embodied in its symbolism and rights and is obtainable as it always has been by those who possess the key in showing this connection and possession

We will consider more fully the meaning of initiation in the Pagan and Christian Mysteries to which I invite your attention in the following lecture six the meaning of true initiation it is a well-known fact that the biographies of all the great world saviors closely resembled each other all

Are represented as divinely begotten and born at the same time of the year all all are threatened with death in infancy all are tempted persecuted and finally slain all descend into hell and after 3 days rise from the dead and at last all Ascend into heaven and become glorified

Gods what is the explanation of this wonderful similarity in the lives of Jesus abalonus Metra Buddha Krishna zoroaster Etc the solution of this remarkable identity is to be found in the fact that all these saviors were initiates into the mysteries of Antiquity the various narratives do not

Describe the physical life of the heroes but the inner Mystic life being but a materialization of the Mystic life of the initiate the physical plain biographies might greatly vary but their lives as initiates are ever the same in our study of the meaning of true initiation we shall see the origin of these

Stories I will commence at the beginning and traced the various stages of progress in the first place a man to be recognized as a candidate must be pure and holy and possess a well-developed and well-trained mind having attained the exoteric good life he enters on the preparation for initiation certain conditions have now

To be fulfilled and certain attributes acquired the aspirant for initiation must be worthy and well-qualified duly and truly prepared during this period the candidate is said to be treading the probationary path the path which leads up to the Straight Gate Beyond which is the narrow way or the path of Holiness

The way of the Cross which lth unto life let me briefly sum up the attributes to be acquired one discrimination this means that the aspirant becomes able to distinguish between the Eternal and the temporal the real and the unreal so that what is unreal to the world becomes real to him

He must set his affections on things above loosen the ties on worldly objects and fix his aspir aerations on things pertaining to the Unseen this has been called allegiance to the higher self two Devotion to right the aspirant here learns to do what is right because it is right without regard

To his own gain or loss this is sometimes called indifference to personal reward as the fruit of good actions this indifference is the natural result of the previous step men cease to Crave for Earthly rewards when they realize their impermanent character three the six qualifications a control of thoughts Purity and calmness which

Result from control of the Mind b control of actions Mastery of one’s actions and words C tolerance freedom from bigotry from an exaggerated attachment to any doctrinal belief leading to a wide impartiality D forbearance freedom from resentment in respect to real or fancied wrongs e steadfastness incapability ility of

Being turned aside from one’s purpose F Faith confidence in the power of the master to teach the truth and of oneself to grasp and wield it four direct order or succession a clearly defined desire for Spiritual existence and Union with the higher ideals five Readiness for initiation the result of the previous

Acquirements the candidate is not expected to fully develop these attributes he must however have made progress in them before he is ready for the first step on the path proper when the time comes that he is regarded fit for initiation he is conducted by the master who has been watching over his

Earlier progress to the threshold where the Guardians of the Mysteries open for him the distrait gate the path proper is divided into four stages or five stages with the culmination in the first four stages the period between the good man and the triumphant Master the neopit is to cast

Off the 10 feathers that bind him to the circle of rebirth and which keep him from realizing Nirvana the highest state of spiritual consciousness no partial success will here suffice he must be entirely free before he can pass from one stage to the next when these feathers are cast off

The ego is ready for the fifth stage full adeptship he becomes an AA Adept a Christ triumphant the first step in the Hindu system is called soapa or an one who attains this level is called the sodana or soani he who has entered the stream one who has begun the higher human

Evolution this evolution is that of the Divine Child and is called in different systems by different names Christ Horus Buddha Etc it was at this first great initiation that the divine child was born in man this was spoken of as the new or second birth a Mystic term often

Employed to denote the rights of an initiation in India even today the higher casts are called the wise born and the ceremony that makes them such is called initiation the right of baptism is connected with the first initiation it is a symbol of purification and signifies that the

Candidate has attained the purity of character necessary for Acceptance in all these Mysteries says Dar macki the first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or purification the aspirant was not permitted to enter the sacred vestibule or take any part in the secret formula of initiation until by water or by fire

He was emblematically purified from the Corruptions of the world which he was about to leave behind symbolism of Freemasonry macki page 93 the purification of the body was symbolic of a purification of the heart Frederick portal in speaking of the Egyptian Mysteries says in Egyptian cosmogony water was the mother of the

World The Matrix of all created beings man was considered as an image of the world the initiate was to be born again to a new life and the baptism thenceforward symbolized the Primeval Waters it was on this account that the initiate was called Moses a word signifying in Egyptian according to

Josephus saved from the water or by the water water was a symbol of Purity and designated the birth of the Pure or initiated a comparison of Egyptian symbols with those of the Hebrews page 81 again he says speaking of the method of Egyptian baptism Horus and thunus

Pour water on the head of the candidate who is transformed to Divine Life and to Purity the legend accompanying this scene he translates thus Horus son of Isis baptizes with water and fire this is repeated three times the name given to the baptized or anointed as we have seen was Moses

Signifying regenerated or begotten again remember the lawgiver of the Jews was called by the Egyptians Moses one saved by water or in other words one initiated in the Acts of the Apostles we are told that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians if so he

Must have been an initiate the great mystery of Egypt was this second birth the birth of Horus says W marsham Adams throughout the sacred writings of Egypt there is no doctrine of which more frequent mention is made than that of a Divine birth the Egyptian doctrine of light Adams page

89 the candidate was initiated from the sacred role called The Book of the greatest Mysteries and after passing the passage of the Sun the crown of Illumination was placed upon his head and now the new twice born clothed in power and crowned with light traverses the abodes or scenes of his former

Weakness there to discern by his own enlightened perception how it is Osiris who satisfies the balance of him who rules the Heavens to exert in its sual freedom his creative will now the Lord not the slave of the senses and to rejoice in the just suffering which wrought his illumination and Mastery IID

Page 185 Hermes in the secret sermon on the mountain discourses on the secret of the new birth this might well be called the initiation of tat the sermon is in the form of a dialogue between Hermes the master and tat the pupil tat says in the general sermons

Father a technical name of the master or initiator thou did speak in riddles most unclear conversing on Divinity and when thou set no man could ER be saved before rebirth thy meaning thou D hide further when I became thy suppliant in wending up the mount after thou Hast conversed

With me and when I longed to learn the sermon logos on rebirth for this beyond all other things is just the thing I know not thou set that thou wouldst give it me when thou shalt have become a stranger to the world wherefore I got me

Ready and made the thought in me a stranger to the world illusion G RS me in his Thrice greatest Hermes in commenting upon this discourse says the m has come for Tat to receive through his master the touch of the true mind in Consciousness the Christ is to be born

In his heart the light of the ploma is to shine in his inmost being it is to be a new birth a regeneration or rebirth in the sense of being born from above Thrice greatest Hermes me volume U page 239 Tad had made himself ready for this rebirth by passing through three stages

Of probation he had been prepared by wending up the mount the phrase on the mountain or wending up the mount mountain is symbolical of the grades of initiation the term is of frequent occurrence in the Christian Gnostic and apocryphal writings and everywhere signifies the Mount of initiation in the popular beliefs the

Mountain is called the Mount of Galilee on which all the rights of initiation were performed but the real Mount was no physical elevation it was the height of contemplation an inner state of spiritual consciousness tat had been wending his way up this Mount and was now ready for

The new birth the crowning mystery of the spiritual way for all the Mystic schools of the time the secret that tat would learn is the mystery of the birth from the Virgin womb the birth of man the great mystery of regeneration ibid page 240 tat entreats Hermes to explain to

Him the manner of this rebirth but Hermes cannot tell to tat the secret in words it must be self-perceived this race my child said says Hermes was never taught this is the race referred to by felo as the race of devotees who are ever taught more and more to see let

Them strive for the initiation of that which is let them transcend the sun which men perceive and gaze upon the light beyond the true son or logos nor ever leave this rank which leads to perfect blessedness now they who betake themselves to the Divine service do so

Not because of Any custom or on someone’s advice or peel but carried away with Heavenly love like those initiated into the Bic and the carbanc Mysteries they are a fire with God until they behold the object of their love again felo says now this natural class

Of men lit race is to be found in many parts of the inhabited world for both The Grecian and non- Grecian world must need share in the perfect good felo on the contemplative life this race then was the the race of initiates the race of elxai mentioned by epiphanius those attaining this state

Apprehended the mystery of rebirth although this spiritual State could not be taught to the neopit in words still as me puts it Hermes can guide tat toward the realization of the Blessed sight by putting himself into the sublime State of Consciousness that tat so to speak bathes or is baptized in

His aliser spiritual presence the cup of the Mind this is the true laying on of hands Hermes describes the change that takes place in himself when he passes into the high spiritual consciousness weer I see Within Myself the simple Vision I have passed through myself into a body that can never die

And now I am not what I was before but I am born in mind the master focuses his Consciousness in the higher part of his spiritual nature transfers it to a spiritual vehicle the way to do this is not taught and it cannot be seen by the

Compound element by means of which thou sayest that is it cannot be understood from any sensible experience no physical sight can penetrate this mystery thou sayest me with eyes my son says Hermes but what I am thou Dost not understand the outer physical form of the master was there

But his soul had been liberated from the body this mystery could only be understood by one who himself had reached the higher state cat’s spiritual senses are being born by the aid of the master he says into Fierce frenzy in mind Fury hast thou plunged me Father for now no longer do I

See myself he is losing touch with the physical plain Consciousness but that is not enough Hermes says I would my son that thou had the end passed right through thyself that is passed into the higher vehicle the body that can never die this is the mystery that that Hermes

Could not explain in words the secret sermon on the mountain Isis is not permitted to declare the secret of rebirth openly to Horus she says I may not tell the story of this birth for it is not permitted to declare the origin of thy descent oh Horus son of Mighty power lest afterward

The way of birth of the immortal Gods should be known unto men quoted in thce greatest Hermes Volume 2 page 242 in the Isis mystery tradition we find that it was a part of the word to bestow this higher Consciousness theodoris informs us that it was Isis who discovered the filter of

Immortality by means of which when her son Horus who had been plotted against by the Titans and found dead beneath the waters not only raised him to life but also made him a sharer in immortality initiation bestowed or restored to the soul the consciousness of immortality this was truly a new birth

An inner change striking of a new keynote he who is reborn into the nosis passes from man into the state of Superman the very essence of nosis is the fact that man can transcend his present limitations and become consciously Divine this is true illumination those who attained this

Hermes or Horus state were to keep silent concerning their powers and not boast of their nosis we find this same teaching in the Christian Mysteries Jesus says except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God John High 3 Peter says seeing ye have purified

Your souls in obeying the truth being born again not of corruptible seed but of Incorruptible by the word of God which liveth in abideth Forever forward slash Peter I 2223 the birth is spoken of as that of water in the spirit in the mysteries of Jesus as in all others baptism was

Always connected with the first initiatory right many illustrations of this pivot doctrine of the early church might be cited from Gnostic writings the overwriterz document tells us that the Lesser Mysteries pertain to fleshly generation whereas the greater deal with the new or second birth with regeneration and not with

Genesis in speaking of the mystery of regeneration the writer says for this is is the Gate of Heaven and this is the house of God where the good God dwells alone into which house no impure man shall come no psychic no fleshly man but it is kept under watch for the spiritual

Alone where when they come they must Cast Away their garments and all become bridegrooms obtaining their true manhood through the virginal spirit for this is the Virgin big with child conceiving and bearing a son not psychic not fleshly but a blessed Aon of Ians that is an

Immortal God this is the birth of the Christ or Horus in man the great mystery that awaits us when we have made ourselves strangers to the world illusion as Hermes puts it or as Jesus says in one of his Newfound sayings except ye fast to the world ye shall in

No wise find the kingdom of God this writing is important as it shows that the inner teaching of Christianity was identical with the tenants of the other Mysteries Elian Egyptian mithraic dionan Etc the date of this Christian overrider was about the middle of the 2 Century in

The mystery ritual of initiation in the acts of John we read who I am Thou shalt know when I depart that is by contrast what I am seen to be that am I not but what I am Thou shalt see when thou comest in other words this spiritual

State must be realized to be known and only those who had attained the Christ State the perfect initiate could know it remember the words of Hermes already cited thou sayest me with eyes my son but what I am thou Dost not understand this Consciousness transcends man’s normal State although the new birth

Primarily signified the first great initiation when the white robed neite entered the communion of saints still the Mystic term might well indicate the other stages of Soul development for it signalized the entrance to a new life the initiate is ushered into a new State of Consciousness at each stage as much

So as the newborn infant when ushered into physical existence it is difficult for us to imagine these higher States Of Consciousness but each state ushered the candidate into a new realm where while retaining hold on the physical plane he had to adapt himself to new conditions

Each right was a sign and symbol of spiritual consciousness which had come to the newborn disciple the Christ principle the intuitional wisdom is born in the soul and when that buddhic spiritual consciousness is awakened the soul becomes again as it were a little child born into that higher life of the

Initiated which is in truth the Kingdom of Heaven Christian Creed leadbeater page 76 the newborn son the little child a technical term denoting one just initiated is now to live the Divine Life and become like unto the father pass from sunship to Perfection the new or spiritual birth then is a Mystic fact

The materialization of this inner truth into the dogma of the Virgin birth must have been a comparatively late development in the evolution of popular or general Christianity the Dogma is not to be found in the common document and the earlier Traditions all state that Joseph was the natural father of Jesus celsus

Accused the Christian of changing their gospel story many times in order to better answer the objections of opponents this is true only of the exoteric tradition now let us consider the various stages in the evolution of the Christ in man to understand this higher Evolution which constituted the

Work of the true Mysteries we must understand man’s Constitution we will use here the Christian terminology because of familiarity with the terms but the facts described are the same in all systems Christian theology usually accepts the three-fold division Spirit soul and body this is sound but in order to understand

The mystery of the life of the Divine Child especially his crucifixion resurrection and Ascension we shall need a further subdivision of man’s Constitution the spirit is itself a trinity containing the three aspects of the Divine Life intelligence love and will the soul is two-fold composed of the mind and emotional nature

The body is the material instrument of the Soul and Spirit and is also dual being composed of the dense physical body and its etheric double these lower portions or principles the Dual physical body the desire or emotional body and the mental body form the Natural Body

Spoken of by of St Paul the Apostle says there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body the spiritual is made up of the three higher principles the lowest of these is sometimes called the causal body the second division the Bliss or glorified or resurrected body

The third and highest division the atmic body these principles or bodies are correlated with the lower five of the seven planes of our universe the normal evolution of mankind takes place on the three lowest Plaines the supernormal evolution that of the initiate proceeds on the next two planes which are the

Spiritual these five planes constitute the field of the evolution of Consciousness until the human merges into the Divine bearing these divisions of man’s constitution in mind and the plains to which they are correlated we are ready to study the mystery of the Christ Evolution this evolution is set forth in

The story of The Mystic Christ The Mystic Christ is one aspect of the Christ of the Mysteries the Mystic Christ deals with this Christ Evolution which is the development of the love or second aspect of the unfolding Divine spirit in man called the Christ the other aspect

Called the Mythic Christ is the logos the second aspect or person of the Trinity descending into matter the development of the first division of the spiritual body the aspect of intelligence takes place in the ordinary life of the world when this intellectual development has been carried to a high

Point accompanied by moral development then the man is ready for the evolution of the second aspect of the spirit the second division of the spiritual body that of Love called the Christ we will consider first this aspect of the Mystic Christ the evolution of the Christ of

The human spirit this is the Christ who is in every one of us who is born and lives is crucified rises from the dead and ascends into heaven in every suffering and triumphant son of man this is the story of The Mystic life of every initiate we have seen that at the first

Great initiation the Christ is born born in the disciple this is the second birth to which we have referred he is Born Into the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child the name given to a new initiate Jesus said that except a man becomes as a little child he cannot

Enter the kingdom every such child is beset by perils that do not befall others the dark Powers seek his undoing but the Christ child once born cannot be destroyed he grows in wisdom and spiritual stature until the time comes comes for the Second Great initiation symbolized by the baptism by water and

The spirit which confers on him the powers necessary for the teacher he then Goes Forth into the world to labor and is led by the spirit Into the Wilderness and is there exposed to severe Temptations the evil Powers strive to lure him from his set purpose bidding

Him use his unfolding powers to secure worldly ends but triumphant over those Temptations he uses the powers which he would not employ for his own needs to save the world this Devotion to service leads him to the third great initiation symbolized by the Transfiguration he again ascends the

Mountain apart the sacred Mount of initiation but he cannot there remain he sets his face resolutely toward Jerusalem where he is to meet the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire the final test and the last stage of the way of the Cross he is now ready for the

Fourth great initiation symbolized by the p passion he has become Victorious over the lower nature and is willing to nail it to the Cross although he enters into Jerusalem in Triumph and in full confidence that he is prepared for the sacrifice there Comes The Bitter Agony

In the garden and for a moment he prays that the cup may pass that bitter cup of betrayal desertion and pain when in the horrors and darkness of this final trial it seems that even the father has forsaken him his inner vision is blinded and he thinks him self alone but he is

Still steadfast and with an unconquered trust he yields up the lower life and descends into hell that no region in the universe may remain untrodden but liberated from the material body he sees the light once more and feels himself again as the sun and is ready for the fifth initiation

Symbolized by the resurrection and Ascension and Rises triumphant over death and hell then he remains for a Time on Earth to teach his disciples and at last ascends into heaven this story of the Gospel biography sets forth in allegory the life history of every initiate the initiatory rights

Symbolize the stages through which the candidate passes the stage of the Soul’s progress typified by death burial and Resurrection was called in Egypt the death right and by the Gnostic Christians the initiation of the cross the candidate was received by the initiating hierophant at the proper time

And place usually a secluded chamber in a temp or pyramid and laid on the stone floor with arms outstretched sometimes on a wooden cross which was hollowed out to support the human figure he was then touched with the thus the Spear of the crucifixion on the heart he then passed into a deep

Trance the body was placed in a sarcophagus of stone a vault or tomb beneath the floor of the Hall of initiation and carefully guarded meantime while the body was dead and buried he himself was fully alive in the invisible World Hades and undergoing what was called the tests of earth water

Fire and air he then put on his perfected Bliss body which was now fully organized as a vehicle of Consciousness after the third day the cross bearing the body was lifted up and carried out into the air on the east side of the pyramed temple and placed on

A sloping surface ready to greet the Rising Sun at the moment the first Rays touched the face the perfected initiate the horor or Christ rose from the dead resuscitated the body and glorified it by his resurrected body no longer a natural man but a spiritual man having overcome death and Hell the trans

Typifies his death unto sin the Revival his rebirth or Resurrection unto righteousness in the TA of John there is preserved the tradition of the inner schools on the mystery of the initiation of the Cross we find here no trace of the literal historic tradition the crucifixion was an inner experience

Of the soul the cross was a symbol of the crucifixion of the soul in the matter and it’s regenerating mystical death says jar Hartman is identical with spiritual regeneration magic white and black Hartman page 185 the cross also symbolizes Cosmic processes if the acts of John had given

The drama of initiation as well as the living we should undoubtedly have seen that The Passion of Christ was something quite different from what has been popularly supposed I have shown in the preceding lectures that the symbolic rights of crucifixion and of resurrection of the Dead were connected with the most

Worldwide Mystic festivals of antiquity a highly important fact for it enables us to understand the meaning of the Christian crucifixion and Resurrection when the neopit reached a certain stage of perfection or Enlightenment he was said to rise from the dead dead the phrase Resurrection from the dead is a mystical phrase used

To represent the new birth or Resurrection the Gnostic illumination when the candidate reached this stage he was Immortal had attained unbroken consciousness of his spiritual ego he became now the triumphant Christ I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forever more amen and

Have the keys of hell and death Reverend I 18 let me hear several authorities regarding this important ceremony di Oliver speaking of initiation says it was considered to be a mystical death or Oblivion of all the stains and Imperfections of a corrupted and evil life as well as a descent into hell

Where every pollution was purged by lust rations of fire and water and the perfect epop was then said to be regenerated or newborn restored to a renovated existence of Life Light and Purity and placed under divine protection history of initiation Oliver page 11 in his signs and symbols he

Again says in all the ancient Mysteries before an aspirant could claim to participate in the higher secrets of the institution he was placed within the pastas or bed or coffin or in other words was subjected to a solitary confinement for a prescribed period of time that he might reflect seriously in

Seclusion and darkness on what he was about to take this was the symbolical death of the Mysteries and his deliverance from confinement was the act of regeneration or being born again or as it was also termed being raised from the dead the ceremony here alluded to was doubtless the same as the descent

Into Hades his resurrection from the bed or tomb was his restoration to life or his regeneration into a new world and it was virtually the same as his return from Hades the candidate was made to undergo these changes in Scenic representation and was placed under the pastas in

Perfect Darkness generally for the space of 3 days and nights signs and symbols Oliver page 78 Dar Macky says the Vault was in the ancient Mysteries symbolic of the Grave for initiation was symbolic of death where alone Divine truth is to be found Encyclopedia of Freemasonry macki page 852

He again says the intention of the ceremonies of initiation into them was by a Scenic representation of death and subsequent restoration to life to impress the great truths of the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the Soul they were all ferial in their character they began in

Sorrow and lamentation they ended in Joy there was an aism or burial apostas or grave and Uris or discovery of what had been lost and Alle legend or mythical relation all of which were entirely and profoundly symbolical in their character the symbolism of Freemasonry macki page 38 Faber says the initiation into the

Mysteries scenically represented the Mystic descent into Hades and the return from then to the Light of Day origin of pagan idolatry Faber volume 4 Page 34 many other authorities might be cited in evidence of this ceremony but this was suffice to prove the ceremony Universal and connect it with all the mystery

Institutions the saying of Jesus that the son of man shall remain three days and three nights in the heart of the earth corresponds with the ancient right but in the gospel story of the Resurrection the interval from Friday evening to Sunday morning cannot be regarded as three days and three nights

It has been suggested that the shortening of the time was due to the fact that in the degeneracy of the Mysteries where attempts were made to minimize all requirements the original period became so tedious to candidates who could not pass into the trance that the time was

Reduced from 72 hours to 27 by just reversing the figures thus saving the candidate nearly two full days of solitary confinement the materialized gospel story evidently followed this later practice these great rights stood originally for great spiritual truths the body with which the candidate Rose

From the the dead was the Bliss body the body of the Christ which had been developed During the period of service on Earth this body belongs to the life of the initiate the Christ life its building begins at the second birth when the Christ is born in man and reaches

Its completion at the resurrection during this evolutionary period when the sun is being made perfect the initiate is called the son of man the perfected risen and glorified Christ is called the son of God God there is still another feature of the Christ Story the Ascension this has to do with the third

Part of the spiritual body the putting on of the atmic body or the vesture or robe of Glory as it is called in the pistus Sophia spiritual Evolution consists in the organization and vitalization of the various garments or sheaths of man into vestures or Robes of power and glory for

The use of the regenerate in a path of ascent built way above the highest gesture prepares the son for Union with the father and as a spiritual fact this is symbolized by the Ascension the material story of the Ascension is an historicization of this inner Mystic truth experienced by Every Soul that

Becomes consciously one with God the Ascension for Humanity is when the whole race has attained the Christ condition the state of the son and that son becomes one with the father and God is all in all that is the goal prefigured in the Triumph of the initiate but

Reached only when the human race is perfected and when the Great orphan humanity is no longer an orphan but consciously recognizes itself as the Son of God esoteric Christianity bessent page 249 7 the meaning of true initiation concluded we have seen in the preceding lecture that the Christ of the Mysteries

Has two aspects the Mystic and the Mythic in the Mystic the microcosm man the Christ of the Mysteries represents the second aspect of the Divine spirit in humanity called the Christ in the Mythic the macrocosm the cosmos the Christ of the Mysteries represents the logos in his manifestation through his

Second aspect in the preceding lecture we have studied the Mystic Christ now we are to consider the Mythic Christ the great facts of the spiritual life were carefully guarded in the Mysteries and given out to the world only in symbolic language the solar or sun myth is the popular teaching concerning the cosmic

Mythic Christ the Christ of the solar myths or Legends a myth we must remember is Not Mere fiction it may be truer than written history it is a great truth embodied in a pictorial form all symbols were employed by initiates with a definite meaning we need therefore to

Know the true meaning of the symbols in order to read the true meaning of the myth the solo myth sets forth primarily the activity of the logos the Mythic Christ in the universe secondarily the Mystic life of the indate this story of the son God then is of utmost

Importance it begins with his birth at the winter solstice after the shortest day of the year in the early morning hours of December 25th as the sign Virgo is rising above the Horizon he is thus born of a virgin who remains such after giving birth to her

Sunch child for the celestial Virgo is still unchanged in the ancient drawings Virgo of the zodiac is represented as a woman suckling a child here we find the origin of the symbol of the Madonna the Sun God is weak and feeble in his infancy born at the period when the days

Are shortest and the nights longest as with us on this side of the equatorial line he is beset by perils in his early youth but he outlives the threatening dangers of darkness and storm and grows to manhood however he is rapidly approaching his crucifixion and the Glorious Days preceding the Spring

Equinox are soon to be clouded by the solar disturbances incident upon his crossing the line This Crossing was called the crucifixion the date varying with each year but like all so-called death it is an illusion merely a transition to a higher life the sun god soon Rises triumphantly and ascends into

Heaven the storms are dissipated and darkness gives way to all conquering light Jupiter Osiris oras Apollo are victorious over all their foes all nature rejoices celebrating their conquest and order is re-established in place of the dire confusion that rained while gloomy Typhon or araman was dominant thus everywhere we find the

Fable that typifies the Triumph of light over Darkness the sun could not be kept in tuned by the elements he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where at the summer solstice he attained the Acme of his glory and perfection ction there he rules triumphant and gives his very life

To ripen the fruit and Grain and so sustain his worshippers these are the Salient points in the lives of all the sun gods for each is born on the 25th of December and crucified at the vernal equinox the birth date is fixed while the death date is variable this of itself should be

Sufficient to show us that both Christmas and Easter the Sunday following the next full moon after the vernal equinox were originally so solar festivals a festival calculated by the relative positions of sun and moon was not designed to commemorate the anniversary of any historical event we

Are not here dealing with the history of a man but with the hero of a solar myth it is interesting to note that the fast preceding the Easter Festival is worldwide and in many countries extended to the time limit of our modern lent 40 days of course the original period was

Only the time intervening between the death and res Resurrection another interesting fact in this connection is that the animal adopted as the symbol of the hero is the sign of the zodiac in which the sun is at the vernal equinox of his age and this varies with the precession of the

Equinoxes thus oans and Jesus had the sign Pisces the fishes Metra and Osiris Taurus the Bull Jupiter and moir Aries the lamb Etc while Jesus is also represented as the lamb the sun myth then primarily sets forth the activity of the logos in the cosmos this activity is reflected in a

Partial way in the yearly course of the Sun the logos in his second aspect as the cosmic Mythic Christ descends into matter becomes incarnate clothed in flesh he thus sacrifices himself by putting on the limitations of matter entering the womb of matter which is yet virgin unproductive this matter has been

Vivified by the holy spirit that it might presently take form and is thus prepared to receive the life of the second logos the sun aspect of God who took this matter as a vehicle for his energies the original of the nyine Creed ran thus and was incarnate of the Holy

Ghost and the Virgin Mary not of the Virgin matter alone but of matter already pulsating with the life of the third logos so that both the life and the matter surrounded him as a vesture thus was The Descent of the logos into matter described in the historized life of the saviors as the

Virgin birth and in the Solar myth as the birth of the sun god the misapprehension of this allegorical illustration as the life history of a physical human being and its identification with Jesus and the various other world saviors was most unfortunate and misleading after the Incarnation come

The early workings of the logos in matter aptly typified by the infancy of the myth to all the feebleness of infancy his Majestic Powers bow themselves letting but little play forth on the tender forms they insole matter imprisons seems as though threatening to slay its infant King whose glory is

Veiled by the limitations he has assumed slowly he shapes it towards High ends and lifts it into manhood and then stretches himself on the cross of matter that he may pour forth from that cross all the powers of his surrendered life dead he seems and buried out of sight

But he rises again clothed in the very matter in which he seemed to perish and Carries up his body of now radiant matter into heaven where it receives the downpouring life of the father and becomes the vehicle of man’s Immortal Life for it is the life of the logos

Which forms the Garment of the soul in man and he gives it that men may live Through the Ages and grow to the measure of his own statue truly are we clothed in him first materially and then spiritually esoteric Christianity page 181 the logos thus leaves the plane of

Infinitude where he is one with the father and becomes incarnate and is finally crucified in space this is the crucifixion of Christ the great Cosmic sacrifice represented by the symbol of the crucified man which at last becomes materialized into an actual death by crucifixion the story thus historicised

Became attached to the various World saviors but the original crucifixion was P disgrace for the symbol used to represent this mystery is that of The Heavenly Man With Arms out stretched pouring life and light into his creatures the solar myth outlines these great spiritual facts regarding the working of God in the

Universe every symbol has both a primary and a secondary meaning the sun is a symbol of the logos in its primary meaning but it also represents anyone who is representative of the logos thus a great initiate sent on a special mission to the world would by virtue of his office and Mission have

The Sun as his symbol all who are thus signified would have certain characteristics in common and pass through certain activities and thus of necessity there would arise similarities in the lives of these ambassadors their life history as initiates being outlined by the course of the sun when one becomes an initiate

Or when an initiate is sent out into the world as a teacher of men and especially when a spirit such as Jesus becomes a hierophant in the Mysteries than the legends of the Mythic Christ which have been told of other great ones surround him and he becomes clothed in the

Drapery of the solar myth this is Perfectly Natural and proper for the solar myth typifies the various stages of progress through which he has passed and this symbolism could only be applied to one who had attained the Christ stage of evolution with such a one the Festival

Of his Nativity became the date when the son was born in the Virgin and the sign of the zodiac at the vernal equinox became that of his crucifixion although these dates were purely arbitrary adopted from the Sun myth the facts symbolized by the birth death and Resurrection were living realities in

The Mystic life of every Son of God the adoption of these dates into the materialized life story of the great saviors is thus readily explained they were derived from the solar symbolism the fact that the rights of initiation and the solar myth both symbolize the same thing the former

Primarily typifying the growth of the soul secondarily the work of the logos and vice versa made the interweaving of the symbolism in this particular Perfectly Natural especially so as the great solar festivals the solstices and equinoxes were the times when the Mysteries were celebrated and the rights of initiation

Administered thus both the Mythic and Mystic Christ have contributed to the gospel story these Sun myth stories have recurred through all the ages having been told and retold in turn of each great teacher the legends of the Mythic Christ Buddha Krishna mingling with the history of each and crystallizing about

Each as an historical personage but these materialized stories pertain especially to the life of the son of man a distinctive title not of an individual but an office when one attains this level and stands in this relation to humanity then as a representative of God the story of the

Logos in the sun becomes his own indeed for the facts underlying this story have been wholly realized in his spiritual life here we learn the manner in which arose the story of the death burial and resurrection of a crucified savior on the lines of the solar myth and the initiatory rights the materializing

Tendency of man wrought out for itself in each religion an historical Narrative of a personal savior who is Virgin born is crucified rises from the dead and finally ascends into heaven or the historicising May in some instances have been purposely done by those who knew the narrative being written for the

Multitude in such a way as to set forth the mysteries allegorically in either case and perhaps both methods played a part we have abundant proof of the former and many indications of the latter the account symbolizes the inner Doctrine and sets forth figuratively the occult teaching

Of the nosis but the real meaning of the symbolical teaching of the myth and ritual has been practically lost sight of most people today regard the narratives as the physical life history of individuals however there are some who are beginning to understand that the symbolical teaching of the death burial and

Resurrection are but typical of the Soul’s progress Jesus of Nazareth like Buddha Krishna and many others was draped with the stories of the logos and the Salient events in the sun myth become the Salient events in his physical life the symbols once materialized were attached to each Divine teacher in turn giving

Rise to the wonderful similarities in their respective biographies but let us not lose sight of the fact that the Mystic birth baptism Transfiguration death resurrection and assension were realities in the life history of every initiate this drama is repeated in every soul that becomes a Christ the story of

The Gospel was originally a religious romance intended for Spiritual instruction but the later Bishops of the outer churches not having the key to the inner meaning accepted the romance as actual history it is said that that the common document which formed the basis of the canonical gospels is to be traced

To the sketch of an ideal life which was intended for purposes of propaganda and which could be further explained to those who were ready for more definite instructions in the true nature of the Christ mystery to a certain extent it was based on some of the traditions of the actual historic

Doings of Jesus but the historical details were often transformed by the Light of the mystery teaching and much was added in changed form con concerning the drama of the Christ mystery allegories and Parables and actual mystery doings were woven into it with what appears now to be a consumate art

Which has baffled for ages the intellect of the world but which at the time was regarded by the writer as a modest effort at simplifying the spiritual truths of the inner Life by putting them forward in a form of what we should Now call a historical

Romance but which in his day was one of the natural methods of hagata and apocalyptic did Jesus lie 100 Years BC that FME page 422 the author of this romance never dreamed that the story would be taken otherwise than as he intended it a symbol but in the compilation of the

Canonical accounts much Legend and historized Dogma was built around this original Romance the Mystic teaching in this way became accepted first as history and finally as Dogma binus was one of the chief developers of the dogmas the gnostics contended that he and the those like him who accepted the

Crude literal view did not know the origin and meaning of these things papius and Marion who were earlier than arenus insisted that such scripture was not reliable as absolute history the gnostics knew how these scriptures were made and they possessed a memory of the manner of things done and said from the

Earliest times and looked with amazement on the narrow and cramping beliefs that the Bishops of the outer churches were imposing on Christendom as the only truths of the Christ revelation this contention of the gnostics as of men earlier than Justin and erinus is still subus before the bar of History it

Means a total reconstruction of the history of the origins GRS me in theosophical review march6 the gnostics treated the gospel legends not as history but as symbolic of cosmic processes and the drama of initiation I have already shown that the gnostics did not accept the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as historic

Facts Justin Martyr also gives evidence that the early church did not understand these things in a literal sense he says and when we say that the word logos which is the first beginning of God was begotten without intercourse Jesus Christ Our master and that he was crucified and was dead and rose again

And ascended into heaven we bring forward no new thing Beyond those among you who are called sons of Zeus for ye know how many sons the writers who are held in honor among you ascribe to Zeus Hermes the word logos who was The Interpreter and teacher of all and

Esclipus who was also a Healer and was Smitten by the bolt of his sire and ascended into heaven and many others quoted in thce greatest Hermes me volume ill page 217 Justin Martyr here asserts that the Christians bring forward no new thing in the doctrines of Christ’s death resurrection and Ascension Beyond those

Among you who are called to the sons of Zeus the doctrine then was a part of the Mysteries well known by all who had attained to the state of sons of God this mystery could not be understood by the uninitiated and so justtin appeals to the sons of Zeus and assures them

That he has no new doctrine this is conclusive evidence that at the time of Justin Martyr 140 to 16 AD D these great spirits spiritual realities in the Mystic life were not regarded by some at least as historical facts Justin further says but as to the Son of God Called

Jesus even though he were only a man born in the common way yet because of his wisdom is he worthy to be called Son of God for all writers call god father of men and gods and if we say further that he was also in a special way Beyond

A common birth begotten of God as word logos of God let us have this in common with you who call Hermes the word logos who brings Tidings from God IID page 217 the sunship of Jesus then was considered the same as that of Hermes and note also that begotten of

God did not refer to physical birth but to something Beyond just IND distinctly stated that Jesus was a man born in the common way this higher Birth by which man was begot begotten of God and so became a son was not exceptional with Christianity in fact Justin Martyr once

It distinctly understood that he teaches nothing new but merely claims for Jesus the distinctive title of a Son of God in the same sense as were Hermes asclepius dionis and others sons of God that is he claimed Jesus was an initiate origin also is in accord with Justin Martyr he

Speaks of the mystery of of the resurrection and contrasts this inner Doctrine which he says is not understood by unbelievers with the exoteric doctrine of the Resurrection which was known to all and was an article of faith among many origin against celsus book I ch7 it is quite evident that there was a

Wide difference between the Mystic doctrine of the crucifixion and resurrection and the popular exoteric Faith thus studying the inner teaching of the Mysteries we see that Christ is not a unique personage but the first fruits the promise of man made perfect the initiate has ever been thus regarded

For to attain the Christ state is salvation the stage of discipleship was to pass into that of sunship the life of the son was to be lived among men until it was closed by the resurrection and the glorified Christ became one of the perfected saviors of the world esoteric Christianity bessent page

250 every man is a potential Christ and the purpose of evolution is to raise every human being to the sublime degree of a master Christ eight the origin and history of Freemasonry the majority of the uninitiated believe that everything connected with masonry is to be kept a

Secret this is an error for there are many books written on masonry which are open to the perusal of all whether they be members of or strangers to the order I shall divulge no pledged secrets the eminent Masonic Scholars messers Stillson and hugan in introducing the history of Freemasonry in concordant

Orders plainly state that neither is the work necessarily for Freemasons alone for not a few of the chapters furnish excellent and suggestive reading for those who would like to know somewhat of the Brotherhood either prior to joining its ranks or because of this eligible opportunity to peruse a reliable account

Of so venerable and preeminently respectable an organization except for some portions of the cerem the signs and passwords which relate to the modes of recognition there is nothing Secret in masonry there has been so much misunderstanding on this subject that perhaps it might be well to corroborate this statement the same standard

Authority just cited says at the outset therefore it is well to point out that the Masonic fraternity is not strictly speaking a secret society for it has neither secret aims nor constitutions everywhere its laws may be perused by friend and foe alike and its objects are exclusively those which are

And always have been published to the world it is private rather than secret for unless it be our esoteric Customs which relate directly or indirectly to our Universal and special modes of recognition we Have No Secrets many absurd Notions regarding masonry have gained Credence in the past even among Masons themselves we are

Pleased to see that modern Masonic writers are endeavoring to write these misconceptions formerly it was regarded as treason to speak to the profane the truth regarding the history of the order that certain exaggerated statements were made in the days when little was known of the history of the institution gives

No reason for a continuance of these errors there is no reason today for the pretentions that Freemasonry originated in the days of King Solomon or with the Jewish Patriarchs or that the fundamental doctrines of masonry the unity of God God and the immortality of the Soul were the exclusive possession of any one

People or religion such claims were made before the science of comparative religions was so well known for modem investigation of the world religions show us that these beliefs were worldwide and held by all the great nations of antiquity before the Jewish nation was born or Abraham had left the Valley of the

Euphrates neither is the old Masonic tradition tenable that all the knowledge of the ancient Mysteries and the present interior form of Freemasonry was derived from the Tyrion workmen at the building of King Solomon’s Temple there is no evidence that the Jews possessed this interior form or that masonry itself

Included it before 1717 when it was introduced into the order by those who had a knowledge of the ancient Mysteries masonry then is not a lineal descendant of the Mysteries but is molded upon them the reconstructionists built upon the ancient myths using symbols known from the earliest days and wo these symbols

And myths derived from the Mysteries into the symbolism of Solomon’s Temple the traveling Freemasons of the Middle Ages may or may not have been descendants of the dionan artificers of this we have no evidence nor do we know the exact date of the beginning of the Masonic movement but

Are assured it can lay claim to no great Antiquity the actual history of The Craft extending no further back than some six centuries and then this early organization prior to the Reconstruction period period of 1717 was something quite different from its present form modern masonry being an entirely new

Departure the application of the term Freemasonry to the ancient Mysteries whether Jewish or Pagan is then misleading and the designation of the former as pure and the latter as spous is absurd and without any basis in fact both systems were derived from the same source and both are true however the

Pagan anti the Jewish by many thousands of years it is curious what people will do and to what extremes they will go in support of a theological Creed although the origin of the Masonic movement is modern we hold that it had its source in true mysticism and is one of the

Channels of the Mystic teaching in corroboration of this let us note some of the connecting links between the esoteric schools of the early Christian centuries and the later Masonic movement the words of the well-known Masonic Authority e mukban are of interest in this connection he says I may suggest

That some portion at least of our symbolism may have come through a Templar Source romanist yet deeply tinged with gnosticism while at a later date the Letts supposed to be inheritors of manism and who were but one of the many relop political societies with which Europe was homed possibly introduced or

Revived some of these teachings one thing is certain that satisfactory renderings of our symbols can only be obtained by a study of Eastern mysticism cabalistic hermetic Pythagorean and Gnostic down the centuries we find enrolled the names of philosophic teachers who veiled their doctrines in figures similar to those in Vogue among

The rosac crucians and still more recent students and often identical with the signs we blazen on the walls of our lodges and chapters hidden sources of masonry kooper Oakley Pages 34 to35 one tradition traces masonry to manism more the sons of the Widow John Yara in speaking of this order says

About the year 200 D the most noteworthy Gnostic sect was a Persian branch of the manes it was divided into three classes Auditors elect and perfect and the sect was ruled by 12 Apostles with a 13th as president the right had a theosophical gospel which taught that the basis of

All religion was one in 657 they had changed their names to PO i s and later katari yuk Kites bames and in still more recent times still Lads they were a secret speculative Society with degrees distinguished by signs tokens and words like Freemasonry the nef Volume 5 number four

This order was founded by Mani as a restatement of the old truths of the Mysteries and contained the true nosis he combined the teachings of zoroaster with those of Jesus both being aspects of the same wisdom but the mystery teaching had come to be regarded as heretical by the established Orthodoxy of both

Religions consequently he was put to death by the Persians and his disciples likewise slain by the Christians the manans from the 4th century were bitterly persecuted by the Roman Church the society however spread rapidly in spite of all opposition says regalen deso a well-known Italian Mason in the lifetime

Of manise Mani his pupil Herman had spread his teaching in Egypt where the Coptic priests and other Christians mingled it with the Mysteries adopted from the Jews it was through these same Coptic priests and the Eastern Christians that both the mysteries of the children of the Widow and the cult

Of the great architect came to us in consequence of apparently unforeseen events and it will be seen that it was principally by means of the Crusades that they obtained a secure footing in the west the Mysteries maintained their existence under the name of the cult of the great architect of the universe a

Name that has its origin in the allegory of hyam which represented in the Mysteries the unknown God the Eternal the long time that elapsed during the war of the Crusades gave them the opportunity of being admitted into all the mysteries of the children of the Widow the Crusaders who have been

Admitted to the mysteries of the children of the Widow and initiated there in imparted them on their return home to their pupils in Europe quoted in Hidden s sources of masonry page 37 the secret teaching is supposed to have passed from the Templars to the Freemasons e cler traces the connection

Of the manans with the Johannes Brer of the West and links them also to the German building corporations and societies the manans were known at different ages under different names after the death of the founder there was a fusion of the order with some of the leading Christian Gnostic sects thus was

Further intermingled the two Rich streams of divine wisdom one coming from Egypt through Palestine the other from India through Persia the name of the external form which preserved the secret science Through the Ages was ever changing so we are not surprised to find one tradition tracing Freemasonry to the Gnostic

Brotherhood of EST John and it might equally as well be ascribed to the alenes Yan knite Christians troubadors and a host of others for all were possessors of the same Mystic tradition and transmitted their knowledge from age to age when persecuted under one name they veiled their Mysteries under

Another the cologne record which is dated 1535 Bears witness that a secret society existed before 1440 under the name of the Brotherhood of a John and since then and up to 1535 under the title of St John’s order of Freemasonry or Masonic Brotherhood This Record contains the following passage the Brotherhood or the

Order of Freemason Brothers bound together according to St John’s holy rules traces its origin neither from the Templars nor from any other spiritual or temporal nightly order but it is older than all similar orders and has existed in Palestine and Greece as well as in various parts of the Roman Empire before

The Crusades our Brotherhood arose at a time when in consequence of The Strife between the sex teaching Christian morals a small number of the initiated entrusted with the true teaching of virtue and the sensible exposition of the secret teaching separated themselves from the mass of course the authenticity

Of this record is rejected by materialistic Masons but is usually accepted as genuine by all Mystic Masons Mister McKenzie points out that the record is referred to in the register of The Lodge at hag as there in existence so if it is a fraud it is one

Of at least two Century standing the Mystic teaching of the Brotherhood of a John must have been the same as that of the other Mystic orders and the value of this record is in the testimony it Bears to the known existence of this secret teaching whether masonry received it

From the Templars or from some older organization is not important some contend that until the Revival the mysteries of the craft were merely The Peculiar methods or rules employed in their special art this may be partly true of the body as a whole but that an inner occult teaching

Existed is quite evident Jen Pike says that among Freemasons of a certain class and limited in Number the same symbolism or a large part of the same as afterwards placed in the degrees did exist long before perhaps some centuries before 1717 if they possessed the symbols they

Must have had a knowledge in part at least of their meaning again General Pike says the art of building then stood above all other arts and made all others subservient to it it commanded the services of the most brilliant intellects and of the greatest artists the old symbolism was embodied

In the churches and Cathedrals and some of these were adorned with figures and devices which would never have been tolerated there if the priesthood had known what they meant to the adepts this proves their possession of ult knowledge Mister findel sums up the opinions of the leading Freemasons of

Germany as follows the Grand Lodge of Germany further assumes that in the building fraternities of the Middle Ages besides their art a secret science was carried on the substratum of which was a real Christian mystery serving as a preparatory or Elementary School and stepping stone to that and the estd

John’s masonry which latter was not a mere system of moral philosophy but closely Allied and connected with this mystery it was conceded that the Freemasonry of our days St J’s Freemasonry sprang from the building fraternities of the Middle Ages but at the same time asserted that in the early

Ages there existed a secret society which strove to Compass the perfecting of the human race precisely in the same manner and employing similar means as did the Swedish system which in fact only followed in the wake of its predecessor being concealed in the building fraternities so that our

Society did not arise from them but made itself away through them the secret science the mystery was very ancient indeed this mystery formed the secret of the higher degrees of the right which were not merely kept hidden from the rest of the Confederation but also from the

Members of the inferior degrees of the system itself this mystery was fully confirmed by documents which the Grand Lodge of Germany had in its keeping this secret Legend is the same as that of the carpatian which is that Jesus chose some of the Apostles and confided to them a

Secret science which was transmitted afterwards to the priests of the order of the night Templars and through them to the building fraternities down to the present Freemasons of the Swedish right that the Swedish system teaches that there have been men of all Nations who have worshiped God in spirit and in

Truth and surrounded by idolatry and Superstition have yet preserved their pure Faith separate from the world and unknown to it this wisdom has been preserved by them and handed down as a mystery in the time of the Jews they made use of the essenes in which SE

Jesus was brought up and spent the greater part of his life having been instructed by him in a more perfect knowledge of holy things they had amid persecution taught in silence that which was committed to their keeping at the period of the sarasin and the Crusades they were so greatly oppressed that they

Must ultimately have sought for protection from without as fate however would have it seven of them Syriac Christians pursued by unbelievers near bastam were rescued by the knights Templars and afterwards taken under their protection when they had lived there for a certain time They begged for permission to dwell with the canons or

Praries of Jerusalem as the life they LED agree better with their own inclinations and habits this was accorded them and Andreas monaris affected a union of these syrians with the canons to whom out of gratitude they imparted all their science and so completely did they make the priests of the order the

Depositories of their secrets that they kept and and handed them over to others under certain conditions thus this secret knowledge lived on in the very heart of the order of knights templers till its abolition the clergy were dispersed with the persecution that ensued but as the

Secular arm did not touch them as it did the knights they managed to rescue many of their secret writings and when the knights sought refuge in Scotland they founded a chapter at Aberdine the first prior of which was petruse to bononia the science was de minated from

This place but very cautiously first to Italy then to the extreme North Sweden and Russia and France history of Freemasonry findel Pages 299 to 310 to be sure Mr findel quotes this history in a rather skeptical way but the claim of a secret teaching is too well attested to be seriously questioned

The Middle Ages were honeycombed with Mystic societies each an instrument used in keeping alive and handing along the Mystic teaching under various disguises if masonry had no part in this work it was truly an exception to the many societies that existed from the 4th to the 18th centuries the early history of

Freemasonry is very meager owing perhaps to the nature of the organization the earliest records of actual Lodge meetings were in 1599 but there are copies of bold charges and laws dating from the 14th century it does not appear from the oldest manuscript that they used signs tokens

And words such as later on were employed to secure recognition however such may have been the case there were certain Secrets which pertained to the art of building which the members of The Lodge were bound to keep and it was these Trade Secrets which gave to the order

Its Monopoly but in the course of time the strict regulation of the guilds relaxed and there gradually grew up another body of operatives which succeeded in breaking down the Monopoly thus th opening the way for the purely speculative Society the term Freemason which originally meant a worker in

Freest Stone came later on to be applied to all craftsmen who had obtained their freedom as Masons to work in lodges with the fraternity after due apprenticeship and passing as fellow crafts as early even as the oldest charges persons not operative Masons were admitted to the order and were designated by the term

Accepted to distinguish them from the working Masons for many of this class were attracted to masonry by the moral principles and perhaps the Mystic knowledge of the fraternity some of these were men of learning and it was this class undoubtedly that had much to do with the Reconstruction of the order the

Introduction of this speculative membership that is those who did not follow the trade as a means of livelihood proved a most fortunate thing for the preservation of the order at a time when the old charges had practically ceased to be influential had this not been done it is doubtful if the institution of

Freemasonry would have been in existence today speculative masonry existed as far back as the oldest charges but the proportion which the speculative element bore to the operative is not known from the few records we have of the 17th century it would seem that at that time the great majority were speculative

Freemasons although some bodies were chiefly operative we learn from the old records that apprentices served 7 years and that being passed to fellow crafts depended upon the result of an examination as to their operative skill and likewise the passing of fellow crafts to Master Masons of course this did not apply to

The honorary members apprentices were members and exercised all the Privileges as such just the same as fellow crafts and Masters for at that time the separate Masonic degrees had not come into existence three grades or classes were recognized but this did not signify esoteric stages and we find no

Intimations of two or more degrees being worked before the Revival of 1717 by the latter part of the 17th century masonry in England had begun to retrograde the society became so commercial that it applied merely to selfish gain causing some who were more deeply interested in the order to

Realize that something must be done to prevent total extinction of the fraternity the two moving Spirits were Dr Anderson and Dr D sagers and at their hands the order saw a complete change in 1717 during that year four lodges met in London on June 24th and formed the

Premier Grand Lodge of the world this however did not include the Masonic body at York the York Masons remained independent and formed in 1725 a Grand Lodge of their own called the Grand Lodge of all England this body continued until 1790 but it never chartered lodges outside of England

Dr Anderson and Dr the sagers together with other old members chosen for their ability were designated by the order to formulate a new and better method of the history charges regulations Etc as the result of their work we have the free and accepted masonry founded on the apocryphal Legend of hyam and the

Symbolism of Solomon’s Temple in the formation of degrees many of the customs of the ancient Mysteries were adopted the third rem’s degree based upon the hyam legend came into use about 1723 in fact the whole degree system was the work of the reconstructionists says Dar macki it is

Now the opinion of the best Scholars that the division of the Masonic system into degrees was the work of the revivalists of the beginning of the 18th century that before that period there was but one degree or rather one common platform of ritualism and that was the division into to Masters fellows and

Apprentices was simply a division of ranks there being but one initiation for all art degrees macky’s encyclopedia wh hugan says I have carefully perused All the known Masonic manuscript from The 14th Century down to a 1717 of which I have either seen The Originals or have certified copies and

Have not been able to find any reference to three degrees quoted in four old lodges page 40 Mr Gould another well-known Masonic writer says that there is no evidence to indicate the existence of the second degree as now practiced until after the year 1717 nor of the third degree until the year

1735 quoted by CF Francis in M PG M address Philadelphia 1888 from Go’s concise history wjb McLoud Moore Supreme Grandmaster ad vitm of The Sovereign great prior of Canada also says historical investigation clearly demonstrates that in 1717 the present system of degrees was entirely unknown originally there was but one

Degree of initiation containing all the elements of the degrees now practiced the names of Entered Apprentice fellowcraft and master allisan being merely the designation of the classes of work Work men not of degrees or steps the actual Society or fraternity being composed of fellows for in the oldest records

Constitutions and charges there is not the slightest illusion to these separate degrees nor any to the legend of hyam abff the four old lodges remaining in London in 1717 were composed entirely of fellows history of Freemasonry in concordant orders page 753 the symbolism and legends adopted by the revisionists and worked into the

Degrees are chiefly those of the ancient Mysteries the immediate source from which this material was derived is not definitely known many have thought that the reconstructionists derived it from the rosac crucian and bacon new Atlantis Mr hugan says that wixon’s books on bacon Shakespeare and the rosac crucians and Francis Bacon poet prophet

And philosopher Ain rosac crucian and bonic ideas which influenced the Masonic reconstructionists of 1717 he again says that the new atlanti seems to be and probably is the key to the modern ritual of Freemasonry IID page 31 masonry is Thoroughly hermetic and cabalistic and the framers of these degrees were evidently cabalistic and

Hermetic philosophers and well acquainted with all these works and other Mystic writings Mr single 33d degree secretary MW Grand Lodge District of Columbia says the cabalists were the inventors of the rituals of the original degrees and cabalistic Scholars in France and Germany have multiplied the degrees by elaborating upon the legends of the

First three there was originally in speculative masonry but one ritual which was very simple out of that one trunk have grown all the branches and the fruit from these bearss the resemblance of hermeticism and the Bala the third degree the Royal Arch and the select of 27 are all designed to imitate the

Ancient Mysteries IID page 105 Mr Moore already quoted says some of these writs would appear to be derived from the hermetic philosophy of the German School of which no proof exists but when philosophers with others joined the craft lodges in the 17th century they may have introduced some of their

Hermetic rosac crucian symbols into masonry ibid page 759 Jen Pike the eminent American Masonic Authority says that to the men of intelligence who belong to one of the lodges in 1717 is to be ascribed the authorship of the third degree and the introduction of hermetic and other symbols into

Masonry they formed the three degrees for the purpose of communicating their doctrines veiled by their symbols except to those fitted to receive them and to give to all others strip moral explanations of them which they could receive the plan was worked out by these reconstructionists and formally approved and accepted in

1723 becoming known as the new Constitution and is the Freemasonry of today Anderson’s constitutions 1723 in 1730 a work called masonry dissected appeared this purported to be a revelation of free and accepted masonry as the result of this many spous lodges were formed the Grand Lodge endeavored to thwart this by introducing

Certain changes in the passwords Etc these alterations caused much dissatisfaction and many withdrew from the regular lodges and formed Lodges of their own these seceders finally formed an independent body in 1751 and assumed the name ancient York Masons they claimed to have preserved the old forms thus the name ancient and

They called the regular Grand lodg the moderns both Grand lodges were prosperous and extended their influence even into America thus producing dissension not only at home but abroad The Strife between these two grand lodges continued until 1813 when a union was affected under the title of the

United Grand Lodge a union was also affected in America thus ending the Schism and to constitute a regular mode of work a union degree was adopted the Grand Lodge of Ireland was formed in 1728 and the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736 there is no uniformity in the

Degree system in the different countries to the three symbolic degrees others have been added from time to time but there has been no uniformity in their acceptance the Royal Arch appeared about 1740 but by whom it was founded is not known though it is clearly of English

Origin there is no record of its being worked in chapters until 1762 when a chapter of the Royal Arch was formed at York it became the fourth degree in the ancient Grand Lodge system the modems did not recognize this degree or adopt it officially until

1767 upon the union it became a part of the English right the mark degree also originated about this time it was formerly conferred in England under Royal Arch warrants but later was governed by an independent Grand Lodge of its own the past master degree is undoubtedly one of

Evolution it was originally worked in craft masonry being conferred on the newly elected Master when about to be installed this degree was finally adopted as a separate degree by the Royal Arch system and transferred from the lodge to the chapter although its origin is obscure it was conferred

During the latter part of the 18th century the most excellent degree is also obscure in origin but we find it also conferred in the latter part of the the 18th century in many instances the higher degrees were worked under Lodge warrants by those interested without interference from the Grand Lodge the

Brethren concerned came together and conferred the higher degrees they were at first purely side degrees but after a time they became organized independently Royal Arch Masonry separated from Blue Lodge masonry organized itself and adopted or invented the four degrees just considered and began an independent existence

In the same way the Royal and select Masters separated themselves from The Lodge of perfection and formed councils and finally organized Grand councils and became also independent as already stated there is no uniformity in the different countries concerning these higher degrees the system in England is unknown in France and Germany the American

System known as the York right consists of The Craft degrees or blue Lodge the Royal Arch chapter the council and the night’s Templars and is peculiar to this country it was formulated by Thomas Smith web who with his associates constructed out of the conglomeration of the work of the Ancients and moderns

That had previously been established in this country a new work which cross and others afterwards embellished Webb tried to show that he had adopted the true work of the ancient York Masons but it is well known that the claim is without foundation in concluding this chapter we

Will give an order the various degrees that constitute the standard Masonic work in this country they are the symbolic degrees of the blue Lodge Entered Apprentice fellow craft and Master Mason the capitular degrees of the Royal Arch chapter Mark Master past Master most excellent master and the

Royal Arch the cryptic degrees of the council royal master select master and super excellent Master the chivalric degrees of the commandry of Knights Templars Knight of the Red Cross Knight Templar and Knight of Malta and the philosophic degrees of the Scottish right system divided into a lodge of perfection a council princes of

Jerusalem a chapter of Rose Croy a council of kadosh a consist and the Supreme Council the history of the Knights Templars will be considered in our next lecture together with that of the ancient and accepted Scottish right nine the origin and history of the Knights Templars and the ancient and

Accepted Scottish right we will first consider the military order of the Knights Templars of the Crusades this organization was originally called the order of the temple and was founded in u 181119 d by nine Benedictine monks who resided in monasteries at Jerusalem the object of the order was

The defense of the Holy Seiler and the protection of the Christian pilgrims who visited the sacred Shrine the holy Place had been desecrated and the Christians persecuted by both sarason and Turk the Christian monks joined the patriarch of Jerusalem in guarding the approach to the city and lived under the Benedictine

Rule fighting for the cause of the church the patriarch assigned them quarters in the Palace of the Latin Kings of Jerusalem sometimes called Solomon’s Temple and it was this that gave the Templar name to the order the New Order rendered Valiant service to the pilgrims and others in need their

Fame spread rapidly and their ranks as rapidly increased by recruits from from the religious fraternities in Europe members of the French nobility and then from all classes of society these recruits were organized by skillful military leaders and before long became renowned in The Art of War the order was strictly a religious body

And was composed of three classes Knights chaplain and serving Brothers a council was held in 1128 to determine the statutes of the order rules of discipline and obligations numbering 72 were adopted at a later date they were elaborated into a more complete ritual in our last lecture we mentioned that the early

Templar possessed a secret Doctrine the early Freemasons also taught in secret making it difficult to trace one without mentioning the other I need here only to recall that the secret science had passed along from age to age until received by the Knights Templars according to the record of the

German lodges the Templars received their Mystic teaching from certain syri Christians but of what particular Doctrine cult or order they do not State perhaps they were members of the Brotherhood of a John which according to the cologne record possessed a Mystic teaching or perhaps they were members of the johanan Christians again perhaps

These two societies may have been of the same or a very similar order the janit were also called Christians of the East there is a tradition that traces the secret teaching of the Templars to the janit so it is more than probable that the Syriac Christians were members of this

Brotherhood this tradition as given by General Pike states that there existed at that period in the East a sect of johannite Christians who claimed to be the only true initiates into the real Mysteries of the religion of the savior they pretended to know the real history of Jesus the anointed and adopting in

Part the Jewish traditions and the tals of the tud they held that the facts recounted in the evangels are but allegories the janit ascribed to EST John the foundation of their secret church and the grand pontiffs of the sect assumed the title of Christos anointed or consecrated and claimed to

Have succeeded one another from St John by an uninterrupted succession of pontifical powers he who at the period of the foundation of the order of the temple claimed these imaginary prerogatives was named theet morals and Dogma Pike page 8116 theet was acquain Ed with Hugh Deans the founder of the order of the

Temple and initiated him into the yanan Mysteries and appointed him his successor now if the Brotherhood of a John and the johanan Christians are the same then both the Templars and the Freemasons received their secret Doctrine from the same order it is claimed by some however that the Mystic

Teaching passed to the masons from the Templars this may or may not have been the case but that they were closely Allied is evident from the fact that upon the destruction of the old Templar order many of its members took Refuge with the Freemasons the secret statutes of the

Templars were preserved not only by oral tradition but were also written in part at least Dar PR says jerves Deus saw at one of the heads of the orders a little book with the statutes of the order of 1128 which was shown without thinking and he knew that the same man had also

Possessed another book about which he was very mysterious and which would not show anyone for all the world gim leer de Temple herin orans page 45 WJ McLoud Moore 33rd degree in speaking of the temple order says their rulers arrogated to themselves a higher degree of knowledge in all things and taught in

Their secret conclaves where none but the most trusted members were admitted that the papal power was a false and dangerous Assumption of authority over the minds and consciences of men and that very many of the dogmas of Rome were gross and childish superstitions they also cultivated and

Asserted more liberal views of faith and religion than were current at the time being well versed in the Mysteries Legends learning and traditions of the peoples they had come in contact within the East history of Freemasonry in concordant orders page 765 the evidence that the early Templar order possessed a secret Doctrine being

Conclusive we will now return to the historical velopment the order spread rapidly and was soon established in every Kingdom of Latin Christendom the part which the Templars took in the Crusades is too well known to need reiteration for from that time on the history of the Templars was the history of the

Crusades when the Crusades terminated the Templars returned to their numerous preceptories in Europe as the order was of no further use as a military body their great wealth and power aroused the jealously of Philip IV of France who coveted the possessions of the order and the pope distrusted its Fidelity to the

Papacy a bitter hatred was engendered by many acts of insubordination against the king’s arbitrary Authority and he set about to work their destruction to this end calmies of every description were circulated they were charged with heresy and all manner of crimes Philip Enlisted the support of Pope Clement V who owed

His papal Tiara to the kingk gold or influence and the over throw was brought about the work of suppression was too heartless to recite many were cast into prison and tortured to confess crimes of which they were ignorant and finally were burned to death upon The Grandmaster deoli was seized while in

Paris by special invitation of Pope Clement cast into prison where he was kept 7 years and at last taken out and burned at the stake on May 2nd 1312 Clement issued his famous bull transferring the Estates of the Templars except those in Spain and Portugal to

The Knights of St John thus perished the order of the temple what became of the thousands of Templars upon the suppression of the order is not definitely known some may have joined the order of a John of Jerusalem upon which the confiscated lands of the Templars have been conferred and some as

Already intimated may have taken refuge in the Guilds of stone masons many reject this latter Theory as being with without historic Foundation but WS Perry 32nd degree says regarding this we do not question this statement as it stands history fails to record much that actually occurs much that subsequent

Ages would gladly know we see no reason however for the assertion so often made of late years that any connection between a chalc order such as the Knights Templars and a fraternity of operative Masons such as certainly existed in me Medieval Times is out of the range of

Possibility IID page 140 Mr Perry then goes on to argue that the guilds were known and even employed by the Knights Templars in the construction of their churches preceptories and strongholds all over Europe and the holy land and when they were despoiled they would naturally seek protection among the body

With which they had already a certain connection Henry e Manning Cardinal Archbishop of West Westminster says as far back as the 12th century The Lodges of the guild enjoyed the special protection of the Knights Templars it is easy in this way to understand how the symbolical illusion

To Solomon and his Temple might have passed from the knights into the Masonic formulary in this way too might be explained how after the suppression of the order of the temple some of the retran knights maintaining their influence over the Freemasons would be able to pervert what hitherto had been a harmless ceremony

Into an elaborate ritual that should impart some of the errors of the Templars to the initiated ibid page 144 this Catholic writer may know whereof he speaks as it is generally supposed that Catholic Scholars have access to certain records not accessible to others therefore it is not improbable

That the old order continued to exist within the Guilds of stone masons it is also said that when the time came that they could safely proclaim the continuance of their order they instituted the right of strict observance and proved their gratitude for the protection afforded by receiving Members Only from the ranks of

Freemasonry but it is also not unlikely as pointed out by Mr Moore that small organizations were kept up in many places and the Hope cherished that it would be possible to revive the order a great and extensive organization could not wholly have lost its vitality and died out without a struggle IID page

768 it is related of the chief of the doomed order that before his execution he instituted what afterward came to be called a cult hermetic or Scottish masonry that the order while seeming to die nevertheless lived under other names and was revealed to those who proved themselves worthy to be trusted

According to these Traditions the real lineal descendants of the old shal recorders are the Scottish right and the strict observance let us consider for a moment this right of the strict observance it is common with a certain class of masonic writers to pronounce the leading spirits of the strict observants dupes and

Charlatans but the long list of Scholars Nobles and officers of high standing who have belonged to this order must preclude any such classification the reason for such stigmatization is that the members were students of mysticism and believed that there is hidden in masonry an occult and Mystic tradition which is the true

History of spiritual Evolution many of these members of the strict observance also belong to to the rosac crucians and other Allied bodies and all were seeking the old Straight Gate and narrow path that leads to wisdom one of the most striking personages of this period is Charles gel a nobleman born in

1722 he entered the Masonic order in 1742 when at Frankfurt on Maine in the next year he is said to have established a lodge at Paris and while staying with the French army he became acquainted with the heads of a wri which pretended to be in higher degrees the continuation

Of the famous order of Knights Templars according to his repeated declarations maintained even on his deathbed he was received into this order in Paris by Lord karik Grandmaster of Scotland a jackaby nobleman on which occasion Lord Clifford acted as prior he was presented to a very high member of

The order a mysterious personage called only the Knight of the Red Feather perhaps this was Prince Charles Edward himself Von hun supposed him to be the Supreme Grandmaster of the order and was appointed by him coadjutor of the seventh province of the order Germania inferior hun visited Scotland also where

He was bidden to raise the order in Germany together with the then Master of the seventh Province to Marshall whom he always considered his predecessor Marshall had founded Lodges at altenberg and nberg but found only in the latter men worthy of being led further viz to be received into the Templar

Degrees this is a summary by kooper Oakley in traces of a hidden tradition of an article in the transactions of log quater Corona number 2076 regolini says of Von hund in 1756 the wars had caused the Prussian Masonic lodges to be abandoned Baron de hun who had received the high templar’s degree

In the chapter of Claremont at Paris on returning to Berlin declared that he had been raised to the Dignity of Grandmaster of the Templars by I am Marshall who called himself the successor of the GG Master Templars by uninterrupted transmission from the time of Jac deoli that Marshall on his

Deathbed had delegated this High dignity to him and had declared him his successor transmitting to him all his powers and dignities he did not omit to give hun a list of all the names of the Templar Grand Masters which must therefore have been a curious contrast to the list of

The order of the Temple of Paris hun placed himself at the of the German reformers he persuaded them that his right would restore Freemasonry to its ancient brilliancy and its former Splendor his principles were altogether philosophical he maintains that these pontiffs are the only Priests of the

True Light the worshippers of God and The Disciples of the pure doctrines of Jesus and of John traces of a hidden tradition 882 in this connection we need to Note One Johan Augustus Stark a teacher of Oriental languages and a student of theology in philosophy he had held many public

Positions among others that of interpreter of Oriental manuscript at the Royal Library in Paris misss Cooper Oakley says Stark held that the Mystic traditions of the Knights Templars derived by them from those still older fraternities with whom they had come in contact in the East were preserved among

The clericals of that order who had cherished their unbroken continuity until his days and he announced that he was in communication with certain superiors or chiefs of the order ibid page 84 RF g a well-known English Authority writing on the strict observance says on February 17th 1767 some Masons Chief amongst whom may

Be mentioned Von vac Von Bonin and Stark founded at vismar the lodge of the Three Lions and attached there to a Scott’s Lodge Gustavus of the golden Hammer shortly afterward they added a hitherto unknown body a clerical chapter to these brethren we are indebted for the historical fiction sick that the

Knights Templars were divided into military and sacerdotal members that the latter possessed all the secrets and Mystic learning of the order and that they had preserved a continuous existence down to the 18th century Stark claimed to be the Emissary of these clerical Templars asserted there in his own superiority over the secular Knights

And offered on his claims being acknowledged to impart their valuable secrets to Von hund and his disciples Stark 1741 to 1816 was a student of daenen and a very learned man an oriental linguist of great attainments and had held scientific appointments in St Petersburg Paris vismar and elsewhere history of Freemasonry Gould V

Page 104 G regards Stark as an impostor but like many other materialist istic critics who reject the tradition he offers no proof of its falsity in reply to the criticism that the Knights Templars could not have continued to exist for 438 years unknown to the outside world Stark says if he di

Biester had been somewhat better acquainted with ecclesiastical history he would have found not only one but several religious bodies which under far more violent opposition and persecution than those endured by the Knights Templars have secretly continued to exist for a longer period than 450 years traces of a hidden tradition in masonry page

86 this view is upheld by C W King a modern writer of note who speaking of the Templars says considering how widely the order has spread it would be a mere absurdity to believe that all its Traditions were swept away at one stroke by the suppression of the Templars in the year

1307 the gnostics and their remains King page 399 Stark shows the large number of Scholars in his day who accepted the tradition can it be that all these were dupes and charlatans we must now pass to a brief consideration of the order itself Ragan a noted Masonic writer in speaking of

The strict observance says that in Germany a body was formed approaching more nearly to the true institution than the ordinary Freemasons the study of the cabala of the philosophers Stone and of necromancy or the invocation of spirits occupied the tea chiefly because according to them all these Sciences formed the

System and the object and end of the ancient mysteries of which Freemasonry is the sequel quoted from Orthodoxy mque ragon page 210 by Mr Cooper Oakley in Hidden tradition page 88 it was the higher grades of the strict observants that took up the study of alchemy Etc there being according to

Our author just quoted seven grades into which the system was divided much more might be said but this is sufficient to show that in the early days of the modern Knights Templars there were many who recognized the existence of the secret Doctrine as to the origin of the

Knights Templars of today and their connection with Freemasonry various theories have been proposed some contend that the movement was the result of the numerous works of the 17th and 18th centuries on ult philosophy and that upon the dispersion of the order of John and the Templars of Scotland the

Secret ceremonies and principles were obtained and promulgated which directly led to the Revival of the sharc orders under the impression that they were of masonic origin others hold that the present order originated from the high grades of Freemasonry the Hermetic or Scottish system and was grafted onto Freemasonry by Baron hund in

1754 few if any would maintain today that the present organization of Knights Templars is a lineal descendant of the old chal recorder the Knights Templars of the present in common with masons in general make no claim to Mystic knowledge and but few in the order even know that such a wisdom science ever

Existed the degrees of the American system of the Knights Templars are the Knight of the Red Cross Knight Templar and Knight of Malta the Red Cross is not embraced in the English Continental or Canadian systems the Templar degrees have been used in connection with Freemasonry for about a century says

Wjb McLoud Moore although the Templar degrees have been in connection with Freemasonry for about a century past it does not follow that they previously had any such connection it was only about that time or a few years earlier that the error was made in Great Britain and Ireland of adding the shivar Templar

Order to the Masonic systems history of Freemasonry in concordant orders page 744 the Templar degrees like the other side degrees were first conferred under blue Lodge warrants which simply means that Masons possessing those degrees came together in their lodges and worked them in the course of time chapters and encampments were organized and

Templarism took on a more independent and permanent form we believe with Mr Moore that it was an error to merge the Templar degrees into the Masonic system in England the Templar system has always been kept separate from the craft degrees the Royal Arch is there considered the climax of

Freemasonry there is also a difference due to the fact that the English degrees are based upon the old Templar ceremonies while the American system is based upon the craft degrees this makes the American system broader and More in harmony with the spirit of Freemasonry although it is still partly

Sectarian this sectarianism is not in accord with the ancient landmarks and Genius of masonry if we have the right to christianize masonry so have Muslims Buddhists and all other religious sects a right to transform it to fit their Creeds such Transformations and limitations deprive masonry of its true spirit and Universal

Character and should such a process become General masonry itself would soon be destroyed the Templar system should have stood alone on its own merits and principles it should have been left as a series of side degrees for Masons professing Christian principles the very name Masonic templarism is AD misnomer

The sectarian character of the one is not in accord with the Universal Character of the other this declaration does not cast any reflection upon the Templar degrees in fact we consider them among the best and most inspiring of the American system however we believe they should have remained separated from a non-sectarian

Body it is a mistake to again quote Mr Moore to connect templarism with Freemasonry Frederick speak 33rd degree past r e Grand Commander Mississippi is of the same opinion he says if then anywhere the door of any degree is closed against him who believes in one God and the Soul’s immortality on

Account of other tenants of his faith that degree is not Freemasonry that the Templar degrees properly form no part of masonry we have the Declaration of the reputed author of the American rituals Thomas Smith Webb who in 1812 and several subsequent editions of his Freemasons monitor says although the several Orders of

Knighthood are conferred both in Europe and America reputedly under the sanction of masonic assemblies they compose no part of the system of Freemasonry he tells us that in America they are conferred as honorary degrees Mister speed continues it is time for intelligent Masons to devest themselves of the superlatively

Ridiculous and often exploded idea that there is any connection between what we now know as templarism and the fraternity of free and accepted masons except that which is found in the Restriction of its membership to those who have first received the several degrees of masonry it is entirely compatible with

All the obligations of masonry that a Mason should be a Templar and we do not derate from our standing as Masons when we take upon ourselves the additional vows of the Knights Templars but this does not make Templar as a masonry nor do we add anything to

The dignity and High character of the order by making the assertion that it is IID p735 ancient and accepted Scottish right the ancient and accepted Scottish right or Scottish masonry did not originate in Scotland as its name might lead one to suppose it was derived from a body in

France formerly known as the Emperors of the East and West who organized in 1758 in Paris a right called the right of perfection ction consisting of 25° to which eight or more were subsequently added the immediate source from which the French Masons derived these rights

Is unknown but it is held by some that they are the lineal descendants of the Ancient Order of the temple before the death of Grandmaster jacqu deolai and while he was in prison awaiting execution he instituted several Metropolitan lodges one of which was at Paris and it was from this source that

Scottish masonry was derived Jen Pike the great Authority on the Scottish right accepts this view the name itself is supposed to have come from a number of Scottish Masons who were in France at the time of the organization a Grand Lodge was formed at Charleston South Carolina in 1783 a

Supreme Council 33rd degree in 1801 and the right has been called by its present name ancient and accepted Scottish right since that date the right is founded on the symbol iic degrees and is conferred only on Blaster Masons its degrees begin with the fourth and extend to the

33rd they are conferred in subordinate bodies as follows the lodge of perfection 4th to 14th inclusive the Council of princes of Jerusalem 15th and 16th the chapter of Rose Croy 17th and 18th the consistory of sublime princes of the royal secret 19th to 32nd except in the southern

Jurisdiction with the 19th to 30th degrees constitute a council of kadosh and their consist begins with the 31st degree and the Supreme Council whose officers are active 33rd degree Masons there is also an honorary 33rd degree conferred by the Supreme Council as a merit for distinguished service in the

Fraternity the moral teaching of these degrees is exemplary and the dramatic effect of the work is beyond comparison we have neither time nor space to consider the system in detail but there are certain teachings connected with some of the degrees to which your special attention is directed

We refer to those which by some are thought to be sectarian in character and therefore opposed to the original plan of the reconstructionists to lay a broad foundation for the ceremonies which would admit men of all religions it is to be regretted that such a Cosmopolitan basis could not have been

Maintained we need to remember however that Mason is symbolic and the Legends even of the so-called sectarian degrees are symbols used to set forth an inner truth and are not in themselves necessarily sectarian even when appropriated by a special religion for they are essentially Universal and belong to General religion to illustrate more

Fully Dr macki in speaking of the cryptic degrees which are based upon the legend of the Sacred Vault says to support this Legend there is no historic evidence and no Authority except that of the the talmudic writers it is clearly a mythical symbol and as such we must

Accept it like every other myth and allegory of masonry the historical relation may be true or it may be false it may be founded on fact or be the invention of imagination the lesson is still there and the symbolism teaches it exclusive of the history Encyclopedia of Freemasonry page

852 General Pike also emphasizes this principle in speaking of the legend upon which the degree of the Royal Arch is based he says it is of but little importance whether it is in any wise historical for its value consists in the lessons which it inculcates and the duties which it

Prescribes to those who receive it The Parables and allegories of the scriptures are not less valuable than history nay they are more so because ancient history is little instructive and truths are concealed in and symbolized by The Legend and the myth morals and Dogma page 210 we should bear this fact in mind

When we consider the degrees of the Scottish right especially that of the Rose Croy the legend upon which this degree is based is purely symbolical and is such conveys a grand truth some however have thought that the doctrine of this degree excluded the non-Christian which shows how the purpose of masonry has been

Misunderstood Jen Pike in speaking of the degree says no Mason has the right to interpret the symbols of this degree for another or to refuse him its Mysteries if he will not take them with the explanation in commentary super added again he says each of us makes

Such applications to his own faith and Creed of the symbols and ceremonies of this degree as seems to him proper morals and Dogma ch18 this is well said every intelligent Mason should make a protest against the crude and Antiquated explanations of the symbols given in this degree the degree

Itself is not necessarily sectarian but the explanations adopted in the work are not only sectarian and unmonumental in Egypt Assyria India Persia Mexico Etc its peculiar meaning in this degree is that given to it by the ancient Egyptian th ortha who is represented on the oldest monuments carrying in his hand

The Crux and Sada a tow cross with a ring over it this was the hieroglyph for life and with a triangle prefixed meant lifegiving to us therefore it is the symbol of Life of that life that emanates from deity and of that eternal life for which we we hope the rose was

Anciently sacred to Aurora and the sun it is a symbol of dawn of the Resurrection light and the renewal of Life the cross and Rose together signify hieroglyphic the dawn of eternal life and the Advent of a savior for which All Nations hope to the letters i n r i

Inscribed on the Crux and Sada many meanings have been assigned the Christian sees in them the initials of the inscription upon the cross of Christ yuuse Rex aor the sages of antiquity connected it with one of the greatest secrets of nature that of universal regeneration they interpreted it thus

Igny nura renovator Integra nature is renovated by fire the Alchemists and hermetic Masons framed for it this aphorism igny Nitram Mor’s inventor the letters are initials of the Hebrew words that represent the four elements I amm the sea or water n fire rouach the air IA the Earth IID

Ch18 this degree symbolize the final Triumph of Truth over falsehood of Life over death of good over evil no one Mason has a right to measure for another within the walls of a masonic temple the degree of veneration which he shall feel for any reformer or founder of any

Religion we teach a belief in no particular Creed as we teach unbelief in none IID page 308 but we recognize in the founder of the Christian religion an initiate into the true Mysteries one who came to rebuild again the Eternal varities to utter again the Divine wisdom to a needy

World the Knight of the Rose Croy will rever his memory and honor him as one of the true Servants of the most high we recognize all initiates as brothers we belong to no Creed we invite men of all religions to enlist under our banner and

Work to bring in a better day Dar macki says if masonry were simply a Christian institution the Jew and the Muslim the Brahman and the Buddhist could not conscientiously partake of its illumination but its universality is its boast in its language citizens of every nation May Converse at its altar men of

All religions May kneel to its Creed Disciples of every Faith May subscribe the symbolism of Freemasonry macki page 237 we have dwelt upon this degree because of the principle involved the Legends upon which this degree is based while drawn from the New Testament are also to be found in many other world scriptures

For the symbolism of which the real meaning has been shown in earlier lectures is universal the degree itself is really out of place in the Scottish right system it should belong in the Templar system if anywhere to again quote General Pike we teach the truth of none

Of the Legends we recite they are to us but Parables and allegories involving and enveloping Masonic instruction the vehicles of useful and interest information everyone being at Liberty to apply our symbols and emblems as he thinks most consistent with truth and reason and with his own faith morals and Dogma page

329 let every Scottish right Mason bear this fact in mind and it would be well for the night Templar to remember this also for there we have the same symbols and the same crude interpretation of them these symbols as we have seen refer to realities in the Divine Life of Jesus

Rather than to the incidents in his physical experiences in the early days of the Scottish right the system was full of grotesque and in congruous things of contradictions and fantastic extravagances the Supreme Council of the Southern jurisdiction of the United States at length undertook the task of

Revising the work of the 30° under its jur jurisdiction but while this was done with considerable success there are still anachronisms and contradictions which should be eliminated to make the system harmonious the moral teaching of all the rights is excellent one who lives up to the standard inculcated in the Scottish

Right degrees will fulfill every demand made by the strictest code of morality 10 the symbols and legends of masonry the real secrets of masonry lie concealed in its symbols and legends these symbols and legends are the means by which the Divine truths of masonry are conveyed to the

Nefy this was the method of instruction in the ancient Mysteries and it was naturally adopted in the institution of Freemasonry to form symbols and to interpret them says ker were the main occupations of the ancient priesthood and the myths were invented to illustrate a philosophic or religious truth Dar macki after discussing the

Question of myths says it must be evident from all that has been said respecting the analogy in origin and design between the Masonic and the ancient religious myths that no one acquainted with the true science of this subject can for a moment contend that all the Legends and traditions of the

Order are to the very letter historical facts symbolism of Freemasonry macki page 207 he gives as an illustration of this the myth of the winding stairs which he says taken in its literal sense is in all its parts opposed to history and probability again he calls attention to

The myth which traces the origin of Freemasonry to the beginning of the world a myth which is he says even to this day ignorantly interpreted by some as an historical fact and the reference to which is still preserved in the date of anol Lucas which is a fixed to all Masonic

Documents this he calls a philosophical myth symbolizing the IDE aidea which analogically connects the creation of physical light in the universe with the birth of masonic or spiritual and intellectual light in the candidate the one is the type of the other IID page 211 in the Legends of the master’s

Degree and of the Royal Arch he points out that there is a commingling of the historical myth and the mythical history so that much care must be taken in discriminating between the different elements Dar macki then sums up the duty of a Mason as follows he who desires properly to appreciate the profound

Wisdom of the institution of which he is the disciple must not be content with un inquiring credulity to accept all the Traditions that are imparted to him as veritable histories nor yet with unphilosophical to reject them in a mass as fabulous inventions in these extremes there is

Equal error the myth says Hermon is the representation of an idea it is for that idea aide that the student must search in the myths of masonry beneath every one of them there is something richer and more spiritual than the mere narrative everyone therefore who desires

To be a skillful Mason must not suppose that the task is accomplished by A Perfect knowledge of the mere phraseology of the ritual by a Readiness in opening and closing a lodge nor by an off-hand capacity to confer degrees all these are good in their places but without the internal meaning

They are but mere Child’s Play he must study the myths the traditions and the symbols of the order and learn their true interpretation for this alone constitutes the science and the philosophy the end aim and design of speculative masonry IID page 212 214 these deeper things as Dr Macky

Intimates are not found in the monitorial explanations J D Buck a 32nd degree Mason in his wonderful book on Mystic masonry says the most profound secrets of masonry are not revealed in the lodge at all they belong only to the few but these secrets must be sought by the

Individual himself and the candidate is debarred from possessing them solely by his own inattention to the hints everywhere given in the ritual of the lodge or by his indifference to the subject if he prefers to treat the whole subject with contempt and to deny that any such real knowledge exists

It becomes evident that he not only closes the door against the possibility of himself possessing such knowledge but he also becomes impervious to any evidence of its existence that might come to him at any time he has no one but himself to blame if he is left in darkness Mystic masonry Buck page

36 the ritual and monitorial lessons of the lodge teach nothing new and the explanations of the symbols are often pual and inadequate Jen Pike says there is no sight Under the Sun more pitiful and ludicrous at once than the spectacle of the Preston and the webs not to mention

The later incarnations of dullness and commonplace undertaking to explain the old symbols of masonry and adding to and improving them or inventing new ones to the circle enclosing the central point and itself traced between two parallel lines a figure purely cabalistic these persons have added the superimposed Bible and even reared on

That the latter with three or nine rounds and then given a vapid interpretation of the whole so profoundly absurd as actually to excite admiration morals and Dogma Pike P 105 the exegesis is also often crude this is not strange as the ritual was written before the days of modern

Biblical scholarship and perhaps it would be well if the ritual were revised these immature concept ctions could be eliminated without affecting the meaning and beauty of the ceremonies however if we bear in mind that masonry does not endorse its Legends as literal facts no harm can be

Done we will now consider some of the symbols and myths of the fraternity the lodge the lodge represents King Solomon’s Temple the temple is a symbolic image of the universe and as such is symbolic in all its parts and Arrangements therefore the temple of Solomon resembles all the

Temples of antiquity that practiced the Mysteries the Hebrews like other peoples made much of the system of numbers to convey their hidden meaning the holy of holies formed a cube corresponding to the number four which represented ma tested nature while the three sides or faces of the figure when drawn on a

Plain surface represented the deity the three aspects of will wisdom and activity intelligence everything everything within the temple was symbolically arranged the ceiling supported by 12 columns represented the 12 months of the year the borders around the columns and the Candlestick with the 12 lights represented the 12 signs of the zodiac

The seven lights the seven planets the veils of four colors represented the four elements Etc in the Royal Arch degree of the American right the Tabernacle has four veils of different colors To Each of which belongs a banner and on each Banner is inscribed one of

The four Images the bull the lion the man the eagle these constellations answered to the equatorial and solsticial points of 2500 Years BC the four signs Taurus Leo Scorpio and Aquarius were termed the fixed signs and are assigned to the four veils the sun entered Taurus at the

Vernal equinox Leo at the summer solstice Scorpio at the autumnal equinox for which on account of its malignant influence Aquilla the eagle was substituted an aquarius at the winter solstice every Temple was a representation of the universe and in them the great lights of nature played

An important part the images of the sun moon and Mercury were represented and even in our Lodge rooms they constitute the three lights except that for mercury the master of the lodge has been substituted ucbs tells us that the officers of the eluc inian Mysteries were the hierophant representing the

Great architect of the universe the torchbearer representing the Sun the alter Bearer representing the moon and the sacred Herald representing Mercury the latter was charged with excluding the profane from the Mysteries every Lodge as we have said represents the temple the two great columns between which you pass as you

Enter the lodge represent the two great pillars 30 8 in high 6 10 in in diameter which stood in the port porch of the temple on either side of the Eastern Gateway these columns represent the two pillars of Hercules the solstices Capricorn and Cancer the two Gates of

Heaven and were imitations by the Tyrion artist of the columns at the entrance of the Temple of mackar in Tyre the lodge is said to be due east and west as King Solomon’s Temple was so situated all the temples of antiquity were usually thus built Pythagoras also arranged his assemblies due east and

West because he held that motion began in the East and preceded West the Egyptian and Mexican pyramids were also built to the four cardinal points of the compass while beneath the temple extending East and West was a Subterranean Cavern used for initiation no well equipped Lodge is lacking in this

Particular the Furnishing of the lodge the Holy Bible Square and Compasses together with a charter or dispensation constitute the Furnishings of the lodge one the Holy Bible this in a Christian Lodge consists of the Old and New Testaments a Hebrew Lodge would use the Old Testament only muhammadan Lodge the

Quran in like manner a Buddhist Lodge could use the tripitaka a Hindu Lodge the vdas ETC the obligation of the candidate is always taken on the Sacred Book of his religion for his holy Bible is his light in accordance with which he should live and walk two the square

Encompasses these symbols are perhaps the most familiar to the general public of any in masonry I need not dwell on the lessons IM morality which the square andc compasses teach masonry is however something more than a system of morality and it is this inner significance that I

Have endeavored to set forth there is a science and philosophy concealed in these symbols which Dr Buck explains as follows the square with its one right angle and its scale of measurements applies to surface and solids and deals with the Apparently fixed states of matter it represents solidarity Symmetry and

Proportion and this involves the Sciences of arithmetic and geometry the compasses with movable angles set in the lodge at an angle of 60° applies to the circle and the sphere to movements and Revolutions in a general sense the square is a symbol of matter and the Earth the compasses of Spirit and the

Heavens Mystic masonry Buck page 242 the position of the Square and Compasses indicates the progress of the candidate from Entered Apprentice to that of Master Mason the ornaments the ornaments of a lodge are the Mosaic pavement the indented T cell and the Blazing star the Mosaic pavement is supposed to represent the ground

Floor of King Solomon’s Temple the indented TZ cell the Border or skirting surrounding it there is no evidence that either existed in the Ancient Temple but the symbol is significant as it denotes the checkered course of life also the two opposing principles in nature light and darkness Michael and Satan balder

And Loki oras and araman Etc the Blazing star also represents these two principles if the point is turned upward it represents God good order or the Lamb of orist in St John if the point is turned downward it denotes Lucifer evil disorder or the accursed goat of Mendes and the

Mysteries the Blazing star or pentagram also represents the human body the Five Points representing the four Limbs and head it is thus called The Sign of the microcosm all the mysteries of magic were said to be summed up in this symbol paracelsus pronounces it the greatest

And most potent of all signs the all seeing eye this symbol in the ancient Mysteries indicated the sight that an knows time and space this is the symbol of the higher Clairvoyant the master always possessed this sight in India this allseeing eye was called the eye of Shiva the

Egyptians represented Osiris by the symbol of an open eye and placed this hieroglyphic of Him in all their temples in the lodge the allseeing eye represents the omniscience of God the eye that never sleeps it may also represent as in the ancient Mysteries the higher vision the

Letter G this letter is the natural symbol among English-speaking people for God it is a substitute in American lodges for the Hebrew yard which is the cabalistic symbol for Unity in France the letter y is put in the Blazing star the clasped hands this symbol was used by Pythagoras and represented the sacred

Number 10 the number expressed by the mysterious tetres this figure was represented in the form of the triangle Le the Hebrews formed it with the letters of the Divine name both Pythagoras and the Hebrew priests borrowed the figure from The Sacred science of Egypt the triangle and double

Triangle all the nations of antiquity considered the triangle as sacred it was one of the most common symbols for the deity the three sides typify the three aspects of God will wisdom and intelligence here we have the trinity in unity the double triangle interlaced symbolizes the manifested universe the

Union of spirit and matter the triangle pointing upward is Spirit or fire the one pointing downward is matter or water one represents the Descent of spirit into matter the other the ascent of matter to Spirit the union of the two in the manifested universe is inseparable this double triangle is used

In India to symbolize two Hindu gods or rather the two two aspects of ishvara Shiva and Vishnu it also represents the six points the scenery which with the point in the center is the septenary the light there are three greater and three lesser lights in masonry and though the ritual does not

Give any explanation of these symbols there is an important meaning connected with them the sun is an ancient symbol of the logos it signifies the male aspect the lifegiving and generative power God is the source of light and light is the cause of Life the moon represents the passive or female aspect

Of nature Jacob’s Ladder the mystical ladder which Jacob in his vision saw extending from Earth to heaven was a common symbol in the ancient Mysteries and was always composed of seven steps or rounds the latter symbolized the progress of man from his present to higher conditions each round

Representing one of the seven stages of his evolutionary progress in the mysteries of Persia and India this Mystic ladder was an important symbol especially in the former where a ladder of seven rounds was erected in each of their temples the seven steps also correspond to the seven Gates

Through which the candidate was passed successively in his journeyings through the seven caverns of initiation and symbolized the seven conditions or subplanes of Hades the seven steps seven Gates seven Halls seven worlds seven Plains Etc are all symbols of the various stages of the Soul’s progress the ancient initiates held that

The evolution of the human soul took place through a series of seven Globes situated on the three lower Plaines of the universe the life wave passes seven times round this world chain and through seven stages on each Globe the progress involves a downward and an upward Arc a

Descent of spirit into matter and a reass of spirit to God this is symbolized in Jacob’s vision by the Angels ascending and descending Jacob’s Ladder is sometimes misrepresented with three or nine rounds it should have seven Dar macki says that the error arose from the ignorance of those

Inventors who first engraved the Masonic symbols for our monitors the ladder of masonry like the equipollent ladders of its Kindred institutions always had seven steps although in modem times The three principal or upper ones are alone alluded to these SS beginning at the lowest are Temperance fortitude Prudence

Justice faith hope and charity the symbolism of Freemasonry macki page 120 the application of these virtues however is a later addition to symbolism the seven rounds are also emblematical of the seven Plains of the universe physical astral mental budic atmic Anup patica and ADI the seven ancient elements Earth water fire air

Ether and two unnamed the seven subplanes of the astral World astral solid liquid gaseous etheric super etheric subatomic and atomic the seven Metals lead Quicksilver copper tin iron silver and gold the seven colors black purple green blue red white and yellow the seven stones Diamond amethyst Emerald Sapphire Ruby

Pearl and topaz the seven ancient planets Saturn Mercury Venus Jupiter Mars Luna and soul thus the seven-step ladder had various applications and correspondences its presence in the Masonic institutions is evidence of the close analogy between Freemasonry and the ancient Mysteries the right angle triangle or the 47th Problem of euklid this is one

Of the most important symbols of Antiquity the perpendicular line whose measurement is three represents the active male principle the Basel line whose measurement is four represents the passive female principle and their Union or the addition of the squares of these numbers will produce a square whose root

Will be the hypothenuse a line measured by five and representing the universe the square of the perpendicular in base 9 + 16 is equal to 25 the square root of of which is five the number of the hypothenuse it was taught in all the Mysteries that the union of the male and

Female principles of nature produced the universe this is the occult meaning of the 47th Problem of euklid the sum of the squares of the perpendicular and base of a right angle triangle equals the square of the hypothenuse this is a symbol of perfect proportion between number and forms

Between spirit and matter the three sides of the triangle bear the proportions as we have seen of 3 4 and 5 and 3 a + 42 = 5T or 9 + 16 is equal to 25 also 9 + 16 + 25 is equal to 50 thus

The number 50 is based on the proportion of the sides of the right angle triangle felo speaks of two series which he calls triangles and squares namely 1 3 6 10 and 1 4 9 16 with regard to the Triangle series 1 3 6 10 it is interesting to

Note that 1 is equal to 1 3 = 1 + 2 6 = I + 2 F 3 and 10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 in the Square series X 4 9 16 I = I3 4 = 2 a 9

= 3° and 16 is = to 4T 1 + 3 + 6 + 10 is equal to 20 and 1 + 4 + 99 + 16 is equal to 30 and 20 + 30 is equal to 50 50 was a sacred number and was derived from the right angle

Triangle the greatest Jewish Festival Jubilee took place every 50 years the lamb skin or white leather apron in the ancient Mysteries the investure of the apron formed an essential part of the ceremony of initiation the apron and white robe were symbols of Purity in Persia the vature was exceedingly

Imposing the candidate having taken the oath of secrecy was given the Insignia of the order the girdle The Tiara the white apron and the purple tunic the Japanese candidate was also clothed in certain garments which consisted of a loose tunic and white apron bound round

The loins with a girdle in the degree of Holiness practiced by the Pharisees that noviciate was also given an apron as a symbol of Purity the Essen and Druids invested their candidates with a white robe and the Scandinavians gave the candidate a white shield in all these ceremonies whatever the material or form

The symbolic significance was always the same the white apron of masonry was derived from these ancient ceremonies and is one of the most significant symbols in our order the color white having been an emblem of light and Purity from time immemorial the shape and combination of

The Masonic apron is that of a triangle overlapping Square representing the occult septenary nature of man the triangle symbolize Spirit or the three highest principles the square or quary the four lowest each principle is correlated to a plane a round and a race the spiritual Triad is the spiritual body of St Paul

And the quinary the Natural Body the Triad which is the immortal part of man contains potentially all the powers of divinity and to develop these latent attributes it must descend into matter the triangle must incarnate in the Square this is represented in masonry by the degree of Entered Apprentice and is

Symbolized by the way in which The Apprentice is taught to wear his apron the spiritual is subordinate to the material Earthly desires and passions rule supreme but the candidate is here to learn to subdue his passions his partial success is represented by the degree of fellowcraft and is symbolized

By the way he wears his apron in that degree the complete Triumph of the spiritual is represented by the Master Mason degree and is again indicated by the apron this state was represented in the ancient Mysteries by the mystical death and resurrection of the candidate the perfected initiate has mastered his

Lower nature and has become the perfect man Hermes Buddha or Christ the symbolism of the apron is indeed far-reaching let every Mason remember how he impersonated the grandm he should never forget its deep significance in the ancient Mysteries the candidate did not merely impersonate the master he himself became the master

The ceremony merely symbolizing what he became it is a mistake to suppose as some writers have that the candidate in the Mystic Rights was merely representing the events connected with the tragedy of the master or God from whom the Mysteries derived their name the story of the master or God was

Wholly an allegory of the experience es of the initiate while the rights were Hut typical of the various stages in the growth of the soul in the process of becoming a Christ he represents all those who have attained the Christ state for all Masters have passed through the experience symbolized by the myth

Masonry has a truer conception than any exoteric religion for these religions take the symbol for the thing symbolized but masonry in making the candidate impersonate hyam has preserved the original teaching hyam is identical with the son gods of all Nations it is a universal glyph for all real initiation

Is an internal process a regeneration the consummation of which is the perfect man remaster the goal of human evolution in the ancient Mysteries there was a further right which symbolized the next stage that of Union with the Divine the at one meant this was the Ascension and is symbolized by the square enclosed

In the Triangle the lower nature is here refined and ascends to the father God is all in all as we have already said each principle in man’s Constitution is correlated to a plane a knowledge of these planes would enable a man by a trained will to direct the forces on

Each plane such is the power of a real master 11 the symbols and legends of masonry continued in this concluding lecture of the series we will consider the remaining important symbols and legends of masonry sacred or ineffable names this symbol was Universal in ancient times for every nation of antiquity had

Its sacred name or ineffable word the Hebrew symbol consists of four letters yod he VAV he and is called the tetraman or four-lettered word this word was said to have been communicated by God to Moses at the burning bush the name was held most Sacred by the Jews but its

Meaning and proper pronunciation has long been obscured before the vention of the mtic points the pronunciation of a word in the Hebrew language could not be known by the characters themselves so it was easy in the course of time to lose the proper pronunciation especially so as at the

Beginning of the helenistic age the use of the name was reserved for the temple at the beginning of the Christian era felo writes the four letters may be mentioned or heard only by holy men whose ears and tongues are prepared by wisdom and by no others in any place

Whatsoever in the course course of time the pronunciation of the name even by the temple priests fell into disuse and the manner of its pronunciation at length became a secret entrusted only to the few while the word was being withdrawn from common use it was pronounced Adonai in the scripture Dash

And when the vowel points were introduced those that belong to Adonai were placed under the tetraden the word itself is a symbol the letters are probably arranged as a blind as they stand in the tetr gradin they have no significance they do not represent any real Hebrew word now if we apply the

Hebrew method of having or transposing letters which was used to conceal the meaning of a word or rather if we reverse the process which may have been employed we get instead of y h v h h v h y before the introduction of vowel signs certain weak consonants such as Y and

VAV were sometimes used to indicate vowel sounds so we frequently see I or E given as an equivalent for yod and U or o given for VAV even yod is sometimes given as J and VAV is VAV so we have the

Name given as y h v h or i h v h or j h v h or y h w h or i h o h Etc now the personal pronouns he and she are written in Hebrew with the signs he VAV a and he y Alf when Alf terminates a

Word and has no vowel immediately preceding or following if is usually dropped now if we drop the final Alf we have the transposed tetramin H VH Y which are the personal pronouns he and she the male and female representing the two great principles of nature the dual aspect of the second

Logos now if we turn to the cabala which contains some portions of the secret teachings of the Jews we shall find that this great principle is the exact meaning of the tetradon it does not represent the absolute deity or the unmanifested logos but it does represent the manifested the

First emanation Adam Cadman the two aspects of being which are potential in the first logo become manifested in the later stages of evolution this name represents the four worlds U signified by Yad Bria by he yazer by VAV and AIA by the second he the source of the tetramin is absolute

Deity AA the causeless cause the tetr gamitin is also the SEO which are 10 in number and emanate one from the other the highest is kether the crown then comes chakma and Bina the male and female principles from these emanate the other seven the very fact that the meaning of

The tetramin is identical with the words obtained by transposing the letters is sufficient evidence that the word was really h v or w uo h y or J IE according to the equivalence adopted for the signs whether interpreted as consonants or vowels and the names given to the signs the meaning and

Pronunciation of the word was carefully guarded there is no hint given in the ritual for this secrecy but there is a scientific reason for the Mystic word has to do with the science of rhythmic vibrations which is the key to the equilibrium of all forces in all mysticism the knowledge of names meant

The Possession of powers the spoken name gave one the power of the name it is interesting to note how the Jews worked this idea into their system in the TM mod the wonderful works of Jesus are ascribed to his use of the Sacred name according to early Traditions the

Knowledge whereby he wrought these Works was learned in Egypt but in the developed too the word of power was was the Holy Name the tetradon all nations of antiquity had their sacred names which were Words of Power these names were formed by taking a letter which conveyed a meaning and

Adding other letters each having a meaning the whole word thus formed constituting a sacred name or word which contains some great truth these names were Words of Power for as the unfolding Consciousness realizes one truth after another and becomes that truth it rules in Persia the sacred name was h o m in

India u m in Scandinavia i o w in gree I AO Etc the right of circumambulation this right again connects Freemasonry with the ancient Mysteries it consists in a formal procession around the Altar and originally alluded to the apparent course of the sun which is from east to

West in ancient Greece the priests during the rights of sacrifice walked three times around the altar while chanting a sacred hymn which was divided into three parts and each part was to be sung at a particular point in the procession the analogy between this practice of the Ancients and the

Recitations of a passage of scripture in the Masonic circumambulation is quite apparent in making this circuit it was considered necessary that the right side should always be next to the Altar and so the procession moved from west to the north then east south west and then to

The north again we find the same right among the Romans Druids and Hindus in all these ceremonies they were imitating the example of the son and following his beneficent course the legend of the winding stairs this Legend is connected with the fellowcraft degree it is based upon

First Kings 68 the door for the Middle Chamber was in the right side of the house and they went up with winding stairs into the Middle Chamber and out of the middle into the third out of this slender material says darar macki has been constructed an allegory which if

Properly considered in its symbolical relations will be found to be of surpassing beauty but it is only as a symbol that we can regard this whole tradition for the historical facts and the architectural details alike forbid us for a moment to suppose that the legend as it is rehearsed in the second

Degree of masonry is anything more than a magnificent philosophical my the symbolism of Freemasonry macki page 25 the lesson which this Legend teaches is not difficult to discover Freemasonry is a speculative science which has for its object the investigation of divine truth the candidate is in search of more

Light and as all the ceremonies denote a progress from a lower to a higher state he is always progressing this fundamental symbolism of masonry is found in each degree there is the mystical ladder the ceremony of circumambulation the restoration to life Etc the legend of the winding stairs

Symbolizes the same fact the ascent of man from ignorance to knowledge from Darkness to light from Death to life the steps of the winding stairs commenced on the porch of the temple this indicates the beginning of the Masonic life the preparation for entering the temple it

Is curious to note that the number of steps in all the systems has been odd this probably is due to the fact that the symbolism of numbers was borrowed from Pythagoras in whose system of philosophy the odd numbers were regarded as sacred though the number of steps has

Greatly varied tracing boards have been found in which only five steps are represented and others which denote seven at one time in England the number was 38 which was reduced to 37 and in this country the number has been reduced to 15 perhaps five would be the more

Appropriate as the stairs only extended to the Middle Chamber the number seven corresponding to the number of rounds in the Mystic ladder would indicate the attainment of perfection the holy of holies we might say that the complete stairs are composed of seven steps three carrying the candidate into the ground

Floor of the temple two into the middle and two into the inner Sanctuary the general symbolism of the legend is not affected by the number of steps or the method of division the candidate who succeeds in climbing the winding stairs will receive his reward what is the reward or wages of the

Speculative Mason not silver nor gold but truth yet the whole of divine truth cannot be imparted to the fellow craft the Middle Chamber then where he receives his wages is symbolical of the fellowcraft degree and the wages are appropriate to the degree of his progress to again quote diar macki it is

The then as a symbol and a symbol only that we must study this beautiful legend of the winding stairs if we attempt to adopt it as an historical fact the absurdity of its details stares Us in the face and wise men will wonder at our credulity its inventors had no desire

Thus to impose Upon Our Folly but offering it to us as a great philosophical myth they did not for a moment suppose that we would pass over its Sublime moral teachings to accept the allegory as an historic narrative without meaning and wholly irreconcilable with the records of scripture and opposed by all the

Principles of probability to suppose that 880,000 Craftsmen were weakly paid in the narrow precincts of the temple Chambers is simply to suppose an absurdity ibid page 226 we must guard against the materialization of our allegories and symbols remember masonry is a system of morality veiled in allegory and

Illustrated by by symbols to regard the myths as history is to miss the truth which the symbols were designed to teach no intelligent Mason will fall into this error The hyam Legend and the Master’s Degree The hyam Legend and the Master’s Degree are derived from the Mysteries they are the latest expression

Of the old Sun myth and the ancient right Dar macki in speaking of the symbol of hyam says it was evidently borrowed from the Pagan mystery where bakus Adonis prur and a host of other apotheosized beings play the same role that hyam does in the Masonic Mysteries ibid P

20 I have given various forms of these Legends the Osiris ades who balder and others in each of them the hero of the myth dies or is deprived of life is laid away in the Tomb and rises again from the grave this ceremony was called the mystical death and

Resurrection The Legend represents the activity of the logos in the cosmos and the Mystic life of the initiate the ancient legends and symbols always have a double meaning and sometimes more the lectures on true initiation set forth in detail the two aspects of the sun myth the Mythic and the Mystic to the

Uninitiated the cosmic or Mythic aspect of the legend was the only one seen thus the rights were supposed by them merely to typify the death and Resurrection of some hero or demigod as Osiris Metra ades Adonis tamos Etc and so the sun was worshiped under these titles perhaps

This was natural enough for the visible sun was a symbol not only of the logos the spiritual son but also of the initiate the yearly course of the sun represented in one aspect the Mystic life of the initiate you will recall that in the Hindu Mysteries when a

Candidate reached the south in his circuits he said I copy the example of the son and follow his beneficent course this example was not merely external the sun is a symbol of the logos and its yearly course typifies the work of the logos so that the candidate by

Representing the Sun and following his course is really following the example of the logos the sun myth typifying both the activity of the logos and the Mystic life of the initiate in the true Mysteries the right symbolize the very stages of this Mystic life complete Mastery over the lower nature was

Typified by placing the candidate in a trance and laying him away in a Seiler for three days and nights in the pseudo Mysteries the aspirant was confined in a Cell in his normal State and kept there in fear and darkness that he might reflect on the seriousness of the step

Taken and be better prepared to receive the mysterious truths bequeathed from the ancient days this was the symbolical death the deliverance from which was called the resurrection while confined in his cell the search for the hero was made and his body finally found the Master Mason will

Here see the source of the hyam legend and the Master’s Degree I am not permitted to say more neither is it necessary for those who are qualified will understand Mr Singleton 33rd degree after describing the mystical death in the ancient Mysteries says the intelligent Mason will from this the

Origin of the rights in the third degree of symbolic masonry and the fifth and 31st degrees a a Sr the mysteries in all their forms were ferial they celebrated the mystical death and revivification of some individual by the use of emblems symbols and allegorical representations history of Freemasonry in concordant orders page

73 Mister Singleton is here in error in regard to to the purpose of the Mysteries if he means that they merely celebrated the mystical death and resurrection of some one individual the ceremonies of initiation symbolized the progress of the human soul and the mystical death and Resurrection were experienced by ever

Initiate perhaps in the latter days of the Mysteries when no true initiation took place the ceremonies may have been considered as symbolizing the experiences of some special individual but such was not the case in the true Mysteries we see thus that the story of harami is But A variation of the ancient

And Universal Legend in which Osiris Adonis dionis balder who and many more have played the principal part some call hyam a mythical symbol this is true but he is also a mystical symbol mythically hyam is the son a symbol of the logos mystically he is the perfect initiate the

Grandm the myth was not intended to add to the facts of history but as dwit points out to illustrate a philosophical or religious truth we must here utter a protest against the sectarian interpretation of the master Mason’s degree it is true that the degree Embraces the inner truths of

Christianity in common with all the Mystic teaching but the origin of the degree and all its symbols and legends were derived from the ancient Mysteries and to call the degree a Christian institution as do Hutchinson and Oliver is erroneous Dar macki in speaking of this tendency to christianize masonry says we find

Christian Masonic writers indulging in it almost to an unwarrantable excess and by the extent of their sectarian interpretations materially affecting the Cosmopolitan character of the institution this tendency to christianization has in some instances been so Universal and has prevailed for so long a period that certain symbols

And myths have been in this way so deeply and thoroughly imbued with the Christian element as to leave those who have not penetrated into the cause of this peculiarity in doubt whether they should attribute to the symbol an ancient or a modern and Christian origin

It is in this way that masonry has by a sort of inevitable process when we look to the religious sentiment of the interpreters been christianized I do not object to the system when the interpretation is not strained all that I contend for is that such interpretations are modern and that

They do not belong to although they may often be deduced from the ancient system the symbolism of Freemasonry macki Pages 238 246 the sprig of Acacia in all the ancient Mysteries there were sacred plants which were symbols of initiation the Myrtle was used in the mysteries of Greece the ARA in the

Egyptian Mysteries the mlto in the druidical Mysteries the lotus in the Indian rights the lettuce in the mysteries of Adonis Etc masonry has borrowed this custom from the ancient and adopted the ACAA which was sacred among the Hebrews as its Mystic symbol The Acacia was a sacred tree which grew

Abundantly in the vicinity of Jerusalem the sanctuary of the Tabernacle and the holy Ark were constructed from this wood and the tree ever afterwards was regarded as sacred this symbol has several meanings but for our purpose we need mention only the primary an original meaning which is initiation and

Its use as a symbol of immortality and innocence these are closely connected and must be considered together to get the full meaning of the symbol in olden days initiation was based upon innocence that is upon purity of life and the initiation brought a realization of immortality the right of

Discal this right refers to the act of uncovering the feet on approaching Holy Ground it is a symbol of reverence and was a common practice among all the nations of antiquity the priests always offered sacrifices with uncovered feet Pythagoras instructed his disciples to offer sacrifices and worship with their

Shoes off the muhammadans when about to perform their devotions always leave their slippers at the door of the mosque The Druids practiced the same custom whenever they celebrated the sacred rights the peruvians also left their shoes on the porch when they entered the Temple Dr Oliver tells us that the same

Usage prevailed equally in India and the islands to the west of Europe and even the American Savages thought that uncovering the feet while in the act of devotion was a Sublime method of paying honor to the deity signs and symbols Oliver page 153 the Jewish lawgivers adopted this

Sign of reverence and the symbolism has descended to us the application of the symbol to the third degree is well known to every Mason the stone of foundation this is the most important symbol of the Royal Arch degree it must not be confounded with any of the other

Stone symbols such as the Cornerstone the Keystone or the cape Stone in the first place we need to understand that the symbol is purely allegorical to accept it in a literal sense will present asdr macki says absurdities and puril which would not occur if the stone of

Foundation was received as it really is as a philosophical myth conveying a most profound and beautiful symbolism read in this Spirit as all the legends of masonry should be read the mythical story of the stone of foundation becomes one of the most important and interesting of all the Masonic symbols the symbolism of

Freemasonry page 283 we have not time to trace the legendary history of the stone of foundation probably more Legends are connected with this Stone than with any other Masonic symbol the Masonic Legends of the stone of foundation like nearly all that are of Jewish origin are derived from the Jewish talmud and owe

Their origin to the imaginative Genius of the talmudic writers but there is this difference between talmudists and Masons the former accept all these Traditions with their pelties anachronisms and absurdities as historical while the intelligent Mason receives them as allegories it would be interesting did space permit to give in full these

Rabbinical reveries and also the Masonic Traditions based upon them but I can only outline the tradition the talmudic Legends tell us that Enoch built a Subterranean temple on Mount Mariah consisting of nine vaults situated beneath each other and communicating by apertures left in each vault in the

Lowest Arch he deposited a cubical stone called afterwards the stone of foundation on which had been inscribed the ineffable name of God he then made a door of stone with a ring in it and placed it over the opening of the uppermost Arch and covered it so

That it could not be seen in the destruction of the World by the Deluge all trace of the Subterranean Temple was lost but when David was digging for the foundation of the temple he discovered in the lowest depths of the excavation a certain Stone on which the name of God was

Inscribed this Stone he removed and deposited in the holy of holies it was a favorite theory of the talmud legend makers that David laid the foundation upon which Solomon built the temple the Masonic tradition is substantially the same as the rabinal except that it substitutes Solomon for David as the

Discoverer of the stone and makes him deposit it in the Crypt of the temple where it remained until the foundation of the second temple was laid when it was discovered and placed in the holy of holies these Legends in the light of historical narratives would be as Lee

Says so many idle and absurd conceits as facts but as allegories they contain an important symbolism the symbolism and worship of stones in ancient times was almost Universal the Greeks originally used UNH stones of a cubical form to represent their gods these consecrated Stones were placed before the doors of the houses in

Athens also in front of the temples in the schools and libraries and at the corners of the streets the thebans worshiped bakus under the form of a square Stone arobas says that cili was represented by a small Stone of black color and ucbs cites poery as saying that the Ancients represented the deity

By a black stone because his nature was obscure and inscrutable the muhammadans also have a black stone which was formerly woried and is still much reverenced by musl men The Druids represented their gods by cubical stones and we also find that the early American races worshiped Square stones

These citations are taken from Mack’s symbolism of Freemasonry they might easily be extended but those given will suffice to show that everywhere in the ancient world cubical Stones were used as a symbol of the deity these mystical Stones were all symbolic and the Legends connected with them allegories the Masonic Stone and Legend

Are no exceptions the stone of foundation is but a symbol of the deity the Lost word the symbol of the Lost word and the legend of the search for it embodies the whole design of Freemasonry the primary object of Freemasonry is the search after Divine truth the word is a symbol of this

Divine truth and this truth is the key to the science of the soul the real master then is one learned in the Divine Science Moses to lead the neopit through a Wilderness of experience from his ignorant self to a knowledge of his true self a conscious Union with God God the

Symbolism of the Lost word may be applied to the degradation of the ancient Mysteries which resulted in the loss of the real word the knowledge of occult science from that time to this men have ever been in search of the real word and although but few have been able

To regain the knowledge of the true Mysteries others have often caught glimpses of the inner meaning which is symbolized by the substituted word that the symbolism is not well understood is evident from the fact that but few if any today possess the knowledge and power implied in the symbols and legends

Of the order for this reason Only The Substitute monitorial explanation is given to the neopit until he perhaps in future Generations shall find the true word that masonry was in search of the meaning of this symbolic word is clearly proven by the Insight of the revisionists in 177 and the fact that

Symbolic masonry did not pretend to give the candidate the Lost word they knew that the word was no mere name but a knowledge of occult science which could only be attained by soulle development real mastership must again be realized before the Lost word can be found and such realization must of necessity be

The experience of each individual brother by whom it is found the use made of the tradition of the recovery of the Lost word and its importation in the Royal Arch degree shows that the later degree makers little realized the meaning of the symbolism they mistook the symbol for the thing

Symbolized the Royal Arch degree can only give the symbol the real word which holds the inner meaning in the power of the symbol is still a mystery to understand this Mystic symbol and all that it implies is to possess the key to the science of Sciences the real knowledge or word of power

Conclusion we will now bring this series of lectures to a close we have seen that masonry is modeled on the ancient Mysteries and deres its important symbols and legends from that source is this a mere coincidence was there meant to be only a similarity in outward form we cannot so

Believe the analogy is far too close The Men Who formulated the ritual very well knew what they were doing we believe that the secret vaults contain Jewels not yet discovered and it should be the work of every true Mason to search diligently for more light to discover

The full meaning of the glyphs and allegories is to revive the ancient wisdom the secret doctrine of antiquity the real lost word that such wisdom once existed will not be denied by any intelligent Mason for the whole super structure of the order is based upon the traditions of its

Existence Dar Buck says instead of being an imitation of the mysteries of antiquity masonry should become their restoration and perpetuation through the coming centuries not by relaxing its discipline or changing its ritual but by deepening the learning intensifying the Zeal and elevating the aim of every brother throughout the world Mystic

Masonry Buck page 79 we have seen that the masters of old were true occultists masters of Divine Science masonry has preserved for us the names that indicate the reality of occult knowledge and Power in the perfect and Sublime Master Prince Adept Sublime Prince of the royal secret Etc

If these names do not imply what I have suggested they are a mere farce and should be abolished that they are empty titles today all will agree many having recognize this fact are calling for their abolition but I hold that instead of abolishing the titles we should Endeavor

To make them stand in fact for what in name they indicate this would be in line with the ancient tradition a recovery of the real lost word the key to the science of knowledge every Mason should labor assiduously for the realization of this ideal let us not be content with the

Mere rudiments of our philosophy that skill says Dar macki which consists in repeating with fluency and precision the ordinary lectures in complying with all the ceremonial requisitions of the ritual or the giving with sufficient accuracy the appointed modes of recognition pertains only to the very rudiments of the Masonic

Science symbolism of Freemasonry page 310 there are many today who are not satisfied with these preliminary acquirements and the cry for more light is being heard in every quarter of the Masonic World intelligent Masons are beginning to realize that there is something more in our symbols and

Legends and they are seeking their inner and ultimate meaning let us Aid in this work by making our lodges schools our labor study our wages learning thus may we attain that knowledge of divine truth which shall truly make us Master Masons so M it be the end

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